SOCIOLOGICAL IMAGINATION

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SOCIOLOGICAL IMAGINATION

• A way of understanding human behavior.
• Human behavior as the product of social forces.

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The Sociological Imagination
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MACRO-ENVIRONMENT

• PHYSICAL - All the flora, fauna, geography, and
  climate of the area.
• SOCIAL - All the people and their patterns of
  interaction of the area.
• The macro-environment has a direct influence on
  the culture people create.

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The Sociological Imagination
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CULTURE - All of the material and non-material
products people produce in response to their
environment.

• MATERIAL - The concrete things that people make
  in response to their environment.
• Concrete objects, such as cars, clothes, and
  houses.
• NON-MATERIAL- The abstract constructs people
  produce in response to their environment.
• Abstract products, such as norms, values, and
  language.

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The Sociological Imagination
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SOCIETY - A group of people who share culture and
live within a geographic boundary.

• People in society share most of the products of
  culture.
• What distinguishes one society from another is
  not culture, language, or ethnicity, but rather
  the SOCIAL STRUCTURE of the society.

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The Sociological Imagination
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SOCIAL STRUCTURE - The pattern of relationships
between the basic components of a society.

• All societies have the same basic components.
• Each society has a unique pattern of
  relationships between the basic components.

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SOCIAL STRUCTURE

• INSTITUTIONS - A cluster of norms and values that
  develop around some basic
• human need.
• GROUP - Two or more people who interact on the
  basis of shared expectations about each others
  behavior, and have a SENSE OF BELONGING.
• PRIMARY
• SECONDARY -
• STATUS - A socially defined position that a
  person occupies.
• ACHIEVED -
• ASCRIBED
• ROLE - The expected behavior from someone who
  occupies a specific status position.
• IMPLICIT -
• EXPLICIT -

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The Sociological Imagination
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The Sociological Imagination
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The Sociological Imagination
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The Sociological Imagination
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MICRO - ENVIRONMENT - All of the immediate
physical and social surroundings of the
individual.

• Physical - The concrete objects of the immediate
  surroundings.
• Social - The people and group culture (norms and
  values) of the small group.

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The Sociological Imagination
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GROUP CULTURE - The material and non-material
products produces by the group, in response to
the micro-environment.

• Group culture includes the norms and values of
  the specific group to which the individual
  belongs.

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The Sociological Imagination
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INDIVIDUAL BEHAVIOR

• All human behavior is the product of social
  forces.
• Human capacity may be biological or
  physiological, but human ability is the product
  of social forces that influence the individual.
• In turn, the individuals behavior has a minor
  influence on the macro-environment, and a more
  significant influence of the micro-environment to
  which the person belongs.

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The Sociological Imagination
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Socialization - the process of internalizing the
norms and values of society or subculture (group).

• Internalization is taking norms and values from
  the group and make the norms and values part of
  your self.
• Norms and values exist outside the self and each
  of us takes those norms and values from the
  people around us to create a unique self.
• As people change groups, or the groups norms
  change, the person internalizes new norms, and
  the self changes.

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SYMBOLIC INTERACTION

• George Herbert Mead - Human interaction is
  completely symbolic.
• Mead believed that all communication takes place
  through a symbolic language.
• An interaction of gestures that communicates
  meaning to the other.
• Specific words are without meaning, except for
  the meaning people attribute to the words (i.e.
  Cool!).

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GESTURES - A gesture is the phase of the act
that causes a response from the other.

• Two types of gestures
• Sign - gesture with one meaning. All other
  animals communicate with signs ONLY.
• Symbol - infinite meaning. Humans communication
  almost exclusively with symbols.

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Role-Taking is an ability to put the self into
the other, to interpret the meaning of a gesture.

• Two Types of Role-Taking
• Projection - project a meaning onto the
  others gesture.
• Stereotyping - using one characteristic of the
  other to interpret the meaning of a gesture.

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Socialization

• All socialization takes place through a three
  stage process.
• Both infants and adults are socialized in the
  same stages.

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Socialization Stages

• 1. Imitation - imitate the others gestures
  only.
• 2. Play - role-take only one other at a time.
• 3. Game - role-take multiple others
  simultaneously.