What is Sociology? Family Sociology

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What is Sociology?Family Sociology

• Montclair State University

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Sociological Inquiry

• Families do not exist or evolve in isolation
• Rather, they react to and have an influence on
  the social world around them
• The sociological perspective on families
  emphasizes the rules, roles, and relationships
  that are created an maintained by the larger
  society
• How do sociologists examine family life?
• Theoretical perspectives
• Methods of social analysis

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What is Sociology?

• What pops into your mind when you think about
  Sociology?
• What do sociologists study?
• How is sociological thinking different from other
  social science disciplines?

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The Sociological Approach

• Sociology focuses on the family from the outside
  in rather than the inside out
• Sociology looks behind the scenes to explain
  patterns of behavior
• Sociology looks for general processes that
  produce an individual experience

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Thinking Like a Sociologist
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The Sociological Approach

• Sociology focuses on how social forces influence
  individual behavior, actions, and feelings.
• AND
• Sociology examines how the interaction of
  individuals and small groups influence the
  economic or social change?
• Humans viewed as both puppets and puppeteers

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Thinking like a Sociologist

• In this class, we will focus on how families are
  influenced by the larger social structure
• Social structure is a stable framework of
  social relationships that guides our interaction
  with others

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The Sociological Approach Levels of Analysis

• The macro level comprises
• Society a population of people that is
  organized in a cooperative manner to carry out
  the major functions of life
• Culture All modes of thought, behavior, and
  production that are communicated to members of a
  society through all forms of communication 
• How would you describe the culture of the U.S.?

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The Sociological Approach Levels of Analysis

• The macro level comprises
• Analysis at the macro level focuses on
  large-scale
• social institutions
• social structures
• comparisons between entire societies
• How does one society differ from another?

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The Sociological Approach The Macro Level

• For example How are families different in Japan
  compared to the U.S. ??
• The divorce rate in the U.S. is 50
• The rate in Japan is 27

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The Sociological Approach The Micro Level

• The micro level includes interactions among
  individuals, small groups, and families
• The micro level focuses on our individual
  actions, thoughts, and choices
• Think of this as the smaller picture

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The Sociological Approach
Macro Level
Micro Level
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The Sociological Approach The Macro Level

• Social institutions
• A social institution is a major sphere of social
  life with rules and roles that define a social
  unit of importance to society
• A social institution is a visible structure that
  people can recognize and understand
• Families are a social institution
• MAKE SURE YOU UNDERSTAND THIS CONCEPT OF SOCAIL
  INSTITUIONS!

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The Sociological Approach The Macro Level

• Family sociologists examine how these SOCIAL
  INSTITUTIONS interact and how they influence
  behaviors, attitudes, and opportunities in
  families

Economy
Government
Education
Families
Religion
Healthcare
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The Sociological Approach The Macro Level

• The macro level comprises
• Social Status
• Social statuses are
• the social positions people occupy and
• the privileges and constraints that are attached
  to these positions

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The Sociological Approach The Macro Level

• This hierarchical arrangement of people in terms
  of power, prestige, and resources is called
  social stratification
• These hierarchies in the U.S. are often based on
  race/ethnicity, education, income, and gender
• Think about how your race or gender or age has
  blocked your from an opportunity or given you an
  advantage

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The Sociological Approach The Micro Level

• Micro level deals with issues of social life at
  the level of individuals or small groups
• At the micro level we focus on patterned
  behaviors of people that are due to the social
  conditions in which we find ourselves
• We act differently in different settings and
  places
• Micro level analysis focuses on personal choices

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The Sociological Approach The Micro Level

• Micro level deals with issues of social life at
  the level of individuals or small groups
• Micro level analysis focuses on personal choices
• Think of an example of a personal choice you made
  recently and how it was influenced by the larger
  society, your social status, the economy, the
  government, the culture of Montclair?

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Social Science Research

• How do we know what we know?
• Most of us understand the world around us through
  our personal experience -- the people and
  situations we have been in or have seen
• This personal experience leads to your
  conclusions about the world
• While there is nothing wrong with these ways of
  knowing -- social scientists are skeptical about
  relying ONLY on these sources because
• An individuals experience of those around them
  is not representative of the broader society

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Social Science Research

• How do we know what we know?
• Social scientists use a systematic and more
  scientific mode of investigation
• Social scientists rely on
• Observations of the social world based on
  representative samples
• Example If we wanted to study why people in the
  U.S. get married, we should not just survey
  college students
• We avoid the error of overgeneralization i.e.
  using what we know about a small group of people
  to conclude something about all people

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Sociological Theories

• Social science theories explain or help us make
  sense of patterns in social life
• Theories shape and direct research they point
  us in a direction
• That direction influences what we look for, what
  we find, and how we explain it

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Sociological Theories

• Theories about families and relationships are
  made up a set of statements that explain why
  certain relationships occur
• For example The age at first marriage has
  increased because more women are graduating from
  college and starting careers before marrying

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Macrolevel theories

• Macrolevel theories focus on
• a whole society or a large part of it
• the BIG PICTURE
• Example
• How has the decline in real male wages influenced
  husbands and wives involvement in the paid
  labor force
• Research might examine cost of living and
  employment rates by gender and compare data from
  1960 to 2000

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Sociological Theories

• Theories used to explain relationships at a more
  personal level are micro level theories
• Examples
• A researcher wants to know how often husbands and
  wives argue on a weekly basis
• They might observe a husbands and wife in their
  home or tape their conversations over the week

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Major Sociological Theories

• Structural Functionalism
• Operates at the macro level
• Structural functionalists view society as a
  social system with interacting parts
• The functionalist perspective views society as a
  vast organism whose parts are interdependent or
  interrelated
• Think about how social institutions interact
  families and the economic system

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Major Sociological Theories

• Structural Functionalism
• Operates at the macro level
• Structural-Functionalists focus on how social
  institutions like families meet the basic needs
  or functions of a society.
• The family as a social institution is analyzed
  from two perspectives
• 1)    How does the family contribute to the
  maintenance of the larger social system ?
• 2)    And, in what ways does society and other
  social institutions (like education or economic
  system) affect families?

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Major Sociological Theories

• Exchange Theory
• Operates at the micro level
• Similar to economic theories that view humans as
  rational beings who make decisions about the
  exchange of goods and services
• In doing so, they weigh the costs and benefits of
  exchanges
• Emphasis is on efficiency
•  

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Major Sociological Theories

• Exchange Theory
• Operates at the micro level
• In relationships, for example, people have some
  resource that is valued by the other person
• This is when exchange can take place
• In relationships -- what do women hold of value?
• How about men?
•  

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Major Sociological Theories

• Gender Theory
• Operates at both macro and micro level
• Central concept is genderthe social and cultural
  characteristics that distinguish women and men in
  society.

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Major Sociological Theories

• Gender Theory Feminist Theory)
• Oriented toward power in relationships.
• Feminist theory argues that differences between
  men and women are socially constructed to
  maintain power of men over women.
• Emphasizes culture, rather than biology.
• Read more for Assignment 3 in Chapter by Cherlin
  on Theories