The Sociological Perspective

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• The Sociological Perspective
• Chapter 1

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Sociology as a Point of View

• Sociology is concerned with the scientific study
  of human organization and social interactions.
• Seeks to understand
• What is the nature of the individual, and what
  are the capacities of the individual to act in
  the context of society?
• what is it that holds societies together?
• What are the circumstances or conditions under
  which societies change?

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Development of Sociology

• Sociology emerged as a separate field of study in
  Europe during the 19th century
• During this period, the social order was shaken
  by the Industrial Revolution and the American
  and French Revolutions.

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Sociology in the 19th Century

• Three scholars shaped sociology into a relatively
  coherent discipline
• Karl Marx
• Émile Durkheim
• Max Weber
• Their ideas were greatly shaped by
  industrialization, capitalism, and
  socio-political revolutions

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Karl Marx (18181883)

• Believed the history of human societies could be
  seen as the history of class conflict between
• The bourgeoisie, who own and control the means of
  production, and
• The proletariat, who make up the mass of workers.
• A critique of capitalism (unequal playing field)

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Karl Marx (18181883)

• Marx believed that the starting point for the
  analysis of any society should be two questions
  about inequality
• First, who takes possession of surplus?
• What means do they use to do so?

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Émile Durkheim (18581917)

• Believed that individuals were the product of
  their social environment, and that society shapes
  people in every possible way
• What makes an American different from a French or
  an Italian?
• Showed how a personal act, such as suicide is
  really patterned by social forces
• Differences in suicide according to religious
  practices
• Differences in suicide according to group
  solidarity

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Durkheims Three Types of Suicide

• Egoistic suicide - derives from loneliness and a
  commitment to personal beliefs over group values
• single people, protestants who overemphasize
  individualism
• Altruistic suicide - the individual is willing to
  die for the sake of the community
• Kamikaze pilots, suicide bombers
• Anomic suicide - results from feeling
  disconnected from societys values
• Depression

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Suicide in the United States

• Social factors
• Suicide is the 3rd leading cause of death for 15-
  to 24-year-olds.
• Older adults account for 20 of suicide deaths,
  but only 13 of the overall U.S. population.
• Suicide rates for Native Americans are 1.5 times
  the national rates.

http//www.nationmaster.com/graph/hea_sui_rat_mal-
health-suicide-rate-males
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Contemporary Sociology

• What is a theory?
• A theory is a systematic explanation for the
  observations related to a particular aspect of
  life.

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Conflict Theory

• The social order consists of groups and
  individuals trying to advance their own interests
  over others.

In this sense, you could explain things like
poverty, politics, discrimination and sexism as
the result of conflict between those who have
power and wealth over those who do not.
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• Functionalism
• Views society as a system of highly interrelated
  structures or parts that function or operate
  together harmoniously
• Society benefits from the contributions of people
  to function and survive
• Just like an organism has parts such as a heart,
  lungs, a liver,or a kidney (which contribute to
  its survival), society has policemen,
  firefighters, teachers, or bankers to contribute
  to its own survival.
• If a behavior, belief, or arrangement exists in
  society it must contribute in one way or another
  for society

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Symbolic Interactionism

• Concerned with the meaning that people place on
  their own and one anothers behavior.
• If a certain behavior is becomes defined as
  prestigious, people will do it
• Crime and deviance can be understood from the
  individual reasoning of deviants and the specific
  situations in which they participate
• Chicago bank robbers