Introduction to Sociology

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Introduction to Sociology
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Sociology

• the systematic study of human society

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Purpose of Sociology

• C. Wright Mills
• the sociological imagination
• allows sociologists to place personal troubles of
  individuals within a framework of larger social
  issues
• I.e. divorce

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Sociological Perspective

• seeing the general in the particular (Peter
  Berger, 1963)
• Possible to identify general patterns in the
  behavior of particular people

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• People are split into different categories
• men vs. women
• rich vs. poor
• The categories to which we belong shape our
  experiences

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Lillian Rubin (1976) Marriage Study

• Higher income women expect their men to be
  sensitive to others, to talk readily, and to
  share feelings
• Lower income women look for men who do not drink
  to much, were not violent, and held steady jobs

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Seeing Strange in the Familiar

• People do NOT decide what to do society shapes
  our thoughts and deeds
• Why do you choose a particular college?
• I wanted to stay close to home
• I got a basketball scholarship
• My girlfriend goes to school here
• I didnt get into the school I wanted
• Doesnt really tell you how and why people go to
  college

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Personal Choice

• Emile Durkheim
• Studied suicide figures in France and found
• Protestants, wealthy, single, and men were more
  likely to commit suicide
• Catholics, Jews, poor, and women were less likely
  to commit suicide
• Social Integration categories of people with
  strong social ties vs. more individualistic

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Living on the Margins

• Outsiders- not part of the dominant group
• the greater the social marginality, the better
  someone can use the sociological perspective
• Need to be able to step back and observe

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Crisis

• Great Depression
• people realized general forces were at work in
  their particular lives
• Not Something is wrong with me I cant find a
  job
• Rather The economy has collapsed there are no
  jobs to be found

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• If we can observe and learn about the system we
  can then make changes if necessary

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Global Perspective
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Global Perspective

• The study of the larger world and our societys
  place in it
• Our place in society shapes our life experiences
• The position of our society in the larger world
  system effects everyone in the U.S.

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High-income Countries

• Nations with the highest overall standard of
  living
• Includes top 60 counties
• U.S., Canada, Argentina, Western Europe, South
  Africa, Israel
• Produce most of the worlds goods and services
• Own most of the wealth
• These people are better off simply because they
  were born in these countries

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Middle-income Countries

• Nations with a standard of living about average
  for the world as a whole
• Includes 76 countries
• Eastern Europe, Africa, Latin America, Asia
• Receive 6-8 years of schooling
• Extreme social inequality (some very rich, some
  very poor)

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Low-income Countries

• Nations with a low standard of living in which
  most people are poor
• Most countries are located in Africa and a few in
  Asia
• Some very rich
• Most lack safe housing, water, food, and little
  chance to improve their lives

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Comparisons to the U.S.

• Where we live shapes the lives we lead
• Societies throughout the world are increasingly
  interconnected
• Many social problems that we face in the U.S. are
  far more serious elsewhere
• Thinking globally helps us learn about ourselves

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Applying the Sociological Perspective
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Sociological Perspective

• Seeing the general in the particular
• Society shapes the lives of its members

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Applying the Sociological Perspective

• Why it is useful
• Sociology guides many of the laws and policies
  that shape our lives
• Making use of the sociological perspective leads
  to important personal growth and expanded
  awareness
• Good preparation for work

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Sociology and Public Policy

• Sociologists help shape public policy
• Racial desegregation, school busing laws, divorce
• Example
• Lenore Weitzman discovered women who leave
  marriages lose income
• Many states have passed laws that have increased
  womens claim to martial property and enforced
  fathers job to support women raising their
  children

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Benefits of Sociological Perspective

• Helps us assess the truth of commonly held
  assumptions
• -Do we decide our own fate, if so we are likely
  to praise successful people as superior
• -pg. 10 Seeing Sociology in Everyday Life

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• 2. Helps us assess both the opportunities and
  constraints in our lives
• -we play our cards but society deals us the
  hand
• -helps us size up the world to better
  accomplish our goals

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• 3. Empowers us to be active participants in our
  society
• -if we do not understand how society operates,
  we are likely to accept the status quo
• -pg. 7 C. Wright Mills

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• 4. Helps us live in a diverse world
• -U.S. represents 5 of the worlds population
• -95 live very differently
• -everyone sees their life as right,
  natural, and better
• -helps us think more critically about all
  ways of life

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Origins of Sociology
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Science and Sociology

• French social thinker Auguste Comte (1798-1857)
  first came up with the term sociology
• Described a new way of looking at society
• Wanted to find out how society could be improved
  and how society actually operates

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Comte

• Saw sociology as the product of a 3-stage
  historical development
• 1. Theological- thinking guided by religion
• 2. Metaphysical- society as a natural, not
  supernatural system
• 3. Scientific- used a scientific approach to
  study sociology

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Positivism

• Definition a way of understanding based on
  science
• Society operates according to its laws
• (much like the laws of nature)

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Sociological Theory
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Structural-Functional

• Definition
• Framework for building theory that sees society
  as a complex system whose parts work together to
  promote solidarity and stability
• Sociologists
• Emile Durkheim, Auguste Comte, Herbert Spencer

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• Points to Social Structure
• any relatively stable pattern of social behavior
• gives our lives shape (families, school, work,
  community)

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• Examines Social Functions
• the consequences of any social pattern for the
  operation of society as a whole
• all social structures keep society going
• similar to the way the human body operates

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Robert K. Merton

• Manifest Functions
• recognized and intended consequences of any
  social pattern
• Latent Functions
• unrecognized and unintended consequences of any
  social pattern

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• Social Dysfunction
• any social pattern that may disrupt the operation
  of society

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Summary

• Main goal is to figure out what makes society
  tick
• critics say it ignores inequalities of social
  class, races, and gender

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Social-Conflict Theory

• Definition
• a framework for building theory that sees society
  as an arena of inequality that generates conflict
  and change

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• investigate how social class, race, ethnicity,
  gender, sexual orientation, and age are linked to
  societys unequal distribution of money, power,
  education, and social prestige
• Focus on how social patterns benefit some while
  hurt others

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• Can be used to bring about societal change that
  reduces inequality

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Feminism and the Gender-Conflict Approach

• Definition
• a point of view that focuses on inequality and
  conflict between women and men
• closely linked to feminism
• support of social equality for women and men

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• Helps make us aware of the ways life places men
  in positions of power over women
• at home, at work, in the media
• also, shows importance of women to the
  development of society

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Race-Conflict Approach

• Definition
• point of view that focuses on inequality and
  conflict between people of different racial and
  ethnic categories

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• Points out contributions made by people of color
  to the development of sociology

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Review of Social-Conflict Approaches

• Critics
• ignores shared values and interdependence
• cannot claim scientific objectivity
• paints society in broad strokes

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Symbolic-Interaction Approach

• Definition
• framework for building theory that sees society
  as the product of the everyday interactions of
  individuals
• Max Weber
• understand a setting from the point of view of
  the people in it

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• Society amounts to people interacting
• Shows how individuals actually experience society

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Macro-level Orientation

• Definition
• a broad focus on social structures that shape
  society as a whole
• Big picture
• Includes the structural-functional approach and
  the social-conflict approach

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Micro-level Orientation

• Definition
• a close-up focus on social interactions in
  specific situations
• includes the symbolic-interaction approach

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Applying the Approaches The Sociology of Sports

• The Functions of Sports
• A structural-functional approach directs our
  attention to the ways in which sports help
  society operate
• Sports have functional and dysfunctional
  consequences

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Sports and Conflict

• Social-conflict analysis points out that games
  people play reflect their social standing.
• Sports have been oriented mostly toward males.
• Big league sports excluded people of color for
  decades.
• Sports in the United States are bound up with
  inequalities based on gender, race, and economic
  power.

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Figure 1.2 Stacking in Professional Football
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Sports as Interaction

• Following the symbolic-interaction approach,
  sports are less a system than an ongoing process.
• All three theoretical approachesstructural-functi
  onal, social-conflict, and symbolic-interactionpr
  ovide different insights into sports. No one is
  more correct than the others.