Multiculturalism in the US

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Lesson 1 What is Sociology?

• Multiculturalism in the US
• Lesson 1Robert Wonser

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Cool Insights from Sociology

• Humans cannot be understood apart from social
  context (i.e. society)
• Society makes us who we are by structuring out
  interactions and laying out an orderly world
  before us
• Society is a social construction, that is, it is
  an idea created by humans (i.e. doesnt exist in
  the biological world but only in the social
  world) through social interaction and given a
  reality through our understanding of it and our
  collective actions.

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Society Influences You

• Death Related to society? Of course!

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Baby Names
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Names that have gained the most popularity, 2004
2010 ...Or, the names Ill begin seeing
all the time in 2022-2028
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Meaning through Interaction

• People actively and collectively shape their own
  lives, organizing their social interactions and
  relationships into a meaningful world.
• Sociologists study this social behavior by
  seeking out its patterns.
• Patterns are crucial to our understanding of
  society

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Society

• Society is a group of people who shape their
  lives in aggregated and patterned ways that
  distinguish their group from other groups.

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What is Sociology?

• Sociology is the systematic or scientific study
  of human society and social behavior, from
  large-scale institutions and mass culture to
  small groups and individual interactions.
• Sociology is also the study of reifications, or
  social constructions.

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The Sociological Imagination

• C. Wright Mills used the term sociological
  imagination to describe the ability to look at
  issues from a sociological perspective.
• Personal troubles versus public issues
• Ex unemployment, obesity

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The Sociological Perspective

• The sociological perspective is a quality of the
  mind that allows us to understand the
  relationship between our particular situation in
  life and what is happening at a social level.
• Sociological perspective and sociological
  imagination are often used interchangeably.

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The Sociological Perspective

• When using a sociological perspective, one
  focuses on the social context in which people
  live and how that social context has an impact on
  individuals lives.
• This is the essence of what sociology does.
• Making the familiar strange

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Using the Sociological Perspective

• In small groups
• How would you explain the following social
  problems using the sociological
  imagination/perspective?
• Obesity
• Homelessness/Poverty
• Unemployment
• Marriage
• The metropolis
• War

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Take Away Points

• Humans cannot be understood apart from the social
  context they live in (society, culture and time
  place)
• The world around us profoundly shapes and
  influences who we are, how we behave and even
  how/what we think.
• It is the job of the sociologist to understand
  how this process works and to what effect.