Sociology in Our Times: The Essentials

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Sociology in Our Times The Essentials

• Diana Kendall6th Edition

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Ground Rules to Sociology Class

• Only speak for your self
• I statements rather than You statements
• Avoid broad generalizations
• Avoid judgement statements
• Take turns speaking and avoid interrupting
• Try to always keep The Four Agreements
• Remember
• You are entitled to your own opinions, but you
  are not entitled to your own facts. (Michael
  Specter)

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Upon completion of this unit, students should be
able to

• Discuss and evaluate the ideas, and theories of
  prominent social scientists
• Demonstrate an understanding of the different
  disciplines involved in the study of individuals
  and groups in society (sociology, psychology and
  anthropology)
• Demonstrate an understanding and appreciation of
  concepts and methods used in the social sciences.
  
•  Apply social science methods to specific
  situations.
•  Work co-operatively to apply these concepts and
  methods.
•  Explore sources of bias, understand how to
  detect bias, explore personal bias and reflect on
  ways to reduce bias.
•  Examine evidence using sociological methods of
  inquiry

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Chapter 1

• The Sociological Perspective andResearch Methods

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Chapter Outline

• Putting Social Life into Perspective
• The Importance of a Global Sociological
  Imagination
• The Origins of Sociological Thinking
• The Development of Modern Sociology
• Contemporary Theoretical Perspectives
• Comparing Sociology with other Social Sciences

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Putting Social Life Into Perspective

• Sociology is the systematic study of human
  society and social interaction.
• Sociologists study societies and social
  interactions to develop theories of
• How human behavior is shaped by group life.
• How group life is affected by individuals.

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Why Study Sociology?

• Helps us gain a better understanding of ourselves
  and our social world.
• Helps us see how behavior is shaped by the groups
  to which we belong and our society.
• Promotes understanding and tolerance by helping
  us look beyond personal experiences and gain
  insight into the larger world order.

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Society

• A society is a large social grouping that shares
  the same geographical territory and is subject to
  the same political authority and dominant
  cultural expectations, such as the United States,
  Mexico, or Nigeria.

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Fields That Use Social Science Research
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Sociological and Individualistic Explanations for
Human Behavior
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The Sociological Imagination

• The ability to see the relationship between
  individual experiences and the larger society.
• Distinguishes between personal troubles and
  social issues.
• Sociological
  Imagination Defined
• Why Videos Go Viral
  (Ted Talk)

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Personal Troubles

• Personal troubles are private problems that
  affect individuals and the networks of people
  with which they associate regularly.
• Example One person being unemployed or running
  up a high credit card debt could be identified as
  a personal trouble.

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Public Issues

• Public issues are problems that affect large
  numbers of people and require solutions at the
  societal level.
• Widespread unemployment and massive, nationwide
  consumer debt are examples of public issues.

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Overspending as a Personal Trouble

• People credit cards and spend more than they can
  afford, affecting all aspects of their lives,
  including health, family relationships, and
  employment stability.
• Sociologist George Ritzer suggests that people
  may overspend through a gradual process.
• Credit cards lure people into consumption by easy
  credit and entice them into further consumption
  by offers of payment holidays, new cards, and
  increased credit limits.

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Overspending as a Public Issue

• Between 1990 and 2000, credit card debt tripled
  in the United States.
• As corporations write off bad debt from those
  who declare bankruptcy or do not pay their bills,
  all consumers pay either directly or indirectly
  for that debt.

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Overspending as a Public Issue

• Poverty is forgotten as a social issue when more
  affluent people are having a spending holiday and
  consuming all they can afford to purchase.
• Sociologist Robert D. Manning found that
  students are aggressively targeted by credit card
  companies even though it is accepted that some of
  the students will ruin their credit while still
  in college.

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Private vs Public

• Vaccination Assignment
• The Current Monday Feb 9 2015
• As It Happens Thursday Feb 19 2015
• Vaccine Research at UBC Feb 11 2015
• The Current Friday Feb 13 2015
• Jimmy Kimmel Feb 27, 2015

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Importance of a Global Sociological Imagination

• Although existing sociological theory and
  research provide a foundation for sociological
  thinking, we must develop a more global approach
  for the future.
• In the 21st century, we face important challenges
  in a rapidly changing nation and world.

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High Income Countries

• Nations with highly industrialized economies
  technologically advanced industrial,
  administrative, and service occupations.
• Examples United States, Canada, Australia, New
  Zealand, Japan, and Western Europe.
• Have a high standard of living and a lower death
  rate due to advances in nutrition and medical
  technology.
• Personal debt may threaten economic even among
  middle- and upper income people.

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Middle Income Countries

• Nations with industrializing economies,
  particularly in urban areas, and moderate levels
  of national and personal income
• Example The nations of Eastern Europe and many
  Latin American countries.

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Low Income Countries

• Primarily agrarian nations with little
  industrialization and low levels of national and
  personal income.
• Examples Many of the nations of Africa and Asia,
  particularly the Peoples Republic of China and
  India, where people typically work the land and
  are among the poorest in the world.

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Population Demographics
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Population Demographics
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Definitions

• Race is used to specify groups of people
  distinguished by physical characteristics such as
  skin color.
• There are no pure racial types, and race is
  considered by most sociologists to be a social
  construction people use to justify social
  inequalities.
• Ethnicity refers to the cultural heritage or
  identity of a group and is based on factors such
  as language or country of origin.

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Definitions

• Class is the relative location of a person or
  group within the larger society, based on wealth,
  power, prestige, or other valued resources.
• Sex refers to the biological and anatomical
  differences between females and males.
• Gender refers to the meanings, beliefs, and
  practices associated with sex differences,
  referred to as femininity and masculinity.

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Question

• Femininity and masculinity are _____-related
  terms.
• sex
• gender
• biology
• anatomically

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Answer b

• Femininity and masculinity are gender-related
  terms.

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Sociology and the Age of Enlightenment

• The origins of sociological thinking can be
  traced to the scientific revolution in the late
  17th and mid-18th centuries and the Age of
  Enlightenment.
• A basic assumption of the Enlightenment was that
  scientific laws had been designed with a view to
  human happiness.

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Sociology and the Age of Enlightenment

• In France, the Enlightenment was dominated by
  the philosophers, including Montesquieu,
  Rousseau, and Turgot.
• They believed human society could be improved
  through scientific discoveries.
• If people were free from the ignorance of the
  past, they could create new forms of political
  and economic organization, which would produce
  wealth and destroy the aristocracy.

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Sociology and the Age of Revolution,
Industrialization, and Urbanization

• The Enlightenment produced an intellectual
  revolution in how people thought about social
  change, progress, and critical thinking.
• Views of the philosophers regarding equal
  opportunity stirred political and economic
  revolutions in America and France.
• The Industrial Revolution occurred in the 19th
  and 20th centuries, when economic, technological,
  and social changes occurred as technology shifted
  from agriculture to manufacturing.

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Sociology and the Age of Revolution,
Industrialization, and Urbanization

• Industrialization is the process by which
  societies are transformed from dependence on
  agriculture and handmade products to an emphasis
  on manufacturing and related industries.
• Urbanization is the process by which an
  increasing proportion of a population lives in
  cities rather than in rural areas.

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S O C I O L O G I S T s
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August Comte

• Considered the
  founder of sociology.
• Comtes philosophy became known as positivism a
  belief that the world can best be understood
  through scientific inquiry.
• Comte believed objective, bias-free knowledge was
  attainable only through the use of science rather
  than religion.

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Two Dimensions Of Comtes Positivism

• Methodological - the application of scientific
  knowledge to physical and social phenomena.
• Social and political - the use of such knowledge
  to predict the likely results
  of different policies so that
  the
  best one
  could be chosen.

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Harriet Martineau

• Believed society would improve when
• Women and men were treated equally.
• Enlightened reform occurred.
• Cooperation existed
  among all social classes.

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Herbert Spencer

• Spencers
  major contribution to
  sociology was an
  evolutionary
  perspective on social order and social change.
• Social Darwinism - the belief that those human
  beings, best adapted to their environment survive
  and prosper, whereas those poorly adapted die out.

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Emile Durkheim

• Believed the
  limits of human
  potential
  are socially,
  
  not biologically based.
• One of his most important contributions to
  sociology was the idea that societies are built
  on social facts.
• Social facts are patterned ways of acting,
  thinking, and feeling that exist outside any one
  individual but that exert social control over
  each person.

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Durkheim continued

• Durkheim was concerned with social order and
  social stability
• Recurring question How do societies manage to
  hold together?
• Pre-industrial societies held together by strong
  traditions and shared moral beliefs and values
• Industrialized societies become interdependent
  due to specialized economic activity
• Society becomes strained during periods of rapid
  social change where division of labour is
  produced
• Breakdown in traditional organization, values,
  and authority and a dramatic increase in anomie

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Durkheim continued

• Anomie A condition in which social control
  becomes ineffective as a result of the loss of
  shared values and of a sense of purpose in
  society.
• Durkheim called the crucial figure in the
  development of sociology as an academic
  discipline
• Proponent of the scientific approach to examining
  social facts outside of individualsbased on
  observation and systematic study
• Founder of functionalist perspective

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Karl Marx

• Viewed history as a clash between conflicting
  ideas and forces.
• Believed class conflict produced social change
  and a better society.
• Combined ideas from philosophy, history, and
  social science into a
  new theory.
• Believed society should
  not just be studied, it
  should be changed.

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Karl Marx continued

• Bourgeoisie - capitalist class
• Those who own and control the means of
  production
• The tools, land, factories, and money for
  investment that form the economic basis of a
  society
• Proletariat - working class
• Those who must sell their labour because they
  have no other means to earn a livelihood.

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Karl Marx continued

• Marx believed the capitalist class controls and
  exploits the masses by paying less than the value
  of their labour.
• Alienation a feeling of powerlessness and
  estrangement from other people and from oneself.
• Marx predicted the working class would become
  aware of its exploitation, overthrow the
  capitalists, and establish a free and classless
  society.

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Max Weber

• Believed sociological research should exclude
  personal values and economic interests.
• Provided insights
  on rationalization,
  
  bureaucracy and
  religion.
• Emphasized that
  research should be
  condicted in a scientific
  manner

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Georg Simmel

• Theorized about
  society as a web of
  patterned interactions
  among people.
• Analyzed how social interactions vary depending
  on the size of the social group.
• Developed formal sociology, an approach that
  focuses attention on the universal recurring
  social forms that underlie the varying content of
  social interaction.

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Jane Adams

• Founded Hull House, one of the most famous
  settlement houses, in Chicago.
• One of the authors of a methodology text used by
  sociologists for the next forty years.
• Awarded Nobel Prize for assistance to the
  underprivileged.

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W. E. B. Du Bois

• One of the first to note the identity conflict of
  being both a black and an American.
• Pointed out that people in the U.S. espouse
  values of democracy, freedom, and equality while
  they accept racism and group discrimination.

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Question

• ____________examined religion, politics, child
  rearing, slavery, and immigration.
• Auguste Comte
• Harriet Martineau
• Herbert Spencer
• Emile Durkheim
• Karl Marx

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Answer b

• Harriet Martineau examined religion, politics,
  child rearing, slavery, and immigration.

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Question

• _____________stressed that history is a
  continuous clash between conflicting ideas and
  forces.
• Auguste Comte
• Harriet Martineau
• Herbert Spencer
• Emile Durkheim
• Karl Marx

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Answer e

• Karl Marx stressed that history is a continuous
  clash between conflicting ideas and forces.

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Sociological Research

• Theory - a set of logically interrelated
  statements that attempt to describe, explain, and
  predict social events.
• Research is the process of collecting information
  for the purpose of testing an existing theory or
  generating a new one.
• The relationship between theory and research has
  been referred to as a continuous cycle.

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Theoretical Perspectives
Theory View of Society
Functionalist Composed of interrelated parts that work together to maintain stability.
Conflict Society is characterized by social inequality social life is a struggle for scarce resources.
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Theoretical Perspectives
Theory View of Society
SymbolicInteractionist Behavior is learned in interaction with other people.
Postmodernist Postindustrialization, consumerism, and global communications bring into question assumptions about social life and the nature of reality.
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Question

• Which sociological perspective do you think
  explains the concept of inequality in our society
  the most accurately?
• Structural-functional
• Conflict
• Symbolic Interactionist
• Feminist

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Question

• ____ perspectives are based on the assumption
  that society is a stable, orderly system.
• Functionalist
• Interactionist
• Conflict
• Feminist

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Answer a

• Functionalist perspectives are based on the
  assumption that society is a stable, orderly
  system.

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Question

• _____ perspectives are based on the assumption
  that groups are engaged in a continuous power
  struggle for control of scarce resources.
• Functionalist
• Interactionist
• Conflict
• Feminist

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Answer c

• Conflict perspectives are based on the assumption
  that groups are engaged in a continuous power
  struggle for control of scarce resources.

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Sociology and Anthropology

• Anthropology seeks to understand human existence
  over geographic space and evolutionary time.
• Sociology seeks to understand contemporary social
  organization, relations, and change.

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Sociology and Psychology

• Psychology is the study of behavior and mental
  processes - what occurs in the mind.
• Sociological research examines the effects of
  groups, organizations, and institutions on social
  life.

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Sociology and Economics

• Economists attempt to explain how the limited
  resources of a society are allocated among
  competing demands.
• Economists focus on economic systems such as
  monetary policy, inflation, and the national
  debt.
• Sociologists focus on a number of social
  institutions, one of which is the economy.

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Sociology and Political Science

• Political scientists concentrate on political
  institutions.
• Sociologists study political institutions within
  the context of other social institutions, such as
  families.

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Quick Quiz
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• Sociology is the systematic study of
• intuition and commonsense knowledge.
• human society and social interaction.
• the production, distribution, and consumption of
  goods and services in a society.
• personality and human development.

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Answer b

• Sociology is the systematic study of human
  society and social interaction.

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• 2. The ability to provide theory and research
  beyond one's own country enveloping countries all
  over the world is known as a _____ approach.
• global
• developed nation
• developing nation
• personal awareness

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Answer a

• The ability to provide theory and research beyond
  one's own country enveloping countries all over
  the world is known as a global approach.

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• 3. ______________ is the process by which
  societies are transformed from dependence on
  agriculture and handmade products to an emphasis
  on manufacturing and related industries.
• Urbanization
• Globalization
• Industrialization
• Gentrification
• none of these choices

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Answer c

• Industrialization is the process by which
  societies are transformed from dependence on
  agriculture and handmade products to an emphasis
  on manufacturing and related industries.

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• 4. The idea that research should be conducted in
  a scientific manner and would exclude the
  researchers personal values and economic
  interests was emphasized by
• Jane Addams.
• Karl Marx.
• Georg Simmel.
• Max Weber.

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Answer d

• The idea that research should be conducted in a
  scientific manner and would exclude the
  researchers personal values and economic
  interests was emphasized by Max Weber.

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• 5. Who believed that the limits of human
  potential are socially based, not biologically
  based?
• Auguste Comte
• Harriet Martineau
• Herbert Spencer
• Emile Durkheim
• Karl Marx

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Answer d

• Emile Durkheim believed that the limits of human
  potential are socially based, not biologically
  based.

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• 6. Where was the first department of sociology
  established?
• Ohio
• Michigan
• Chicago
• Texas
• California

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Answer c

• The first department of sociology was established
  in Chicago.

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• 7. Emphasis was placed on the individuals
  possession of critical reasoning and experience
  during
• the industrial revolution.
• the Enlightenment.
• urbanization.
• the Middle Ages.

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Answer b

• Emphasis was placed on the individuals
  possession of critical reasoning and experience
  during the Enlightenment.

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• 8. The early social thinker who coined the term
  Sociology and his or her philosophy became known
  as positivism is
• Karl Marx.
• Emile Durkheim.
• Auguste Comte.
• Harriet Martineau.

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Answers c

• The early social thinker who coined the term
  Sociology and his or her philosophy became known
  as positivism is Auguste Comte.

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Resources

• http//www.ted.com/talks/sam_richards_a_radical_ex
  periment_in_empathy.html