WHAT IS SOCIOLOGY?

Chapter 1

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DEFINITION OF SOCIOLOGY

• Sociology is the study of human behavior in society. • All human behavior occurs in a societal context in the community we live in, in the church, the school, the family, the nation or somewhere in this world. • That context shapes what people do and how they think.

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SOCIOLOGY IS A SOCIAL SCIENCE • Sociology is a scientific way of thinking about society and its influence on human groups. • It is an empirical discipline. • Its conclusions are based on careful and systematic observations. • This way of thinking is very different from ordinary common sense.

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C. WRIGHT MILLS • C.W. Mills coined the term the sociological imagination (1959). • The ability to see the societal patterns that influence the individual as well as groups of individuals.

1916–1962 4

THE SOCIOLOGICAL IMAGINATION C.W. MILLS • The ability to look at what people are doing and develop an understanding of the town, culture, and/or society in which they live, thrive, and die. • For example: Sociologists watch a parade, go on a picnic, watch activities in a classroom, at a religious service, or while driving on a freeway or a small town road. While doing so, they can see the structure of the town, community, and/or culture.

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YOUR SOCIOLOGICAL IMAGINATION

By the end of this course, you will have begun to develop your own sociological imagination.

You will see things from a sociological perspective; whether you are at a football game, picnic, home watching TV, out to dinner, or celebrating a holiday with family, you will begin to see things differently than you do now. You will see things from a sociological perspective!

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ISSUES VS. TROUBLES ACCORDING TO C.W. MILLS

• This distinction is the root of the difference between individual experience and social structure, defined as the organized pattern of social relationships and social institutions that together constitute society. • It is essential that you understand and are able to apply this concept.

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PERSONAL TROUBLES • Troubles are privately felt problems that spring from events or feelings in a person’s life. Example of a personal trouble: You lost your job and can’t find a new one. So you become a couch potato, lose enthusiasm, and move back home.

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ISSUES • Issues affect large numbers of people and have their origins in the institutional arrangements and history of a society. • Issues shape the context within which troubles arise.

Example of a public issue: • General Motors may shut down its Detroit plant or lay off 1/3 of its auto workers. • If this happens, many workers in the town will be unemployed and will not easily find another job locally since there are no manufacturing jobs available in the city. 9

DISCUSSION QUESTION • Describe a trouble and an issue that you currently face. • How are the two related? • How are they different?

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DISCOVERING UNSETTLING FACTS

• Sociologists find it crucial to examine the most controversial topics and do so with an open mind, even when they see the most disquieting facts. • Peter Berger (1963) calls this process debunking.

• Debunking refers to looking behind the facades of everyday life. • Berger called it the ―unmasking tendency‖ of sociology (1963). This allows us to see the truth and expose it. • Few people like to know disquieting facts as their cherished views are challenged and this makes them uncomfortable.

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DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

• Give examples of disquieting individual or social facts. – You can take them from your reading of this chapter, from the media, or from personal experiences. • Give examples of disquieting social conditions of a culture that is not your own. – For Example: The Iranian government requires that an Iranian woman have sex with her spouse at least every three days even when it is against her will.

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DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 1. In your own words, define sociology. 2. What did C.W. Mills write about? 3. What is debunking? Why is it considered inconvenient and who does it threaten?

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THE SIGNIFICANCE OF DIVERSITY • Diversity is a central theme studied by sociologists. • Diversity is an important issue in any society, even in the United States. • Racial and ethnic groups currently comprise 35% of those living in this country. • This percentage continues to steadily increase. • Hispanics, Asians, Native Americans, Latinos, Jews, Christians, Hindus, newborns and the elderly, the disabled, as well as heterosexuals, bisexuals, and homosexuals make up our diverse population. This is not an exhaustive list.

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UNDERSTANDING DIVERSITY • Understanding diversity is crucial to understanding society. • Patterns of social change and social structures are patterned by diverse group experiences. • There are numerous sources of diversity, including: • race • class • gender • age • nationality • sexual orientation • region of residence

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MINORITIES IN THE U.S.

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SOCIETY IN GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE • It is impossible to understand today’s societies without seeing them in a global context. • The social and economic systems of every society are intertwined with those of other nations. • Mass media, the Internet, and ease of travel continue to bring societies closer together.

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GLOBAL CONNECTEDNESS • We are no long a country separated by geographic boundaries. – We can communicate with almost anyone in the world in minutes. – We can travel to the other side of the globe in hours. – The collapse of the financial market in one country affects all other countries. – A natural disaster in one region of the globe has widespread effects on

all other nations. – Examples include the swine flu, the Black Plague, or even SARS.

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DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

#1. Give examples of how nations, large and small, are influenced by what happens in another country.

#2. Use stories from the media or from your personal experiences as the source of this information. #3. How have these events changed the lives of people at home and abroad?

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THE DEVELOPMENT OF SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY

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In the 18th and 19th century, faith in the ability for mankind to solve its problems and survive is known as the Age of Enlightenment or Age of Reason. • This period in history significantly influenced the development of modern sociology. • Understanding and observation replaced the idea that things can only be understood by applying religious teaching or by a belief that a supernatural spirit (god or demon) caused them to happen as either a punishment or as a reward for correct or incorrect behavior.

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THREE EARLY SOCIOLOGICAL THINKERS • These early contributors set the stage for the birth of sociology: • Auguste Comte • Alexis de Tocqueville • Harriet Martineau

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AUGUSTE COMTE • The founding father of sociology. • He believed that society could be studied scientifically. • This approach is known as positivism.

1798–1857

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ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE • A French politician, scholar, and historian. • He traveled in America and studied its political system. • He felt that despite the individualism of Americans, they had little independence of mind.

1805–1859 23

HARRIET MARTINEAU • Martineau was fascinated by the newly emerging American culture. • In 1937, she wrote about it in Society in America. • She also wrote about how to observe behavior as a participant.

1802–1876

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CLASSICAL SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY • These three classical sociologists set the foundation for our current thinking and understanding of sociology. • Emile Durkheim • Karl Marx • Max Weber

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EMILE DURKHEIM • Some of Durkheim’s major work focuses on the forces that hold society together. • He called this force social solidarity. • People are glued together by religious rituals which sustain moral cohesion. • Ginna’s favorite!

1858-1917 26

DURKHEIM • Durkheim viewed society as larger than the sum of its parts. • Society is ―external to the individual.” • Sui generis • society is an integrated whole with each part contributing to the stability of the system (based on organicism) • This is the central theme of functionalism. • Social facts, which are external to the individual, exercise constraints on individual behaviors.

SUICIDE • Durkheim is well known for his early work on suicide. • He demonstrated that suicide was not purely a personal trouble, but that rates of suicide within a society varied by how clear and consistently upheld the norms and customs of the society were. • He showed that suicide rates were higher in societies where norms were unclear or contradictory. • This was referred to as a state of normlessness or anomie.

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DISCUSSION QUESTION • How did the Age of Enlightenment influence the early sociological thinkers? • Give examples of their work that show such influence.

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KARL MARX • Marx is one of the most influential thinkers in history. • He saw society as systematic and structural and class as a fundamental dimension of society that shapes social behavior. • Was not a bad guy!

1818-1883

MARX’S IDEAS

Marx: • took social structure as his subject rather than the actions of individuals • was devoted to explaining how capitalism, an economic system based on pursuing profit, shaped society • addressed the capitalist class, the bourgeoisie, controllers of the production of goods and of ideas • spoke of economic determinism with a class system of owners (bourgeoisie) and workers (proletariat).

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MAX WEBER ( ―VAY-BER‖)

• Weber expanded on Marx’s thinking; society has three basic dimensions: political, economic, and cultural, which must all be examined. • Weber was concerned with ideas and how they shaped society.

1864–1920 32

WEBER’S IDEAS Weber: • while influenced by Marx’s work, he saw society from a multidimensional perspective that went beyond Marx’s strictly economic focus • the task of a sociologist is to teach students the uncomfortable truth about the world • sociologists must not project their political ideas on their students (valuefree) - The German word verstehen refers to understanding social behavior from the point of view of those engaged in it. Different from Durkheim.

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SOCIOLOGY IN AMERICA • Early American sociologists were influenced by European thinkers. • Early sociologists in the United States were influenced by natural science and saw society as an organism, a constantly evolving system of interrelated functions and parts that work together to create the whole (organicism). • If sociologists exposed the causes of social problems they could alleviate some of the consequences, which are measured in human suffering (pragmatism—more ―hands-on‖ than in Europe

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EARLY AMERICAN THINKERS • • • • • • •

Charles Darwin Charles Horton Cooley George Herbert Mead Robert Parks Jane Adams Ida B. Wells Barnett W.E.B. Du Bois

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CHARLES DARWIN • British biologist whose ideas influenced Herbert Spencer: Social Darwinism. – ―Survival of the fittest‖ is also the driving force of social and biological evolution. • Society, an organism, evolves from the simple to the complex. It is best left alone. – This is referred to as Laissez-faire, the non-interference doctrine.

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ROBERT PARKS • Also from the University of Chicago, interested in urban problems and how different racial

groups interacted. • introduced the idea of boundaries within cities and how they are

enforced and maintained. • Example: the Vietnamese from white affluent neighbors

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JANE ADAMS • Also from Chicago, was a leader in the settlement housing movement. • She developed housing projects for immigrants, slum dwellers, and other dispossessed groups.

• Nobel Prize winner- 1931 38

W.E.B. DU BOIS “DUE BOYS” • A black scholar and cofounder of the NAACP, he was deeply troubled by the racial divisiveness in society. • He envisioned a communitybased, activist profession committed to social justice. • He also believed in the scientific approach to sociological questions. • Conflict theorist

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IDA B. WELLS-BARNETT • born a slave yet received a teaching credential. • crusaded against lynching and for women’s rights. • Her work went unrecognized

for years. • After her death, her grandson, Troy Duster, president of the

American Sociological Association, brought her to public attention.

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THEORETICAL FRAMEWORKS USED BY SOCIOLOGISTS • Sociological thinkers developed different perspectives, frameworks, schools of thought, and paradigms to help them ask questions and to assist their understanding of the underlying relationships regarding their observations. • These theoretical frameworks provide different insights into the nature of society.

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THEORETICAL FRAMEWORKS • The main theoretical frameworks used by most sociologists are: • Functionalism (macro) • Conflict (macro & micro) • Symbolic Interaction (micro) • Diverse Theoretical frameworks (macro & micro) • Feminism • Postmodernism

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FUNCTIONALISM

• From Emile Durkheim’s ideas & organicism

• Focuses on how each of society’s parts, institutions, and systems contribute to the stability of the whole. • Each institution has a specific function to fulfill for the society to function properly.

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FUNCTIONALISM • Functionalists are concerned with the stability and shared public values of the culture or the society. • Conditions such as deviance are disruptive to the stability of the society and they lead to social change as the society must find ways to deal with it and re-establish its social stability and order. • Popular post WW-II • Conservative • Assumes system homeostasis

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CONFLICT THEORY • derived from the contributions of Karl Marx. Emphasizes the role of competition and power. • Conflict theory emphasizes strife and revolution as an agent of social change. • Karl Marx was a political activist • Change, not stability is inherent in society • Competition rather than co-existence are normal • Competition for scarce resources • Those with power make the laws (protect their interests)

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CONFLICT THEORY • Society is comprised of groups that compete for social and economic resources.

– Social order is maintained not by consensus, but by domination, with power in the hands of those with the greatest political, economic, and social resources. – Conflict theorists study issues such as the exploitation of the masses by those in power and also who owns the means of production.

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SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONISM

• Focuses on immediate social interaction to be the place where ―society‖ exists. • studies the ways groups of people, cultures, and societies assign different meaning to behavior, events, or things. • concerned with how different people interpret the same event and how the interpretation determines one's behavior.

• emphasize face-to-face interaction and pay attention to words, gestures, and symbols. • Social order is constantly negotiated and created through the interpretations people give to their behavior.

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FEMINISM • Feminism is concerned with understanding: – things from the female world view – the symbols used in speech, dress, and how one learns – how the social organism/society functions – both manifest and latent functions – Inclusion of voices not generally heard (people of color, gays, lesbians, poor, etc) – Tends to be post-modern perspective

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POST MODERNISM

• based on the idea that society is not an objective thing. • Instead, it is found in the words and images that people use to represent behavior and ideas. • Postmodernists argue that images and text reveal the underlying ways that people think and act. • Postmodernist studies typically involve detailed analyses of images, words, film, music, and other forms of popular culture. • Contemporary life involves multiple experiences and interpretations, and these are not categorized into broad and abstract concepts

Discard the search for laws (positivism)

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TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE • Charles Horton Cooley: a. was a slave who studied lynching b. was the founder of functionalism c. studied day-to-day interactions d. none of the above

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TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE • C.W. Mills: a. coined the term the sociological imagination b. saw society as a reflection of its history and the way people behaved in a social context c. discussed capitalism and the exploitation of the workers d. all but answer c above

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