THE STUDY OF SOCIOLOGY

WARM-UP1. Pick-up both worksheets on chairwhen you walk in2. Fill in half sheet quotes just guessingwhat you think goes in the blanks.

THE STUDY OFSOCIOLOGYUnit 1: SociologicalPerspective andMethods of Inquiry

WHY STUDY SOCIOLOGY?“Educating students to better understand themselves and others, to value our heritage,and to appreciate the diversity of the world and its cultures."Sociology provides us with an understanding of how social forces shape individualattitudes and behavior.Sociology shows us how societies are developed andmaintained.Sociology introduces us to the sociological imagination, which is the mindset thatallows us to see the connection between the individual and society.Sociology helps us to the appreciate the diversity that exists in the human population.Sociology challenges our common sense notions about the social world that we livein.Sociology sharpens our analytical skills.Sociology helps us to understand ourselves and others.Sociology adds value to our lives by empowering us to make well-thought out decisions.

WHAT SOCIOLOGY IS LIKE, BUT IS NOTTHE SAME ASPsychology- is the systematic study of behavior andmental processes- what occurs in the mind. Psychologyfocuses a lot on internal factors and emotions whilesociology focuses more on the effects of groups,organizations and social institutions on social life.Anthropology- seeks to understand human existenceover geographic space and evolutionary time, whereassociology seeks to understand contemporary socialorganization, relations and change.

WHERE CAN IT LEAD YOU?Corporate America many sociologists areemployed in Human Resources to maintain a positive,organized corporate environment.

SOCIAL WORKHi Mrs.Hoskins!!Many sociologists areemployed as social workersin communities and schools.In schools they can helpstudents and familiesovercome mental, social,physical, and environmentalissues. Along withcounselors, they are greatpeople to talk to if you arehaving problems, just FYI.

SPORTSLarge sports franchises employsociologists to deal with the followingareas: sport subculture and fan base the political economy of sport(marketing) sport and the media, sport, the body and the emotions sports violence sport politics and national identity sport and globalization

RESEARCH AND TRAVELGetting paid to travel, do field work, andgather data.

SOCIOLOGY MAJORS have doneeverything fromteaching, to becomingPresident, to changingthe world.

WHERE CAN SOCIOLOGISTS RESEARCH BEUSED?

Many of us rely on intuition or commonsense gained from personal experience to help usunderstand our daily lives and other people’s behavior.Commonsense knowledge guides ordinary conduct in everyday life. Weoften rely on common sense to answer key questions about behavior. Whydo people behave the way they do? Who makes the rules? Why do somepeople break rules while others follow?But actually many commonsense notions are myths – a popular but false notion that maybe used to justify something even though there isn’t any evidence to conclude it.Sociologist strive to use scientific standards, not popular myth, instudying society and social interaction. They attempt to discoverrecurring patterns of behavior and for larger, structural factors thatcontribute to people’s behavior.

WHERE DID THIS STUDY EMERGE FROM?Hint: You learned about them in World History &US HistoryEnlightenment Philosophes!!!!! YAYYYYDon’t worry I will not make you learn them again eventhough they CLEARLY are very important people Basically these men paved the way of thinking awayfrom religion, they were willing to questiongovernment & human reason. For the most part thesemen where optimistic about the future, society couldbe improved through scientific discovery. Theywanted to spread democracy and destroy thearistocracy and absolute monarchies.They helped influence the American, French, &Latin American Revolutions.

EMERGENCE OF MODERNSOCIOLOGYWas developed in the mid 1800’s- what washappening in the world during that time?Product of the Industrial Revolution, as wellas political, intellectual, and economicupheavals of the 18th and 19th centuries.Why?Radical change in social organization(urbanization) gives way to a need tounderstand why the sudden change insociety.this leads to the desire to wantto control society this sciencebecomes sociology (originally called“Social Physics”)

AUGUST COMTE (1798-1857)Father of Sociology-he coined the term fromthe Latin “socius” meaning social, being withothers, and Greek “logos” meaning study of.Believed we can study the social world , like thenatural/ scientific world. Once we understandwe can control eventsDivided study into 2 parts:1. social structure (social order, stays the same)STATICS2. social process (changes in society)DYNAMICS

COMTE CONTINUEDThe changes caused by the Industrial revolution, such as peoplemoving from farms to cities, is an example of dynamics or statics?Comte’s philosophy became known as “positivism”- a belief thatthe world can best be understood through scientific inquiry(meaning they use systematic observation, experimentation,comparison and historical analysis).Comte’s positivism has two dimensions:1) Methodological- the application of scientific knowledge toboth physical and social phenomenon2) Social and political- the use of such knowledge to predict thelikely results of different policies so that the best one could bechosenVideo

HERBERT SPENCER(1820-1903)Influenced by Darwin. (Who’s that?)Thought that social change and conflictwere just stepping stones on the road toa perfect society.Viewed society as an organism, with separateparts that work together to maintain the systemover time.Believed best aspects of society wouldsurvive over time became known asSocial Darwinism. (Hmm when have I heardthis before?)This will serve as the rationalization for racism (to Africans and Indians),capitalism and allowing people to become extremely rich, and nothelping the poor.

KARL MARX (1818-1883)Repulsed by poverty andinequality.Thought a society’s economicsystem, greatly influenced it’s socialstructure. (Have’s vs. Have Not’s)Saw conflict as a “human-made”condition that society fostered toslow or stop social change tooppress the worker.His theory becomes known asConflict Theory.

EMILE DURKEIM (1858-1917)People are the product of their socialenvironment and their limits are sociallybased not biologically.Concerned with the stability ofsociety felt religion was main thingthat held a society together lessreligion less order.Says successful society needs balancebetween regulation and freedom.One of the first to discuss suicide andsociety talk of suicide was taboo untilthen.

MAX WEBER (1864-1920)Most influential modern thinker.Disagreed with Marx economics not the“building block”.Unlike other theorists, he was concerned withseparate groups rather than society as awhole.Studied without judging sociologyconcerned with what is, not what shouldbe this is Value Free Sociology. Although herealized that sociologist cannot be totallyvalue free, he stressed that they shouldemploy Verstehen (german for insight) whichis the ability to see the world as others see it.

WARM-UPTrue or False1. The main focus of sociology is the individual.2. Sociology is an old science dating back to the middle ages.3. Sociology has a lot in common with other social sciences.4. This is the theory that follows the tradition of Karl Marx.5. This person is the founder of Sociology who divided it into twoareas of study; social order and social change.Review from yesterday, ‘What is sociology’ video.

SOCIOLOGY IN THE UNITED STATESReform approach (US) vs. radical (Europe) in other wordsonly reform what needs to change, don’t radically overhaulall of society.Slavery, Civil War, and Immigration sparkedinterest in study of Sociology in the United States.The first department of sociology in the US wasestablished at the University of Chicago in 1892.

JANE ADDAMS (1860-1935)Considered to be the founding mother of Sociology in the US.She Founded Hull House which pushed for social reform programs in Chicago.Hull House (named for the home's first owner) opened its doors to recently arrivedEuropean immigrants.Hull House became, at its inception in 1889, "a community of university women" whosemain purpose was to provide social and educational opportunities for workingclass people (many of them recent European immigrants) in the surroundingneighborhood. The "residents" (volunteers at Hull were given this title) held classes inliterature, history, art, domestic activities (such as sewing), and many other subjects.Hull House also held concerts that were free to everyone, offered free lectures oncurrent issues, and operated clubs for both children and adults.It was a mix of various ethnic groups that had immigrated to Chicago. There was nodiscrimination of race, language, creed, or tradition for those who entered the doorsof the Hull House. Every person was treated with respect.

W.E.B DU BOIS (1868-1963)The second department of Sociology in the USwas founded by W.E.B. Du Bois at AtlantaUniversity. He was one of the first AfricanAmericans to earn a doctorate degree.Du Bois was one of the first scholars tonote that a dual heritage createsconflict for people of color.He called this duality- doubleconsciousness- the identity conflict ofbeing a black and an American. He pointed out that although people in this country valuedemocracy, freedom, and equality that also acceptracism and group discrimination.He is also one of the cofounders of the NAACPin 1909.

THE SOCIOLOGICALIMAGINATIONSeeing the connection between yourpersonal world and the world aroundyou.Theory of C.Wright-Mills says socialproblems require changing socialstructure, NOT just personal therapy.Seeing personal issues, such as divorce,poverty, etc in a larger social context.In other words, some of what weexperience is beyond our individualcontrol. Example poverty lack ofeducation (individual) AND lack ofopportunity/jobs (society)

Tea Drinking and Sociological ImaginationVirtually any behavior can have sociological imaginationapplied to it. An example of the application of the sociologicalimagination is the drinking of tea. The perception of drinkingtea can be examined from several different perspectivesrather than just the simple act of drinking tea.For example, It can be seen as a means of maintaining good health in theway that one might take daily vitamins, because the benefitsof tea have been touted by health researchers. It could be considered a tradition or ritual as many peoplechoose to drink tea ritualistically each day at a certain time. It could be considered a type of drug because it containscaffeine, and therefore the drinker of the tea may have a typeof an addiction. It can be seen from the perspective of being a social activitysuch as “meeting for tea,” an activity that actually focuses lesson the beverage and more on the actual activity of meetingwith another person.

“When, in a city of 100,000, only one man isunemployed, that is his personal trouble and for itsrelief we look at the character of the man his skills,opportunity that he has missed, and what he has donewrong. But when in a nation of 50 million employees,15 million men are unemployed, that is a social issue,and we will not find its solution within the range ofopportunities open to any one individual. Then,societies structure of opportunities has collapsed and itis the issue of society not the problem of theindividual”. – C. Wright Mills.Do you agree or disagree?

LOOK AT THEFOLLOWING PICTURESAND EXPLAIN USINGSOCIOLOGICALIMAGINATION.

Fault/Problem of individual because?Fault/ Problem of society because?

Fault/Problem of individual because?Fault/ Problem of society because?

Fault/Problem of individual because?Fault/ Problem of society because?

Fault/Problem of individual because?Fault/ Problem of society because?