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Sociology
Eleventh Edition
Richard T. Schaefer
Chapter 1:
Understanding Sociology
© 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.
Understanding Sociology
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Slide 2
What is Sociology?
What Is Sociological Theory?
The Development of Sociology
Major Theoretical Perspectives
Applied and Clinical Sociology
Developing a Sociological Imagination
Sociology in the Global Economy: The
Global Response to the 2004 Tsunami
© 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.
What is Sociology?
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Sociology: systematic study of social
behavior in human groups
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Study influence of social relationships
Determine how those relationships
influence behavior
Understand how societies develop
and change
© 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.
The Sociological Imagination
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Sociological imagination: awareness of
relationship between an individual and
the wider society, today and in the past
(C. Wright Mills)
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Slide 4
Ability to view one’s society as an outsider,
rather than from perspective of one’s limited
experiences and cultural biases
Goes beyond personal experiences
and observations
© 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.
Sociology and the Social Sciences
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Science: body of knowledge obtained
by methods that are based on
systematic observation
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Slide 5
Natural Science: study of physical features
of nature and ways they interact and change
Social Science: study of social features of
humans and ways they interact and change
Sociologists study influence society has
on people's attitudes and behavior and
ways people interact and shape society
© 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.
Sociology and the Social Sciences
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Investigate vast range of relationships
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Slide 6
Aging
Family
Human ecology
Religion
Sociologists test and analyze
information they use
Rely on scientific studies to describe and
understand a social environment
© 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.
Table 1-1: Sections of the
American Sociological Association
Source: American Sociological Association 2008.
Slide 7
© 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.
Figure 1-1: Poverty Rates in Hurricane Katrina
Disaster Area
Note: Poverty data for 2000, reported
in 2001. Disaster area defined by the
Federal Emergency Management
Agency as of September 14, 2005.
Source: Bureau of the Census 2005g.
Slide 8
© 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.
What Is Sociological Theory?
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Theory: set of statements that seeks to
explain problems, actions, or behavior
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Slide 9
Effective theories have explanatory and
predictive power
Theories are never a final statement about
human behavior
© 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.
Early Thinkers
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Auguste Comte (1798–1857)
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Harriet Martineau (1802–1876)
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Coined term sociology to apply to the science
of human behavior
Studied social behavior in Britain and U.S.
Emphasized impact that economy, law, trade,
health, and population can have on social
problems
© 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.
Early Thinkers
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Herbert Spencer (1820–1903)
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Slide 11
Studied “evolutionary” change in society
Suggested societies are bound to change
eventually, so one need not be highly critical
of social arrangements or work actively for
social change
© 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.
Émile Durkheim (1858–1917)
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Developed fundamental thesis to help
explain all society
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Behavior must be understood within a larger
social context
Interested in the growing division of labor in
industrial societies
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Slide 12
Anomie: loss of direction felt in a society
when social control of individual behavior
has become ineffective
© 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.
Max Weber (1864–1920)
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To fully comprehend behavior, we must
learn subjective meanings people attach
to their actions, called verstehen
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Slide 13
Ideal type: construct or model for evaluating
specific cases
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Karl Marx (1818-1883)
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Society fundamentally divided between
two classes that clash in pursuit of their
own interests
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Slide 14
Worked with Friedrich Engels
Emphasized group identification and
associations that influence one’s place
in society
Argued working class should overthrow the
existing class system
© 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.
Figure 1-2: Early Social Thinkers
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Slide 15
Insert Figure 1-3
© 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.
Modern Developments
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Charles Horton Cooley (1864—1929)
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Jane Addams (1860–1935)
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Increased understanding of groups of
relatively small size
Combined intellectual inquiry, social service
work, and political activism
© 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.
Modern Developments
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Robert Merton (1940–2003)
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Created theory of deviant behavior
Emphasized sociology should use “macrolevel” and “micro-level” approaches
Microsociology: stresses study of small
groups, often through experimental means
 Macrosociology: concentrates on large-scale
phenomena or entire civilizations
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Slide 17
© 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.
Functionalist Perspective
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Focuses on ways parts of a society are
structured to maintain stability
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Talcott Parsons (1902-1979) key figure
in development
Influenced by Durkheim and Weber
© 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.
Functionalist Perspective
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Slide 19
Manifest Functions: institutions are open,
stated, conscious functions that involve
intended, recognized consequences of an
aspect of society
Latent Functions: unconscious or
unintended functions that may reflect hidden
purposes of an institution
Dysfunctions: element or process of a
society that may actually disrupt the social
system or disrupt it’s stability
© 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.
Conflict Perspective
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Assumes social behavior is best
understood in terms of conflict or tension
between competing groups
The Marxist View
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Conflict not merely a class phenomenon, but
part of everyday life in all societies
© 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.
Conflict Perspective
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An African American View:
W. E. B. Du Bois
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Slide 21
Conducted research to assist the struggle for
a racially egalitarian society
Believed knowledge essential to combating
prejudice and achieving tolerance and justice
Performed in-depth studies of urban life
© 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.
Conflict Perspective
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The Feminist View
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Slide 22
Sees inequity in gender as central to all
behavior and organization
Focuses on one aspect of inequality
Often allied with conflict perspective
© 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.
Interactionist Perspective
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Generalizes about everyday forms of
social interaction to understand society
as a whole
Sociological framework for viewing
humans as living in a world of
meaningful objects
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Slide 23
Nonverbal communication: can include
many gestures, facial expressions,
and postures
© 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.
Interactionist Perspective
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George Herbert Mead (1863—1931)
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Erving Goffman (1922—1982)
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Widely regarded as founder of
interactionist perspective
Dramaturgical approach: people seen as
theatrical performers
© 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.
Figure 1-3: Enforcing Symbols:
The NBA Dress Code
Source: Crowe and Herman 2005:A23.
Slide 25
© 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.
The Sociological Approach
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We gain broadest understanding of
society by drawing on all major
perspectives, noting where they overlap
and where they diverge
Each perspective offers unique insights
into the same issue
A researcher’s work always is guided by
a theoretical viewpoint
© 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.
Table 1-2: Major Sociological Perspectives
Slide 27
© 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.
Applied and Clinical Sociology
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Applied sociology: discipline of
sociology with specific intent of yielding
practical applications for human behavior
and organizations
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Clinical sociology: dedicated to
altering social relationships or to
restructuring social institutions
Basic sociology: seeks more profound
knowledge of the fundamental aspects of
social phenomenon
© 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.
Research in Action
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1-1: Looking at Sports from Four
Theoretical Perspectives
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Have you experienced or witnessed
discrimination in sports based on
gender or race?
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Has the representation of Blacks or women on
teams been controversial on your campus?
Which perspective do you think is most
useful in looking at the sociology of sports?
© 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.
Developing a
Sociological Imagination
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Theory in Practice
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Research in Action
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Often improves people’s lives
Thinking Globally
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Illustrate how major sociological perspectives
can help us understand today’s issues
Globalization: worldwide integration of
government policies, cultures, social
movements, and financial markets through
trade and exchange of ideas
© 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.
Sociology in the Global Economy
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1-2: The Global Response to the
2004 Tsunami
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Have you ever lived in or traveled to a place
where the very wealthy lived side by side
with the desperately poor?
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Slide 31
Explain the economic relationship between the
two groups.
Which of the three major theoretical
perspectives would be most useful
in analyzing the social effects of the
2004 tsunami?
© 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.
The Significance of
Social Inequality
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Social inequality: condition in which
members of society have differing
amounts of wealth, prestige, or power
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Slide 32
W. E. B. Du Bois noted the greatest power in
the land is not “thought or ethics, but wealth”
© 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.
Speaking Across Race, Gender,
and Religious Boundaries
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Seek to draw conclusions that speak
to all people – not just the affluent
and powerful
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Slide 33
Sociology continues to better understand the
experiences of all people
© 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.
Social Policy Throughout
the World
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Fundamental sociological concepts can
enhance critical thinking skills and help
improve our understanding of public
policy debates around the world
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Slide 34
Used to evaluate success of programs
Sociologists expect the next 25 years to
be perhaps the most exciting and critical
period in the history of the discipline
© 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.