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CHAPTER 1: THE SOCIOLOGICAL
PERSPECTIVE
WHAT IS SOCIOLOGY?

The systematic study of social and human groups
Mainly social relationships, attitudes, and society as
a whole.
 Society is a large grouping sharing the same territory
and political authority, as well as cultural
expectations.


C. Wright Mills- The sociological imagination

Mill’s term for relationship between individual’s and
society’s experiences. (personal vs. public)
THE GLOBAL SOCIOLOGICAL APPROACH

High, Middle, and Low income
countries

High represents technologically advanced,
with relatively high levels of personal
income.


Middle represents growing industry and
moderate income levels.


United States, Japan, Western Europe
Brazil, Mexico, Latin America, arguably China
Low corresponds to agrarian nations with
little to no industrialization or income.

Parts of Africa, Asia, India
GLOBAL DIVERSITY

Race and Ethnicity
Race is, used by people, to specify people by skin color
or physical characteristics, no true “pure” racial type.
 Whereas Ethnicity refers to cultural heritage based on
language or country of origin.


Class


Location of a person or group based on income,
prestige, or power.
Sex and Gender


Sex is biological and anatomical
Gender is meanings, beliefs, and practices associated
with sex differences
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14)
Plato, Aristotle
Auguste Comte
Harriet Martineau
Herbert Spencer
Emile Durkheim
Karl Marx
Max Weber
Georg Simmel
W.E.B. Dubois
Robert E. Park
Erving Goffman
C. Wright Mills
Talcott Parsons/ Robert Merton
George H. Mead
IMPORTANT INDIVIDUALS IN SOCIOLOGY
1)
This is mostly all
of Chapter 1, so
there are others.
However these are
perhaps the core
founders of
modern sociology
and therefore
important to
know.
Feel free to switch
between this and
the next slide to
“quiz” yourself on
what these
individuals did, or
contributed.
1)
Speculation on what an ideal society was
2)
Coined “sociology,” and the ideas of knowledge

Theological, Metaphysical, Scientific/ Positive
3)
Condensed Comte’s work, believed society would benefit
most from equal treatment of sexes
4)
Social Darwinism, argued society like an organism
5)
Father of Sociology, social facts (patterned ways of acting
outside individuals, but effects each person)

Anomie
6)
Class conflict, between bourgeoisie and proletariat
7)
Verstehen, sight of the world as others see it
8)
Social interactions, group communication, thoughts on
money and how it molds society
9)
Dual heritage creates double consciousness, conflicting
values/ identities
10)
Head of first Sociology department at Chicago
11)
Dramaturgical Analysis, “world is a stage”
12)
Sociological Imagination
13)
Functionalist perspective, latent and manifest functions
14)
Symbolic-Interactionist perspective
More precise
definitions and
examples are listed in
the chapter index of
the book.
THE MAJOR THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES

Macro-level

Functionalist


Micro-level

Society is a stable
ordered system
 See homeostasis
Conflict


Society’s groups in
continuous power
struggle
 Neo-Marxist, RacialEthnic, and Feminist
(gender)
Symbolic-Interactionist


Society’s day to day
behaviors, interactions,
communications/
symbolism
Postmodernist

Micro and Macro-level
 Characterized by
industry, information
exchange, and shift from
production to
consumption
Anthropology


Psychology


A systematic study of behavior and mental
processes as a function of the individual’s
mind, as opposed to the group’s
Economics


Though like Sociology in studying human
behavior, Anthropology is more concerned
with geographic and evolutionary existence
of humanity over time
Focuses mainly on the economy of a society,
though the macro and micro theories are
directly dependent on a group’s, as well as an
individual’s actions (or inactions…)
Political Science

The study of the political institution in
society, power, policies, laws and ethics.
SOCIOLOGY AND OTHER SOCIAL SCIENCES

REFERENCES AND
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
o
o
o
Sociology In Our Times (Seventh Edition)
o By: Diana Kendall
Notes incorporated
o By: James V. Thomas, NIU Professor (Emeritus)
o Formatted By: Jacob R. Kalnins, NIU student
Pictures Incorporated
o Clip Art (PowerPoint: 2007)
o Google Images: Sociology In Our Times