Download Lesson 1: What is Sociology?

LESSON 1: WHAT IS
SOCIOLOGY?
MULTICULTURALISM IN THE US
LESSON 1
ROBERT WONSER
COOL INSIGHTS FROM SOCIOLOGY
• Humans cannot be understood apart from
social context (i.e. society)
• Society makes us who we are by structuring out
interactions and laying out an orderly world
before us
• Society is a social construction, that is, it is an
idea created by humans (i.e. doesn’t exist in
the biological world but only in the social world)
through social interaction and given a reality
through our understanding of it and our
collective actions.
Introduction to Sociology: What is
Sociology?
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SOCIETY INFLUENCES YOU
• Death…
Related to
society? Of
course!
Introduction to Sociology: What is
Sociology?
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BABY NAMES
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Sociology?
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Names that have gained
the most popularity,
2004 – 2010
...Or, the names I’ll begin seeing all
the time in 2022-2028
Introduction to Sociology: What is
Sociology?
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MEANING THROUGH INTERACTION
• People actively and collectively shape
their own lives, organizing their social
interactions and relationships into a
meaningful world.
• Sociologists study this social behavior by
seeking out its patterns.
• Patterns are crucial to our understanding
of society
Introduction to Sociology: What is
Sociology?
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SOCIETY
• Society is a group of people who shape
their lives in aggregated and patterned
ways that distinguish their group from
other groups.
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Sociology?
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WHAT IS SOCIOLOGY?
Sociology is the systematic or scientific
study of human society and social
behavior, from large-scale institutions
and mass culture to small groups and
individual interactions.
Sociology is also the study of reifications,
or social constructions.
Introduction to Sociology: What is
Sociology?
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THE SOCIOLOGICAL IMAGINATION
• C. Wright Mills used the
term sociological
imagination to describe
the ability to look at issues
from a sociological
perspective.
• Personal troubles versus
public issues
• Ex: unemployment,
obesity
Introduction to Sociology: What is
Sociology?
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THE SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE
• The sociological perspective is a quality
of the mind that allows us to understand
the relationship between our particular
situation in life and what is happening at
a social level.
• Sociological perspective and
sociological imagination are often used
interchangeably.
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Sociology?
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THE SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE
• When using a sociological perspective,
one focuses on the social context in
which people live and how that social
context has an impact on individuals’
lives.
• This is the essence of what sociology
does.
• Making the familiar strange
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Sociology?
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USING THE SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE
• In small groups:
• How would you explain the following social
problems using the sociological
imagination/perspective?
•
•
•
•
•
•
Obesity
Homelessness/Poverty
Unemployment
Marriage
The metropolis
War
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Sociology?
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TAKE AWAY POINTS
• Humans cannot be understood apart
from the social context they live in
(society, culture and time + place)
• The world around us profoundly shapes
and influences who we are, how we
behave and even how/what we think.
• It is the job of the sociologist to
understand how this process works and to
what effect.
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Sociology?
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