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Chapter 1:
A Sociological
Compass
Melanie Hatfield
Soc 100
What is Sociology???
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Sociology: the systematic study of human behavior in
social context.
The organization of the social world opens some
opportunities and closes others, thus constraining our
freedom and helping to make us what we are.
By examining the operation of these powerful social
forces, sociology can help us to know ourselves, our
capabilities and limitations.
The Sociological Perspective:
The sociological explanation of suicide
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As many argue, suicide appears to be the
supremely antisocial and nonsocial act.
At the end of the 19th century, French
Sociologist, Emile Durkheim demonstrated that
suicide is more than just an individual act
resulting from a psychological disorder.
He showed that suicide rates are strongly
influenced by social forces.
The Sociological Explanation of
Suicide (cont.)
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Durkheim first examined the relationship
between rates of suicide and rates of
psychological disorders for different groups.
The idea that a psychological disorder causes
suicide would be supported only if suicide rates
were high where psychological rate were high
and were low where rates of psychological
disorder were low.
His analyzations did not support this.
The Sociological Explanation of
Suicide (cont.)
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So what accounts for suicide?
Durkheim argued that suicide rates vary because of
differences in the degree of social solidarity in
different groups.
Social solidarity is defined as: (1) The degree to which
group members share beliefs and values and (2) the
intensity and frequency of their interaction.
The higher the level of social solidarity, the more firmly
anchored individuals are to the social world and less
likely to commit suicide if adversity strikes (to a point).
Durkheim’s Theory of Suicide
The Sociological Explanation of
Suicide (cont.)
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Durkheim found that:
Married adults were half as likely as unmarried
adults to commit suicide
Women were less likely to commit suicide than
men
Jews were less likely to commit suicide than
Christians
Elderly people were more prone than young and
middle-aged people to commit suicide
Suicide Rate by Age Cohort and Sex
in the US in 2005
The Sociological Imagination
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Sociologists call stable patterns of social
relations social structures.
C. Wright Mills called the ability to see the
connection between personal troubles and
social structures the sociological imagination
Social Structures
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2.
Three levels of social structure that surround and permeate us:
Microstructures: patterns of intimate social relations.
Macrostructures: patterns of social relations that lie outside and
above your circle of intimates and acquaintances.
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3.
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Patriarchy, which is the traditional system of economic and political
inequality between women and men in most societies.
Global structures: patterns of social relations that lie outside
and above the national level.
“Sociological Imagination,” coined by C. Wright Mills, refers
to the ability to see the connection between personal troubles
and social structures.
Origins of the Sociological Imagination
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The sociological imagination was born in the context of three
modern revolutions that pushed people to think about
society in new ways.
The Scientific Revolution (1550) suggested that a science of
society was possible.
The Democratic Revolution (1750) suggested that people
could intervene to improve society.
The Industrial Revolution (1780s) presented social thinkers
with a host of pressing social problems crying out for solution.
They responded by giving birth to the Sociological
Imagination.
Sociological Theoretical Schools and
Their Theorists
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Functionalism
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Durkheim
Parsons
Merton
Conflict Theory
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Marx
Weber
Du Bois
C. Wright Mills
Symbolic Interactionism
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Weber
Mead
Goffman
Feminist Theory
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Martineau
Addams
Features of Functionalism
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Human behavior is governed by social
structures.
Theories show how social structures maintain
or undermine social stability.
Theories emphasize that social structures are
based on shared values.
Suggests that reestablishing equilibrium can
best solve most social problems.
Talcott Parsons
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A leading proponent of functionalism.
Argued that society is integrated and in equilibrium
when:
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the family raises new generations
the military defends society
schools teach students the skills and values they need to
function as adults
religions create a shared moral code among people
Robert Merton
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Leading functionalist in the US
Proposed that social structures may have
different consequences for different groups.
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Some of those consequences may be disruptive or
dysfunctional.
Some functions are manifest, others are latent.
Conflict Theory
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Focuses on macro-level structures, such as “class
relations”.
Shows how major patterns of inequality produce
stability in some circumstances and change in others.
Stresses how members of privileged groups try to
maintain advantages while subordinate groups
struggle to increase theirs.
Leads to the suggestion that eliminating privilege will
lower the level of conflict and increase total human
welfare.
Karl Marx
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Ideas revolves around class conflict, defined as the
struggle between classes to resist and over come the
opposition of other classes.
Marx argued that owners of industry, or capitalists,
focus on attempting to improve the efficiency of work
and earning higher profits.
This causes capitalists to concentrate workers in larger
establishments, keep wages as low as possible, and
invest little in improving working conditions.
Marx felt that workers would eventually become aware
of their exploited class, referred to as class
consciousness.
Max Weber
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Weber pointed out flaws in Marx’s ideas.
He noted that the rapid growth of the service sector of
the economy, with its many nonmanual workers and
professionals.
He argues many members of these occupational groups
stabilize society because they enjoy higher status and
income than manual workers employed in the
manufacturing sector.
Weber showed that politics and religion are also
important sources of historical change.
W.E.B. Du Bois
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The first African American to receive a
Ph.D. from Harvard
He was a founder of the National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and of the
country’s second Department of Sociology at Atlanta
University in 1897.
In The Philadelphia Negro, Du bois illustrates that social
problems that African Americans face were not due to
some “natural” inferiority, but to white prejudice.
He believed that the elimination of white prejudice
would create more equality between blacks and whites.
C. Wright Mills
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Laid the foundation for modern
conflict theory in the U.S. in the
1950s.
One of his most important books is the Power
Elite, where he argues that power is highly
concentrated in American society, which is
therefore less of a democracy than we are often
lead to believe.
Symbolic Interactionism
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4.
Focus on interpersonal communication in micro-level
social settings.
Emphasis on social life as possible only because
people attach meanings to things.
Stress the notion that people help create their social
circumstances and do not merely react to them.
Validation of unpopular and nonofficial viewpoints
by focusing on the subjective meanings people create
in small social settings.
Feminist Theory
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Focuses on patriarchy.
Holds that male domination and female
subordination are determined by power and
social convention.
Examines the operation of patriarchy in microand macro-level settings.
Patterns of gender inequality should be
changed for the benefit of all members of
society.
The Research Cycle
Ethics in Sociological Research
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Researchers must respect their subjects’ rights
to:
Safety
 Privacy
 Confidentiality
 Informed consent
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Steps of an Experiment
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Selection of subjects.
Random assignment of subjects to experimental and
control groups.
Measurement of dependent variable in experimental
and control groups.
Introduction of independent variable to experimental
group.
Remeasurement of dependent variable in
experimental and control groups.
Assessment of experimental effect.
Surveys
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Surveys ask people questions about their
knowledge, attitudes, or behavior either in a
face-to-face interview telephone interview, or
paper-and-pencil format.
Sample: the part of the population of research
interest that is selected for analysis.
Population: the entire group which the
researcher wishes to generalize.
Field Research
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Field research is based on the observation of people
in their natural settings.
Problems with direct observation:
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Reactivity – the presence of the researcher may itself affect
the behavior of the people being observed.
The meaning of the observed behavior may remain obscure to
the researcher.
Participant observation research is when researchers
observe a social setting systematically and take part in
the activities of the people they are studying.
Analysis of Existing Documents And
Official Statistics
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A nonreactive research method that involves the
analysis of diaries, newspapers, published
historical works, and statistics produced by
government agencies, all of which are created by
people other than the researcher for purposes
other than sociological research.
Postindustrial Revolution
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The technology-driven shift from manufacturing
to service industries and the consequences of
that shift for virtually all human activities.
Globalization
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The process by which formerly separate
economies, states, and cultures are becoming
tied together and people are becoming
increasingly aware of their growing
interdependence.
A Sociological Compass