Download The Sociological Perspective Chapter 1

The Sociological Perspective
Chapter 1
Sociology as a Point of View

Sociology is the scientific study of human
organization and social interactions.

Main focus


Group
Seeks to


Understand forces that operate throughout society,
Understand the conditions that mold individuals,
shape their behavior and, determine social events
Examples
 Is
it easy for domestic violence victims to
leave their abusive spouses? Why or why
not? (See figure 1.1)
 Is homelessness the result of individual
action or broader social conditions?
In the U.S. homelessness is
highly related to:
• Alcohol and drug addiction
• War veterans
• Mental illness
• Availability of low income housing
• Availability of social networks
(social capital)
The Sociological Imagination
 C.
Wright Mills (1959) used the term
sociological imagination to refer to:

The relationship between individual
experiences and the forces in the lager
society that shape our actions
 Can
you think of an issue that may have
had some effect on you? On your society
as a whole?
Sociological Imagination
 The
Sociological Imagination can be
described as the process of looking at
patterns of human behavior and finding
previously unseen connections among
them.
Sociology and other social science disciplines
Sociologists study groups and
institutions within large, modern,
industrial, societies
Cultural Anthropologists immerse themselves in
another society for a long time in order to learn as
much as possible about that society and the
relationships among its members.
Sociologists look at patterns of behavior
Psychologists looks at motivations, perceptions,
cognition, creativity, mental disorders, and
personality.
Sociologists study social factors that
influence a person’s economic decisions
Economists study price availability factors,
demand and supply, and markets.
Sociologists look at historical events within
their social contexts to discover why things
happened and more important, to assess what
their social significance was and is.
Sociology, however, focuses on the present
History looks at past events to attempt to learn
what happened, when it happened, and why it
happened
Sociologists focus on how political systems
affect other institutions in society
Political Science devotes more attention to the
forces that shape political systems theories for
understanding these forces.
Sociology helps to understand why social
problems exist
Social work aims to help people solve their
individual problems
Development of Sociology
 Sociology
emerged as a separate field of
study in Europe during the 19th century

During this period, the social order was
shaken by the Industrial Revolution and the
American and French Revolutions.
Sociology in the 19th Century

Three scholars shaped sociology into a
relatively coherent discipline:
 Karl Marx
 Émile Durkheim
 Max Weber
 Their ideas were greatly shaped by
industrialization, capitalism, and socio-political
revolutions
Karl Marx (1818–1883)

Believed the history of human societies could
be seen as the history of class conflict
between:



The bourgeoisie, who own and control the means of
production, and
The proletariat, who make up the mass of workers.
A critique of capitalism (unequal playing field)
Karl Marx (1818–1883)

Marx lived shortly after the French and
American revolutions


He was greatly influenced by what he observed to be
conflict as an engine of change
Saw society as an iceberg:
• At the tip of the iceberg you
can see things like war,
poverty, revolutions, etc.
• The invisible part includes all
of those relationships,
conditions, and social forces
(conflict) that shape the
“visible” part of the iceberg.
Émile Durkheim (1858–1917)
 Believed
that individuals were the product
of their social environment, and that
society shapes people in every possible
way
• What makes an American different from a French or an
Italian?

Showed how a personal act, such as suicide
is really patterned by social forces
• Differences in suicide according to religious
practices
• Differences in suicide according to group solidarity
Durkheim’s Three Types of Suicide

Egoistic suicide - derives from loneliness and a
commitment to personal beliefs over group values


single people, protestants who overemphasize individualism
Altruistic suicide - the individual is willing to die for
the sake of the community


Kamikaze pilots, suicide bombers
Anomic suicide - results from feeling disconnected
from society’s values

Depression
Suicide in the United States

Social factors:
 Suicide is the 3rd leading cause of death for
15- to 24-year-olds.
 Older adults account for 20% of suicide
deaths, but only 13% of the overall U.S.
population.
 Suicide rates for Native Americans are 1.5
times the national rates.
http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/hea_sui_rat_mal-health-suicide-rate-males
Max Weber (1846 – 1920)
 Ideology
can influence the economic
system (material conditions)
 Ideology as means to explain the
development of capitalism
 Rational man

Minimize risk – maximize profits
 Bureaucracy
Other sociologist
Robert Merton
 Influential proponent of the functionalist theory.
 Two forms of social functions
 Manifest

The intended and recognized consequences of those
process
• Going to college to obtain knowledge

Latent

Unintended or not readily recognized consequences
of such processes
• New opportunities
• Finding lasting friendships
Contemporary Sociology

What is a theory?
 A theory is a systematic explanation for the
observations related to a particular aspect of
life.
Three Major
Sociological
Theories
Functionalist
Conflict
Symbolic Interactionist
 Conflict


Theory
The social order consists of groups and individuals
trying to advance their own interests over others.
In this sense, you could explain things like slavery,
poverty, politics, discrimination and sexism (among
other things in society) as the result of conflict
between those who have power and wealth over
those who do not.
 Functionalism

Views society as a system of highly interrelated
structures or parts that function or operate together
harmoniously
• Society benefits from the contributions of people to function
and survive
• Just like an organism has parts such as a heart, lungs, a
liver, a kidney, or a stomach which contribute to its survival,
society has policemen, firefighters, teachers, or bankers to
contribute to its survival.

So, if a behavior, belief, or arrangement exists in
society it must contribute in one way or another for
society
 Symbolic

Interactionism
Concerned with the meaning that people
place on their own and one another’s
behavior.
• If a certain behavior is becomes defined as
prestigious, people will do it
• Crime and deviance can be understood from the
individual reasoning of deviants and the specific
situations in which they participate

Chicago bank robbers