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Chapter 1
The Sociological
Perspective
Sociology
The scientific study of society and human
behavior.
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Seeing the Broader Social Context
• How groups influence people
• How people are influenced by their society
- People
who share a culture
- People who share a territory
• The sociological perspective focuses on the
importance of groups, and how people are
influenced by their society.
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Sociological Imagination
An awareness of the relationship between an
individual and the wider society.
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Sociological Imagination
• Personal trouble versus public issue
• Link between public and private
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Social Location - Corners in Life
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Jobs
Income
Education
Gender
Age
Race/Ethnicity
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Origins of Sociology
• Tradition vs. Science
– The social upheavals of the Industrial
Revolution, which changed the way people
lived their lives
– The political revolutions in America and
France
– The rise and success of the natural sciences
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European Founders
From left to right: Auguste Comte, Emile
Durkheim, Karl Marx, and Max Weber.
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Auguste Comte and Positivism
• Applying the scientific method to social
world
• Comte began to wonder what holds
society together
• Coined the term “Sociology”
• “Armchair Philosophy”
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Herbert Spencer - Social Darwinism
• Second founder of Sociology
• Disagreed sharply with Comte’s idea that
sociologists should guide social reform
• Lower and higher forms of society
• Coined phrase “survival of the fittest”
• Spencer’s idea that it was wrong to help
the poor offended many
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Karl Marx and Class Conflict
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Engine of human history is class conflict
The Bourgeoisie vs. The Proletariat
Marxism not the same as communism
Marx thought that people should try to
change society
• Marx did not think of himself as a
sociologist
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Durkheim and Social Integration
• Got Sociology recognized as separate
discipline
• Studied how social forces affect behavior
• Identified “social integration” - degree to
which people are tied to social group
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Max Weber and the Protestant Ethic
• Religion and the origin of capitalism
– Disagreed with Marx’s claim that economics
is the central force in social change
– Said that role belongs to religion
• Favored social over material causes
• Verstehen (“to understand”)
• Protestant Ethic and Spirit of Capitalism
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Sexism in Early Sociology
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Attitudes of the Time
- 1800s sex roles rigidly defined
- Few people educated beyond basics
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Harriet Martineau
- Published Society in America before
Durkheim and Weber were born
- Few people educated beyond basics
In Martineau’s day, women were suppose to devote themselves to the four
Kirche, Küche, Kinder, und Kleider (church, cooking, children, and clothes).
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Racism at the Time: W.E.B Du Bois
• B.A. from Fisk University
• First African American to earn
PHD at Harvard
• It is difficult to grasp how racist
society was at this time
• Published a book each year from
1896-1914
• Neglected by sociologists until
recently
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Major U.S. Contributors
Influential U.S. Sociologists.
From left to right, Jane
Addams, C.W. Mills, and
Talcott Parsons
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Jane Addams: Sociologist and
Social Reformer
• Member of American Sociological Society
from start
• Came from background of wealth and
privilege
• Co-Founded Hull House
• Co-founded American Civil Liberties Union
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Talcott Parsons and C. Wright Mills
• Many early North American sociologists
saw society as corrupt & in need of reform
• Parsons developed objective analysis and
models of society
• Mills deplored theoretical abstractions in
favor of social reform
• Continuing tension in Sociology
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