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Sociology
September. 8th. 2011
-Looking at group behavior as opposed to individuals.
Learning objectives:
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The social scientific study of society
Durkheim’s study of society
The nature of social structures
Sociology and the three Revolutions
-Scientific revolution
-Industrial revolution
-Political revolution
5) Sociological perspectives
“The systematic study of human behavior in a social context.”
What is a science of society?
September. 13th. 2011
Durkiem’s theory of suicide
-People who are experiencing rapid social change.
 Stock market crashes.
-Unmarried males have a higher rate hen married male.
-Males are more likely than females.
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Sociologists deal with the social scientific study of society.
Similar to the natural sciences, social scientists are interested in the extent to which we can
observe and measure reality. There are no fixed laws to govern social behavior, instead
sociologists observe pattern, new ones can easily.
Social reality consists of patterns of social relations that persist over time. How things change
and why they change. Ex. -Woman in education & work place;
-Present day Vs. 200 years ago.
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Such relations also have meaning for participants. Ex. Holidays & celebration different
groups/people attach different meaning to certain days of the year. Sometimes these days will
have no meaning to other groups.
Emile Durkheim
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Analysis of suicide: He shared the relationship between suicide rates and psychological
disorders, which was believed to be linked at time. There was no such link. > Sociological
perspective.
High rates of:
-Alcoholism
-insanity weather patterns = higher rates of suicide
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Suicide is more than an act of the individual, it is patterned by underlying social relationships.
Some categories of people have higher rates than others.
-Male > Female
-Protestants > Catholics > Jews
-Married < Unmarried
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Why are those who are weakly integrated into society are more likely to take their own lives?
Egoistic/ Anomic- People with very weak realtions in society. Ex. Unemployed, no
family, no friends or occupations where you work alone.
Altruistic- People with very strong relatons to a group. Ex. Cults, soildiers, samurai in
Japan.
Anomic Suicide- Occurrs when vague norms govern behavior – lacking a widely shared code of morality.
Ex. Stock market crash.
Egoistic Suicide- Occurs amonst people who are not integrated into a group/ society.
September, 15, 2011
Anomie- Absence of norms
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Industrial Revolution = Decline in religion = Higher rates of suicide.
Religion ties people together, except protestant.
Suicide in Canada Today
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In Durkheim’s time youth suicide was non-existent, however today it is one of the higher risk
age groups for suicide. It began to rise in the 1960s- This is because youth were given more
freedom, more youth were going to secondary school. Fewer youth attended church, youth
under the age of twenty have the highest rate of unemployment.
Social Structures
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Relatively stable patterns of behavior, can range from individual personal troubles, and the
social structures in which people are embedded.
1. Microstructures- Patterns of intimate social Relations: Families, friends,
coworkers, face- face.
2. Macrostructures- Overarching patterns of social relations; class relations, ethnic
relations, bureaucratic organization. Durkheim’s field of preferred sociological
study.
3. Global Structures- Are social structures that lie outside and above the rational
level; United Nations; The European Union, The North American Free Trade
Agreement.