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What Is Sociology?
 The systematic study of human society.
◦ Systematic
 Scientific discipline that focuses attention on patterns of behavior.
◦ Human Society
 Group behavior is the primary focus; how groups influence
individuals and vice versa.
◦ At the “heart of sociology” is the sociological perspective, which
offers a unique view of society.
The Sociological Imagination
 Similar to the Sociological perspective.
 Term coined by C. Wright Mills.
 Transforms personal problems into public issues.
 The understanding that social outcomes are shaped by social
context, social actors, and social actions.
Sociology, Eleventh Edition
Sociology and Social Sciences
• Sociology – systematic study of society
• Social sciences and Natural Sciences
• Social sciences – various orientations
• History
• Political science
• Anthropology
Sociology, Eleventh Edition
Common Sense vs.
Scientific Evidence
• “Poor people are far more likely than rich people to break the
law.”
“Women are more chatty than men”
• All of these are disputed by sociological evidence!
Sociological theory – explaining social
phenomenon
Sociology, Eleventh Edition
What is theory and why is it important?
Theory is a set of statements that seek to explain problems,
actions and behavior.
Explanatory and predictive power
Durkheim’s study of suicide – Theory of social integration
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAU2HUT9sYU
Sociology, Eleventh Edition
The Origins of Sociology
 One of the youngest academic disciplines.
◦ Comte coined the term in 1838.
 Three Important Changes:
◦ Industrialization
◦ Urbanization
◦ Political Revolution
 These changes made people more aware of, and interested in,
their surroundings.
The Origins of Sociology
 Early Goal: Understand how society operates.
 Early Beliefs:
◦ Society operates according to its own laws.
◦ Society is a system we can study scientifically.
◦ We can act intentionally to change our lives. (Optimists!
Revolutionaries!)
 Comte’s major contribution was to apply the scientific
approach to the study of society. (Positivism)
Verstehen
 Studying human behavior is far more complex and difficult
than the study of other things because we are creatures of
imagination and spontaneity.
◦ Human behavior can never be fully explained by the rigid
laws of society.
 Weber’s Verstehen (German for Understanding)
◦ Sociologists are the only scientists who totally
understand – have first-person knowledge of – their
subject matter.
 Ex: Cell vs. People – Why do they behave a certain
way?
Early Thinkers
• August Comte
• Harriet Martineau
• Herbert Spencer
• Durkheim
• Max Weber
• Karl Marx
Sociology, Eleventh Edition
Sociological Theory
Sociological Theory
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Theory - a statement of how and why facts are related
Sociological theory explains social behavior in the real world.
Theories are tested by gathering evidence.
2 Fundamental Questions in Theory Building:
◦ What issues should we study?
◦ How should we connect the facts?
 Sociologists look to one or more theoretical approaches to formulate
theory.
◦ Theoretical Approach (or Paradigm) - a set of fundamental
assumptions that guides thinking
◦ 3 Major Sociological Paradigms
 Structural-Functional
 Social-Conflict
 Symbolic-Interaction
Structural –Functional Paradigm
 S-F Approach – a framework for building theory that sees society as a
complex system whose parts work together to promote solidarity and
stability
 Points to social structure, any relatively stable pattern of social
behavior.
 Shape our lives!
 Examples: Families, the Workplace, Education
 Looks for each SS’s social functions, the consequences of a social
pattern for the operation of society as a whole.
 All social patterns function to tie people together and to keep society going in its
present form.
 Macro-Level Orientation – a broad focus on social structures that
shape society a whole
Who’s Who in S-F?
 Auguste Comte
◦ Pointed out the need to keep society unified when traditions were breaking down
rapidly.
 Emile Durkheim
◦ Helped establish sociology as a university discipline.
 Herbert Spencer
◦ Compared society to the human body (the organic approach).
 Talcott Parsons
◦ Sought to identify tasks that every society must perform.
 Robert K. Merton
◦ Pointed out that social structures all have many functions, some more obvious
than others.
◦ Distinguished between:
◦ Manifest & Latent Functions
◦ & Dysfunctions (-)
Merton on Functions
 Manifest Functions – the recognized and intended consequences of
any social pattern
 Latent Functions – the unrecognized and unintended consequences of
any social pattern
 Example: Higher Education
 Manifest Functions?
 Provide information and skills people need to hold jobs.
 Latent Functions?
 Marriage Brokering
 Limiting Unemployment
 But not all the effects of social structure are good…
 Social Dysfunction – any social pattern that may disrupt the operation
of society
 Examples?
 Rising Immigration
 Increasing Income Inequality
Social-Conflict Paradigm
 Social-Conflict Approach – a framework for building theory that sees
society as an arena of inequality that generates conflict and change
 Highlights how factors such as class, race, ethnicity, gender, and age
are linked to inequality in terms of money, power, education, and
social prestige.
 Rejects the S-F idea that social structure promotes the operation of
society as a whole, focusing instead on how any social pattern benefits
some people while hurting others.
Social-Conflict Paradigm
 S-C theorists look at ongoing conflict between dominant and
disadvantaged categories of people.
 People on top try to protect their privileges while the disadvantaged try to gain
more for themselves.
 Example: Higher Education
 Schooling reproduces class inequality from one generation to the next by
“tracking” students into either college prep or vocational courses.
 Many sociologists use S-C analysis to help reduce inequality.
 Macro-Level Orientation
 Who’s Who?: Karl Marx - Emphasized the importance of social class in
inequality and social conflict.
Symbolic-Interaction Paradigm
 Symbolic-Interaction Approach – a framework for building theory that
sees society as the product of the everyday interactions of individuals
 Micro-Level Orientation – a close-up focus on social interaction in
specific situations
 Examples: Studying how children invent games on a playground or
observing how pedestrians respond to homeless people.
 Sees society as nothing more than the reality that people construct
for themselves as they interact with one another.
 We live in a word of symbols and we attach meaning to virtually all
of these.
 Example: Words, Wink, Flag
 Therefore we create reality as we define our surroundings, decide
what we think of others, and shape our own identities.
Who’s Who in S-I?
 Max Weber (Doesn’t really fit in any one paradigm.)
◦ Taught us to understand a setting from the POV of the people in it.
 George Herbert Mead
◦ Examined how personalities develop from social experience.
 Erving Goffman
◦ Creator of dramaturgical analysis, which describes how we resemble actors on a stage as
we play out our various roles.
 George Homans & Peter Blau
◦ Creators of social-exchange analysis, the idea that interaction is guided be what each
person stands to gain and lose from others. (Ex: Courtship)