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Defining Sociology
 Study of human society (aggregate of people living together in a more or less ordered
community) and social interaction
 How human behavior is shaped by group life and social institutions (religion, education,
family, media, gender, social class, environment, etc.)
 Sociologists believe that the ________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
 Purpose:
o Understand society and its effect on members
o Resolve _______________________________
o Empower the individual to understand themselves better
The Power of Society
 Sociologists believe that the society in which we live is the _________________ driver of human behavior
 Most behavior is learned and shaped by our society; only a handful of our behaviors are genetically determined
 Once behavior is learned, we only _____________________________ our society’s powerful impact on our thoughts/behaviors
 Our society guides our understanding of reality
The “Sociological Imagination” (SI)
 Sociologists encourage us to use the SI (coined by C. Wright Mills in 1959), which
emphasizes the relationship between individual experiences and the larger society
o How behavior, even that which we presume is
__________________________________________________
 Enables us to distinguish between personal troubles and public issues
o Personal: must be solved by the individual
o Public: requires societal solutions
o Sociological imagination transforms personal problems into
_______________________________________


Views _______________________________________________, as the cause of most social problems
Why use the SI?
o Empowers us to become more active in shaping our lives and institutions/groups that needs restructuring
o Helps us to connect with others and be more compassionate
o Helps us achieve a more accurate understanding of the society we live in
Using the S.I.—Childbearing in Global Perspective
 Many think that childbearing, the decision to have children, is a highly personal choice
 Yet, there are clear societal trends around the world that indicate that the society one lives in plays a major role in determining
how many children a woman will give birth to
 Women in poor countries have more children than those in rich countries
Why might ________________________ individuals in the U.S.
have less children?
 Easy access to contraceptives (not a financial burden)
 Conformity (less children is now the norm)
 Career comes first now for many women and men
 Cost of college has risen tremendously
Why might ________________________ individuals in the U.S.
have more children?
 Limited access to contraceptives (a financial burden)
 Conformity (more children is the norm)
 Little to no stigma exists for out-of-wedlock children
 Costs of college (etc.) not relevant
 “Source of redemption” (see article)
Actively read “Sociology professor delves into why poor women find redemption in having a baby,” (see next page) discuss, and
answer questions with pod.
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Sociology professor delves into why poor women find redemption in
having a baby, Columbia Daily Tribune, 2013
When Maria Kefalas started visiting low-income neighborhoods in
Philadelphia to interview the young, single and often welfaredependent mothers who lived there, many of the grandmothers were
her age. When one mother heard Kefalas, at 32, had just become
pregnant with her first child, she said, “Isn’t it wonderful that the
doctors were proved wrong and you were able to get pregnant?” The
woman, who had her own first child in her teens, assumed Kefalas had
been trying without success to have a baby since 19 or 20. This wasn’t
true, of course. In her early 20s, Kefalas had college to think about.
Summer vacations spent traveling. Her future career. But this was still
an assumption she encountered in these neighborhoods while
conducting research with another sociologist. One 14-year-old told
her, “I’ve been trying to have a baby ever since I could.” As Kefalas
puts it, childbirth has very little “competition” in these women’s lives.
“The stylish careers, fulfilling relationships and exceptional educations
that will occupy middle- and upper class women’s twenties and thirties
are unattainable dreams to the women driving the non-marital
childbearing trend,” she writes on her blog on the Huffington Post. She
sees children out of wedlock not as a decline in family values in
poverty-stricken areas but as yet another symptom of the growing divide between the haves and the have-nots in the United States.
In a phone interview, Kefalas said she believes talking to these women allowed her to dig past survey and statistical data that
provide information but few answers. When the question “Why do poor women have children outside of marriage?” comes up,
society responds that individuals in low-income neighborhoods don’t believe in marriage.
The Bush administration encouraged the Healthy Marriage Initiative to address this very issue. Statistically, children born into
unstable home situations suffer, and often — although not always — a single-parent household equals a more stressful family life.
The legislation allotted funds to individual states for conflict resolution and marriage skills programs, public advertising campaigns,
mentoring programs and “divorce reduction programs that teach relationship skills.” The programs were then shopped around lowincome neighborhoods, basically providing “couple counseling to the poor,” Kefalas said. The connection seems simple: if you
promote healthy marriage, then the cycle of poverty and other social ills will be broken. One assumption goes, “we can reduce levels
of poverty by changing poor people’s values,” Duane Rudy pointed out. Rudy is an associate professor in the University of Missouri
Department of Human Development and Family Studies.
Kefalas and Edin’s research doesn’t refute the notion that repairing family structures will help end welfare dependency by stabilizing
homes. But it does challenge the assumption that the women living in Philadelphia’s worst neighborhoods didn’t care about
marriage. In fact, the young women they met cared deeply about it. “Everyone’s notions of marriage have changed in society,”
Kefalas said. The difference is, “upper-class young couples are able to achieve those raised” expectations, although “among low
income couples you see the raised standards like everybody else, but actually more diminished opportunities to achieve those
goals.”
For example, if the dream for marriage is a stable, dependable husband, these women had little hope of finding him. Many don’t go
to college and remain in the neighborhood where they grew up. The men around them are engaged in high-risk behavior and are
often involved in the drug economy. Many spend some time in prison. Seen in this light, marriage is far from a stabilizer. The
relationships are very “volatile,” and the divorce rate for these low-income couples is significantly higher than the national rate.
Having a child, however, does seem to provide new sense of purpose for the women Kefalas interviewed. It can act as a stabilizer in
a neighborhood, family or financial situation that is otherwise chaos.
“Having a child offers a source of redemption,” Kefalas said. “You go from being this teenager who is wild and out of control to being
this young woman with a baby, and if your baby’s clean, people stop you on the street and say, ‘You’re such a wonderful mother.’
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“These young women say, ‘Having a baby saved my life.’ ”
Two comments made at the end of article:
Comment by “Reality Check”: If the haves have largely because they've lived responsibly (e.g.,
not had kids before they could support them, didn't drop out of high school, didn't get
hooked on drugs), why should they be forced to support the have-nots and their offspring?
Comment by “Liz” in response to “Reality Check”: "lived responsibly" ?? For you,
RealityCheck, living responsibly means not having a child before you can pursue a $100,000
education, meet a spouse who received a similar education, pursue a stable, healthy
relationship and enter a working world to which you and your spouse have the education and
social capital to obtain fulfilling, challenging and meaningful careers. A "Responsible decision"
is one that entails a cost-benefit analysis - when the cost of the things you are sacrificing is
equal or less than the benefit. I would imagine that you are evaluating the decisions of the have-nots based on the sacrifices that
you, as a have, would have to make. Perhaps if you took a moment to realize that not everyone has the same set of opportunities of
you, you would be a little less quick to deem the have-nots as "irresponsible." This is a great article. Hopefully, some readers will be
spurred on to learn more about the deeper sociological and systemic issues behind this trend, as opposed to writing off a large
segment of our nation as irresponsible drop outs and drug addicts.
1.
Describe Sociologist Maria Kefalas’s findings:
2.
What is your reaction to the two comments on the article, included above?
Using the S.I.—Suicide in the U.S.
 _________________________________ are far
more likely than females and blacks to take their
own lives
 2x as likely as ___________________________ to
commit suicide
 If we use an individualistic model to explain such
differences, we’ll tend to see them as nothing
more than a sum of individual suicides
 Instead, we must look at how belonging to a
group/society effects patterns of suicide
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Using the S.I.—Unemployment
 If in a region of 100,000, only 20 adults are unemployed, it’s likely a
_________________________ trouble
o For relief, we properly look to the character of the
individuals and their skills
 But in a nation of 50 million employees, 15 million men are
unemployed, that is a _________________________
o Solution is not within the range of opportunities open to any
one individual, as the very structure of opportunities has
collapsed


Requires us to consider economic/political institutions of society, not
merely the personal situation and character of an individual
The U.S. government does much to
____________________________________________________ in
America, reflecting the belief that unemployment is a public issue
o Subsidizing education
o Tax breaks to job creators
o Unemployment insurance
Read about how the social problem of unemployment has psychological effects on the individual in “Psychological Effects of
Unemployment and Underemployment,” discuss, and answer questions with pod.
From the American Psychological Association, “Psychological Effects of Unemployment and Underemployment,” by Dr. Kerry
Bolger, 2013.
The current state of the economy continues to be an enormous stressor for Americans, with 78 percent reporting money as a
significant source of stress. Unemployed workers are twice as likely as their employed counterparts to experience psychological
problems such as depression, anxiety, psychosomatic symptoms, low subjective well-being and poor self-esteem. Like
unemployment, underemployment (e.g., people working part-time because they cannot find full-time employment) is unequally
distributed across the U.S. population, with women, younger workers and African Americans reporting higher rates of involuntary
part-time employment and low pay, as well as higher proportions of “discouraged” workers who have given up on searching for a
job. Unemployment not only affects those who lose their jobs. Coworkers who are still employed may experience a heavier work
load and suffer from anxiety that they too will soon be unemployed. Unemployment and underemployment also affect families and
communities.
Effect on Families—The stress of unemployment can lead to declines in individual and family well-being. The burden of
unemployment can also affect outcomes for children. The stress and depressive symptoms associated with job loss can negatively
affect parenting practices such as increasing punitive and arbitrary punishment. As a result, children report more distress and
depressive symptoms. Depression in children and adolescents is linked to multiple negative outcomes, including academic problems,
substance abuse, high-risk sexual behavior, physical health problems, impaired social relationships and increased risk of suicide.
Additionally, the effect of chronic joblessness is generational: Children of the unemployed get less education and have more trouble
finding jobs when they enter the workforce.
Effect on Communities—Widespread unemployment in neighborhoods reduces resources, which may result in inadequate and lowquality housing, underfunded schools, restricted access to services and public transportation, and limited opportunities for
employment, making it more difficult for people to return to work. Unemployed persons also report less neighborhood belonging
than their employed counterparts, a finding with implications for neighborhood safety and community well-being.
High unemployment and growing income inequalities are key factors in declining social climate. The United Nations claimed that
growing social inequality fueled by extended, global unemployment will increase social unrest and tension and a growing sense of
unfairness. Increasing inequality in advanced economies is fundamentally linked to growing rates of physical, emotional, social and
political disorder.
Unemployment and Stress in Different Populations—Unemployment does not affect all groups equally. Rates are higher among
Latinos/as (13.1%) and African Americans (15.7%) than European Americans (9.5%). Immigrants and people with disabilities are also
especially vulnerable to layoffs as are those without college degrees. Unemployed women report poorer mental health and lower
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life satisfaction than unemployed men. Women are more likely to report that they have consumed unhealthy foods, or skipped a
meal as a result of stress. Women are also more likely to report physical symptoms of stress, including irritability, anger, fatigue and
lack of interest or motivation and energy. In combination with other health disparities, the unequal impact of unemployment on
some groups may have devastating effects on already vulnerable communities.
3.
What are some of the psychological impacts that go hand-in-hand with the social problem of unemployment?
What do Sociologists Do?
 _________________________________ on topics such as:
o How institutions (education, religion, media) form, work, and socialize participants
o Gangs, immigrant life, ethnic subcultures, race, prisons, prejudice, gender, drug abuse, wealth inequality
o Identify forces that promote societal health and progress vs. social problems in a given society
 ______________________________________ at home (U.S. and state legislatures) and abroad (international organizations)
The Emergence of Sociology
 Origins of sociological thinking can be traced to early human history; people have thought critically about their societies since
ancient times
 Academic field of sociology did not become prominent until the age of ______________________________________________
in the Western world (19th-20th centuries)
[Different] Focus of Sociology and Psychology—Columbine
Sociology
Psychology
[Different] Focus of Sociology and Psychology—Education
Sociology
Psychology
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