Download HSS140 week1

HSS140.03
INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY
Week 1:
Introduction and Overview
Dr. Maral Erol
[email protected]
What is sociology?
What are some examples of sociological
issues?
Sociology
Some key
concepts
Sociological imagination
Common sense
 Sociology looks at:
 how others influence our behavior;
Sociology
 how major social institutions
(government, religion, economy,
etc.) affect us;
 how we ourselves affect other
individuals, groups and
organizations
 Sociology is the scientific study of
social behavior and human groups.
Sociology
 It focuses on social relationships;
how those relationships influence
people’s behavior; and how
societies, the sum total of these
relationships, develop and change.
 E.g. Divorce, obesity, suicide, etc.
 Sociological imagination is an awareness of
the relationship between an individual and
the wider society, both today and in the
past.
Sociological
Imagination
 It is defined by C. Wright Mills, who is a
famous sociologist.
 A key element in the sociological
imagination is the ability to view one’s own
society as an outsider would, rather than
only from the perspective of personal
experiences and cultural biases.
 Our theories and opinions come from common
sense, which is our experiences and and
conversations, what we read, what we see on TV,
etc.
Sociology
and the
Common
Sense
 This comonsense knowledge is not always reliable,
because it is based on commonly held beliefs rather
than on systematic analysis of facts.
 Sociologists don’t accept something as a fact
because ‘everyone knows it’. Each piece of
information must be tested and recorded, then
analyzed in relation to other data.
 In groups or by yourself, decide on
a social issue that you can research
as a sociologist (5 minutes).
Class
Exercise
 How do you look at it using
sociological imagination? How
does it differ from common sense
explanations? Discuss and
summarize in a paragraph. (10
minutes)
 Report back to class (15 minutes).