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SOCIOLOGY
THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
1. THE SOCIOLOGICAL POINT OF VIEW:
EXAMINING SOCIAL LIFE
 We are surrounded by the subject
of sociology every single day.
 Newspapers, TV News, internet,
etc.
 How many of you spend at least 5
hours online a week?
 Studies show that 13% of people
who spend 5+ hours a week, spend
less time with family and friend
TRUTH OR FICTION
The key focus of sociology is the individual.
Sociology has little in common with other social
sciences.
All sociologist are in broad agreement of the
nature of social life.
2 QUESTIONS TO ANSWER…
1. What is sociology, and what does it
mean to have a sociological imagination?
2. How is sociology similar to and
different from other social sciences?
SNOWFLAKES
 What do you believe has helped shape you?
 Experiences, beliefs, values, lifestyles, historical events,
etc.
 All of our different view points gives us a rich
diversity. It is what makes us unique individuals (we
are all snow flakes!)
 Despite all that, we share many of the same
characteristics and ideas as well.
 This is the primary interest of sociologists.
SO WHAT IS SOCIOLOGY?
 Sociology: is the social science that studies human society and
social behavior.
 Social Sciences: are the disciplines that study human social
behavior or institutions and functions of human society in a
scientific manner.
 Social Interaction: how people relate to one another and
influence each other’s behaviors.
 Tend to focus on the group, not the individual.
 Social Phenomena: observable facts or events that involve
human society.
 Example of social phenomena; Civil War, WWI, WWII, 9/11,
Columbine shooting, etc.
THE SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE
Why should we study sociology?
Gain a new perspective/view, of yourself and the
world around you.
Sociological Perspective: a viewing of the
behavior of groups in a systematic way.
You can look beyond commonly held beliefs to
the hidden meanings behind human actions.
THE SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE
 Is your behavior learned or are you born with it?
 It helps tell you that your behaviors are influenced by
social factors and that you learned behaviors from others.
 Viewing the world through others eyes (walking in
someone else’s shoes)
 Helps you balance what society demands of you.
 Can you always do what you want? What will happen if
you do? What happens if you always do what others want
you to do?
 Gives you insight on how your social environment helps
shape you and how you can shape your social environment.
THE SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE
Sociological Imagination: the ability to see
the connection between the larger world
and your personal life. (C. Wright Mills)
“The capacity to range from the most
impersonal and remote topics to the most
intimate features of the human self-and to see
the relations between the two.”
SOCIOLOGY’S PLACE IN SOCIAL
SCIENCES
 Can anyone name some other
social sciences?
 Anthropology: the
comparative study of past
and present cultures
 Most similar to Soc.
 Traditionally concentrates on
past cultures and present less
advanced societies . Now anthropologists study complex
societies as well; neighborhoods and large
modern cities.
SOCIOLOGY’S PLACE IN SOCIAL
SCIENCES
 Psychology: science that deals with the
behavior and thinking of organisms.
 Focuses on the individual rather than the
group behavior.
 Interested in personality, perception,
motivation, and learning.
 Social Psychology: the study of how
the social environment affect an
individual’s behavior and personality
SOCIOLOGY’S PLACE IN SOCIAL
SCIENCES
 Economics: the study of the choices people make in an
effort to satisfy their needs and wants.
 Examine the process by which goods and services are
produced, distributed, and consumed.
 Political Science: the examination and operation of
governments.
 Areas of mutual interest are voting patterns, concentration of
political power, and formation of politically based groups.
 History: study of past events.
 Look at the past to explain social behaviors and attitudes.
QUESTIONS TO ANSWER…
1. How did the field of sociology
develop?
2. In what ways do the three main
theoretical perspectives in sociology
differ in their focus?
2. SOCIOLOGY: THEN AND NOW
How would the development of the Industrial
Evolution in Europe lead to the development of
Sociology as a distinct field of study?
Went from a rural economy to an industrial
Farms and cottages shifted to city dwelling
Factories replaced the home as a site of
manufacturing
SO WHAT?
SOCIOLOGY: THEN AND NOW
 Rapid growth of urban populations led to a plethora of
social problems, can you name some?
 People seeking jobs outpaced job availability
 Housing shortages (population increases)
 Crime increases
 City life was much different then rural farming
communities, cities were less personal than people
were used to.
SOCIOLOGY: THEN AND NOW
 Individual liberty and rights became the focus of a wide
variety or political movements.
 American and French Revolutions
 The social, political, and economic changes caused
scholars to question the traditional explanation of
life.
 Attempt to prove that the social world was
based on a set of basic principles that could be
studied through research methods
THE EARLY YEARS
Sociology took its roots primarily in France,
Germany and England
Why? Think back here…
Most influential men on early Sociology are!?
FOUNDERS OF CLUB
 Auguste Comte (French)
 Coined the term sociology and
considered to be the founder
 Focused on social order and social
change
 Suffered from depression
 Many of his ideas regarding society of
been refuted, but is basic issues of
order and changed are still concerns
today.
FOUNDERS OF CLUB
 Herbert Spencer (English)
 Influenced by Darwin
 Biological view of society;
a living organism
 A set of
interdependent parts
that work together to
maintain the system
over time.
FOUNDERS OF CLUB
 Herbert Spencer Continued…
 Evolutionary view as well
 Social change and unrest are natural in order to
create stability and perfection
 The best aspects of society would remain over time,
the fittest societies would survive over time.
 Coined “survival of the fittest” not Darwin
 Coined Social Darwinism: perspectives that holds
that societies evolve toward stability and perfection.
FOUNDERS OF CLUB
Karl Marx (German)
Radical political views
prevented him from
jobs and expelled him
from Countries.
Writing influenced
generations of
scholars and social
critics
FOUNDERS OF CLUB
 Karl Marx Continued…
 Society divided into two: bourgeoisie (capitalists) and the
proletariat (workers)
 Bourgeoisie owned the means of production: materials
and methods of production and service
 Proletariat owned nothing but provided the services
 He believed this imbalance would lead to conflict.
 The proletariat had to unite and overthrow the capitalists
to end it. They would then build a classless system where
everyone would contribute “according to his ability” and
rewarded “according to his needs”
FOUNDERS OF CLUB
Émile Durkheim (French)
Concerned with social
order (Comte)
Saw society as a set of
interdependent parts that
maintain a system (Spencer)
FOUNDERS OF CLUB
 Émile Durkheim continued...
 Functions: the consequence that an element of
society produces for the maintenance of its social
system.
 Particularly interested with religion.
 Believed that shared beliefs and values were the
glue that held society together.
 Functionalist view has been very influential in modern
American sociology
FOUNDERS CLUB
 Believed that sociologist should only study features of
society that are directly observable; suicide
 Studied the suicide rates in several European
countries. (First true sociological study)
FOUNDERS CLUB
 Max Weber (German)
 Unlike the others, Weber was
interested in separate groups
within society rather than the
whole.
 Focused more on the effect of
society on the individual.
 Believed sociologists should go
beyond studying what can be
directly observed (uncover
thoughts and feelings)
FOUNDERS CLUB
 Verstehen: attempt to understand the meanings
individuals attach to their actions. (someone else’s
shoes)
 Ideal type: essential characteristics of a feature of
society.
 Constructed by examining many examples of a feature
then find essential characteristics
 Public School: may not look exactly like SMHS but you
know its functions and purpose.
CURRENT PERSPECTIVES
 Theory: explanation of the relationship among a
particular phenomena
 Theoretical perspectives: general set of assumptions
about the nature of things
 3 broad perspectives
CURRENT PERSPECTIVES
 Functionalist Perspective: a view that society is a set
of interrelated parts that work together to produce
a stable society.
 Not everything in society runs smoothly, therefore it is…?
 Dysfunctional
CURRENT PERSPECTIVES
 Conflict perspective: forces in society that promote
competition and change
 Power, wealth, age, sex, race, ethnicity
 How can ^^^these^^^ lead to conflict?
 Once a group establishes power/wealth, we tend to do
what?
 Best interest
CURRENT PERSPECTIVES
 Interactionist perspective: how individuals interact
with one another in society (every day situations)
 What is a symbol?
 How do we use symbols to interact (symbolic
interaction)?
EARLY SOCIOLOGISTS
TOPICS OF
INTEREST
THEORETICAL
APPROACH
Comte
Social order and social
change
Functionalist
Spencer
Social Darwinism
Functionalist
Durkheim
Function of different
elements of society in
maintaining social order
Functionalist
Marx
Social effects of economic Conflict
power imbalances and
class conflict
Weber
Effect of society on the
individual and the
meanings individuals
attach to their actions
Interactionist
TIME TO WRITE
Based on the two issues I will show you next, you
are to choose one and write a brief essay that
describes how adopting each of the three
theoretical perspectives might affect your view of
the chosen issue.
Consider:
What functionalists might focus on
The interests of conflict theorists
The interests of interactionists
 The average age at which people
in the U.S. first marry has risen
steadily for several decades.
Resulting, single people are a
rapidly growing segment of our
population. In 2000 there were
more than 26M Americans 25 or
older who had never been
married.
Approximately 26M Americans
were victims of crime in 2000.
On average, there was one
violent crime every 22 seconds,
one property crime every 3
seconds, and one murder every
34 minutes