Download Social Construction of Reality

SOCIOLOGY
THE POWER OF SOCIAL
FORCES
© Dr. Francis Adu-Febiri, 2011
http://faculty.camosun.ca/francisadufebiri
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THE AGENDA OF SOCIOLOGY
Research
Analysis:
•Sociological Imagination
• Social Construction of Reality
• Scientific Method
• Empirical Evidence
Social Forces
•Social Structure
•Political Economy
•Groups & Organizations
•Culture
•Social Interaction
SOCIOLOGY
Thinking
• Understanding
• Application
Explanation
• Paradigms
• Theories
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THE SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE
Auguste Comte
Emile Durkheim
C. Wright Mills
Karl Marx
Max Weber
Peter Berger
Social forces are a significant factor that shapes our lives
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as individuals and groups.
THE SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE:
The Significance of Social Forces
Society:
Culture
Society:
Political Economy
YOU
Society:
Groups & Organizations
Society:
Interaction Situations
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MAIN CLAIM OF SOCIOLOGY:
DNA IS NOT DESTINY
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Illustration #1: Even as the Titanic was
sinking, the behaviour and destiny of crew and
passengers was very much influenced by social
forces
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Illustration #2:
VICTIMS OF HURRICANE KATRINA are
VICTIMS OF SOCIAL FORCES
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvoEiBnpCc8
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Illustration #3:
VICTIMS OF SUICIDE are VICTIMS OF
SOCIAL FORCES
• Durkheim’s Theory of Suicide
High Egoistic & Anomic
suicide
Altruistic
Suicide
Low
Low
Integration
High
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THE FOUNDATION OF SOCIOLOGY: The
Three Revolutions (SDI)
• 1. The Scientific Revolution of the 1550 showed that
the science of society is possible (Sociology seed
was sowed).
• 2. The Democratic Revolution of the 1750s showed
that people could intervene to improve society (the
seed of the concept of social construction of reality
was sowed).
• 3. The Industrial Revolution of the 1780s presented
social thinkers with a host of pressing social
problems crying out for solutions (the seed of the
concept of sociological imagination was sowed).
• Reference: Brym 2010.
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THE FOUNDATION OF SOCIOLOGY:
The Three Revolutions (SDI)
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In the time period immediately following the French Revolution
Auguste Comte began to develop “social physics”, a knowledge
system to understand human behavior and societal change from
the perspective of the social. He later replaced “social physics
with the concept “Sociology” (new science of society).
Other early fathers of sociology who laid the methodological and
theoretical foundations of the discipline in the context of the
modern industrial revolution Europe included Emile Durkheim
(France), Max Weber (Germany), Karl Marx (Germany), and
Herbert Spencer (England).
Prominent figures in the pioneering development of sociology in
North America were Robert Merton, Talcott Parsons, Everett
Hughes, George Mead, Hariet Martineau, Nellie McClung, Charles
Cooley, and Ferdinand Toinnies.
The next generation of sociologists such as C. Wright Mills, Peter
Berger, Anthony Giddens, Erving Goffman, George Homans, and
Peter Blau built on this early foundations.
Neglected Voices: Harriet Martineau, Jane Adams, WEB Du Bois
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TWO MOST SIGNIFICANT SOCIOLOGICAL
CONCEPTS
• 1. Sociological Imagination (C. Wright Mills): THE POWER OF
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LARGER SOCIAL FORCES
Objective macro social forces influence/determine individual/group
behaviour, experiences, condition, and destiny:
“Seeing the particular in the general”
“Seeing the individual in the social”
“The ability to connect personal troubles to a
broader set of historical and structural circumstances”
• Macrosociology
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Social Construction of Reality (Peter Berger): THE POWER OF MICRO
SOCIAL FORCES
Human Agency, that is, individual and/or group subjective definition of
interaction situations, influences/determines
individual/group behaviour, experiences,
condition, destiny, and society.
“Seeing the general in the particular”
“Seeing the social in the individual”
Microsociology
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Integration of Sociological Imagination and
Social Construction of Reality
Social Structure &
Organization
Subjective
Existence of
Reality
Social
Micro
Construction
of Reality
Objective
Existence of
Reality
Sociological
Imagination Macro
Social Products
Social Interaction
Social Action:
Individual & Group
Choices/behaviors
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CONCLUSION
• Logical reasoning and empirical evidence
show that variations in the social world more
than variation in human biology/genetics
explain variations in both individual and
collective human behavior and the human
condition.
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VARIATIONS
IN SOCIAL
WORLD
VARIATIONS
IN HUMAN
BEHAVIOR &
CONDITION
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