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SOCIOLOGY THE POWER OF SOCIAL FORCES © Dr. Francis Adu-Febiri, 2011 http://faculty.camosun.ca/francisadufebiri 1 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 2 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 3 as individuals and groups. THE SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE: The Significance of Social Forces Society: Culture Society: Political Economy YOU Society: Groups & Organizations Society: Interaction Situations 4 MAIN CLAIM OF SOCIOLOGY: DNA IS NOT DESTINY 5 Illustration #1: Even as the Titanic was sinking, the behaviour and destiny of crew and passengers was very much influenced by social forces 6 Illustration #2: VICTIMS OF HURRICANE KATRINA are VICTIMS OF SOCIAL FORCES • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvoEiBnpCc8 7 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 8 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. 9 THE FOUNDATION OF SOCIOLOGY: The Three Revolutions (SDI) • • • • • 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 10 TWO MOST SIGNIFICANT SOCIOLOGICAL CONCEPTS • 1. Sociological Imagination (C. Wright Mills): THE POWER OF • • • • • 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 • • • • 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 11 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 12 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. • VARIATIONS IN SOCIAL WORLD VARIATIONS IN HUMAN BEHAVIOR & CONDITION 13