Download Please understand the importance of reading all material that is sent

Please understand the importance of reading all material that is sent to you. Your textbook is an
important tool for this course, and you will have reading assignments, exercises, etc. for which you
are responsible and which become potential materials for evaluation. The information I send you in
these lectures will have additional information regarding the issues being discussed which you may
not find in your textbook. You are responsible for all information, whether from lectures or your
textbook, which may be needed to discuss questions, offer viewpoints, etc.
FOLLOW UP TO WEEK ONE:
It really struck me how so few people were able to come up with social solutions to social issues. The
question for me, as a sociologist is: why is this so? What is it about the culture of today that people
do not readily think in terms of social solutions? So, here is a question for you ~ what do you think
is the cause of students primarily thinking of personal solutions to social issues and having such a
hard time coming up with social solutions. Send your answer to the board!
BEFORE READING CHAPTER 1, PLEASE ANSWER THE T/F QUIZ LISTED BELOW.
Chapter 1 The Sociological Perspective
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## Please answer each of the following T/F questions and send answers to the Discussion
Forum.##
Sociological Findings vs. Common Sense
1. T F More U.S. students are killed in school shootings now than 10 or 15 years ago.
2. T F The earnings of U.S. women have just about caught up with those of U.S. men.
3. T F When faced with natural disasters such as floods and earthquakes, people panic and social
organization disintegrates.
4 T F Revolutions are more likely to occur when conditions are consistently bad than when they are
improving.
5. T F Most people on welfare are lazy and looking for a handout. They could work if they wanted.
6. T F Most U.S. Roman Catholics oppose birth control.
7. T F Compared with men, women touch each other more while they are conversing.
8. T F Compared with women, men maintain more eye contact while they are conversing.
9. T F Because of the rapid rise in the divorce rate in the United States, U.S. children are much more
likely to live in single\parent households now than they were a century ago.
10. T F The more available alcohol is (as measured by the number of places to purchase alcohol per
one hundred people), the more alcohol related injuries and fatalities occur on U.S.highways.
11. T F Couples who live together before marriage usually report higher satisfaction with their
marriages than couples who do not live together before marriage.
12. T F Most rapists are mentally ill.
13. T F Most husbands of working wives who get laid off from work take up the slack and increase
the amount of housework they do.
14. T F Men who earn less than their wives do more housework than do men who earn more than
their wives.
15. T F Students in Japan are under such intense pressure to do well in school that they suicide rate
is about double that of U.S. students.
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CHAPTER 2 THE SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE
Perspective
The dictionary meaning of this word is: The capacity to view things in their true relations or relative
importance, point of view. To a sociologist, this is important. Everyone sees things in a different light,
and what this does is provide individuals, groups, and nations, an opportunity to look at life
differently than others, even in the same country.
Studying the reasons others look at things differently than you or I provides a better understanding
of why people are the way they are. But, to see the broad ramifications this presents, you have to
look at the social aspects of the people, such as:
-- where they live
-- what is their culture like
-- where are they in the social class structure
-- what age are they
-- what is the education level
-- what gender are they
In other words, where is their place in history?
You also need to know:
-- What relationship do the groups have with one another?
-- What are the external influences (experiences people have) which they internalize that become
part of their thinking and motivates them to act/react to certain situations, e.g. During our
expansion of the West, if a white child was taken captive by a tribe of Indians, and raised as an
Indian child, how do you suppose this child?s thinking and experiences would shape his/her life?
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## Any thoughts on these questions?##
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Sociology and Other Sciences
There are many methods used by scientists to study what is called the ?natural sciences? and ?social
sciences.? The methods are systematic, methodical, and, in some areas, ?exact.? However, the
knowledge gained through these studies is used to understand the social and natural worlds we live
in and provide us with a better understanding of ?human? behavior.
Most of us know what an Anthropologist does or what a Geologist does, but many people do not
understand what a Sociologist does. Simply put, a sociologist studies society and human behavior.
A ?Natural Scientist? tries to understand, explain, and predict events in our natural environment.
There are several specialized areas such as biology, geology, chemistry, physics, botany, mineralogy,
in-organic chemistry, biophysics, zoology, geomorphology*, organic chemistry, quantum
mechanics*.
*Look it up, I don?t think it is what you might expect.
A ?Social Scientist? (Sociologist) tries to look objectively at and understand the ?social world.? In the
social sciences, you have several divisions just as in ?natural sciences.? There are:
psychologists
economists
anthropologists
political analysts
sociologists
Sociology studies:
All social institutions (groups)
Focus is on industrialized societies, although studies have been done on primitive societies
The external factors that influence people
A sociologist will study:
How people govern themselves and the impact that various forms of government have on their lives
(Political scientists also conduct these type of studies.)
The ?supply and demands? of people and what happens to the goods and services people receive
BUT their main focus is on the social? consequences that production and distribution of the goods
and services have on people. (Economists conduct like studies.)
The cultures of people (Anthropologists conduct these same type of studies.)
How material goods affect people
What their belief systems are
How people communicate with each other
What type of group structures they have
A sociologist also studies how:
People adjust
What their health is like and how it affects them (so do psychologists)
You might ask, why do we need sociologists if all of the other divisions of social science have
scientists who study the same areas? Well, there really is a need for sociologists because:
Political and economic scientists concentrate on a ?single? society.
Social scientists make comparisons between groups, nations, countries, etc.
Anthropologists study pre-literate or tribal societies. Social scientists focus on industrial societies.
Although as mentioned, they do make some studies of primitive societies.
Psychologists study the ?inside? and ?outside? factors of what makes a person ?tick. Social scientists
study the external factors.
So, what is the difference between Science and Common Sense? Well, the sciences try to explain
why something happened or happens. Often the studies go beyond individual cases and make
generalized statements about a large sector of society. They look for patterns which will indicate
specific behaviors, wants, needs, etc., of the institution. Also, sciences often try to predict what
might happen next.
The use of Common Sense is just that. People say, ?It happened that way just because that?s the
way it always works out. It?s just common sense.? Everyone knows there are some things that
are ?true? or just seem to always happen or react the same way. However, sometimes they don?t,
and sometimes they are not always ?true,? e.g., It?s just Common Sense that whenever you are in
a hurry, there is always a line of traffic, a person who doesn?t have the right change, you can?t find
your keys, you make a mistake, etc. Everyone knows that?s true, right?
The Development of Sociology
Where, When, and Why did Sociology Develop? If you all remember your high school and college
history classes -- you surely have not forgotten the Industrial Revolution in the late eighteenth
century, right? And you remember from reading above that sociologists studied industrial
institutions, right? I knew you did, so I won?t have to give you a short history lesson or make you go
back and reread the above. Well, this is where sociology had its origins.
The turbulent times in Europe that resulted from the Industrial Revolution had tremendous effects
on all of society, and it caused a great deal of unrest and uncertainty. Some learned scholars started
analyzing the institutions controlled or affected by industries and the social relationships within
these institutions. Wars (Imperialism), and the conquering of other nations, being exposed to their
culture, and the questions that natural scientists raised in their studies created situations that people
wanted answers to regarding our social world.
There were several men during this period of time that became interested in these issues and
studied them. Among the most well known are:
Auguste Comte: Auguste is recognized as the ?founder? of sociology. He experienced a lot of change
in his life and saw a lot of change in his country of France. Auguste became interested in the
problems of social change and social order (dynamics). What causes a society to change from its old
ways? What are the strings that hold it together? He felt the need to find answers to these questions
and, therefore, started to apply the ?scientific method? of study to the social life and times of his day.
He called his method Positivism.
Herbert Spencer: Herbert is often identified as the ?second founder of sociology. He believed that
society operated by ?fixed? laws and that society ?evolved,? much like the theory Darwinheld
regarding the evolution of humans. He truly believed that our society was a result of the ?survival of
the fittest.?
Karl Marx: Karl was a ?Conflictionist.? Conflict between the ?classes? was the key to human history
and the results produced society as it was. Economics was a key to social change.
Emile Durkheim: His studies on people being able to get along with and make friends in social circles
are still a big part of sociology today. He found that people who were unable to or were not included
in the social life of an institution (group) were more likely to commit suicide than those who had
better relationships and were able to socialize in their communities. He coined the word, Anomie,
which had a definition of ?lack of social interaction or sense of belonging? when working on these
studies comparing suicide rates in several countries.
Max Weber (pronounced Mahx VAY-ber): Max felt religion was the central force in social change. He
identified quite strongly with Marx but really differed on his opinion as to what caused social change.
He said the Catholic religion encouraged people to hold on to traditions, whereas the Protestant
religion encouraged them to make changes. He said sociologist should strive to be objective and not
let their values enter into their studies. Report the findings as they are and do not formulate
information preconceived values. Sociological studies should be ?value free.? Max also felt that
others should ?replicate studies to see if the results remained the same. He did not think researchers
could just look at statistics and be able to understand the full meaning of the studies. He said they
needed to have ?Vertices,? meaning to ?grasp the whole picture and understand it completely.?
Many of the studies these men and others of their time conducted are still relevant today. They
helped develop the science of sociology as we know it.
We all know when we conduct studies they are of little use unless we take the data and apply it. This
leads us to a discussion of Applied vs. Clinical Sociology.
The development of sociology has gone through three (3) stages:
First Stage: Was concerned with making the world a better place.
Second Stage: Was concerned with making sociology a respected field of knowledge.
Third Stage: In the current stage, a merging of sociological knowledge and practical work is being
achieved. Sociologists are using their skills to bring about social change and make a difference in
people?s social lives.
The science of sociology has three (3) Theoretical Perspectives. Theory is defined as a statement
about how some parts of the world fit together and how they work; how two or more facts relate to
each other; having face-to-face interaction.
Symbolic Interactionism
We give symbols to things for which we need a meaning. These symbols help us
a. To perceive our relationship with others., e.g., stop signs, hospital signs, $ signs, + signs, etc.
b. To be able to interact with each other
c. To establish who we are (self)
Think about it for a moment. Almost everything we do uses symbols, cooking, driving, reading, math,
science, banking; you name it. Without symbols there would be no math, religion, science, reading,
etc.
Functional Analysis
In functional analysis, all parts of a unit are related to the whole. ?The sum of the parts = the whole.?
A functional analysis looks at both structure and function and how both fit together to make things
work. Parts have a function which contribute and govern how society performs.
Conflict Theory
The ?classes? (upper, middle, lower) are always in conflict, always struggling. Groups compete for
what?s out there. You have the ?Haves? and the ?Have Nots.? Those who can ?buy? what they need
and those who have to be on welfare or work 2-3 jobs to survive. Thus, the struggle of those who
want what the Haves have and think of various ways to get them.
## ASSIGNMENT ##
Discussion Questions (DQ) Due Wednesday at midnight, minimum 300 words. Send to the DQ forum
you are in.
Make sure you identify which assignment you are responding to and sending each week, e.g., Name,
Week 1, DQ1, Chapter 1 or Week 1, DQ2, Chapter 1.
DQs for Chapter 2 1. Pick a movie or TV show and analyze it from one of the sociological perspectives, functionalism,
conflict theory or symbolic interactionism. Be sure to say what the major concepts are in the theory.
(You can draw on the book for this. Then show how these concepts play out in what you saw.