Download Sociological Imagination

Lesson 1: What is Sociology?
SOCI 108 - Thinking Critically about
Social Issues
Spring 2012
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When you
walk down a
street do you
sometimes
wonder what
is going on
inside the
buildings
you pass?
Are you interested
in what is going
on inside any of
these buildings?
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The drive to understand how
and why these structures
were built, to go inside and
learn more about the human
activities that take place
inside, captures the
sociological consciousness.
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Sociology is the scientific study of
human activity.
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Human activity—the things people ….
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How do sociologists think about
any human activity?
Social
forces
Human activity (the
way it is organized)
Opportunities
Disadvantages
Sense of self
Relationships with
others and larger
environment
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Social Force:
Mobile Phone
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Social forces are anything humans
create that influences or pressures
people to interact, behave, respond,
or think in certain ways.
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Example of an “invention” as a social
force: the mobile phone
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Revolutionary feature of the mobile phone
it frees people from being in a specific
physical space when they communicate
with others.
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Social Force:
Mobile Phone
Human activity (the
way it is organized)
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What kinds of human activities have
changed as a result of the mobile
phone?
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Human activity (the
way it is organized)
Opportunities
Disadvantages
Sense of self
Relationships with
others and
environment
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What opportunities and disadvantages come
with the mobile phone?
Immediate access to
others (not present), no
15 matter the setting
May not be able to
fully engage in an
activity
How is sense of self shaped by the
mobile phone?
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What about relationships with others and
the surrounding environment?
In a survey of 439
doctors who
perform
cardiopulmonary
bypass (CPB)
surgery 55.6%
reported using
their mobile
phones while
performing
surgery to send or
check text
messages, access
e-mail, check
postings on social
networking sites
or otherwise use
the internet
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Sociology offers a framework for
studying human activity
It offers
 questions to guide analysis
 vocabulary for answering those questions
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What meaning do you assign to
this empty roll of toilet tissue?
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Which photograph best reflects the
meaning you assign to the empty
roll of toilet tissue?
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Cuba
U.S.
What social forces contribute to
different ways of thinking about and
responding to empty toilet paper rolls?
Resource-poor country
Thrift-oriented culture
U.S. embargo since 1960
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Collapse of Soviet Union
Resource-rich country
Consumption-oriented culture
(capitalism)
Ability to access resources from
foreign sources
How does attitude toward resources and
corresponding behavior affect sense of
self?
Sense of self revolves around
ingenuity
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Sense of self revolves around
consumption
Empirical
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Sociology is an empirical science based on
purposeful, objective observations
Are these statements objective or subjective?
The man in the drugstore fell to the floor
clutching his chest and the other customers
turned in his direction when he screamed.
objective

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The pigeon had been pecking at the disk was
distracted by the sound of the door slamming,
and it hesitated while it considered whether to
keep pecking or not.
Subjective
When the dinner with her husbands parents
was over, she was so anxious to leave and
go home that she left her coat behind.
Subjective
He beeped the horn several times in rapid
succession, turned into the oncoming lane,
and sped around the stalled car.
Objective
The Sociological Imagination

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… looking at the relationships between
individual experiences and forces in the
larger society that shape those
individual experiences

How do sociologists make sense of the
patterns they observe?
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Three sociological perspectives
Symbolic Interactionism
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Micro level
How do individuals interpret their world?
Meaningful symbols
Social interaction in small groups
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Shared rules of interaction
Language
Structural Functionalism
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Macro level
Society is a vast network of interrelated parts
What are the parts of US society?
How do they function for the maintenance of
society?
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Stability
Harmony
Evolution
Conflict Theory
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Macro level
Social behavior is best understood in terms of
conflict or tension between competing groups
Social change is the result of this social
conflict
Feminist theory
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Relationship between gender, social class and
minority status
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Peter Berger