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Chapter 1
Sociology
Perspective, Theory, and
Method
The Sociological Perspective:
Seeing the General in the Particular
• Seeing general patterns in the behavior of
particular individuals.
• The general categories which we fall into
shape our particular life experiences.
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The Sociological Perspective:
Seeing the Strange in the Familiar
• Brainstorm about three “familiar” practices
in the United States.
– Now find something “strange” about each of
the practices.
– Discuss why they seem strange, now that you
are using the sociological perspective.
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Rate of Death by Suicide, by Race and Sex, for the United States
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Seeing Sociologically: Marginality
• The greater a person’s marginality:
– The better able they are to use the
sociological perspective
• To become better at using the sociological
perspective:
– Step back from familiar routines
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The Importance of a Global
Perspective
• Global Perspective
– The study of the larger world and our society’s
place in it.
• What is the importance of a global
perspective for sociology?
– Sociology shows that our place in society
profoundly affects our life experiences
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Sociology and Public Policy
• Sociologists have helped shape public
policy
– The laws and regulations that guide how
people in communities live and work
– Question:
• Think of a public policy topic in our society that is
currently under review and/or discussion.
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Sociology and Personal Growth
• Helps us assess the truth of “common
sense”
• Helps us see the opportunities in our
everyday lives
• Empowers us to be active participants in
our society
• Helps us live in a diverse world
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Careers: The “Sociology
Advantage”
• A sociology background is excellent in
preparing for the working world
• Agencies and companies want to be sure
that:
– Products, programs, and policies they create
get the job done at the lowest cost
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Social Change and Sociology
• What striking transformations took place in
18th and 19th century Europe that:
– Drove the development of sociology?
• Rise of a factory-based economy
• Explosive growth of cities
• New ideas about democracy and political rights
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Science and Sociology
• Auguste Comte (1798–1857)
– French social thinker who coined the term
“sociology” in 1838 to:
• Describe a new way of looking at the world
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Suicide Rates across the United States
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Sociological Theory
• Theory
– A statement of how and why specific facts are
related
• Two basic questions in building theory
– What issues should we study?
– How should we connect the facts?
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The Structural-Functional Approach
• A framework for building theory that sees
society as a complex system whose:
– Parts work together to promote solidarity and
stability
• Social Structure
• Social Functions
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The Social-Conflict Approach
• A framework for building theory that sees
society as an arena of inequality that:
– Generates conflict and change
• Highlights how the following factors are
linked to inequality
– Class, race, ethnicity, gender, age
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Feminism and the Gender-Conflict
Approach
• A point of view that focuses on inequality
and conflict between women and men
• Closely linked to feminism, the advocacy
of social equality for women and men
• Harriet Martineau & Jane Addams: women
important to sociology development
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The Race-Conflict Approach
• Point of view; focuses on inequality &
conflict between people
– Of different racial and ethnic categories
• People of color important to the
development of sociology:
– Ida Wells Barnett and W.E.B. Du Bois
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Symbolic-Interaction Paradigm
• The basics
– A micro-level orientation, a close-up focus on
social interactions in specific situations
– Views society as the product of everyday
interactions of individuals
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Symbolic-Interaction Paradigm
• Key elements
– Society is a shared reality that people
construct as they interact with one another
– Society is a complex, ever-changing mosaic
of subjective meanings
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“Stacking” in Professional Baseball: Does race play a part in professional sports?
Looking at the various positions in professional baseball, we see that white players
are more likely to play the central positions in the infield, while people of color are more likely
to play in the outfield. What do you make of this pattern?
Source: Lapchick (2011).
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Three Ways to do Sociology
• All sociologists want to learn about the
social world
• Three ways to do sociological research
– Positivist Sociology
– Interpretive Sociology
– Critical Sociology
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Concepts, Variables, and
Measurement
• Concept: A mental construct; represents
some part of the world in a simplified form
• Variable: A concept that changes from
case to case
• Measurement: Procedure for determining
the value of a variable in a specific case
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Statistics
• Descriptive statistics
– To state what is “average” for a large
population
– Most commonly used descriptive statistics
are:
• Mean; Median; Mode
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Reliability and Validity
• Reliability
– Consistency in measurement
• For measurement to be reliable, the process must
yield the same results when repeated
• Validity
– Actually measuring exactly what you intend to
measure
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Correlation and Cause
• Correlation
– A relationship in which two (or more) variables
change together
• Cause and Effect
– A relationship in which change in one variable
causes change in another
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The Ideal of Objectivity
• Objectivity (personal neutrality)
• Value-relevant research
– Topics the researcher cares about
• Value-free research
– Dedication to finding truth as it is rather than
as we think it should be
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Interpretive Sociology
• Humans engage in meaningful action
• Interpretive sociology differs from scientific
or empirical sociology in three ways:
– Scientific sociology focuses on action
• Interpretive sociology focuses on meaning
– Scientific sociology sees an objective reality
• Interpretive sociology sees reality
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Interpretive Sociology
– Scientific sociology favors quantitative data
• Interpretive sociology favors qualitative data
• Scientific orientation is well-suited for
research in a laboratory
• Interpretive orientation is better suited in a
natural setting
– Investigators interact with people
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Weber’s Concept of Verstehen
• German word for “understanding”
• Interpretive sociologist’s job
– Observe what people do
– Share in their world of meaning
– Appreciate why they act as they do
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Critical Sociology
• The study of society that focuses on the
need for social change
– Critical sociologists ask moral and political
questions
– Critical sociologists reject Weber’s goal that
• Sociology be value-free
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Sociology as Politics
• Scientific sociologists
– Object to taking sides in this way
– Claims critical sociology
• Critical sociologists
– All research is political in that it either calls for
change or does not
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Gender and Research
• Gender
– Personal traits & social positions members of
a society attach to being female or male
• Gender can affect sociological research in
five ways
– Androcentricity, over-generalizing, gender
blindness, double standards, and interference
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Research Ethics
• Awareness that research can harm as well
as help subjects and communities
• American Sociological Association
– Established formal guidelines for conducting
research
• Sociologists must be skillful and fair-minded in
their work
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Research Methods
• A systematic plan for doing research
• Four methods of sociological investigation
– Experiments
– Surveys
– Participant observation
– Existing sources
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Testing a Hypothesis: The
Experiment
• Test a specific hypothesis
– A statement of how two or more variables are
related
– An educated guess about how variables are
linked – usually an if-then statement
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Asking Questions: Survey Research
• Survey
• Survey targets some population
• Researchers usually study a sample
– A much smaller number of subjects selected
to represent the entire population
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In the Field: Participant Observation
• Participant observation
– Cultural anthropologists
• Uses “fieldwork” to study societies
• Fieldwork makes most participant observation
exploratory and descriptive
• Participant observation has few hard-and-fast rules
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Using Available Data: Existing
Sources
• Sociologists make use of existing sources
– Data collected by others
• Most widely used data are gathered by
government agencies
• Using available information
• Criticism
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Putting It All Together: Ten Steps in
Sociological Research
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1. What is your topic?
2. What have others already learned?
3. What, exactly, are your questions?
4. What will you need to carry out
research?
• 5. Might the research cause harm?
• 6. What method will you use?
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Putting It All Together: Ten Steps in
Sociological Research
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7. How will you record the data?
8. What do the data tell you?
9. What are your conclusions?
10. How can you share what you have
learned?
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