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INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY
Duško Sekulić
Sociology is the scientific study of human society
or the study of human behavior as shaped by group life.
Including the collective forces that shape human behaviour
and the ways in which people give meaning to their experiences.
Because our culture emphasizes individual choice, seeing the
power of society in our lives may seem, at first, like ”seeing the
strange in the familiar”.
• Scientific status of sociology
• The subject matter of sociology poses many problems that
natural sciences do not face, but sociology nonetheless has the
same commitment to the scientific methods.
• Sociological explanations are therefore more reliable than those
based only on common sense.
Science refers to the logical, systematic methods by which
reliable knowledge of the universe is obtained .
• Science assumes order in the universe, and it attempts to
establish generalizations that can be used for the purposes
of explanation and prediction.
• Sociological generalizations differs from stereotypes
• Sociological statement 1) is not applied indiscriminately to
everyone in some category, 2) is supported by the facts,
• 3) is put forward in the fair/minded pursuit of truth.
• Sociology is a science, which means that is based n objective
and systematic knowledge gained through empirical
observation.
• Science, as a source of knowledge, is
• -empirical
• -systematic-focused on causation
• -provisional
• and objective.
• Complete objectivity is particularly difficult to achieve in the
social sciences. By rigorously excluding personal biases and by
submitting research findings to the criticism of the sociological
community, however, sociologists can guard against subjective
distortions and can reach a high degree of objectivity.
• The concept of sociological imagination.
• Personal troubles (which are problems experienced directly by
individuals) and public issues (which stem fom factors outside
one’s control).
• Example of unemployment.
• Sociology emerged in the middle of the nineteenth century, in
the context of the changes caused by the rise of an industrial
economy, the explosive growth of cities, and the emergence of
new political ideas- focused people’s attention on how society
operates.
• Early sociologists, such as Comte, Spencer, Marx, Weber, and
Durkheim, concentrated on problems of social order and social
change- macro perspective.
• The subsequent development of sociology, which has taken
place largely in the USA, has focused primarily on more
restricted theories and studies and on the refinement of
research techniques.
• While August Comte gave sociology its name in 1838. Earlier
social thinkers focused on what society ought to be, but
Comte’s new discipline used scientific methods to understand
society as it is.
• Karl Marx understood history as the struggle to end the
oppression of the powerless by the powerful.
• For Marx the fundamental division in society was based on the
control over the means of production and the struggle between
owners and workers over the control.
• For Marx historical change occurred through conflict.
• Emile Durkheim identified (created concept of..) social facts
which are patterned regularities of behavior that characterize
the collectivity. Birth, death, and suicide rates are influenced by
social structural factors.
• For Max Weber, the modern age held both the liberating
potential of human reason as well as possibility that technology
and modern organizations could lead to a new “iron cage”
without any of the faith and fantasy that previously helped
people survive.
• There are three major theoretical perspectives in mdern
sociology.
• The functionalist perspective focuses on the relationship
between the parts and the whole of the system. It concentrates
on how patterns of behavior contribute to the operation of
society . This approach highlights stability and integration while
minimizing inequality and conflict.
• The conflict perspective focuses on disagreements, hostility
and struggles over power and resources in a society. It asks,
Who benefits from given social arrangements and how do the
powerful maintain their power ?
• The interpretative (social interactionism) perspective
focuses on how people interact with one another, hoe
experiences are interpreted, and how people organiye
appropriate responses
• The functionalist and conflict perspectives examine social
structure at an abstract level, this is referred as macrosociology.
• The micro-sociological perspectives, such as the interpretative
perspective, focus on smaller, interpersonal and less abstract
units of analysis.
• The three perspectives are not necessarily incompatible.