SOCIOLOGY Ch. 1

Focus:  “What is sociology?”   

             “ Three main theories in sociology?”

INTRODUCTION:

·        Drug/alcohol use

·        Third-Party Candidate getting serious amount of votes (Perot, ’92)

·        AIDS

·        Proportion of single Americans increasing

·        Crime

Diversity – We do not all view things in exactly the same way

Similarity – Many of us share the same ideas and ways of doing things

SOCIOLOGY – The science that studies human society and social behavior.

                            Sociologists are most interested in SOCIAL INTERACTION,

                            How people relate to each other and influence each other’s behavior

                            Sociologists tend focus more on the GROUP, by examining the

social PHENOMENON (observable fact or event).  Sociologists are     

most interested in group behavior in complex societies

SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE – We are social beings; we have learned our behavior from others.  The sociologist asks, “What have we learned?”  “How have we learned it?”  “Is our learned behavior a benefit to society?”  “Is our learned behavior causing problems in our society (social problems)?”

The SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE tells us that,

·        There are many different perceptions of social reality.

·        There needs to be a balance between personal desires and the demands of the social environment.

·        There is a connection between the larger world and our personal lives (Mills called the ability to understand this fact,

                  “sociological imagination.”

SOCIAL SCIENCES

·        Anthropology – comparative study of past cultures and present simple

simple societies.  There has been some overlapping of the roles of sociologists and anthropologists in more recent times, as anthropologists

have begun looking at complex societies, i.e., “urban anthropologists.”

·        Psychology – individual thinking and behavior.  They study personality,

perception, motivation, and learning.

*    Social Psychology –  Studies how an individual’s behavior and    

      personality is affected by the social environment.  People in both

      sociology and psychology claim the title of “social psychologist.”

·        Economics -  Study the process by which goods and services are produced, distributed, consumed, and regulated

·        Political Science – Study political power.  Much overlap w/sociology.

·        History – Study of past events.  Very useful to sociologists.

(The division between the social sciences is becoming less distinct)

Led to the development of sociology:

-         rapid social and political change

-         Industrial Revolution & Urbanization:

- population

-  housing

-  crime

-  pollution

-  change in interpersonal relationships

(All these things led to the study of how society, social groupings, social forces affect the individual)

COMPTE, August.  “Father of sociology”  Said sociologists should study,

·        Order (relatively unchanged social structure over time); and,

·        Change (systematic change of social systems)

MARX, Karl.  Society is divided between the

·        “haves” (those who own the means of production and control the society),

       and the,

·        “have nots” (those who own only their own labor).

This imbalance in power leads to inevitable conflict.  Marx was deeply troubled by the social conditions produced by the capitalist system of his day.

Marx’s beliefs have had a strong influence on generations of sociologists:

·        The economic basis of society strongly influences social structure.

·        Conflict is the primary cause of social change.

SPENCER, Herbert.  Saw society in biological terms.  Influenced heavily by

            Charles Darwin.  Spencer saw social change and conflict as natural,

or as Darwin would say, “natural selection.”  Spencer called the process

of social change “survival of the fittest.”  The “fittest” would survive over time, and the others would “naturally” die out.  Spencer called this theory

“social Darwinism.”  Spencer was narrow-minded: he refused to listen to or read anything that did not agree with his thinking. 

DURKHEIM, Emile.  Shared beliefs and values hold society together.  Durkheim looked at all the parts of society that make it work.  He tried to understand what

function each of these parts, or elements, played in keeping the social system going, working.  Durkheim did not think that the thoughts and feelings of individuals were important to the study of sociology; what he considered important was only what can be directly observed.

WEBER, Max.  He was most interested in the groups within society, and how they influenced the individual.  Unlike Durkheim, Weber thought that the individual’s thoughts and feelings were important. He said that sociologists should try to understand the meaning people attach to their actions. 

THEORY – explains the relationship between things, how and why they are related.

THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES (assumptions about the nature of social life) OF SOCIOLOGISTS:
  1        -  Functionalist Perspective – interrelated parts work together to form a

stable society; if one of these parts has a negative consequence this is

called a dysfunction.  According to these “functionalists,” society is held

together by consensus, i.e., everybody within a group knows their role,

their function, and they all agree what each other’s functions/roles are

supposed to be (family; school; army unit; organizations of all kinds).

To these sociologists, “function” means: positive results for society.  

“Manifest function” means intended, recognized, accepted, obvious result

of some element of society.  For instance, at one time it was the manifest

function of the father in a family to be the money earner, to bring home

the bacon, etc.

               “Latent function” is the unintended, unrecognized, hidden result of some

element of society.   For instance, the manifest function of “the father” 

always used to be as the ‘bread winner,’ the person who always took care of

everybody’s physical needs in the family; however, a latent function of “the

father” role in the family is to create a stereotype that used to hold women   

back from being and accomplishing great things in the world of

work.   The manifest function of an expensive gym shoe is to provide

you with a good walking, running, etc. experience; the latent function may

be to give you status, prestige and the appearance of having lots of money.

2                    The Conflict Perspective sees competition, change, dislocation, strife, conflict,

fighting, etc., as the forces that define what a society is.  The struggle to “get”

rules all things according to the conflict theorists, whether it is power or

money or status or whatever that they are trying to “get.”

            To conflict theorists, change is inevitable in society.

3                    The Interactionist Perspective emphasizes how people interact with each

other, especially through the use of symbols, i.e., hand gestures, position,

walk, facial expression, ‘code’ words, etc., all symbolic interactions.