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Lecture Slides Essentials of Sociology Fifth Edition
Anthony Giddens
Mitchell Duneier
Richard P. Appelbaum
Deborah Carr
Essentials of Sociology Chapter 1 Sociology: Theory and Method
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What Is Sociology?
Sociology is the scientific study of human social life, groups, and societies.
Sociology shows us that aspects of life we consider natural or take for granted are influenced by social and historical forces.
Sociology is a discipline that insists on studying people within their social context.
© 2014 W.W. Norton & Co., Inc.
What sociology offers is a set of tools for studying all aspects of society, from problems like bullying to the functions of art to relationship between the environment and societies. As sociologists we can look at virtually any topic and try to understand it in a new way. In terms of bullying, we can study individual cases like those of Tyler Clementi and Audrie Pott, but we also want to put them into a social context to see how they fit in with other cases. We know, for example, that gender and sexuality are key factors in many instances of bullying. Sociology will help us understand how and why that is the case. At its core, then, sociology is a discipline that enacts systematic, objective analyses of the social world and that allows us the opportunity to pull back the curtain on nearly any topic.
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Systematic Study Empirical data gathered through systematic research
The Individual Individuals can reject behavioral guidelines because of agency: the freedom individuals have to choose and to act
Society Study of social environment is at the core of sociology
Defining Sociology
The Sociological Imagination
C. Wright Mills (1959) coined this phrase, which explained the need to move from away from viewing problems as personal troubles and toward recognizing them as public issues.
An important part of learning to think sociologically is to gain and utilize the sociological imagination.
A recognition of the interdependent relationship between who we are as individuals and the social forces shaping our lives.
© 2014 W.W. Norton & Co., Inc.
C. Wright Mills, a major mid-twentieth-century American sociologist, recognized that we have to step out of our own life experience to truly understand the social world. He said that we must understand history, biography, and society before delving into any particular social problem or issue, as context is critical to deeper understanding. Additionally, Mills emphasized the idea that as sociologists, we must investigate topics that might at first glance seem to be individual concerns. For example, sociologists can study topics like unemployment. We don’t study one man or woman who loses a job, but rather unemployment more broadly as a social concern.
We can draw upon Mills and return to a topic like bullying: It does not affect only individual children, or even individual families, but entire communities, and should be studied in that light. In recent years bullying has indeed become a much more commonly discussed community problem, and in many school districts, students—especially younger students—say a “bully pledge” to start their day, along with the Pledge of Allegiance. This is, in part, an effort to bring bullying into the light, to make clear that schools are places where bullying is not acceptable.
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Social Structure
Goal of sociology: to understand the connections between what society makes of us and what we make of ourselves.
What we do both gives shape to and is shaped by society. That is, we structure society and at the same time are structured by society.
© 2014 W.W. Norton & Co., Inc.
The relationship between the individual and society is a crucial one for any student of sociology to consider. Certainly, individuals have an effect on societies, but as sociologists, we understand that societies also have significant effects—some positive, some negative—on individuals. In fact, in this relationship society is typically the stronger partner.
But we, as individuals and communities, surely shape our social environments and social structures. By enacting and enforcing legislation against bullying, for example, we change social structures in such a way as to protect the vulnerable and demand a particular kind of society. We’ll occasionally return to the topic of bullying as I introduce the foundations of sociology as presented in Chapter 1.
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Social Structure
Our lives are structured, or patterned, in particular, nonrandom, ways.
Social structures are dynamic. Societies are always in the process of structuration, which means they are constantly being affected by human actions.
© 2014 W.W. Norton & Co., Inc.
It is also important to understand that the effects of society are not random, but patterned—structured. Our social lives, in fact, can be found to have innumerable patterns based on social structures such as gender, social class, and race. What is also true is that even with the power society wields, it is not a static or fixed reality. Societies are constantly in flux, as they are made up of individuals and social groups whose actions have meaningful impacts. The word sociologists use to describe this is structuration, which is meant to indicate the dialectical relationship between the individual and society.
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Our place in society affects our access to resources and opportunities.
It is influenced by our parents, teachers, friends, and other people we interact with.
Social class, gender, and race also have great significance and have been of special interest to sociologists. For instance:
CEOs earn 354 times as much as an average worker.
Men tend to earn more than women.
Whites consider President Obama less successful than minorities do.
The Significance of Place
Sociology looks at how economic, social, and cultural resources are distributed.
Sociology views the implications of these patterns in terms of the opportunities and obstacles they create for individuals and groups.
Social Inequality Condition in which members of society have differing amounts of wealth, prestige, or power
The Consequences of Difference
Sociologists do not accept something as fact because “everyone knows it.”
Findings are tested by researchers, analyzed in relation to other data, and evaluated with sociological theory.
Sociology and Common Sense
The function of sociology, as of every science, is to reveal that which is hidden. - Pierre Bourdieu
True or False?
women talk more than men.
divorce is bad for children.
education increases income.
A Global Perspective
As sociologists, we must now be global observers.
Globalization affects all of us every day, both as individuals and as members of nation-states, economic markets, and more.
A global view offers insight into worldwide connections, as well as a point of comparison.
© 2014 W.W. Norton & Co., Inc.
Once we have a sense of what society is and how we, as individuals, relate to it, it’s also important to think about the scope of sociology. In recent years it has become increasingly important for us to take a global perspective on the social world. You’ve all heard the term globalization, and as sociologists we need to think of this as it relates to many, many social phenomena. Your textbook, for example, talks about the sociology of coffee, which illustrates not only the global economics of a small brown bean but also the history of global colonialism and its destructive force. Students like you have grown up in a largely globalized world, and as sociologists you will need to systematically consider social issues from a global perspective.
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Social Change
Sociology was born during the upheaval that accompanied industrialization in Western Europe.
Many early social thinkers dedicated their research to better understanding the massive social change they witnessed.
The discipline developed with an eye toward understanding history and change.
© 2014 W.W. Norton & Co., Inc.
Sociology is a discipline that was born of dual revolutions: the French and the industrial. The French Revolution was part of a major shift in ideas, including the rise of secular thinking, while the Industrial Revolution was a shift in the economy. The culmination of both was also a seismic change in political systems. Those thinkers sociologists consider “the classics”—Karl Marx, Émile Durkheim, and Max Weber—spent much of their intellectual energy attempting to understand these changes. We’ll come back to them in just a moment.
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Contemporary Social Change
Social change continues: for most of human history, the vast majority of people lived in small, isolated groups. By 2050, nearly 70 percent of all people will live in urban settings.
The development of technology and communications capabilities continue to alter the way humans live.
© 2014 W.W. Norton & Co., Inc.
Sociologists continue to investigate social change today. Our “world system” is one that keeps changing: Developing nations attempt to reduce their debt, leaders of various sorts come and go, young people change their means of communication, diseases reach epidemic proportions. As sociologists, we want to understand not only what is happening but also why.
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Social Theory
Social theories do not intend to explain what is happening but rather why it happens.
There are many theoretical approaches in sociology: sociologists do not all agree on any given topic, but theories must be based on facts.
Research and theory cannot, and should not, be separate enterprises.
© 2014 W.W. Norton & Co., Inc.
Understanding social theory is an important part of an introduction to the field of sociology. Though of course we need to begin by knowing what is happening regarding any particular social issue or event, we also want to understand why. In other words, we not only collect facts, but we analyze them to gain a deeper understanding of the roots of some social problem or the causes of some event. Thus, although we often talk about research and theory as separate aspects of sociology, in reality, the two have to be considered side-by-side in practice.
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Auguste Comte (1798–1857)
Sought to establish science of society that would reveal the basic “laws of society”
Coined term “sociology”
Believed sociology could replace religion
Harriet Martineau (1802–1876)
Translated Comte’s work
Wrote first book on sociological theory/method
Introduced the significance of inequality and power into the discipline
Examined the morals and manners of the anomaly of U.S. slavery
Two Early Founders
Functionalist perspective
Conflict perspective
Interactionist perspective
Three approaches to sociological insights:
(Functionalist Perspective)
Sociological approach that emphasizes the way parts of a society are structured to maintain its stability
Society viewed as vast network of connected parts, each of which helps maintain the system as a whole
Emphasizes consensus and cooperation
macro
Structural Functionalism
How is social order maintained?
Émile Durkheim (1858–1917)
Emphasized significance of social order
Introduced concept of anomie—loss of direction felt in a society when social control of individual behavior has become ineffective
Emile Durkheim (1858–1917)
Often considered a founder of functionalism and of positivistic (scientific) sociology
Most famous work: Suicide (1897)
Why do people commit suicide?
Durkheim’s Suicide study
Why do rates of suicide differ among groups? Because of differences in levels of
social integration...
Egoistic (too little)
Altruistic (too much)
...and social regulation
Anomic (too little)
Fatalistic (too much)
Therefore, suicide rates are affected by the functions (or dysfunctions) of social integration and regulation within a given society or part of that society.
© 2014 W.W. Norton & Co., Inc.
(Conflict theory)
Assumes social behavior best understood in terms of tension between groups over power or allocation of resources
Considers how status quo is established and maintained, and who benefits and who suffers from existing system
Macro
Conflict perspective
Karl Marx (1818–1883)
Argues that capitalism, by its nature, creates and maintains inequality
Inequality caused by one group (owners) having material and financial control over others (wage laborers)
Max Weber (1864–1920)
Who has power determined by social class and ownership of material resources and by social status and organizational resources
How do power and inequality shape outcomes?
Karl Marx
Often considered a founder
of modern conflict theory
Most famous work: Communist Manifesto (1848, with Friedrich Engels)
Capitalist economic system based on profit and exploitation
Class struggle
Bourgeoisie (owners, controllers of capital)
Proletariat (workers, wage laborers)
Max Weber (VAY-bur)
Weber adds to Marx’s two-class system
Class position (wealth and income)
Status (prestige, status symbols, occupation)
Party (organizational memberships, adds to power)
Modern sociologists: socioeconomic status (“SES”)
(Interactionist perspective)
Generalizes about everyday forms of social interaction in order to explain society as a whole
Symbols, non-verbal communication, interaction
People are shaped by and actively shape their social worlds through interaction
Social construction of reality
micro
Symbolic Interactionism
Erving Goffman (1922–1982) popularized dramaturgical approach—people seen as theatrical performers concerned with managing their presentation of self
“All the world’s a stage” - Shakespeare
How does interaction shape our worlds?
Impression Management Altering presentation of self to create distinctive appearances and satisfy particular audiences
Face-work Efforts people make to maintain a proper image and avoid public embarrassment
Dramaturgical Approach Studies interaction as if we were all actors on a stage
Goffman: Presentation of the Self
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Dramaturgy: the study of social life as theater.
Roles - image being projected (or attempted)
Audience - people who observe our behavior
Script – communication with others
Props - objects used to present image
Front stage - where appropriate appearance is maintained – requires performers & audience
Back stage- Area of social interaction away from the view of an audience, where people can rehearse and rehash their behavior
Off stage – no performance, no audience; intrapersonal dialogue (interaction with the self)
Performance team- Set of individuals who cooperate in staging a performance that leads an audience to form an impression of one or all team members
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How does group membership influence opportunity?
W. E. B. Du Bois (1868–1963)
Combined emphasis on analysis of everyday lived experience with commitment to investigating power and inequality based on race
Ida Wells-Barnett (1862–1931)
Early feminist
Argued societies can be judged on whether the principles they claim to believe in match their actions
Used analysis of society to resist oppression
How should sociologists respond?
Sociological theory and research should contribute to positive social change.
Jane Addams (1860 –1935), an early member of the American Sociological Society, cofounded Hull House.
Durkheim, who considered an educated citizenry essential to democratic success, helped shape French educational policy.
Du Bois cofounded the NAACP.
Academic Sociology Those who study sociology in depth cultivate a variety of skills, such as developing evidence-based arguments, evaluating research methods, writing research reports, and using computer resources to organize and analyze data and identify ethical issues in research
Applied Sociology Use of the discipline of sociology with the specific intent of yielding practical applications for human behavior and organizations
Clinical Sociology Use of the discipline of sociology with the specific intent of altering social relationships or restructuring social institutions
Research Methods: Questions
Sociology, as a social science, must take an empirical approach to answering questions about the world.
Sociologists ask four primary types of questions: factual, comparative, developmental, and theoretical.
© 2014 W.W. Norton & Co., Inc.
As sociologists, we may have innumerable questions about the social world, but we must ask them in particular, agreed-upon ways in order to work within a scientific framework. Our questions must be ones that we can answer empirically; we must go out and collect data, not just base our answers on our own experiences and philosophies. The four basic types of questions are factual: what happened or is happening; comparative: whether this happens everywhere; developmental: whether this has always happened; and theoretical: why this is happening.
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Writing Sociological Questions
© 2014 W.W. Norton & Co., Inc.
Let’s practice with the four types of questions by constructing one of each type about the theme that started this chapter, bullying. Break into pairs or groups of three, and write one factual, one comparative, one developmental, and one theoretical question.
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Research Methods: Seven Steps
Define the research problem.
Review the evidence—do a literature review.
Make the problem precise—specify your hypothesis.
Work out a research design.
Carry out the research—collect your data.
Interpret the results—analyze your data.
Report the findings—publish or present them.
© 2014 W.W. Norton & Co., Inc.
When actually working on a research project, there are seven basic steps to follow. If you pay careful attention to your textbook, what you will recognize is that sometimes there is some back-and-forth and some repetition of steps. That is fine as long as you do indeed work through them all. Each step is crucial to your work being acceptable as social scientific research.
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Variable Measurable trait or characteristic that is subject to change under different conditions
Operational Definition Transformation of an abstract concept into indicators that are observable and measurable
Hypothesis Testable statement about the relationship between two or more variables
Formulating the Hypothesis
Causal Logic Relationship between variables exists such that change in one leads to change in the other
Independent Variable Variable in a causal relationship that causes or influences a change in a second variable
Dependent Variable Variable in a causal relationship that is subject to the influence of another variable
Correlation Relationship between two variables in which a change in one coincides with a change in the other
Correlation does not necessarily indicate causation.
Selecting the Sample
Sample Selection from larger population that is statistically representative of that population
Random Sample Sample for which every member of an entire population has the same chance of being selected
It is easy to confuse the careful scientific techniques used in representative sampling with the many nonscientific polls that receive media attention.
Collecting and Analyzing the Data
Ensuring Validity and Reliability
Validity Degree to which a measure or scale truly reflects the phenomenon under study
Reliability Extent to which a measure produces consistent results
Collecting and Analyzing the Data
Sociologists share their findings so others can learn from them and spot errors.
Research is cyclical in nature.
Studies researchers produce become part of the literature reviewed for new projects.
In Summary: The Research Process
Quantitative Research Collects and reports data primarily in numerical form
Mean Calculated by adding series of values and dividing by number of values
Median Midpoint, number that divides series of values into two groups of equal values
Mode Most common value in series
Qualitative research Relies on what is seen in field or naturalistic settings more than on statistical data
Quantitative and Qualitative Research
Survey A study, generally in the form of an interview or questionnaire, that provides researchers with information about how people think and act
Issues in Designing Surveys
Researchers must develop representative samples.
Researchers must exercise great care in wording of questions
The characteristics of the interviewer impact survey data
Research Methods
Observation Research technique in which an investigator collects information through direct participation and/or by closely watching a group or community
Gang Leader for a Day
Ethnography Study of an entire social setting through extended systematic observation
Observation can lead to closeness with some research subjects that yields insights, but it also risks a loss of objectivity and/or failing to study other subjects in depth.
Field Research
Experiment Artificially created situation that allows a researcher to manipulate variables
Experimental group Subjects in an experiment who are exposed to an independent variable introduced by a researcher
Control group Subjects in an experiment who are not introduced to independent variable by researcher
Hawthorne effect Unintended influence observers of experiments can have on their subjects
Experiment
Secondary Analysis Variety of research techniques that make use of previously collected and publicly accessible information and data
Data is nonreactive, not influenced by the research process
Content Analysis Systematic coding and objective recording of data, guided by some rationale
Use of Existing Sources
Research Methods: Ethics
Because sociologists are dealing with real people in their everyday lives, we must be very cautious in our work.
All research that directly involves human subjects must first be approved by an Institutional Review Board (IRB).
Study participants must give informed consent prior to agreeing to participate and must be debriefed afterward.
© 2014 W.W. Norton & Co., Inc.
Because we are often studying the lives of individuals, as sociologists we have important ethical responsibilities. Like the Hippocratic Oath taken by physicians, as sociologists we must begin with the proposition to “do no harm.” As a result of experiments in earlier periods that did have negative impacts on study participants, today there are clearly defined rules that all researchers must follow and that are enforced via Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) at universities and hospitals. Your textbook gives the example of Humphrey’s study published as Tearoom Trade, which was an early investigation of gay behavior and culture. What did he do that might be ethically suspect? Go back, look at this section, and think about what ethical boundaries might have been breached, knowing that today an IRB would prohibit such approaches. All our research, no matter how important it seems to us, must take into account the rights of our research subjects and the potential for concerns about ethics.
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Code of ethics The standards of acceptable behavior developed by and for members of a profession
Code of Ethics
Maintain objectivity and integrity in research
Respect subject’s right to privacy and dignity
Protect subjects from personal harm
Preserve confidentiality
Seek informed consent
Acknowledge research collaboration and assistance
Disclose all sources of financial support
Code of Ethics: published by ASA
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Stanley Milgram shock experiment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kqaMhm6dlg
Philip Zimbardo Stanford Prison experiment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIUlBrvqyyo
Laud Humphreys – tea room trade: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsFa10JFats
http://www.soc.ucsb.edu/sexinfo/article/tearoom-trade (for more info)
Famous social experiments with questionable ethics
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This concludes the Lecture Slides for Essentials of Sociology, Fifth Edition Chapter 1
Anthony Giddens
Mitchell Duneier
Richard P. Appelbaum
Deborah Carr
That wraps up our material for today. Next we will be talking about social stratification.
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