sociology
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chapter1.pptxSOCIOLOGY 1
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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.
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.
Social Structure
Our lives are structured, or patterned, in particular, non-random, ways.
Social structures are dynamic. Societies are always in the process of structuration, which means they are constantly being affected by human actions.
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 many, many 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—stuck in place—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.
Social Theory
Social theories do not intend to explain what is happening but 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.
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.
Early Theorists
Auguste Comte
French philosopher who is credited with giving the discipline its name.
Believed in creating a science of the social world to be used for improving people’s lives.
Saw sociology as the “last science” to be developed.
Comte is often referred to as the “father of sociology,” although that seems to be mostly related to his naming of the discipline and his insistence on a scientific approach rather than his empirical contributions. Comte was primarily a social policy maker, and as such it makes sense that he saw sociology as a tool for improving human welfare.
Auguste Comte (1798–1857)
© 2011 W. W. Norton Co., Inc.
Early Theorists
Émile Durkheim
Drawing on Comte’s notion of sociology as a science, Durkheim set out to study social facts. These are those aspects of social life—for example, religion, the economy—that shape individual action.
He saw society as a body that needed all its parts to function in harmony.
Durkheim was, like Comte, a Frenchman who believed very much in the notion of a science of society. Durkheim elected to pursue this approach by using an analogy of society to the human body, and aspects of society like religion, the economy, politics—these are often referred to as social institutions—as parts of the body. He saw that these various social organs or parts had an effect on people, and also on society as a whole.
Émile Durkheim (1858–1917)
© 2011 W. W. Norton Co., Inc.
Early Theorists
Émile Durkheim
Was interested in what societies needed to function smoothly.
Studied social constraint, social isolation, and anomie (normlessness) in relation to social change and human behaviors such as suicide.
Durkheim wanted to understand what society needed to function harmoniously, and additionally wanted to be able to diagnose the problem when a social issue arose. One important example was Durkheim’s study of suicide, which is typically understood to be a personal problem but which Durkheim approached sociologically. What he found was that people with either too much or too little connection to society or who, for whatever reason, felt a sense of normlessness (anomie) were more likely to commit suicide, as were people of certain religious traditions or those who lived under particular types of political systems. In all this, Durkheim was also busy trying to understand the way the changes wrought by industrialization were affecting individuals and societies. Durkheim’s theoretical perspective is often described as consensus theory.
Early Theorists
Karl Marx
In seeking to explain social change Marx looked primarily to the economy.
Developed what is called a materialist conception of history, whereby the economy, and not values, culture, or ideas, drives social change.
Focused primarily on the ills of capitalism and its class system.
Marx took a very different approach to understanding social change. Unlike Durkheim, Marx was never actually a professional sociologist. His training was largely in philosophy and economics, and his career was largely as a politically active journalist who found himself exiled from his native Germany. Marx eventually settled in England, where he became increasingly focused on the lives of urban laborers in the expanding factory system. He then spent much of his career describing in exquisite detail the workings of the capitalist system and the exploitation it wreaked on workers. He juxtaposed the wealth and power of the bourgeoisie (the capitalists) with the poverty and servile nature of the proletariat (the workers).
Karl Marx (1818–1883)
© 2011 W. W. Norton Co., Inc.
Early Theorists
Karl Marx
Predicted that ultimately the class conflict built in to the capitalist system would lead to its demise and that a new, classless society would emerge.
Marx’s ideas have had a great deal of influence, both within sociology and in world political history.
What Marx saw was an inevitable revolution where the proletariat would rise up and overthrow the bourgeousie. What followed would be a new kind of society where no single, small class would control all the resources. As you are likely aware, for much of the second half of the twentieth-century, an ideological Cold War was waged between democratic, capitalist countries (mostly in the West) and those that claimed communist or socialist forms of organization (mostly in the East). These communist and socialist regimes claimed a Marxist ideology, but in practice they deviated in significant ways from Marx’s own ideals.
Early Theorists
Max Weber
Though he, too, was interested in explaining social change, Weber saw power not only in the economy but also in ideas and values.
In particular ,Weber argued that Christianity, in the form of the Protestant work ethic, played an important role in the development of capitalism.
Weber is said to have been arguing with the ghost of Marx in much of his work. While he surely agreed with Marx that changes in the economy—namely, industrialization—played a critical role in the broader shifts taking place in society, Weber also emphasized the importance of culture and ideas. In The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, Weber put forward a now-famous thesis wherein certain aspects of Calvinist theology had an affinity with certain aspects of early capitalism. This was one example of how culture (in this case, Protestant Christianity) could play an important role in the development of a major social system (capitalism).
Max Weber (1864–1920)
© 2011 W. W. Norton Co., Inc.
Early Theorists
Max Weber
Was also interested in the increasing rationality of the social world and studied the structure of bureaucracies.
Studied many other aspects of social life, including religion, law, and power, and was always attuned to the ways people make meaning out of life.
Like Marx, Weber was not strictly a sociologist. He studied religion, law, and power and in innovative ways. For instance, Weber wrote a massive comparative study of world religions that continues to be important in religious studies today, and which offered an excellent example of comparative research methods for sociologists. Weber was also interested in politics and science and wrote on many more topics as well. A final thing that set Weber apart from the other early theorists was his interest in how individuals make meaning out of their lives. Though he was clearly focused in many ways on large-scale social institutions like religion and bureaucracy, he also wanted to understand how the changes in these aspects of the social institutions affected individuals and how they themselves would understand their lives.
Neglected Founders
Harriet Martineau was a scholar and activist who introduced sociology to England. Among other things, she insisted on the significance of studying domestic life to better understand a society.
Martineau was a very important figure for several reasons, not least of which is that she was a prominent female scholar in an era where she was very much the exception. Martineau brought sociology from France and Germany to England, when she translated Comte’s work. Among her contributions was the idea that sociologists must not only study important institutions in the public sphere—the economy, religion, politics—but must also look to the private sphere and examine families, children and the lives of women. Martineau was also a strong proponent of both women’s rights and the emancipation of slaves.
Neglected Founders
W. E. B. Du Bois was the first significant African American sociologist.
Key conceptual contributions: double consciousness and the color line
Du Bois was a founding member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
Du Bois’s work has been profoundly important, not only in the sense of emphasizing the need to examine the history of groups in society, but also in study of the development of identity. The now-famous idea of “double consciousness” is intended to express the way in which all African Americans must see themselves, not only through their own eyes but also through the eyes of a society that degrades them. His claim was that this necessarily led to the construction of a negative self-identity for those in the black community. What he wanted to bring to the fore was the reality that although slavery was over, the “color line” remained a major social problem in the United States. He remained involved in issues of race relations for most of his life, but ultimately, in a state of disenchantment, he left the U.S. for Ghana.
Contemporary Theory
Symbolic Interactionism
All social interaction involves an exchange of information via symbols.
This exchange may be through language, but may also be nonverbal or may be conveyed by setting.
We learn about ourselves and the world through this meaningful interaction.
Key figure: George Herbert Mead, Erving Goffman
Mead was a pragmatist philosopher who was a key figure in developing the symbolic interactionist perspective. Mead’s interest was largely in the development of the self, and he showed that language, along with other exchanges of symbols, was paramount in this process. More broadly, symbolic interactionists study society by examining all aspects of interaction and are often able to learn a tremendous amount about culture, power, and relationships in doing so.
SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONISM
Plus: helps us understand how we operate in small groups (Microsociology)
Minus: Doesn’t analyze structural conditions on a larger scale
What are some symbols in our culture that bind us together?
Symbols that bind us
Durkheim Structural Functionalism
Functionalism
Functionalism-Durkheim
This perspective is derived from Comte and Durkheim and emphasizes large-scale social institutions and processes.
Functionalist approaches focus on understanding the role or contribution of some event, activity, or institution to the workings of society as a whole.
Modern figures: Talcott Parsons, Robert K. Merton
At its core, the functionalist perspective is one that seeks to understand society as a unified social system in which different social institutions and events serve particular functions, or roles, in maintaining societal harmony. Functionalism finds its earliest proponents in figures like Durkheim, but it was renewed in the mid-1950s under the leadership of Talcott Parsons and Robert Merton. Though there is, today, concern among some sociologists about an ideological conservatism in functionalist thought, systems theory (derived from Parsons), and middle-range theories (derived from Merton) have remained influential perspectives.
Structural Functionalism
Looks at societies like organisms.
Many bits and pieces working together to create a semblance of a whole
Each individual has their function within the larger organism
Plus: Gives us a way of looking at the world that accounts for our roles as members of something larger than ourselves
Minus: Doesn't account for power and privilege. Assumes that everyone wants to be functioning the way that they are
Conflict Perspective
Conflict Perspective
Marxism
Those working under this approach derive their approach from Marx, most significantly as regards concerns about power, conflict, and ideology.
This perspective is most commonly applied to capitalism and economic systems.
Marxist thinkers tend to take on an activist stance in addition to a scholarly one.
Looks at the course of history as that of opposing forces. These opposing forces are fighting to obtain or preserve their power over other groups.
In Industrialized Capitalist societies those classes are the Bourgeoisie (Owners and Managers) and the Proletariat (Producers)
Marx: In his most famous work, The Communist Manifesto, Marx calls out to the “workers of the world” to unite and maximize their power in order to get a fairer shake.
The writings of Karl Marx were instrumental in the formation of unionized labor in the western world as well as underpinning many governments in western Europe including Sweden and France
CONFLICT PERSPECTIVE
Karl Marx was a champion of what he called a communist democracy. Communism has since come to mean something else since it hasn’t ever been tried democratically
All “communist” governments throughout history have been totalitarian in nature
Conflict Perspective
The tenants of Equity that Karl Marx championed were applied to governments like Sweden and are what is commonly referred to as Democratic Socialism.
Contemporary Theoretical Schools
Feminist theory begins from the perspective that women’s lives and experiences have largely been ignored and must be brought to the forefront of sociological thinking.
Postmodern theory takes the position that social life is not based on any kind of linear history, but is rather always in flux. The media is often seen as a key player in how people understand their lives.
For most of the history of sociology, as with most academic disciplines, the voices of women have been marginalized. Beginning with figures like Harriet Martineau, however, there has been an ever-growing movement toward the inclusion of women, not only as scholars, but also as subjects worthy of investigation. Today, feminist theory has grown to the point of being a full-fledged academic discipline, usually called Women’s Studies, and within sociology it is an important and expanding field of both theory and practice.
Postmodern theorists make the claim that the grand historical narratives of, for example, “modernity” and “industrialization” are no longer relevant or useful in people’s lives. Postmodernists argue that we are now in a new period in which there are a multitude of equally relevant (or irrelevant) stories, and that we are all subject to the many voices in the media, which tell us about the social world without the anchor of context or history. In this new social reality, there are no dominant stories, only more or less mobilized stories.
REVIEW
3 Theoretical Perspectives
-Functionalism-Durkhem-Societies are like Organisms-Bits and pieces put together to create a whole.
Conflict-Marx-focuses on Power and Inequality in Political and Economic institutions
Symbolic Interactionism-Mead and Goffman-Micro Level Of Analysis-Focuses on how symbols are used to interact with others and create shared culture within a society.
Symbolic Interactionism in the News...
Dolls Defend Palestinian Culture
" The moment symbols are connected to anti-colonial practice, they immediately become a threat," said Ala al-Azzeh, a professor of cultural anthropology at Birzeit University. "It's also about controlling the indigenous population - not just physically, but by destroying national identity and collective symbols. The colonial structure is deep enough to go after the seemingly mundane."
WHAT PERSPECTIVE?
Many people wrestle with what theoretical perspective best explains societies
In Fact, they are ALL beneficial
Some of the most influential sociologists are those who combined theoretical perspectives
Max Weber Is a Sociologist who combined perspectives.
Max Weber
Wrote during the late 1800s and early 1900s
He combined theories of Durkheim and Marx to show how industrialized capitalist societies were an “organism” which traps individuals
Individuals are trapped through highly rationalized processes that serve to numb the participants into a sense of personlessness
He called this the “iron cage” of bureaucracy
RATIONALIZATION
IRON CAGE and EDUCATION
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.
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.
RESEARCH QUESTIONS: 4 MAIN TYPES
factual: what happened or is happening;
comparative: whether this happens everywhere
developmental: whether this has always happened
theoretical: why this is happening.
Research Process
Define the problem: Select a topic for research
Review the Evidence: Familiarize yourself with existing research on the topic
Make the problem Precise: Narrow your focus to something that you can explain in a reasonably sized piece of writing
Work out a Research Design: Choose one or more research methods
Carry out the research: Collect your data and record your information
Interpret the Results: Work out the implications of the data you collect
Report your findings: What is their significance?
Levels of Analysis – Microsociology
Microsociology is the study of everyday, face-to-face interaction. Symbolic interactionists study primarily at this level of analysis.
When we begin to think about the connections between theory and research, one of the first things to consider is the level of analysis. Some theories, like symbolic interactionism, are focused on small events: conversations between individuals in particular social roles, for example. This level is called microsociology, and it emphasizes the way that the social world is largely constructed by human interactions.
Levels of Analysis-Macrosociology
Macrosociology is the analysis of large social systems and institutions. Functionalists and Marxists fall largely under this heading.
In practice, these two levels of analysis work best when applied in concert.
Other theoretical perspectives, like functionalism, have a broader focus on entire social institutions: the role fundamentalist religions play in modern democratic societies, the relationship between employment and racial inequality. This broad level of analysis is called macrosociology.
Though microsociology and macrosociology are different in important ways, in practice they inform each other, and in the best research both are addressed. An excellent example of both levels of analysis being investigated can be found in Elijah Anderson’s The Code of the Street, where he examined the broad problem of inner-city violence by looking at interactions in one neighborhood and simultaneously considering the massive loss of manufacturing jobs from the 1980s forward.
Research in Sociology
As we said before, Sociology is a method if inquiry that requires systematic processes.
There are several different systems one can use when engaging in sociological investigation and they fall into two over arching categories:
Qualitative
Quantitative
Quantitative Methods
Involve the use of statistics to analyze sets of data taken from large sampling pools
The data are usually derived from surveys which ask the participants several questions which can be answered discretely
Survey questions are almost always multiple choice so that the answers can be plugged into mathematical algorithms that make for easy analysis
QUANTITATIVE METHODS
Advantages:
You can get information from a large group of subjects in a relatively short period of time.
It gives you a good first glimpse into a community and allows you to see possible trends that might emerge through further research
Disadvantages:
Survey data barely scratches the surface of many of the sociological issues that one might want to study in a given community
Survey data can also be misleading
QUALITATIVE METHODS
Because of the disadvantages, quantitative data is best used in tandem with Qualitative studies
Qualitative studies involve participant observation, interviews, and content analysis.
They involve a much deeper and contextual analysis of a community taking information from a smaller pool of participants but spending much more time with each one.
The information gained from Qualitative research is often much more in depth. One big reason is that qualitative researchers study behavior as well as what people report.
QUALITATIVE METHODS
Advantages:
Allows the researcher to find out much more about the group they are studying because they spend much more time interacting with them.
Paints a very clear picture of the community being studied through the use of thick description and narrative coupled with quotations from community members.
Disadvantages:
Small Sampling pool
Extensive time commitment
How do we DO sociology?
Different Methods
Ethnography
Survey analysis
Content analysis
Interviews
Comparative-Historical Research
Feminist methodology
Research Methods
Ethnography, or participant observation, is a method frequently used to study people in their own settings in a deep, thorough fashion.
Surveys are a more structured research method where specific, carefully constructed questions are asked to specific, carefully selected individuals.
Ethnographies and surveys are two commonly used research methods in sociology. Ethnography is a qualitative method that involves a researcher going into the field to study people or social groups in their own setting. This method comes from anthropology but has gained in usage and acceptance in sociology. Surveys are a quantitative research method that involve constructing questionnaires that ask questions about some topic, or topics. Typically, survey researchers work with as large a sample of participants as they can, as one goal is usually to generalize their findings. An example of a survey with which you are probably at least a bit familiar is the U.S. Census, which seeks basic information about everyone living in the United States.
Research Methods
Sociologists occasionally use experimental designs when highly controlled conditions are necessary to determine causation.
Comparative and historical sociology are approaches that allow researchers to understand variations in social phenomena across both time and space.
Three other methods, used less frequently, are experimental, comparative, and historical research designs. Experimental designs are typically used when some very specific intervention is being studied that necessitates a highly controlled environment. Comparative approaches are commonly used alongside many other approaches in an effort to see variation across social space. For example, the same survey could be given to college students in the United States and to college students in China, and then we could make some comparisons about the two populations. Historical research allows us to consider change over time and to pay close attention to shifts in major social structures in terms of our own topic. For example, we could look at changes in family structure as it relates to changes in the labor market over the past two hundred years.
TRIANGULATION
The best way to get a clear picture of a community is to COMBINE METHODS.
This is called TRIANGULATION
You might give a survey to a community that helps you formulate questions for more in depth interviews with participants in a community which you have been observing for some time
This would be a triangulation of ethnography, interviews, and survey research
ETHICAL DILEMMAS
Questions to be asked:
Does the research pose potential harm for participants?
It has become an increasingly regulated area of research
Universities and other research bodies have Institutional Review Boards that approve or deny potential projects based on whether they are deemed ethical
Study participants must give informed consent prior to agreeing to participate and must be debriefed afterward.
This can get in the way of garnering “authentic” data, especially when studying individuals who might be giving you sensitive information.
TUSKEGEE EXPERIMENTS
Laud Humphries’ Tea Room Trade
Milgram’s Obedience Study
