Sociology/ Sociological Concepts Analysis/ 2 Pages Research Paper/ APA Style/No Plagiarism

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Kerry Ferris & Jill Stein

Lecture Slides

Chapter 1: Sociology in the Real World

Getting Warmed Up! Lecture Launcher Question #1 Sociology is

a. the study of individual behavior. b. the study of personal issues and illnesses. c. the nonscientific study of small group interactions. d. the scientific study of society and social behavior.

Getting Warmed Up! Lecture Launcher Question #2 Ashley just got her driver’s license permit. Today is the first day she has ever driven a car. Without questioning why, Ashley begins driving on the right side of the road. In sociological terms, Ashley can best be described as a/an

a. everyday actor. b. social analyst. c. astute teenager. d. experienced driver.

Getting Warmed Up! Lecture Launcher Question #3 Sociology, as a discipline, took root with a few key thinkers. Match the following three people with the appropriate key term or idea:

a. Auguste Comte aa. coined the term survival of the fittest, and his philosophy is often referred to as “social Darwinism”

b. Herbert Spencer bb. a precursor to naturalistic sociologists, he translated Introduction to Positive Philosophy into English

c. Harriet Martineau cc. coined the term sociology and developed positivism as a theory

Getting Warmed Up! Lecture Launcher Question #4 Macrosociological theory is the study of grand social behavior such as social order, social change, and social inequality.

a. True b. False

Getting Warmed Up! Lecture Launcher Question #5 Thomas has a degree in engineering, just as his father and grandfather do. His grandfather was able to get a job straight out of college and stay with the same company until he retired. But after trying for over a year, Thomas was only able to find contracted, hourly engineering work. He has decided to pursue a graduate degree with the hopes of finding full- time employment when he graduates. Using a sociological imagination, how might we better understand this change?

a. Thomas is part of a different economy and workforce than his grandfather so his experiences are different.

b. Thomas is not putting out enough effort so he is less successful than his grandfather.

c. Engineering is less important than it used to be.

d. Thomas probably interviews poorly.

Getting Warmed Up! Lecture Launcher Question #6 Match each sociological perspective with its assumptions and approach to understanding society:

a. structural functionalism aa. Meanings are created and interpreted through interaction.

b. conflict theory bb. Society exists with patterns of inequality and dominance.

c. symbolic interactionism cc. Society is an orderly and unified system.

d. postmodernism dd. Social reality is diverse and best explored via mini-narratives.

What Is Sociology?

Sociology is one of the social sciences—disciplines that examine the human, or social, world.

• Everyday actor: someone who approaches the world by using knowledge that is practical or taken for granted.

• Social analyst: someone who approaches the world by using reasoning and questions to gain deeper insights.

Sociology and the Social Sciences

What Is Sociology? Its Definition

• Sociology—the study of society

• According to Howard Becker, sociology is the study of people “doing things together” because neither the individual nor society exist independently of one another.

What Is Sociology? Its Interests

• Sociologists are interested in all aspects of society – a group of people who shape their lives in patterned ways that distinguish their group from other groups

What Is Sociology? Its Focus

Sociology looks at a broad range of institutions – structures in our society, like education, economics, and politics – to better understand social relationships.

What Is Sociology? Its Perspective

• Sociology can help you develop a sociological perspective—a way of looking at the world through a sociological lens.

• Sociologists have developed several approaches for developing a sociological perspective: • The Beginner’s Mind • Culture Shock • Sociological Imagination

The Beginner’s Mind

• Just as it sounds, the “beginner’s mind” is the opposite of an expert’s mind.

• Bernard McGrane says that to explore the social world, it is important that we clear our minds of stereotypes, expectations, and opinions so that we are more receptive to our experiences.

Culture Shock

• Culture shock is the sense of disorientation you experience upon entering a new environment.

• Behaviors that are typical in one society or culture may seem very strange in another context.

Sociological Imagination

• Sociological imagination is a term coined by C. Wright Mills.

• Mills says, “To understand social life, we must understand the intersection between biography and history.”

Sociological Imagination (cont’d.)

• Sociological imagination is a quality of the mind that allows us to understand the relationship between our particular situation in life and what is happening at a social level

Levels of Analysis

• Sociologists can use different levels of analysis to explore social relationships: • Microsociology: examines small-group interactions to see how

they impact larger institutions in society • Macrosociology: examines large-scale social structures to

determine how they impact groups and individuals

The Micro-Macro Continuum

Sociological Theories

•Theories in sociology are propositions that seek to explain the social world and help to make predictions about future events.

•Theories are also sometimes referred to as approaches, schools of thought, paradigms, or perspectives.

• Sociological theories typically address social processes at either the microsociological or macrosociological level.

Sociology’s Family Tree

Sociology’s Roots: Auguste Comte

• Auguste Comte stated that sociology needed to be treated like any other scientific discipline.

• He laid the groundwork for future sociologists and helped to establish the discipline.

Sociology’s Roots: Harriet Martineau

• Harriet Martineau a social activist who traveled the United States and wrote about social changes that were radical for this time period.

• Martineau translated Comte’s work into English, making his ideas accessible to England and America.

Sociology’s Roots: Herbert Spencer

• Herbert Spencer was the first great English-speaking sociologist.

• Spencer believed in evolution and coined the phrase “survival of the fittest.”

• He believed that societies evolve through time by adapting to their changing environment. His philosophy is often referred to as social Darwinism.

Sociology’s Roots: Émile Durkheim

• Like Comte, Émile Durkheim worked to establish sociology as an important academic discipline.

• Durkheim studied the social factors that bond and hold people together.

• In Suicide, he studied the relationship between social isolation and suicide at the macro- level.

Sociology’s Roots: Karl Marx

• Karl Marx was a German philosopher and political activist who contributed significantly to sociology’s conflict theory. • Marx theorized that capitalism created

social inequality between the bourgeoisie, who owned the means of production (money, factories, natural resources, and land), and the proletariat, who were the workers. • Marx predicted that inequality leads to

class conflict.

Sociology’s Roots: Max Weber

• Max Weber also studied how society was becoming industrialized.

• He was concerned with the process of rationalization, applying economic logic to all human activity.

• He believed that contemporary life was filled with disenchantment, the result of the dehumanizing features of modern societies.

Sociology’s Roots: George Herbert Mead

•George Herbert Mead studied the connection between thought and action—or between the individual and society.

•Mead suggested that social processes give meaning to objects in our society—people interact, and meanings come from these interactions.

Sociology’s Roots: Erving Goffman

• Erving Goffman studied how the “self” is developed through interactions with others in society.

• Goffman used the term dramaturgy to describe the way people strategically present themselves to others.

Schools of Thought

• Your book refers to paradigms, or schools of thought. Paradigms are ways of thinking, or “theoretical umbrellas,” meant to provide a broad explanation for the way things work.

Schools of Thought (cont’d.)

• Structural functionalism: • Society is viewed as an ordered system of interrelated parts, or

structures, which are the social institutions that make up society (family, education, politics, the economy). • Each of these different structures meets the needs of society by

performing specific functions for the whole system (society).

Schools of Thought: Conflict Theory

• Conflict theory: • Sees social conflict as the basis of society and social change

Schools of Thought: Symbolic Interactionism • Symbolic interactionism: • Sees interaction and meaning as central to society and assumes

that meanings are not inherent but rather are created through interaction

New Theoretical Approaches: Feminist and Race Theory • Feminist theory: • Looks at both gender inequalities in society and the way that

gender structures the social world and considers remedies to these inequalities

• Critical race theory: the study of the relationship among race, racism, and power

New Theoretical Approaches: Queer Theory

• Queer theory: • Proposes that categories of sexual identity are social constructs

and that no sexual category is fundamentally either deviant or normal • Queer theory was inspired by gay and lesbian rights movements

in the 1970s and ‘80s.

New Theoretical Approaches: Postmodernist Theory • Postmodernist theory: • Suggests that social reality is diverse, pluralistic, and constantly

changing • Postmodernism was a reaction to Modernism, a paradigm that

trusts in the power of science and technology to create progress.

Sociology and the Real World – Concept Quiz Question #1 The social sciences include all of the following except

a. sociology. b. psychology. c. anthropology. d. economics. e. biology.

Sociology and the Real World—Concept Quiz Question #2 If you are a researcher interested in knowing how many people in your city live below the poverty line, you might get census data to find that information. Then, you could count the number of people that meet your criteria. What kind of research are you doing?

a. Quantitative b. Qualitative

Sociology and the Real World—Concept Quiz Question #3 If you are a researcher interested in the relationship between cultural values and national suicide rates, your analysis will likely focus on social processes occurring at which level?

a. Micro b. Macro

Sociology and the Real World—Concept Quiz Question #4 Structural Functionalist theorists are primarily concerned with social processes at which of the follow levels of analysis?

a. Micro b. Macro

Sociology and the Real World—Concept Quiz Question #5 Dramaturgy, a term describing the strategic presentation of ourselves to others, is related to which school of thought?

a. Structural Functionalism b. Conflict Theory c. Symbolic Interactionism d. Queer Theory

Sociology and the Real World—Concept Quiz Question #6 The sociological imagination gives us a way to look at the world beyond our own personal experience.

a. True b. False

Sociology and the Real World—Concept Quiz Question #7 Abstract propositions that both explain the social world and make predictions about future events are known as

a. theories. b. social inequalities. c. ideas. d. social assumptions. e. means of production.

Sociology and the Real World—Concept Quiz Question #8 What are paradigms?

a. Broad theoretical perspectives b. Specific research methods c. Dominant sociological applications d. All of the above e. None of the above

Sociology and the Real World— Concept Quiz Question #9 Marx believed that there was a class struggle between

a. groups of people who worked alongside one another. b. groups of people who practiced different religions. c. people who owned the means of production versus people

who worked for a wage. d. people who were born rich versus people who earned their

wealth. e. people who were born poor versus people who fell into

poverty due to a poor work ethic.

Sociology and the Real World— Concept Quiz Question #10 Which of these sociological paradigms has proved to be the most influential of the twentieth century?

a. structural functionalism b. conflict theory c. symbolic interactionism d. world-systems theory e. critical race theory

Chapter 1: Participation Question #1

Are you a sociology major? a. yes b. no

Chapter 1: Participation Question #2

Have you ever taken a sociology class before? a. yes b. no

Chapter 1: Participation Question #3

After learning a little about the major theories in sociology, which of the following seems to appeal to you the most?

a. structural functionalism b. conflict theory c. symbolic interactionism

Chapter 1: Participation Question #4

Have you applied your “sociological imagination” since reading the text?

a. Yes b. No

Chapter 1: Data Workshop Activity

• Refer to the Data Workshop on pages 31 and 32 to prepare for this activity.

• Wait for your instructor to assign you to one of the three theoretical frameworks noted in the exercise

• Answer the questions for your theoretical framework as listed on page 32.

• Be prepared to share your thoughts with the class!

This concludes the Lecture PowerPoint for Chapter 1