Week 5 - Final Paper

Sociology in a Nutshell: A Brief Introduction to the Discipline of Sociology

Alan Barton, Ph.D. As an independent discipline, Sociology dates back to the end of the 19

th century, although

Sociology has influences from various other disciplines, including Philosophy, Political Economy

and Statistics. The first practitioners of Sociology were in France and Germany, as the effects of

the industrial revolution were being felt across Europe, and early sociologists were primarily

concerned with understanding the nature of industrial society (Levine, 1995). The first theories

that emerged contrasted community structures, common in agrarian societies, with societal

structures, common in industrial settings (Tönnies, 1887/2002; Durkheim, 1893/1997; Redfield,

1953). Community systems are rooted in personal emotional attachments, a desire for

homogeneity, strict normative (informal) controls, and a rudimentary division of labor (e.g., by

gender, within the household), while societal systems are based on professional rational

attachments, valuing diversity, legal (formal) controls, and a complex division of labor (e.g., by

occupation, at workplaces). As industrialization develops, systems of social organization move

from community to society, and states and markets take central roles in the operation of society

(Polanyi, 1944).

Sociology came to America in the early twentieth century, and was first established at the

University of Chicago (Collins, 1994). American sociologists developed a new approach to the

study of modern (industrial) society, by appropriating ecological theories from Biology and

applying them to urban settings. American sociologists also highlighted interaction as the root of

social structures (Mead, 1934; Goffman, 1959; Blumer, 1969). As Sociology spread, other

perspectives grew as well, including Functionalist Sociology, which emphasizes social order and

the “social glue” that holds society together, and Conflict Sociology, which emphasizes social

hierarchies and the differing levels of status accorded to different groups (Collins, 1994).

At its core, Sociology is the study of the relationship between individuals and their social

contexts. This is sometimes known as the Sociological Perspective (or the Sociological

Imagination) , because in order to understand the social causes of human behavior, sociologists

typically must adopt a way of thinking that differs from how most people see the world (Mills,

1959). Humans are by nature social beings; we cannot survive unless we interact with other

humans. But our interactions are not random, they are shaped by our relationships with others,

by our cultural values and beliefs, by the rules of institutions we participate in, and by our

experiences in previous interactions, among other influences (Bellah, Madsen, Sullivan, Swidler

& Tipton, 1991). Through interaction, we create the terms of these social structures―the

relationships, groups, organizations, institutions, and culture. These structures “take on a life of

their own” and produce their own reality, and once they do so, they begin to shape us.

People experience interaction within these social structures over the course of a lifetime,

beginning with interaction in the family, then among their neighbors, then with their teachers and

classmates at school, perhaps in their church, later in the workplace, and so on (Grusec &

Hastings, 2007). So, most of us do not think of ourselves as constructing the institutions―they

are already in place when we are born and we live our lives within their rules. But, in fact, every

time we adhere to time-honored means of interaction, we are essentially recreating that rule,

and thus recreating the institution.

Sociologists apply this logic of construction and socialization (the effects that participating in

social structures has on individuals) to better understand human behavior, human interaction,

and social structures (Berger, 1963). Sociologists are particularly interested in how our

interaction creates institutions that are unequal in nature―they are organized in hierarchies,

with some individuals getting more and others getting less of whatever is valued in the society

(money, prestige, material goods, or power, for example) (Weber, 1923/1981). Some inequality

is functional―societies work better if some leaders make decisions, so everyone does not have

to do so. When inequality becomes too extreme, or when it begins to serve the interests of

particular individuals or groups rather than the society as a whole, then inequality erodes social

functioning and individuals suffer. Concepts such as justice, ethics, and morality help us

understand and explain social stratification and extreme inequality.

References:

Bellah, R. N., Madsen, R., Sullivan, W. M., Swidler, A., & Tipton, S. M. (1991). The good

society. New York: Vintage Books.

Berger, P. L. (1963). Invitation to sociology: A humanistic perspective. New York: Anchor Books.

Blumer, H. (1969). Symbolic interactionism: Perspective and method. Berkeley, CA: University

of California Press.

Collins, R. (1994). Four sociological traditions. New York: Oxford University Press.

Durkheim, E. (1893/1997). The division of labor in society. New York: The Free Press.

Goffman, E. (1959). The presentation of self in everyday life. New York: Anchor Books.

Grusec, J. E., & Hastings, P. D. (2007). Handbook of socialization: Theory and research. New

York: Guilford Press.

Levine, D. N. (1995). Visions of the sociological tradition. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Mead, G. H. (1934). Mind, self, & society from the standpoint of a social behaviorist. Chicago:

University of Chicago Press.

Mills, C.W. (1959). The sociological imagination. New York: Grove Press.

Polanyi, K. (1944). The great transformation: The political and economic origins of our time.

Boston: Beacon Press.

Redfield, R. (1953). The primitive world and its transformations. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University

Press.

Tönnies, F. (1887/2002). Community and society (Gemeinschaft und gesellschaft). Mineola, NY:

Dover Publications.

Weber, M. (1923/1981). General economic history. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers.