What is sociology?
Systematic study of human society and social interaction. More comprehensive approach to understanding aspects of social life. Human societies and social interactions to develop theories of how human behaviour is shaped by group life and society and how group life is affected by individuals. Gain a better understanding of ourselves and the social world. See how behaviour is shape by groups and society, insights on the larger world order
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Contemporary society
Intertwine between sociology and economics
Why is sociology systematic?
It applies theoretical perspectives and research methods
Consumer society
Rely on credit cards, loans, lines of credit to pay for items or services. Mass phenomenon among people of diverse income categories
Political science and sociology
Differences: study of origins are rater distinct (constitutional law and formal government organization)
Relation: Social interaction among the organization
overlap: Polling (contemporary social science and sociology)
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Psychology and Sociology
Closest relation.
Differences: Psychology uses intra-individual processing as a basic unit of analysis while sociology uses inter-between processing. Sociology is more individual aspect (environment) while psychology is more group aspect (mental/body)
Relation: Social psychology
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personal troubles
private problems of individuals and who they associate with
public issues
affect large number or people, solution at societal level
Sociological imagination
Place seemingly personal troubles into larger social context. How personal troubles can be related to public issuesAbility to see relationship between individual experiences and larger society
Enlightenment
Intellectual revolution in how people think of social change, processes and critical thinking. Common purpose and hope of human progress
Auguste Comte
Social is being with others. Founder of sociology, societies contain social statics (forces for social order and stability) and social dynamics (forces for conflict and change)
Kinship
prominent unit of society
theological stage
explanations based on religion/supernatural
metaphysical stage
abstract philosophical speculation
scientific/positive stage
Systematic observations, experimentations, comparison, historical analysis
evolutional theory
theory to explain mechanisms of organic/social change.
Social Darwinism
belief that those species of animals best adapted to their environment survive and prosper, poorly adapted die out
(unequal)
natural selection
fittest would survive, unfit would be altered out of society
racist, sexist
Social facts
Patterned ways of action, thinking, feeling that exist outside any one individual
Contemporary social theory
sociology should be a science based on observation and systematic study of social facts rather than on individual characteristics and traits.
Class conflict
Struggle between capitalist class and working class.
bourgeoisie (capitalist class)
those who own/control means of production. tools that form economic basis of society
proletariat (working class)
must sell their labour because they have no other means to earn a livelihood
alienation
feeling of powerlessness, estrangement from other people and oneself.
max weber
sociology should be value free, research scientific manner, exclude personal values and economic interest. Ability to see the world as others see it. Economic interests shape human actions. (Rationalization, women’s issues, bureaucracy, religion)
Bureaucracy
significant factor in determining social relation among people in industrial societies
George simmel
father of micro sociology. Society is web of patterned interactions among people. Interaction patterns between Dyads (two people) triads (three people). Distinguish between forms of social interaction ad content of social interaction
formal sociology
universal recurring social forms underlying varying content of social interaction.
Contemporary theoretical perspectives
How social life is organized. link specific observations in meaningful way. entity and competition
theory
interpret reality in distinct way. set of logically interrelated statements that attempt to describe, explain, predict social events
theoretical framework perspective
approach to or viewpoint on specific subject
postmodernism
emerged, gained approach acceptance recently
functionalist perspectives
Society of interrelated parts that contribute to overall stability of society. Assumption that society is stable, orders system
societal consensus
majority of members share common set of values, beliefs and behavioural expectations
Pearsons
to survive, all societies must make provisions to meet social needs. division of labour between husband and wife to keep stability and social order. other institutions assist the family, preserve system, influence sociological thinking of gender roles and family
Merton
manifest and latent functions of social institutions
manifest function
intended or overly recognized by participants of social unit, open stated, intended goals or consequences of activities within organization or institutions. institutions assist family, preserve the system, influence sociological thinking of gender roles and family
latent function
unintended functions, hidden, remain unacknowledged by participants. establishment of social relation and network
dysfunctions
undesirable consequences of any element of society (perpetuation of race, race, class inequalities, gender) threaten capacity of a society to adapt and survive.
Social
atleast two, deals with social forces that come into existence with the arrival of society.
goffman
dog face (no expression) someone thinks they by themselves and change expression to get ready for society. learned not influenced
embarrassment
when an appropriate identity is lost and an inappropriate identity is established.
goal of value
free inquiry, necessity of how others see the world
social interaction
varies with number of people present group of 2 and group of 2 greater than group of 3 and group of 20
dyad
tend to be more intimate, more precarious (more easily broken)
triad
more impersonal
functionalist perspetive-shopping and consuming
social institutions depend on each other.
analyzing consumption
examines relationship between part-to-whole relationship
conflict perspectives- shopping and consuming
groups in society as engaged in continuous power struggle for control of scarce resources. inequalities on racism, sexism, people get what they want and need
marx
exploitation or oppression of proletariat by bourgeoisie, importance of economic conditions, producing inequality and conflict in society added power and prestige as other sources of inequality
power
ability of a person in a social relationship to carry out their own will despite resistance from others. critical variable in explaining human behaviour
prestige
positive or negative social estimation of honour
dahrendorf
conflict in inherent in ALL authority relationships
conspicuous consumption
credit, get what they want
feminist perspective
sociology did not acknowledge experiences of women. Studied half of social reality , how men saw them. focus . significance of gender in understanding/explaining inequalities between men and women (household, paid labour, politics, law, culture) significance of gender in understanding and explaining inequalities
generating research theory
by, for and about women, personal women problems (violence, poverty, invisibility of reproductive labour in public forms)
feminism
variety of perspectives, debates, approaches by feminist writers. microlevel and macrolevel analysis in studying experiences of women. Interpersonal relationships between men and women (verbal, non-verbal communication, attitudes, values, social control, dynamics of power
anthropology and sociology
human existence over geographic space and time, traditional societies and development of diverse cultures
society
large grouping that shares the same geographical territory, is subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations
global interdependence
relationship in which the lives of people are closely intertwined and any one of nations problems are part of larger global problem.
sociological imagination
discover patterns and commodities in human behaviour, distinguish between personal and social troubles. ability to see relationship between individual experiences and larger society. place personal troubles into large social context, how personal troubles can be related to public issues
common sense knownledge
form of knowing that guides ordinary conduct in everyday life
myth
popular but else notion that might be used intentionally or unintentionally to perpetuate certain beliefs and theories even in light of conclusive evidence
scientific standards
study society and social interaction in a systematic presentation
personal troubles
affect large numbers of people, solution at societal levee
high-income countries
nations with highly industrialized economies, technologically advanced industrial, administrative, service occupations, high levels of national and personal income
middle-income countries
industrializing economies, urban areas, moderate national and personal incomes
low-income countries
primarily agrarian, little industrialization, low levels of national and personal income
scientific and positive stage
industry prominent,
race
social construction justifying existing social inequality
ethnicity
groups cultural heritage and identity
class
relative location of a person or group within larger society
sex
biological and anatomical differences
gender
meanings, beliefs, practices associated with sex differences
industrialization
societies are transformed from dependence on ag and handmade products to manufacturing and related industries.
urbanization
increasing production of polpulation lives in cities rather than rural
positivism
world best understood through scientific enquiry
social statics
social order ad stability
social dynamics
conflict and change
patriarchy
males possess greater economic and social priviliedges
rapid socia change and more specialized division of labour
strains in society, breakdown of institutes, social problems (crime and suicide)
instrumental tasks
leadership decision making
expressive tasks
leadership and decision making
function and conflict perspectives
macrolevel analysis- whole societies, large-scale social structures and social systems
symbolic interactionist
microlevel analysis small groups rather than large-scale social structures- day-to-day interactions behaviour
symbolic interactionist perspective
sum of interactions of individuals and groups
symbolic interaction
communicate through use of symbols, derive meanings from social situations
subjective reality
each persons definition and interpretation of a given situation. agreed upon symbols.
symbolic interactionist perspective-shopping and consuming
roles played in society, interactions, define situations fave-to-face interactions
new interaction
negotiated all over again. outcome not known
social marketplace
raise or lower emotional energy
postmodern perspective
rapid social change occurs as society moves from modern to postmodern (harmful), post-industrialization consumerism, global communications, decline in social institutions
postmodern societies
individual freedom, no structural constraints
postmodern perspective to shopping and consuming
consumer society. getting people to consume more and own variety
functionalist perspective
assume society is stable, orderly system characterized by social consensus, overlooks importance pf change in society
conflict perspective
argues society is continuous power struggle among competing groups, mimed importance of social stability and shared values in society
feminist perspective
significance of gender in understanding and explaining inequalities between men and women in politics, law, labour, household and culture
symbolic interactionist perspective
focus on how people make sense of their everyday social interactions, mutually understood symbols, focus on microlevel of society
postmodern theories
entirely new ways of examining social life are needed, move beyond functionalist, conflict and interactionist persepctives
attitude of everyday life
perspective that we employ in day-to-day activities. understand and interpret events and sometimes predict
characteristic
personal perspective. ourselves at centre of everything
selective attention
environment, most relevant to meeting our action ntersts of the moment
selective inattention
ignore not relevant to our action interests at the moment
membership group
we belong to
social unit
we identify with. not necessarily a part of. understand and account for contradictory behaviour
norm
idea shared by group concerning how its members are expected or ought to act under certain conditions and circumstances along with positive and negative sanctins
comparison funciton
influence more indirectly, frame of reference against which we can compare and evaluate our own response to things including ourselves as social actors
routines
sense if trust, coordinate our activities, sense of logical security, save mental energy, sense of reality
stereotype
personal characteristics and behaviours expected of anyone who holds particular social identity in particular situation (relate to others)
social structure
relationships sufficiently stable, patterned, recurrent identity as objects in their own rights
role
interrelated set of norms, link together social positions
role set
set of roles, logically linked together
status set
all social positions at a time
social structure
complex framework of social instituisons and social practices that make up a society and organize and establish limits on peoples behaviour
social interaction
how people act and respond to other people
society
large social grouping sharing same geographed territory, political authority, cultural expectations
social structure-microlevel
the roles we play, groups we belong
social marginality
state of being part insider part outsider in social strucutre
stigma
physical and social attribute sign that devayes social identity, non full social acceptance
status
socially defined position in a group or society characterized by certain expectations, rights and duties
ascribed status
at birth, involuntarily, based on attributes with little or no control
achieved status
assume voluntarily, personal choice, ability, competition
master stats
most important a person occupies, dominates all others
status symbol
material sign informing others of persons specific status
role expectation
groups, society definition of way role ought to be played
role performance
how a person plays a role
role ambiguity
expectations associated with role are uncler
role conflict
incompatible demiards by two or more statuses
role strain
incompatible demands built into single status
role exit
disengage from roles central to their identity
social group
2 or more people who interact frequently, common identity, interdependence
primary group
small, less specialized, face-to-face, extended time
secondary group
larger, more specialized, more impersonal, limited time, no emotional times