What is sociology?

• Sociology is the systematic study of human society through groups,

  group interactions, societies, and social interactions at the micro and macro levels (individual)

  (trends).

• Society refers to people who live in a defined territory (geographical area) and a way of life, common culture

• Culture is group shared practices, values, and beliefs, groups way of life from routine to the most important part of a group member’s life, social rules

• Social construction

  • We tend to think that things are natural and will not change

  • We are freer than we think

  • Those things deemed as natural are socially constructed

• Social order

  • We develop an awareness of social norms through

  • Behavior in the classroom vs behavior at a concert or gathering

• Social change

  • Trends

Three major theoretical perspectives

• Functionalism

  • The way each part of society functions together to contribute to the whole

  • Macro level orientation

  • Complex system parts working together to promote solidarity

  • Social events can be explained in terms of the function (contribution to society) they perform

  • How these events provide continuity to society and work in harmony with each other

  • Promotes sociology as a scientific process

  • The social process has many functions

    • Manifest functions: the recognized and intended functions (consequences) of any social pattern

      • Sought after or anticipated by participants

    • Latest functions: unrecognized, unaware, and unintended consequences of any social pattern. It can be beneficial, natural, or harmful

    • Dysfunctions: undesirable consequences that challenge the existing social pattern

  • Weakness; it fails to address big chances in society and inequality

• Conflict theory

  • The way inequalities contribute to social differences & perpetuate differences in power

  • Macro level orientation

• Macro level orientation

  • See society as an area of inequality that generates conflict and change (coercion and power)

  • Competition for limited resources

  • Sociologists look at the ongoing conflict between dominant and disadvantaged categories of people

• Social conflict approach- race-conflict theory

  • Point of view; focuses on inequality & conflict between people of different racial and ethnic categories

  • People of color important to the development of sociology

• Social conflict theory; feminism and feminist theory

  • A most prominent area of contemporary sociology and the most current movement

  • Highlighted gender relations and gender inequality as not of nature but of social construction

  • Currently focuses on the intersection of gender, race, and class

  • Influenced new fields of study in men’s studies, sexuality, and LGBTQ

• Symbolic interactionism

  • 1 to 1 interactions and communications

  • Micro level orientation

  • A micro-level orientation, a close-up focus on relationships among individuals within society

    • Views society as the product of everyday interactions of individuals

  • Key elements

    • Communication: through the exchange of symbols and language - How we make sense of our world

    • Society is complex, people are active in shaping the social world

Research method

• ethnography (fieldwork)

  • First-hand studies or observations

  • Uses observations, interviews, immerses themselves in the group, community… it can provide rich information on the behavior of people in groups

  • Participant observation by direct involvement in an activity or observation at a distance

  • Must gain and sustain the cooperation of the group they are observing

  • Limited to small groups, findings limited to that group, not easy to generalize and possibly recreate

• Surveys (questionnaires)

  • It can be administered over the phone, in person, by mail…

  • Results are less detailed but they can be generalized to the specific population as a whole

  • Standard and open-ended questions

  • Sampling; a small proportion of a large population

  • The advantage is widely used as it is more easily quantified

  • A disadvantage is not all respond to surveys

• Experiment

  • Most used in natural science or psychology

  • People are randomly assigned to groups

  • The researcher controls the circumstances being studied

  • The advantage is hypotheses can be tested under a highly controlled condition

  • The disadvantage is hard to duplicate the study in a natural setting, it cannot always generalize results to the larger society

  • Hawthorne effect (subject may modify their behavior)

• Comparative historical research

  • Analysis of government data

  • Readily available previous research or sampling that assists in targeting interests

  • The disadvantage is that information may focus more on a purpose other than what you are hoping to research

  • Data can be hard to find