The Study of Society

SOC:1100

Lecture 1
What is sociology?
The Sociological Perspective
& Sociological Imagination
Andrew Hicks
Department of Sociology
Faculty of Social Sciences
Office: Room SS17
 What Is Sociology?
It is one of the Social Sciences along with:
– Psychology, Anthropology, Criminology,
Economics, Political Science, and History
The study of social life and the social
causes and consequences of human
behavior
– Sociologists look for the social
causes/influences of human behavior
– Looks beyond psychology
Sociologists rely on “The Sociological
Imagination” 2/39
 What is Sociology?

A common textbook would define sociology as the systematic study of society and
social interaction. The word “sociology” is derived from the Latin word socius
(companion) and the Greek word logos (study of), meaning “the study of
companionship.” While this is a starting point for the discipline, sociology is
actually much more complex. It uses many different methods to study a wide range
of subject matter and to apply these studies to the real world.

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 What is sociology?
Other definitions include:
The systematic study of human society.

The scientific study of human society and

social interactions.

Sociology is the methodological study of

social relationships.
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 What is sociology?
The systematic study of the ways in which people are affected by, and affect, the
social structures and social processes that are associated with the groups,
organizations, cultures, societies, and world in which they exist.

Sociology is the scientific study of social behavior and human groups.

Sociology is the systematic study of the relationship between the individual and
society and the consequences of difference.

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 What is sociology?

Sociology is the scientific study of

human society and social interactions.

What makes sociology “scientific?”

Levels of Understanding Drug Use

Personal experience Awareness of friends Systematic study
with drug use and associates’ patterns of a random
of drug use sample of drug
users
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 Purpose of Sociology

C. Wright Mills (1959)

– “the sociological imagination”
» allows sociologists to locate the personal troubles of individuals within a
framework of larger social issue
e.g. Divorce, Poverty, Domestic Violence, Crime and Deviance,
School Drop-out, etc.
➢ The sociological imagination guides how individuals understand
their own and others’ pasts in relation to history and social
structure…

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 Purpose of Sociology

When we engaged the sociological perspective, we are

better able to see the general in the particular (Peter Berger,
1963)

– Possible to identify general patterns in the behavior of particular

people

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 Purpose of Sociology

The recognition of causality….

People are split into different categories
– men vs. women
– rich vs. poor
The categories to which we belong shape our experiences…

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 Lillian Rubin (1976) Marriage Study

Higher income women expect their men to be sensitive to

others, to talk readily, and to share feelings.

Middle and low income women look for men who do not
drink too much, are generally, not violent, and held steady
jobs.

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Seeing Strange in the Familiar
People do NOT decide what to do; society
shapes our thoughts and deeds…
– Why do persons choose to study at UG ?
» “I wanted to stay close to home … my financial
situation… ”
» “I got a scholarship”
» “My girlfriend/boyfriend goes to school here”
» “I didn’t get the opportunity I wanted”
» “It is my pathway towards overcoming my
struggles”

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 Sociological Imagination cont’d.

As Outsiders- not part of the dominant group…

– the greater the social marginality, the better someone can use the
sociological imagination/perspective

– Need to be able to step back and observe

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 The Sociological Imagination
is the Ability to See the
Relationship Between
Individual Experiences and the
Larger Society in Which They
Occur.

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 The Sociological Imagination

By looking at individuals and societies and how they interact

through this lens, sociologists are able to examine what
influences behavior, attitudes, and culture. By applying
systematic and scientific methods to this process, they try to
do so without letting their own biases and pre-conceived ideas
influence their conclusions[objectivity].

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Sociologists try not to take anything for
granted or accept anything at face value.
Want to “peel” back the layers of reality.
Are generally skeptical of explanations.
about human behavior or situations until
proven.
Are generally unsatisfied with the
“what?”
Always ask “why?” and “how?”

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Why ????

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Because not everything is what it seems...

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Also, We Sometimes
Rely On Common
Sense To Explain
Human Behavior
And Other
Situations
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 Examples
Those who suffered from child abuse are more
likely to abuse their children.
Those who live together before marriage have a
better chance of a successful marriage than
those who did not live together.
Couples with children are happier than those
who do not have children.
The majority of those on welfare are lazy and
really don’t want to work.

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 Why Study Sociology?

Helps us determine why people do the things that they

do
– E.g. Why do some people grow up to be child abusers,
alcoholics, poor, etc.?
Allows us to make important decisions regarding
policies, laws, etc. that effect society
– Example: What is the best way to treat poverty

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How And Why Did Sociology Emerge?

Sociology is the direct product of 19th century humanism

and skepticism
– Humanism- The study of thought based upon human interests
» “Humans are the measure of all things”
– Skepticism- A philosophical term that means to suspend belief
in God and/or the supernatural

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Several philosophical and social changes
contributed to the emergence of sociology
– Philosophical change
» The emergence of humanism & skepticism
» The Enlightenment (1693-1800)
Humanism & Skepticism
The rise of empiricism (positivism)
– Social Changes
» The growth of science
» Revolutions
American (1775 – 1783)
French (1789 – 1799)
– Auguste Comte’s goal was to rebuild France
» Industrialization & urbanization
Created several “social problems” that needed to be solved 22/39
 Suicide As A “Social Problem”

19th Century governments began collecting statistics on:

Criminal activity
Birth and death rates
Suicide rates

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 The Result:

Social scientists discovered patterns that seemed

contradictory to common sense
Noticed that these patterns remained consistent, again
defying common sense

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 Suicide As An Example
Common sense suggested suicide was an
individualistic, random action
Yet, if this were true, we would expect to
see fluctuations, not stable patterns
Yet 3 patterns emerged
– Rates were extremely stable from year to
year
– Rates often varied greatly from one place to
another
– Suicide rates were rising all over Europe

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 Emile Durkheim’s Study of
Suicide
Durkheim challenged purely psychological
explanations for suicide
– Noticed that suicide was more than just an
individual act, social forces played a role
He found that two things determine who is at risk for
suicide
– Social integration (How imbedded in a social
network are you?)
– Social regulation (How tightly does the society or
reference group regulate you?)
Found that there were four types of suicide,
each of which corresponded to the two
variables above 26/39
Integration Regulation
High High

Low Low
 Durkheim’s 4 Types of Suicide
Altruistic (extreme social integration)
– Found that those who were extremely integrated in groups had
high suicide rates
» E.g. Military personnel
Egoistic (lack of social integration)
– Found that people with few family and friendship ties had
higher suicide rates
Fatalistic (extreme social regulation)
– Found that those whose lives were excessively ordered by
agents over whom they have no control had higher suicide
rates
» E.g. prisoners and mental patients

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Anomic (lack of social regulation)
– Found that those whose lives were loosely regulated had higher suicide
rates
» E.g. Individuals with a lot of power, rock stars (Kurt Cobain)

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 Conclusions

Psychological explanations cannot fully explain why people

commit suicide …
Social integration and regulation help determine who is more at
risk for suicide
– In short, social relationships (or lack thereof) shape the decision to
commit suicide

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 Conclusions cont’d
Durkheim’s Theory of Suicide

High egoistic and

anomic suicide altruistic suicide
Suicide rate

Low

Low Intermediate High

Social solidarity 31/39
 Emile Durkheim Analysis of
Suicide: A study of Social
Forms…
▪ Suicide rates=
▪ Lowest at intermediate levels
of social solidarity
▪ Highest at low and high levels
of social solidarity.
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The Four Sociological Perspectives

Functionalism
Conflict
Interactionist
Postmodern

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 The Sociological Perspective
In sociology, a theory is a way to explain different aspects of social interactions and to create
testable propositions about society (Allan 2006).
Theories vary in scope depending on the scale of the issues they are meant to explain. Grand
theories, also described as macro-level, are attempts to explain large-scale relationships and
answer fundamental questions such as why societies form and why they change. These theories
tend to be abstract and can be difficult, if not impossible to test empirically. Micro-level
theories are at the other end of the scale and cover very specific relationships between
individuals or small groups. They are dependent on their context and are more concrete. This
means they are more scientifically testable.

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 The Sociological Perspective

An example of a micro-theory would be a theory to explain why middle-class

teenage girls text to communicate instead of making telephone calls. A
sociologist might develop a hypothesis that the reason they do this is because
they think texting is silent and therefore more private. A sociologist might then
conduct interviews or design a survey to test this hypothesis. If there is enough
supportive data, a hypothesis can become a theory.

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 The Sociological Perspective

In sociology, a few theories provide broad perspectives

that help to explain many different aspects of social life.
These theories are so prominent that many consider them
paradigms. Paradigms are philosophical and theoretical
frameworks used within a discipline to formulate theories,
generalizations, and the experiments performed in support
of them.
Three of these paradigms have come to dominate
sociological thinking because they provide useful
explanations: structural functionalism, conflict theory, and
symbolic interactionism or interpretivism. In the
contemporary context a fourth has been added, the
postmodern perspective. 36/39
 The Conflict Perspective

Several types of conflict theory

– The Marxist & Neo-Marxist approach
» Focuses on conflict between economic classes
– The Critical approach
» Focuses on conflict between races and ethnic groups
– The Feminist approach
» Focuses on conflict between the sexes
 The Conflict Perspective

Major theorists
– Karl Marx
– Max Weber
– C. Wright Mills
The Conflict Perspective

Society is diverse; everyone is

competing for resources
Power is unequally distributed
– Marxists suggests that capitalistic societies
consist of 2 classes:
» Bourgeoisie: those who own the means of
production
» Proletariat: those who sell their labor
– Feminists argue that men generally have
more power than women
The powerful oppress the powerless
The powerful create self-serving social
policies
There are always winners and losers
Conflict theory challenges the status
quo
 The Conflict Perspective
In summary the main themes are:
1. Change, one of the basic, inherent features of
society, occurs on account of either an inequality
or a scarcity of resources.
2. Conflict is the result of human desire to obtain
goods, power, or prestige, any of which may be in
short supply but in big demand.
3. Conflict is not intrinsically bad. Rather, conflict
can serve as the motivation driving people to align
for the purpose of achieving a higher goal.

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4. Cooperation cannot be assumed. Rather, the
idea of society as an integrated system based upon
a consensus of ideas is a fictional idea.
5. Instead, a conflict-driven society is run by the
powerful ones who exert control over the rest of
the population and set the tone for how things are
to be done.
6. While social order is indeed maintained, it is
not by consensus but by either the direct or
indirect exertion of power.

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The Functionalist Perspective
– Emile Durkheim, Talcott Parsons,
Robert Merton
– Major Assumptions
» Society is a system of highly
integrated parts
» Each part works to maintain
the whole
» Each part has a function
Manifest, latent, dysfunction
» There is value consensus
» Rapid change is not desirable
» Typically supports the status
quo
The Interactionist/Interpretive
Perspective
Max Weber, Georg Simmel, George
Herbert Mead, Herbert Blumer
The world is socially created through the
use of mutually understood symbols
– Signs, gestures, language, shared
values
Reality is based on subjective
interpretation, not objective fact
– What is defined as real is real in its
consequence (W.I. Thomas)
There is not one reality; rather there are
multiple realties
– Reality is relative to time, place, and
person
» E.g. Smoking as a deviant activity
The Postmodern Perspective
Roland Barthes, Jean-Francois
Lyotard, Jean Baudrillard,
Jacques Derrida
Postmodern Society is
characterized by:
– An Information explosion
– A rise in consumerism
– Contributions to a global
village
Emphasis on communication
technology
– Has shrunk the world and
changed the way we view
“reality”
– Time (History) and space
(geography) are no longer
viewed as unified and
coherent in the postmodern
world
Anti-foundational
– Rejects the “grand narratives” of previous theories
There are no absolutes
– All truth is relative
– All meaning is a social construction (we make it up)
» Religion, Science, History, Ethics, etc.
A-historical
– History is constructed by those in power
– History is not a record of objective facts
– History is constructed by those who successfully “defeat” others who are writing
opposing views of history