Module 4:

SOCIOLOGY AND THE STUDY OF

SOCIETY
Sociology
- Scientific study of society (social
relationships, social interaction, and culture)
 SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE
In 1959, he coined the
phrase “sociological
imagination” to refer to
the ability of sociologist to
understand society
systematically.
C. Wright Mills
 Sociological Concept
Society
Social Interaction
Social Organization
Social Structure and Agency
 Sociological Concept: Society
Society can be
defined as a product
of human interactions
as humans subscribe
to the rules of their
culture.
 Comparison of Theories on Society

Society as a social organism

possessing a harmony of
structure and function.

AUGUSTE COMPTE
 Comparison of Theories on Society

Society as a reality in its own right.

Collective consciousness is of key
importance to society, which society
cannot survive without.

EMILE DURKHEIM
 Comparison of Theories on Society

Society is a total complex of

human relationships in so far as they
grow out of the action in terms of
means-end relationship

TALCOTT PARSONS
 Comparison of Theories on Society

Society is an exchange of
gestures that involves the use of
symbols.

GEORGE HERBERT MEAD

 Comparison of Theories on Society

Society as a collection of individuals

united by certain relation or mode of
behaviour that marks individuals off
from others who do not enter into these
relations or who differ from them in
behaviour.

MORRIS GINSBERG
 Comparison of Theories on Society

Society as the complex of organized

associations and institutions with a
community.

GEORGE DOUGLAS COLE

 Comparison of Theories on Society

ROBERT CHARLES
MACIVER PAGE

Society as a system of usages and procedures of authority

and mutual aid of many groupings and divisions, of controls of
human behaviour and liberties.
Sociological Concept: Social Interaction
In a public protest there are layers
of social interaction transpiring
simultaneously.
1.The dialog among protesters about
their stand regarding the issues.
2.The dialog between the protesters
and the government representative.
Sociological Concept: Social Interaction

3. The dialog among the protesters, the police, the politicians, and
the media personnel.
4. The interaction between the protester and the government
involved.
Sociological Concept: Social Interaction
1. Space is not an issue
2. There can be multiple and simultaneous interactions
3. A dialog can have an active end and inactive end
4. Subject-positionality is present in any interaction
5. The meaning we ascribe to the actions of others are
informed by the values and norms that are upheld in our
society
Sociological Concept: Social Organization
This concept refers to the interrelationship
parts of society.
The positions created within a society the
category of status.
Sociological Concept: Social Organization
Each status
prescribed a set of
accepted behaviours
that define the
individual’s responses
and inclinations. This
set is called roles.
Sociological Concept: Social Organization
A group is a basic unit
of an organization.
It involves at least two
individuals who are in
constant interaction
based on their statuses
and roles.
 Sociological Concept: Social Organization
Institutions are established when roles, statuses,
and groups are perpetuated within the context of a
society.
These are building blocks of a society, as it is
through these that norms are produced from the
consistent exchanges of individuals and groups.
Sociological Concept: Social Organization
 Social Concept: Social Structure and Agency
AGENCY is the realized capacity of people to act upon their
world and not only to know about or give personal or
intersubjective significance to it…the power to act
purposively and reflective, in more or less complex
relationship with one another, to reiterate and remake the
world in which they live, in circumstances where they may
consider different courses of action possible and desirable,
though not necessarily from the same point of view.
Inden (2000)
 Social Concept: Social Structure and Agency
Agency is defined as individuals or groups
reflecting, acting, modifying, and giving
significance to the teaching of science in
purposely ways, with the aim of empowering
and transforming themselves and the conditions
of their lives. . . Thus agency is action-oriented. .
Moore (2007)
 Sub-discipline of Sociology
Social Organization
Social Psychology
Social Change and Disorganization
Human Ecology
Population or Demography
Applied Sociology
 Sub-discipline of Sociology
Social Organization
Studies that involve social structures such as
institutions, social groups, social stratifications,
social mobility, and ethnic groups.
 Sub-discipline of Sociology
Social Psychology
Study of impact of group life to a person’s
nature and personality.
 Sub-discipline of Sociology
Social Change or Disorganization
Branch of sociology that inquires on the
shift in social and cultural interactions and the
interruptions of its process through delinquency,
deviance, and conflicts.
 Sub-discipline of Sociology
Human Ecology
Studies that relate human behaviour to
existing social institutions. Human Subjects belong
to are treated in the context of an
ecological/environmental element that defines
human behaviour.
 Sub-discipline of Sociology
Population or Demography
It inquires on the interrelationship between
population characteristics and dynamics with that
of a political, economic, and social system.
 Sub-discipline of Sociology
Applied Sociology
It uses sociological research and methods to
solve contemporary problems. It often uses an
interdisciplinary approach to better address social
problems.
 Methods in Sociology
TWO PRIMARY METHODOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE IN SOCIOLOGY

POSITIVIST ANTI-POSITIVIST
 Methods in Sociology
Positivist Orientation perceives society as a quantifiable
subject from which objective conclusions can be made.
Uses a method employed by the natural sciences to
understand social phenomenon.
AUGUSTE COMPTE “Society is like an organism that
could be measured through logic and mathematics.
Quantitative methods are used such as surveys to map a
social phenomenon.
It allows for a macro-level of analysis of society.
Methods in Sociology
NORM
Many Rules
Fatalistic

INTEGRATION
Strong Tiles
Weak Tiles
Altruistic
Egoistic

No Rules
Anomic

DURKHEIM’S SCHEMA ON SUICIDE

 Methods in Sociology
ALTRUISTIC- A person
who lives in a society that
promotes strong ties
among its members is
prone to commit altruistic
suicide as an act of
preserving it.
 Methods in Sociology
EGOISTIC- Do not foster
strong ties among its
members wherein the
individual feels isolated,
having no sense of a
community.
 Methods in Sociology
ANOMIC- Results from
living in a society with no
rules. He/she experiences
moral and existential crisis
based on unavailability of
guiding principles through
which life can be lived.
 Methods in Sociology
FATALISTIC- Experienced in
societies that have many rules.
Individuals who fail to comply
with the rules of their society
experience shame and
disappointment, which brings
them to this fatal decision.
 Methods in Sociology
Anti-Positivist Orientation- promotes a subjective
approach wherein social phenomena are
understood through individual experiences.
It requires qualitative methods in gathering data
such as interviews, participant-observations, and
other tools of ethnography.
 Methods in Sociology
PEARSON AND LUI- work on suicide (2011) in China
named Ling.
WEST ASIA
Depression and other mental Triggered by social and economic
health-related factors structural conditions
Long-term mental illness Spontaneous
Across geographic regions Ling’s Society
Macro Level of Analysis Micro Level of Analysis
 st
Value of Sociology for the 21 Century
Sociology was established at a time when society was
changing drastically due to technological and political
developments.
Contemporary Society is constantly facing reality-altering
developments not just in technology but also in its
environment as brought about by climate change.
Sociology provides policy makers with concrete bases for
decisions that affect human population and alter their social
landscape.