What is Sociology?

Chapter 1

Introduction to Sociology
Ninth Edition

Anthony Giddens, Mitchell Duneier,

Richard P. Appelbaum, & Deborah Carr
 Learning Objectives

• Basic Concepts
– Learn what sociology encompasses and how everyday topics are
shaped by social and historical forces
– Recognize that sociology involves not only acquiring knowledge
but also developing a sociological imagination
• The Development of Sociological Thinking
– Learn how sociology originated and understand the significance
of the intellectual contributions of early sociologists

Copyright © 2014, W.W. Norton & Company 2

 Learning Objectives

• Modern Theoretical Approaches

– Be able to identify some of the leading theorists and distinguish
between their theoretical approaches to social life
• How Can Sociology Help Us?
– See the practical implications of sociology

Copyright © 2014, W.W. Norton & Company 3

 Basic Concepts

• What is Sociology?
• Sociology is the scientific study of the
connection between the individual and social
structure.
• Sociology examines the underlying patterns in
human behavior and our relationships with one
another.
• One of the purposes of sociology is to disentangle what is
biological from what is socially constructed

Copyright © 2014, W.W. Norton & Company 4

 Sociological Imagination

• Coined by C. Wright Mills, this tool helps us

to:
– connect our personal experiences to society at
large and greater historical forces.
– Emphasizes the social context in which people live
and how they influence peoples lives
– “make the familiar strange,” or to question habits
or customs that seem “natural” to us.

Copyright © 2014, W.W. Norton & Company

 Social Location

• The corners in life that people occupy because

of where they are located in a society affect
their ideas and behaviors
– Jobs, Gender, Education, Age, Race/Ethnicity
• History-
– location in a broad stream of events
• Biography-
– experiences within historical settings which give
us our orientations on life

Copyright © 2014, W.W. Norton & Company

 Basic Concepts

• Social Construction
– An idea or practice that a group of people
agree exists
• Maintained over time by people taking its
existence for granted
• What people think and do are products of culture
and history

Copyright © 2014, W.W. Norton & Company 7

 What Is a Social Institution?

• Social institutions are networks of structures in

society that work to socialize the groups of
people within them. Examples include:
– the legal system
– the labor market
– the educational system
– the military
– the family

Copyright © 2014, W.W. Norton & Company

 Basic Concepts

• Socialization
– The social processes through which children
develop an awareness of social norms and
values and achieve a distinct sense of self
• An explanation for social order
• Norms reflect divisions of power and class

Copyright © 2014, W.W. Norton & Company 9

 Basic Concepts

Copyright © 2014, W.W. Norton & Company 1

 Basic Concepts

• Agency and Structure

– Concepts that suggest to what extent an individual's
life is determined by social forces
• Sociological explanations are probabilistic
• Structure= determinism
• Where one ends up in life is influenced by the position into
which he is born
• Deemphasize to some extent agency
• Agency= Free will
• Individuals have the capacity to deviate from patterns, to go
against the odds

Copyright © 2014, W.W. Norton & Company 1

 Basic Concepts

• Social Change
– How are the times in which we are living
different from the times that came before?
• Social life is dynamic; it is constantly changing
• Understanding the present relies on understanding the past
• Social change is evidence that certain aspects of our world
are socially constructed

Copyright © 2014, W.W. Norton & Company 12

 The Development of Sociological
Thinking

• Sociology is rooted in questions about

social change, social conflict, and social
problems brought on by industrialization
and urbanization.
• Early sociologists continue to influence
contemporary sociology.

Copyright © 2014, W.W. Norton & Company 13

 The Goal of Science

• Explain why something happens-

– causal relationships
• Make generalizations
• Look for Patterns
• Predict what will happen
• Move beyond common sense

Copyright © 2014, W.W. Norton & Company

 The Development of Sociological
Thinking

• Auguste Comte
– French philosopher who coined the term
sociology
– Believed that scientific method could be applied to
the study of human behavior and society
– How do societies overcome chaos?
– Scientific knowledge can be used to improve
people’s lives= positivism

Copyright © 2014, W.W. Norton & Company 15

 The Development of Sociological
Thinking

• Émile Durkheim
– Used scientific principles and methods to study social
facts
– Aspects of social life that shape our actions as individuals
– Anomie- social norms lose their hold over individual behavior
– Developed the theory that division of labor helps to determine
how social cohesion is maintained, or not maintained, in that
society
– Organic solidarity comes from the interdependence of society’s
different parts and shared values.

Copyright © 2014, W.W. Norton & Company 16

 The Development of Sociological
Thinking

• Émile Durkheim
– Study of suicide examined the anomie that comes
when social constraints break down during
periods of rapid social change.

Copyright © 2014, W.W. Norton & Company 17

 The Development of
Sociological Thinking

• Émile Durkheim:
– Social constraint:
• the conditioning influence on our behavior of the groups
and societies of which we are members.

Copyright © 2014, W.W. Norton & Company

 What did Durkheim Find? Is it still True?
• Durkheim established that:
• Suicide rates are higher in men than women (although married women who remained childless for a
number of years ended up with a high suicide rate).
• Suicide rates are higher for those who are single than those who are married.
• Suicide rates are higher for people without children than people with children.
• Suicide rates are higher among Protestants than Catholics and Jews.
• Suicide rates are higher among soldiers than civilians.
• Suicide rates are higher in times of peace than in times of war (the suicide rate in France fell after the
coup d'etat of Louis Bonaparte, for example. War also reduced the suicide rate, after war broke out in 1866
between Austria and Italy, the suicide rate fell by 14% in both countries.)
• Suicide rates are higher in Scandinavian countries.
• Suicide rates were higher among whites than minorities

Copyright © 2014, W.W. Norton & Company

 Durkheim

• “Human behavior cannot be understood only

in terms of the individual; we must always
examine the social forces that affect peoples
lives.”

Copyright © 2014, W.W. Norton & Company

 The Development of Sociological
Thinking

• Karl Marx
– In his materialist conception of history, the
driving force for social change and the source of
conflict in society is economics.
– Conflict brought on by the exploitation of the
poor by the rich under capitalism will bring social
change.
– Class Conflict
– Bourgeoisie vs. Proletariat

Copyright © 2014, W.W. Norton & Company 21

 The Development of Sociological
Thinking

• Max Weber
– Society has three dimensions: political, economic, & cultural.
– Values and ideas drive social change
– To understand social behavior, one has to understand the
meaning that a behavior has for social actors.
– Religion is the central force in social change
– Christian beliefs led to capitalism
– The “Protestant Ethic” is tied to the rise in capitalism

Copyright © 2014, W.W. Norton & Company 22

 The Development of Sociological
Thinking

• Max Weber
– Bureaucracy—a type of organization marked by a
clear hierarchy of authority and the existence of
written rules of procedure and staffed by full-
time, salaried officials
– Involves the rule of experts, who make
decisions without consulting those whose lives
are affected by them= oligarchy

Copyright © 2014, W.W. Norton & Company 23

 The Development of Sociological
Thinking

Copyright © 2014, W.W. Norton & Company 24

 The Development of Sociological
Thinking

• Neglected Founders:
Harriet Martineau
– Translated Comte’s writings

Copyright © 2014, W.W. Norton & Company 25

 The Development of Sociological
Thinking

• Neglected Founders:
Harriet Martineau
– Noted for her methodological insight
– Stated that the analysis of society must include
all of it’s members
– Expanded scope of sociological research to
include neglected institutions, members, and
topics, especially those pertaining to domestic
life, women, and minorities

Copyright © 2014, W.W. Norton & Company 26

 The Development of Sociological
Thinking

• Neglected Founders:
W. E. B. Du Bois
– First African American to graduate from Harvard
– Known for double consciousness

Copyright © 2014, W.W. Norton & Company 27

 The Development of Sociological
Thinking

• Neglected Founders:
W. E. B. Du Bois
– Argued that the color line persisted after slavery
– Connected race to social and economic
stratification

Copyright © 2014, W.W. Norton & Company 28

 The Development of Sociological
Thinking

Copyright © 2014, W.W. Norton & Company 29

 Three Theoretical Perspectives
• Theory – a tentative explanation of some aspect
of social life that states how and why certain facts
are related.
• Allows Sociologists to view a social problem
from many different perspectives:
– Symbolic Interactionist
– Functional Analysis
– Conflict Theory

Copyright © 2014, W.W. Norton & Company

30
 Modern Theoretical Approaches

• Symbolic Interactionism
– Exchanges of symbols through social interaction
• Free’s from being limited in our experiences to what we
actually see, hear or feel
• Ocean example

Copyright © 2014, W.W. Norton & Company 31

 Symbolic Interactionism

– George Herbert Mead

• One’s sense of self develops through interactions with others
• Interactions with others teach individuals how to act, what to say,
and what to think
• Each of us is a self conscious being because we learn to look at
ourselves as if it was from the outside in- as others see us
– When a child uses “I” to refer to the object that others call “you” (herself) She
is exhibiting the beginnings of self consciousness

Copyright © 2014, W.W. Norton & Company

 Symbolic Interactionism

• Interpersonal communication in micro-level social

settings.
– Face to Face interaction
• Social life - possible only because people attach
meanings to things (symbols).
– People behave according to how they
define themselves and others.
• Subjective interpretation of the social world.
– https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWFPHW7BCCI
– https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZkb4TPI-Lo

Copyright © 2014, W.W. Norton & Company

 Modern Theoretical Approaches

• Functionalism
– Society is made up of parts that carry out
functions that contribute to the whole
– Functionalism emphasizes:
– The structure of society
– How each part of society has certain functions that
must be fulfilled
– What happens to society when dysfunctions occur

Copyright © 2014, W.W. Norton & Company 34

 Functionalism

– Robert Merton
• Manifest and latent functions of social activities
• Manifest function (intended to help) or Latent function
(unintended consequence)
• Drinking laws
• What is the manifest function?
• What are some latent function?

Copyright © 2014, W.W. Norton & Company

 Modern Theoretical Approaches

• Marxism and Class Conflict

– Conflict is a normal feature of society
– Individuals and groups use power to promote
their interests
– Power is exerted through force, rules, laws,
and ideologies
– Society is characterized by social inequality; social life is a
struggle for scarce resources.

Copyright © 2014, W.W. Norton & Company 36

 Modern Theoretical Approaches

• Feminism and Feminist Theory

– Gender relations and gender inequality are
central to the study of society
– Intersection of gender, race, and social class in
social stratification and inequality

Copyright © 2014, W.W. Norton & Company 37

 Modern Theoretical Approaches

• Rational Choice Theory

– Most behavior is self-interested
– Argues that deviant behavior is a rational response
to a specific social situation
• Postmodern Theory
– Social life has no “grand narrative”
– Social life is in constant flux
– Media and communication technologies play
important roles in social life
Copyright © 2014, W.W. Norton & Company 38
 Modern Theoretical Approaches

• Microsociology
– Symbolic interactionism is microsociology because of
its study of face-to-face interaction
• Macrosociology
– Functionalism and Marxism are macrosociology
because of their study of social institutions, political
and economic systems, industrialization, and
globalization
– https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYBNRUStZsg

Copyright © 2014, W.W. Norton & Company 39

 How Can Sociology Help Us?

• Awareness of cultural differences

• Assessing the effects of policies
• Self-enlightenment
• The sociologist’s role

Copyright © 2014, W.W. Norton & Company 40

 Concept Quiz

In sociology, studying the effects of the economic

recession on a student’s ability to secure a job after
graduation is a way of studying how ____ affects
our lives.
(a) the sociological imagination
(b) our grades
(c) social structure
(d) our work ethic

Copyright © 2014, W.W. Norton & Company 41

 Concept Quiz

Many of the things we experience in life that seem

to be completely natural, like differences in
behavior between men and women, are seen by
sociologists to be examples of ____ .
(a) biology
(b) social constructions
(c) agency
(d) division of labor

Copyright © 2014, W.W. Norton & Company 42

 Concept Quiz

Some sociologists argue that the current problems in

America’s inner cities (such as drugs, violence, and
fatherless households) area the result of the
disappearance of blue-collar jobs in the United
States. This argument reflects what idea from the
text?
(a) social constraint
(b) rationalization of economic life
(c) distinctiveness of Western society
(d) materialist conception of history

Copyright © 2014, W.W. Norton & Company 43

 Concept Quiz

A bureaucracy is a type of organization that

depends on which of the following?
(a) office buildings
(b) division of labor
(c) social constraint
(d) computer systems

Copyright © 2014, W.W. Norton & Company 44

 Concept Quiz

The ability of individuals or members of a group to

achieve aims or further their interests, even in the
face of the resistance of others, is called ___ .
(a) determination
(b) violence
(c) power
(d) ideology

Copyright © 2014, W.W. Norton & Company 45

 Concept Quiz

A study of university admissions that compares the

impact of gender and social class on probability of
admission before World War II and after World
War II is an example of ___ .
(a) Marxism
(b) macrosociology
(c) functionalism
(d) microsociology

Copyright © 2014, W.W. Norton & Company 46

 Discussion Question: Thinking
Sociologically

Healthy older Americans often encounter

exclusionary treatment when younger people
assume they are feebleminded and thus overlook
them for jobs they are fully capable of doing. How
would functionalism and symbolic interactionism
explain the dynamics of prejudice against the
elderly?

Copyright © 2014, W.W. Norton & Company 47

 Discussion Question: Thinking
Sociologically

Coffee drinking is a cultural fixture that says as

much about us as it does about the bean itself.
Coffee is more than a simple product designed to
quench a person’s thirst and fend off drowsiness.
Discuss five sociological features of coffee
consumption that show its “sociological” nature.

Copyright © 2014, W.W. Norton & Company 48

This concludes the Lecture PowerPoint
presentation for Chapter 1