SOCIOLOGY:

An Introduction to Sociology

CHAPTER 1
 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

• Modern theoretical approaches

– Be able to identify some of the leading theorists and distinguish
between their theoretical approaches to social life
 I. BASIC CONCEPTS

A. SOCIOLOGY
B. SOCIOLOGICAL
IMAGINATION
C. OTHER CONCEPTS
1.SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION
2. SOCIAL CHANGE
3. SOCIAL ORDER
4. AGENCY
 A. WHAT IS SOCIOLOGY?

• Sociology:
- the systematic study of human societies
- the science of society
- the scientific study of social life

 Society: people who live within a

defined territory and share many
patterns of behavior.
 A. WHAT IS SOCIOLOGY? (cont.)

 Seeing the general in the particular (Berger, 1963)

 Focus on general patterns in the behavior of particular

people
 Society shapes individual lives in patterned ways
 People belong to different social categories (e.g., race, class, sex,
gender, sexuality), that powerfully influence life experiences and
outcomes
 Even the most personal “decisions” in our lives are shaped by
society (e.g., selecting partners, suicide, eating)

 Trends = not random = sociological analysis!

 B. SOCIOLOGICAL IMAGINATION

 Sociological imagination (C. Wright Mills): a point of

view that highlights how society affects the experiences we
have and the choices we make

 Sociologists: personal troubles may be social

issues with roots in the operation of the larger society
 B. SOCIOLOGICAL IMAGINATION (cont.)
 Examples:
 Getting a divorce
 Losing a job
 Suicide
 Finding a partner/getting married

 Explanations?
 Divorce rates higher in the U.S. than Canada (country)
 Unemployment rates fluctuate by state, year, policy
 Suicide rates higher in non-Hispanic Whites than non-Hispanic Blacks
(ethnicity)
 Homogamy: people partner with sociologically similar others (e.g., class,
education-level, race, religion)

 TRENDS!
 If not randomly distributed, cannot simply be the result of individual level
differences, attitudes, experiences
 B. SOCIOLOGICAL IMAGINATION (cont.)

 Do we simply “pick” our

marriage partners?
 Is our decision based on
love?

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

(2016).
 B. SOCIOLOGICAL IMAGINATION (cont.)
 Is childbearing
only a matter of
personal choice?
Is our decision

Source: Population
Reference Bureau
(2016), Martin et al.
(2017).
 B. SOCIOLOGICAL IMAGINATION (cont.)

National
Suicide
Rates,
U.S.

Source:
Centers for
Disease
Control and
Prevention
(2016).
 B. SOCIOLOGICAL IMAGINATION (cont.)

 MAIN POINT: personal choice vs. social issue

 explanations that focus on the weaknesses or character
flaws of individuals are LACKING
 behaviors vary greatly among groups of people and
societies, during different time periods, etc.
 Trends = larger social phenomena

 As sociologists we must look for

explanations in the features of a society
(e.g., groups, organizations and institutions)
 B. SOCIOLOGICAL IMAGINATION (cont.)
 You might already have it!
 “Outsider” status: not being part of the dominant categories may enhance
your ability to use the sociological imagination
 Position relative to power
 If you have power, you may be less likely to see sociological forces
• I got where I am simply because of hard work (not because my parents had resources to
get me here)
• If I got here because of hard work, others who haven’t are just not working hard enough
(although people who get paid very little work very hard (Nickel and Dimed, Ehrenreich
2011))
 Everyday experiences
 E.g., racial profiling – experiencing racial profiling enhances one’s
understanding of the ways in which race and disadvantage operate in society

 Social change/crisis
 Disruptions to social order and times of crisis may enhance people’s understanding
that their experiences are the result of larger social forces
 Millenials are experiencing high unemployment, wage stagnation, increasing
debt
 C. OTHER CONCEPTS: SOCIAL
CONSTRUCTION

1) How are the things that we take to be natural socially

constructed?
 Error in human thinking: the things that we see are natural, inevitable, cannot
be changed
 Sociologists: things that we think are natural are actually created by human
beings
 Historical differences
 Cross-cultural differences
 E.g., parenting practices vary considerably from culture to culture

 Social construction: an idea or practice that a group of people

agree exists
 maintained over time by people taking its existence for granted
 C. SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION (cont.)

 Example:
 Gender/Sex
 People raised to think that girls and boys
naturally behave differently

 Sociologists: humans learn to behave as girls or boys through

interaction with others
 Gender/sex as a social construction
 Gender/sex norms change throughout time = not fixed
 Blue was a “girl” color and pink was a “boy” color
C. OTHER CONCEPTS: SOCIAL ORDER

2) How is social order possible?

 Why do students sit in the same seat during lecture?
 Why do people orient to the front of the elevator rather than the
back? Why do people stand as far away from others as possible in the
elevator?

 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
C. OTHER CONCEPTS: SOCIAL CHANGE

3) Social Change
 How are the times in which we are living different from the the
times that came before?
 Social life is dynamic, constantly changing
 Understanding the present relies on understanding the past
 Sociologists as historians

 Examples: Pre-industrial society vs. post-industrial society; rise of

bureaucratic organizations; changes in the criminal justice system;
changes in medicine; technological changes
 C. OTHER CONCEPTS: STRUCTURE and
AGENCY

4) Agency and structure: Does the individual matter?

 Concepts that suggest to what extent an individual's life is
determined by social forces
 To what extent is your life determined by the groups to which you
belong, the generation in which you grew up, who your parents are,
or other social forces?

 Sociological explanations are generally probabilistic

 Example: kids from working class are likely to be working class
(social structure)

 But, individuals have the capacity to deviate from patterns,

to go against the odds (agency)
 Example: kid from working class might go to college, become a
lawyer
 WHAT CAN SOCIOLOGY DO FOR US?

 Enhance our critical thinking

 See the opportunities and constraints in our own lives

 Encourage us to change society

 Help us understand others

 Help our careers

 Teaching, research
 Criminal justice field
 Health care field
 Good background for law, business, educations, social work, journalism
 II. DEVELOPMENT OF
SOCIOLOGICAL THINKING

A. MAJOR QUESTIONS

B. SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY
C. MODERN THEORIES
D. LEVEL OF ANALYSIS
 A. MAJOR QUESTIONS

• Sociology is rooted in QUESTIONS about

1) social change,
2) social conflict,
3) and social problems
 brought on by industrialization and urbanization

• Early sociologists (founders) continue to influence

contemporary sociology
 B. SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY

 Theory: a statement of how and why specific facts are

related
 Sociological theory helps explain social behavior in the real
world
 Conduct research to test and refine theories
 NOT an unscientific guess based on opinion
 C. MODERN THEORETICAL APPROACHES

Several major theoretical approaches inform

the basic image of society that guides sociologists’
thinking and research

1) Structural Functionalism
2) Social-Conflict Approaches
3) Symbolic Interactionism
 1. STRUCTURAL FUNCTIONALISM

Émile Durkheim (1858-1917)

 Considered one major founder of sociology
 His ideas are the basis of structural functionalism
 Used scientific principles and methods to study social
facts
 Social life/facts can be analyzed like the natural world

 Society like an organism of interrelated parts

 The “parts” of society (political system, family,
educational system) work together as a whole;
social order
1. STRUCTURAL FUNCTIONALISM (cont.)
 Structural Functionalism: a theoretical perspective based on the
notion that social events can best be explained in terms of the
functions they perform for society as a whole (Talcott Parsons and
Robert K. Merton)

 Society functions like an organism/body

 Sees society as a system of interrelated parts that work together to create
stability
 Normal state of society = ordered and balanced

 Study each part as it relates to the whole

 What is the function of each part?

 Main parts = social institutions – major spheres of social life, or

societal subsystems, organized to meet a basic human need
 Example: family ensures the care and raising of children; schools provide
young people skills for life
1. STRUCTURAL FUNCTIONALISM (cont.)
 Focus on positive and negative functions of patterns in
society
 Manifest functions: intended and widely recognized
functions (Example: sports = physical fitness)
 Latent functions: unintended and less well known functions
(Example: sports = reinforce cultural values of personal
achievement)
 Dysfunctions: negative functions that may disrupt society
(Example: sports = less time for academics)

 Critiques:
1) focuses on order, consensus, social cohesion
2) underemphasizes inequality and conflict
 2. SOCIAL CONFLICT THEORY
Karl Marx (1818-1883)
 Considered a major founder in sociology
 His ideas are the basis of social-conflict theory
 Focused on social conflict (not social order)
 “All human history thus far is the history of class struggles.”
 In his materialist conception of history, the driving force for
social change and the source of conflict in society is
ECONOMICS
 2. SOCIAL CONFLICT THEORY (cont.)

Marx and Capitalism

 Capitalism: an economic system based on the private
ownership of wealth, which is invested and reinvested in order
to produce profit

 Ruling class vs. working class

 Conflict is inevitable because ruling class
exploits the working class for profit
 Capitalism is the root of conflict
in modern society
 2. SOCIAL CONFLICT THEORY (cont.)

Neglected Founders
 Women and racial and ethnic minorities were excluded from
higher education

 Fewer opportunities to contribute to sociology during its early

years (late nineteenth and early twentieth century)
 Their contributions were ignored
 They created some of the first theories that addressed inequality,
stratification, and exploitation
a. SOCIAL CONFLICT- NEGLECTED
FOUNDERS

Harriet Martineau (1802-1876)

 Systematic study of American society (Society in America)

 Methodological insights:
 Study of society must look at all of its aspects (e.g.,
political, religious, and social institutions)
 Study of society must include all members (women and
racial and ethnic minorities)
 Previously ignored issues like domestic and religious life and
race relations worthy of study
 Sociology should be about observation and improving society
 b. SOCIAL CONFLICT- NEGLECTED
FOUNDERS

W.E.B. Dubois (1868-1963)

 First African American to earn a doctorate from Harvard;

founding member of the NAACP
 Focused on identity through the experiences of African
Americans
 Self and identity are influenced by historical experiences and social
circumstances (e.g., effects of slavery, segregation, and prejudice)

 PROBLEMS faced by African Americans linked to social and

economic factors in society
 2. SOCIAL CONFLICT THEORY (cont.)
 Social-Conflict Approach: theoretical frameworks that see
society as divided by inequality that creates conflict and change
 Focuses on inequality – social patterns only benefit some
groups
 Society is generally divided into the “haves” and the “have nots”
(by race, sex/gender, class, sexuality)
 The “haves” have more POWER: the ability of individuals or
members of a group to achieve aims or further the interests they
hold
 Power allows certain groups to dominate by physical force
and by the development of ideas that justify their actions
• Example: those with power can use the police to enforce laws that
benefit them; those with power can promote the idea that people who
don’t make enough money don’t work hard enough
 2. SOCIAL CONFLICT THEORY (cont.)

 Some social-conflict perspectives place minority groups at the center

of their analyses:
 Feminist/Gender Conflict: gender relations and gender inequality are
central to the study of society
 Race-Conflict: Race and ethnic relations and racial and ethnic inequality
are central to the study of society
 Examine INTERSECTIONS of race, ethnicity, class, gender, sexuality

 Sociologists using a social-conflict approach often focus on reducing

inequality

 Critiques:
1) focus on conflict and change
2) underemphasize order, cohesion
 3. SYMBOLIC-INTERACTIONISM
Max Weber (1864-1920)
 Considered a major founder in sociology

 Also interested in capitalism, but rejected Marx’s materialist

conception
 Values and ideas drive social change
 Example: certain Christian beliefs fueled the rise of capitalism

 Verstehen – German word for “understanding”

 Sociology seeks to understand not just what people do but
WHY
 Understand meaning, thoughts and feelings
 3. SYMBOLIC-INTERACTIONISM (cont.)
 Symbolic Interactionism: a theoretical approach in sociology that
emphasizes the role of symbols and language as core elements of all
human interaction and society
 Another founder: George Herbert Mead (1863-1931)
 Society is the product of human interactions
 All human interactions involve symbols
 Our sense of self depends on rich set of symbols
 Analyze interactions to understand the social worlds, how people come to
know how to act, what to think, what to say
 Example: look at conversation during dates, business meetings, other types of
social interaction

 Critiques:
1) focuses on areas that are small in scope;
2) lacks a societal level focus
 D. LEVELS OF ANALYSIS

Two major levels of analysis in theoretical

approaches:
1) Microsociology: the study of human behavior in contexts of
face-to-face interactions
 Example: Symbolic Interactionism

1) Macrosociology: the study of large-scale groups,

organizations, or social systems
 Example: Structural Functionalism; Social-conflict