What is sociology?
The scientific study of human society, social structures, and dynamics.
Making comparisons across cases to find patterns
Creating hypotheses about how societies work now or how they worked in past
Looks at how individuals interact with one another and how groups (small and large) interact
American Sociological Association definition for sociology?
Systematic study of social life, social change and social causes of human behavior
-Wide ranging scope: from intimate groups to large organizations and institutions
What is the sociological imagination?
Ability to see connections between our personal experience and larger forces of history (C. Wright Mills’ idea). Not personal like we believe (just time and place).
-argued it was too “science-y”
- emphasizes how personal life is connected to social issues
- emphasizes humanism (improves lives through reason, opposed to submitting blindly to tradition/authority, agency)
- makes the familiar strange
- connects biography with history
- KEY: distinction between “the personal troubles of milieu (social environment)” and “the public issues of social structure”
What are troubles? Issues?
Troubles: occur within character of individual
Issues: matters that transcend these local environments of the individual
Comte’s Historical Stages?
1) Theological- society governed by divine will (kings, queens; God favored certain people)
2) Metaphysical- behavior governed by natural, biological instincts (naturally good or bad)
3) Social Physics (or Scientific Stage)- identify scientific laws that govern human behavior (social physics = sociology); developed social physics of sorts to identify scientific laws that govern human behavior (analogy is physics; we could understand social institutions and how we relate if we ascertained their “equations” or underlying logic)
What are the 5 paradigms?
1) Critical/Conflict Paradigm
2) Interpretive/Symbolic Interactionism Paradigm
3) Functionalism/Structural Functionalism Paradigm
4) Postmodern Paradigm
5) Positivist Paradigm
Critical/Conflict Paradigm
-Main idea
- Main assumptions
- Theorists
Main Idea: Power, inequality, and social change, “conflict”
Main Assumptions: Social science can never be truly value-free and should be conducted with the express goal of social change in the mind.
Theorists: Karl Marx
Critical/Conflict Paradigm details
- social world similar to natural world
- law-like regularities (patterns) (man-made, not natural and can be altered)
- hierarchies: gender, class, race, sexuality
- methods: documents patterns of inequality (surveys); explains historical sources of inequality (archival); captures people meanings in inequalities (ethnography)
- unlike positivist, says social science can never be truly objective/value-free
- believes that scientific investigation should be conducted with express goal of social change in mind
- KEY IDEA FOR CONFLICT THEORY: Individuals and groups within a society have differing amounts of resources and more powerful groups use their power to exploit groups with lesser power.
Theoretical perspectives within critical/conflict paradigm
- Stratification theory: examines class conflict
- Critical race theory; examines racial conflict
- Feminist theory: examines gender conflict
- Queer theory: examines conflicts with gender identities and sexualities
- Ecological theory: examines human’s exploitation of nature and resulting in conflict
- all perspectives what is “natural” vs. what is “man-made” and argue for social change
Exploitation (critical paradigm)
treating others unfairly in order to benefit from their work (power imbalance)
Interpretive/Symbolic Interactionism Paradigm
Main Idea
Main Assumptions
Theorists
Main Idea: Truth as varying, socially constructed, and ever-changing
Main Assumptions: Reality is created collectively and that social context and interaction frame our realities
Theorists: Max Weber
Interpretive/Symbolic Interactionism details
- social world radically different from natural world
- social world made up of meanings, experiences and interactions
- other paradigms: society → individual behavior BUT this paradigm: individuals and meaning → society
- uses methods of interpretation (participant observation and ethnography)
- society in constant state of recreation through interaction and negotiation of meanings
- we created rules we live by, and we recreate these rules every day through interactions with each other
Functionalism/Structural Functionalism Paradigm
Main Idea
Main Assumptions
Theorists
Main Idea: Interrelations between parts of society; how parts work together; “census”
Main Assumptions: Society is organized and social institutions meet needs of people living within a collectivity
Theorists: Robert Merton and Herbert Spencer
Functionalism/Structural Functionalism Paradigm details
- seeks to explain key aspects of social life by examining the functions that certain parts play for society as a whole
- individuals, groups, and the institutions of society as guided by an overarching social system
- the social system contains powerful norms, values, and institutions, which form on-going practices that organize society (ex: boss and worker)
- focuses on what is good for whole society
- argues that social stratification can be good for society if it motivates persons in lower SES positions to better themselves so they can experience upward social mobility
- argues that gender role inequalities have functions and dysfunctions
Postmodern Paradigm
Main Idea
Main Assumptions
Theorists
Main Idea: Inherent problems with previous paradigms
Main Assumptions: Truth in any form may or may not be knowable
Theorists:
Postmodern Paradigm details
-Key Aspects:
Rejects the concept of Western history called “progress” and “modernity”
Rejects “grand narratives/universal truths” (replace with partial narratives)
The nature of social world is fragmented
Rejects the notion that science and rationalism will lead to “truth” about social world
-Methods: uses methods modeled after the arts
Positivist Paradigm
Main Idea
Main Assumptions
Theorists
Main Idea: Objectivity, knowability, and deductive logic. Believes that the social world can be described and predicted by certain describable relationships
Main Assumptions: Society can and should be studied empirically and scientifically.
Theorists: Auguste Comte, Emile Durkheim, (Harriet Martineau?)
Positivist Paradigm details
- Social world has law-like regularities that we can study (Comte term “social physics”)
- Value-free/objective
- Help control and predict rapidly changing social world
- Emerged during industrial revolution
- Holds that society operates according to observable laws
1) Patterns in physical world
2) Gravity fact of physical world = social facts
3) Chaos in society can be controlled by science that predicts
Key Concepts from Karl Marx
Bourgeoisie and proletariat dont need it
Theory of historical materialism: identifies class conflict as the primary cause of social change in history
Economic forces, not political leaders, are the driving force behind historical change
Key Concepts from Max Weber
Verstehen: “understanding” to truly understand why people act the way they do, a sociologist must understand the meaning of people attach to their actions
Subjectivity: refers to how somone’s judgement is shaped by personal opinions and feelings instead of outside influences
Criticized Marx for focusing too heavily on economy and social class
Religion is major force behind social change
Protestant ethic: hard work +frugality = salvation
Spirit of capitalism: willingness to invest in order to make more money; rich = God happy with you/ divine providence
Key Concepts from Emile Durkheim
Founder of positivist sociology
Developed theory that division of labor helps to determine how social cohesion is maintained, or not maintained, in that society
Strived to have sociology recognized as separate discipline
Show how social forces shape peoples behavior
Social integration: weak vs. strong ties to social group
Said different types of suicide
1)Egoistic: low integration (lonely)
2) Altruistic: high integration (falling on grenade)
3) Anomic: low regulation (market crash)
4) Fatalistic: high regulation (slavery)
* ANOMIE: aimlessness when life no longer predictable; no social regulation; no norms
The Chicago School
Focused on empirical research with belief that people’s behaviors and personalities are shaped by their social and physical environments
Thinkers include: Charles Horton Cooley, George Herbert Mead, W.I. Thomas, W.E.B. DuBois, Jane Addams
Jame Addams’ Contributions
Scholar/activist divided by gender
Hull House: social and educational opportunity for working class ppl (immigrants); and social work
Chicago School
W.E.B. DuBois contributions
First African American to receive PhD from
Wrote The Souls of Black Folk
Double Consciousness: two identities (black and american) see life through own eyes (american), but also through eyes of others (white people negatively viewing a black person)
Chicago School
