Sociology 111: Unit One (Sociological Perspectives)

Content from class 1 & 2, "the promise", and "burning season"

what are the challenges of sociological perspectives?

• not common sense

• dominant norms/values

• common experience

• we go with the flow without questioning it

sociological imagination

the ability to connect individual personal experiences to the larger historical social experience

the promise of sociology

to make the connection between how society works and how it works in the context of our individual lives

what does “the promise” refer to?

the promising future of society

why do people feel trapped?

they feel as though everything they do makes them feel even more trapped, and that they are unable to overcome this series of traps. they cannot overcome their own problems, and they cannot do anything to become free.

why can’t people overcome their personal struggles?

they are often misunderstanding the scale and the nature of their problems

social issues

not private troubles. many of the challenges making man feel so trapped are social issues, not personal troubles. greater than the individual - the cause of the problem has something to do with the structure of society and historical context.

social structure

the way that society is organized - makes some things attainable, while making others impossible

private matter

if the cause is individual and the impact is also individual, the solution is also at an individual and local level

how are social issues solved?

through some type of collective action - requires a broad level of change

contemporary society of the mid-twentieth century

characterized by an extreme change in society - rise to industrialization, consumerism, expansion of cities, etc. - an immense, rapid amount of change which was too rapid for people to ground themselves in an oriented way.

what happened as a result of the loss of old value systems with no new obvious value system to take its place?

no moral grounding everyone could agree to and be bound by. no clear end point, unsure if there ever will be an endpoint.

ubiquitous change

very widespread, change was everywhere and there were no pockets of society that were not impacted

ambivalent change

sense that things were getting better, moving towards a utopia that never came (disappointing)

what type of change did industrializing society experience?

both ambivalent and ubiquitous change. it was unclear whether the changes were good, bad, welcome, or unwelcome. people were unsure how to feel. some of the changes meant to be good turned out to be disappointing. brought hope for progress and a better, easier life.

what did modernization promise?

a movement towards a more civilized society

rat race

increased pace and stress of modern life

what was the ideal of industrializing society?

men working in offices doing clean, safe jobs, while women were homemakers. labor saving devices were invented in order to make life cleaner, easier, happier, and healthier.

the problem that has no name

women who experienced frustration at their boring, middle class, domestic home life. finally being able to achieve an education, then not using the degree, instead becoming a housewife.

how did spheres of knowledge evolve during industrialization?

things that impacted people were no longer just the things in their immediate sphere of knowledge - they could feel the impacts of things happening on the other side of the world.

decolonization

liberation of formerly colonized nations. should have been unconditionally fantastic, however it was replaced by new forms of oppression and political control.

what was there a rise of during industrialization?

rise in other types of wars - biological warfare, etc. - things that had not been seen before this point.

who did the USA view as the blueprint for democratic society?

themselves

what is credited for bringing democracy to the western world?

the French revolution is often credited for bringing democratic society to the western world, however mills argued democracy had not been fulfilled and continued to disappoint.

what new forms of totalitarianism began to rise?

Stalinism and bureaucracies. all we can think about and do - our entire identity is related to consumption

why did people feel trapped during industrialization?

felt trapped because of the large-scale historical and social change occurring. individuals do not think about their problems in relation to history. led to a rise in self-help and medication as solutions.

what was mills solution for the individuals feeling trapped during industrialization?

Mills argues people are correct in feeling trapped - the problem is bigger than the individual, and one person cannot influence large scale changes. he believed the solution is the sociological imagination. it enables us to grasp history on a large scale and biography on an individual scale, and mesh them.

life chances

what kind of possibilities are available to you in life as an individual

what is the ability to eat determined by?

predicated on money and access to land - we can see that quality of life is determined by unequal factors

what are reciprocals?

experiences of individuals help us discover about society, and society helps us understand individual issues

why is it important to develop a quality of mind?

able to help us interpret the already available information to determine what is happening in the world and what is happening within ourselves

why is sociological imagination a terrible lesson?

it discovers that most of the things that happen to us happen due to things out of our control

why is sociological imagination a magnificent lesson?

we all have an opportunity to change society and the future

why is the sociological imagination too important a task to be left to the professionals?

all people in democratic society have the responsibility to ensure society looks how we want it to look.

who thought of the concept of sociological imagination?

C. Wright Mills

seeing the familiar as strange

Peter Berger’s perspective. describes sociology by looking at what is normal to you, and approaching it as a foreign subject. ask questions in the way that children ask questions.

why are experiences important?

people have experiences different to our own - our lives are different than others understand them to be.

what are unspoken expectations as to how you must engage in society?

you must wear clothes in public, etc.

seeing the general in the particular

(Berger) being able to perceive general patterns that operate within particular situations - recognizing identifiable patterns (structures, processes, patterns, etc.) exist within a larger set of circumstances. to be able to look at an issue and identify what factors are involved.

what does the starting point of socioeconomic status indicate?

large indicator of who may become unhoused

is an individual wholly at fault for the events of their life?

avoid thinking that the individual is in a completely unique position, and that the individual is wholly at fault for the events of their life. individuals are not to be blamed or praised wholly for their situation.

Ibn Khaldun

(1332-1406) He saw the interconnection between individuals and social context. He understood the larger context of relations, institutions, differences between groups etc.

what thinkers thought of sociology before it came to be?

long list of thinkers before sociology came to be. some early influences were Ibn Khaldun, and August Comte.

August Comte

(1798-1857) created the term “sociology” often credited as the father of sociology.

modern era

emerged as a result of specific historical and social events. it was a response to historical conditions specifically in western Europe (Germany, France, England)

scientific revolution

the enlightenment era of 1650-1800. people were coming out of a larger acceptance of science during the renaissance . the Christian church was the dominant authority. knowledge was what was authorized by the church. science becomes an increasingly dominant source of authority and knowledge. led to the development of the scientific method. It was applied to try and understand the natural world around us, as well as the social world.

positivism

considers all knowledge to be based on science. how we can understand the world as well as the nature of reality.

what are the 3 aspects of positivism?

1. Objective knowledge of reality exists

2. There is a singular explanation - all sciences explore the same reality, and will become increasingly alike until there is only one science.

3. Knowledge should be “free” - should be free of our judgements of value

where does the term positivism come from?

comes from its ability to observe positive features - measurable and observable features (ex. supernatural beings are not positive because they don’t have a set of features that can be observed.)

anti-positivism/subjectivism/interpretivism

existed before positivism, however was only really understood after the emergence of positivism. argues that knowledge is subjective - even if a reality exists, how we all know of that reality is different. knowledge is always based on value and judgement of the force of social judgement

what are the 3 features of anti-positivism/subjectivism/interpretivism

1. Knowledge is subjective

2. There may be multiple explanations, or could be unexplainable

3. Knowledge is always based on value, judgements and influences of social forces

the political revolution

(1400’s - late 1700’s) seeing scientific and social change. world is separate from the teachings of the church. individuals exist with rights and responsibilities in relation to society - people could have equal opportunities no matter who they are. the idea of democracy emerged. challenged tradition and traditional authority.

the industrial revolution

• (approx 1750 - mid 1800’s though some argue it continued to 20th century or is still occurring now).

• usually associated with technological advances.

• society increasingly organized on larger scales.

• regional and national distribution networks.

• new ways in how the economy operated - conversion to capitalistic economy.

• shift towards wage labor - how we make money nowadays.

• changed how we think about ourselves and our value - the effort and time we put into something is now equivalent to other objects.

• development of new social problems - changes to structure of society intensified and brought new problems (child labor, new forms of inequality and poverty, increased degree of malnutrition.

• exploding rate of crime due to the conditions people were living in as a result of industrialization.

• realized people could organize to demand change in the inequities of society.

what 2 groups does an event always impact?

a group that is benefitted, and one that is disadvantaged by the event

how can you truly understand an individual?

you must look at both the life of the individual, and the history of the society.

trouble

a private matter that impacts an individual

issue

impacts society at a broader level - a public matter

well being

when individuals cherish a set of values and do not feel any threat towards them

crisis

when individuals cherish values, but feel them to be threatened (could be a personal trouble or a public issue.)

panic

when all valued are involved and feel threatened

indifference

unaware of values, nor experiencing a threat

apathy

when all values are involved in an indifferent state

uneasiness

when values are not involved, however a threat is still felt.

malaise

when uneasiness surrounds all values

climate change

“force multiplier” for wildfires - multiplies the effects of other drivers of fire behavior.

what are wildfires?

escape of wildland fire that has been contained since European colonization.

how did indigenous people control wildfire?

used widespread and targeted burning to maintain the landscape. this also helped with hunting, encouraged berries to grow, etc.

environmental sociology

points out that any clean split that might have been imagined between nature and society as two distinct sets of conditions is blurry at best.

can something be natural, cultural, or social at the same time

no

socio-ecology

refers to “webs, networks, or assemblages made of what we commonly think of as social/cultural elements and material/natural elements and their relations with one another”

are forest fires a natural disaster?

forest fires cannot be described as a natural disaster because because it is extremely difficult to distinguish between society and nature. they are “neither wholly natural nor necessarily disastrous”. occur as a result of human actions, and are only disastrous to human values.

systems of representation

use of language, symbols, and signs to create meaning about something.

wildland-urban interface (WUI)

increase in population in areas adjacent or intermixed with flammable vegetation.

what determine environmental harm and benefit?

class and race

what are the different ways an event such as Christmas could be interpreted?

• Christmas celebrations can be seen as a public ritual that reinforces a christian civil religion as dominant and thus marginalizes many other religious traditions.

• Could also be interpreted as one of the many consumer events that fill people's calendars

• Could alternatively work simply as a good excuse, irrespective of its Christian roots or consumerist co-optation, for a diversity of people to join in an enactment of community.

sociology

the systemic study of social life, with a goal to understand and explain the social world.

enlightenment

rise in empiricism as the primary basis for knowing the world

Durkheim’s concept of the social fact

how conventions of thinking, acting, and feeling express social institutional practices

why are oppressed classes trapped?

oppressed classes are denied the true value of their work, while also seduced into spending all their money on products as consumers - further entrapping them into supporting the interests of the dominant class and subordinating them to their rule

the sociological imagination

refers to a particular quality of mind through which one begins to grasp the interrelation between socially structured realities and individual lives

many things that are believed to be personal troubles are actually reflections of ___________.

patterned social relations

socialization

the ongoing, lifelong process in which every individual in society participates, as both a learner and a teacher

socialization is _________

seasonal

seasonal effects demonstrate _________

social inequalities (think heat, AC)

seasons express _________ values

collective

what forms in response to new social conditions?

new social practices

what is the difference between classical and contemporary theory?

contemporary theory is much broader and significantly more heterogenous than classical theory. contemporary is more focused on schools of thought, while classical theory focuses on particular social thinkers.