Sociology Class 1

Sociology

the systematic study of social interaction, social groups and institutions, and society.

Individuals are shaped by the …,and the … is shaped by … ... Those … …, we, are defined by the … and … we belong to.

Individuals are shaped by the social, and the social is shaped by interacting people. Those interacting people, we, are defined by the groups and institutions we belong to.

Biological and sociological factors sometimes complement and enforce each other. (Example)

gender, males don’t wear bras because they are not socialised to do so.

Sociologist recognise that society acts differently on various categories of people. (Example)

Children compared to men, women vs men, the rich opposed to the poor.

The sociological imagination, what is it used for

Used to explain social behaviour.

The sociological imagination enables us to grasp history and biography and the relations between the two within society. To explain social behaviour it looks at individual events (biography), social environment and history.

Within this sociological imagination there are the layers of social reality, also named the levels of analysis.

These layers are ranked hierarchically; individual, interactional (micro), social and cultural (groups and institutions, also maso), world and globe (macro) and cosmic (not really relevant).

Durkheim’s typology

Egoistic suicide: An egoistic suicide is usually the effect of being to isolated from society (not integrated enough), there is no group you belong to.

Altruistic suicide: An altruistic suicide is the effect of too much integration (into a group or institution) a good example of altruistic suicide are suicide bombers.

Anomic suicide: The cause of anomic suicide is usually the disappearance of rules, restrictions and goals, there is too little regulation by society. Take for example lottery winners.

Fatalistic suicide: Fatalistic suicides occur when people don’t have any freedom anymore, there are too many rules and restrictions, their society is regulated to much.

4 general benefits to using the sociological perspective

1) Challenges our familiar understandings of the world, helping us separate the facts from fiction.

2) Helps us appreciate the opportunities and constraints that frame our lives.

3) Encourages more active participation in society.

4) Increases our awareness of social diversity locally and in the world as a whole.

3 dangers of studying sociology.

1) Societies change very rapidly.

2) We are part of the societies we study (objectivity).

3) Sociology itself becomes part of society.

3 stages of which people make use to understand society. (August Comte)

1) The theological stage; thoughts about the world (and society) were guided by religion, so people regarded society as an expression of God’s will.

2) Metaphysical stage; during this stage people came to understand society as a natural phenomenon that could be caused by other abstract matters such as spirits, the essence of life, faith, luck caused/made/wanted so.

3) Scientific (positivist) stage; in this stage people started using the scientific method of natural science to understand society.

Cause-effect approach (August Comte)

He looked at society in the way of social statics, things that are the way they are right now and social dynamics, how society is changing. Next to that, Comte made a hierarchy of sciences. From easiest to most difficult; mathematics, astronomy, physics, chemistry, biology, sociology. He believed that if we understand ourselves, i.e. society, scientifically; ‘we have the knowledge’, which is why he believed sociology to be the most difficult of all the sciences.

4 important changes that changed the outlook of the economy, and society with it, entirely.

The change of the industrial economy, the technological change influenced society from home manufacturing to factories → cities started growing.

Peoples interest changed they did not practice the divine limitation anymore → individual liberty and rights and a political change.

social revolution was a factor because of the decline of the community that has happened because of the three previous changes → Gemeinschaft to Gesellschaft it went from a collectivistic society to an individualistic society.

Theory

is a framework that helps you understand and link facts and concepts. It is something (abstract) above the facts. It is a tool to measure/test reality. We are not describing society, we are trying to understand.

deduction theories

You deduce a hypothesis from a theory and then search for the facts to support or dispute this.

indiction theory

You go from the facts and formulate a theory based on those facts.

Grand theories & Middle-range theories (Robert Merton)

Grand theories: There are theories that (try) to explain everything; e.g., the whole of society, structural functionalism, Marx.

Middle-range theories: there are theories that explain very specific parts of realities; e.g. deviant theories, Durkheim.

Theories can be classified across different perspectives.

Macro level focus on groups and society as a whole, the bigger picture.

Theories an a micro level focus on interactions, zooming in.

Structure theories focus on forms and patterned arrangements.

whereas culture theories focus on meanings, beliefs and values.

Functionalism

Sees society as a system, and object that we can pick up and inspect from all sides. The main question of functionalism is: how is it possible that something that doesn’t exist, something that isn’t tangible, society, exists. This system, that functionalism sees society as, is made up of components with a function, these functions, or institutions, exist because society needs them to exist.

The organic view of society (Spencer)

Which sees society’s systems as something that can be compared to animals and/or humans their systems.

Structural-functionalism (Talcott Parsons)

Structural-functionalism is on the macro level, it is a macro-structural-view of society.

Parsons treated society as a system, identifying the basic tasks that all societies must perform to survive and the ways they accomplish these tasks.

All societies, he argued, need to be able to adapt, achieve their goals, maintain themselves and have members who are well socialised into their order, without this, societies may begin to break down.

These four tasks of a society are presented in the AGIL scheme.

The AGIL scheme

Adaptation; this is the capacity of society to interact with the environment and to adapt to it. This includes, among other things, gathering resources and producing commodities. This is taken care of by the economic part of the society.

Goal attainment; this is the capability of society to set goals and make decisions accordingly. This task is completed by the political part of society.

Integration; this is the capacity of the society to follow the rules that society itself has set. The legal system of a society is used to make sure that the people follow these rules.

Laten(cy)t; this task is the sister (sort of) of integration. It can also be called socialisation. This task is to make sure that the new people in society know the rules and norms of said society. This is enforced by educational, religious and family institutions.

A big critique on the functionalist perspective

is that it only looks at everything that is considered good about society. It ignores all the bad things.

Robert K. Merton expanded Parsons theory and critique on the functionalist perspective. He developed the functions and dysfunctions of society.

Functions: Manifest functions = are the recognised and intended consequences of any social pattern. (PLANNED & BENEFICIAL)

Latent functions = are consequences of any social pattern that are largely unrecognised and unintended. (UNPLANNED & BENEFICIAL)

Dysfunctions: Not all the effects of any social structure turn out to be useful, these are called (social) dysfunctions, any social patterns undesirable consequences for the operation of society. (UNPLANNED & HARMFUL)

Conflict perspective (conflict theory)

This perspective studies inequality and struggles within the society, it sees society as something that will not change unless there is conflict.

The dominant factor uses legitimation and reproduction to justify the inequality. (Not always intentional)

The oppressed factor want equal rights on the subjects of class, gender, ethnicity, age, etc.,

The oppressed want to change society, the dominant want to reproduce society just the way it is now.

Critique on the conflict theory

It only focuses on the negative side of society, it neglects the order and cohesion a society can also have. The conflict theory is the opposite of the functionalist theory.

Social action perspective (social action theory)

This perspective is about people’s view, why do people do the things they do? Whereas the functionalist and conflict perspectives focus on the macro-level of society, the social action perspective can both focus on the macro-level and the micro-level of society. The micro view of the social action perspective is called symbolic interactionism.

Symbolic interactionism (social action theory)

is about meanings, symbols and values which change through interaction. It studies everyday life.

Critique on the social action theory

It neglects the abstract and the macro-level of society.

Example of looking at the same topic form the three classical perspectives of sociology

Studying social inequality from the three perspectives can give you the following angles to look at the topic:

From a functionalist perspective: the functions of social inequality.

From a conflict perspective: social inequality as an instigator of conflict and change.

From a social action perspective: how individuals perceive their situation and how that guides their actions.