SOC 100: Week 1 and 2

What is sociology?

The study of society; a social science involving the study of the social lives of people, groups, and socieities; the study of behaviour as social beings and contatcs between individuals and global processes

What is sociology known as in relation to all other sciences? Why?

The Queen of Sciences because it connects knowledge from all other disciplines

What is the main goal for sociologists?

To identify and explain how personal troubles (families, relationships, loss, gain) are connected to social structures

What are social structures?

Relatively stable patterns of social relations

What are the three levels of social structures?

Microstructures, macrostructres, and global structures

What are microstructures?

Patterns of intimate social relations formed during face-to-face interactions (ex. friends, family, teachers, etc.)

What are macrostructures?

Patterns of social relations outside and above one's circle of intimates/acquantances (ex. institutions, the city, the bank, your university)

What are global structures?

Patterns of social relations ooutside and above the national level; things that Canada as a nation interacts wth (ex. United Nations, NATO, WHO)

What is social imagination?

The ability to see the connecton between personal circumstances (personal or not) and social structures

Who coined the term "social imagination"?

C. Wright Mills

What main events form the origins of social imagination?

The Scientific Revolution, the Democratic Revolution, and the Industrial Revolution

How did the Scientific Revolution infleunce the creation of social imagination?

It encouraged evidence-based conclusions about society as opposed to philosophy

How did the Democratic Revolution infleunce the creation of social imagination?

It suggested that people were responsible for creating society, therefore, human intervention was capable of fixing social problems ; people; people began to reject the idea of an authoritarian ruler in favour of democracy

How did the Industrial Revolution infleunce the creation of social imagination?

it created a host of social problems and attracted the attention of social thinkers (mass urbanization created a large number of issues such as poverty, crime, and job security)

What did Auguste Comte do and suggest?

He sought to understand the social world using a scientific method of research, which included ideas of using the scientific method to transform society to see if we could create a utopia; highly optimistic

Who coined the term "sociology" in 1838?

Auguste Combt

What did Herbert Spencer theorize?

That societies evolve in the same way biological species do and that inequaities were necessary in order for species to evolve

What were Herbert Spencer's ideas known as? Why?

Social Darwinism because he drew on Darwin's On the Origin of Species

What consequences result from ideas of Social Darwinism?

Colonialism, imperialism, eugenics, and nazism

In sociology, what ideas have tension between them?

Belief in the importanc eof science, the vision of an ideal society, and the risk of changing societies based on our current understandings

Along with Social Darwinsim, what other ideology has been shown to have potentially detrimental effects?

Marx's Communism

Who was the Sacred Project of American Sociology written by?

Christian Smith (University of Notre Dame)

What does Christian Smith suggest in his book?

That American sociology is a sacred project and committed to realizing the emancipation, equality, and moral affirmation of all human beings who should live their lives as they personally desire (including relationships and bodily pleasures)

What does Christian Smith suggest is at the core of sociology and who does he reference?

He suggests that liberal individualism (volunteerism) is at its core in the tradition of John Locke, Adam Smith, and John Stuart Mill

What is liberal individualism (volunteerism)?

The idea that everything you do in your life should be a function of your individual will

What historical period does sociology fundamentally come from?

Modernity

What are the main principles/characteristics of modernity?

Rationalization, industrial, urban, individualism

What is rationalization?

a principle of modernity that expresses the idea that the word should be understood using reason

How did Stanley Hauerwas view modernity?

Something that sought to gain knowledge using human rationality while the "gaps" were relegated to God (or God was denied entirely); people should live their lives as they desire and have absolute freedom

What is the definition of a theory?

A tentative explanation of some aspect of social life that states how and why certain facts are related

How are sociological ideas usually expressed?

As theories

What is the definition of research?

The process of systematically observing reality to assess the validity of a theory

What is the definition of values?

Ideas about what is right, wrong, good, and bad

What do values help sociologists do?

Formulate and favour certain theories over others

How did Emile Durkheim view suicide and how one comes to commit suicide?

As a antisocial/non-social act that is caused by hidden social causes rather than a specififc state of mind

What book did Durkheim write in 1897?

Suicide

How did Emile Durkheim consuct research about suicide rates?

He examined the association between rates of suicide and the rate of psycological disorders for different groups (ex. Catholics vs Jews)

What did Emile Durkheim conclude from his research on suicide rates?

Suicide rates were not correlated to psychological disorders but rather the degree of social solidarity one experiences (high social solidarity = lower suicide rates)

What is social solidarity?

The degree to which group members share beliefs and values and the intensity/frequency of those interactions

In relation to Emile Durkheim's research, what are suicide rates in Canada like today and why?

Substantial increase since the 1960s which may be due to decreased religious participation and broad social trends (devices, parenting)

What are the main idea of functionalism?

Human behaviour is governed by stable patterns of social relations, social structures can either maintain or undermine social stability, social structures are based on shared values/preferences, re-establishing equilibrium is the best way the solve social problems, and institutions may be classed as functional or dysfunctional

What is a functional society as per functionalism?

A social structure that maintains social stability (people are more likely to thrive)

What is a dysfunctional society as per fucntionalism?

A social structure that undermines social stability (people are less likely to thrive)

What theory is a prime early example of functionalism?

Emile Durkheim's theory of suicide

What did Talcott Parsons believe?

Various insttutions must work to ensure the smooth operation of society as a whole and family was the central insitution

What are some examples of seperate institutions working together?

Families raising new generations, the military successfully defending society agaisnt external threats, and schools tecahing students necessary skills and values

What did Robert Merton suggest about social structures?

Social structures may ahve different consequences for different groups of people and some may be dysfunctional

What are manifest functions?

The obvious intended effects of social structures (ex. a university tecahing course material)

What are latent functions?

The non-obvious unintended effects of social structures (ex. people meeting their spouse at university)

What ideology does conflict theory primarily emerge from?

Karl Marx's communism

What is the main idea of conflict theory?

Major patterns of inequality produce social stability in some circumstances and social change is others; members of privileged groups seek to maintian advantages while members of subordinate groups struggle to increase their advantages

What do conflict theorists suggest?

The elimination of privilege will lower the level of conflict and increase human welfare

What idea was central to Karl Marx's ideas?

Class conflict

What did Karl Marx believe about class conflict?

Class conflict was the driving force of history

Who's ideas did Max Weber critique?

Marx's ideas of class conflict

What did Max Weber believe?

Along with class conflict, politics and religion are also major important sources of historical change

What did Max Weber suggest about the workforce?

There should be rapid growth in the service sector (white collar; assistants, managers, etc) where they were to enjoy higher status and income than the manufacturing sector (blue collar)

Who laid the foundation for conflict theory and when did it begin to infleucne North America?

C. Wright Mills laid the foundation for modern conflcit theory which came to North America in the 1950s

With what movement did Marxism begin to take root in North America?

The Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s

When did conflict theory take a cultural turn?

The 1960s and 70s

After conflict theory's cultural turn, what did conflict theorists become interested in?

The ways in which elements of culture express domination by the powerful and resistance by others

Why is the communist revolution and Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 not considered a "true" workers revolt?

Russia is still fairly agrarian compared to its Western counterparts and, therefore, the revolution occured at a time different than Marx predicted

As many conflict theorists ask, why haven't we had a real communist revolution yet?

Culture ends up mitigating and keeping capitalist ideas under control a ndculture allows capitalism to perpetuate itself (so ideas of a workers revolution never take hold)

What is postculturalism?

A way of thinking that denied the stability of social relations and cultures, their capacity to shape how people think and act, and their binary categorization of social and cultural elements

When and where did postculturalism originate?

Mid-twentieth-century France

What did Antonio Gramsci suggest about the ruling class?

They should exercise power in softer ways

What midea about culture did Antonion Gramsci introduce?

Cultural hegemony

What is cultural hegemony?

When the values of the upper class become so dominant and deeply entrenched that the great majority of people accept them as common sense (ex. the American Dream- which is actually very difficult to achieve)