AU26 Sociology 1102 Chapter 1

sociology

scientific study of human social relations, groups, and societies

• a way of learning about the world that combines logically contructed theory and systematic observation

What different research methods do sociologists use to conduct their studies?

surveys, interviews, ethnographies, etc

social embeddedness

• idea that economic, political, and other forms of human behaviors are fundamentally shaped by social relations

• shaped by various social factors

sociological imagination

• ability to grasp the relationship between individual lives and the larger social forces that shape them

• what we think and what we do is shaped by the world around us

Why is the sociological imagination important?

allows us to recongize that individuals are not responsible for certain outcomes

ex.) people losing jobs/trying to find work due to covid-19, great depression, etc

agency

• the ability of individuals and groups to exercise free will and to make social changes on a small or large scale

structure

• patterned social arrangements that have effects on agency and are, in turn, affected by agency

critical thinking

• ability to evaluate claims about truth by using reason and evidence

• developing critical thinking skills is important for a socioloigical imagination

sociological theories

• logical, rigorous frameworks for the interpretation of social life that make particular assumptions and ask particular questions about the social world

What are the 3 theoretical perspective within sociology?

• 1. Structural functionalism 

• 2. Social conflict theory

• 3. Symbolic interactionism 

microlevel paradigms

concerned with small-group social relations and interactions

macrolevel paradigms

concerned with large-scale patterns and instituations

structual funcitonalism

• explains social organization and change in terms of the roles performed by different social structures, phenomena, and institutions

social conflict paradigm (conflict theory)

• seeks to explain social organization and change in terms of the conflict that is built into social relationships

• everything in our social worlds revolves around some form of conflict

symbolic interactionism

• that both the individual self and society as a whole are the products of social interactions based on language and other symbols

• main focus is on individual interaction and symbolic gestures and language

critical thinking

the ability to evaluate claims by truth by using reason and evidence

• important for a sociological imagination

How many rules does critical thinking contain?

6

CT rule #1

be willing to ask any question, no matter how difficult

CT rule #2

think logically, and be clear

CT rule #3

back up your arguments with evidence

CT rule #4

think about the assumption and biases, including your own, that underlie all studies

CT rule #5

aviod anectodal evidence

• ties back to rule 3

CT rule #6

be willing to admit when your wrong or uncertain about your results, and results themselves are mixed

C. Wright Mills

created the sociological imagination

Where does sociology’s roots mainly come from?

the scientific revolution, the Enlightenment, industrialization, andurbanization

Auguste Comte

scientific revolution

• coined the term “sociology” to characterize what he believed to be the new “social physics” (the scientific study of society)

anomie

A state of normlessness that occurs when people lose touch with the shared rules and values that give order and meaning to their lives.

Karl Marx

one of the founding fathers of sociology

• created conflict theory