SOC 101 Test 1

What is Sociology?

The study of society

Society is a system of social interactions

This tries to understand people within their society.

How individuals create society and how society impacts behavior of individuals.

Individual>< society

Sociological Imagination

“the application of imagitinive thought to the asking and answering of sociological questions”

Wright mills says: to make the connection between our own lives (personal troubles) and society (public issues).

To see the larger framework of society.

Personal troubles are public issues

Wright mills says most people don’t make connection between their individual experience and social structure.

Social Structure

Patterns of behaviors within a society

gives shape to society

We experience these

Can start to feel confining and inevitable

Adjust the way they are

“we are freer than we think- that the things we think are natural are actually created by human beings”

Social construction

Human beings create their social enviroment

Social Order

Consistent patterns of behaviors within a social environment

Agency and Structure

How free people are to act within a social environment

Social change

Changes within a social environment.

Creates new social realities.

The founding social theorists were dedicated to questions about this.

\

Questions about Behaviors

Sociologists often disagree about how to study behavior

Our lives and behaviors are complex

Grounded by 4 major questions


1. How are things socially constructed?
2. How is social order possible?
3. Does the individual matter?
4. How is today different from the past?

August Comte (1798-1857)

First to use the word sociology

Believed the scientific method could be applied to the study of human behavior.

Believed that society is made by individuals (constructed).

Therefore sociology could help humanity by predicting and controlling behavior to create better societies.

Emile Durkheim (1858-1917)

Wanted to establish sociology on a scientific basis.

Believed sociologist should study social facts.

Social facts are things that are true about society.

Societies have different parts that work together.

Society is like a biological organism when parts work together it creates solidarity (or social cohesion).

Organic solidarity is based on a division of labor.

Solidarity requires cooperation and a general agreement about social norms and how society should work (or function).

Social constraints limit people’s ability to act within a society.

Social norms are rules of conduct for appropriate behavior.

Therefore, knowing social facts will often tell us about what is allowed and what isn’t allowed in a society.

When social norms lose their hold over individual behavior the result is anomie.

Rapid social change can lead to anomie.

Social constraints

Limit people’s ability to act within society

Social Norms

Rules of conduct for appropriate behavior

Anomie

A loss of social norms. Rapid social change can lead to this.

Karl Marx (1818-1883)

Like Comte and Durkheim, he tried to understand social change brought on by industrial revolution (modernization).

Believed that conflict between the rich and poor was the driving force of social change.

People who own things of economic value have more power.

He was politically active unlike the other two.

Believed capitalism would transform into a new economic system with fewer divisions between the rich and poor.

Influenced communist governments around the world.

Max Weber (1864-1920)

Also studied the rise of modern capitalism.

Was critical of Marx view

Thought there was more to social change than just economic factors

Believed that ideas and values impacted social change as much or more than class conflicts between the rich and poor.

Social things like religion could influence peoples thoughts and behaviors. Impacting economic systems and social structure.

Symbolic Interactionism

How people interact using language and symbols

Functionalism

How social functions maintain order and stability in a society

Conflict theories

How power and coercion produce social order.

Rational choice theory

How behavior is driven by self-interest as a response to a social situation

Postmodern theory

There is no shape or direction to history, there are no “grand narratives”

Pluralistic and diverse

Microsociology

Studies small scale face to face interaction

Macrosociology

Studies large scale social systems

How can sociology help us?

1. To see the world form different perspectives.
2. To be able to judge whether or not attempts to fix problems are working or not.
3. To provide us with self-understanding.
4. Practical application of research skulls opens up career doors.

And those who study sociology often develop a social conscience.

Research methods

Gather empirical (factual) material to study.

Quantitative Methods

Quantities, numerical, statistical

Strength: ability to process large amounts of information using big databases to show trends and correlation.

Weakness: research can be disconnected from real lives of people.

Qualitative methods

Qualities of experiences, observations, interviews, and archival data.

Strength: personal involvement and empathy matter

Weakness: fewer cases, the appearance of being less scientific.

The Research Process

1. Define research problem.
2. Review literature
3. Make problems precise- make hypothesis.
4. Work out a design
5. Carry out research
6. Interpret the results
7. Report the findings

\

Ethnography

Fieldwork, qualitative participant observation.

Being active within a group or community.

The researcher has contact with participants.

Surveys

Research based on questionaries (phone, mailed, email)

Population and sample.

Experiments

Variables are analyzed in a controlled way. Not widely used in sociology.

Comparative Historical Research

Compares societies across time and place.

Can be qualitative and quantitative.

Societies

These and cultures differ widely based on geography and climate

Societies can be classified based on their economy and level of technological development.

Hunters and Gathers

Small groups

Life from hunting, fishing, and gathering.

Socially fewer inequalities because of shared resources

Pastoral and Agrarian

The rise of domesticated animals and cultivated crops

The rise of agriculture, cities and centers of power

Socially: deep inequalities (rise of early civilization)

Industrial Societies

Industrialization

Steam, energy, and machine production

Socially: rise of large cities; impersonal and anonymous social life

Nation states- extensive power over many aspects of citizen’s lives.

Mixed inequality

Today: postindustrial societies

Society

System of social interaction

A group of people who live in a territory and who are subject to a common system of political authority.

Culture

A system of social meaning

Includes language, symbols, values, beliefs, and material goods.

Way of life of individuals and groups within a society

A “design for living” argued through learning.

Non-Material Cultures

These include values, norms, symbols, language. and speech and writing.

Values

Abstract ideals

These can be a good source of cohesion and conflict.

Norms

Rules of social life backed by sanctions that vary from mild disapproval to severe punishment.

Symbols

An item that represents another item

Cultural symbols are everywhere; groups are known by their symbols

Signifier- anything that transmits cultural meaning.

Language

Is the way we organize what we do.

These and symbols are representations of reality.

This gives identity.

Speech and Writing

Ways of expressing language and storing information.

Philosopher John Searle argues that language is the basis of social construction.

Material Culture

The physical objects a culture creates.

Today, these are globalized (shared around the world).

The cultural turn

The emphasis on understanding the role of culture in daily life.

An example of the culture wars in the U.S (disagreements over culture values) including abortion and gun control.


1. Culture is a “tool kit” to select beliefs and behaviors from.
2. Different cultural scrips shape different social realities. Influences a person’s cultural identity.

Cultural Capital

A person’s power or status based on accumulated cultural knowledge.

Cultural Conformity

Cultures serve as a source of conformity- to adopt and live by a value and norm.

To instill in people a willingness to conform.


1. We learn the norms of our culture; norms become ingrained ways of thinking or acting.
2. Social controls vary from informal punishment to imprisonment.

Cultural Appropriation

Takes place when members of one culture borrow from another culture.

Subcultures

Have values and norms that are distinct from the mainstream culture.

Counterculture

Reject the values and norms of the mainstream culture

Assimilation

The process by which culture is absorbed into the mainstream culture

Multiculturalism

Exists when ethnic groups live separately but share equally in cultural, economic, and political life. Modern societies are this.

Cultural Identity

Every culture is unique

Sometimes the cultural beliefs and practices of other cultures seem unusual, strange illegal etc.

Ethnocentrism

To judge another culture through the standards of one’s own culture.

Sociologists want to avoid this in order to try and understand without bias.

Cultural Relativism

To judge cultures by its own standards

This can be hard.

It also raises ethical questions.

Socialization

Learning norms, values, behavior and social skills appropriate to the social positions we occupy throughout life.

The ways we learn to become humans learning social rules

Life course socialization- takes place throughout the life course.

Social Reproduction

Socialization connects generations to one another.

Preparation, values and norms

Agents of socialization

Groups or social contexts in which socialization occurs.

The major agents include families, schools, peer relationships, mass media and work.

Primary socialization

Takes place in infancy and childhood

Resocialization

Learning new rules and norms when entering a social role.

Desocialization

Unlearning rules and norms when leaving a social role.

Anticipatory socialization

Learning about a social role ahead of time.

Social Roles

Socially defined expectations for a person in a given position. For example a doctor.

Identity

A person’s understanding of who they are and what is meaningful to them.

Social Identity

The characteristics that are attributed to the individual by others.

Individuals have more than one of these.

Master Status

When an aspect of a person’s identity overpowers other traits. Or what a person’s most known for.

Self-Identity

Set us apart from others

Our sense of self in relation to the outside world.

Theories of socialization

Humans are self aware

We have a sense of self

The sense of self takes time to emerge in early childhood.

We learn to think.

Cognition

Human thought processes, perception, reasoning and remembering.

G.H Mead and the development of self

His idea influenced symbolic interactionism.

Interaction through cultural symbols, interpretation of meaning.

He also describes the phases of child development.

Young children develop by imitating others. They use play as a way to do this. “taking the role of others”

Children develop a sense of self and separate others as a “me”.

Me is social self I is the unsocialized self.

Also talked about self-conscious and the generalized other.

Self-conscious

Is awareness of one’s social identity as a person separates from others.

The generalized other

Refers to the general values or norms of a given group or imagined person.

Charles Horton Cooley

How do we come to know our personality.

Argued we see ourselves as others see us.

The looking glass self- like a mirror that reflects ourselves back to us.

Classic example of symbolic interactionism and social psychology

For example: social media.

Jean Piaget

Studied stages of development.

Children go through stages of cogitative development.

Sensorimotor Stage

Infants

Perception and touch shape development.

Preoperational Stage

Ages 2-7

Children master language and basic modes of thought.

Egocentric- only see the world from their own position.

Concrete Operational stage

Ages 7-11

Less egocentric

Capable of reasoning

Formal Operational Stage

Ages 11-15

When a child becomes capable of handling abstract concepts

Race socialization

The messages we receive from the older generations that are transmitted to the younger generations.

Research shows parents of color discuss heritage more often than white parents.

Gender Socialization

Gender roles- social roles assigned to each sex labeled and masculine and feminine.

Learning gender roles through social factors such as schooling, the media and family.

The gendered toy debate.

Impression Management

Erving Goffman

The world as a stage

Used ideas from theater.

Roles are social expectations for a status.

“back stage” and “front stage”

We try to manage the impression we make on the front stage.

Status

The honor and prestige given to a role.

Audience Segregation

Trying to keep the audience from each role separate.

For example: different social media accounts.

Nonverbal Communication

The exchange of information and meaning through facial expressions, gestures, and body movements.

The basic modes of emotional expression are the same in all human beings.

Paul Ekman’s example of innate facial movements.

These emotional responses are inborn (natural), but cultural factors may influence when nonverbal communication is appropriate and inappropriate.

Unfocused interaction

When people are assembled, but not taking part in face-to-face communication.

Focused Interaction

When people are in direct conversation

An encounter- instance of focused interactions

Encounters have openings, expressions, cues, and may be spread through a day.

Interaction in time and space

All interactions are situated in a place or time.

“time space” when and where an event occurs.

Spatial regionalization- back and front regions

Clock time

Modern societies depends on a standardized this.

Transport and communication systems depend on world standard time

The internet has altered past understandings of space and time

Global interaction is almost immediate

Microsociology

Erving Goffman

A focus on (trivial?) everyday social interaction

Why study?


1. Daily routines give structure and form to what we do.
2. The study of everyday life reveals human agency (the ability to think, act, and make choices)
3. Larger social systems and institutions depend on daily patterns of social interaction.

Edward T. Hall

Studied personal space.

There are different cultural practices for personal space when people are engaged in interactions.

Compares 4 zones of personal space

Intimate distance- very close friendships

Personal distances- friends and acquaintances

Social distance- situations such as interviews

Public distances- situations such as performances.

Harold Garfinkel

Study ethnomethodology

A study of people makes sense of what other people do or how people use common sense to understand others.

A study of micro interaction.

Sociologists must study “background expectations” people are using to interpret ordinary conversation.

Study norms of interaction by studying what happens when people break norms of interaction.

When people break the norm we become aware of the norm.

Electronic Communication vs Face to Face

Today we are interacting with people we may never see or meet through indirect contact.

New technologies and social media increase indirect contact

Some argue as pace of life accelerates people are isolating themselves more. Weakening of social interactions. Leading to more confusion, arguments and misunderstandings

Others: online communication improves social relations. People can create online identities. Social networking may enhance friendships. Users are more trusting, have more close relationships, receive more support and are more politically engaged.

Networks

Set of formal and informal social ties that link people to each other.

Bring many positives. We rely on these for social contacts.

These have strong and weak ties.

There can be strength in weak ties- especially for those who benefit from their connections.

The internet as a social network

Makes it possible to extend one’s personal networks.

52% of adults used the internet in 2000 and 89% in 2018.

A digital divide remains by income, but it has decreased.

There are larger gaps by level of education and between younger and older adults.

Social Group

A collection of people who interact regularly on the basis of shared expectations concerning behavior and who share a sense of common identity.

Social aggregate

A collection of people who happen to be together in a place but do not interact or identify with one another.

Social Category

People who share a common characteristic but do not necessarily interact or identify with each other.

Primary group

Groups characterized by emotional ties, face to face interaction and enduring sense of commitment.

Secondary group

Large impersonal groups without emotional ties or commitment to the group.

Group Conformity

For most of human history interactions took place within primary groups.

With the growth of large impersonal secondary groups they are worried about the loss of social bonds.

Secondary groups are more anonymous (perhaps more personal freedom).

Primary groups often enforce strict conformity to standards.