Unit 1- Introduction to Sociology
The scientific study of human society. The discipline embraces several perspectives when it comes to explaining human behavior.
Perspectives
Seeing the General in the Particular
We begin to think sociologically as we start to realize how our particular life experiences are shaped by the general categories into which we fall.
Seeing the Strange in the Familiar
Looking sociologically requires us to give up the familiar idea that human behavior, it is simply a matter of what people decide to do amidst the strange notion that society guides our thoughts and deeds
Individuality in Social Context
Sociological insights often challenge common sense by revealing how human behavior is not as individualistic as we think. We act in socially patterned ways.
Importance of Global Perspective
This is important because:
As the global economy emerge the world no longer contains hundreds of independent economic systems. Economic activity has leaped beyond physical boundaries
The world as a single ecosystem in which action (or inaction) of each nation has implications for all others.
Thinking globally is important because studying about other societies is an excellent means to learn about us.
Daily operations of Sociological Perspectives
Various kinds of situations prompt us to see our surroundings sociologically. Thinking globally inevitably simulates sociological perspective.
They include:
Sociology and social diversity
Sociology and social marginality
Sociology and social crisis
Impact of Sociological Perspectives
As we learn sociological perspectives we can apply it to our daily lives. The sociological perspective therefore
Challenges familiar understandings of ourselves and of others, so we can critically assess the validity of commonly held assumptions.
Allows us to recognize opportunities and the constraints that characterized our lives.
Empowers to be active participants in our society.
Helps us to recognize human diversity and to confront the challenges of living in a diverse world.
Origin of Soiology
It was only in 1938 did the French social thinker Auguste Comte coined the term “sociology” to describe a new way of looking at the world. He divided his new discipline into two parts:- How society is held together (he called this “social statistics”) and How society changes (“social dynamics”).
Comte believed, can be divided into three distinctive stages:
The Theological Stage
People regarded society as an expression of God’s will – as it relates to humans fulfilling a divine plan.
The Metaphysical Stage
Society was viewed as a natural rather than a supernatural phenomenon.
The Scientific Stage
The utilization of science to understand society was the focus of this stage.
Comte was thus a proponent of Positivism; this is defined as a means to understand the world based on science. Positivists believed that society conforms to invariable laws. Sociology emerged from a period of change with its origin in Europe: Revolutions and transformation in eighteenth and nineteenth century across the European landscape forged the development of sociology. As the social fabric ripped in the eyes of the populous, then the focus of attention was on society.
Two major forces that impact Sociology are:
Technological Revolution/ Industrial Revolution
Political Revolution
Theories of Sociology
In order to evaluate a theory, sociologists usually employ methods of scientific research in order to gather evidence. Scientific facts allow sociologists to confirm some theories while rejecting or while modifying others. Sociologists usually utilize three major theoretical paradigms that allow them to analyze effectively virtually any dimensions of society.
The Structural-Functional Paradigm/ Functionalism
This is a framework for building theory based on the assumption that society is a complex system whose parts together to promote stability. This paradigm allows us to see society as composed of social structure, meaning a relatively stable pattern of social behaviour.
Functionalism
The ideology of Functionalism found its way in the world via Talcott Parsons (1902-1979). Parsons believed society to be a system and he identified major tasks that all societies have to perform and suggested ways to accomplish them.
Robert Merton, suggested and shown that social patterns have differing consequences for various members of society. Some functions of any social pattern Merton believed are more obvious than others.
Manifest functions are the recognized and intended consequences of any social pattern.
Latent functions are the consequences that are largely unrecognized and unintended
Definition of Terminologies
Comte:
Comte felt that sociology should contribute to the welfare of humanity by using science to predict and control social behaviour
Social Physics: The scientific study of social life should model itself after physics
Emile Durkheim
Social Facts: Aspects of our social life that shape our actions
Organic Solidarity: The social cohesion that results from the various parts of a society functioning as an integrated whole.
Social Constraints: The conditioning influence on our behavior of the groups and societies of which individuals are members
Division of Labor: The specialization of work and complexity of tasks in the modern world
Anonmie: A state of confusion that occurs when people loose sight of the shared values and rules
Max Weber
Verstehen: Attention given to the meaning of symbols
Bureaucracy: An organization that is governed by an extensive number of written rules and regulations intended to create organizational efficiency
Karl Marx
Communism: A society where there is no private enterprise and goods are commonly shared.
Capitalism; An economic system based on private ownership which is invested and reinvested to produce profit
Social Class: Unequal social position based on income and wealth based on a person’s location in the economic system
Bourgeoisie(Capitalist); This group comprised owners of the means of production.
Proletariat(Common labourer); Those who ‘sell’ there labour for a wage.
Sociological Investigation
Sociological investigation begins by looking at the world using the “sociological perspective”, and being curious and questioning of issues and situations.
Concepts : According to Macionis (2005) “society” is itself a concept, as the structural parts of societies including “religion” and “the economy”. Concepts can also be used to describe individuals, such as sex, race and social class.
Variables: This is a concept whose value changes from case to case, for eg., price changes from supermarket to supermarket
Measurement: The use of variables depend on measurement. Measurement is the process of determining the value in a specific case. While some variables are relatively trouble-free to measure, sociological variables are much more complex and difficult to measure.
Components of Scientific Investigation
A challenge in sociological measurement is describing a number of people with respect to one variable, for e.g., residents of a city with the same occupation or income. As a result of this, various statistical measures are used to describe people collectively.
Three (3) simple and useful statistical measures are as follows:
Mode:- value that occurs most often in a series of numbers.
Median:- value that occurs mid-way in a series of numbers arranged in order of magnitude.
Mean:- Arithmetic average of a series of numbers and is calculated by adding all the values together and dividing it by the number of cases
In conducting research, the value of any variable depends, in part, on how the sociologist defines it. The sociologist must specify exactly what is measured in assigning a value to a variable. If measurement is to be useful, it must have two important characteristics. It must be Reliable and Valid.
Reliability is the quality of consistent measurement. In other words, repeated measurements must yield the same results.
Validity, on the other hand, means the quality of measuring what one intends to measure. So a measurement may be reliable but not valid.
Relationships Among Variable
The answer to any sociological investigation is derived when successful determination of relationships among variables is achieved. Social scientists relate variables in terms of cause and effect – relationship in which change in one variable causes change in another.
The variable that causes a change is called the independent variable. The behaviour that changes is called the dependent variable. The value of one variable is dependent on the value of another.
When two or more variables are related in some way – they change together – they demonstrate correlation. To further explain a correlation can be termed as spurious when there is an apparent, although false, association between the two variables, caused by some other variable.
Correlation: means only that two variables change together. Cause and effect implies not only correlation, but also that change in one variable causes change in another variable.
A researcher should conclude that two variables are linked by cause and effect only after demonstrating:
The two variables are correlated
The independent variable (cause) precedes the dependent variable in time
There is no evidence that a third variable is responsible for a spurious correlation between the two.
Objectivity
Objectivity in scientific research depends on carefully adhering to scientific procedures in order not to bias the results. Scientific objectivity is an ideal rather than a reality, since complete impartiality is virtually impossible for any researcher to achieve. One strategy for limiting distortion caused by personal values is replication – repetition of research by others in order to assess its accuracy. If other researchers repeat a study using the same procedures and obtain the same results, everyone gains confidence that the original research was conducted objectively.
Limitations to Scientific Sociology
Human behaviour is too complex to allow sociologists to predict precisely an individual’s actions.
Because humans respond to their surroundings, the mere presence of a researcher may affect the behaviour being studied
Social patterns change constantly; what is true at one time or place may not hold true in another.
Because sociologists are part of the social world they study, objectivity in social research is especially difficult.
Research Ethics
Sociologist must be mindful that research can be harmful as well as helpful to subjects or communities. For this reason, formal guidelines are established as it relates to the conduct of research.
Researchers must strive to be technically competent and fair-minded in conducting their research.
Sociologists must disclose findings in full, without omitting significant data.
Interpretations and results must be made available to other qualified sociologists so that the study may be replicated.
Sociologists must protect the rights, privacy and safety of anyone involved in the research project.
If research is likely to cause the participants discomfort or inconvenience, the researcher must ensure that the participants understand and accept the risks
Participants are entitled to full anonymity if they wish it and sociologists must protect this trust even if they are threatened by legal pressure.
Researchers must never promise anonymity unless they are willing to carry through on this commitment.
Sociologists are bound by ethics to inform subjects of the true purpose of the research. Participants must be informed before hand of any political organization or business they represent, and sociologists must include this information with any other source of funding in the published findings.
Funding source that may tarnish the integrity of the research must be avoided by researchers .
The global aspect of ethics include the researcher familiarizing him/herself with society (especially if it is foreign) to understand what people are likely to perceive as violations of privacy or as sources of personal danger
Tools of Sociological Research
A research method is simply a strategy for systematically conducting research. Four common methods are used in sociological investigation. Researcher will select the one that best suits the kind of research being undertaken.
Experiments
An experiment is a method for investigating cause and effect under highly controlled conditions. This kind of research is explanatory, as it investigates not just what happens, but why. Researchers will use an experiment to test a hypothesis- an unverified statement of a relationship between variables.
Experimental research allows us to evaluate a hypothesis in three simple steps:-
The experimenter measures the dependent variable (or effect)
The investigator exposes the dependent variable to the independent variable.
The researcher measures the dependent variable again to see if the predicted change has take
In an experiment, the researcher may also establish a control group and an experimental group in order to neutralize any outside influences.
Survey
A survey according to Macionis (2005) is a method in which subjects respond to a series of items on a questionnaire or an interview. This method is widely used and accepted in Sociological Research.
In surveys the following must be carefully addressed:
Population – This is the people who are focus, of the research this can be the entire population of a country, village or state. This may also be portions of the entire population based on the nature of the
survey.
Sample - This is a part of a population that a researcher may select to represent the whole. The size of a sample may vary dramatically. However the closer the sample size is to the actually population (numerically) the more accurate the representation of the views of the general population.
Questionnaire Design (Interview Schedule
Participant Observation
This method allows the researcher to systematically observe people while joining in their routine activities. Sometimes researcher may only get a vague understanding sociological issues if the first two methods are used and the only way to get an in depth understanding is to become an observer who participates in the social situation.