EXAM 1

Chapter 1: What is Sociology

Learning Goals (pg.20)

1.1. Define the sociological imagination.

• The sociological imagination is the ability to see the connection between individual lives and wider social structures, and the way they affect each other.

• IT shows us how individual choices, like the decision to get divorced might be affected by wider social forces such as economic change, and the availability of jobs.

• The sociological imagination shows us that people’s lives are sometimes shaped in surprising ways by social change.

• The sociological imagination shows that people can resist larger social forces by acting in ways that change or challenge the social structure, or by forming social movements for social change.

1.2 Understand that there are different levels of social things: for example, individuals, relationships, and institutions.

• Early sociologists identified a special social domain that was different than the level of individuals alone.

• There are different levels depending on the scale of research.

  • Levels of Analysis:

    • Micro-sociological

    • Macro-sociological

    • Institutional

• Sociologists are interested in how causes at one level affect causes and outcomes at other levels.

  • How do small-scale interactions in classrooms or job interviews sustain or reinforce large-scale social structures?

  • How are local actions connected to global outcomes?

1.3. Understand that sociologists are committed to the norms of scientific and intellectual community and different methods for exploring the social world.

• Early sociologists were interested in systematic and scientific study of social facts, actions, and patterns.

• Social-scientific knowledge is different that ordinary, everyday knowledge about the world because it self-consciously uses systematic strategies to collect accurate and useful information.

• Sociological research strategies are designed to eliminate or reduce bias, particularly confirmation bias, where people are more likely to think something is true because it confirms prior beliefs.

• A focus on research methods is one of the defining features of social science, including sociology.

• Sociology is distinct from the other social sciences that may focus on the political system or the economic system, because it is committed to multiple research methods to study the intersections between the different dimensions of social life.

1.4 Understand that sociology is used in the worlds of work, politics, and other domains of social life.

• Sociology can be applied to many different career paths.

• Both of these literacies involve concrete skills that are of interest in many walks of life.

1.5 Understand that many sociologists pursue sociology as a way to secure human freedom and social justice.

• Sociologists understand humans as individuals with free will who make judgments about good and bad, right and wrong. Sometimes people will choose to support the social structures and other times they will act to change them.

Chapter 2: American Sociology

Learning Goals (pg.49-50):

2.1 Understand that sociology developed as a way to explain social patterns and social change and is one of a family of social science disciplines located within the liberal arts.

• The early developments in sociology have lead to a way of thinking that asserted that social life should be understood as a whole, complex interacting system of political, economic and cultural relationships.

• One of the most important insights is its insistence on the relational quality of social life.

2.2 Understand that knowledge is socially located and develops within particular intellectual and national traditions and different social networks and institutional settings.

• Many voices were excluded from early sociological institutions, particularly women and scholars that were not in the western world. In the modern era of sociology, we have been able to hear from new critical voices that challenge the traditional narratives and enrich our understanding of social dynamics by incorporating diverse perspectives from marginalized groups.

2.3 Identify core theoretical concepts in the discipline.

• Marx: Key figure in sociology known for his critique of capitalism and the concept of class struggle.

• Weber: analyzed rationalization as the driving force of institutional and cultural change.

• Durkheim: studied social facts and focused on the way group organization, such as the division of labor made social life possible.

• The Chicago School Thinkers: founded interactionism, identified the stable patterns of interactional settings in modern cities and institutions as a critical part of social life.

• Consensus theorists: Talcott Parsons, emphasized the stability of systems and what held them together.

• Conflict theorists: C. Wright Mills analyzed the role of conflict in social change.

• Symbolic interactionists: Herbert Blumer analyzed how social meanings and social interaction plays a part on both social equilibrium and social change.

• Contemporary critics of sociology: feminists, critical race theorists, intersectional theorists, post-colonial theorists, and queer theorists.

2.4 Understand that the history of sociological theory is distinct from making theoretical arguments or applying theory to contemporary examples.

• Sociology is a way to think about social life. Using the sociological imagination, sociologists ask critical questions about social life.

• The tradition of social theory in sociology informs current sociology in deep ways.

• Keep in mind, the history of sociological theory is not the same as doing sociology or inventing new social theory.

• Contemporary sociologists use their sociological imaginations to apply theories to new global social realities or invent theories to explain them.

• Theories of the middle range: These theories bridge the gap between grand sociological theories and specific empirical observations, allowing for a nuanced understanding of social phenomena.

  • This allows for sociology to be more empirical and more cultural than earlier social theory.

Class Notes:

What is Sociology? Chapter 1:

Sociologists all have a different definition to sociology:

They all reach the same conclusion: Sociology study social facts, actions and relationship, scientific and systemic research. Allows for a deeper understanding of the world.

• Durkheim: Scientific discipline devoted to the discovery of social facts

  • External to human lives: these social facts influence behaviors, norms, and institutions in profound ways.

• Weber: to understand social actions

• Du Bois: to study the scope and cause of human action

• Mills: Understand the social problems

Sociological Imagination: The purpose of sociology is to make aware of a larger social force. sociological imagination “enables us to grasp history and biography and the relation between the two in society” (Mills).

• Shift from personal to broader larger social, economic and political forces

• Social problems cannot be solved individually.

• Needs collective actions and social change

  • Example:

    • Ups and downs of human lives and the social conditions they experience.

  • Example:

    • Unemployment: There are thousands of unemployed individuals. WHY?

    • War, lack of affordable housing, healthcare etc.

    • What about our values when it feels threatened or made to feel threatened?

    • All of these take place in a vacuum?

    • How can we explain such deep connection?

  • Example:

    • Personal trouble and social issues

      • Without sociological imagination, individuals assume that if people receive help, they will not want to work and they are inherently lazy

      • However, social welfare is a necessity and can be proven through sociological imagination.

Issue with Sociological Imagination:

• Overly deterministic as it does not consider human agency

• Access to resources in society.

Group Example: Rising youth unemployment is the fault of young generations as they are lazy and do not want to work:

• Cars are expensive: Public transportation isn’t widely available.

• It is hard to start working when you lack experience.

• The cost of education is also a barrier to entry.

Levels of Analysis:

• Microsociology: Everyday interactions of individuals and small group interactions. Interactions between individuals

  • Main Purpose: to capture interactions between individuals

    • Sociologist: George Herbert Mead focused on this concept.

      • Example: Divorce rate in society.

• Meso-sociology: Intermediate social forces and stratification

  • Main Purpose: these characteristics connect micro and macro.

    • Income, Age, Gender

• Macrosociology: how large-scale historical trends and structural patterns influence social life

  • Example: State policies, institutions, population patterns

Theory and Method Chapter 2:

Development of Sociology:

• Early sociologist: Auguste Comte(1798-1857):

  • Father of sociology in a western context.

  • His theories:

    • How different types of knowledge was connected to each other

    • Identified six fundamental sciences

    • Sociology to the most important one

    • Social science would replace religion

• Emile Durkheim (1858-1917):

  • Social facts

  • External factors that influence how people act, think and feel

• Talcott Parsons (1902-1979):

  • Grand theory

  • One single theory to explain all phenomena

Classical Sociology: What was going on?

• Industrialization

  • 18th Century in Britain:

  • Technological advancements: steam engine

  • Rapid urbanization lead to cities to develop quickly. This caused very poor living conditions in order to cut costs. The expendability of the working class allowed for lack of care to the longevity of their workers. This included low pay, and very extreme working conditions.

  • Industrial shift from agrarian.

  • New social classes formed

    • Before: land owning class and working class

    • After: Capitalists and workers

  • Children were included in the working class

• Colonization

  • The transfers of wealth from colonial countries to Europe fueled industrial revolution.

  • Left colonized countries deprived and in shackles.

Understanding these context allows us to analyze the sociological theories of the time.

Classical Sociologists Who were they?:

Karl Marx: involved with social structure and its affect on the working class

• Economic conflict as the central problem of society

• Capitalism as the main agent in this conflict

  • Individual, private ownership of mode of production

• Most of the countries are a mix of capitalism and socialism

• America is different from the rest of the world…

  • Capitalism is more powerful than ownership. This means that private ownership is prioritized

• Low wage laborers whose only goal is to keep working for the system.

• This strips workers of their humanity.

Alienation: A condition where humans have no meaningful connection to their work, or to each other

    Main Idea: Causes disconnection of the working class from basic societal practices.

1. Worker from their product: They cannot afford the product they are producing

2. Worker from the act of production: the product will serve no function in their life.

3. Worker from the species-essence: Human development

4. Other workers: No meaningful social relationship. For example, corporations banning unionization.

Max Weber: more involved with process than the system itself

Bureaucracy:

• Organizations running in formal rules and laws

• He argued that modern institutions were in fact, bureaucracies

Rationalization:

• All social relationships become more organized, standardized and predictable

Disenchantment:

• highlights the shift in human perception

• Used to mysterious in awe, explained by religious scripture

• Now, science, rationalization and secularization.

Emile Durkheim: concerned about the rapid urbanization and how dynamics of social relationship change.

Mechanical Solidarity:

• Strong similarities in job such are farming and land owning.

Organic Solidarity:

• Strong differences. Job market is now more diverse.

Anomie:

• isolated and disconnected. There is a wider social network and is described by the alienation theory.

Asabiyyah: forgotten and had some of the same ideas. Eurocentricity has caused him to be unknown and not recognized as an influential social thinker.

W.E.B Du Bois:

• First Black man to receive PhD from Harvard

• One of the founders of NAACP

• Provided analysis on racial inequality

• Neglected because of systemic issues.

How did sociology come to America?

The Chicago school:

• After WWII major funding allowed for the growth of sociology program.

The major theories to arise are called:

Grand theories:

• Looking Glass

• I vs Me

Contemporary sociology excluded gender, minorities, people color. This lead to the emergence of new social theories:

• Feminism

• CRT

• Intersectionality

• Post colonial theory

• Queer Theory

Franz Fanon:

• Black skin, white masks

• His focus was colonialization.

Edward Said:

• Orientalism

Judith Butler:

• Queer Theory.

Research in Sociology:

• Research is different than opinion and beliefs

• All research both social and natural science

Qualitative: Small groups, in-depth observation, participant observation

• patterns, themes or trends

Quantitative: analyze association, relationship, casual patterns and trends, use statistical analysis.

Steps in Research:

• State and define the problem

• Conduct research

• Variable: Age, gender, socioeconomic status, etc.

• Dependent variable: outcome

• Independent variable: predictor

Examples:

• Impact of education(independent) on poverty(dependent)

• Exercise shapes(independent) health outcome(dependent)

• A coach defines(independent) an athlete’s performance(dependent)

• Director (independent) decides the best role for an actor(dependent)

Where and how do we collect data?

Identify the group to be studied

Two types of sampling: Random sample and

Chapter 3: Culture

Culture: set of beliefs, practices knowledge and materials.

This can cause differences in color perception.

Most Important:

• Language

• Symbols

• Values

• Beliefs

• Norms

Still important, smaller impact.

Material: objects

Ideal: language, values, norms

Where does culture come from?

Agreements between people about their survival. They might take many factors in consideration including environment. Social systems develop mechanism and sets of rules. Institutions further establish the cultural expectations. Some are distinct to specific groups. Others are universal. For example, murder=illegal

Web of Culture:

• All of these institutions and elements form a web of culture in society.

• Without understanding these, not possible to understand culture.

  • Example:

    • Rubber Band

Global Culture:

• Advances in transportation, telecommunications, media, and information technology

  • Example:

    • Fashion worldwide, same chain restaurants globally.

• Cultural Imperialism:

  • Small countries dominating other culture, and destroying many elements in the process.

Culture is not shared equally among all of their members:

• Dominant Culture: most powerful group

• Sub-culture: cultural minorities

• Pop culture: most popular and connects a large group of people

• High culture: upper echelon of society

• Folk Culture: working class

Multiple cultures and the outcomes:

• Cultural Assimilation: melting pot, minority group gradually adopts the dominant culture’s language, values, customs and norms.

• Cultural Integration: participation in shared social, economic and political life plus cultural diversity

• Cultural pluralism: different cultures live side by side and are recognized as legitimate and valuable.

Chapter 4: Socialization

Feral Children: This phrase refers to individuals who have little interaction with humans

Victor of Aveyron:

• Feral child from France that was not socialized until the age of 12. He never fully understood language, and never became a functional member of society. He died at 40 years old.

Isabelle of Pennsylvania:

• Confined by grandparents in a room, and had no social interactions. Her mother was deaf and mute. She was discovered at the age of 6 and returned to normal development. She was able to become a fully functional member of society.

Traian Caldarar of Romania:

• Found with a pack of stray dogs in 2002. Assumed that he fled at the age of 4. He was able to be rehabilitated and integrated into society.

Takeaway

• Social norms, values, skills and beliefs are taught. Children learn how to function in society.

Socialization:

The process through which human beings are made to participate in society. It is a life long process that shapes our identities, skills, norms, values, and beliefs. It is how we act. Sociologist are interesting in socialization because it provides explanation for actions.

Nature vs Nurture:

Nature is genetics and hereditary nurture is environmental such as parenting styles, cultural influences, and life experiences.

Academic underachievement

Nature: Developmental delays like like ADHD, dyslexia, etc.

Nurture: Unstable home environment; absent parent; inconsistent and care giver to younger siblings.

Social Self

• Peer Pressure: Charles Hooley: Looking Glass Theory: Individuals develop self identity by interacting with others and analyzing their behavior.

• Guilty or Proud: George Herbert Mead: Theory of Self: imaginative and creative activities, different roles and perspectives, different responsibilities. Cooperation and coordination and social structure navigation this allows for adhesion to established norms.

  • I vs Me

    • I- spontaneous and impulsive aspect of the self.

    • Me- reflective aspect of the self.

  • The "I" represents the spontaneous and autonomous aspect of the self, while the "Me" is shaped by societal expectations and attitudes, illustrating the duality of our identity.

  • symbolic interactionism; internalized social perspective.

• Morality: Sigmund Freud’s Theory: Ego, super-ego, and ID.

  • Id: unconscious aspect of our minds

    • Instant gratification

  • Superego: moral part of our mind

    • Polices our urges and desires

  • Ego: balances between the ID and superego

    • To determine the most practical course of action.

Agents of Socialization:

Family:

1) It is most influential at early stages of life because your thoughts and opinions are shaped by your family. Newborns to 12 years old.

2) At what mechanisms does this operate? Care taking shaping how the kids act. Kids mirror their parents.

3) Race, class and gender affects socialization because different cultural customs will influence the values of an individual.

4) Outcomes: how you manage relationships, social views,

School:

Media:

Workplace:

Divorce:

Old Age:

Religion:

Unemployment:

Peer groups:

Retirement:

Status and Role:

Social position relative to others. Ascribed and Achieved; Gender; Race; socio-economic status; age and marital status.

Mead’s Dramaturgical theory: particular image of themselves. they prepare for that role. Attire accordingly. Need cooperation to operate. Other parties needs to go along with this. Criticism: does not include the human nature of resistance. Basically it does not include the opinions and different values of others.

Group Life

Primary: Close friends, family and peers

Secondary: Larger and impersonal; revolved around interest or hobbies.

Reference group: helps us figure out where we belong in our society

In-group: positive reference group ; strong solidarity and strong bond

Out group: negative feelings; abnormal or undesirable.