Sociology unit 1

People:

Auguste Comte - French （1798-1857)

Father of sociology

  • focused on improvement of society
    → If societies were to advence social behavior must be studied

  • positivism - soc. should be a science based on knowledge o/ which we can be positive

- Social statics - Study ol social Stability & order

- social dynamics - study of social change

[ Soc. could use scientific procedures + promote social progress

2. Harriet Martineau- English (1802 - 1876)

  • career began in 1825

  • translake Comte’s work inte readable English

  • Made original contributics in research methods, political economy and Feminism

* pioneered Feminist Theory

- link btwn slavery and opression of women— liberation 4 both

3. Herbert Spencer - English (1820 - 1903)

- to explain social stability - compared societies to the human body

^body and society comprised of diff parts working together for stability

militant

industrial

  • opposed societal reform— thought this interfered with the natural selection process

  • poor deserve to be poor and the rich deserve to be rich

  • society profits from allowing individuals to find their social class, interfering is harmful to society

4. Karl Marx - German (1818 - 1883)

  • did not consider himself a sociologist but had a major impact in the field

  • Great concen for poverty and inequality in the working class

- social classes:

bourgeoisie - own the means for production/wealth (capital)

proletariat - work for the bourgeoisie and are paid just enough to survive, not to thrive

planned revolution speeds up social change from capitalism to communism

*class conflict

  1. Emile Durkheim - French (1858-1917)

* society exists because of broad consesnsus

mechanical consensus - widespread agreeance on beliefs, social pressure, conformity, dependence on tradition and family

organic solidarity - social interdependency based on a web of highly specialized roles, make members or a society depend on one another

-resarch on suicide

- human social behavior can be explained by social factors rather than psychological factos

6. Max Weber - German ( 1864- 1920)

The protestant ethic and the spirit of capitalism (1906) ←book

- Human beings act on the basis of their understanding of a situation

verstehen- understanding the social behavior of others by putting yourself mentally in their places (put yourself in their shoes)

rationalization- the mindset that emphasized the use of knowledge, reason, and planning

change from tradition, emotion, and superstition of previous industrial society

American Contributors

7. Jane Addams (1860 - 1935)

co founded Hull House in Chicago to refuge immigrants, sick, and poor

Focused on problems caused by imbalance of power with social classes

social action/ considered social worker

Nobel Peace Prize - 1931

*progressive reform

8. W.E.B. DuBois (1868-1963)

racial discrimination and segregation

→ learned about from teaching at rural all-black schools

attack negro problem→ the assumption that all black people are inferior

analyzed social structure of black communities

Pan African Movement

NAACP and Niagara Movement

Souls of Black Folk


Theoretical Perspective (p.23)- a set of assumptions about an area of study, viewed as true by it’s supporters and helps them organize their research



Functionalism (p.25)-  emphasizes the contributions (functions) of each part of a society (ie family, economy, religion)



Conflict Perspective (p. 27)- emphasizes conflict, competition, change, and constraint within a society (opposite of functionalism)



Symbolic Interactionism (p. 30)- theoretical perspective that focuses on interaction among people based on mutually understood symbols



Culture:

Knowledge, language, values, customs, and physical objects that are passed from generation to generation


Two components of culture:

Norms are rules that we follow that definite appropriate and inappropriate behavior

  • Folkway- something we do with no moral significance behind it

  • Mores- norms that have a moral dimension and that should be followed by members of the society (Taboo)


Values: Broadest cultural ideas abt what is good or desirable by people in a society

Social Structure

  • Values are based on norms which are types of folkways and mores

  • laws which are enforced by sanctions


Society- group of people who live within a defined territory and participate in a common



Socialization

  • Cultural process of learning to participate in group[ life

  • Socialization begins at birth and continues throughout life

  • Most important learning occurs early in life

  • Negative effects of isonalition have been documented