Sociology Vocabulary

Module 1: What Is Sociology?

  • Sociology is the scientific study of social behavior and human groups.
  • It focuses on:
    • Social relationships.
    • How these relationships influence people’s behavior.
    • How societies develop and change.

The Sociological Imagination

  • C. Wright Mills described the sociological imagination as a type of critical thinking.
  • It is defined as an awareness of the relationship between an individual and the wider society, both today and in the past.
  • A key element is viewing society from an outsider’s perspective.
  • It goes beyond personal experiences to understand broader public issues.

Sociology and the Social Sciences

  • Science: the body of knowledge obtained by methods of systematic observation.
  • Natural science: the study of the physical features of nature and the ways in which they interact and change.
  • Social science: the study of the social features of humans and the ways in which they interact and change.
  • Social sciences include:
    • Sociology.
    • Anthropology.
    • Economics.
    • History.
    • Psychology.
    • Political science.
  • The common focus is on the social behavior of people.
  • Sociologists study:
    • The influence that society has on people’s attitudes and behavior.
    • The ways people interact and shape society.
      • Examples:
        • The reasons many Americans deny that climate change is occurring or feel that human activities are not responsible.
        • How the impact of climate change is not evenly felt.
        • Episodes of extreme violence and hatred.
        • How to respond to disasters such as Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and hurricanes Harvey and Irma in 2017.

Sociology and Common Sense

  • Commonsense knowledge is not always reliable.
  • Sociologists believe information must be tested, recorded, and analyzed.
  • Scientific studies are used to describe and understand the social environment.

What Is Sociological Theory?

  • Theory: a set of statements that seeks to explain problems, actions, or behaviors.
  • Effective theories can be explanatory and predictive.
  • Theories are not final statements about human behavior.
  • Émile Durkheim developed a theory to explain how an individual behavior—suicide—can be understood within a social context.
  • Sociologists continue to study factors that contribute to differences in suicide rates around the world.

Module 2: The Development of Sociology

  • Philosophers and religious authorities in ancient and medieval societies made observations about human behavior.
  • Beginning in the 19th century, European theorists made pioneering contributions to the development of a science of human behavior.

Early Thinkers

  • Auguste Comte (1798 to 1857):
    • Believed in the need for a theoretical science of society and a systematic investigation of behavior.
    • Coined the term sociology.
  • Harriet Martineau (1802 to 1876):
    • Wrote the first book on sociological methods.
    • Work emphasized the impact that economy, law, trade, health, and population could have on social problems.
  • Herbert Spencer (1820 to 1903):
    • Hoped to understand society better not improve it.
    • Applied Darwin’s work on evolution of species to societies to explain how they change over time.
    • Adapted the “survival of the fittest” argument, saying it is natural that some people are rich and others are poor.
  • Émile Durkheim (1858 to 1917):
    • Appointed as one of the first sociology professors in France.
    • Argued that behavior must be understood within a larger social context.
    • Key interest focused on the consequences of work in modern societies.
    • Anomie: the loss of direction felt in a society when social control of individual behavior has become ineffective.
      • Occurs during time of profound social change.
      • People lose sense of purpose and direction.
    • Was also concerned about alienation, loneliness, and isolation in modern industrial societies.
    • Key Works:
      • The Division of Labor in Society (1893).
      • Suicide: A Study in Sociology (1897).
      • Elementary Forms of Religious Life (1912).
  • Max Weber (1864 to 1920):
    • Weber argued that to comprehend behavior, we must learn the subjective meanings people attach to their actions.
    • Verstehen: German word for understanding or insight.
    • Ideal type: model, or construct, for evaluating specific cases.
    • Weber’s work was a response to the work of Karl Marx.
    • Key Works:
      • The Protestant Ethic and Spirit of Capitalism (1904 to 1905).
      • Economy and Society (1921).
  • Karl Marx (1818 to 1883):
    • Marx argued that society is divided between two classes that clash in pursuit of their own interests.
      • Owners versus the workers.
      • Economic, social, and political relationships allowed owners to maintain power and dominance over workers.
    • With Friedrich Engels (1820 to 1895) produced The Communist Manifesto.
      • Masses of the people, the proletariat, should overthrow capitalist societies.
    • Marx’s writings inspired others who would later lead communist revolutions in Russia, China, Cuba, and other countries.
    • His work emphasized how group identifications can influence an individual’s place in society.
    • Key Works:
      • The Communist Manifesto (1848).
      • Das Kapital (1867).
  • W. E. B. DuBois (1868 to 1963):
    • DuBois was an early Black sociologist in the United States.
    • He argued that knowledge was essential to combat prejudice and achieve tolerance.
      • Advocated research on the lives of Black people in the United States.
      • Helped found the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
    • Double consciousness: division of an individual’s identity into two or more social realities.
    • Key Works:
      • The Philadelphia Negro (1899).
      • The Negro Church (1903).
      • Souls of Black Folk (1903).

Twentieth-Century Developments

  • Charles Horton Cooley (1864 to 1929):
    • Used the sociological perspective to study face-to-face groups such as families, gangs, and friendship networks.
  • Jane Addams (1860 to 1935):
    • Cofounded the Hull House.
    • Worked to establish a juvenile court system and a women’s trade union.
  • Robert Merton (1910 to 2003):
    • Developed a key theory to explain deviant behavior.
    • Emphasized the need to bring together macro-level and micro-level sociological approaches.
    • Macrosociology: focuses on large-scale phenomena or entire civilizations.
    • Microsociology: focuses on small groups.
    • Mesosociology: studies formal organizations and social movements.
    • Global sociology: makes comparisons among nations.
  • Pierre Bourdieu (1930 to 2002):
    • Wrote about the different forms of capital.
    • Capital sustains individuals and families from one generation to the next.
    • Cultural capital: noneconomic goods that are reflected in knowledge of language and the arts.
    • Social capital: the collective benefit of social networks, which are built on reciprocal trust.

Module 3: Major Theoretical Perspectives

  • The three most widely used perspectives in sociology:
    • Functionalist perspective.
    • Conflict perspective.
    • Interactionist perspective.

Functionalist Perspective

  • Functionalist perspective: emphasizes how the parts of society are structured to maintain social stability
  • Talcott Parsons (1902 to 1979):
    • Key sociologist in the functionalist perspective.
    • Viewed society as a network of connected parts.
    • Each part helps maintain the social system.
  • Manifest functions: the open, stated, and conscious functions of institutions.
  • Latent functions: the unintended consequences of an institution.
    • May reflect hidden purposes.
  • Dysfunctions: elements or processes of society that can disrupt the social system or reduce stability.

Conflict Perspective

  • Conflict perspective: assumes social behavior is best understood in terms of tension between groups over power or the allocation of resources.
  • Forms of tension can include:
    • Labor negotiations.
    • Party politics.
    • Competition for religious group membership.
    • Budget disputes.
Conflict Perspective—The Marxist View
  • Based on the work of Karl Marx.
  • Conflict is now viewed as a part of everyday life.
  • Conflict theorists:
    • Focus on how social institutions maintain privilege and subservience of different groups.
    • Emphasize social change.
    • Emphasize the redistribution of resources.
    • Are more radical than functionalists.
Conflict Perspective— The Feminist Perspective
  • Feminist perspective: inequity in gender is central to all behavior and organization.
  • The focus tends to be on the macro level.
  • Women’s subordination is inherent in capitalist societies.
  • Intersectionality: the interlocking matrix of domination.
    • Multiple social factors—such as race, gender, age, sexual orientation, and religion—help determine privilege and lack of privilege.
Conflict Perspective—Queer Theory
  • Queer theory: the study of society from the perspective of a broad spectrum of sexual identities, including:
    • Heterosexuality.
    • Homosexuality.
    • Bisexuality.
  • Foucault wrote that what is acceptable human sexuality varies between cultures and periods of time.
  • Sedgwick argued that analyzing society is incomplete without including sexual identities.

Interactionist Perspective

  • Interactionist perspective: generalizes about everyday forms of social interaction to explain society as a whole.
  • Humans are viewed as living in a world of meaningful objects, including:
    • Material things.
    • Actions.
    • Other people.
    • Relationships.
    • Symbols.
  • Symbols are especially important to this perspective.
    • Central to communication.
    • Have a shared meaning among all members of society.
  • Nonverbal communication: gestures, facial expressions, and postures.
    • All express meaning.
  • George Herbert Mead (1863 to 1931):
    • Founder of the interactionist perspective.
    • Wanted sociologists to focus more on the micro level of behavior.
  • Erving Goffman (1922 to 1982):
    • Developed the dramaturgical approach, in which people are seen as theatrical performers.
    • Compared everyday life to the settings of the theater and stage.
    • Presentation of self in public and private settings.

The Sociological Approach

  • Sociologists draw on multiple perspectives to best understand society.
  • Each tends to favor one approach over others.
  • A sociologist’s theoretical orientation influences their approach to a research problem.
    • What to study.
    • How to study it.
    • What questions to pose.

Major Sociological Perspectives

  • Functionalist:
    • View of Society: Stable, well integrated.
    • Level of Analysis Emphasized: Macro, meso, global.
    • Key Concepts: Dysfunctions.
    • View of the Individual: People are socialized to perform societal functions.
    • View of the Social Order: Maintained through cooperation and consensus.
    • View of Social Change: Predictable, reinforcing.
    • Example: Public punishments to reinforce the social order.
    • Proponents: Durkheim, Parsons, Merton.
  • Conflict:
    • View of Society: Characterized by tension and struggles between groups.
    • Level of Analysis Emphasized: Macro, meso, global.
    • Key Concepts: Stratification.
    • View of the Individual: People are shaped by power, coercion, and authority.
    • View of the Social Order: Maintained through force and coercion.
    • View of Social Change: Change takes place all the time and may have positive consequences.
    • Example: Law reinforces the positions of those in power.
    • Proponents: Marx, DuBois, Wells-Barnett.
  • Interactionist:
    • View of Society: Active in influencing and affecting everyday social interaction.
    • Level of Analysis Emphasized: Micro—as a way of understanding the larger social phenomena.
    • Key Concepts: Symbols, nonverbal communication, face-to-face interaction.
    • View of the Individual: People manipulate symbols and create their social worlds through interaction.
    • View of the Social Order: Maintained by shared understanding of everyday behavior.
    • View of Social Change: Reflected in people’s social positions and their communications with others.
    • Example: People respect laws or disobey them based on their own past experience.
    • Proponents: Mead, Cooley, Goffman.

Module 4: Taking Sociology with You

  • Applied sociology: the use of sociology with the specific intent of yielding practical applications for human behavior and organizations.
  • Clinical sociology: dedicated to facilitating change by altering social relationships or restructuring social institutions.
  • Basic sociology: seeks a more profound knowledge of the fundamental aspect of social phenomena.

Developing a Sociological Imagination

  • This edition of Sociology in Modules illustrates the sociological imagination in several different ways and in several different domains.
  • Frequently, we look at how the major sociological perspectives can help understand today’s issues.
  • Globalization: the worldwide integration of government policies, cultures, social movements, and financial markets through trade and the exchange of ideas.
  • Social inequality: the condition in which members of society have differing amounts of wealth, prestige, or power.

Careers in Sociology

  • The number of students with sociology degrees has risen steadily.
  • Sociology degrees:
    • Provide a strong liberal arts background for entry-level positions in many types of organizations.
    • Require accomplishment in oral and written communication, interpersonal skills, problem-solving, teamwork, organization, data analysis, and critical thinking.
    • Are beneficial for a wide range of occupations.
    • Are excellent preparation for future graduate work in sociology.