Intro to Sociology: Imagination, Theory, and Perspectives

• Sociology looks at biography, society, and history.
• The study of sociology involves understanding the sociological imagination and the characteristics of sociology as a discipline, differentiating natural sciences, social sciences, and sociology, and explaining sociological theory's characteristics.
• It also means summarizing major figures from Auguste Comte forward, distinguishing between macro and microsociology, and summarizing the major theoretical perspectives which are functionalist, conflict, and interactionist.
• Applied and clinical sociology along with globalization, social inequality, race, gender, and religion are also components of sociology.

The Sociological Imagination

• To use the sociological imagination is to look at things more broadly, bringing context to individual actions.
• C. Wright Mills recognized the interdependent relationship between individuals and the social forces shaping their lives.
• It allows for a broader vision of society beyond limited understandings.
• Using the sociological imagination helps determine if a problem stems from private troubles or public issues.

Significance of Place

• Available resources and options are affected by our relative position to others.
• Social class, gender, and race are of particular interest due to their influence.

Defining Sociology

• Sociology involves systematic study, the individual, society, consequences, and difference components.
• Sociologists gather empirical data through systematic research that is both quantitative and qualitative.
• Individuals have agency, giving them the freedom to choose and act with behavior guidelines.
• At the core of sociology is study of society, or our social environment.
• Sociology examines the distribution of economic, social, and cultural resources exposing social inequality.

Roots of Sociology

• The Industrial Revolution and the spread of democracy in the 19th century led to sociology's development to understand and control social forces.

Science of Society

• Science uncovers truths through meticulous observation and experimentation.
• Auguste Comte(1798–1857) sought to establish a science of society, discovering the basic "laws of society.”
• These laws help understand social statics, the principles of societal order, and social dynamics, the change factors, he believed.
• Comte created the term sociology.
• Analysis of social order and inequality has influenced sociology's theoretical paths from its beginning.

Theory in Sociology

• A theory in sociology explains problems, actions, or behavior.
• Émile Durkheim defined social facts as external manners of acting, thinking, and feeling with coercive power.
• Social science studies human behavior, interaction, and change unlike natural science, which studies the physical features of nature.
• Natural sciences include astronomy, biology, chemistry, geology, and physics.
• Social sciences included sociology, anthropology, economics, history, psychology, and political science.
• Sociology emphasizes society's influence on attitudes, behavior, and people's interaction.

Durkheim and Suicide

• Durkheim found that a nation's social makeup shapes suicide rates.
• Suicide rates reflect people's integration into society.
• Humans are social beings, as observed by Durkheim.
• Social forces shape individual choices.
• A separate discipline should exist to study these forces.

Types of Suicide

• Egoistic suicide stems from a lack of social integration and is committed by social outcasts.
• Altruistic suicide occurs when social group involvement is too high with individuals sacrificing themselves for fulfillment.
• Lack of social regulation leads to anomic suicide.
• Fatalistic suicide occurs when individuals are kept under tight regulation.

Durkheim (1858-1917)

• Émile Durkheim emphasized social order.
• Durkheim found that specialized labor in industrial societies can lead to anomie, which increases likelihood of alienation, and isolation.

Karl Marx (1818-1883)

• Karl Marx emphasized power and control.
• Marx concluded that social inequality is determined by ownership of key material resources.
• Alienation is the loss of control over our creative human capacity to produce, separation from the products we make, and isolation from our fellow workers.

Max Weber (1864–1920)

• Max Weber argued that social class, material resources, social status, and organizational resources determine power.
• Social resources draw power from people's willingness to obey based on the perceived legitimacy of authority.

Macrosociology and Microsociology

• The work of Durkheim, Marx, and Weber involves macrosociology, referring to large-scale phenomena.
• Microsociology stresses the study of smalls groups.
• Perception has an important significance.
• W. I. Thomas stated, "If men define situations as real, they are real in their consequences.”
• Erving Goffman recommended treating everyday interactions as if everyone is an actor on a stage.
• Interaction involves roles, scripts, props to appeal to an audience.

W. E. B. Du Bois

• Emphasized on the everyday lived experiences of African Americans.
• He revealed social processes that contribute to racial separation extending beyond material differences, referring to that racial divide as the "color line.”

Ida Wells-Barnett (1862-1931)

• Ida Wells-Barnett was an early feminist who carried on the tradition that societies can be judged on their match to their principles.
• She found that America's principles of equality and opportunity regarding women and African Americans came up short.
• She used her analysis of society to resist oppression.

Sociologists and Social Change

• A recurring theme in sociology has been promoting social theory & research to encourage positive social change.
• In the early 1900s leading sociologists saw themselves as social reformers.
• Early female sociologists took active roles in poor urban areas.
• They combined intellectual inquiry, social service work, and political activism.
• They assisting with the underprivileged and creating a more egaitarian society.
• Durkheim linked an educated citizenry to democratic success.
• Du Bois cofounded the NAACP.

Sociological Perspectives

• Three sociological approaches include functionalist, conflict, and interactionist.
• Functionalist views society as interconnected.

Functionalist Perspective

• Durkheim’s work exemplifies the functionalist perspective.
• Society is akin to a living organism with each part contributing to survival.
• The various structured parts maintain societal stability.

Conflict Perspective

• Conflict perspective emphasizes power distribution and resource allocation.
• Expanding on Marx, conflict theorists believe that social order cannot be fully understood without looking at the status quo and who benefits or suffers from it.

Interactionist Perspective

• Interactionist perspective generalizes forms of social interaction to explain society.
• This explains generalized forms of social interaction.
• Social change is reflected in communication patterns and positions.
• Erving Goffman is an example of an interactionist.

Utilizing Sociology

• Personal sociology recognizes the impact of individual actions on others.
• Personal sociology empowers by allowing insight into things that were previously invisible, paving the way for action.
• With globalization, there is interdependence upon diverse groups of others.
• There are many ways to utilize sociology in everyday life, or as a career and in applied clinical settings.
• The top reasons choosing sociology are its interesting concepts and the desire to understand society.

Applying Sociology

• Applied sociology uses the discipline to yield practical applications for human behavior and organizations.
• Clinical sociology involves using sociology to alter social relationships or restructure social institutions.