Introduction to Sociology

Introduction to Sociology

• Sociology is the study of social behaviour and human groups, including societies.
• Sociologists investigate why certain social behaviours exist and how different societies function.
• They study how groups and societies shape individuals, relationships, and social structures.
• A society is a large group of people who share a distinctive culture and institutions and live in the same area.

The Roots of Sociology

• Ibn Khaldun (1332-1406): considered the forefather of sociology.
• He recorded information about political events and social problems in the 1300s.
• He observed the cyclical theory of sovereign powers.
• Auguste Comte (1798-1857): first to use the term sociology.
• He believed that societies constantly change and people struggle to adapt to these changes (which are ultimately positive).
• Comte's concept of positivism is the strict application of scientific methods to obtain measurable and testable data to understand society.

What do Sociologists Do?

• Observe and conduct research into social issues and behaviour to understand societal functions.
• Compare and contrast societies to understand trends and behaviours.
• Examine cultural expressions (values, norms, roles, learned behaviours).
• Often use other disciplines, including history, political science, and economics.

What is Studied in Sociology

• A wide range of topics, including medicine (gerontology), organizations (religion, politics), globalization (economy), social stratification (social classes, gender roles), social identities (ethnicity, sexuality), social institutions (total institutions), social movements and behaviour (criminal behaviour), and family structure.

Branches of Sociology

• Sociology has different schools of thought that provide different ways of observing, studying, and understanding society.
• Macrosociology: focus on large-scale social structures, such as structural functionalism, conflict theory, and feminist sociology.
• Microsociology: focus on small-scale social interactions, such as symbolic interactionism.

Structural Functionalism

• Focuses on how social institutions work together to meet the needs of society.
• Societies are stable (equilibrium) when institutions function together and interdependently.
• Examples include family, religion, politics, schools, healthcare, media, sports, and recreation, and the justice systems.
• Manifest functions are intended functions, while latent functions are unintended but important societal consequences.

Émile Durkheim (1853-1917)

• Considered one of the first sociologists.
• Developed structural functionalism; believed society is a system that maintains order.
• Focused on social facts, cultural norms, values and expectations that shape individuals.
• Durkheim's concept of Functional Differentiation states that changing and dividing societies to accommodate diversity allows groups to productively and peacefully work together.

Durkheim on Deviance

• Deviance is any behaviour that violates societal norms and is usually severe enough to warrant disapproval.
• Deviance affirms society's norms and teaches right from wrong.
• Deviance establishes moral boundaries and unites people in a shared response.
• Deviance encourages social change in functional societies.

Durkheim - Anomie

• Anomie is a sense of normlessness, or the breakdown of social norms and values, in society.
• Two major causes of Anomie are Industrialization and Rapid Social Change.
• Anomie causes people to feel disconnected and alienated from society.

Suicide by Durkheim

• A systematic and scientific study of suicide.
• Concluded that suicide is often rooted in societal causes, not just individual problems.
• Pioneered the use of statistical analysis to study complex social issues.

Talcott Parsons (1902-1979)

• American structural functionalist.
• Examined all of society as a single entity.
• Believed social phenomena and relationships can be understood through their social functions.
• Recognizes self-interest, but believed people act based on values and strong desire to cooperate.

Conflict Theory

• Focuses on the constant struggle and competition between those with power and those without.
• Institutions serve to benefit selected groups while oppressing others.
• Primarily focuses on economic conflict between the rich and poor, but it also examines conflicts based on gender and race.

Karl Marx (1818-1883)

• German philosopher known for the Communist Manifesto.
• Focused on the role of the economy and class conflict in social evolution.
• Argued that capitalist societies are based on property ownership and labor exploitation that create competition for power and wealth; leading to inequality.

M. N. Srinivas (1916-1999)

• Indian sociologist and social anthropologist whose work examined the Indian caste system and Westernization of Southern India.
• Challenged Western biases on the topic of social change in India.
• Described Sanskritization, where people of lower castes try to adopt the values, ideologies and rituals of higher castes.
• Also described Westernization, where people adopt Western culture.
• Worked using participant observation (fieldwork) during a time in which historical methodology (book work) was dominant.

Feminist Sociology

• Examines symbols, values, and norms to determine how society and culture create gender inequality and how men control women's lives.
• Explores economic gaps between men and women, control of finances, and reproductive choices
• Focuses on the ideas imposed on women.

Dorothy Smith (1926-2022)

• Important Canadian Sociologist.
• Argued that women are always marginalized in society.
• Argues that societal culture has been built to benefit men.
• Worked towards constructing a sociology that reflected the realities and experiences of people, regardless of demographic factors.

Importance of Intersectionality

• Critiques ethnocentric Western feminism for portraying women from different countries and cultures as having a single identity.
• Highlights how other demographic factors affect women’s oppression (geography, race, history, culture).

Symbolic Interactionism

• Emphasizes the individual as the central focus of understanding society.
• Social values and roles are formed through individual interpretation of situations and interactions with others.
• Focuses on the use of symbols and how communication influences both individual and societal interaction.

Components of Interaction

• Meaning: People interpret symbols based on shared meanings between people.
• Language: A medium used to negotiate meaning through symbols in communication.
• Thought: Mental interpretation of language.

Three Assumptions of Symbolic Interactionism

• Communication occurs through symbolic creation and use.
• The self is constructed through communication.
• Social activity is made possible through role-taking.

Max Weber (1864-1920)

• German sociologist.
• Emphasized rationalization where social actions are motivated by efficiency and benefit instead of morality.
• Argued that bureaucracy, rather than revolution, could liberate people from capitalism.
• Believed that inequality means unequal access to society’s resources that need to be managed fairly by government bureaucracies (schools, education, social services).

Research Methods (Part 1)

• Experiments: Controlled procedures testing hypotheses by measuring the effect of independent variables on a dependent variable. (e.g. Milgram experiment)
• Case Studies: Individual cases are examined for comparison with similar cases/situations. (e.g., case studies of feral children to understand human development)
• Questionnaires: Used to collect data from a large number of participants by using pre-defined questions.
• Statistical Analysis: Numerical data collected to analyze societal trends and issues.

Research Methods (Part 2)

• Independent Variables (IV): Variable that is varied or manipulated by a researcher, presumed as the cause.
• Dependent Variables (DV): The responses that are measured, presumed as the effect.

The Scientific Method

• This method involves observations; asking questions; constructing hypotheses that are tested through experimentation, and analyzing data to determine if the hypothesis was correct.

Socialization

• Socialization is the process of learning to behave in society by learning appropriate morals, values, beliefs, and skills needed for survival.
• It ensures smooth consistency of behaviour across time as people progress in life.

Functions of Socialization

• Manifest Functions: The intended functions of social institutions, e.g., schools teaching academic skills.
• Latent Functions: Unintended societal consequences of social institutions (e.g., schools teaching cooperation skills amongst individuals).

Four Main Categories of Socialization

• Primary: Fundamental skills needed to survive.
• Secondary: How to act appropriately in group contexts.
• Anticipatory: Planning ahead for future situations.
• Resocialization: Transforming old behaviours into new, socially acceptable ones.

Agents of Socialization

• Family: The primary agent of socialization.
• School: Teaches norms and values; socializes individuals for life outside family.
• Social Groups: Influence through their interactions (e.g., peer groups).
• Media: Influences beliefs and behaviours through messages.
• Religion: Communicates moral values, hierarchies, gender roles, sexual conduct, and social norms.
• Workplace: A secondary agent of socialization enforcing beliefs, norms, procedures, and rules.

Primary Socialization

• Basic skills, such as language and communication, necessary for survival and social interaction.
• Families are the primary agent of socialization since they provide the first social interaction.
• Gender roles and norms may be established during primary socialization.

Secondary Socialization

• The process of learning how to behave in various group contexts.
• Occurs in social institutions (schools, media) and from peer groups.

Secondary Socialization Agents

• Peer Groups: Influences on beliefs and norms.
• Media: Impacts expectations and norms.
• Religion: Beliefs about morals, hierarchies, gender roles, sexual norms.
• Workplace: Enforces beliefs, norms, behaviour, etc when people are adults.

Anticipatory Socialization

• Adjusting behaviour, attitudes and values when one expects to join a group, enter a new social stage or situation.

Resocialization

• Replacing previously learned behaviours, attitudes, and values, with new ones.
• Occurs in total institutions such as prisons, cults or the military.

Total Institutions

• Attempt to change existing behaviours and assimilate into new norms, rules, beliefs, etc.
• Military, prisons, cults.

Children Who are Not Socialized

• Do not develop typical language skills/grammar/sentence structures, often with an inability to form meaningful relationships with others.
• May exhibit lack of prosocial behavior.

Feral Children & Social Isolates

• Little or no experience with human care, loving or social behavior, or human language.
• Often confined, raised by animals, or live in isolation from other humans.
• Examples include the case of Genie Wiley.

Sociology of Racism in Canada

• Racism and Discrimination is still active within Canada.
• Institutional/Systemic racism has been found in hiring, customer service, housing, and other areas.
• Individual racism also continues to exist, encompassing harmful language and acts towards particular racial groups.

Language Matters

• Term racialized is the best general term for people who are not white.
• Term race is quickly becoming outdated as it historically is a social construct.

What is Race?

• Socially constructed, not rooted in biology.
• Widely accepted that race is a social construct.

What is Racism?

• Racism is the belief that members of specific races have specific characteristics or abilities that distinguish them as inferior or superior to another race.
• Racism = prejudice + power

Reverse Racism?

• Racism, sexism, and other forms of discrimination are about power and social structures.
• Reverse racism is a false concept as power differential between discriminated and non-discriminated groups are not the same.

Institutional/Systemic Racism

• Institutional oppression placed on less powerful groups by more powerful groups through laws or policies.
• Examples include housing, education, banking and the legal system.

Individual Racism

• Personal prejudices or behaviours.
• Attitudes learned through family, friends, media, and schools.

White Privilege

• Set of advantages enjoyed by white people that may not be recognized by others in society.
• These advantages may be conscious or unconscious.

Gender: A Social Construct

• A social construct; not determined by sex.
• Gender varies from place to place and over time.
• Gender socialization is the process of learning gender roles.

Sex vs. Gender

• Sex refers to biological characteristics.
• Gender refers to socially constructed characteristics.
• Gender is an assignment often made at birth through cultural norms.

Gender as a Social Construct

• A reflection of cultural beliefs.
• Norms and expectations vary and change over time and place.
• Agents of socialization are family, school, media.

LGBTQ2S+ - Brain Structure Differences

• Some scientific research suggest that brain structures related to gender can differ among LGBTQ2S+ individuals potentially long before birth.

Indigenous North American Culture

• Some indigenous cultures, before colonization, had acknowledgement of gender identities differing from typical male/female gender categorizations.
• Two-spirited people had roles in society, and were recognized as having special attributes and strengths.

Patriarchy

• Social system where men are in primary positions of power and authority over women and other genders.

Violence Against Women

• 1 in 16 women in Canada report their first sexual encounter as rape.
• 460,000 sexual assaults occur in Canada annually
• women are disproportionately disproportionately affected by family violence. Indigenous women in Canada are killed at nearly 7x the rate of Non-indigenous women.

What about false accusations of rape against men?

• 2-10% of rape accusations in 2010 US study were proven to be false.
• 8% "unfounded" accusations.

Women in the Workplace

• Pay gap exists between men and women workers.
• The gap in annual earnings between men and women has barely budged over the past two decades.
• Statistics show different numbers on the proportion of workers that are men or women.

Health and Gender

• Women's reproductive freedoms may be limited.
• Medical research on men may not adequately cover women’s reactions to medication.

Homophobia and Transphobia

• Homophobia and transphobia are prejudices that create a social power dynamic.
• Bisexual, lesbian and gay people suffer more violent victimization compared to heterosexual individuals.
• Mental Health issues like depression or anxiety may be higher among transgender and nonbinary individuals due to violence experienced that can lead to drug or alcohol abuse.

Sexual Orientation

• Sexual orientation describes who a person is attracted to (sexually and/or romantically).
• This is distinct from gender identity.
• Scientific studies do indicate there may be biological factors influencing sexual orientation.

What Determines a Person's Sexual Orientation?

• Some studies suggest that there may be a link between brains structures and sexual orientation differences.
• Other studies indicate a possible biological influence, e.g., maternal immune responses to male fetuses.

What percentage of the Population Identifies as LGBTQ2S+?

• Statistics suggest societal changes in tolerance are reflected in an increase number of those who identify within the LGBTQ2S+ community.

Focus Questions

• Questions to be addressed about the meaning of sex, gender and sexual orientation according to recent research.

Handsome and Majestic

• Documentaries about Milan, a transgender boy, that illustrates how his family and community support enabled him to overcome the stigma of being a transgender boy.

Extreme Conformity: Cults

• A type of counterculture group that typically uses extreme social and moral views and practices.

What is a Cult?

• Rigid, typically incited by a charismatic leader.
• Beliefs often differ from dominant culture, and are often exclusive and resistant to questioning.
• Target more vulnerable people, such as struggling individuals or youth.

What is a Cult (Continued)

• May be destructive or highly violent.
• Often involved in resocializing followers to establish new, shared realities and discourage any contact with people outside the group.

Characteristics of Cult (Part 1)

• Focuses on a charismatic leader, demonstrating zealous, unquestioning loyalty from followers.
• There are specific, intense rules, and behaviours that are followed by those in the group, often including encouragement of extreme devotion to the group or leader.

Characteristics of Cult (Part 2)

• Members are strongly encouraged to distance themselves from their prior support systems (friends, family, prior beliefs, etc).
• Often discourage doubt, questioning or any dissent.

How do Cults Convert?

• Target the vulnerable, using flattery, meetings, retreats and isolation.
• Use deceptive practices and control behaviour and environment.

What makes a person vulnerable to cult recruitment?

• Going through personal crisis, loss, physical or emotional suffering or isolation.
• Seeking self-improvement, answers for problems or financial gain.

What percentage of cult victims do you think demonstrate mental health issues prior to joining a cult?

• A very small percentage of cult members indicate any major psychological problems prior to joining a cult.

How Cults Rewire the Brain

• Questions to be addressed related to the factors that could increase vulnerability to cult recruitment, by examining different group contexts, and steps a person can take to protect themselves from extremist recruitment.

Aggression and Deviance

• Sociology is interested in causes of crime, social norms, and the characterization of crime.

What makes you mad?

• Prompt to identify things that influence our emotions or behaviour.

What is aggression?

• Aggression is any action that is intended to injure, harm, or inflict pain on another living thing, human, or animal .

Frustration

• Aggression is a precursor and result of inadequate self-regulation of frustration.

Dehumanization

• Depriving people of their human qualities and denying their humanity with intent to make aggression or violence easier.
• Often exhibited through large scale events such as the Holocaust or Transatlantic Slave Trade.

Types of Aggression

• Aggression can be hostile (unplanned, reactionary, intended to harm, e.g. Bar Fights) or instrumental (intended for a different outcome, e.g., POW to obtain intelligence).
• Aggression can also be verbal (harming language) or virtual (using technology to harass and intimidate).

Bullying

• Ongoing, deliberate, and repetitive acts that are intended to harm or cause physical, social or psychological pain.
• Bullying can impact children and schools.
• Bullying behaviours may persist into adulthood; affecting other people in a variety of different ways.

Virtual Aggression and Cyberbullying

• Using technology to harass or intimidate others.
• Cyberbullying can take many forms and be performed anonymously.

Amanda Todd

• A Canadian Teen who experienced serious consequences (took her own life in 2012) due to cyberbullying.

Are these acts aggressive?

• Critical analysis of common social activities to determine if they constitute as aggressive or not.

Yes. These are Aggressive Acts!

• Non-physical aggression is just as valid and harmful as physical aggression.

What is Deviance?

• Violation of society's norms and accepted standards.

Activity: Who has ever been deviant?

• Analysis and exploration of individual behaviours or acts considered deviant in society.

What criteria did you use to create your ranking?

• Different ways of ranking behaviors considered deviant in society.

What is the difference between a crime and deviance?

• Crime is against the formal law.
• Deviance is breaking an informal social norm.

Differential Association Theory

• People learn deviant behaviour by interacting with others.

Durkheim, Anomie, & Deviance

• Anomie (normlessness) is the foundation for deviance.
• Deviance can be an alternative to restrictive societal values in certain circumstances.