Introduction to Sociology

What is Sociology?

• Sociology involves the study of the social world, social facts, social patterns, and social structure
• It is a science-based discipline
• Sociologists emphasize the power of the social structure over the individual and their agency
• The social structure is the framework in which we live, comprising the micro, meso, and macro levels

How Sociologists Think About Society

• Sociologists study the three levels of the social structure
• Macrolevel: Institutions, cultural beliefs, big patterns, involves collecting big data on many people or organizations
• Mesolevel: Groups, focuses on how experiences differ by group
• Microlevel: Interactions, the self, involves observing how students and teachers react
• They also study interactions between different levels of the social structure
• Sociologists emphasize the impact of social structure over individual agency
• Agency means free will

Topics Sociologists Study

• Groups, culture, inequalities, social change, institutions, networks, interaction, identities across time and space

How People Learn

• Active learning and activities that promote student engagement are more effective than traditional lectures

"Transactional Intimacy in Sugar Dating" Article

• Explores the reasons why sugar babies seek specific types of interaction within contemporary intimacy's challenges
• The research operates at both the micro-level, focusing on the interaction between individuals, and the macro-level
• It illustrates the power of social structure over agency, showing how neoliberal rationality influences women to view intimacy as a transaction to gain control over intimate interactions, highlighting gendered insecurities

The Social Imagination

• Men can feel trapped because they do not think they can overcome their troubles
• History now outpaces the ability of men to orient themselves in accordance with cherished values

The Sociological Imagination

• The quality of mind needed by journalists and scholars to use information and reason effectively, and understand world events and their personal impact
• Ability to grasp the connection between history and biography, understanding how personal troubles link to public issues
• Involves understanding history, biography, and social structure.
• Those aware of their work's potential ask:
  • What is the structure of this particular society as a whole?
  • Where does this society stand in human history?
  • What varieties of men and women now prevail in this society and in this period?
• Understanding the social context shapes personal problems by broader societal forces
• Contemporary man's self-conscious view of himself rests upon an absorbed realization of social relativity and of the transformative power of history
• Troubles exist within the character of the individual and their immediate relations
• Issues transcend local environments and inner life, e.g., employment
  • One man unemployed: personal trouble
  • 15 million unemployed: an issue
• Uneasiness and indifference signal our period
• The social scientist makes clear contemporary uneasiness and indifference
• Social sciences are becoming the common denominator of our cultural period, and the sociological imagination our most needed quality of mind
• The sociological imagination considers how people's lives are shaped by social facts
• It helps understand the power of the social structure over the individual and their agency
• Sociologists need a quality of mind to understand society
• The capacity to consider how people's lives (including our own) are shaped by the social facts that surround us
• Personal troubles are individual problems linked to public issues
  • Japanese internment (1942-1945) through Executive Order 9066 is an example, leading to the forcible removal of 120,000 Japanese and Japanese Americans
• Good fences, bigger parking spaces, soundproof walls, and common areas are social structures that make better neighbors

Fast Fashion

• Complex due to higher-ups setting trends that affect many
• Involves cheap clothing using ideas from expensive brands to quickly meet demand
  • Shein added 2,000-10,000 styles daily between July and December 2021 as an example

Fashion and The Environment

• Fashion is not cost-free to the environment
  • The fashion industry is responsible for releasing more than 10% of the world's carbon emissions
  • The number of items produced by Shein churns out the same amount of CO2 as approx 180 coal-fired power plants (6.3 million tons per year)
  • A quarter of returned clothing is thrown away, creating 6 billion pounds of landfill waste per year

Structures That Make Fashion Bad for The Environment

• Consumer expectations of instant gratification and "buy-it-all, return-it-later" policies
• Lack of regulation for companies to track or be transparent about their practices
• Capitalism prioritizes profit over the environment
• Using virgin polyester which is cheap material created using petroleum
• Expense of reverse logistics
• Brand dilution by giving clothing away for free makes it less desirable

Takeaway

• Making environmentally friendly choices are public issues, requiring structural change to solve the fashion industry's environmental problems

TMS Appendix B

• Sociology is a social science that answers research questions empirically
• Sociological theory involves empirically based explanations and predictions about relationships between social facts
• Sociological research methods involve scientific strategies for collecting empirical data about social facts
  • Biosocial research investigates relationships between sociological and biological variables, such as body shape and skin condition
  • Comparative methods collect and analyze data about 2+ cases

Research Methods

• Computational sociology extracts and analyzes data
• Content analysis counts and describes themes in media
• Ethnography observes social interaction, often as a participant
• Field experiments test hypotheses under controlled conditions
• Historical sociology collects and analyzes data from the past
• In-depth interviews conduct intimate conversations
• Laboratory experiments test hypotheses in controlled settings
• Social networks analysis maps social ties and exchanges
• Spatial analysis layers data on landscapes
• Standardized surveys use questionnaires to elicit analyzable data
• Time-use diaries have participants self-report activities regularly

Research Types

• Qualitative research methods vs quantitative
• Human research subjects involve collecting data from people
• Correlations are observed relationships between variables, which can be positive or negative
• Causation occurs when a change in one variable produces a change in another
• Spurious correlations are caused by a 3rd variable
• Different research methods tap into different analysis levels
• Generalizable results are attributable to the population from which the sample was drawn
• Triangulation involves using multiple research methods to answer questions
• Operationalization defines variables and how to measure them
  • An example research is defining or measuring age or a hookup

Research Ethics

• A set of moral principles that guide empirical inquiry, including:
  • Informed consent
  • Confidentiality
  • Vigilance about following ethical guidelines
  • Institutional review boards
• Professional ethics guide sociologists' everyday activities
• Good sociological theory is built on good description, tested, refined, and is generalizable

Sociological Research

• Sociological research is falsifiable, theoretical, empirical, objective, and communal
• Deductive research starts with theory and tests it, while inductive research starts with data
• Sociologists choose methods based on the research question and follow ethical guidelines
• Sociology is a science that is falsifiable
• Theoretical explanations can be made ("theory”)
• It's Empirical and based on data
• Sociologists are objective and attempts to be free from bias
• Studies should be Communal and be shared and challenged in the scientific community
• Research circles can start with a general explanation/theory or with an observation/data

Deductive vs. Inductive Research

• Deductive research starts with a theory and tests a hypothesis
• Inductive research makes observations and identifies patterns to build a theory

Quantitative vs. Qualitative Methods

• Quantitative methods involve numerical data:
  • Experiments compares experimental groups to control variable
    • It can establish causality but might not apply outside controlled labs
  • Surveys collect analyzable data offering versatility and generalizability but cannot establish causality
  • Social network analysis maps social ties, offering bird's-eye views but limited explanation
• Qualitative methods involve non-numerical data
  • Interviews are intimate and capture in-depth thinking but assumes reports are accurate
  • Ethnography observes social life and offers in-depth looks but is limited to field sites
  • Content analysis analyzes media providing cultural portrayal but is limited to accessible content.

Survey Uses

• Surveys (sometimes) are Great for answering why questions but are used for inductive research
• Usually analyzed through coding

Research Ethics

• Includes informed consent, confidentiality, and ensuring risks are minimized

"Tattoos, Religiosity, and Deviance among College Students" Study

• The study answers research questions using a quantitative method with surveys from 3,525 students
• It started with hypotheses and it deduces the following:
  • Tattoos have no connection to religiosity among respondents
  • Tattoos and deviance appear to fit together with deviant behaviors increasing in likelihood
  • The religiously tattooed are highest in all three measures of religiosity
  • Respondents with religious tattoos are like those with no tattoos