Sociology Chapter 1: What is Sociology?

Chapter 1: What is Sociology?

• Sociology is the systematic study of society, social behavior, interactions, and structures. It examines how individuals are shaped by and contribute to the social world.

• Society Precedes Individuals: Society provides resources, norms, and structures for survival and development. A baby needs these systems for survival.

• Society is Socially Constructed: Many societal elements (money, romance, crime, norms) are human-made, not natural phenomena. These shape behavior and interaction.

• Physical and Social Construction: Tangible elements (architecture, urban design) influence behavior. Social norms and practices vary across time and cultures (e.g., chairs in India).

• Seeing the Strange in the Familiar (Berger): Sociology challenges us to question everyday behaviors and norms (e.g., queuing).

• Seeing the General in the Particular: Identifying broad patterns from individual experiences (e.g., parenting roles).

• Macro vs. Micro Levels of Analysis:

• Macro Sociology: Examines large-scale systems (religion, globalization).

• Micro Sociology: Focuses on face-to-face interactions (conversations, team dynamics).

• Sociological Imagination (Mills): Bridges personal experiences with societal structures. Linking private troubles (unemployment) to public issues (economic policies, inequality).

• Norms and Terminology: Norms are expected behaviors (e.g., wearing coats). Normative claims express beliefs about how things should be.

• Critical Thinking: Asking why things exist and what conditions enable their existence (“What are the conditions of possibility for X?”).

Theoretical Perspectives

• Functionalism: Society is an organism with interdependent institutions (family, education); stability through equilibrium. Assumes consensus and ignores conflict.

• Manifest functions are intended and observable, while latent functions are unintended consequences (e.g., education reinforcing social stratification).

• Conflict Theory (Marx): Society is fundamentally divided (e.g., bourgeoisie, proletariat). Focus on inequality, power, and oppression. Social change through class conflict.

• Key point: society is the way it is because of human nature and how humans designed it.

• People must work to survive, creating a sense of self, but not everyone has the same means to produce their own existence. Therefore, access to means of survival is a fundamental moral issue.

• Symbolic Interactionism: Society is constructed through shared meanings and interactions (e.g., language, roles, symbols). Emphasis on understanding others' perspectives (verstehen).

• Feminist Theory: Focuses on gendered experiences (education, health, workplace, crime). Three waves: first (legal rights), second (representation/rights), and third (intersectionality).

• Postmodern Theories: Skepticism of universal truths and overarching narratives. Exploring power, knowledge, and authority.

Historical Roots of Sociology

• Pre-Modern Era: Rigid hierarchies (feudal systems, religion) shaped social roles and power.

• Modern Era: Industrialization, urbanization, new technologies changed family structures, class systems, and labor relations. Political movements (democracy, questioning of religious authority) affected social change.

• Contemporary Era: Globalization, social movements (rights-based), technological changes, and their impact on social interactions, work, and identity.

Key Sociological Concepts

• Solidarity and Anomie (Durkheim):

• Mechanical Solidarity: Cohesion in simple societies based on shared roles and values.

• Organic Solidarity: Cohesion in complex societies through interdependence.

• Anomie: Normlessness, often during major change, leading to social problems. Causes include rapid social change, economic instability.

• Socialization: Process of learning norms, roles, and values from society. Important agents include family, schools, peers, and media. Primary (early) and secondary socialization (specific roles).

• Status and Role:

• Status set: The collection of statuses held by an individual.

• Ascribed status: Assigned at birth.

• Achieved status: Earned through actions.

• Master status: Most influential status.

• Role conflict: Balancing competing roles.

• Role strain: Difficulty satisfying demands of a single role

• Bureaucracy: Established patterns in institutions; clear responsibilities, division of labor, hierarchy, predictability, calculation, control (red tape).

• Total institutions (Goffman): Institutions producing a singular, collective identity.

Chapter 2: Sociological Methods

• Research Methods: Experiments, surveys, interviews, secondary analysis (content/discourse analysis), ethnography, mixed methods.

• Ethics: Respect for persons, minimizing harm, and ensuring justice (e.g., TCPS guidelines).

• Secondary Data Analysis: Using existing datasets, often cost-effective but limited.

• Ethnography and Participant Observation: Deep understanding of behaviors, meanings, and interactions; covert, semi-covert, or open observation, with potential ethical concerns.

• Multiple and Mixed Methods: Using multiple methods to address a single question; combines quantitative and qualitative approaches for a more comprehensive understanding.

• Tri-Council Policy Statement (TCPS): Ethics guidelines from NSERC, CIHR, and SSHRC.

• General Ethical Principles: Respect for persons, concern for welfare, and justice.

• Key Ethical Areas: Informed consent, fairness, inclusivity, confidentiality, review boards, conflicts of interest, and multicultural/indigenous awareness.

Culture

• Culture: Shared values, beliefs, behaviors, and objects across time and space (material and non-material).

• Norms and Values: Norms (rules) guide behavior, including folkways, mores, laws, taboos, and sanctions (formal/informal). Values are shared beliefs.

• Cultural Categories: High culture, popular culture, subcultures, and countercultures.

• Ethnocentrism vs. Cultural Relativism: Ethnocentrism judges others by one's own standards; cultural relativism evaluates cultures within their context.

• Language: Reflects and shapes culture but doesn't limit thought.

• Symbols: Represent shared meanings and foster collective identity.

• Socialization and Identity Formation: Individuals internalize societal norms through interaction.

• Identity: Formed by personal traits, social characteristics (e.g., religion), and chosen actions. The self is viewed through the "looking-glass self," interactions with others (Cooley and Mead).

• "I" and "Me" (Mead): The "I" acts, the "Me" reflects societal expectations.

• Language and Cultural Perspectives: Language reflects and shapes culture, but the absence of a word doesn't mean a concept is not understood. Language, then, matters for sociology because specific languages are inherently cultural, produce communities, and facilitate cultural transmission; changes in language reflect diffusion and shifts in culture.

• Institutions: Agents of socialization (family, schools, peers, media) reinforce societal norms.

• Key Insights: Sociology goes beyond description to examine the conditions enabling social phenomena, recognizing the complexities of high and popular culture.