Sociology Concepts Overview

Sociological Thinking: Two Main Elements

• Sociological imagination: Understanding the relationship between individual experiences and larger social forces
• Avoiding value judgments: Recognizing that personal opinions are not valid sociological perspectives

How We Become Social Beings

• Humans, unlike animals, require societal structures for survival and development
• Family is the primary entry point into human society
• Families educate children how to fit into societal roles
• Children transition from self-absorption to social understanding

Society

• Society is a large-scale group of people with common territories and institutions
• Societies are organized by:
  • Social activities: Material actions
  • Representations: Naming and ideas
  • Social meaning: Significance of actions and ideas

Sociological Imagination

• Developed by C. Wright Mills, this concept helps us understand the connection between individual lives and larger societal forces.
• Individual choices are shaped by societal forces
• Individual freedom is limited by social expectations
• Understanding history provides insight into current social issues and challenges.

First Step to Sociological Thinking: Refuting Value Judgements

• Values: Considered good or important characteristics (Example: justice)
• Value judgements: Opinions based on limited knowledge, bias, or personal beliefs. Used to make conclusions about reality based on hearsay, prejudice, etc
• Sociological thinking rejects explanations based on value judgements as they are based on bias and not facts and use rigorous methods

Three Foci of Sociology

• Study of Social Inequality: Examines differences in social status and resources
• Social Institutions in Society: Focuses on the roles and functions of social institutions (family, education, religion, economy, and government).
• Social Change: Studies the transformations of social structures over time (Ex: Secularization – religion losing influence in social life)

Sociology and Democracy

• Modern democracy is crucial to sociological thinking.
• Societies are built by the members within.
• People are accountable for the design of their society, not outside forces.
• Societies are developed by the interactions of individuals and are not created out of nowhere.

The Birth of a New Discipline

• Modern democracy, industrial revolution, and scientific revolution paved the way for the development of sociology.
• Shifts from theocracy to modern democracy brought social issues to light, and prompted social analysis.

Scientific Revolution

• The Enlightenment fostered reason and empiricism as ways of understanding the world.
• Values like freedom, equality, and tolerance emerged as key social values.
• Scientific methods were applied outside of the natural sciences to social issues making it a social science and not just a philosophy.

Industrial Revolution and Urbanization

• Industrialization led to rapid urbanization and changes in social relationships.
• Industrial cities became a focus of early sociological studies because of the problems emerging in the rapidly changing social system.

Three Core Aims of Sociology

1. Defining general themes in everyday life (cultural observations)
2. Questioning the everyday (how can social science challenge our own assumptions)
3. Examining how social forces shape individual lives

Emile Durkheim

• Developed a holistic perspective acknowledging that society impacts individual actions.
• Social institutions are parts of society (much like organs of a body function)
• Social facts are external social structures/norms/values that shape individuals' actions

Durkheim and Suicide

• Studied suicide rates to understand how societal factors influence individual actions.
• Social factors may be more important in shaping actions than personal decisions.

Main Types of Suicide:

• Egoistic: Low social integration (individuals feel isolated) (Example: Protestant vs. Catholic cultures).
• Altruistic: High social integration (individuals sacrifice themselves for the group). (Example: High integration in the military).
• Anomic: Low social regulation (individuals feel lost or hopeless in a changing system).
• Fatalistic: High social regulation (Individuals feel repressed and helpless.)

Research Methods

• Quantitative research: Focuses on numbers and statistical analysis (Example: Surveys, experiments)
• Qualitative research: Focuses on social processes and meanings (Includes Ethnography, interviews)

Additional Research Methods

• Content analysis, Focus groups, Breaching experiments.