Sociology: Society and Culture

• The lecture covers society and culture, and serves as the first lecture in week 2.

This Week's Tasks

• Tutorials are beginning
• Timetables should be set
• Add/drop courses are available until the end of the week.

Lecture Outline

• The emergence of sociology will be covered
• The history of sociology will be discussed
• Sociological imagination will be defined
• Sociology as a science will be examined
• What can be done with a sociology degree will be reviewed

Nature of Sociology

• Sociology is a social science branch concerned with people in society, going beyond common sense.
• Normality varies across societies.

Marriage Across Societies

• Marital practices vary across societies:
  • Monogamous: Marriage between one woman and one man
  • Polyandrous: Marriage between one woman and many men
  • Polygamous: Marriage between one man and many women at a time
• Some countries have legalized polygamy:
  • Afghanistan: Legal up to 4 wives
  • Bangladesh: Heavily taxed
  • Egypt: Legal and recognized
• Different approaches toward defining marriage exist.

Sociology vs Social Science

• The differences between a sociologist and a social scientist depend on the issues they address.
• Sociology uses concepts like culture, role, norm, class, authority, social action, and meaning.
• Sociologists link perspectives to these concepts.

History

• Society has been a subject for speculation for thousands of years.
• Sociology is a modern science that originated only within the last 150 years.
• Sociology, the science of society, was established only in the nineteenth century.

Emergence of Sociology

• Sociology emerged in the mid-19th century during the Industrial Revolution in Europe.
• New industries and technologies drastically changed the social and physical environment
• Religion starting to lose its source of moral authority.

Influential Factors

• Emergence came from the study of the natural sciences
• New anthropological information about different societies arose in Africa, Asia, and the Americas
• There's study into why some societies are more advanced than others.

Comte

• The study of human society in a scientific way began with Auguste Comte.
• Sociology's academic emergence is of recent origin.
• Emergence as a discipline is attributed to vast 19th-century changes.

Social Change and Sociology

• Social forces in the late 18th century led to the development of sociology
• The Industrial Revolution brought:
  • A factory-based industrial economy
  • Explosive growth of cities
  • New ideas about democracy and political rights

Rise of Sociology

• It is a product of political, intellectual, and economic upheavals of the 18th and 19th centuries.
• Radical social change (urbanization) created a need to understand societal shifts, leading to the science of sociology.
• Sociology was originally called "Social Physics".

Result of

• Concerns of a range of social institutions.
• Concerns of classifying societies into types, population, family, government, morality and law.
• Issues arising from political and industrial revolutions
• The study of Social Order, Conflict, and Stability

Sociology Focus

• Sociology helps to explain man's social behavior when other fields of human knowledge cannot fully do so.
• Focuses on people who have a conscience and the world they create by attaching meaning to it.
• Human actions are better understood by the internally defined construction of the world and not external stimuli.
• Considers ideas/constructs, not just things like science.

Need for Sociology

• Provides insights and information with a different perspective into great societal issues.
• It is compatible with other social sciences like psychology, anthropology, criminology, or political science.
• Offers a way forward via sociological thinking/imagination to understanding how society works.
• Important to those pursuing social work, community welfare, counseling, social research, policy & planning.
• Helpful in any job that involves encountering people

Research Skills

• Allows skills to be acquired and mental training so that research is carried out in a non-offensive or misleading manner.
• Aids to understand individual circumstances, and gives us a deeper understanding of where we fit in.
• Sociology helps to understand real life experiences better, challenge common-sense assumptions and understand others.
• Develops ideas which might change our societies and institutions for the better

Aspects of a Sociologist

• Curiosity in globalization
• A desire for social change
• Understanding importance of inequality
• The will to make an impact in society, more knowledge, and action against racism, sexism, and classism
• Inquisitiveness to society and its inhabitants
• Desire to be like Michelle Obama

Careers

• Career opportunities exist in areas such as social research, social welfare, business, public service, social work, public administration, law, non-profit business, criminal justice, human resources, student services, education, health services, youth services, counseling, and professional sociology.

Sociological Imagination

• All sociologists use the sociological imagination according to C. Wright Mills.
• It is also called the sociological lens or perspective.
• It involves seeing things from an alternative point of view.
• It is defined as "the vivid awareness of the relationship between experience and the wider society."
• By looking at societies, sociologists can examine the influences of behavior, attitudes, and culture.
• By applying theoretical perspectives and systematic methods, it will avoid making biased conclusions.

Ginsberg's Fourfold Origin of Sociology

• Political philosophy
• The philosophy of history
• Biological theories of evolution
• Movements for social and political reform needing surveys of social conditions