Sociology: Understanding Social Structures

• Sociology examines human societies and their interactions.
• It studies social structures, institutions, and relationships influencing behavior.
• Sociologists explore the formation, maintenance, and changes in societies.

Core Concepts

• Social structure involves organized patterns of relationships and institutions forming society.
• Social institutions are established norms supporting societal survival (family, education, government, religion).
• Social interaction is the mutual action and reaction among individuals.
• Social change involves the transformation of culture and social institutions.
• Culture encompasses shared beliefs, values, norms, symbols, and practices of a group.

Major Sociological Perspectives

• Functionalism sees society as interconnected parts working for stability.
• Conflict theory highlights social inequalities and power struggles driving change.
• Symbolic interactionism focuses on meaning created through interactions and symbols.
• Feminist theory analyzes gender inequalities and their impact on society.
• Rational choice theory assumes rational individual actions to maximize benefits and minimize costs.

Research Methods

• Surveys gather data from individuals using questionnaires.
• Experiments use controlled studies to find cause-and-effect relationships.
• Interviews collect in-depth information through direct conversations.
• Ethnography involves immersive study of a group through observation.
• Content analysis systematically analyzes communication forms.
• Secondary data analysis uses existing data for new research questions.

Key Sociological Thinkers

• Auguste Comte coined "sociology" and advocated a scientific approach.
• Émile Durkheim emphasized social solidarity and social facts.
• Karl Marx analyzed class conflict and economic structures.
• Max Weber studied bureaucracy, rationalization, and culture's influence on the economy.
• Harriet Martineau, a pioneer, translated Comte and wrote about social issues.
• W.E.B. Du Bois focused on race, inequality, and African American experiences.

Socialization

• Socialization is how individuals learn and internalize societal norms and values.
• Primary socialization occurs in early childhood within the family.
• Secondary socialization happens outside the family in schools and peer groups.
• Agents of socialization include individuals, groups, and institutions.
• Resocialization is learning new norms to fit a new life situation.

Social Stratification

• Social stratification is the hierarchical arrangement of people in society based on factors like wealth and power.
• Social class divides society based on economic factors, affecting life chances.
• Caste systems are rigid hierarchies based on heredity.
• Social mobility is the ability to move up or down the social hierarchy.
• Poverty is lacking basic resources.
• Inequality is the unequal distribution of resources and opportunities.

Deviance and Social Control

• Deviance is behavior violating social norms.
• Social control regulates behavior to maintain order.
• Formal social control is enforced by official institutions.
• Informal social control uses social pressure to regulate behavior.
• Strain theory suggests deviance arises from the gap between goals and means.
• Labeling theory posits deviance is socially constructed.
• Differential association theory asserts deviance is learned through interaction.
• Control theory says social bonds prevent deviance.

Groups and Organizations

• A social group involves individuals interacting and sharing goals.
• A primary group contains intimate relationships and emotional bonds.
• A secondary group contains impersonal relationships with specific goals.
• A formal organization follows defined roles and rules.
• Bureaucracy is based on rationalization and hierarchy.
• Networks link individuals and groups through social relationships.

Family

• The family as a social institution includes kinship, bonds, and responsibilities.
• The nuclear family consists of a couple and their children.
• The extended family includes multiple generations.
• Marriage is a socially approved union.
• Divorce is the legal end of marriage.
• Family structures have evolved with various forms existing across cultures.

Education

• Education transmits knowledge, skills, and values.
• Schooling is formal education in institutions.
• Hidden curriculum transmits unintentional values.
• Educational inequality involves unequal access.
• Higher education includes colleges and universities.
• Educational reform aims to improve education quality and access.

Religion

• Religion entails sacred beliefs, practices and organizations.
• Sacred things inspire awe.
• Profane things are ordinary.
• A church is a large, established religious organization.
• A sect is a smaller group breaking away from a church.
• A cult is a new, unconventional religious movement.
• Secularization is the decline of religious influence.

Economy

• The economy organizes production, distribution, and consumption.
• Capitalism is based on private ownership and free markets.
• Socialism is based on public ownership.
• Communism is based on collective ownership.
• Globalization is increasing global interconnectedness.
• The labor force is the employed and those seeking employment.

Politics

• Politics involves acquiring and exercising power.
• Government exercises political power.
• The state has a monopoly on legitimate force.
• Democracy allows citizen participation.
• Authoritarianism has centralized control and limited participation.
• Social movements organize to bring about change.

Social Change

• Social change transforms cultures and institutions.
• Modernization involves industrialization and urbanization.
• Social movements organize to bring about change or resist it
• Collective behavior is spontaneous behavior of a large group.
• Globalization is increasing global interconnectedness.
• Demographic change includes population shifts.