Sociology Lecture Notes PDF

How to read like a sociologist - Theories are explanations how various social phenomenon work - "Different theories are like glasses with different colour lens" - The purpose may be background information..... - Skimming: can help you identify the main point of a reading without gett...

How to read like a sociologist - Theories are explanations how various social phenomenon work - "Different theories are like glasses with different colour lens" - The purpose may be background information..... - Skimming: can help you identify the main point of a reading without getting bogged down in details. - Annotating: acts as a study guide or "map" of a reading (don't have to start from scratch at exam time) Methods, methodologies, and ethics - There a roughly 3 ways to do sociology: - Positivist sociology: positivist research discovers the facts through the use of science, a logical system that develops knowledge from direct, systematic observation - Also called empirical sociology, due to the use of empirical evidence - Canada is a middle class society in which most people are more or less equal- this is false - Another wrong assumption is that most poor people don't want to work- this is wrong - "It's not what we don't know that gets us into trouble as much as the things we do know that just aren't so." Concepts, variables, and measurement: - Concept: A mental construct that represents some part of the world in a simplified form - Family, economy, etc - Variable: A concept whose value changes from case to case - Height, - Measurement: a procedure for determining the value of a variable in a specific case - Some things are easier to measurement, although sociological variables are harder to measure...... - You have to specify exactly what is to be measured before you assign a value to that variable - Ex. Statistics: - Sociologists always deal with a great number of people. - Descriptive statistics: Mean, median and mode Reliability and Variability - Reliability: consistency in measurement - Will be reliable if gotten the same results every time - Validity: actually measuring exactly what you intend to measure Correlation and cause - Correlation: a relationship in which two( or more) variables change together - Cause and effect: A relationship in which change in one variable causes change in another - Allows us to predict how..... - Spurious correlation: an apparent but false relationship between two (or more) variables that is caused by some other variable. The ideal of objectivity: - Objectivity: Personal neutrality in conducting research - Value- relevant vs value-free - For Max Weber, this is the difference that separates science from politics - Once the work is under way, researchers should try to be value free, - Researchers need to stay open minded Interpretive Sociology: - Interpretive sociology: The study of society that focuses on discovering the meanings people attach to their social world - Humans are a lot more then objects...... - The importance of meaning; (actions) people's understanding of their actions and their surroundings, Reality of subjective, qualitative data, subjective meaning Weber's concept of Verstehen - Verstehen (pronounced "Vair-satay-in"): the German word for understanding