SOCIOLOGY – The scientific study of human society and social interactions.

SOCIOLOGICAL IMAGINATION (C. Wright Mills) – Looking at all types of individual human behavior and searching for the common patterns.

ORIGINS OF SOCIOLOGY - COMTE

• August Comte was a philosopher .• He coined the term sociology to refer to the science of man.• He wanted to use the scientific methods of the natural

sciences to reveal the principles of society using empirical means

• Comte suggested two areas of study:• 1. Social Statics – The study of social structures and

interrelated parts• 2. Social Dynamics – The study of social change and progress

in society

DEFINITIONS• Def - Scientific Method: Process by which

knowledge is built through observation experimentation, generalization and verification

• Def – Empiricism: Generalizations (findings) are only valid if the are based on evidence that can be observed directly, or verified through the senses

• Def - Paradigm: A model or framework that guides research

MARTINEAU

• Martineau was a social observer. Her choice of this endeavor and her competence were in part due to her social isolation caused by her handicaps.

• She was able to view society around her as an “OUTSIDER”

• She was an early proponent of using research findings to improve society.

ORIGINS - HERBERT SPENCER

• Spencer was a philosopher. He created the term social darwinism, to apply Darwin’s idea of “the survival of the fittest” to society. He did this at two levels:

• 1. He applied it to individuals, and their standing within society. Largely discredited, this view blamed the individual for being poor, uneducated, or otherwise unsuccessful.

• 2. More importantly for future sociology he also applied the idea to society in general. He saw society as made up of interdependent parts that have to function well together, while each meeting a specific need of society.

• - Early structural functionalist view

KARL MARX

• Marx was a historian and political economist. His predictions of the rise of communism and his work toward that goal are not important for sociology.

• However, his social criticism is important.• CLASS CONFLICT - According to Marx:• 1. All societies exhibit a struggle over scarce resources and

have inequality. (Feudalism, Capitalism)• 2. In capitalism there are two main groups, owners and

workers. This division determines an individuals class.• 3. Whoever controls the means of production, also controls

all other institutions in society (politics, education, religion)

MARX - continued

• 4. By means of this influence the owners control norms, values, laws and beliefs of a society to keep control.

• 5. The focus on conflict between groups in society (for Marx this was economic conflict) and the desire to fix the problem (of oppressed workers for Marx) are his imprints on Sociology.

• Def - Conflict Theory – Each individual or group struggles to attain the maximum benefit and society changes as groups vie with each other. Created an explanation for change. Structural/functional theories have trouble explaining change in a balanced society

•

KARL MARX

• Def - Evaluative Paradigm – Starts with a opinion about a social fact, usually a critique/criticism.

• Then studies the problem, in part, to find ways to ameliorate or fix it.

• Def - – to make or become better, more bearable or more satisfactory.

• Modern Day extensions from economic criticism• - feminism• - race theory• - gay rights

EMILE DURKHEIM

• Durkheim was a French sociologist. He held a structural functionalist paradigm toward society.

• - This meant that he viewed society as an organism that is necessary in its current form for individuals to co-exist in society and to have social cohesion

• 2 types of social cohesion for Durkheim• - Mechanical (old) – People are of the same mind because

they have the same experiences, status and background:• - as in farming villages• - Organic (new) Based on contract law that creates the

“rules” for interaction. Industrialization, Division of Labor, specialization are components of organic society

DURKHEIM - SUICIDE

• Famous for his study of suicide which was one of the earliest studies to apply the scientific method to a social problem.

• - Propose a theory - Suicide is a social fact based on levels of social regulation and social integration.

• - Collect data – Used suicide rates collected by governments (second hand data as opposed to primary)

• - Test the theory - Compare suicide rates between groups with different levels of regulation and/or integration

• - Review the results to see if they confirm the theory and create new theories based on results

DURKHEIM - SUICIDE

REGULATION – The amount of social control exerted by all social institutions• TOO MUCH REGULATION:

FATALISTIC SUICIDE – The individual feels they cannot influence the outcome;

• TOO LITTLE REGULATION:• ANOMIC SUICIDE – Collapse of

regulatory mechanisms, instability leads to confusion about goals and means to achieve them.

INTEGRATION – The amount of cohesion the individual feels toward the group/society• TOO MUCH INTEGRATION:• ALTRUISTIC SUICIDE – The

individual identifies too strongly with the group and will sacrifice their life for them.

• TOO LITTLE INTEGRATION:• EGOISTIC SUICIDE - Low feelings

of involvement or responsibility to others. Excessive individualism can favor suicide.

MAX WEBER

interactionist

• Verstehen – German word loosely translated as empathetic understanding

• Sociology then is a science concerned with the interpretive understanding of social action

• For Weber action is social if its subjective meaning takes into account the behavior of others.

functionalist

• However, Weber still felt that the science needed to be scientific and rigorous.

• He settled on using rational (logical) understanding of events

• Ideal Types – Isolate key features of a phenomena (limited list). Then view and measure these to extract scientific explanations.

WEBER• Weber used ideal types to study many facets of social

life. He used historical and literature reviews rather than statistical studies.

• Bureaucracy – Weber, as opposed to Marx, felt bureaucratic management would control both capitalist and socialist societies and the individuals within them.

• - He saw it as the ultimate result of the rise of rationality in modern society.

• IDEAL ELEMENTS OF BUREAUCRACY. - He identified Officeholders, an hierarchy, written records, strict rules to follow, and specialization.

WEBER• Rise of Capitalism – Weber differed from Marx

about the explanation for the rise of Capitalism. He started with the question of why Protestants were more successful as capitalists than Catholics

• Weber felt that the Protestant Ethic of hard work and thrift, contributed to the capitalist explosion in England and the United States.

• - Like Marx he looked to historical changes to explain the rise of capitalism, but differed in the answer.

WEBER• Weber also disagreed with Marx’s view that the

economic order determined all influence and control• He argued that there were three sources of influence

within society• 1. Class – this was equivalent to Marx’s economic

position • 2. Status – This is equivalent to prestige. EX: Type

of job (doctor) , elder in society, church official.• 3. Political Party – This is equivalent with power,

the ability to determine law and enforcement. • For Weber a class was a group that was similar across

all three variables.

weber

• Weber did not explore the interpretive understanding side of the discipline even though he acknowledged its importance.

• This was left to the interactionists

GEORGE HERBERT MEAD

• Mead was a philosopher at the University of Chicago who was a pragmatist

• Def – Pragmatism- Test the truth of a belief by its actual consequences. Tries to capture the created, socially constructed reality

• Def – Phenomenology – Things do not have meaning in and of themselves, their meaning is created by like minded groups defining them.

MEAD• Symbolic Interactionism (SI) a term coined by

Sociologist Herbert Blumer followed Mead’s philosophy:

• Def: SI - It is concerned with the meanings that people place on their own and other’s behavior.

• They oppose Behaviorists who believe that humans, like other animals simply respond to stimuli. S - R.

• Mead added the Organism to the middle of this equation S - O - R. The organism interprets the meaning of the stimulus before reacting.

MEAD• Herbert Blumer, Harold Garfinkel and Erving Goffman

all used the SI approach in sociology. • This built upon, or expanded, Weber’s concept of

Verstehen. • They view action as built up by the interaction of

people in social situations as they take into account and interpret the actions of others.

• This work is now broadly called the interactionist perspective, the third major paradigm in sociology today.

W. E. B. DUBOIS• First African American to earn a PHD from Harvard• Established and chaired the Sociology program at

Atlanta University• His early work followed a very empirical, scientific

method. He conducted a large scale survey of blacks in Philadelphia with minimal assistance

• - Door to door survey of 4500 individuals • First person to use a conflict theory approach to

discuss race relations instead of economic issues. • Decried the position society had placed blacks in and

worked to improve their social and educational position.

DUBOIS• He extended the consideration of conflict within society that

sociologists study today to consider ethnicity. (conflict theory)

• He followed in the footsteps of Martineau in that he did not just identify the problems in society but felt it was important that people work to fix them. (evaluative paradigm)

• His work was not widely cited or accepted during his early life due to both his subject and his status as an outsider in a white, male academic world.

• This, and other factors, led him away from academics and more into political action. He was a co-founder of the NAACP.

3 perspectives - Functionalism• Structural/Functionalist: Studies mostly social structures.• Def: Functionalism - Sees society as a system of

interrelated parts that function together well to enable human coexistence. See society as stable and self-regulating.

• Sociological Method: Analyze society by looking at the parts and what purpose they serve and what positive contribution they make.

• Primarily utilize the scientific method to create, test and verify theories of social institutions.

• Durkheim and Weber both fit this schema. Although Weber also recognized a role for considering individual perspective.

3 perspectives – Conflict theory• Def: Conflict Theory – Proposes that each individual,

or group, struggles to maximize their position an maintain it. This struggle leads to changes in society, inequality, and conflict.

• See society in constant flux and change. Those with power try to maintain it while others seek change.

• Sociological Method: Analyze society by looking at the parts and what purpose they serve, but focus on competition as opposed to smooth functioning.

• Primarily utilize the scientific method to create, test and verify theories of social institutions

• Marx (economic) and DuBois (race relations) fit this schema

3 perspectives – Interactionist • Def: Interactionist Perspective – Focuses on how people

interpret the social world in which they participate. • Sees society as made up of meanings created by like minded

groups who interact with each other.• Scientific Method: Analyze society by finding out how

understandings are built up and used to allow individuals to function together.

• Use participant observation and other methods to study sub-cultures much as anthropologists do with tribal cultures. Do not usually generalize or verify(part of scientific method). Do not create “grand” theories.

• Blumer, Garfinkel, Goffman used this methodology