Sociology Lecture 1

8/4/2019 Sociology Lecture 1

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Introduction to Sociologyis an invitation to learn a new way of looking

at familiar patterns of social life

Miss Tahira Sarwar


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Sociological Imagination: Turning Personal

Problems into Public Issues

When a society becomes industrialized, apeasant becomes a worker, a feudal lord isliquidated or becomes a businessman. Whenclasses rise or fall, a man is employed orunemployed; when the rate of investment

goes up or down, a man takes new heart orgoes broke. When wars happen, an insurance

salesman becomes a rocket launcher; astore clerk, a radar man; a wife lives alone;

a child grows up without a father.. Neither

the life of an individual nor the history ofsociety can be understood withoutunderstanding both


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What is Sociology?

Sociology is the study of society. It is a social sciencewhich uses various methods of empirical investigationand critical analysis to develop and refine a body ofknowledge about human social activity.

For many sociologists the goal is to conduct researchwhich may be applied directly to social policy andwelfare, whilst others produce purely academic theorycloser to that of philosophy.

Subject matter ranges from the micro level ofindividual agency and interaction to the macro level ofsystems and the social structure.


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Origins of Sociologythe birth of sociology was itself the result of powerful

social forces Striking transformations during the eighteenth and

nineteenth centuries greatly changed European society.

Three changes were especially important in thedevelopment of sociology

i. The rise of factory-based industrial economyii. The explosive growth of cities

iii. New ideas about democracy and political rightstherewas a shift in focus from moral obligations to God andtheir rulers to the idea that people should pursue their

own self interest, and concepts like individual liberty andindividual rights evolved. French Revolution broughtregeneration of human race.


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Evolution of Sociology

A lot of Western Political theorists and philosophers including Plato,Vico, Hobbes, Locke and Rousseau have treated political problemsin a broader social context.

In 18th century Scottish thinkers made inquiries in to the nature ofsociety.

Adam Smith explored the economic causes of social organizationand social change.

Adam Ferguson considered non economic causes of socialcohesion.

In 19th century concept of state separated from that of state and it

developed in to a separate study. The term sociology was coined (1838) by August Comte. He tried to

analyze all aspects of cultural, political and economic life and toidentify the underlying principles of society at each stage of humansocial development.


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Evolution of Sociology

Herbert Spencer applied the principles of Darwinian Evolution tothe development of human society.

Carl Marx emphasized the economic basis of the organization ofsociety and its division in to classes and found the main agent ofsocial progress is in the class struggle.

Modern sociologist:i. Emile Durkheim: pioneered in use of statistical material and

empirical evidence.

ii. Max Weber: a theorist, generalized about social organizations andthe relation of belief systems, including religion to social action

Theoretical sociology moved in three directions in 20

th

Centuryi. Conflict Theory

ii. Structural-Functional Theory

iii. Symbolic Interaction Theory


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Sociological Theory

A theory is a statement of how and why

specific facts are related.

The job of sociological theory is to explain

social behavior in real world.

A theoretical paradigm is a basic image of

society that guides thinking and research.


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Structural-Functional Paradigm

It is a framework for building theory that sees society as a complexsystem whose parts work together to promote solidarity andstability.

this paradigm points to social structure any relatively stablepattern of social behavior, which shapes our life.

It looks for structures social functions or consequences for theoperation of society as a whole.

All social structurefrom a simple handshake to complex religiousritual functions to keep society going. Just like human body..socialstructures work to preserve society.

August Comte framed this paradigm while Talcott Parsons workedlately on it.

Criticism: views society as stable and orderly and ignores socialinequalities like race, gender etc.


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The Social-Conflict Paradigm

It is a framework that sees society as an arena of inequalitythat generates conflict and change. Heavily relies on thework of Carl Marx.

Investigates how factors such as social class, race, ethnicity,

gender and age are linked to the unequal distribution ofmoney, power, education and social prestige.

Rejects the idea that social structure promotes theoperation of society as whole, rather points out how socialpatterns benefit some while depriving others. Examplify

Criticism: Since focus is on inequality it ignores how sharedvalues and mutual interdependence unify members ofsociety.


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The Symbolic-Interaction ParadigmMicro Level Orientation

It is a framework that sees society as the productof the everyday interactions of individuals. Baseson the work of Max Weber.

How does society result from the ongoingexperiences of tens of millions of people?Everyday life experiences, any observation duringthe day..

Society is nothing more than the shared realitythat people construct as they interact with oneand another.


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Sociological Perspective

Sociology is the systematic study of human

society.

Features:

Seeing the general in the particular

Seeing the strange in the familiar

Seeing individuality in social context


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Seeing the General in the Particular

Sociologists seek out general patterns in thebehavior of particular people.

All individuals are unique and society plays an

important role in shaping them. In addition, any society acts differently on

various categories of people (rich vs poor, men

vs women etc.) This helps to think that how society shapes

our particular experiences sociologically


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Seeing the strange in familiar

The point is that looking sociologically meanschallenging the familiar idea that we live ourlives in terms of what we decide, considering

instead the initially strange notion that societyshapes our experiences.

And our decisions are mostly influenced bysociety and the people living around.

Example: choice of a profession, you fit all

the social categories you can go for any job


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An individual must be considered as a separate

entity and basic unit for any kind of social change.

Example: to see the power of society to shape

individual choices, consider the number of

children women have US less than 2; India 3;

SA4; Cambodia5; SA6 and in Niger 7

Why such variation? Women in less developedcountries have less education, economic stability,

awareness and role in decision making.


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Study of suicide: what could be more personal than taking onesown life?

Emile Durkheim (1858-1917) showed social forces are at work evenin this apparent act of self-destruction.

Carried a study in France and found out that men, wealthy people

and the unmarried had significantly higher suicide rates than didwomen.

He explained in terms ofSocial Integration: categories of peoplewith strong social ties had low suicide rates, more individualisticcategories had high suicide rates.

In male dominated societies men have more freedom but itweakens social ties and boosts risks of suicide. Same for rich..

This study still is found true in America. Whites have greaterincidence of suicide than African Americans.


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Global perspective and its importance

With huge information blast as the farthest reaches ofthe Earth are getting closer to each other, its importantto have a Global Perspective the study of the largerworld and our societys place in it.

Global awareness is a logical extension of thesociological perspective.

Sociology shows that our place in society profoundlyaffects our life experiences and our society in largerworld system affects individuals.

High income countries

Middle income countries

Low income countries


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Applying the sociological perspective

Sociology and Social Marginality everyone feelslike an outsider at times. For some categories ofpeople being an outsider is a routine than being

in dominant group. The greater peoples socialmarginality, the better able they are to use thesociological perspective. Putting yourself in

other persons shoes.

Sociology and Social Crisis social change fosterssocio-biological thinking, sociological thinking canbring about social change


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Benefits of the Sociological Perspective

Helps us assess the truth of common sense

sociological approach, asks whether commonly held

beliefs are actually true and, to the extent they are not,

why they are so widely held.

See the opportunities and constraints in our lives

sociology helps us size up our world so we can pursue

our goals more effectively.

Empowers us to be active members of

society-- for some, this may mean supporting society as

it is, others may attempt changing the entire world in

some way.


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Sociology Lecture 1