Sociological Imagination
Soc 153Southwestern Illinois College
B. Wallace
Sociological Imagination
• Started By C. Wright Mills
• Goal For most Intro Classes
• Thinking Outside The Soc Box
Sociological Imagination
• Grasp idea of your personal life and history
“Seldom aware of the intricate connection between the patterns of their own lives and the course of world history-making in which they might take part.”
Troubles & Issues
• Troubles– Occur within our
realm, within our personal relations
• Issues– Deal with
Organizations– Can Affect History
Sociologist Ask Three Main Questions
• We Like to Look at Structure– Social Structure, Structure of Society,
Organizational Structural
• How is Society Changing, • Why Does Society Change, • How has ______ changed society
• Who will prevail in this society– How these chosen few selected
Apply Sociological Imagination To Every Day Things
How To Get This Point
AcrossSure, Could Use A Beer
One of The Best Places for a beer is
My Goal:
To understand Sociological Imagination, you have to think in terms of sociology.
I want you to understand that sociology is just not a class, it is a way of thinking about the world we live in.
Keys to Thinking Sociological
Were are taught to look at how things affect us personally, but why not ask yourself how does an issue relate to our society. How does this issue affect my community, my society, my culture and are their inequalities about this issue?
I Know What You Are ThinkingBaseball and Sociology
Culture
Racism
Gender Inequalities
SocializationDeviance
Religion
Collective Groups
Social Class
You Can Apply Baseball to the
Following Areas of Sociology
Almost Any Issue You Can Think Of Can Relate to
Sociology• So is baseball just a game?
• Let me Illustrate Sociological Imagination and Baseball…
Let’s Start With Socialization
How Did You Learn To Follow…
Becoming A Chi Cubs Fan
• My Grandfather a Cub’s Fan
• My Mom a Cub’s Fan
• My Dad A Red Sox Fan
The Day the Curse Continued
• 1986 World Series…
• A Wild Pitch, then Buckner’s fielding error.
Socialized Into A Team’s History
• Ask Yourself The Following Questions…– How Did You Learn To Like
Certain Team? Was it Due to Family, Peers, or Location?
Socialization and Sports
• Where Did We Learn The Rules of Baseball?
• Playing In the Neighborhood.
Little League
• Functions of Little League– We learn how to interact with team
members– How to Play the Game?– Learn The Roles of the Game
Dysfunctions of Little League
• Parents Living Through Their Children
• Parents Challenging Authority – “Hey Ump…What Are You Blind”
• What Does This Teach Our Youths?
US History and Baseball
Does Baseball Reflect American Culture?
Think about this for a few seconds
1850 Through 1920
In the 1850’s
• Baseball Was Played In Communities Throughout The US
• African Americans Were Not Always Allowed To Play Within City Limits
Start of Professional Baseball
• National Association of Base Ball Players Started in 1858
• Started With 22 Teams
National Association of Base Ball
• Excluded Any Team with One or More African American Players
• This Lead to the Creation of The Negro League.
Negro League Baseball
• Amateur Leagues Started around 1860
• Professional Teams Started in 1880s.
First African American Professional Player
• Moses Fleetwood Walker
• First Professional Baseball Player in Major League Baseball, Played for the Toledo Blue Stockings
Negro League History• There Were Several Different Leagues
Throughout the Period of 1880 till 1940• Leagues Suffered Finical Problems
1930 Through 1960s
Import Events
• Jackie Robinson Signed with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1945 for $600 a month
Important Events
• 1949– Negro League
Officially Ended
• 1954– Brown vs. Board of
Education
Racial Inequalities
• We tend to forget about baseball assorted past.
• Segregation and Racism Plagued Our Country, and at the same time baseball was segregated from players to fans
Social Class & Baseball
Is Baseball still America’s Favorite Sport?
Who Makes Up Baseball’s Fan Base?
Fans by Age
0%
2%
4%
6%
8%
10%
12%
14%
16%
18%
20%
18 - 29 30 - 49 50 - 64 65 +
Age Group
Precentage
American Favorite Sport
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
Football baseball Basketball Auto Racing Hockey
Percentage
Americans Favorite Sports
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
45%
50%
2003 2004 2005 2006
Years
Football
Basketball
Baseball
Goes Back To Socialization
• Change in Fan Base is Due to Socialization
• More Kids are learning Football & Basketball from Parents
• Fewer and Fewer Children are playing organized Baseball
“The Reality is that today in most urban African American communities, not only do young people not play baseball, they don’t even watch it”
Dr. Harry Edwards UC-Berkely
Reality Check
• Due to Socialization, only 9% of Professional Players Are African American
• Which is about the same percentage in the mid 1950 to 1960s.
% of African Americans in Baseball
0%2%4%6%8%
10%12%14%16%18%20%
1991199219931994199519961997199819992000200120022004
Social Class & Baseball
Payroll by Teams
New York Yankees $194,663,079Boston Red Sox $120,099,824Los Angeles Angels $103,472,000Chicago White Sox $102,750,667New York Mets $101,084,963Los Angeles Dodgers $98,447,187Chicago Cubs $94,424,499Houston Astros $92,551,503Atlanta Braves $90,156,876San Francisco Giants $90,056,419St. Louis Cardinals $88,891,371
Bottom 5 Payrolls
Cleveland Indians $56,031,500Kansas City Royals $47,294,000Pittsburgh Pirates $46,717,750Colorado Rockies $41,233,000Tampa Bay Devil Rays $35,417,967Florida Marlins $14,998,500
Payroll Facts
Total Payroll for all 30 MLB Teams
2,326,706,685The top 25 Players
Earn a Total of $398,400,000.00
Which is 17.1% of Entire Payroll
of MLB
Average salary for players is approx 1.6
million
Are baseball players worth
$1.6 million or more.
What is Their Status In Society?
Who Pays For All Of This
Avg Ticket in MLB
Avg Family Cost in MLB
1996 $11.32 $103.072001 $17.64 $140.632004 $19.82 $155.712006 $22.21 $171.19
Tickets Family Costs Rank in MLB1996 $9.91 $91.64 222001 $18.53 $151.93 62004 $23.78 $170.49 62006 $29.78 $207.21 4
Who Really Paid For
the New Busch Ball Park
Deviance
Cheating
• Baseball has its own history of cheating– Deviance has almost been celebrated by
the fans
Case of The Spitball• Spitballs Outlawed by the game in 1920
• Still Had 17 Spitball pitchers Until 1930s.
MLB Had “legal” Spitball Pitchers Until
1934, as long they admitted to
throwing a spitball,
it was considered legal
“Saint” Bill Veeck• Owner of Chicago
White Sox and also owned Milwaukee Brewers at one TimeInstalled Moveable
Fences in Milwaukee
Also Hired Eddie Gaedel
Not For His Skill,
But Hired Because He was
Under 4 Feet Tall
Conspiracy of the Juiced Baseball
Highest Fan Ratings came
Between 1998 and 2001
Due to Sosa and McGwire
There has been an increased
Number of home runs has increased since 1998
Is due to better technology,
better training methods,
Or is there deviance in the Dugout?
Managing the Deviance
• Major League Baseball Commissioners always took a “hands off” approach towards Baseball’s deviant side
• American Public has always embraced the antics of baseball
Steroids and the Players
• Is due to Strain? Or pressure Players Feel to Compete
• Public Demand for the Home Run?
• Do Home Runs Sell Tickets?
• Something to Think about
How Fans Feel About The Increase in Home Runs
Reason for increased HRs
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
45%
50%
Performanceenhancing Drugs
Increase in Hitting Decline in Pitching Juiced Ball Other
ConclusionReligion
We Accept Open Signs of A Person’s Religion
Examples…Rituals of Batters
GenderHow Would We Feel About Professional
Female Baseball Players
Collective Behavior
How Do Crowds Know How to React or
How Do the Crowds Know how to Chant Certain Slogans
Let’s Take A Quick Look At Other of Baseball
Sociology.
May be This Idea Will Help
• How Would You Explain Baseball To A Extraterrestrial Being.
How Would You Explain
All The Different Behaviors
That Occur During A Game
How Explain Why So Many
People Talk About
Baseball Throughout
The Day
Now It Is Your Turn
In Class Assignment
• Ask the following question:– How the affected society– Can it be related to socialization, deviance,
etc– Do not Forget to Look How and Who
makes the Product