Outline 1: The Sociological Perspective and ResearchProcess

I.THE DEFINITION OF SOCIOLOGY

I.Sociology is the systematic study of human society and social interaction. I.Why study sociology?1.Sociology helps us see the complex connections between our own lives andthe larger, recurring patterns of the society and world in which we live. I.A

society

is a large social grouping that shares the same geographicalterritory and is subject to the same political authority and dominantcultural expectations. I.Sociological research often reveals the limitations of myths associatedwith commonsense knowledge that guides ordinary conduct in everydaylife. A.The Sociological Imagination 1.According to sociologist C. Wright Mills,

the sociological imagination

enables us to distinguish between personal troubles and public issues. 1.Developing our personal sociological imagination requires that we take intoaccount perspectives of people from diverse backgrounds. A.The importance of a Global sociological Imagination 1.The world’s

high income countries

have developed industrialized,technologically advanced economies and relatively high levels of income.

Lowincome countries

are those that are undergoing transformation fromagrarian to industrial economies. 1.We must take into account other countries, as well as in the United States,because the future of this country is intertwined with that of other nations.

I.THE DEVELOPMENTOF SOCIOLOGICAL THINKING

A.Sociology emerged during the late 1800 century as one facet of the Europeanintellectual response to Industrialization and urbanization.A.Industrialization is the process by which societies are transformed fromdependence on agriculture and handmade products to an emphasis onmanufacturing and related industries A.Urbanization is the process by which an increasing proportion of a populationlives in cities rather than rural areas. A.Some early social thinkers were concerned with social order and stability: 1.

Auguste Comte

coined the term sociology and stressed the importance of positivism – a belief that the world can best be understood through scientificinquiry

Herbert Spencer

used an evolutionary perspective to explain stability andchange in societies. He coined the term "survival of the fittest", equating thisprocess of natural selection with progress and success.

According to Emile Durkheim, social facts are patterned ways of acting, thinking, and feeling that exist outside any one individual andexert social control over each person.

Anomie

is a condition in whichsocial control becomes ineffective as a result of the loss of sharedvalues and of a sense of purpose in society.

A.Other early theorists were concerned with conflict and change. Karl Marx believedthat conflict- especially class conflict is inevitable.1.Class conflict is the struggle between members of the capitalist class, orbourgeoisie and the working class, or proletariat. 1.Exploitation of workers by capitalists results in workers’ alienation – a feeling of powerlessness and estrangement from other people and from oneself.1.

Max Weber

noted that economic interests are important in affecting humanactions, as well as other factors such as prestige. His concern with the growthof large-scale organizations is reflected in his work on bureaucracy. A.Sociology thrived in the United States as a result of the intellectual climate and therapid rate of social change.1.The first U.S. department of sociology was at the University of Chicago.

RobertE. Park

and George Herbert Mead were influential among early Americansociologists. Mead founded the symbolic interaction perspective.2.

W.E.B. Du Bois

founded the second U.S. department of sociology at AtlantaUniversity and wrote the Philadelphia Negro: A Social Study, examiningPhiladelphia African American community.

I.CONTEMPOARY THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES

A.A

theory

is a set of logically interrelated statements that attempts to describe,explain, and (occasionally) predict social events. A.

Functionalist perspectives

are based on the assumption that society is a stable,orderly system characterized by societal consensus. 1.Societies develop social structures (institutions) that persistbecause they play a major part in helping society survive. These institutionsinclude the family, education, government, religion, and economy.

1.Talcott Parsons stressed that all societies must make provisions formeeting social needs in order to survive. For example, a division of laborbetween husband and wife is essential for family stability and social order.

1.Robert K. Merton distinguished between intended and unintended functions of social institutions. a)

Manifest functions

are intended and/or overtly recognized by theparticipants in a social unit.b)

Latent

functions

are unintended functions that are hidden and remainunacknowledged by participants.c)

Dysfunctions

are the undesirable consequences of any element of society. A.According to

conflict perspectives

, groups in society are engaged in a continuouspower struggle for control scarce resources.

1.Along with Karl Marx, Max Weber believed that economic conditions wereimportant in producing inequality and conflict in society; however, Weber alsosuggested that power and prestige are other sources of inequality.

1.C. Wright Mills believed that the most important decisions in the United Statesare made largely behind the scenes by the power elite, a small cliquecomposed of the top corporate, political, and military officials.

1.Feminist perspectives focus on patriarchy – a system in which men dominatewomen, and that which is considered masculine is more highly valued thanthat which is considered feminine.

Interactionist perspectives

are based on the assumption that society is the sumof the interactions of individuals and groups.

1.George Herbert Mead, a founder of this perspective, emphasized that a keyfeature distinguishing humans from other animals is the ability tocommunicate in symbols – anything that meaningfully represents somethingelse.

1.Some interactionists focus on people’s behavior while others focus on eachperson’s interpretation or definition of a given situation.

Functionalist and conflict perspectives

focus primarily on macrolevel analysis –an examination of whole societies, large-scale social structures, and social systems.By contrast,

interactionist

approaches are based on a microlevel analysis – an