What is Sociology

• Study of groups and group interactions,

societies and social interactions, from
small and personal groups to very large
groups
What is Sociology?
“Sociology may be defined as the study of
society - the web of human interactions
and relationships”: Ginsberg (“The Study
of Society”, 1939)
“The purpose of
Sociology is the scientific
study of human society
through the investigation
of people’s social
behaviour”: Giner
(“Sociology”, 1972) What Is Sociology?
“Sociology is the study of human
social life, groups and societies. It is
a dazzling and compelling
enterprise, having as its subject
matter our own behaviour as social
beings. The scope of sociology is
extremely wide, ranging from the
analysis of passing encounters
between individuals in the street up
to the investigation of world-wide
social processes”: Giddens
(“Sociology”, 1989)
“Sociology is the objective study of human behaviour
in so far as it is affected by the fact people live in
groups”: Sugarman (“Sociology”, 1968)
“Sociology is the study of
individuals in a social
setting…Sociologists study
the interrelationships
between individuals,
organisations, cultures and
societies”: Ritzer
(“Sociology”, 1979)
“Sociology is the study of
individuals in groups in a
systematic way, which grew
out of the search for
understanding associated
with the industrial and
scientific revolutions of the
18th and 19th centuries”:
Lawson and Garrod (“The
Complete A-Z Sociology
Handbook”, 1996)
shortcutstv.com
What is Sociology?
Two major themes
Identify some of the things
sociologists study
Sociologists study social behaviour -
people and their patterns of behaviour.
The focus is on the way people form
relationships and how these
relationships, considered in their
totality, are represented by the concept
of a “society”.
The focus of attention is group
behaviour – how the groups people
join or are born into (family, work,
education and so forth) affect their
development and behaviour.
Identify some of the ways sociologists
study social life
The definitions included words like
“scientific”, “systematic” and “objective” -
ideas that tell us something about how
sociologists study behaviour and the kinds
of knowledge they are trying to produce to
explain such behaviour.
Sociologists create knowledge that is
factual, rather than simply based on
opinion. Systematic ways of studying
social behaviour are used - sociologists
test their ideas about social behaviour
using evidence drawn from their
observations and research
shortcutstv.com
What is Sociology?

A Friendship Group
Includes people who hang around together
because they like each other

A Work Group
Might include people who do the
A “social group” is a collection of same type of job.
individuals who interact – both formally
and informally – with each other.
A Peer Group
Includes people of
roughly the same age

An Educational Group
Might include people studying A Family Group
together in the same school / People who are related by
college or class. birth, marriage, etc.

shortcutstv.com
Sociology
• The systematic study of the ways in which people are affected by,
and affect, the social structures and social processes that are
associated with the groups, organizations, cultures, societies, and
world in which they exist.

• Sociology is the scientific study of social behavior and human

groups.

• Sociology is the methodological study of social relationships.

• Sociology is the systematic study of the relationship between the

individual and society and the consequences of difference.
Social Institutions
Social institutions are patterns
of beliefs and behaviors
focused on meeting social
needs including:
• Government (Political)
• Education
• Family
• Healthcare
• Religion
• Economy
Theories
• A theory is a way to explain different
aspects of social interactions and to create
a testable proposition, called
a hypothesis
• Macro-level theories relate to large-scale
issues
• Micro-level theories look at very specific
relationships between individuals or small
groups
• Paradigms are philosophical and
theoretical frameworks used within a
Sociological Perspectives
Perspective - the angle or direction in which a person looks
at an object. Or point of view.
The different sociological perspective tend to focus on one
of two different levels.
1. Theories of society (macro theories)
2. social psychological theories (micro theories)
 Structural Functionalism
Macro Theories
Conflict Theory

Micro Theories Symbolic Interaction

 Functionalist Perspective
█ Emphasizes that parts of a society are
structured to maintain its stability

– Talcott Parsons (1902 – 1972) key

contributor
– Viewed society as vast network of
connected parts, each of which helps to
maintain the system as a whole
– Liken society to a biological organism
 Structural Functionalism Theory
The function of any recurrent
activity is the contribution it makes
to social stability and continuity
• Manifest functions are the
• consequences of a social process
• that are sought or anticipated
• Latent functions are the unsought
consequences of a social process
Dysfunctions are social processes that have
undesirable consequences for the operation of
society
Criticisms: This theory does not explain how
societies change or why dysfunctional institutions
persist
Conflict Theory

Conflict theory looks at society as a competition for

limited resources. Critical theory is an interdisciplinary
expansion of conflict theory that attempts to address
structural issues causing inequality. Examples of critical
theory include:
• Feminist theory
• Critical race theory looks at structural inequality based
on white privilege and wealth, power, and prestige
Criticisms: Conflict theory does not explain social
stability and gradual change
CONFLICT PERSPECTIVE
 Influenced by Karl Marx’s work.
 Conflict perspective assumes that social behavior is best understood in
terms of conflict or tension among competing groups.
 Sociologists use the conflict model not only on economic conflicts but
also on conflicts that have no clear economic basis, conflicts over
values, ethics, and behavior.
 Conflict theorists are interested in the kind of changes that conflict can
bring about
 Georg Simmel is also a conflict theorist
 Feminist Theory
The idea that gender relationships in society are not equal, but
they can and should be changed
• A key feminist insight is that “the personal is political”
• Patriarchy refers to a set of institutional structures that push
men and women into different social roles and give them
unequal access to rewards, positions of power, and privilege
• Heterosexism is a system of attitudes, bias, and
discrimination that favor male-female sexuality and
relationships
 Symbolic Interactionism
• Symbolic interactionism is a micro-level theory that
focuses on how people make sense of their social worlds
through communication—the exchange of meaning
through language and symbols
• Constructivism builds on symbolic interactionism,
proposing that reality is what humans cognitively
construct it to be
SYMBOLIC-INTERACTIONIST
PERSPECTIVES
George Herbert Mead American
Sociologist (1863-1931) is regarded
as the founder of the interactionist
perspective
 Symbolic interactionists view
symbols- things that we attach
meaning- as the basis of social life.
A symbol is something representing
something else:
 symbols range from words and
language to nonverbal gestures and
signs.
 According to symbolic interaction, people attach
meanings to each other’s words and actions

 Their actions and attitudes, are not determined by

some action in and of itself

 This understanding of the conditions in which we

find ourselves, known as the definition of the
situation
Table 1-1: Sociological Major Perspectives
The Butterfly Effect
• The idea that a relatively small change in a specific
location can have far-ranging, even global effects, over
both time and distance.
• Example: Floyd death in the USA led to the black lives
matter movement.
The Changing Nature of the World –and
Sociology
• 18th and 19th centuries: Industrial Revolution
• Sociologists focused on factories, production, and blue collar
workers.
• Mid-20th century: Post-Industrial Age
• Sociologists focused on offices, bureaucracies, and white collar
workers.
• Present day: The Information Age
• Sociologists focus on knowledge, information, and
technologies.
Central Concerns for a 21st-Century Sociologist:
Globalization
• Positives
• Greater access to goods, services, and information throughout
the world

• Negatives
• Undesirable things (diseases, illegal drugs, weapons and “dirty”
money) flow more easily around the world.
The Sociological
Imagination
 C. Wright Mills describes sociological
imagination as

An awareness of the the ability to view one’s

relationship between an society as an outsider
individual and the wider would, without one’s
society, and… limited experiences and
cultural biases
The Sociological Imagination
• C. Wright Mills (1916–1962) described this type of
creative thinking as the ability to view one’s own society
as an outsider.

• It demonstrates the connection between history and

biography, connects personal experiences – “troubles” –
to larger social patterns – “social issues.”
The Sociological
Imagination
█ Looks beyond a limited understanding of
human behavior
• View the world
and its people in
a new way
• See through a
broader lens
The Sociological Imagination
• The sociological imagination allows us to look beyond a limited
understanding of things and people in the world, and allows for a
broader vision of society.
• Private Troubles and Public Issues
• Increasing levels of consumption and debt (private trouble) morphed into a near collapse
of the global economy (public issue).

• Will fleeting electronic social relationships (via Facebook and Twitter) lead all types of
social relationships in the future?
The Sociological Imagination: The Micro
Relationship
• Micro-small scale
• Individual thoughts and actions and small group interactions
• Macro-large scale
• Groups, organizations, cultures, society, and the world, as well as the
interactions between these large structures
• The Micro-Macro continuum has roots in the American perspective on
social interaction and social structure
The Sociological Imagination: The Micro
Relationship
• Karl Marx (1818-1883) was interested in what workers
thought and did (micro-scale phenomena) and the
capitalist economic system (macro-scale phenomena).
• Randall Collins (2009) has sought to develop a theory of
violence that deals with individuals skilled in violent
interactions (micro-scale phenomena) and material
resources used by violent organizations (macro-scale
phenomena).
Structure and Process
• Social structures are enduring and regular social arrangements such as the
family or the state, or even shopping malls.
• These change very slowly.
• Social processes are aspects of the social world such as shopping and
childrearing practices.
• These change rapidly.

• Where do we locate MARRIAGE… social structure or social process?

Sociology’s Purpose: Science or Social
Reform?
• The scientific view states that examining the relationship
between structure and process should be a purely
scientific endeavor.
• The social reform view states that as these relationships
are discovered, this knowledge should be used to solve
social problems.
Classical and contemporary theories in sociology:
a basic overview
• Sociology as a scientific discipline was
founded by Auguste Comte whose theory of
society was positivistic.
• In his classical work he argued that all
societies moves through three stages of
development/progress:
 The Theological/Religious
a. Fetishism
b. Polytheism
c. Monotheism
 The Metaphysical/Abstract
 The Positivistic/Scientific
Classical and contemporary theories in sociology:
a basic overview

• Karl Marx (1818-1883; German)

• Theorists have built on his work and others have
created theories opposing his work.

• Macro-theorist who focused on the structure of

capitalist society

• Defined capitalism as an economic system based

on the capitalists (the owners of the means of
production) exploiting the proletariat (the workers)
Giants of Classical Sociological Theory
• Max Weber (1864-1920; German)
• Best known for his work The Protestant Work Ethic and the
Spirit of Capitalism.

• Protestantism, especially Calvinism, led to the rise of capitalism

in the West and not in other areas of the world.

• Was also interested on the process of rationalization in many

sectors of society.
Giants of Classical Sociological Theory
• Emile Durkheim (1858-1917; French)
• Macro-theorist whose major concern was social facts, such as social
structures and cultural norms and values, that impose themselves
on people

• Called the shared beliefs of a society the collective conscience

• Wrote the book Suicide in which he stated that the cause of suicide
was not to be found within individuals, but rather in social factors
Other Important Early Theorists
• Georg Simmel (1858-1918; German)
• Interested in the forms taken by social interaction and the types of people
who engage on interaction

• W.E.B. Du Bois (1868-1963; American)

• Pioneering researcher who was crucial to the later focus of sociology on
race

• Thorstein Veblen (1857-1929; American)

• Main concern was the way the upper classes show off their wealth (what
he called “Conspicuous Consumption”)