Week 1

Learning Outcomes

 At the end of the lesson, you should be able to:

 Articulate observations on human cultural variation, social

differences, social change and political identities

 Recognize the common concerns or intersections of

anthropology, sociology and political science with respect to

the phenomenon of change.

 Identify the subjects of inquiry and goals of anthropology and

sociology
Sociology
 Scientific study of human society, it‟s origin, structure, function, and
direction

 The word Sociology was taken from two foreign words:

 Socius a Latin term which means companion or

associate
 Logos a Greek term for study
Characteristics of Sociology
 Sociology is a social science not a physical science.
It concentrates on man, his social behavior,
social activities and social life

 Sociology is categorical not a normative discipline.

As a categorical discipline, it is a body of knowledge about human society, and
not a system of ideas and values.
Characteristics of Sociology
 It is a pure science.
It aims to provide knowledge about human society, not the utilization of
that knowledge

 Sociology is the generalizing and not a particularizing or

individualizing science.
Sociology tries to find out general laws or principles about human
interaction and association about the nature, form, content and structure
of human groups and societies
Characteristics of Sociology
 Sociology is a general science not a special science.
It is concerned with human interaction and human life in general.
It only studies human activities in a general way.
Characteristics of Sociology
 Sociology is both rational and an empirical science.
There are two broad ways of approach to scientific knowledge:

Empiricism is the approach that emphasizes experience and the facts

that result from observation and experimentation.
Rationalism is a stressed reason and the theories that result from logical
inference.
Focus of Sociology
 Is a quantitative social science.
 Most theories are based on polls, statistical analysis, sampling, and
large collections of life histories. Sociologists strive to be as impartial
and scientific as possible as they gather data.
 The data analyzed by sociologists is often used by government
officials and market researchers alike.
What is Anthropology?
 Anthropology
Anthropology is the broad study of humankind in all times and all
places.
It involves the careful and systematic study of humankind using:
facts, hypothesis, and theories.

It is concerned with other culture’s languages, values, and

achievements in the arts and literature.

Anthropology is committed to experiencing other cultures

Focus of Anthropology
 is interested in the overall culture of a group of people such as social
institutions, art, history, mythology, and common mores, among other
traits.
 Anthropologies now study societies all over the world, but look for
overarching themes that are reinforced through case studies.
Focus of Anthropology
 It also includes archeology, and due to a great amount of substantive
speculation is thought to be a softer science than sociology.
Anthropology
Anthropologists are interested in all human beings – whether living or
dead.
No place or time is too remote to escape the notice of
anthropologists.
No dimension of humankind from skin color to dress customs falls
outside the anthropologist‟s interest.
In summary:
 Anthropology and sociology are both fields of social science that study
the behavior of humans within their societies
 Traditionally, anthropology dealt with the study of cultures of other
people, while sociology was used to understand own society
 Today, anthropology tends to look at the big picture of human
culture while sociology spends more time analyzing data from a
specific study
 Anthropology is considered to be a softer science than sociology as
its conclusions are based on case studies than hard data.
Introducing
Sociology
Introduction to Sociology
(Learning Outcomes)
 Give a brief introduction Sociology as a social science discipline
 Explain fundamental sociological theories (sociological paradigms)
 Illustrate sociological imagination
Sociology
 Sociology “is a scientific study of human society, its origin, structure,
function and direction.”
 Foundation
of Sociology
Sociology emerged about the middle of
.
19th century, when social observers began
to use scientific methods to explain
social phenomena.
AUGUSTE COMTE (1798-1857)
• Born after the French revolution of 1789
• He proposed the philosophical position of Positivism
• He theorized that the methods of physical science are regarded as the
accurate means of obtaining knowledge and therefore, social science should
adhere to the same.
• He developed the idea and coined the term “Sociology”
• He was the founder of Sociology
Pioneers in the Study of Sociology
The early scholars who contributed significantly for the development of sociology
HARRIET MARTINEAU (1802-1876)
• She translate the book of Comte’s work by English
• She spoke out in favour of the rights of women. The emancipation of the
slaves and religious tolerance
• She said that intellectuals and scholars should not simply offer observations
of social conditions, but should act upon their convictions that will benefit
society
KARL MARX (1818-1883)
• He is considered as one of the thinkers of the modern times
• He was a native German and later exiled in England
• He said that a sociologist’s task is to explain conflict, that conflict is shaped
by the means of production
• He also said that industrial revolution resulted in two classes: owners and
laborers
HERBERT SPENCER (1820-1903)
• Spencer grew up in England.
• He proposed that there is parallelism between how society evolves in the
same manner as the animal species do
• He said that man as a member of society is in a never ending competition
and should win
EMILE DURKHEIM (1858-1917)
• He was the only one who studied thoroughly the discipline in the school of
higher learning.
• He provided insights into the social forces that contributed to the rise of the
global village
• He proposed four types of suicide, based on the degrees of imbalance of two
social forces: social integration and moral regulation
• He concluded that suicide is not an ordinary phenomenon
MAX WEBER (1864-1920)
• He focused on how industrial revolution changed thoughts and action and
how it brought about a process called rationalization
• Rationalization refers to the way daily life is organized so as to accommodate
large groups of people.
The Sociological Perspective
• Sociological Perspective
enables you to gain a new
vision of social life.

• It provides a different way of

looking at life, and provides
an understanding of why
people are the way they are.
SEEING THE BROADER SOCIAL
CONTEXT
a. The social location of people—their culture, social class, gender, religion, age
and education
b. The relationship of one group to another.
c. The external influences (people’s experiences) that are internalized and have
become part of ones thinking and motivations.
 Modern school of thoughts:
paradigms
These perspectives offer sociologists theoretical paradigms for
explaining how society influences people, and vice versa. Each
perspective uniquely conceptualizes society, social forces, and
human behavior.
None of them on their own can give an entire explanation of a whole
social phenomena. Each one gives its specific answers.

These are:
 Structural Functionalism
 Conflict theory
 Symbolic interactionism
Symbolic Interactionism
 Focus: Use of symbols; face-to-face interactions
 Most influential
 Founding father: Mead (1863-1931), an American philosopher

Tenets:
1. People attach meanings to symbols, then they act according to the
subjective interpretation of these symbols
2. Individual, social groups meaning to experience life: we negotiate
meaning
3. Meanings can change or be modified through interaction and through
time
Structural Functionalism (1)

 Focus: Relationship between the parts of society; how aspects of

society are functional or adaptive
 The 2 words can give an idea of this approach: structure and function
 Founding fathers: Comte, Spencer and Durkheim

Tenets:
 Society is a stable, ordered system of interrelated parts of the structures
 Each structure has a function that contributes to the continued stability
or equilibrium of the whole
Structural Functionalism
(2)
Structures are explained as social institutions like the family, the
educational system, politics, religion, mass media systems, and the
economy
 Structures meet the needs of society by performing different
functions:

 What would be the functions of above mentioned social institutions? (in

terms of manifest* vs. latent** functions, Robert Merton, b. 1910)
 Dysfunction: a disturbance to or undesirable consequence of some aspect
of the social system
 Harmony & stability
Structural Functionalism
*Manifest: the obvious intended functions of a social institution (or
social system)
** Latent: the less obvious, perhaps unintended functions of a social
structure
Conflict theory
 Theory focuses on dominance, competition and social change
 Competition for scarce resources; how the elite control the poor and
the weak
 Founding father: Marx

Tenets:
1. A materialistic view of society focused on labor practices and
economic reality, we play by the rules (roles and functions) of these
social systems
2. Unequal groups usually have conflicting values and agenda, causing
them to compete against one another
3. This constant competition between groups forms the basis for the
ever‐changing nature of society
Sociological Imagination

C. Wright Mills (1916-1962).

He introduced ‘sociological imagination’
 The Sociological Imagination
The Sociological Imagination is
stimulated by a willingness to view
the social world from the
perspective of others.

It involves moving away from

thinking in terms of the individual
and their problems, focusing
rather on the social circumstances
that produce social problems.
 Private Issues & Public Issues
We tend to experience whatever happens in our own lives as unique and
private, and also to interpret what happens to other people as unique
and private to them.

These are seen as „private troubles‟.

The discipline of Sociology encourages you to look for the social

processes and structures that give a generalised pattern to those private
troubles and thus turn them into „public issues‟.
 Example – Unemployment
Private Trouble Public Issue
When 1 person is unemployed, that is a When 3 million people are
„Private Trouble‟. unemployed, that is a „Public Issue‟.
 Example – Fertility
Private Trouble Public Issue
When 1 couple never has a baby, When increasing numbers of
that is a ‘private trouble’. couples never have a baby, that is
a ‘public issue’ referred to as the
„declining fertility rate‟.
The Thinking of The Sociological Imagination

Seldom are aware of the intricate connection between the patterns of

their own lives and the course of world history. Ordinary men do not
usually know what this connection means for the kind of men they are
becoming and for the kinds of history making in which they might take
part.
The Thinking of The Sociological Imagination
What they need is a quality of mind that will help them see what is
going on in the world and what may be happening within themselves.
The Thinking of The Sociological Imagination
It is this quality that may be called the ‘Sociological Imagination’.