RESUMENES SOCIOLOGY

Contenido
Unit 1: Introducing sociology.......................................................................................................1
Unit 2: Social control deviance and crime....................................................................................2
AUTHORS.....................................................................................................................................4
PROJECTS.....................................................................................................................................7

Unit 1: Introducing sociology

The main focus of sociology is the influence from society on people’s behavior.

The study of sociology can provide the essential tools for a better understanding of the world we live in,
and therefore the means for improving it.

What is sociology?

Sociology is the systematic (or planned and organized) study of human groups and social life in modern
societies. It’s concerned with the study of social institutions. These are the various organized social
arrangements which are found in all societies. For example, the family is an institution which is
concerned with arrangement for marriage, such as at what age people can marry and how many partners
they can have, and the upbringing of children. The education system establishes ways of passing on
attitudes, knowledge, and skills from one generation to the next. Work and the economic system organize
the way the production of goods will be carried out, and religious institutions are concerned with people’s
relations with the supernatural. These social institutions make up a society’s social structure- the building
blocks of society.

What does sociology try?

Sociology tries to understand how these various social institutions operate, and how they relate to one
another, such as the influence the family might have on how well children perform in the education
system. Sociology is also concerned with describing and explaining the patterns of inequality,
deprivation, and conflict which are features of nearly all societies.

Sociology and science

Sociology is one of a group of subjects, including economics, psychology, and politics, which are kwon
as the social sciences. The idea that sociology might be considered a science poses a number of problems,
This is because the term ‘science’ is usually associated with the study of the natural world, in subjects
like physics, chemistry, and biology that make up natural sciences.

Socialization and culture:

Socialization is the life-long process of learning the culture of any society. The term ‘culture’ refers to the
language, beliefs, values and norms, customs, roles, knowledge, and skills which combine to make up the
‘way of life’ of any society. This culture is socially transmitted from one generation to the next.

Identity

Socialization plays a crucial part in forming our identities. Identity is about how we see and define
ourselves - our personalities - and how other people see and define us. For example, we might define
ourselves as gay, black, a Muslim, Welsh, English, a woman, a student, or a mother. Many aspects of our
individual identities will be formed through the socialization process, with the family, friends, school, the
mass media, the workplace, and other agencies of socialization helping to form our individual
personalities. Factors that influence our identities and how others see us.
Roles

Roles are the patterns of behavior which are expected from people in different positions in society – they
are very much like the roles actors play in television series. People in society play many different roles in
their lifetimes, such as those of a boy or girl, a child and an adult, a stundent, a paernt, a friend, and work
roles are expected by society to behave in particular ways.

Role conflict

One person plays many roles at the same time. For example, a woman may play the roles of woman,
worker, sister, and wife at the same time. This may lead to role conflict, where the successful
performance of two or more roles at the same time may lead to conflict, such as the conflict between the
roles of full-time worker and mother which some women experience.

Values

Values are ideas and beliefs about what is ‘right’ or ‘wrong’, and the important standards which are worth
maintaining and achieving in any society. They provide general guidelines for behavior. In Britain, values
include beliefs about respect for human life, privacy, and private property, about the importance of
marriage and the importance of money and success. There are often strong pressures on people to
conform to a society’s values, which are frequently written down as laws. These official legal rules which
are enforced by the police, courts, and prison, and involve legal punishment if they are broken. Laws
against murder, for example, enforce the values attached to human life in our society.

Norms

Norms are social rules which define correct and acceptable behavior in a society or social group to which
people are expected to conform. Norms are much more specific values: they put values (general
guidelines) into practice in particular situations. The rules that someone should not generally enter rooms
without knocking reflects the value of privacy, and rules about not drinking and driving reflect the value
of respect for human life. Norms exist in all areas of social life. In Britain, those who are late for work,
jump queues in supermarkets, laugh during funerals, walk through the streets naked, or never say hello to
friends are likely to be seen as annoying, rude, or odd because they are not following the norms of
accepted behavior. Norms are mainly informally enforced – by the disapproval of other people,
embarrassment, or a ‘telling off’ from parents.

Customs are norms which have existed for a long time and have become part of society’s traditions –
kissing the mistletoe at Christmas, buying Easter eggs, or lighting candles at Divali are typical customs
found in Britain.

Values and norms

Values and norms are part of the culture of society, and are learned and passed on through socialization.
They differ between societies – the values and norms of an African tribe are very different from those of
people in modern Britain. They may also change over time and vary between social groups in the same
society. In Britain, cohabitation (living together without being married) is much more accepted today than
it was in the past, and wearing turbans – which is seen as normal dress among Sikh men – would be seen
as a bit weird among teenagers.

Social control

Social control is the term given to the various methods used to persuade or force individuals to conform
to those social values and norms which have been learnt through socialization, and to prevent – a failure
to conform to social norms.

Sanctions are the reward and punishments by which social control is achieved and conformity to norms
and values enforced. These may be either positive sanctions, reward of various kinds, or negative
sanctions, various types of punishment. The type of sanction will depend on the seriousness of the norm:
positive sanctions may range from gifts of sweets from parents to children, to merits and prizes at school,
to knighthood and medals; negative sanctions may range from feeling of embarrassment, to being
ridiculed or gossiped about or regarded as a bit eccentric or ‘a bit odd’, to being fined or imprisoned.

Unit 2: Social control deviance and crime

Social control is concerned with the various methods used to make sure people continue to obey those
social values and norms which have been learned through socialization. It helps maintains social
conformity. Deviance is the term given to behavior which is some way socially unacceptable or not
approved.

AGENCIES OF SOCIAL CONTROL

Social control is scarried out through a series of agencies of social control.

Formal social control

Formal social control is that which is carried out by an agency specifically set up to ensure that people
conform to a particular set of norms, especially the law. The police, courts, and prisons force people to
obey the law through formal sanctions such as arresting, fining, or imprisionning those who break
society’s laws.

Informal social control

Their primary purpose is not social control, but they play an important role in it none the less.

 The family: It’s where primary socialization takes place, and children first begin to form their
identities and learn about the basic values and norms of society. E.g. children learn the
difference between ‘right’ and ‘wrong’, ‘good’ and ‘bad’…

 School: This socializes pupils and sets standarts of ‘correct’ behavior, the forms of dress and so
on which are expected by society. The school helps to maintain the way society as a whole is
presently organized, such as the inequalities between men and women, and managers and
workers.

 Peer group: it provides an individual’s view of herself or himself. The desire of approval and
acceptance by peers is itself an important source of social control. Peer presure may encourage
them to adopt forms of deviant behavior.

 Workplace: There are frequently strong pressures to conform work-related norms, and an
individual who is labelled as a trouble-maker or uncooperative may find herself or himself
denied promotion opportunities, allocated unpleasant jobs, or even dismissed.

 Mass media: is the major source of information and ideas, and can have powerful influences on
people’s attitudes, opinions, and behavior. It carries out social control through the proceses of
norm-setting and agenda-setting. It encoureges conformist behavior.

 Religion: is a belief system which may influence people’s ideas about ‘right’ and ‘wrong’. E.g.
in christian religion theres a reward: heaven and a big punishment: an eternity in hell.

CRIME AND DEVIANCE

The difficulty of defining deviance

Deviance covers a very wide range of behavior, and what is regarded as deviant will depend on the norms
of a group or society. It depends on the time,place, society, and attitudes of those who view the act.
  Non-deviant crime? Everyone commits deviant and illegal things in their lives, but some of them
aren’t considered illegal. E.g. underage drinking.
 The time: deviance can only be defined in relation to particular norms, and norms change over
time. E.g. smoking in public places.
 The society: norms and definitions of deviance differ between societies.
 The social group: what may be acceptable in a particular group may be regarded as deviant in the
wider society.
 The place: the place in which it takes place may influence whether it’s regarded as deviant or
not.

Why are some deviant acts defined as criminal while others are not?

 The consensus approach: social rules are made and enforced for the benefit of everyone. The law
and the definition of crime represents a consensus
 The conflict approach: This suggests that the law reflects the interest of the richest and most
powerful groups of society

AUTHORS

MAX WEBER (1864-1920)

He studied law, history, philosophy, and economics and became a professor (stopped teaching for some
time due to mental health).

Is considered the father of modern sociology

WORK:

The protestant Ethic and Spirit of Capitalism 1905 he discussed the rise of modern capitalism

The religion of China 1916

The religion of India 1916

Ancient Judaism 1917-1918

Economy and Society 1922, published and edited by his wife.

THEORY

Social stratification: Wealth, power and prestige.

Wealth is the amount of money or valuable possessions that someone has, and it’s generally determined
by birth and family inheritance. Wealth = power. All individuals have the possibility of changing their
social position.

Power is the ability of people or groups to achieve their goals despite opposition from others. There are
two dimensions of power: possession of power (individual’s ability to control social resources) and
exercising of power (societies are organized in hierarchical systems of domination and subordination).
Power derives in three types of authority: traditional (accepted for a long time), charismatic (based on
leader’s personal qualities) and legal or rational (resides in the office, not the person).

Prestige is the respect or regard which a person or status position is regarded by others. Having a high
prestige means receiving deferential and respectful treatment from others. Wealth and prestige are
intertwined.

EDUCATION: Weber connects religious, economic and political institutions with education.
ISAIAH BERLIN (1909-1997)

He was born in Riga and emigrated to Britain. Studied in St Paul’s School and Corpus Christi College.

WORK

Karl Marx 1939

The hedgehog and the fox 1953

Two concepts of liberty 1958

The power of ideas 1958

INFUENCES: His work was influenced by Karl Marx, Nietzsche, Maquiavelo, Montesquieu, Heder…

THEORY: Positive and negative freedom

Liberty is the absence of obstacles to the fulfillment of a man’s desires.

Negative freedom is defined as the absence of interference with a person’s sphere of action. Theorists are
concerned about individuals or groups that suffer interference from external bodies. Freedom is the ability
to achieve goals, but the problem comes when we don’t have resources.

Positive freedom is the possibility of acting, in such a way that it takes control of life and realizes the
fundamental purposes

He’s theory is based on the divided self: the higher self (rational and reflective, acts morally and takes
responsibilities of its actions) and the lower self (passional and thoughtless, acts irrationally)

INFLUENCE IN SOCIETY

DAVID ÉMILE DURKHEIM (1858-1917)

French sociologist, social psychologist, and philosopher

WORK

The division of Labor in Society 1893 (about social division as a social fact)

The rules of sociological method 1895

Suicide 1897

The elementary Forms of the Religious life 1912

THEORY

Division of labor means the splitting up of an activity into a number of parts or smaller processes,
division of labor arises as a result of increased material and moral density in society.

Anomie (state of normlessness), Inequality (fails to produce long-lasting solidarity) and inadequate
organization (there’s no unity of action)

Suicide, an individual act, has a lot of social influence. Four kinds of suicide: egoistic (the individual is
not integrated), anomic (society is not regulated), altruistic (they give their life for the other), and
fatalistic (a lot of social regulation).

Religious life, two concepts: sacred and profane. Can’t co-exist, they’re incompatible. Religion is defined
as a “unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things system”.

The cult of the individual: people are no longer held together by traditional moral and religious reasons,
but for the differences between one another. Individuality is valued. The collective consciousness is
separated into 4 dimensions: volume (attitudes held by individuals are comparable to everyone else),
intensity (attitudes held are influenced by emotions), rigidity, and religion (the content becomes moral
individualism).

Moral education, he wants to create a new moral that adapts to the needs of society. He wanted a secular
and cultural moral, which aim was to solve national needs and that would be taught in public schools. All
the people should have solidarity, liberty, and equality.

CHARLES WRIGHT MILLS (1916-1962)

He was a professor of sociology at the university of Maryland and Columbia. Mills focused in the
responsibilities of intellectuals in post-world war ii society and brought relevance and commitment
through academic observations that had not been treated with interest, viewing these responsibilities as a
public intelligence apparatus that defied the policies of the three institutional elites: economy, politics and
military.

WORK

The new men of power 1948

It’s a study of trade unions and their leaders and prospects for a radicalized democracy in the years after
the WWII.

White collar 1951

He claims on the opinion that bureaucracy has overpassed urban workers taking away all their
independence turning them into robots. Oppressed but happy because they had a salary but in return they
are totally out of the world because they can’t change it or affect it.

The power of elite 1956

Talks about the interest of the leader of the military, corporate and political element of society. The
resulting elites, which control the three dominant institutions can generally be grouped into one of the six
types, according to Mills.

The sociological imagination 1959

Individual concerns could not be understood without first analyzing the social context, since these two
influence each other. The fundamental problem of society is that many people have lost faith in leaders
and therefore are very apathetic. It allows us to position ourselves before a social reality of which we are
a part, also understanding that society in history has changed and how it changes.

CONCLUSION

Despite being a critical and controversial author, his work is still valid and greatly influenced American
politics. It should also be noted that although he is a classical author, he bases his theories and studies on
everyday life and new class structures.

BENJAMIN CONSTANT (1767-1830)

Swiss French political activist and writer on political theory and religion. He was very active during the
second half of the French revolution and then under the French restoration.

He was the leader of the left-wing liberal opposition known as the “independents”.

He was one of the first thinkers to go by the name ‘liberal’

WORK

Letters to a member of the convention 1795

The strength of the current government and the need to join it 1796 (political pamphlet)

The Effects of Terror 1797

Le Cahier rouge 1807

Political philosophy: a speech made in 1816 in which he discusses two different conceptions of freedom
in modern society: freedom of ‘ancients’ and that of the ‘moderns.

Ancient freedom was a participatory republican freedom giving to citizens to influence politics, but it
generally required a sub-society to do much of the productive work, leaving the citizens free to deliberate
on public affairs. Ancient republics were small, related to war, trade was not valued, practice of slavery
and confrontation between their community.

Modern freedom is based on civil liberties, the exercise of the law, and the absence of excessive state
intervention. Direct participation is limited. He believed that trade is natural to modern societies. Modern
nations are large, more independence of individuals from the nation, values peace, commercial, no
slavery.

ADAM SMITH (1723-1790)

He studied at the University of Glasgow. He was one of the greatest philosophers and economists of the
Modern Age and the father of economic liberalism, as well as a strong defender of capitalism.

POLITICAL ECONOMY

1. Specialization: Tasks done by one person are less profitably that many tasks carried out by
multiple people.
2. Consumer capitalism: it did better to lower class than the higher societies devoted to high ideals.
3. How to treat the rich: rich people don’t care about their money but about their honor and respect,
so the government would give them honor and status in return of good actions.
4. Educate consumers: taught to like better quality thing and pay a proper price for them, capitalism
teaches people to exercise his choice in judicious ways.

LIBERALISM

He’s invisible hand argument is one of the most well known in all of economics. In the Wealth of nations
he talks about: never talk to them about our own necessities but to their advantages.

Both the seller and the buyer must enter the exchange of their own accord and voluntarily decide that the
exchange is in each of their interests.

BOOKS

The wealth of nations 1776 (takes Netherlands or England as a reference to the economic evolution of
nations) Talks about the market, the division of labor and the value-labor relationship that he considers
necessary.

The theory of moral feelings 1759, it’s about the need to create moral judgments that are based on what he
called an established “natural order” in society.

THREE SOCIOLOGICAL THEORIES

 SOCIAL CONFLICT: POWER STRUGGLES (jerarquía de poder)

 STRUCTURAL FUNCTIONALISM: INTERLOCKING SYSTEMS (diferentes sistemas que
trabajan juntos para que la sociedad funcione)
 SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONISM: CHARED MEANINGS (banderas, simbólico)
PROJECTS

CORONA VIRUS
Coronavirus 2019 (Covid-19) disease is a respiratory condition that can spread from person to person.
The virus that causes Covid-19 is a new coronavirus that was first identified during an outbreak
investigation in Wuhan, China. Now, there are more than 3,561,788 infected in the world.

There are different risk groups like: people who are over 60 years old, those who have cardiovascular
diseases, diabetes, lung diseases, cancer or respiratory problems.

The most important aspects to take into account to prevent COVID-19 are washing your hands frequently
with soap and water or hydroalcoholic gel, using a mask, sneezing and coughing on the inside of the
elbow and avoiding crowded places. It’s important to follow these rules to prevent the disease.

The quicker solution to spot the spread of this virus is quarantine, because it spreads really quickly from
one person to another, so isolating ourselves is the solution to stop the spreading. When we first heard o
quarantine, we though we couldn’t stay at home that much without going crazy, but in general we all can
say that it hasn’t been that bad. We have adapted to this new situation the best we know, but it has just
started, because our lives will change a little for some time.

HOW DO SOCIOECONOMIC LEVELS AFFECT CHILDREN?

Goals:

• Decrease the number of school failure.

• Increase the number of grants in educational scholarships.

• Improve educational quality through reinforcement.

• Guide teachers in educational activity.

• Achieve equity in classrooms without affecting the level of educational quality.

CONCLUSION?

THE FALL OF THE BERLIN WALL

• The fall of Berlin Wall was in many ways a bloodless revolution that ended Soviet Oppression in
East Germany. The wall forever changed the landscape of Berlin, as well as the people who
experienced its existence.

• The wall was undoubtedly a symbol of the weakness of totalitarianism and the failure of Soviet
communism. But neither should it be forgotten that its origin was fascism that ruled Germany,
and established a cruel, racist regime that led Europe to a destructive and inhuman war. What is
serious and incomprehensible today is that political parties that today represent precisely that
nationalism and racism, as well as exclusion and intolerance, are gaining a lot of strength in
 Europe. That wall, which many people thought could never disappear, was brought down with
courage and for the love of freedom and democracy.

• Finally, it is interesting to reflect on the enormous joy and hope that the fall of the Wall and
reunification meant for the Germans. How the economy of West Germany oxygenated and
allowed to recover to that of East Germany once unified. How Germany faced its past and knew
how to apply the correct doses of justice and forgiveness to look forward and recover the
national spirit and the common path to development. The Wall and its fall symbolize like few
things the evil of which man is capable, but also the best of us and the instinct for freedom that
drives us.

THE PROGRESSIVE UPROOTING OF PHILOSOPHY IN SOCIETY AND EDUCATION

Philosophy is useless if we want to find out how the world works objectively.