WEEK 2, CHAPTER 2
Adams and W.E.B DuBois, who
INTRODUCTION TO
SOCIOLOGY
A. The Foundation of Sociology
● Sociology emerged about the middle
of the 19th century, when social
observers began to use scientific
methods to explain social
phenomena.
B. Sociology as a Social Science:
● Sociology is a “scientific study of
human society”, its origin, structure,
function, and direction.
● It studies the influence that society
has on people’s attitudes and
behavior. It also seeks to understand
the ways in which people interact
and shape society.
C. The Origins of Sociology
● Sociology is a relatively young
science, beginning in late nineteenth
century (19th century) Europe during
a time of great social upheaval.
● Intellectuals like Auguste Comte,
Harriet Martineau, Emile Durkheim,
and others began to explore ideas for
regaining a sense of community and
restoring order.
● After WWI, the greatest
development of sociology took place
in the United States. Two early
contributors were activists Jane
helped focus people’s attention on
social issues.
Founding Father
AUGUSTE COMTE
-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 the same.
-He developed the idea and coined
the term “Sociology”
-He is the founding father of
Sociology
Pioneers in the Study of Sociology
The early scholars who contributed
significantly to the development of
Sociology as a young science are listed
below:
1) HARRIET MARTINEAU
(1802-1876)
● She translated the book of Comte’s
work in English;
● She spoke out in favor 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 conversations
that will benefit society.
2) KARL MARX (1818-1833)
● 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 the industrial
revolution resulted in two classes:
Owners and Laborers.
3) 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.
4) EMILE DURKHEIM (1858-1917)
● He was the only one who studied the
discipline thoroughly 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 forces: social integration and
moral regulation;
● He concluded that suicide is not aan
ordinary phenomenon.
5) MAX WEBER (1864-1920)
● He focused on how industrial
revolution changed thoughts and
actions 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.
OTHER SOCIOLOGISTS
➢ Albion Small– founder of the
department of sociology at the
University of Chicago; he
established the American Journal of
Sociology.
➢ W.E.B DuBois–a black American
who conducted research on race
relations in the U.S.
➢ Wright Mills–Urged sociologists to
get back to social reform
➢ Robert K. Merton– he stressed that
sociologists need to develop
middle-range theories as
explanations of human behavior that
go beyond the particular observation
 or research but avoid sweeping
generalizations that attempt to
account for everything.
The Development of Sociology in the
Philippines
1. Serfin Macaraig
–the first Filipino to acquire a
doctorate degree in Sociology and
published a book entitled: ``An
Introduction to Sociology” in 1938.
2. Father Valentin Martin
–he introduced Sociology in the
Philippines with the opening of a
criminology program at the
University of Santo Tomas in 1950
3. Conrado Benitez and Luis Rivers
–among the first teachers of
sociology in the Philippines
● In 1952, Filipino pioneers in
Sociology organized the Philippine
Sociological Society. The main trust
is to collect, interpret, and propose
possible solutions to different
Philippine sociological phenomena.
● In 1957, the Community
Development Research Council was
created to conduct and support social
sciences researchers.
● In 1960, Fr. Frank Lynch, SJ,
founded tha Institute of the
Philippines Culture at the Ateneo de
Manila University.
● In 1972, Xavier University was
given credit as the first school to
open a Ph.D. program in sociology.
It was the university of the
Philippines that offered a bachelor’s
degree in Sociology.
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 a part of one's thinking
and motivations.
Modern School of Thoughts: Paradigm
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, Level:
Micro (small social patterns);
➢ Conflict Theory, Level: Macro (large
patterns);
➢ Symbolic Interactionism, Level:
Macro)
I. SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONISM
● FOCUS: Use of Symbols; Face to
face interactions;
● Is considered Most influential;
● Founding Father: Mead (1863-1931),
an American Philosopher
TENETS:
–People attach meaning to symbols , then
they act according to the subjective
interpretation of these symbols;
–Individual, social groups meaning to
experience life: we negotiate meaning;
–Meanings can change or be modified
through interaction and through time.
II. STRUCTURAL
FUNCTIONALISM (1)
● FOCUS: Relationship between the
parts of society; how aspects of
society are functional or adaptive;
● The two Terms of this perspective
can give an idea of this approach:
Structure and Function;
● Founding Fathers: Comte, Spencer,
and Durkheim.
TENETS:
–Society is 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.
II. STRUCTURAL FUNCTIONALISM
(2)
● Structures are explained as social
institutions like the Family, the
Educational system, the Politics,
Religion, Mass media systems, and
the Economy;
● Structure meet the needs of society
by performing different functions:
–What would be the functions of the
above mentioned social institutions (in terms
of manifest vs latent functions, Roberto
Merton, b. 1910)
–Dysfunction: a disturbance to or
undesirable consequence of some aspect of
the social system;
–Harmony and Stability.
STRUCTURAL FUNCTIONALISM:
a. Manifest: the obvious intended
functions of a social institution ( or
social system);
 b. Latent: the less obvious, perhaps
unintended functions of a social
structure.
THE CULTURAL THEORY
–The Founding father is Karl Marx
–The principles embodied in these theory
are:
A Materialistic view of society
(focused on labor practices and
economic reality), we play by the
rules (roles and functions) of these
social systems;
Unequal groups usually have
conflicting values and agendas,
causing them to compete against one
another.
This constant competition between
groups from the basis of the
ever-changing nature of the society.
IV. 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: Karl Marx
TENETS:
–A materialistic view of the society focused
on labor practices and economic reality, we
play by the rules (roles and functions) of
these social systems;
–Unequal groups usually have conflicting
values and agenda, causing them to compete
against one another;
–This constant competition between groups
forms the basis for the ever-changing nature
of society.
SOCIOLOGICAL IMAGINATION
Wright Mills (1916-1962): He
introduced the sociological
imagination.
THE SOCIOLOGICAL IMAGINATION
Sociological Imagination is a new
concept in social sciences introduced by
Wright Mills in 1959, in his book entitled
“Sociological Imagination”. The coined
phrase term is used throughout sociology
today.
This sociological imagination is the
concept of being able to “think ourselves
away” from the familiar routines of our
daily lives in order to look at them anew.
Mills defined Sociological imagination “as
the vivid awareness of the relationship
between experience and wider society.” It is
the ability to see things socially and how
they interact and influence each other.
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.
To have a Sociological Imagination, a
person must be able to pull away from the
situation and think from an alternative point baby, that is a ‘public issue’,
of view. It is also the willingness to view the and the issue is referred to as
social world from the perspective of others. the declining fertility rate.

It involves moving away from thinking in The Thinking of The Sociological

terms of you and your problems (private
issues) but focusing rather on the social
circumstances that produce social problems
(public issues).
imagination
–Seldom are they aware of the intricate
connection between the patterns of their own
lives and the course of World History.

PRIVATE ISSUES & PUBLIC ISSUES
Private Troubles: We tend to
experience what happens in our own
lives as unique and private, and also
to interpret what happens to other
people as unique and private to them.
Public Issues: The discipline of
Sociology encourages you to look
for the social processes and
structures that give a generalized
pattern to those private troubles and
thus turn them into ‘public issues.’
–Ordinary men usually don’t 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.
–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.
–It is the quality that may be called
‘Sociological Imagination’.

EXAMPLE 1: Unemployment

● Private Trouble: When one person is

unemployed that is a private trouble.
● Public Issue: When 3 million people
are unemployed, that is a “Public
issue.”
EXAMPLE 2: Fertility

● Private Trouble: When 1

couple never has a baby, that
is a private trouble;
● Public Issue: When
increasing numbers of
couples that never have a