Sociology (1st exam)

- the systematic study of human society

Auguste Comte, 19th century

- founder of sociology
- initially social physics – researched social phenomena, considered the same as natural phenomena
- his intention was to study society the same way as nature
- From science comes foresight, from foresight action.
- positivism - a scientific approach to knowledge based on positive facts as opposed to mere speculation

positivist/empirical sociology - the study of society based on scientific observation of social behaviour
- positivist research discovers facts using science
- empirical evidence – the information we can verify with our senses
- scientific research often challenges what we accept as common sense
 examples of widely held beliefs that are not supported by scientific evidence:
Poor people are far more likely than rich people to break the law.

Most poor people do not want to work.

Differences in the behaviour of females and males are just ’human nature.’

Most people marry because they are in love.

social behaviour - the behaviour of people who take other people’s behaviour into consideration and adjust to it
- social interaction - the process by which people act and react in relation to others
- communication - the instrument of interaction (verbal and non-verbal)

Max Weber
- one of the founders of sociology
- believes that social interaction should be the focus of social research
- in modern societies he notices the process of rationalization - the historical change from tradition to
rationality as the main type of human thought
- modern society becomes disenchanted as sentimental ties give way to a rational focus on science,
complex technology, and bureaucracy
- everything in human interaction is being weighed, calculated, predicted
- his book: The protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism - explains the impact on social norms -
capitalists took over the lifestyle of the Calvinists - reinvestment in business as they reinvested in their
farms as a thanks to God.

Emile Durkheim
- another founder of sociology
- his idea of the scientific study of society laid the foundation for modern sociology
- he used statistics, surveys, and historical observation in his analysis of suicides
- social facts - the phenomena that have an existence in and of themselves and they should be objectively
observed
- some of the social facts he observed: social control, religion, suicide, solidarity…
- norms - written/unwritten rules for socially acceptable behaviour
- social sanctions - social reactions of approval/disapproval in response to someone's actions
(positive/negative, formal/informal)
- values - a set of principles defined by society dynamics, institutions, traditions, and cultural beliefs
(implicit guidelines that provide orientation to individuals and corporations to conduct themselves
properly within a social system) - they take part in the process of cultural transmission by which the
learned information is passed on from one generation to the next to become growing collective
knowledge shared within a group
  two systems:
a) collective valuing – in traditional societies; family, church, patriarchy...
- they can be measured by asking In the U.S. most people feel that X is very important.

b) individual valuing – in modern societies; freedom, rights, privacy...

- they reflect personal experiences and can be measured by asking to rate propositions like I don’t know
about others, but for me personally, X is very important.

Society and Culture

- society - a system of mutual relations - it can be observed on two levels:

1) microsociology – individuals are connected through relations, face-to-face interaction (family, partners,
friends...) - closeness, more understanding and direct influence
2) macrosociology – in bigger groups and institutions with formal connections - we feel less important and
anonymous
Ferdinand Tönnies
- differentiates Gemeinschaft (community) and Gesellschaft (society) - comparison of a village and a city
- societies change - societies today differ in many aspects - there are differences in culture, religion,
customs, beliefs, economic and technological growth, political culture...
traditional societies:
a) hunter-gatherer societies
b) agricultural and pastoral societies
c) first civilizations
- slow change
- the individual is subordinate to the community
- religion plays an important role
modern societies:
a) industrial societies (19th century)
b) post-industrial societies
- change is more rapid
- he individual has more control over their life
- the impact of religion lessens

differences between cultures

- culture represents the total material and non-material heritage of a group of people on a certain territory
1. material aspects of culture: everything observable that occupies space, physical objects, artifacts…
2. non-material aspects of culture: thoughts, ideas, beliefs, values…
components of culture:
a. symbols - phenomena that have socially assigned meanings – they are changeable (religious
symbols)
b. language - a means of transmitting culture
- Sapir-Whorf hypothesis - people from different cultures think differently because of differences in
their languages
c. rituals – certain behaviour defined by protocol
- rituals of solidarity – they encourage togetherness
- rites of passage – they mark important events in our lives
Sociological Interpretation

- sociology is a science which systematically researches and describes society

two activities:
1) describing = to know
2) combining = to act
- combining our personal experience and group experience (micro sociological level) enables us to grasp
the wider sociological scope (macro sociological level)

Anthony Giddens – How can sociology be of help?

- becoming aware of cultural differences
- measuring the efficiency of different lifestyles
- understanding oneself

Charles Wright Mills

- social imagination – sociological view of the world – ability to comprehend personal and social
experience (the view from above)
Norbert Elias
- figuration – sociological approach which simultaneously investigates the behaviour of an individual
and the social circumstances which affected that behaviour – it is a term from the art of dance that
implies striking a pose, making movements according to certain rules, meaningful moves,
choreography...

Sociology in Croatia
Rudi Supek
- the best-known sociologist
- believes that social phenomena should be examined on the individual, group, and institutional levels
Dinko Tomašić (anthropologist)
- researched the cultural history of the Croatian people
- he believed there were two cultural models: the mountain model (planinski – more aggressive,
patriarchal, pastoral, suspicious...) and the lowland model (panonski - peaceful, democratic,
agricultural...)

Three Primary Theoretical Perspectives

1) FUNCIONALIST PERSPECTIVE – macro sociological perspective

- Emile Durkheim - intrigued how the society maintains stability regardless of changes
- emphasizes the structure of society in which all parts have a meaningful function (organs in an
organism)
- all parts are symbiotic
- dysfunctions - some social phenomena seem to be unnecessary, but they are only harmful to part of the
society yet functional for the society as a whole (poverty)
- Robert Merton – defines two functions:
 manifest functions - the objective consequences which are intended and recognized
 latent functions - neither intended nor recognized (public trial of a criminal)
 2) CONFLICT PERSPECTIVE – macro sociological perspective
- interested in the reasons for social conflicts and changes
- Karl Marx - views human history as an eternal fight for means of production (historical materialism) -
differentiates phases slavery, feudalism, and capitalism - criticizes capitalism and the subordinate
position of the worker – his solution is communism – a classless society, by terminating private
ownership
- Neo Marxists stretch the conflict to male-female, old-young, city-village, black-white, Christian-Muslim

3) INTERACTIONIST PERSPECTIVE – micro sociological perspective

- examines the interaction between individuals
- Max Weber - emphasizes the social behaviour - interaction is based on communication in which there is
much of unspoken agreement, so it can be called symbolic interactionist perspective - If people define
situations as real, they are real in their consequences.

Research in Sociology

- the sociological study - systematic gathering of data about the society - performed in a way that uses
existing knowledge and expands it
- steps during a study:
a. set a problem - define the area of research
b. collect existing information – What do we already know?
c. set a hypothesis – assumption which we are trying to prove – What else do want to know?

- scientific sociological studies often observe relationships between variables

- researchers study how one variable changes another (independent and dependent variables)
- independent variables are those factors that affect the value of a dependent variable
Raising the price of movie tickets results in less movie visitors.
- we can establish a correlation - the degree to which two variables move in coordination with one
another, or even causality (cause and effect relationship)

d. choose a method and do the study

e. make a conclusion

Research Methods in Sociology

SURVEY
- create a survey form (face-to-face, in writing, via phone, online)
- define population (members of the society we want to research) - make it smaller by choosing a
representative sample
pros: fast, inexpensive, large number of data, relatively easy...
cons: dishonesty, too many surveys on the market, non- representative samples...

ETHNOGRAPHY (OBSERVATION)
- the scientific description of peoples and cultures with their customs, habits, and mutual differences
- suitable for smaller groups which makes it an interaction study
- ethical dilemma: to let the people know they are being observed or not?
- several approaches:
a) outside observer
b) observation without participation
c) observation with participation
Erving Goffman's study – he worked as a physical therapist at a mental institution
Dražen Lalić's study of Hajduk football fans Torcida
EXPERIMENT
- social experiment - a type of research for testing people's reactions to certain situations or events
- the researcher manipulates the situation in controlled circumstances
- can be done as a field or lab experiment
- carried out on two groups:
1) experimental (+ independent variable)
2) control group (- independent variable)
by comparing the results, we can see how much the independent variable affected the behaviour of
members of the experimental group
pros: can be done again
possible cons: self-fulfilling prophecy - the phenomenon of someone "predicting" or expecting
something, and then the person's resulting behaviours align to fulfil the belief, and as such this
"prediction" coming true simply because the person believes or anticipates it will.
- The Hawthorne effect - a type of reactivity in which individuals modify an aspect of their behaviour in
response to their awareness of being observed

DATA ANALYSIS
- depending on the source of data:
a) analysis of historical documents – books, pictures, charts, letters, diaries
- Max Weber's conclusion on the behaviour of the capitalist class lies on the interpretation of Calvinists’
lifestyle which he read about in the priests' sermons
b) statistical data analysis – interpretation of dana collected by other researchers
- Emile Durkheim – interpretation of suicide rates in European countries
c) analysis of media content – newspaper articles, movies, music, books, TV programs....
- in the early days of the Chernobyl catastrophe the West speculated about the accident relying on the
news coverage about the evacuation and army activities