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Dead Sociologist Club
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Dead Sociologist Club
What is Sociology
What is Sociology?
The study of social behavior and the organization of human society
Social structures
Social Structures
Groups, Communities, Organizations
Social categories
Social Categories
Age, Sex, Economic Class, Race & etc.
Social Institutions
Social institutions
Politics, Religion and Education
Title
What is wrong with this?
Four Key Questions
- What are people doing with each other?
- What are their relationships to each other?
- How are these relationships organized in institutions?
- What are the collective ideas that move men and institutions?
The Sociological Perspective
The Sociological perspective
- Seeking out general patterns in the behavior of particular people
- Ex-Social Categories: women/men, rich/poor, children/adults
- Society shapes our experiences: why that college? Is college something you choose to do? Why do Americans have less children? Incidence of suicide in different countries
- Related/overlaps other fields of study: psychology, history, political science, various sciences, etc.
Origin Story
Sociology originated from and was influenced by the Industrial Revolution during the early nineteenth century (rise of factory based industrial economy, growth of cities & democracy).
Origins of Sociology
Founders
Emile Durkheim
Founders
- Develops 1st Sociology class in France
- 1st to apply Scientific method to Society
- Believes that society was a set of interdependent parts that maintain the system throughout time.
- This is called Functionalist Perspective
He was interested in the function of religion in maintaining social order.
Believed shared beliefs and values were the glue that held society together.
He also studied suicide rates believing that a sociologist should study only features that are directly observable.
Karl Marx
Marx
- Believed that the structure of society is influenced by how its economy is organized.
- Society is divided into two classes.
- Bourgeoisie (capitalists) and Proletariat (workers).
- Believed that a classless society would eventually form when the workers over threw those in power. (Socialism)
- This is Conflict Perspective
Each citizen would contribute “according to his ability”.
He believed that a society’s economic system strongly influences its social structure. This has had a lasting influence on sociology.
Max Weber
Weber
- Interested in separate groups within society rather than in society as a whole.
- Thought that a sociologist should go beyond studying what can be directly observed and attempt to uncover the feelings and thoughts of individuals.
- Verstehen: to understanding the meanings individuals attach to their actions.
- This is Interactionist Perspective
Ideal Type: a description comprised of the essential
characteristics of a feature of society. (education for all
U.S. citizens)
Herbert Spencer
Founders & Scholars
- Believed that society is a set of interdependent parts that work together to maintain the system over time.
- Used Darwin’s theory of the evolution of biological organisms.
- Coined the term Social Darwinism.
- Social change and unrest are natural occurrences during society’s evolution towards stability and perfection.
- No steps should be taken to correct social ills.
- Only the fittest societies would survive over time, leading to a general upgrading of the world as a whole.
Functionalist Perspective