Croteau 3 im ch01 - Lecture notes Chapter 1 PDF

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Croteau & Hoynes, Experience Sociology 3e

Chapter 1 – Sociology in a Changing World

Brief Outline What Is Sociology? Sociology’s Historical and Social Context Foundations of Sociological Thought Sociology’s Diverse Theories Sociology’s Common Ground: Culture, Structure, and Power A Changing World: From Modern to Postmodern Society

Learning Objectives 1. Define sociology and describe the sociological perspective. 2. Describe how the rise of modernity contributed to the foundation of sociological thought. 3. Summarize the contributions of the major figures in the history of sociology from Auguste Comte on. 4. Define social theory and describe the key dimensions of sociological theory: micro and macro analyses, consensus versus conflict, and subjective versus objective reality. 5. Describe and distinguish structural-functionalist theories, conflict theories, and symbolic interactionist theories. 6. Describe how the concepts of culture, structure, and power are central to the sociological perspective. 7. Use the sociological perspective to explain the social changes taking place in the postmodern era.

Lecture Outline A. What Is Sociology? 1. The Sociological Perspective  Seeing and understanding the connections between individuals and their broader social contexts  C. Wright Mills, “sociological imagination”—our individual condition depends on larger forces in society 2. Sociology and Common Sense  Common-sense wisdom, especially in a diverse society, makes contradictory claims.

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3. Sociology as a Discipline  Social sciences: research-based disciplines that gather and evaluate evidence in order to study human society B. Sociology’s Historical and Social Context  Early sociologists sought to understand the dramatic change occurring with the rise of modernity in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and to suggest how the resulting social problems might best be dealt with. 1. Cultural Revolution: Science and the Enlightenment  Enlightenment: eighteenth-century intellectual movement that embraced concepts of individual freedom and rights and the calculated logic of the natural sciences  This new emphasis on reason and science created the cultural conditions needed for the emergence of sociology as a discipline. 2. Political Revolution: The Rise of Democracy  Conflict between social order and social change 3. Economic and Social Revolution: Industrial Capitalism and Urbanization  Industrialization linked to the rise of capitalism, consumerism, and urbanization; dramatic changes in how people lived  Early industrial capitalism was highly productive but also created great inequalities and growing social problems, inspiring calls for reform. C. Foundations of Sociological Thought 1. Defining the Terrain of Sociology: Comte and Spencer a. Auguste Comte: Stability and Change  Social dynamics: How and why do societies change? Social statics: What is the basis of social stability at a specific historic moment?  Positivism: belief that accurate knowledge must be based on the scientific method b. Herbert Spencer: Society as a Social Organism  Social Darwinism; idea that the evolution of society should be allowed to take place without government interference 2. The Key Founders: Marx, Durkheim, and Weber a. Karl Marx: The Effects of Capitalism  Recognition of the connection between wealth and poverty; and of the importance of power, a core concept in sociology b. Emile Durkheim: Social Solidarity  Social solidarity (collective bonds); mechanical solidarity (common identity)  Increasing division of labor  Organic solidarity: social cohesion of industrial societies, based on interdependence  Collective conscience (shared values of society) versus anomie (normlessness, without moral guidance) c. Max Weber: The Protestant Ethic and the Rationalization of Modern Life  The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism: cultural beliefs could influence economic development.  Tradition versus rationality; and a “dark side” of rationality

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3. Recovered Voices: Harriet Martineau, W. E. B. Du Bois, Jane Addams  Individuals at the margins of academic sociology when they were alive; now appreciated more widely a. Harriet Martineau: Gender Discrimination  Considered by many to be the first female sociologist; delved into topics largely ignored by white male sociologists b. W. E. B. Du Bois: Racial Inequality  Works dealt with the complexity of race relations in turn-of-the-century American society; combined scholarship with activism, playing an important role in the founding of the NAACP c. Jane Addams: Urban Social Problems  Social reformer, founder of Hull House (settlement houses), winner of the Nobel Peace Prize; works had significant influence on the development of urban sociology; believed social theory and research should be linked to action promoting social change D. Sociology’s Diverse Theories 1. Understanding Theory  A theory is not just a hunch or personal opinion.  Theories evolve and are sometimes rejected, leaving the most useful to survive.  Multiple theories often give us a more complete picture than any single one. 2. Key Dimensions of Theory a. Consensus and Conflict b. Objective and Subjective Reality c. Micro-Level and Macro-Level Analyses 3. Structural-Functionalist Theories  Focus on consensus and cooperative interaction in social life, emphasizing how the different parts of society contribute to its overall operation 4. Conflict Theories  Focus on issues of contention, power, and inequality, highlighting the competition for scarce resources 5. Symbolic Interactionist Theories  Focus on how society emerges from people’s use of shared symbols in the course of their everyday interactions 6. Feminist Theories and Theoretical Diversity  Postmodernism E. Sociology’s Common Ground: Culture, Structure, and Power  What are the core concepts that enable people using a variety of theories to identify as sociologists? 1. Culture  The collection of values, beliefs, knowledge, norms, language, behaviors, and material objects shared by a people and socially transmitted from generation to generation  Operates at all levels of society; but tends to be taken for granted because its basic customs and assumptions are internalized

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Must be taught and learned through the process of socialization; and conflicts are common 2. Structure  Recurring patterns of behavior in social life, at all levels of society; patterns are both informal and formal  Created to help accomplish goals; but also constrain what individuals can do  Must be reproduced through continuing patterns of behavior; can be changed through changes in that behavior 3. Power  The ability to bring about an intended outcome, even when opposed by others  Operates at all levels of society, including within families, in organizations, and in national and international relations  Commonly used to allocate resources (economic power), make rules and decisions (political power), and help define reality (cultural power); thus, closely tied to inequality A Changing World: From Modern to Postmodern Society 1. Ten Features of Postmodern Society 2. The Challenge and Hope of Sociology Sociology Works: The Sociology Major and the Job Market Through a Sociological Lens: Explaining the Social Basis of Suicide Sociology in Action: Studying Homelessness 

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G. H. I.

Lecture Summary 1. Sociology is the systematic study of the relationship between individuals and society. A sociological perspective helps us to consider how the decisions people make are shaped by broader social conditions. 2. The discipline of sociology was established in the context of economic, political, scientific, and cultural revolutions during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Early sociologists sought to explain the implications of social changes brought about by industrialization and urbanization. 3. Sociology was grounded in the idea that the scientific method can be applied to obtaining accurate knowledge about society and human behavior. The ideas of Emile Durkheim, Karl Marx, and Max Weber established the agenda for much of modern sociology. Durkheim examined the nature of social solidarity; Marx was concerned with social conflict and inequality; and Weber considered the rationalization of modern life. Other scholars gave voice to marginalized groups and demonstrated how sociology could illuminate the origins and consequences of discrimination and oppression. 4. Sociological theories offer explanations for how societies operate. They vary on several key dimensions, including assumptions about consensus and conflict in society, notions of material and cultural aspects of social life, and whether the theories tend to focus on IM – 1 | 4 Copyright © 2018 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.

small- or large-scale social phenomena. Sociologists often categorize sociological theories into three groups: structural-functional theories, conflict theories, and symbolic interactionist theories. Sociology has also developed newer perspectives that do not fit neatly into these categories, including feminist and postmodern theories. 5. Although sociology has embraced multiple perspectives for a study of society, the field is united by an emphasis on concepts such as culture, structure, and power.

Additional Lecture Ideas 1. Have students visit the American Sociological Association website (http://asanet.org/). What current research is being done? What is the current outlook for those who work in the field of sociology? What does it mean to work in the field of sociology? 2. Have students review Harriet Martineau’s writings, specifically How to Observe Morals and Manners. In this work she discusses her methods of social research. How is sociological research the same as when Martineau conducted research? How has it changed? Much of Martineau’s research was overlooked at the time because she was a woman. How did her health issues also contribute to how she was perceived? 3. Have students review W. E. B. Du Bois’s work and visit the website of the NAACP’s magazine The Crisis (http://thecrisismagazine.com/). Where can you see the influence of Du Bois’s work today? How has racial theory changed since his time? Further discuss Du Bois’s political beliefs. How did his political beliefs affect society’s perception of his academic work? 4. Use an episode of a science fiction genre television show or movie. What aspects of postmodernism are emphasized in the show or movie? Does it take seriously the ideas of postmodernism? Does it challenge those ideas or make fun of them? What does our perception of the future say about our perception of today?

Classroom Discussion Topics Routine 1. Break the class up into groups of no more than four students per group. Have students write down their schedule from the day before, starting from the time they awoke until the time they went to bed. Have the students compare their notes. What do they do? Where do they go? Do they follow the same pattern every day? Do the students find that their lives are all very different? Or do they find that as students they all follow the same pattern? If they are different, why?

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Sociological Imagination 2. Break the class up into groups of no more than four students per group and give each group a newspaper. Have students choose an article and discuss it, using their “sociological imagination.” How could the issue discussed in the article be seen as an individual issue? How could it be seen as a social problem? How is the individual problem linked with broader social issues of society? Sociology as a Discipline 3. Give the students an article from a recent newspaper. How would a sociologist look at the issue depicted in the article differently from a political scientist, an economist, a psychologist, and an anthropologist? How is the sociological perspective different? Sociological Theory 4. Break the class up into groups of no more than four students per group and give each a newspaper article. Choose one that is not obviously written from or influenced by any particular sociological theory. Have the students analyze the content of the article through the lenses of structural-functionalist, conflict, and symbolic interactionist theories. How does each theory emphasize something different about the subject of the article?

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