Introduction to Sociology: SA105 Lecture 1 notes PDF

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Lecture 1-2 notes, easy to read. Only highlighted points are exam-worthy....

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SA DAY2 (p.s. don’t use the word society. Seriously…. What can I use instead?) SEE THE SLIDES

**IMPORTANT LECTURE** spooky

➡Why did I dress myself today? ➡My answer: HABBITS ➡ CLASS, GENDER>>> Maybe ➡ cultural arrangements, a series of decisions made by organisations and not the individual choices made you dress yourself. ➡➡➡➡➡MASSIVE NO NO TO FREE WILL

SOCIOLOGICAL IMAGINAITON ➡➡➡ SEE SLIDES The ability to see connection between personal troubles and social structures. C. WRIGHT MILLS: think like a scholar i.e., with sociological imagination

Micro(face to face, personal)➡Macro(foreign, above one’s circle)➡Global Structures.(states , countries) ::: SEE SLIDEs

FOR ASSIGNMENT: Don’t tell your life story, be concise, think about sociological concepts and match it with something in your life, make informed research decisions, thesis(argument) is very very very important. CITATION: CHICAGO AUTHOR DATE (not Chicago)

VALUES: what we research, how we research, what kind of theories or methods are good? everything is govern be values. Objectivity: no bias, just facts and analysis. WEBER: Sociological research should be value free. Values should not shape scientific inquiry. Why? ➡➡ VIEWPOINT: viewpoints, concepts, and principles shape our reality. Viewpoints carry assumptions, values and ideas about what we experience.

➡➡ What does knowing do? again see the slides. Knowledge production== research+ research methods. ➡➡ Not neutral WILSON: research cannot pretend that they don’t have values. “Research is built from a position”. SUBJECTIVITY in research➡➡ see the slides

THEORY: Explanation for an observation or a phenomenon or a happening or an occurrence. Theories are created to understand why it is the way it is. Theories are not things (observable). A theory is a lens.

Functionalism: charts the history of sociology as a discipline. Structural functionalists believe that human behaviour is governed by social structure. Very chrono centric, though that what’s happening now is the pinnacle of human society. Like the human body, the world functions like a human body: remove anything upsetting social order, everything is harmonious and orderly, ➡ Each part has well defined and discrete roles, when one thing/organ starts malfunctioning, everything goes haywire.

CONFLICT THEORY: economy, labour, etc. focused on inequality. KARL MARX. {{Acc to him, class conflict has been the driving force for all of human history. }} Weber was also a conflict theorist, but he was not Marxist.

WEBER: different vectors on how we can think of class. Not just class but politics, religion, etc. also drove history.

MARX v. WEBER 🥊🥊 W.E.B DuBois ➡Race is also a social driver not just biological. Race was at the center of conflict in our society.

SYMBOLOIC INTERACTIONISM: Interpersonal. What meaning we attach to every single interaction. We can create our social circumstances not only react.

GEORGE HERBERT MEAD Our sense of self.

ERVING GOFFMAN We try to look good in front of others. Society is a stage, and we are all actors

FEMINIST THEORY: Everything focused against patriarchy.

INDIGENOUS THEORY AND DECOLONISING THEORY: See the slides...