Socio 101 all notes PDF

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All lecture notes for the semester from slide and my own notes...

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Socio 101-Lecture 1 (1-2-2018) - Sociology is the study of people within groups, organisations and society • It is a critical discipline to; Seeing the general in the particular, seeing the strange in the familiar and seeing the personal choice in a social context. • Introduction to visualising arguments • Convert author’s arguments into a visual “map”. This may be call an ‘argument’ or ‘concept’ map. • In an argument map, contentions are supported by reason. • Identify the contention of an authors argument and the reason supporting the contention. • When mapping out a set of casual factors, you can use ‘chains’. Lack of sleep, leads to, difficulty staying awake to complete assigned reading, leads to, Incomplete understanding of material, leads to, Not prepared for in-class discussions.

Socio101- Lecture 2 (2-2-2018) • Sociological Imagination • C. Wright Mills (1916-1962) is a sociologist who was born in Waco, TX and studied at Columbia University. He explored sociological Imagination between private trouble and public issue. • “Nowadays men often feel that their private lives are a series of traps. They sense that within their everyday worlds, they cannot overcome their troubles, and in this feeling, they are often quite correct: What ordinary men are directly aware of and what they try to do are bounded by the private orbits in which they live; their visions and their powers are limited to the close-up scenes of job, family, neighborhood; in other milieux, they move vicariously and remain spectators. And the more aware they become, however vaguely, of ambitions and of threats which transcend their immediate locales, the more trapped they seem to feel.” - C. Wright Mills. The sociological Imagination, 1959. • Framework for understanding out social world: • Individual Level- Things that we surround ourselves with that we are grown up with, believing in. Eg, History, Culture, Institutions, Public policy. • Most of us, especially in Western Societies are taught and encouraged to think in individualistic terms. • Society happens at the larger social level than what we are used to as our individual level. • Our personal choices are shaped by social and cultural features. But society in general happens at a larger social level. • Private troubles- Occur within the character of the individual and within the range of his immediate relations with others; they have to do with his self and with those limited areas of social life of which he is directly and personally aware. • Public Issues- Have to do with matters that transcend these local environments of the individual and the range of his inner life. They have

to do with the organisation of many such milieux into the institutions of an historical society as a whole, without the ways in which various milieux overlap and interpenetrate to from the larger strutture of social and historical life. • Example: A city of 50,000 people, and 100 are unemployed is a private trouble. But a city of 50,000 and 20,000 are unemployed is a public issue. Sociologists are challenged to produce analysis of the contemporary world, but in doing so there is a tendency to neglect the role of history. Socio101- Lecture 3 (8-3-18) - Scientific Method- Ways of knowing • We tend to focus on how things evolve and how the have not • People have different sets of experiences • Ways of knowing • Different cultures have distinct “strategies for obtaining knowledge and for deciding whether or not something is true.” • Media is where we get our main sources of knowledge • Strengths of this knowledge: • Informing people of world event • Different news outlets provide slightly different viewpoints • Reaches a wider range of people cause media is everywhere • Weaknesses of this knowledge • Not knowing what is right and what isn’t on social media such as facebook or twitter • Too many people reporting on one topic and therefore the message gets distorted • There is often a strong biased • Sociology as a science • Sociology is the scientific study of human behaviour • The continuous cycle of science • Theorise • Hypotheses (Deductive Research) • Specific observations • General research findings (Inductions) • Specific observations = something that is actually happening in society and what is happening in a particular group • Inductive = looking at findings and then coming up with a theory • Deductive = Coming up with a theory then doing specific observations • Components of the sociological imagination • Structural vs individual • Systematic vs personal • Critical vs ‘common sense’ • We want to know whats been done in the past earn researching on issues. • If we understand tat sociology is a science, how do scientific methods strengthen the sociological imagination? • Giving evidence to what you’re trying to say. Backing up your opinion.

• People need to be able to replicate your studies (qualitative/quantitative) • Types of questions • Aesthetic questions- How someone feels about how something looks • Moral questions- How someone feels about something (sociologists do not answer this question) • Interpretive questions• Empirical questions- Come from observation. Has to be scientific evidence. (empirical research) Sources that have to go through the process to prove that it is empirical eg, bible, tv shows are not empirical sources. • Being sociologically mindful “In the end, sociological mindfulness must be more than studying how the social world works. It must also do more that inspire curiosity, care and hope- although these we cannot do without. If it is to be worth practicing, sociological mindfulness must help us change ourselves and our ways of doing things together, so that we can live more peacefully and productively with others, without exploitation, disrespect and inequality. Sociological mindfulness is a was to see where we are and what needs to be done.” Socio101- Lecture 4 (Marx and Weber) • Introduction: • Karl Marx (1818-1883) and Max Weber (1864-1920) • Two founding fathers of modern Sociology (leaving Emile Durkheim aside for now) • Both Marx and Weber were German; both did their work outside the University; and both had massive output, • Both focus on social theories of ‘capitalism’ à as they struggle to identify the emerging modern social form of the ‘human condition’ (‘modernity’) • This lecture introduces some of their key ideas, and some of the key differences in their approaches à how their debate defines Sociology to the present • BUT NOTE: prolific writers, inevitably internal inconsistencies in their perspectives; this lecture underplays them • Lectures Perspective: • Core currents of debate in Sociology, right to the present, have their roots in the differences between Marx’s and Weber’s theories of society in the modern capitalist world • We wish to make you more aware of what these foundations are, and what these debates are about • Weber’s work is in critical dialogue with Marx; certainly Marx is Weber’s point of reference; his point of critical departure. (Weber talking to the ghost of Marx) • However, I think Weber’s Sociology has won out in the Academy??!! How? • Incorporating Marx into Weber, a Weberian reading of Marx à making Marx redundant/ giving him a Weberian face

• The power of ideology is greatest when it is invisible, that is, when we don’t realise that this is what has happened • I call myself a second generation neo-Marxist • My game, in a kind of parallel way, is to incorporate the best of the Weberian tradition • To fill the gaps in the Marxist tradition, and thereby assert the Marxist tradition! • The topic is humungous! Here, just trying to introduce some core themes of Sociology as expressed by their differences • Different modes of inquiry: • Marx: •Soc i al whol e •Obj ec t i v e •Ex pl anat or y •Pr ax i s • Weber: • Individual • Subjective • Descriptive •Neutral social science • Social whole vs Individual: •Weberbegi nswi t hi ndi v i dual s ,andex ami ness oc i al gr oupsandf or msofsoci al c ons c i ous nes sandac t i onast hes um t ot al oft hes econs ci ousi ndi v i dual ac t i ons : ‘ met hodol ogi cal i ndi v i dual i s m’ ,‘ i deal t y pes ’ /‘ nor ms ’ •Mar xbegi nswi t h‘ s oc i et y ’ ,andex ami nesi ndi v i dual sandgr oups ,( ex per i enc esand c ons c i ous nes s )ast hepr oduc t soft hes t r uc t ur esandpr oc es s est hatdefi ne s oc i et y( ec onomi c( r el at i onsandf or c esofpr oduct i on)andt hef or m ofpol i t i cs / i deol ogy( t hes t at e)andt hatgener at eapr oc es sofdy nami cc hangeov ert i me: ‘ met hodol ogi cal hol i s m’ • Description and explanation: • Weber’s approach emphasises empirical observation/ description/ describing ‘what is’ • Marx’s approach is more clearly focused on causality; i.e. explaining what is observed, hidden structures •Dynamic structure à social circumstances à everyday individual experiences and forms of consciousness • Subjective Vs Objective: • Weber emphasises the subjective grounding of objective phenomena (status, Protestantism) • Marx emphasises the objective logic of capitalist society à forms of subjectivity (individual consciousness/ politics/ ideology/ culture • Foundational Conception of Sociology: • “Consciousness is from the beginning a social product, and remains so as long as [humanity] exists at all.” 51 • “Consciousness can never be anything else other than conscious existence, and the existence of [people] in their actual life processes.” 47 … which are materially and socially defined in real space and time • Production is a social activity, the necessary basis of all societies.

• People must co-operate to meet their basic needs. • They must be in “a position to live in order to “make history.” 48 • à “… language is practical consciousness … only arises from the need, the necessity of social intercourse between [people] (51) [to meet our material needs} • Peoples consciousness (‘conceiving, thinking, mental intercourse’ 47) arises from their social experiences in real space and time: • This includes the ‘language of politics, laws, morality, religion, metaphysics, etc of a people. … real active [people] as they are conditioned by a definite development of their productive forces [tools/ methods/ technologies] and of the corresponding [social relations of production]. • Essential themes of Sociology arise: what is society? How does it determine our experience/ opportunities/ consciousness? What is the relationship between objective circumstances of society, and forms of subjectivity? • Modern Capitalism (Marx and Weber): • Marx: seeking to discover capitalism’s essential economic logic as a ‘process without a subject’ • Marx: capitalism is based in class exploitation/ is crisis ridden/ goes through phases of development à eventually, will be superseded • Marx emphasises capitalism’s objective logic • Weber: identifies the essential role of Protestantism in bringing about modern capitalism • Weber: capitalism as the expression of a bureaucratic rationality (double entry bookkeeping) • Weber emphasises the subjective (forms of ideology/ religion/ laws), while •Marx more critical of capitalism, while Weber focuses on its technical rationality, though seeds of a critique (‘iron cage’) • Classes in a capitalist world (Marx): • Marx begins with the idea of the ‘social totality’, and then seeks to identify its essential social structure and dynamic • à Essential social relations driving the form of the production and distribution of wealth (and thus power and ideology) • Capitalist mode of production = wage earning producers exploited by owner/ controllers of the conditions, process and results of production • à Examines classes (groups of people sharing the same circumstances) as the causal effect of this economic logic • à traeger: treats individuals as the bearers of structures that are embedded in their circumstances that they did not choose • à prognosis: predicts how the structural pattern of class positions will change as a result of the unfolding of the logic of capitalism •à Class-in-itself à class-for-itself: predicts the forms and patterns of consciousness, ideology, action that can expect to arise from the experience of circumstances • Stratification under modernity (Weber): • Weber begins with individuals, as conscious actors imbued with subjectivity

• Treats classes as aggregates of individuals who share similar ‘market chances’, and similar lifestyle (habitus, Bourdieu) associated with individual mobility within groups of people who have occupations with similar status • Market chances: Equals bundles of assets in the form of income and education, associated with occupations • (= status, subjectivity, in the form of the prestige associated with income, education, occupation) • Classes are derived as a pattern of strata: arranged as a hierarchy of inequality from high to low status. •Patterns of individual social interaction and social mobility are captured • Marxism but no Weberism? • Marx’s project: an integrated and holistic theory of the capitalist world, and how this world will develop over time, and how it will create the conditions of its own transformation • Marx’s Sociology is grounded in PRAXIS (how to use our knowledge to change the world); i.e., is politically engaged • Weber’s project offers a massive number of innovative concepts and specific revisions of, and additions to, Marx’s project, but not such an integrated social theory • Weber emphasises that the Sociologist needs to be disinterested/ impartial/ objective/ at a distance • Weber is much closer to the project of the modern University? •Marx retains the radical spirit of Sociology, still grounds the most powerful critique of the contemporary capitalist world, and the spirit of social emancipation, of praxis

Socio101- Lecture 5 (15-3-18) • Sociology of health and illness • Whare tapa whā model of health • World health organisation • Health is: A state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity • ‘healthy’ and ‘sick’ as social categories • The was ‘healthy’ and ‘sick’ are defined produces social groups • This affects how we see one another and how we live our lives • The boundaries of ‘healthy’ and ‘sick’ are contestable • What counts as ‘healthy’ and what counts as ‘sick’ is socially produced. • Consider the effects of social beliefs in the following examples: • PMS- defined however you want, whether it is medical or not • Self- harm- whether to define self harm as a physiatrics illness. This would possibly make it worse. Doesn’t need to be defined as an illness. • “Healthy”: Fitness freaks,

• “Sick”: Disabled- depending on social status, addicts, hypocondriactes, crazy, diabetic, asthmatic, • Definitions of healthy/sick are tied up with identity • This affects: • Who we are- What label we are given/give ourselves • How we interact with one another • What opportunities we have- people being sent to prison depending on what diagnosis they have • What we experience- we might get defined in a way that affects what we experience in the education system etc. • Symbolic Interactionist thinking about health and illness • Human beings are engaged in social activity and social structure. We must learn how to engage with one noter and how to perceive ourselves in that context. We take up roles, and we have a sense of identity. • Inundates are organised in relation to one another- this involves hierarchies or power relations. • Identities are powerful in motivating our interactions and behaviour • We experience emotions when others respond positively of negatively to us or our identity • Symbolic interactions was put forward by Herbert Blumer in 1969, drawing on the work of many before him, including George Herbert Mead and John Dewey. • Example: Drinking alcohol • The idea of ‘excessive drinking’ or ‘problem drinking’ takes on very different meaning in different social contexts. • Prohibition: drinking is a Crome • Some religious contexts: drinking is a sin • Drinking in some social contexts: drinking is socially questionable (Eg a kid drinking) • Particular drinking behaviours: drinking as an addiction/ illness - An interactionist approach • Social contexts and roles: If a person is thought to drink too much, how might that affect their engagement in social contexts • Emotion: What kinds of emotions might come into play • The self and identity: What kind of person might they presumed to be? What labels might be applied to them • Power relations and hierarchies: If they are labeled, what position might that put them in? What might they lose? • Taking and interactions approach to alcoholism enables us to see how it is medicalised, ie: constructed as an illness • This is not the only way to interpret and respond to particular drinking behaviours • Critical Theory: • Critical theory emerged during the 1920s and 1930s with a focus on questioning ideas that had been taken for granted • Scientific ideas – and the way science works to produce knowledge – are questioned by critical theorists

•Builds on work by Habermas who wrote about science as an ideology that is implicated in those in privileged positions maintaining control • Science produces a particular kind of knowledge, and renders other ways of knowing invalid • This marginalises people for whom “alternative” ways of knowing are important • Critical thinking is intended to help us understand how we understand one another, and give meaning to social life • You will learn more about critical theory in sociology by reading about sociology of the body, feminist sociology, queer theory, and poststructuralist theory. •Example: Questioning gender identity or suffering from “gender dysphoria” • Health and medical sciences produce research about people who question their gender identity, and suggest that this is a mental illness called “gender dysphoria.” • Many people who question their gender identity, define themselves as trans* and say this is an identity, not an illness •Ther ei sgoods oc i ol ogi c al r es ear c ht hatval ueshow weunder st andour sel ves asgender edandgi v emeani ngt ot hes ex edbody •Thi ss oc i ol ogi c al r es ear c hs ugges t st hatdi agnos i ngt r ans *peopl ewi t h“ gender dy s phor i a”i sanex ampl eofpat hol ogi sat i on. • Critical thinking enables us to question pathologisation • Instead of taking it for granted that gender identity issues are a sign of mental illness, we can consider this as pathologising. This might lead us to explore other ways of making sense of gender identity questions. Socio101- Lecture 7 (Social Class) • What is Class?: • Social class is not based on race, ethnicity, gender or age • Yet, there is often on overlap with these variables •r el at i v es oc i al r anki nt er msofi nc ome,weal t h,educat i on,s t at usand/ orpower •peopl es har i ngar el at i ons hi pt ot hemeansofpr oduct i on( p.137) •I si tt hes ameass oc i oec onomi cst at us( SES) ? •Ani ndi v i dual ’ spos i t i oni nas t r at i fieds oc i alor der ;ameas ur et hatat t empt st o c l as s i f ygr oupsandi ndi v i dual si nt er msofi ndi c at or ss uc hasocc upat i on,i nc ome, weal t h,andeducat i on •Whydowor ker sbuyi nt ot hei deol ogyoft hemi ddl ecl ass ? • Antonio Gramsci (1971) • Hegemony as the political, cultural and economic domination of the capitalist over other classes •Legitimises ideas and ideologies of the ruling class where they are made to look normal (ex. myth that NZ is egalitarian society) •Mas smedi ar ol ei nant agoni s t i cc l as sr el at i ons( ev enamongi ndi v i dual si nt he s ames oc i al c l as s ) ? •Repr esent at i veSampl eoft heU. S.

• Economic or resource inequality NZ: •Theav er agei ncomeofs omeonei nt her i c hes t1% hasdoubl ed,f r om j us tunder $200, 000t onear l y$400, 000( adj us t i ngf ori nflat i on) .I nc ont r as t ,t heav er age di s pos abl ei nc omef ors omeonei nt hepoor es t10% i sonl ys l i ght l yhi ghert hani t wasi nt he1980s .ThatmeansmanyNewZeal ander ss t r uggl et opayt hei rbi l l sand l eadadec entl i f e.

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• the wealthiest tenth own nearly a fifth of the country’s net worth, while the poorest half of the country has less than 5 % • wealth & poverty are connected • unequal societies are less functional, less cohesive & less healthy tha...