SOCI 1101 Coverdill Exam 1 Study Guide Topics 1 3 Chapter 1 The Sociological Perspective pgs 2 21 Definition and main focus of sociology Sociology the scientific study of human society and social interactions Main goal to understand social situations and look for repeating patterns in society Main focus is the group not the individual attempt to focus on the forces that operate throughout society Types of Questions Sociologists tend to ask Age Socioeconomic level and Ethnic characteristics Are there differences Why Distinction between personalized and sociological approach to social issues Personalized Approach o My laptop was stolen I know 3 other people who are victims of theft crime rate is going up Sociological Approach o Bureau of Justice Statistics say crime rate is going down The Sociological Imagination The relationship between individual experiences and forces in the larger society that shape our actions The process of looking at all types of human behavior patterns and finding previously unseen connections among them Ex Marriage and age income religion educational level Focuses on every aspect of society and every relationship among individuals Social Darwinism Created by Herbert Spencer most famous philosopher of his time Applied to society Charles Darwin s notion of survival of the fittest in which those species of animals best adapted to the environment survived and prospered whereas those poorly adapted died out Allowed people to oppose welfare programs because they would be interfering with nature s plan to do away with the unfit Herbert Spencer 1820 1903 Wanted to demonstrate how the idea of evolution applied to sociology biology psychology and morality Most famous philosopher of his time Believed that society was similar to a living organism o Just as the individual organs of the body are interdependent and make their specialized contributions to the living whole so do the various segments of society Karl Marx 1818 1883 Revolutionary proponent of the political and social system seen in countries once labeled communist His views on class conflict were shaped by the industrial revolution Wanted to know why society produced such inequalities and he looked for a way to improve the human condition Believed the entire history of human societies can be seen as the history of class conflict conflict between the bourgeoisie who owned and controlled the means of productions and the proletariat who made up the mass of workers the exploiters and the exploited He believed the capitalists controlled the wealth power and even ideas in society He predicted that capitalist society would be split into two broad categories the capitalists and the increasingly impoverished workers The socialist system Marx envisioned would also require what he called a dictatorship of the proletariat a temporary govt in which the needs of the workers were protected this would lead to a true socialist society He contributed to the development of the conflict theory Emily Durkheim 1858 1917 Produced the first true sociological study His work helped move sociology out of the realm of social philosophy and into the direction of social science 1895 published Rules of the Sociological Method o Described what sociology was and how research should be done Believed that individuals were exclusively the products of their social environment and that society shapes people in every possible way Studied suicide believed that if he could take what was perceived to be totally personal act and show that it is patterned by social factors rather than exclusively by individual mental disturbances he would provide support for his point of view Believed suicide rates were influenced by group cohesion and societal stability low levels of cohesion high levels of suicide Studied suicide rates in Catholic vs Protestant countries and after studied several other groups 3 types of suicide egoistic Altruistic and anomic o Egoistic comes from low group cohesion an underinvolvement with others single and divorced people had higher suicide rates than married people o Altruistic derives from very high level of group cohesion an overinvolvement with others individual is so tired of a certain set of goals they want to die Ex Japan seppuku kamikaze attacks suicide bombers o Anomic sense of feeling disconnected from society s values know what goals they want but don t know how to get there He also focused on forces that hold together society Max Weber 1864 1920 Thought of sociology as the study of social action Primary focus was on the individual meanings people attach to the world around them Much of his work attempted to clarify criticize and modify the work of Marx Wanted to understand human behavior Marx saw capitalism as the source of control exploitation and alienation of human beings and believed that socialism and communism would ultimately bring an end to this exploitation Weber believed bureaucracy would characterize both socialist and capitalist societies Early Sociology in America Sociology had it s roots in Europe and did not become widely recognized in the US until almost the beginning of the 20th century o Began at the University of Chicago 1st grad department founded in the 1890s Many of America s leading sociologists came from here Jane Addams o From Chicago o Deeply committed to social reform born into a Quaker family dedicated to the antislavery cause o Traveled though Europe and observed the poor and how organizations tried to alleviate poverty o Opened the Hull House in Sep 1889 with Ellen Gates Star Designed to serve immigrant pop of Chicago s 19th ward Became known internationally for championing the rights of immigrants and fighting for child labor laws o 1931 won the Nobel Peace Prize W E B Du Bois o 1st African American to receive a PhD from Harvard in 1896 o Then went to Atlanta University where he est and was in charge of the sociology program until 1910 o Country s leading African American sociologist o He believed that doctrines and theories had a strong effect on social conditions he felt it was important to change the beliefs to improve the status of African Americans o Wrote The Souls of Black Folk in 1903 Blending sociology and economics he described the injustices that had scarred the black experience in US o Died the day before MLK s March on Washington Talcott Parsons 1902 1979 o Sociologist most responsible for developing theories of structural functionalism in the US o Presented English