Chapter One 09 17 2012 Sociology Chapter One Class notes August 29 12 Margaret Thatcher no such thing as society We as humans are trained to think about things individually and not look at the big picture Auguste Comte not just a collection of individuals Society are influenced by people We do things in a society setting that we would do by ourselves When we are together we act a hurd in society Traces social interaction and left a message Chapter One Book outline 09 17 2012 There is an everyday actor which are normal people in society Their knowledge is practical no scientific In contrast there is a social analyst They place in question everything that seems unquestionable They take on the perception of a stranger with the social world They go outside their norm and their element The analyst sees with clarity what the actor glosses over Strengths and weaknesses in both approaches What is sociology Sociology the systematic or scientific study human society and social behavior from large scale institutions and mass culture to small groups and individual interactions Society a group of people who shape their lives in aggregates and patterned way that distinguish their group from other groups Social Sciences the discipline that use the scientific method to examine the social world in contrast to the natural sciences which examine the Sociological perspective a way of looking at the world through a physical world sociological lens see things in a new way find out Beginner s mind approaching the world without preconceptions in order to Unlearning basically what we already know to see things in a different way This way approaches the world without knowing in advanced what we will Allows us to repercieve things in an open way and gain a different look at a familiar situation We are often all too preoccupied with thoughts and feelings that prevent us from fully participating in reality Sociology overlaps with other social sciences while maintaining its own approach Another way to gain sociological perspective is to create a culture chock Culture shock a sense of disorientation that occurs when you enter a radically new social or cultural environment Sociological imagination a quality of the mind that allows is to understand the relationship between our individual circumstance and larder Most of the time we use psychological rather than sociological argument to explain why things are or aren t The social imagination searches for the link between micro and macro levels social forces Like debt of analysis This allows us to see fallacies in our way of thinking Chapter One 09 17 2012 Class Notes Friday August 29 12 C Wright Mills he was trying to convince the average American that this perspective would benefit individuals and whole societies He wrote a guide book for those who wanted to start thinking and acting on their own behaviors things as private matters He argues that in the United States we are all taught to think about Every person is unique there will always be a difference because we perceive things differently We can never fully take on someone else s perspective Have to make things difficult studying individual behavior thinking and behavior but looking from the social point of view Unique perspective in sociology that sets is apart Relationships between similar individuals and similar situations but still have different experiences People can escalate their behaviors when something else is really to blame in a bigger social issue One gets tied up and there is nothing to blame in the situation but The car example The cars and the two people were blaming each other and in reality the social issue is that whoever made that space made it to small So they are to blame in reality You can go back in time to how this trickled down If we don t look at bigger situations than we begin to blame the wrong people and things When in reality the issue is bigger than what one can see When you don t view the larger social context Along with the opposite way of looking at it Using an excuse to say that it is society to blame Chapter One 09 17 2012 Book outline 14 27 Levels of Analysis Sociological perspectives are like the photographer s lenses Microsociology the level of analysis that studies face to face and small group interactions in order to understand how they affect the larger patterns and institutions of society Zoom lens Looks at the smallest building blocks of society in order to under its large scale structure Society s larger structures are shaped through individual Macrosocioloy the level of analysis that studies large scale social structures in order to determine how they affect the lives of groups Society s larger structures shape those individual interactions Theories in sociology abstract propositions that explain the social interactions and individuals Family tree world tht make predictions about the future They try to explain and predict the social world Roots Auguste Comte First to provide a social physics Positivism the theory developed by comte that sense perceptions are the only valid source of knowledge Gain knowledge of the world directly through your senses Scientific method a procedure for acquiring knowledge that emphasizes collecting concrete data through observation and experiment created the word sociology played an important role in the development of discipline She translated comtes ideas into English so America could se his Harriet Martineau important ideas Herbert Spencer Was primarily responsible for the establishment of sociology in America and in Britain Social Darwinism the application of the theory of evolution and the notion of survival of the fittest to the study of society Macrosociological Theory Structural functionalism The assumption that society is a unified whole that functions because of the contributions of its separate structures Emily Durkheim Central figure Social bonds were in every society but that different types of societies created different bonds Mechanical solidarity term development to describe the type of social bonds present in premodern societies Shared traditions and beliefs created a sense of social cohesion Organic solidarity the type of social bonds present in modern societies based on difference interdependence and individual rights He believed that even the most individualistic actions had sociological explanations and set out to establish a scientific methodology change Anomie normalness To describe the alienation and loss