Jaymie Ticknor Intro Sociology 1510 Sect 900 1 September 2013 Society is marked by both change and stability Chapter 1 The Sociological Perspective What is Sociology Sociology is the study of human behavior in society All human behavior occurs in a societal context The Sociological Perspective C Wright Mills was one of the first to write about the sociological perspective in The Sociological Imagination well as groups of individuals history of a society that together constitute society Sociological Imagination the ability to see the societal patterns that influence the individual as Troubles privately felt problems that spring from events or feelings in a person s life Issues affect large numbers of people and have their origins in the institutional arrangements and Social Structure defined as the organized pattern of social relationships and social institutions The specific task of sociology according to Mills is to comprehend the whole of human society its personal and public dimensions historical and contemporary and its influence on the lives of human beings Empirical sociological conclusions are based on careful and systematic observations Debunking in Sociology Peter Berger calls seeing everyday life in new ways unmasking tendency of sociology Debunking refers to looking behind the facades of everyday life Establishing Critical Distance Critical Distance being able to detach from the situation at hand and view things with a critical mind Georg Simmel interested in the role of strangers in social groups Sociological perspective requires a combination of nearness and distance The Significance of Diversity Defining Diversity Diversity broad concept that includes studying group differences in society s opportunities the shaping of social institutions by different social factors the formation of group and individual identity and the process of social change The Development of Sociological Theory The Influence of the Enlightenment Enlightenment 18th and 19th century Europe has an enormous influence on the development of modern society Auguste Comte coined the term sociology believed that just as science had discovered the laws of nature sociology could discover the laws of human social behavior and thus help solve society s problems Positivism a system of thought in which scientific observation and description is considered the highest form of knowledge Alexis de Tocqueville felt that despite the emphasis on individualism in American culture Americans had little independence of mind making them self centered and anxious about their social class position Harriet Martineau s book Society in America is an analysis of the social customs that she observed Also wrote the first sociological methods book How to Observe Morals and Manners in which she discussed how to observe behavior when one is a participant in the situation being studied She is now seen as one of the founders of early sociological thought The giants of the European tradition of sociology were Emile Durkheim Karl Marx and Max Classical Sociological Theory Emile Durkheim was fascinated by how the public degradation of Jews by non Jews seemed to calm and unify a large segment of the divided French public According to Durkheim people in society are glued together by belief systems sense of Weber belonging Also viewed society as an entity larger than the sum of its parts described this as society sui generis thing in itself meaning that society is a subject to be studied separately from the sum of the individuals who compose it People come to believe what society expects them to believe Work is the basis for functionalism Created the term Social Facts social patterns that are external to individuals not to be explained by biology or psychology but are the proper subject of sociology they are its reason for being Analyzed rates of suicide in a society varied according to how clear the norms and customs of the society were whether the norms and customs were consistent with each other and non contradictory Anomie normlessness existed where norms were either grossly unclear or contradictory suicide rates were higher in such societies or such parts of a society Proposed that society could be known through the discovery and analysis of social facts this is the central task of sociology Karl Marx work was devoted to explaining how capitalism shaped society argued that capitalism is an economic system based on the pursuit of profit and the sanctity of private property Max Weber theorized that society had three basic dimensions political economic and cultural Credited with developing a multidimensional analysis of society Verstehen understanding social behavior from the point of view of those engaged in it Social Action behavior to which people give meaning Sociology in America Organic Metaphor early sociologists in both Europe and the U S conceived of society as an organism a system of interrelated functions and parts that work together to create the whole constantly evolving like an organism Charles Darwin identified the process termed evolution Social Darwinism survival of the fittest theorized that society was best left alone to follow its natural evolutionary course laissez faire hands off Robert Park from the University of Chicago was a key founder of sociology interested in urban problems and how different racial groups interacted with each other Cities typically being sets of concentric circles Jane Addams one of the most renowned sociologists of her day was a leader in the settlement house movement which provided community services and did systematic research designed to improve the lives of slum dwellers immigrants and other dispossessed groups Only practicing sociologist ever to win a Nobel Peace Prize in 1931 Ida B Wells Barnett wrote essays on the status of African Americans in the U S and was an active crusader against lynching and for women s rights W E B Du Bois received the first Ph D ever awarded to a Black person in any field Deeply troubled by the racial divisiveness in society the problem of the 20th century is the problem of the color line Theoretical Frameworks in Sociology Macrosociology theories that strive to understand society as a whole Durkheim Marx and Weber Microsociology theoretical frameworks that center on face to face social interaction some work from the Chicago School research that studies individuals and group processes in society Key Sociological Concepts Functionalism Social Structure refers