StructureFlorida State UniversitySociology DepartmentSYG 1000 Introduction to SociologyDr. Gloria T. LessanSpring 2012Study Guide Questions #1CAVEAT: The following questions are a guideline to study the assigned materials and lecture notes in preparation for the first midterm exam. These questions are not a contract that defines the test.1. Sociology came about during a period of rapid and dramatic social change. Elaborate on the social events that influenced the development of sociology as a science. • The transition from the Age of Faith (Feudalism) to the Age of Enlightenment (1700s)o No questions asked because of the ultimate belief in God, society was ruled by the churcho During the Age of Enlightenment philosophers began to use the scientific method to describe the phenomena that their faith used to English Empiricism: knowledge comes from experiences• Thomas Hobbes: social contract: people give up individual rights to form a government to regulate social interactions, negative view of nature • John Locke: social contract: individuals form state to protect there lives, liberty, and property, nature mostly good, government is conditional, human mind is a blank slate Scottish Moral Philosophy: time of intellectual and scientific accomplishments• Adam Smith: economist, division of labor French Utopian Socialism• Collective ownership eliminates greed and promotes personal growth, cultural enrichment, and democracyo J.J. Rousseau: social contract: government should be for the people and by the people, governed by popular sovereignty German Idealism: philosophical movement marked by transcendental idealism that sought to liberate humans from reason• Kant: our mind shapes our experience• Hegel: political (government) versus civil (family) society• The Age of Revolution: American and the French Revolutiono Seek social and political changeo Found individual principles that shaped social consciousnesso Government now represents the will of the people o Industrial Revolution: the development of technology allowed mass production thus factories appeared, the masses immigrated to the cities looking for work Marx: the factories owned by capitalism are oppressive to their workers• Karl Marx, Emile Durkheim, and Max Weber merged the methodology of the scientific investigation with the social events involved in the French and American revolutions and developed a social science of sociology. o Marx Distribution of power and distribution of wealth between the bourgeois wealthy and the proletariat or poor laborer Balances could be changed through a step-by-step system. o Durkheim Similarly approached the development of social behaviors Described a society's complex structure in terms of the simple division of labor, the wealthy business and land owners, which he called the mechanic solidarity, and a complex division of labor, the working poor, held together by called organic solidarity. Formal sociological theories grew from the philosophies of these men.2. As presented in lectures and readings, the sociological perspective is like “seeing the general in the particular (Berger, 1963)” What does this point of view mean? Relate this view to C. Wright Mills’ notion of “sociological imagination.”Berger has suggested sociologists look for general social patterns in the behavior of particular individuals. While not erasing our uniqueness as individuals, sociology studies the social forces that impinge on our lives in so many unseen, yet significant ways. Social imagination is the application of the imaginative thought to the asking and answering of sociological question, sociological perspective is a choice and defines how society plays a role in shaping individual lives.3. Show how the pioneering work of Emile Durkheim on suicide helps to reveal the influence of social patterns in the actions of individuals. Now, write an account of the reasons you have for taking this class. Consider, then, the possible “deeper” social reasons underlying this decision.Social facts, the aspects of social life that shape our action as individuals, influence suicidal behavior. For example anomie, the feeling of aimlessness or despair. Rapid change in modern society lead to social difficulties which lead to anomie. Lack of moral controls and standards leaves people’s lives devoid of meaning.Reason of taking SYG1000: this course is a recommended course for medical school.Deeper meaning: I want to become a doctor because of the monetary rewards and status that come along with the profession. Human need to seek power.4. Which theory has been influenced by the views of Comte, Spencer, and Durkheim? Make sure to refer in your account to the notions of social order, social solidarity, social structure, anomie, division of labor, and functional interdependenceStructural Functionalism: Social events can best be explained in terms if the functions they perform, the contributions they make to the continuity of a society • Comteo Scientific methods can be applied to the study of human behavior and societyo Serve to predict and control human behavioro Society and social order is constructed by individuals• Spencer o Society is a living organism with interdependent partso Changes in part of society causes change in other partso Every part contributes to the stability and survival of society o Survival of the fittest corrects defects in society• Durkheimo Sociology must study social facts, the aspects of social life that shape our action as individualso Social life can be analyzed as an objecto Society set of interdependent parts Each with a function needed to sustain society Organic solidarity: in order to achieve social cohesion, society must function as an integrated whole to survive • Requires consensus over basic values and customso Social constraint: the conditioning influence on our behavior of the groups and societies of which we are apart ofo Division of labor (analysis of social change) Replaced religion as the basis for class cohesion Specialization of work tasks As division of labor expands people become more reliant on each othero Anomie: feeling of aimlessness or despair provoked by modern social life Situation in which social norms lose their hold over individual behavior5. Write an essay on the major points of Marx’s conflict view of society. In your essay, focus on the nature of capitalism, the causes of
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