Sociology Chapter 1 Why is the sociological world important Shared expectations create social order Individuals and the social world in uence each other People are fundamentally social beings Sociology Study of social life social change and social causes and consequences of human behavior Groups Dyads romantic groups smallest group to study Triads Small groups Large groups Nations Global society Characterized by recurrent social patterns ordered behavior shared experiences and common understanding All groups have certain organizing patterns Sociologists rely on scienti c evidence not common sense assumptions Many common sense assumptions are challenged by scienti c evidence Our personal experiences can be best understood by examining them in the broader social content Sociological perspective Why do some individuals get punished more harshly than others for the same crime Individual decisions are in uences by the social world Durkheim was a frenchman who was the rst to study reasons for suicide in the 1880 s If you have norms to believe in you are more likely to commit suicide Anomie no norms Anomic suicide not enough regulation Fatalistic suicide too much regulation Altruistic suicide too much integration Egotistic suicide not enough integration Happens in times of rapid change There will always be people who do not t the sociological predictions Debunking motif Go beyond super cial understandings of social reality Social structure Patterns in which society is organized Sociological imagination Individual hardships or privileges in uenced by the environment C Wright Mills Blaming the victim People experiencing dif culties are to blame for their problems Same for blaming the system Early sociologists studied Chicago and used settlement houses Praxis Using sociological knowledge to achieve social reform them Sociologists do not make judgements on social morals only study the reasons for Social units Interconnected parts of the social world Social structure People groups whose until come together Social institutions Hold social units together Thee main stages are micro meso and macro