Sociology

• Sociology is the scientific study of human society and interactions
• Sociological imagination

  A person's ability to see the impact of historical and social forces on their life, illustrating the relationship between an individual and the wider society
• Sociology


  • Uses a systematic approach to studying society, based on solid evidence, rather than intuition or speculation
  • Observes social phenomena and sees recurrent patterns of behaviour, allowing sociologists to foresee or predict behaviour based on past evidence
  • Looks at the way a society evolves and changes with time, how it creates and maintains its culture, and how groups and institutions influence human social behaviour
• The term "sociological imagination" was coined by American sociologist C. Wright Mills


  1959
• Sociology


  The scientific analysis of the origin and development of human societies, the systematic study of the roles of institutions within society, and individual behaviour and group interaction
• Auguste Comte (1798-1857) is regarded as the founding father of sociology, developing the term "social physics" and coining the term "Sociology"
• Sociology developed in response to the changes occurring in Europe in the nineteenth century, such as urbanization, democratization, secularization, and the decline of traditional structures, norms, values and institutions
• Three major founding fathers of sociology

  • Emile Durkheim
  • Karl Marx
  • Max Weber
• Emile Durkheim


  • Viewed society as a balanced system made up of interrelated and interdependent parts (organic analogy)
  • Believed social order was created by an underlying set of moral rules, norms, beliefs and values, which gives members of society the shared feeling of belonging, thereby keeping society in harmony and equilibrium (collective conscience)
• Society


  An organism containing parts (institutions) that perform specific functions for its well-being
• Family


  Helps to maintain society by carrying out the roles of primary socialization and the stabilization of adult personalities
• Three major founding fathers of sociology

  • Emile Durkheim
  • Karl Marx
  • Max Weber
• Emile Durkheim


  • Concerned about the changes that occurred in Europe and the resulting instability they created
  • Viewed society as a balanced system made up of interrelated and interdependent parts (organic analogy)
• Social order


  Created by an underlying set of moral rules, norms, beliefs and values, which gives members of society the shared feeling of belonging, thereby keeping society in harmony and equilibrium
• Collective conscience


  Shared norms, values and beliefs that produce and maintain social solidarity (integration among members of society) in society and therefore contribute to the survival of the social system
• Social facts


  Unwritten rules created by society that influence people's thoughts and actions, thereby controlling them
• Positivism


  The use of natural science methods and procedures in the study of humans
• Durkheim outlined the methods that should be used in studying the social sciences and applied these rules to the study of suicide in his work 'Le Suicide' (1897)
• Karl Marx


  • Viewed society as an arena of struggle, conflict and competing interests
  • Capitalism results in differences in wealth and power in society, with some groups becoming more privileged and powerful than others
• False consciousness


  The inability of the proletariat to realize the true nature of their oppression
• Class-consciousness


  The awareness that develops when the proletariat move from a class in itself to a class for itself
• Conflict will lead to tensions and hostility in society over goals and values, and in consequence will eventually be a change in the social order
• Max Weber


  • Introduced a micro-perspective, believing that social behaviour could not be adequately understood by looking at the large structures studied by the functionalist theorists
  • Believed that the smaller groups should be studied in more depth and detail in order to uncover the meanings underlying human social action
• Social action


  Any action that has meaning, takes account of the presence of others and is oriented in its course
• Weber disputes Marx's theory of the revolutionary transformation of society from ancient slavery to capitalism, positing instead that capitalism developed as a result of the spread of ascetic Protestantism in Europe
• Weber's social action theory provided the foundation for the interactionist perspective later developed by George Herbert Mead and others such as Erving Goffman, Blumer and Cooley
• Auguste Comte


  • Advocated the application of positivism to the study of the social sciences
  • Believed that human behaviour is controlled by the social environment in much the same way that the behaviour of organisms is controlled in the natural environment
• Comte's work provided the foundation for the development of sociology as it is known today
• Talcott Parsons


  • Viewed society as a system made up of interrelated parts
  • Identified four functional prerequisites (preconditions that must exist to ensure the survival of society): adaptation, goal attainment, integration and pattern maintenance
• Pattern variables


  Values that describe the changes in a society as it is transformed from traditional to modern
• Robert Merton


  • Questioned the previously held assumption by functionalists that as long as a phenomenon persists, it must be functional for society
  • Believed that some institutions can at times be functional, non-functional or dysfunctional
• Manifest functions


  Obvious or intended functions
• Latent functions


  Hidden and unintended functions, which can be negative or positive
• Strain theory


  Emphasizes the incongruence between what the culture calls for and what the structure allows, leading individuals to seek alternate channels of attainment
• Functionalism, Marxism and Interpretive Sociology are the three main sociological perspectives
• Conflict theory


  • Depicts society as being in a state of conflict between opposing groups
  • Believes that conflict is desirable because it could lead to positive social change
• Neo-Marxists


  Revised and reformulated several aspects of Marx's theory of society, thereby extending its relevance to the social and technological changes taking place
• Interactionist perspective


  • Focuses on the individual and interaction processes occurring in small groups
  • Inspired by Max Weber's social action theory
• Interpretive sociology


  Focuses on the individual and tries to find the meaning of social action at the individual level
• Symbolic interactionism


  Argues that life is made up of symbols that convey specific meanings