Intro to Sociology Robert Wonser

Lesson Outline
What does society look like? What is sociology? Levels of Analysis The Sociological Perspective Starting your sociological journey

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Cool Insights from Sociology

Humans cannot be understood apart from social context (i.e. society) Society makes us who we are by structuring out interactions and laying out an orderly world before us Society is a social construction, that is, it is an idea created by humans (i.e. doesnt exist in the biological world but only in the social world) through social interaction and given a reality through our understanding of it and our collective actions.
Introduction to Sociology: What is Sociology?

Society Influences You

Death Related to society? Of course!

Introduction to Sociology: What is Sociology?

Baby Names

Introduction to Sociology: What is Sociology?

Names that have gained the most popularity, 2004 2010

...Or, the names Ill begin seeing all the time in 2022-2028
Introduction to Sociology: What is Sociology?

What Does Society Look Like?

While the idea of society is familiar, describing it can be difficult. Ultimately society is made up of many different components, such as culture, race, family, education, social class, and peoples interactions. People who share a culture and territory

Introduction to Sociology: What is Sociology?

Meaning through Interaction

People actively and collectively shape their own lives, organizing their social interactions and relationships into a meaningful world. Sociologists study this social behavior by seeking out its patterns. Patterns are crucial to our understanding of society

Introduction to Sociology: What is Sociology?

Society

Society is a group of people who shape their lives in aggregated and patterned ways that distinguish their group from other groups.

Introduction to Sociology: What is Sociology?

The Social Sciences

Social Sciences are the disciplines that use the scientific method to examine the social world, in contrast to the natural sciences, which examine the physical world. Examples of social sciences include economics, psychology, geography, communication studies, anthropology, history, and political science.

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How Sociology fits in

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What is Sociology?
Sociology is the systematic or scientific study of human society and social behavior, from large-scale institutions and mass culture to small groups and individual interactions.
Sociology is also the study of reifications, or social constructions.

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Sociology
Howard Becker defined sociology as the study of people doing things together. This reminds us that society and the individual are inherently connected, and each depends on the other. Sociologists study this link: how society affects the individual and how the individual affects society.

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Levels of Analysis

We can study society from different levels: Microsociology is 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. Microsociology focuses on small-scale issues.
Ex: Symbolic Interactionism

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Levels of Analysis (cont)

Macrosociology is the level of analysis that studies large-scale social structures in order to determine how they affect the lives of groups and individuals. Macrosociology focuses on large-scale issues.

Ex: Functionalism, Conflict Theory

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How We Use Levels of Analysis

Pam Fishman took a micro-level approach to studying issues of power in malefemale relationships. She found that in conversation, women ask nearly three times as many questions as men do, perhaps because a speaker is much more likely to ask a question if he or she does not expect to get a response by simply making a statement.

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How We Use Levels of Analysis

Christine Williams took a macro-level approach to studying women in maledominated occupations and men in femaledominated occupations. She found that women in male-dominated positions faced limits on their advancement (the glass ceiling), while men in femaledominated positions experienced rapid rates of advancement (the glass escalator).

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Levels of Analysis (cont)

When conducting research, methodology involves the process by which one gathers and analyzes data. Quantitative research translates the social world into numbers that can be treated mathematically; this type of research often tries to find cause-and-effect relationships. Any type of social statistic is an example of quantitative research.

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Levels of Analysis (cont)

Qualitative research works with nonnumerical data such as texts, fieldnotes, interview transcripts, photographs, and tape recordings; this type of research often tries to understand how people make sense of their world. Participant observation, in which the researcher actually takes part in the social world he or she studies, is an example of qualitative research.
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The Sociological Imagination

C. Wright Mills used the term sociological imagination to describe the ability to look at issues from a sociological perspective. Personal troubles versus public issues

Ex: unemployment, obesity

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The Sociological Perspective

Incorporates Mills notion of the sociological imagination The sociological perspective is a quality of the mind that allows us to understand the relationship between our particular situation in life and what is happening at a social level.

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The Sociological Perspective

When using a sociological perspective, one focuses on the social context in which people live and how that social context has an impact on individuals lives. This is the essence of what sociology does.

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Using the Sociological Perspective

In small groups: How would you explain the following social problems using the sociological imagination/perspective?
Obesity Homelessness/Poverty Unemployment Marriage

The metropolis
War

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The Sociological Perspective (cont)

One way to gain a sociological perspective is to attempt to create in ourselves a sense of culture shock, which is a sense of disorientation that occurs when one enters a radically new social or cultural environment.

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The Sociological Perspective (cont)

Bernard McGrane suggests that people wanting to use a sociological perspective should utilize a beginners mind, which means approaching the world without preconceptions in order to see things in a new way.

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Starting Your Sociological Journey

An important distinction can be made between the everyday actor, who has the practical knowledge needed to get through daily life, but not necessarily the scientific or technical knowledge of how things work,

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Starting Your Sociological Journey

and the social analyst, who studies the social world in a systematic, comprehensive, coherent, clear, and consistent manner in the pursuit of scientific knowledge. Both approaches have strengths and weaknesses.

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Take Away Points

Humans cannot be understood apart from the social context they live in (society, culture and time + place) The world around us profoundly shapes and influences who we are, how we behave and even how/what we think. It is the job of the sociologist to understand how this process works and to what effect.

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Lesson Quiz
1. Which of the following is NOT an example of a social science? a. biology b. political science c. psychology d. economics

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Lesson Quiz
2. Sociology is defined as: a. the scientific study of humans. b. the study of ancient cultures and behavior. c. the study of how the brain works. d. the study of human society and social behavior.

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Lesson Quiz
3. __________ is the level of analysis that studies face-to-face and small-group interactions in order to understand how those interactions affect the larger patterns and institutions of society. a. Microsociology b. Macrosociology c. Sociology d. Social science

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Lesson Quiz
4. The glass escalator effect refers to the: a. limits on the advancement of women in the workplace. b. limits on the advancement of men in the workplace. c. rapid rate of upward mobility for women. d. rapid rate of upward mobility for men in female-dominated workplaces.

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Lesson Quiz
5. A sense of disorientation that occurs when you enter a radically new social or cultural environment is called: a. cultural mind. b. culture shakes. c. cultural fear. d. culture shock.

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For Next Time:

How we come to understand the social world Theories and Theorists Read! (check your syllabus for assigned readings!)

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