INTRODUCTION TO

SOCIOLOGY

Group Members
Nurashida Binti Mohd Halimin
Nur Adyani Binti Haslan
Siti Amira Binti Nordin
What is a Sociology???

The scientific study of human behaviour

and of the social settings that
influence that behaviour.
Emphasizes that people thoughts and
actions are strongly influenced by
groups to which they belong and by
their interactions in those
groups(family,government,economy)
 Sociology and Other Sciences
Sciences is an effort to develop general
principles about a particular subject
matter based on actual observations.


Social science
Anthropology
Natural sciences economics
tronomy,chemistry,biology,physics Political
physochology
 Anthropology
Specialized in the study of simpler societies and
cultures.
Study of human beings and their cultures across
time and space
4 major subfields:
Prehistoric involves the analysis of ancient
civilizations.
Physical uses fossils and other evidence of early
human forms to trace the human evolutionary
form.
Linguistics study he structure and function of
language.
Cultural :comparative analysis of contemporary
cultures.
Economics

Scientific analysis of the

production,disribution and consumption
of goods and services.
Focus on five features of economy:
Resources(labor,land,capital equipment)
Production – by which resources are
transform into the product
Outputs of goods and
services(automobile,TV sets,haircuts)
Consumption
Objective that people value
Political Science

Fields that studies the organization and

administration of government
Analysis ,description and prediction of
political behaviour,political systems
Interested in such issues as con.of
political power,voting behavior and
the development of politically
oriented social movements.

Physocology

Scientific analysis of the behaviour of

individual organisms.
Pertains of the human mind
Basic
topic:personality,percepion,motivatio
n and learning
Focus to the human beings,but some
concentrate their research on the
variety of lower animals.
Reasons to study sociology

Involved in the public school education and

deal with the clients and employees
Helps tax payers understand the school
system for which they paying
Parents can understand more about the
school systems in order to make decision
about their children
New insight can be gained by looking into
dynamic interaction both within educational
setting and between the institution of
education and society.
Being an informed citizens and acquire
knowledge for the sake of knowledge.
 Difference between psychology and
sociology
Psychology

Sociology
Science
 that deals with Science that deal with the origin
individual mental behaviour and development of human society
Deals with the larger group
Individuals @small group

Deals with the human

@society
Deals with the interaction of

emotions people
Individual is singly Not an individual act .assume that

responsible for all the it is influenced by his surrounding

activities @pertains to the group he belongs
to
 THEORY

ding how and why facts are related to each other and connecti

LOGICAL EXPLANATIONS
TICAL APPROACHES IN THE SOCIOLOGY OF EDUCATION

FUNCTIONALIST THEORY

CONFLICT THEORY

INTERACTION AND INTERPRETIVE THEORY

 EQUILIBRIUM THEORY CONSENSUS THEORY

FUNCTIONALIST THEORY

STRUCTURAL-FUNCTIONAL THEORY

v
FUNCTIONALIST THEORY

 A macro level perspective which attempts to explain

relationship within society.
 Society and institutions in society (such education) are
made up of interdependent parts that working
together, each contributing same necessity to the
functioning of the whole society.
 Purpose: to maintain social equilibrium and consensus
among individuals in the group.
 SOCIETY = HUMAN BODY

RELIGION
EDUCATION

FAMILY

POLITICS

HEALTH CARE

ECONOMY
 Functionalist see individuals action as the product of
social institutions.
 This later result in value consensus-people believe in
much the same thing and consequently their actions
are patterned and predictable.
 They behave similarly because being socialized into the
same cultural rules and goals.
 Therefore, human action is controlled and shaped by
social forces beyond the individual’s control.
 This result in social stability and reproduction of
society.
 CRITICISMS OF FUNCTIONALIST THEORY

tutions and consequently neglect the dysfunctions or harm that institu

the social environment.

CONFLICT THEORY

“HAVES”

SUPERIOR

INFERIOR

“HAVES-NOT”

v
 This situation creates tension in society and its parts as
people competing for individuals and groups.
 Thus, the struggle for power between groups and
individuals helps determine the structure and
functioning of organizations.
 Schools- consist of “insiders”, whose status culture is
reinforced in school and “outsiders” who face barriers
to success in school.
 CRITICISMS OF CONFLICT THEORY

pects of society to capitalistic designs to control

INTERACTION & INTERPRETIVE
THEORIES.
vMicro-level theory
vFocus : on individualsinteraction
in
with each other.

qHow the individual influence

group?
qHow the group influence
society?
qvice versa…
interaction

1.Between:
Groups of peers
Teachers & students
Teachers & principals

2. Consider:
Student attitud
es
values
achievements

Students’ self-concepts & their

effect on aspiration.

Socioeconomic status as it relates to student

achievement.
q“ a self-fulfilling prophesy”
qwhether students behave well or badly depends in teacher
part of expectations.
Based on
categories:
Race
Class
Ethnicity
Gender

TWO INTERACTION
THEORIES

Assumption that there are

costs & rewards involved in
our interactions.

v
RATIONAL CHOICE (EXCHANGE) THEORY…

Interactions that bind individuals & groups with

obligations, play into the situation.

Example:
Teachers are rewarded when students learn & rewarded
behavior is likely to continue.
 SMS OF INTERACTION AND INTERPRETATIVE THEORY

the macro level of social interpretation.

ss the larger issues of society by focusing too closely on the
 RESEARCH METHODS
Observer participant
1 . Observation
Participant observant

questionnaire
2 . Survey
interview

Primary sources
3 . Secondary analysis
Secondary sources

Control group subject

Controlled laboratory studies
Experimental group subject

5 . Case studies
1 . Observation
Observer participant

the researcher participates in the group or setting that is being

studied.
Tries to become an accepted part of the group.

Example: conduct an observational study of ED227’s students over a
twelve-month period.

Researcher attend the class every day

Become students for the duration of the study.

Gain more information about the behavior of the

students.
STRENGTH S & LIMITATIONS

STRENGTH S LIMITATIONS
Provide much more detail & Very time consuming
depth information.
Interesting new ideas to Only a small group is
explore may emerge during studied, it is difficult to
the research itself. make generalizations.
Danger of the researcher
becoming so involved with
the group.
Participant observant

The researcher observes a group or situation without taking part in

any way.

Example: observe people queuing in a supermarket to see how impatient
they get.


Observe out from the group//not join the group.


 Gain data.
STRENGTH S & LIMITATIONS

STRENGTH S
Study people in their ‘natural
setting’ without their behavior
being influenced & changed by
the presence of the researcher.
LIMITATIONS
Data collected may be biased by
the mere fact that an event is
being observed.
Do not really understand what is
really happening.
2 . Survey
questionnaire
Is a printed list of questions to be filled in.
Qualitative study
30 questions

1.Pre-coded questionnaire- individual being asked a number of pre-set
questions with a limited number of multiple choice answer.
2.
3.Open-ended questionnaire- has a number of pre-set questions but no pre-
set choice of answers. thus, allow respondents to write their own
answer.

interview

1.Structured or formal interview- respondent is asked the same set of

questions in precisely the same order.
2.
3.Instructed or informal interview- based on open-ended question,
questions may be explained in more detail, & questions based on
follow-up responses.
STRENGTH S & LIMITATIONS
questionnaire
STRENGTH
Large numbers of people over a
wide geographical area can be
questioned.
interview
STRENGTH
More flexibility- the questions
may be explained & extra
questions can be asked & more
detail obtained.
LIMITATION
The wording maybe confusing to
the respondent, and the questions
therefore misunderstood. There is
no interviewer present to explain
the question if necessary.
LIMITATIONS
Sample size is often small &
therefore risks being
unrepresentative of the survey
population.
Interviews tend to be artificial
situations.
3 . Secondary analysis
STRENGTH S & LIMITATIONS

STRENGTH LIMITATIONS
Material is readily available & Information maybe
so is cheap & easy to use. unrepresentative.
Information maybe inaccurate
in some way.
Biased, contain error.
4 . Controlled laboratory studies

Control group subject Experimental

group subject
Purpose To establish a basis for
comparison.

How?

test (pre-test & post test)

compare result
Conclusion.
Example: to examine the effect of audiovisual aids on the
performance of students in an undergraduate economics course.

Identify:
independent ( manipulated) variable: use of audiovisual aids.
Dependent ( outcome) variable : performance of students in an
undergraduate economics course.

Control group experimental group

Receive a series of 50 minute Receive the identical series of
lectures using blackboard to lectures but using audiovisual
sketch simple graphs and aids( such as slides and film
charts. strips)

before lecture, pre-test.

After lecture, post test.
Then, compare data and make conclusion.
vthe group that learn using audiovisual aids get higher mark and say
easy to understand the topic compared to the control one.
5 . Case studies

study a particular case ( sample)

Collect the vast amount of detailed & rich information
from a small number of subjects under study .

Example: data may be collected on a social movement such as
the gay & lesbian rights movement in faculty of education.

Thus, do the investigation and collect data just about the
gay and lesbian groups in the faculty.

STRENGTH & LIMITATION

STRENGTH
Gathers rich data on a
phenomenon without limiting
the data collection to ask
questions or interviewing
subjects.
LIMITATION
Size of sample small. Thus
limits generalization of the
data beyond the present study.