Sociology

What is Sociology?

• The systematic study of human society which includes social life, social change, and the social causes and consequences of human behavior.

• It is a science that requires the development of theories that can be tested by research.

• The study focus on social structure of groups, organizations, and societies, and how people interact within these contexts.

• The subject matter of Sociology ranges from the intimate family to the hostile mob; from organized crime to religious cults; from the divisions of race, gender, age and social class.

Sociological Perspective

• An awareness of the relationship between an individual and the wider society. The ability to view one’s society as an outsider would, rather than only from the perspective of personal experiences and cultural biases.

Seeing the General in the Particular

• Sociologist looks for general patterns in the behavior of particular people.

• It allows us to look beyond a limited understanding of human behavior to see the world and its people in a new way and through a broader lens than we might otherwise use.

• Although every individual is unique, a society shapes the lives of people in various categories very differently.

Seeing the Strange in the Familiar

• The awareness allows all of us to comprehend the links between our immediate, personal social settings and the remote, impersonal social world that surrounds us and helps to shape us.

• This reveals the initially strange idea that society shapes what we think and do.

Seeing Society in Our Everyday Life

• Number of Children

• Social issues such as racism, gender, and age

• Employment

• Suicide

• Social Integration: categories of people with strong social ties had low suicide rates, and more individualistic categories of people had high rates.

• Sociologist are not particularly interested in why any one individual commits suicide; they are more concerned with identifying the social forces that systematically cause some people to take their own lives.

Importance of Global Perspective

• Global Perspective is the study of the larger world and our society’s place in it.

• Global awareness is a logical extension of the sociological perspective. Sociology shows us that our place in society shapes our life experiences

• High Income Countries– They are the nations with the highest overall

standards of living• Middle Income Countries– Nations with a standard of living about average

for the world as a whole.• Low Income Countries– Nations with a low standard of living which most

people are poor.

Global Comparison

• Where we live shapes the lives we lead.– To understand ourselves and appreciate how

others live, we must understand something about how countries differ, which is one good reason to pay attention to the global maps.

• Societies throughout the world are increasingly interconnected.– Electronic technology now transmits sounds,

pictures, and written documents around the globe in seconds.

• Thinking Globally helps us learn more about ourselves.

Applying Sociological Perspectives

• First, sociology is at work guiding many of the laws and policies that shape our lives.

• Second, on an individual level, making use of the sociological perspective leads to important personal growth and expanded awareness.

• Third, studying sociology is excellent preparation for the world of work.

Sociology benefits us in four ways:

1. The sociological perspective helps us assess the truth of “common sense”.

- A sociological approach, by contrast, encourages us to ask whether such common beliefs as actually true and, to the extent that they are not, why they are so widely held.

2. The sociological perspective helps us see the opportunities and constraints in our lives.- sociological thinking leads us to see that in the game of life, we have a say in how to play our cards, but it is society that deals us the hand. - sociology helps us learn more about the world so that we can pursue our goals more effectively.

3. The sociological perspective empowers us to be active participants in our society.- it is the sociological perspective that turns a personal problem(such as being cut out of work) into public issue (a lack of good jobs).

- as we come to see how society affects us, we may support society as it is, or we may set out with others to change it.

4. The sociological perspective helps us live in a diverse world.

- The sociological perspective encourages us to think critically about the relative strengths and weaknesses of all ways of life, including our own.

Origins of Sociology

• Industrial Revolution

• Growth of Cities and Population

• Political Change (French Revolution)