C HAPTER 1
THE SOCIOLOGICAL IMAGINATION
CHAPTER OUTLINE
I. Why Focus on Globalization and Glocalization?
A. Core Concept 1: Sociology is the scientific study of human activity in society.
More specifically it is the study of the social forces that influence or pressure
people to behave, respond, or think in certain ways.
1. Globalization: the ever-increasing flow of goods, services, money, people,
technology, information, and other cultural items across national borders.
2. Glocalization: the process by which a locality embraces, adapts to, or resists
a product, an idea, a way of behaving that has come to them in the cross-national
flow. It is also when something unique to locality is launched on a path toward
globalization.
II. The Sociological Imagination
A. Core Concept 2: The sociological imagination is a quality of mind that allows
people to grasp how remote and impersonal social forces shape their life
story/biography.
1. Biography: all the day-to-day activities from birth to death that make up a
person’s life
, 2. Sociological Imagination: a qualify of mind that allows people to see how
remote and impersonal social forces shape their life story or biography..
III. Troubles and Issues
A. Core Concept 3: The sociological imagination cultivates the ability to
distinguish between troubles and issues. The causes of troubles lie with
individual shortcomings. The causes of issues can be traced to larger social
forces that transcend any individual’s effort and ability.
1. Troubles: personal needs, problems, or difficulties brought on by individual
shortcomings related to motivation, attitude, ability, character, or judgment.
Issue: a matter that can be explained only by factors outside an individual’s
control and immediate environment
2. Many people cannot see the intricate connection between their personal
situations or troubles and the larger social forces.
a. Sociological imagination: the quality of mind that enables individuals
to thing about “what is going on in the world and what may be happening
within themselves” (Mills 1959, p. 5)
I.The Industrial Revolution
A. Core Concept 4: Sociology emerged as a reaction to the Industrial
Revolution, an ongoing and still evolving social force that transformed and is
still transforming society, human behavior, and interaction in incalculable ways.
1. The Industrial Revolution transformed virtually every aspect of society.
a. Mechanization: the process of replacing human and animal muscle
as a source of power with external sources derived from burning wood,
coal, oil, and natural gas.
i. Changed how goods were produced and how people worked.
ii. Changed notions of time and space
1.Developments such as the railroad, steamship, cotton gin,
running water, central heating, electricity, telegraph and mass-
circulation newspapers transformed how people lived their
daily lives and with whom they interacted.
iii. The Industrial Revolution drew people from even the most remote
, parts of the globe into a process that produced unprecedented
quantities of material goods.
B. Core Concept 5: Early sociologists were witnesses to the transforming effects
of the Industrial Revolution. They offered lasting conceptual frameworks for
analyzing societal transformation and upheaval.
1. Sociology emerged as an effort to understand the dramatic and almost
immeasurable effects of the Industrial Revolution on human life across the
globe.
2. Although the early sociologists wrote in the nineteenth and early twentieth
centuries, their observations remain relevant.
a. Auguste Comte (1798-1857): Known as the father of positivism.
Gave sociology its name in 1839.
i. Positivism: A theory stating that valid knowledge about the
world can be derived only from sense experience or knowing the
world through the senses of sight, touch, taste, smell, andhearing, and
from empirical associations.
b. Karl Marx (1818-1883): Sought to analyze and explain how
conflict drives social change.
i. Conflict The major force that drives social change.
ii. The system of production accompanying the Industrial Revolution
gave rise to two distinct classes
1.bourgeoisie: the profit-driven owners of the means of
production
a. means of production The resources (land, tools, equipment,
factories, transportation, and labor) essential to the
production and distribution of goods and services.
2.proletariat: individuals who must sell their labor to the
bourgeoisie
b. Émile Durkheim (1858–1918): Focused on the division of labor
and solidarity.
, The sociologist’s task is to analyze and explain solidarity and the ties
that bind people to one another.
1.Solidarity: the system of social ties that connects people to one
another and to the wider society. This system of social ties acts
as “cement” binding people to each other and to the society.
a. Egoistic describes a state in which the ties attaching the
individual to others and to the society are weak.
b. Altruistic describes a state in which the ties attaching the
individual to the group are such that the person has no life
beyond the group
c. Anomic describes a state in which the ties attaching the
individual to the group are disrupted due to dramatic
changes in social circumstances.
d. Fatalistic describes a state in which the ties attaching the
individual to the group involve discipline so oppressive that
it offers no chance of release.
b. Max Weber (1864–1920): Made it his task to analyze and explain
how the Industrial Revolution affected social actions—actions people
take in response to others—with emphasis on the forces that motivate
people to act.
i. He defined four important types of social actions.
1.Traditional - a goal is pursued because it was pursued in the
past
2.Affectional - a goal is pursued in response to an emotion, such
as revenge, love, or loyalty
3.Value-rational - a valued goal is pursued with a deep and
abiding awareness of the symbolic significance of the actions
taken to pursue the goal
4.Instrumental-rational - a goal is pursued by the most efficient
means, often without considering the moral implications or
consequences of the actions taken to reach the valued goal.
ii. Weber maintained that in the presence of industrialization,
behavior was less likely to be tradition, affective, or value-rational and
THE SOCIOLOGICAL IMAGINATION
CHAPTER OUTLINE
I. Why Focus on Globalization and Glocalization?
A. Core Concept 1: Sociology is the scientific study of human activity in society.
More specifically it is the study of the social forces that influence or pressure
people to behave, respond, or think in certain ways.
1. Globalization: the ever-increasing flow of goods, services, money, people,
technology, information, and other cultural items across national borders.
2. Glocalization: the process by which a locality embraces, adapts to, or resists
a product, an idea, a way of behaving that has come to them in the cross-national
flow. It is also when something unique to locality is launched on a path toward
globalization.
II. The Sociological Imagination
A. Core Concept 2: The sociological imagination is a quality of mind that allows
people to grasp how remote and impersonal social forces shape their life
story/biography.
1. Biography: all the day-to-day activities from birth to death that make up a
person’s life
, 2. Sociological Imagination: a qualify of mind that allows people to see how
remote and impersonal social forces shape their life story or biography..
III. Troubles and Issues
A. Core Concept 3: The sociological imagination cultivates the ability to
distinguish between troubles and issues. The causes of troubles lie with
individual shortcomings. The causes of issues can be traced to larger social
forces that transcend any individual’s effort and ability.
1. Troubles: personal needs, problems, or difficulties brought on by individual
shortcomings related to motivation, attitude, ability, character, or judgment.
Issue: a matter that can be explained only by factors outside an individual’s
control and immediate environment
2. Many people cannot see the intricate connection between their personal
situations or troubles and the larger social forces.
a. Sociological imagination: the quality of mind that enables individuals
to thing about “what is going on in the world and what may be happening
within themselves” (Mills 1959, p. 5)
I.The Industrial Revolution
A. Core Concept 4: Sociology emerged as a reaction to the Industrial
Revolution, an ongoing and still evolving social force that transformed and is
still transforming society, human behavior, and interaction in incalculable ways.
1. The Industrial Revolution transformed virtually every aspect of society.
a. Mechanization: the process of replacing human and animal muscle
as a source of power with external sources derived from burning wood,
coal, oil, and natural gas.
i. Changed how goods were produced and how people worked.
ii. Changed notions of time and space
1.Developments such as the railroad, steamship, cotton gin,
running water, central heating, electricity, telegraph and mass-
circulation newspapers transformed how people lived their
daily lives and with whom they interacted.
iii. The Industrial Revolution drew people from even the most remote
, parts of the globe into a process that produced unprecedented
quantities of material goods.
B. Core Concept 5: Early sociologists were witnesses to the transforming effects
of the Industrial Revolution. They offered lasting conceptual frameworks for
analyzing societal transformation and upheaval.
1. Sociology emerged as an effort to understand the dramatic and almost
immeasurable effects of the Industrial Revolution on human life across the
globe.
2. Although the early sociologists wrote in the nineteenth and early twentieth
centuries, their observations remain relevant.
a. Auguste Comte (1798-1857): Known as the father of positivism.
Gave sociology its name in 1839.
i. Positivism: A theory stating that valid knowledge about the
world can be derived only from sense experience or knowing the
world through the senses of sight, touch, taste, smell, andhearing, and
from empirical associations.
b. Karl Marx (1818-1883): Sought to analyze and explain how
conflict drives social change.
i. Conflict The major force that drives social change.
ii. The system of production accompanying the Industrial Revolution
gave rise to two distinct classes
1.bourgeoisie: the profit-driven owners of the means of
production
a. means of production The resources (land, tools, equipment,
factories, transportation, and labor) essential to the
production and distribution of goods and services.
2.proletariat: individuals who must sell their labor to the
bourgeoisie
b. Émile Durkheim (1858–1918): Focused on the division of labor
and solidarity.
, The sociologist’s task is to analyze and explain solidarity and the ties
that bind people to one another.
1.Solidarity: the system of social ties that connects people to one
another and to the wider society. This system of social ties acts
as “cement” binding people to each other and to the society.
a. Egoistic describes a state in which the ties attaching the
individual to others and to the society are weak.
b. Altruistic describes a state in which the ties attaching the
individual to the group are such that the person has no life
beyond the group
c. Anomic describes a state in which the ties attaching the
individual to the group are disrupted due to dramatic
changes in social circumstances.
d. Fatalistic describes a state in which the ties attaching the
individual to the group involve discipline so oppressive that
it offers no chance of release.
b. Max Weber (1864–1920): Made it his task to analyze and explain
how the Industrial Revolution affected social actions—actions people
take in response to others—with emphasis on the forces that motivate
people to act.
i. He defined four important types of social actions.
1.Traditional - a goal is pursued because it was pursued in the
past
2.Affectional - a goal is pursued in response to an emotion, such
as revenge, love, or loyalty
3.Value-rational - a valued goal is pursued with a deep and
abiding awareness of the symbolic significance of the actions
taken to pursue the goal
4.Instrumental-rational - a goal is pursued by the most efficient
means, often without considering the moral implications or
consequences of the actions taken to reach the valued goal.
ii. Weber maintained that in the presence of industrialization,
behavior was less likely to be tradition, affective, or value-rational and
