Sociology
The systematic study of the social world and human behavior.
● How we behave individually and in groups to all aspects of the social world like
family,religion,social movements, health and education.
Sociological imagination
Sociological imagination means having the ability to see connections between an
individual’s life and experiences to broader social and historical issues and forces.
● Peter Berger characterizes the ability to see the strange in the familiar as a key
element of thinking sociologically. In his words, “the first wisdom of sociology is
this: things are not what they seem”
● C. Wright Mills describes it, the sociological imagination allows us to explore the
relationship between our private lives, historical change, and the elements that
shape the social world.
Social structures
● Social structures are ordered sets of recurring patterns of behaviour and
institutions that make up our society.
Just as a car has a structure and a plant has a structure, so, too, does society.
We mean that society is organized in specific ways that influence how we act and
interact with each other.
This definition means that sociologists are studying aspects of our social world that
range from the micro to the global.
● Research at the micro level might focus on individual-level behaviours that
exist at the level of interaction, whether that be face-to-face or online. such as
how people select their seat on a bus.
● Meso level refers to dimensions of our social world that exist above the level of
face-to-face interactions.
Relate to organisations, including school and religion.
● Macro structure and global structure go beyond individuals, groups,
organizations.
Social class and the structure of paid work are both examples of macrostructures that
make up our social world.
Macrostructures also include such institutions as marriage, kinship, religion, family,
and law.
Institution: an enduring and stable set of expectations and behavior based on a shared
value system reinforced by structural components of society.
,Agency:An individual capacity to think and act independent of larger social
structures.
Social construction:refers to the view that elements of our social world are
products of particular culture and historical context. Elements like:race,gender and
sexuality.
● Public sociology is about engaging with both research and policy, such that
research can potentially impact the lives of the people and places under study by
sociologists.
● Some prominent sociologists have argued that the work of sociologists should be
more accessible to the general public and play a larger role in policymaking
(Burawoy 2005). This idea is called public sociology
● The work of sociology is not static. That is, sociology as a discipline changes
alongside our social world.
Chapter 2
Sociological theory
● A theory is a set of ideas designed to explain something being observed.
What makes sociological theory different from other everyday theories?
● Sociological theory tends to be built around information that has been gathered
systematically and goes beyond our individual experience.
● Theory is a kind of explanation of what someone is seeing, a lens through which
we can interrupt our world.
Microsociology:sociological study that focuses on the study of individual small groups.
Macrosociology:sociological study that focuses on large scale patterns.
The growth of science
● The growth of science and, relatedly, the decline of religious authority,
significantly influenced the development of sociology.
● Beginning in the 17th century in Europe, philosophers started to put greater
emphasis on individual reason, rationality, and skepticism. This period is called
enlightenment.
● Philosophers like Immanuel Kant, for example, emphasized individual
autonomy, reason, and an observation-driven account of the world. This period is
typically referred to as the Enlightenment.
● A major cornerstone of the Enlightenment was the rise of science. Sometimes
called the Scientific Revolution.
, Positivism:An approach to studying our social world according to the principles of
natural sciences.
Structural functionalism:
● Views society as a kind of a system
● A macro level theory
The higher the social solidarity the more stable the society bcz they share similar ideas
and values.
Is one important concept in structural functionalism
Norms are culturally specific
Latent ex:get to know someone in university
The industrial revolution
● A rapid economic and social transformation rooted in introduction driven
machinery leading to the creation of factory production.
● Beginning in the late 18th century in England and other parts of the world when
the society was dominated by industry and manufacturing instead of agriculture.
● A move away from agriculture to a society dominated by industry and
manufacturing.
● Early conflict theorists like Karl Marx, for example, argued that industrial
capitalism generated profits for a small number of wealthy people off of the
labour of an exploited working class.
Capitalism:an economic system featuring private or corporate ownership of the means
of production.
Patriarchy:the system of male domination over women,
The rise of the individual
● Significant structural changes centred on notions of individual rights and
democracy.
● European citizens have been governed by monarchs and aristocracy for
centuries.
● John lock, an english philosopher, wrote about the rise of individuals and the
importance of representative government. He also asserted that humans were
born as “blank slates” and influenced by their environment.
Two historical events characterize the changes that followed: the French Revolution
(1789–1799) and the American Revolution (1765–1783).
The systematic study of the social world and human behavior.
● How we behave individually and in groups to all aspects of the social world like
family,religion,social movements, health and education.
Sociological imagination
Sociological imagination means having the ability to see connections between an
individual’s life and experiences to broader social and historical issues and forces.
● Peter Berger characterizes the ability to see the strange in the familiar as a key
element of thinking sociologically. In his words, “the first wisdom of sociology is
this: things are not what they seem”
● C. Wright Mills describes it, the sociological imagination allows us to explore the
relationship between our private lives, historical change, and the elements that
shape the social world.
Social structures
● Social structures are ordered sets of recurring patterns of behaviour and
institutions that make up our society.
Just as a car has a structure and a plant has a structure, so, too, does society.
We mean that society is organized in specific ways that influence how we act and
interact with each other.
This definition means that sociologists are studying aspects of our social world that
range from the micro to the global.
● Research at the micro level might focus on individual-level behaviours that
exist at the level of interaction, whether that be face-to-face or online. such as
how people select their seat on a bus.
● Meso level refers to dimensions of our social world that exist above the level of
face-to-face interactions.
Relate to organisations, including school and religion.
● Macro structure and global structure go beyond individuals, groups,
organizations.
Social class and the structure of paid work are both examples of macrostructures that
make up our social world.
Macrostructures also include such institutions as marriage, kinship, religion, family,
and law.
Institution: an enduring and stable set of expectations and behavior based on a shared
value system reinforced by structural components of society.
,Agency:An individual capacity to think and act independent of larger social
structures.
Social construction:refers to the view that elements of our social world are
products of particular culture and historical context. Elements like:race,gender and
sexuality.
● Public sociology is about engaging with both research and policy, such that
research can potentially impact the lives of the people and places under study by
sociologists.
● Some prominent sociologists have argued that the work of sociologists should be
more accessible to the general public and play a larger role in policymaking
(Burawoy 2005). This idea is called public sociology
● The work of sociology is not static. That is, sociology as a discipline changes
alongside our social world.
Chapter 2
Sociological theory
● A theory is a set of ideas designed to explain something being observed.
What makes sociological theory different from other everyday theories?
● Sociological theory tends to be built around information that has been gathered
systematically and goes beyond our individual experience.
● Theory is a kind of explanation of what someone is seeing, a lens through which
we can interrupt our world.
Microsociology:sociological study that focuses on the study of individual small groups.
Macrosociology:sociological study that focuses on large scale patterns.
The growth of science
● The growth of science and, relatedly, the decline of religious authority,
significantly influenced the development of sociology.
● Beginning in the 17th century in Europe, philosophers started to put greater
emphasis on individual reason, rationality, and skepticism. This period is called
enlightenment.
● Philosophers like Immanuel Kant, for example, emphasized individual
autonomy, reason, and an observation-driven account of the world. This period is
typically referred to as the Enlightenment.
● A major cornerstone of the Enlightenment was the rise of science. Sometimes
called the Scientific Revolution.
, Positivism:An approach to studying our social world according to the principles of
natural sciences.
Structural functionalism:
● Views society as a kind of a system
● A macro level theory
The higher the social solidarity the more stable the society bcz they share similar ideas
and values.
Is one important concept in structural functionalism
Norms are culturally specific
Latent ex:get to know someone in university
The industrial revolution
● A rapid economic and social transformation rooted in introduction driven
machinery leading to the creation of factory production.
● Beginning in the late 18th century in England and other parts of the world when
the society was dominated by industry and manufacturing instead of agriculture.
● A move away from agriculture to a society dominated by industry and
manufacturing.
● Early conflict theorists like Karl Marx, for example, argued that industrial
capitalism generated profits for a small number of wealthy people off of the
labour of an exploited working class.
Capitalism:an economic system featuring private or corporate ownership of the means
of production.
Patriarchy:the system of male domination over women,
The rise of the individual
● Significant structural changes centred on notions of individual rights and
democracy.
● European citizens have been governed by monarchs and aristocracy for
centuries.
● John lock, an english philosopher, wrote about the rise of individuals and the
importance of representative government. He also asserted that humans were
born as “blank slates” and influenced by their environment.
Two historical events characterize the changes that followed: the French Revolution
(1789–1799) and the American Revolution (1765–1783).
