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Introduction to Sociology
Frank van Tubergen
Chapter 1 – Questions
- Individual perspective: type of explanation of human behavior which focuses on
individual causes
- Sociological imagination (also sociological perspective): type of explanation of human
behavior which focuses on social causes.
- Social context: social environment in which people are embedded.
- Social phenomenon: collective human behavior.
Example Larly – why did he commit the crime?
- Individual perspective: Low IQ, mood disorder, psychopathological characteristics
- Sociological perspective: Poverty, divorce parents, peer influence, drop-out school
The Sociological Perspective: Sociology is the scientific study of social phenomena. This
means that, if you want to give a sociological explanation of human behavior, you need to
consider the influence of social contexts and study the resulting collective human behavior.
Supplemental
- Individual and social causes of behavior
o Vullen elkaar aan
Alternatives
- Individual or social causes of behavior
o Je bent het eens met de één of het ander
Proximate and ultimate
- Onderscheidt maken tussen proximate en ultimate causes
- Individual causes = proximate causes
- Social causes = ultimate causes
1
,- Proximate causes: factors that are close to the phenomena to be explained
- Ultimate causes: factors that underlie proximate causes.
Sociale contexten – verschillende levels:
- Macro level landen (US en Japan)
- Meso level familie, school
- Micro level individuen
1.2
A social problem, also named public issue, is commonly understood as a problem that
1. Goes beyond the personal troubles of the individual (it affects many people),
a. Personal trouble: problem related to the personal life of an individual.
2. Is an issue about which many people are concerned (it is in- conflict with certain
values)
- Examples of social problems are poverty, corruption, crime, refugee crisis, wars etc.
1.3
Accurate description of social phenomena
Scientific explanation of the social
phenomenon
To apply and share sociological insights
- Predictions
- Social interventions (social policy
measure)
Example:
Describe: What sorts of crimes are committed by youth?
Explain: If crime is rising among youth, how can we explain that?
Apply: Empirical finding that youth are more likely to commit crime than elderly people. If
fertility rates steadily decrease and populations become older, there are simply fewer youth
who can commit crime—thereby lowering the overall crime rate.
Societal relevance: relevance of sociological work for the understanding of social problems
- Describe, explain, apply
- Sociologists inform politicians, policy makers and the public at large
2
, - Sociological knowledge can be used to mitigate social problems
- Normative statements versus science
1.4
Normative questions
- Social problems often related to normative questions:
1. “Should there be more social provisions?”
2. “Should there be more corruption prevention?”
3. “Should women be positively discriminated?”
Answers to these questions depends on norms and values
- question that entails value judgments
- mening/waarde oordeel
- Scientific questions: Sociologists study the scientific aspects to social problems. This
means that, rather than asking normative questions, they address scientific questions
about social phenomena.
Three types of sociological questions:
1. Descriptive question – Q(d)
- type of scientific question targeted
towards describing phenomena
- Data/cijfers
- How much, many? What is
happening?
- Leads to scientific observations O
- Examples:
o How many people are single?
o How many people live in
poverty?
2. Theoretical question – Q(t)
- type of scientific question targeted towards understanding phenomena
- reden/theorie
- Why is this happening? What explains the …?
- Leads to theoretical ideas T
- Examples:
o What explains the changing crime rate?
o Why is the crime rate higher among men?
3. Application question – Q(a)
- type of scientific question targeted towards applying scientific knowledge
- This type of question aims at (1) predictions or (2) social interventions.
- What will happen in the future? What are the consequences of a certain social
intervention? How will the … develop?
- Leads to sociological applications
- Example:
o How will the crime rate develop in Brazil?
3
, o What would be the consequence of a certain intervention?
1.5
How do you ask good questions?
- The art of asking good questions is to reformulate such ill-defined questions into
precise questions.
o Ill-defined question: question which is vague and ambiguous.
o Precise question: question which has clear interpretation.
Precision & Relevance
Question ingredients: elements of a question which can be specified. These are:
1. Behavior of interest
2. Social context
3. Period
4. Population
Example Ill-defined question: “How high is the crime rate?”?
1. Specify behavior of interest:
- “How high is the homicide rate?”
2. Specify social context:
- “How high was the homicide rate in England?”
3. Specify period
- “How high was the homicide rate in England in the year 2015?”
4. Specify population
- “How high was the male homicide rate in
England in the year 2015?”
Which questions are relevant?
Societal relevance: relevance of sociological work
for the accumulation of sociological knowledge.
- In what way does answering this question
benefit society?
- Can you relate your question to social problems?
Scientific relevance
- In what way does the question add to current scientific knowledge?
- Challenges:
1. We already know it!
2. False question!
3. Just one case!
4
Introduction to Sociology
Frank van Tubergen
Chapter 1 – Questions
- Individual perspective: type of explanation of human behavior which focuses on
individual causes
- Sociological imagination (also sociological perspective): type of explanation of human
behavior which focuses on social causes.
- Social context: social environment in which people are embedded.
- Social phenomenon: collective human behavior.
Example Larly – why did he commit the crime?
- Individual perspective: Low IQ, mood disorder, psychopathological characteristics
- Sociological perspective: Poverty, divorce parents, peer influence, drop-out school
The Sociological Perspective: Sociology is the scientific study of social phenomena. This
means that, if you want to give a sociological explanation of human behavior, you need to
consider the influence of social contexts and study the resulting collective human behavior.
Supplemental
- Individual and social causes of behavior
o Vullen elkaar aan
Alternatives
- Individual or social causes of behavior
o Je bent het eens met de één of het ander
Proximate and ultimate
- Onderscheidt maken tussen proximate en ultimate causes
- Individual causes = proximate causes
- Social causes = ultimate causes
1
,- Proximate causes: factors that are close to the phenomena to be explained
- Ultimate causes: factors that underlie proximate causes.
Sociale contexten – verschillende levels:
- Macro level landen (US en Japan)
- Meso level familie, school
- Micro level individuen
1.2
A social problem, also named public issue, is commonly understood as a problem that
1. Goes beyond the personal troubles of the individual (it affects many people),
a. Personal trouble: problem related to the personal life of an individual.
2. Is an issue about which many people are concerned (it is in- conflict with certain
values)
- Examples of social problems are poverty, corruption, crime, refugee crisis, wars etc.
1.3
Accurate description of social phenomena
Scientific explanation of the social
phenomenon
To apply and share sociological insights
- Predictions
- Social interventions (social policy
measure)
Example:
Describe: What sorts of crimes are committed by youth?
Explain: If crime is rising among youth, how can we explain that?
Apply: Empirical finding that youth are more likely to commit crime than elderly people. If
fertility rates steadily decrease and populations become older, there are simply fewer youth
who can commit crime—thereby lowering the overall crime rate.
Societal relevance: relevance of sociological work for the understanding of social problems
- Describe, explain, apply
- Sociologists inform politicians, policy makers and the public at large
2
, - Sociological knowledge can be used to mitigate social problems
- Normative statements versus science
1.4
Normative questions
- Social problems often related to normative questions:
1. “Should there be more social provisions?”
2. “Should there be more corruption prevention?”
3. “Should women be positively discriminated?”
Answers to these questions depends on norms and values
- question that entails value judgments
- mening/waarde oordeel
- Scientific questions: Sociologists study the scientific aspects to social problems. This
means that, rather than asking normative questions, they address scientific questions
about social phenomena.
Three types of sociological questions:
1. Descriptive question – Q(d)
- type of scientific question targeted
towards describing phenomena
- Data/cijfers
- How much, many? What is
happening?
- Leads to scientific observations O
- Examples:
o How many people are single?
o How many people live in
poverty?
2. Theoretical question – Q(t)
- type of scientific question targeted towards understanding phenomena
- reden/theorie
- Why is this happening? What explains the …?
- Leads to theoretical ideas T
- Examples:
o What explains the changing crime rate?
o Why is the crime rate higher among men?
3. Application question – Q(a)
- type of scientific question targeted towards applying scientific knowledge
- This type of question aims at (1) predictions or (2) social interventions.
- What will happen in the future? What are the consequences of a certain social
intervention? How will the … develop?
- Leads to sociological applications
- Example:
o How will the crime rate develop in Brazil?
3
, o What would be the consequence of a certain intervention?
1.5
How do you ask good questions?
- The art of asking good questions is to reformulate such ill-defined questions into
precise questions.
o Ill-defined question: question which is vague and ambiguous.
o Precise question: question which has clear interpretation.
Precision & Relevance
Question ingredients: elements of a question which can be specified. These are:
1. Behavior of interest
2. Social context
3. Period
4. Population
Example Ill-defined question: “How high is the crime rate?”?
1. Specify behavior of interest:
- “How high is the homicide rate?”
2. Specify social context:
- “How high was the homicide rate in England?”
3. Specify period
- “How high was the homicide rate in England in the year 2015?”
4. Specify population
- “How high was the male homicide rate in
England in the year 2015?”
Which questions are relevant?
Societal relevance: relevance of sociological work
for the accumulation of sociological knowledge.
- In what way does answering this question
benefit society?
- Can you relate your question to social problems?
Scientific relevance
- In what way does the question add to current scientific knowledge?
- Challenges:
1. We already know it!
2. False question!
3. Just one case!
4
