INLEIDING SOCIOLOGIE
H1: QUESTIONS
HOE WORDT MENSELIJK GEDRAG UITGELEGD?
Individueel perspectief: verklaren van menselijk gedrag met de focus op een individuele verklaring (dit is niet
hoe sociologen het doen)
Sociologist don’t deny individual problems but they search for answers in the social context
Social context: social environment in which people are embedded
c.w. mills came up with sociological imagination: (also sociological perspective) type of explanation of human
behavior which focuses on social causes. Explaining human behavior by the social context we share.
One of the things sociologists frequently study is the country in which people live in.
Social context changes over the years.
Sociologists follow the social causes of behavior but also because it considers collective outcomes.
Sociologists study the social phenomenon. Which is collective human behavior.
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 ehuman behavior.
Supplement perspective: an induvial perspective and a social context provide a full picture of human behavior.
A pure individual perspective falls short.
The individual and sociological perspectives can also be framed as an alternative perspectives. In obesity people
can say that an individual explanation is enough.
Proximate causes: factors that are close to the phenomena to be explained.
ultimate causes: factors that underlie proximate causes.
Ultimate cause-> proximate causes -> consequences
Micro level: the level at which individuals operate
Meso level: social contexts at the evel. Examples: families, neighborhoods, schools, organizations.
Macro level: social contexts that are broader than meso level units. Examples: nations groups of nations and
continents.
A social problem, or public issue) is one that:
1. Goes beyond the personal troubles of the individual (itaffects many people)
2. Is an issue about which many people are concerned.
Personal trouble: provlem related to the personal life of an individual.
Three aims of sociology
, - Describe: accurate descriptions of social phenomena.
- Explain: come up with scientific explanations for social pheonena
- Apply: apply and share insights.
voorspellend
Coming up with predictions.
Social interventions: social policy measure.
Societal relevenace: relevance of sociological work for the understanding of social problems
Normative questions: question that entails value judgments. About what “should be done”. Like: should we
reduce income inequality”
Scientific question: question that does not entail value judgments. There are three types of scientific questions,
namely: descriptive, theoretical and application.
3 types of sociological questions:
1. Descriptive: type of scientific question targeted towards describing phenomena.
2. Theoretical: type of scientic question targeted towards understanding phenomena. (wat vragen)
3. Application question: type of scientific question targeted towards applying scientific knowledge.
2 elements for a good question are precision and relevance
A bad question is ill-defined, vague and ambiguous, but shoeld be turned into a precise question, clear
interpretation.
Question ingredients:
1. Behavior of interest
2. Social context
3. Period
4. Population
Relevance: scienticic relevance: of sociological work for the accumulation of sociological knowledge.
Literature review sustematic overview of the theories and observations that are known, typically in a certain
specialized fieldof research
False theoretical question: theoretical question which aims to explain something that does not exist.
Comparative case question: question which includes some comparison of cases such as multiple social contexts
multiple moments in time and or multiple population
Common sense obvious thoughts
Private sociologists: the way human beings in daily life make sense of the social world. As such they are probe
to intuitibve thinkin,implicit reasoning, development of incoherent and vague ideas, keeping knowledge private
and searching for conformation
Academic sociology: een instituut omschrijvt en verklaard de sociale wereld. Door systematisch op zoek te gaan
naar informatie en het verklarne van de omgeving. En theorien
Cumulative science: the practice that theories and observations of earlier studies are incorporated in the work
of successive studies.
, H. 2 THEORIES
Waarom gebruiken we theorieen?
- Versimpeling werkelijkheid
- Om waarom vragen te beantwoorden worden er theorieen opgezet
- Theorieen en verklaringen vormen de basis van de wetenschap
Karl popper zei dat “it is from the universal statements in conjunction with initial conditions that we deduce the
singular statements” maar wat is een universal statement.--> hyptoheses f the character of natural laws
Propositions: universal statement about the causal relations between two or more concepts
Theory schema: type of theory tool in which propositions, conditions, hypotheses and observations are written
about the specific setting which relates propositions to observations and hypotheses
Condition: assumption about the specific setting which relates propositions to observations and hypotheses
Propositions: als dit dan dat “theorieen”. Het is nog niet echt een theorie
Conditions
Observstions
You start with an observation that you like to explain, a fact phenomenon or pattern.
Different propositions explain the assumptions
Deductive-nomological explanation: het schema
Relative age effect: players that are younger have less training and are “less talented”then the older more
trained players
Propositions provide potential explanations, not facts
Scientists aim to deduce a new hypothesis or prognosis from the same propositions or not. hypotheses
Deriving a hypothesis works in the opposite direction of explaining a phenomenon, thus, instead of starting at
the bottom of the scheme we start at the top. (the prediction)
A hypothesis plays a role in assessing the truth of the theory. If researchers find thatobservations are not in
line with the hypothessisthis would be a direct challenge to the theory. The reasonis if one assumes the general
proposition and the condition are both trye then the hypothesis should be true.
If the hypotheses is not true then either the proposition or the condition should be false (or both) modus
tollens
Propositions and hypotheses are part of sociological theory
1. There should be coherence between the entire set of propositions and assumptions about conditions.
2. A theory explains phenomena as well as predicts new phenomena.
HOW USEFUL IS A THEORIE?
H1: QUESTIONS
HOE WORDT MENSELIJK GEDRAG UITGELEGD?
Individueel perspectief: verklaren van menselijk gedrag met de focus op een individuele verklaring (dit is niet
hoe sociologen het doen)
Sociologist don’t deny individual problems but they search for answers in the social context
Social context: social environment in which people are embedded
c.w. mills came up with sociological imagination: (also sociological perspective) type of explanation of human
behavior which focuses on social causes. Explaining human behavior by the social context we share.
One of the things sociologists frequently study is the country in which people live in.
Social context changes over the years.
Sociologists follow the social causes of behavior but also because it considers collective outcomes.
Sociologists study the social phenomenon. Which is collective human behavior.
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 ehuman behavior.
Supplement perspective: an induvial perspective and a social context provide a full picture of human behavior.
A pure individual perspective falls short.
The individual and sociological perspectives can also be framed as an alternative perspectives. In obesity people
can say that an individual explanation is enough.
Proximate causes: factors that are close to the phenomena to be explained.
ultimate causes: factors that underlie proximate causes.
Ultimate cause-> proximate causes -> consequences
Micro level: the level at which individuals operate
Meso level: social contexts at the evel. Examples: families, neighborhoods, schools, organizations.
Macro level: social contexts that are broader than meso level units. Examples: nations groups of nations and
continents.
A social problem, or public issue) is one that:
1. Goes beyond the personal troubles of the individual (itaffects many people)
2. Is an issue about which many people are concerned.
Personal trouble: provlem related to the personal life of an individual.
Three aims of sociology
, - Describe: accurate descriptions of social phenomena.
- Explain: come up with scientific explanations for social pheonena
- Apply: apply and share insights.
voorspellend
Coming up with predictions.
Social interventions: social policy measure.
Societal relevenace: relevance of sociological work for the understanding of social problems
Normative questions: question that entails value judgments. About what “should be done”. Like: should we
reduce income inequality”
Scientific question: question that does not entail value judgments. There are three types of scientific questions,
namely: descriptive, theoretical and application.
3 types of sociological questions:
1. Descriptive: type of scientific question targeted towards describing phenomena.
2. Theoretical: type of scientic question targeted towards understanding phenomena. (wat vragen)
3. Application question: type of scientific question targeted towards applying scientific knowledge.
2 elements for a good question are precision and relevance
A bad question is ill-defined, vague and ambiguous, but shoeld be turned into a precise question, clear
interpretation.
Question ingredients:
1. Behavior of interest
2. Social context
3. Period
4. Population
Relevance: scienticic relevance: of sociological work for the accumulation of sociological knowledge.
Literature review sustematic overview of the theories and observations that are known, typically in a certain
specialized fieldof research
False theoretical question: theoretical question which aims to explain something that does not exist.
Comparative case question: question which includes some comparison of cases such as multiple social contexts
multiple moments in time and or multiple population
Common sense obvious thoughts
Private sociologists: the way human beings in daily life make sense of the social world. As such they are probe
to intuitibve thinkin,implicit reasoning, development of incoherent and vague ideas, keeping knowledge private
and searching for conformation
Academic sociology: een instituut omschrijvt en verklaard de sociale wereld. Door systematisch op zoek te gaan
naar informatie en het verklarne van de omgeving. En theorien
Cumulative science: the practice that theories and observations of earlier studies are incorporated in the work
of successive studies.
, H. 2 THEORIES
Waarom gebruiken we theorieen?
- Versimpeling werkelijkheid
- Om waarom vragen te beantwoorden worden er theorieen opgezet
- Theorieen en verklaringen vormen de basis van de wetenschap
Karl popper zei dat “it is from the universal statements in conjunction with initial conditions that we deduce the
singular statements” maar wat is een universal statement.--> hyptoheses f the character of natural laws
Propositions: universal statement about the causal relations between two or more concepts
Theory schema: type of theory tool in which propositions, conditions, hypotheses and observations are written
about the specific setting which relates propositions to observations and hypotheses
Condition: assumption about the specific setting which relates propositions to observations and hypotheses
Propositions: als dit dan dat “theorieen”. Het is nog niet echt een theorie
Conditions
Observstions
You start with an observation that you like to explain, a fact phenomenon or pattern.
Different propositions explain the assumptions
Deductive-nomological explanation: het schema
Relative age effect: players that are younger have less training and are “less talented”then the older more
trained players
Propositions provide potential explanations, not facts
Scientists aim to deduce a new hypothesis or prognosis from the same propositions or not. hypotheses
Deriving a hypothesis works in the opposite direction of explaining a phenomenon, thus, instead of starting at
the bottom of the scheme we start at the top. (the prediction)
A hypothesis plays a role in assessing the truth of the theory. If researchers find thatobservations are not in
line with the hypothessisthis would be a direct challenge to the theory. The reasonis if one assumes the general
proposition and the condition are both trye then the hypothesis should be true.
If the hypotheses is not true then either the proposition or the condition should be false (or both) modus
tollens
Propositions and hypotheses are part of sociological theory
1. There should be coherence between the entire set of propositions and assumptions about conditions.
2. A theory explains phenomena as well as predicts new phenomena.
HOW USEFUL IS A THEORIE?
