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| sociological perspective ( or imagination) |
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opens a window onto unfamiliar worlds— and offers a fresh look at famil-iar ones.
enables you to gain a new perception of social life. In fact, this is what many find appealing about sociology.
stresses the social contexts in which people live. It examines how these contexts influence people’s lives. At the center of the sociological perspective is the question of how groups influence people, especially how people are influenced by their society— a group of people who share a culture and a territory. |
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| understanding human behavior by placing it within its broader social context |
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| people who share a culture and a territory |
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| the group memberships that people have because of their location in history and society |
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The sociological imagination [ perspective]
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| enables us to grasp the connection between history and biography. |
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| that each society is located in a broad stream of events. This gives each society specific characteristics— such as its ideas about the proper roles of men and women |
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| By biography, Mills referred to |
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| our experiences, which give us our orienta-tions to life. In short, people don’t do what they do because they inherited some inter-nal mechanism, such as instincts. Rather, external influences— our experiences— become part of our thinking and motivation. In short, the society in which we grow up, and our particular loca-tion in that society, lie at the center of what we do and how we think. |
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scientific method the use of objective systematic obserscientific method the use of objective systematic observations to test theories vations to tescientific method the use of objective systematic observations to test theories st theories
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| the use of objective systematic observations to test theories |
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| the application of the scientific approach to the social world |
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| the scientific study of society and human behavior |
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| Marx’s term for the struggle between capitalists and workers |
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| Marx’s term for capitalists, those who own the means of production |
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Positivism
suggested that we apply the scientific method to the social world,
Reflecting on the upheavals of the French Revo-lution and on the changes he experienced when he moved to Paris from the small town in which he had grown up, Comte wondered what holds society together
Comte called this new science sociology— |
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Social Darwinism
second founder of sociology.
sociology should not guide social reform. Societies are evolving, going from lower (“ barbarian”) to higher (“ civilized”) forms. As generations pass, a society’s most capable and intelligent (“ the fittest”) members survive, while the less capable die out. These fittest members produce a more advanced society— unless misguided do- gooders get in the way and help the less fit ( the lower classes) survive. |
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| believed that the roots of human misery lay in class conflict, the exploitation of workers by those who own the means of production. Social change, in the form of the overthrow of the capitalists by the workers ( proletariat), was inevitable from Marx’s perspective. Although Marx did not consider himself a sociologist, his ideas have influenced many sociologists, particularly conflict theorists |
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| Marx’s term for the exploited class, the mass of workers who do not own the means of production |
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| the degree to which members of a group or a society feel united by shared values and other social bonds; also known as social cohesion |
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| Comparedthe suicide rates of several European countries- found each country has a different suicide rate— and that these rates remain about the same year after year -found that different groups within a country have different suicide rates and that these, too, remain stable from year to year: Males are more likely than females to kill themselves, Protestants more likely than Catholics or Jews, and the unmarried more likely than the married. From these observations, Durkheim concluded that suicide is not what it appears— individuals here and there deciding to take their lives for personal reasons. Instead, social factors un-derlie suicide, which is why a group’s rate remains fairly constant year after year. |
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| The French sociologist Emile Durkheim ( 1858– 1917) |
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| contributed many important concepts to sociology. His comparison of the suicide rates of several counties revealed an underlying social factor: People are more likely to commit suicide if their ties to others in their communities are weak. Durkheim’s identification of the key role of social integration in social life remains central to sociology today. |
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| Human behavior cannot be understood only in terms of the individual; we must always examine the social forces that affect people’s lives. |
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was another early sociologist who left a profound impression on sociology. He used crosscultural and historical materials to trace the causes of social change and to determine how social groups affect people’s orientations to life.
Religion plays role |
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| W( illiam) E( dward) B( urghardt) Du Bois ( 1868– 1963) s |
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| pent his lifetime studying relations between African Americans and whites. Like many early North Americans sociologists, Du Bois combined the role of academic sociologist with that of social reformer. He was also the editor of Crisis, an influential journal of the time. |
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| the use of sociology to solve problems— from the micro level of family relationships to the macro level of global pollution |
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| a statement about how some parts of the world fit together and how they work; an explanation of how two or more facts are related to one another |
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| a theoretical perspective in which society is viewed as composed of symbols that people use to establish meaning, develop their views of the world, and communicate with one another |
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| theoretical framework in which society is viewed as composed of various parts, each with a function that, when fulfilled, contributes to society’s equilibrium; also known as functionalism and structural functionalism |
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| Sociologists who use the functionalist perspective stress |
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| how industrialization and urbanization undermined the traditional functions of the family. Before industrialization, members of the family worked together as an economic unit, as in this painting of Italian farm life by Francesco Bassano ( 1549– 1592). As production moved away from the home, it took with it first the father and, more recently, the mother. One consequence is a major dysfunction, the weakening of family ties. |
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a theoretical framework in which society is viewed as composed of groups that are competing for scarce resources
Karl Marx, the founder |
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| In Sum: conflict theory today |
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| the dominance of men over women was once considered natural and right. As women gained education and earnings, however, they first questioned and then rejected this assumption. As wives strove for more power and grew less inclined to put up with re-lationships that they defined as unfair, the divorce rate increased. From the conflict per-spective, then, our high divorce rate does not mean that marriage has weakened, but, rather, that women are making headway in their historical struggle with men. |
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| an examination of large- scale patterns of society |
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| an examination of small- scale patterns of society |
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| what people do when they are in one another’s presence |
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| communication without words through gestures, |
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Selecting a topic
2. Defining the problem.
3. Reviewing the literature.
Formulating a hypothesis.
Choosing a research method.
collecting the data
analyzing the results
sharing the results |
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| a statement of how variables are expected to be related to one another, often according to predictions from a theory |
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| a factor thought to be significant for human behavior, which can vary ( or change) from one case to another |
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| questions that are followed by a list of possible answers to be selected by the respondent |
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| questions that respondents answer in their own words |
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| a feeling of trust between researchers and the people they are studying |
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| research in which the researcher participates in a research setting while observing what is happening in that setting |
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| an analysis of a sin-gle event, situation, or individual |
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| the analysis of data that have been collected by other researchers |
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| How do sociologists gather data? |
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| To gather data, sociologists use seven research methods ( or research designs): surveys, participant observation,case studies, secondary analysis, documents, experi-ments, and unobtrusive measures. |
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| How important are ethics in sociological research? |
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| Ethics are of fundamental concern to sociologists, who are committed to openness, honesty, truth, and protecting their subjects from harm. The Brajuha research on restau-rant workers and the Humphreys research on “ tearooms” illustrate ethical issues of concern to sociologists |
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| What value dilemmas do sociologists face? |
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| The first dilemma is how to make certain that research is objective, not unintentionally distorted by the researchers’ values. To overcome this possible source of bias, sociolo-gists stress replication. The second dilemma is whether to do research solely to analyze human behavior or with the goal of reforming harmful social arrangements. |
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| What trends are likely to have an impact on sociology? |
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| The first is public sociology, an attempt to apply sociol-ogy by publicizing sociological data and the sociological perspective. This renewed emphasis on applying sociol-ogy could take sociology closer to its roots. The second is globalization, which is likely to broaden sociological horizons, refocusing research and theory away from its concentration on U. S. society. Pp. 32– 34. |
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