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All lectures before 1st test, Lecture notes of Sociology

Intro to sociology lecture notes, first part

Typology: Lecture notes

2016/2017

Uploaded on 05/24/2017

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MAY 3
Tradition
Don’t question – default
Change is not going to happen
Authority
Eg. Family, teachers
What authority says is so to those who believe
Feeling of uncertainty
Authority can change
Reason
Rational approach logic; one thing flows to the next
Theory with no method
Rational explanations with no method
Can get into trouble proof not required
Theorizing with no evidence
Science
Positivism: means by which we understand the world with science
Empiricism: empirical answer
Use of our senses can’t see, hear, smell, touch = doesn’t exist
Empirical proof able to use senses (empirical evidence)
If unable to use senses = doesn’t exist
Proof always needed
1- nature is orderly and regular
ex sun rises in the east, and sets in the west
things done in an orderly way
2- we can know the patterns
3- knowledge is superior to ignorance
knowing is better than not knowing
you can do something about it when you know
we have knowledge so why take chances
4- natural phenomenon has natural causes
science is completely opposed to anything supernatural
no sort of unknown forces that make people do things
ex. Bermuda triangle = nonsense there will always be an empirical reason
(explanation; nothing supernatural at all) as to why the ships sank/
airplanes disappear ex. Engine failure etc.
systemic: trying to model after the natural science, not just a hunch or
observations or opinions. Want to understand the world how it is, not how
you want it to be.
No laws of nature but a way of looking at the world
Dealing with social irregularities world that is rooted in sciences
Science: based on a series of assumptions
Sociology: social science
Systematic or scientific study of human social behavior, an independent
social science whose subject matter is society, culture, social groupings, social
institutions, social structure.
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MAY 3

Tradition

  • Don’t question – default
  • Change is not going to happen Authority
  • Eg. Family, teachers
  • What authority says is so to those who believe
  • Feeling of uncertainty
  • Authority can change Reason
  • Rational approach logic; one thing flows to the next
  • Theory with no method
  • Rational explanations with no method
  • Can get into trouble proof not required
  • (^) Theorizing with no evidence Science
  • Positivism: means by which we understand the world with science
  • Empiricism: empirical answer
  • Use of our senses can’t see, hear, smell, touch = doesn’t exist
  • Empirical proof able to use senses (empirical evidence)
  • If unable to use senses = doesn’t exist
  • Proof always needed
  • 1- nature is orderly and regular ■ ex sun rises in the east, and sets in the west ■ (^) things done in an orderly way
  • 2- we can know the patterns
  • 3- knowledge is superior to ignorance ■ knowing is better than not knowing
  • you can do something about it when you know ■ we have knowledge so why take chances
  • 4- natural phenomenon has natural causes ■ science is completely opposed to anything supernatural ■ no sort of unknown forces that make people do things ■ ex. Bermuda triangle = nonsense there will always be an empirical reason (explanation; nothing supernatural at all) as to why the ships sank/ airplanes disappear ex. Engine failure etc. ■ systemic: trying to model after the natural science, not just a hunch or observations or opinions. Want to understand the world how it is, not how you want it to be. ■ No laws of nature but a way of looking at the world ■ Dealing with social irregularities world that is rooted in sciences

Science: based on a series of assumptions

Sociology: social science

  • Systematic or scientific study of human social behavior, an independent social science whose subject matter is society, culture, social groupings, social institutions, social structure.
  • On an abstract level, socio is concerned in patterned behavior
  • The study of patterned relations among humans, and of the social institutions and societies that people create
  • Helps us think critically, helps ourselves and the relationships we are involved in. Helps us question our taken for granted reality.
  • Examines the relationship between people; sociology looks at social relationships specifically people (human group life) - Group comes before the individual, none of us were born into nothing. Always people here before us, they were here first. We weren’t born to our self; we cannot just be. We wouldn’t exist by ourselves. - Us family culture educational background social class
  • One thing all humans share: we all belong to groups
  • Membership we have in each group that will profoundly affect our behavior
  • Groups conform behavior and separate outsiders (fence example)
  • (^) Will do what is expected in the group limited freedom. Can do whatever we want in the fence, within the confine (limited space), we just can’t go past the fence = deviance
  • Society: the largest-scale human group, whose members interact with one another, share a common geographic territory, and share common institutions
  • Social structure: any enduring, predictable pattern of social relations among people in society
  • Social institution: a kind of social structure made up of several relationships, operating to achieve social goals

Relationships

  • Have been discussed forever. What is new? Talking about relationships using science

Karl Marx

  • Praxis the need to overthrow the system of capitalism
    • Tries to express to everybody the need to do this
  • Socialism communism (community; all about we )
  • Friedrich Engels
  • Communist manifesto

Emile Durkheim

  • Society effects even our most personal choices
  • The most conservative
  • Evolutionary thinker
  • People lives are changing rapidly
  • Most optimistic
  • Social integration: categories of people with strong social ties had low suicide rates, and more individualistic people had high suicide rates
  • 3 main influences
    • Charles Darwin “those plants and animals that were able to change and adapt to changing circumstances, they survived, they thrived because they were able to adapt. Those plants and animals that would not adapt were nothing”
    • Methods of the natural sciences; physics, chemistry. (Positivism) natural sciences were using positivism, focusing on observable phenomena. Modern medicine
  • Views society as an arena of inequality that generates conflict and change
  • Society is structured in ways to benefit a few at the expense of the majority
  • Factors such as ethnicity, race, sex, class and age are linked to social inequality
  • Gender-conflict theory: the study of society that focuses on inequality and conflict between men and women closely linked to feminism (support of social equality for women and men)
  • Dominant group vs. minority group relations
  • Exploitation unaware we are being exploited = false consciousness
  • Prostitution = victim of power and profit Structural functionalism
  • A framework for building theory that sees society as a complex system whose parts work together to promote solidarity and stability. social structure any relatively stable pattern of social behavior; gives our lives shape in families, the workplace, or the college classroom. Social functions the consequences of a social pattern for the operation of a society as a whole
  • Begins with the presumption that even in modern society, we don’t agree on everything
  • View society as a set of interconnected parts that work together to preserve the overall stability and efficiency of the whole; promote solidarity and stability
  • Each component of society = structure (recurring pattern of behavior)
  • Manifest function: intended outcome, consequence of the recurring patterns of behavior what it is designed to do, its purpose
  • Are intended and easy to recognize a high school is meant to teach kids
  • Latent function: outcome from those recurring patterns of behaviors unattended; wasn’t the intended outcome but nonetheless, it is happening.
  • (^) Are often hidden and are unintended
  • Development change is slow, should not be rushed; adapt to new problems as they rise
  • Social dysfunction: any social pattern that may disrupt the operation of society

Symbolic interactionism

  • A broad focus on social structures that shape society as a whole.
  • Uses a micro sociological approach to focus on interactions between people in small groups; use of gestures, mannerisms, and words to convey meaning; how people relate to each other and try to meet each other’s expectations, especially in face-to-face encounters
  • A framework for building theory that sees society as a product of the everyday interactions of individuals
  • Views society as the product of everyday interactions and individuals, society is nothing more than the shared reality that people construct as the interact with one another, society is complex; ever-changing mosaic of subjective meanings
  • Interpretive sociology
  • Reciprocal arrangement – cost/benefit analysis Research methods (tools)
  • Research is the process of systematically collecting information for one of two purposes
  • to test an existing theory (deductive approach) or generate a new theory (inductive approach)
  • Theory: a set of interrelated variables, definitions and propositions that present a systematic view of phenomena by specifying relations among variables with the purpose of explaining and predicting phenomena; a statement of how and why facts are related - Variables measurable - (^) 4 key components of theory ■ 1) what are the variables in the theory? - Got to be at least 2 variables ■ 2) how are the variables related to each other? How to describe the relationship/how they are related in a positive or negative way? ■ 3) a systematic view ■ 4) prediction - a good theory will tell you what will happens before it happens future behavior
  • Death rates were going up, why?
    • (^) Systematically look for common elements
    • Iv users, homosexuals, hemophiliac, Haitians ■ common element = blood ■ blood causing the death rates to go up; spread of bodily fluids = death rates go up
  • theory truth
  • dependent and independent variable
  • Hypothesis: statement that needs to be verified

May 8, 2017 Test topics:

  • Cause and effect
  • Realibility/validity
  • Theory/hypo
  • Key words with conflict and structural
  • Deductive/inductive circle
  • (^) Organic vs. mechanic solidarity
  • Assumptions of science
  • Question on sampling
  • Survey research vs field research
  • Marx, Durkheim, waber

Research

  • Research is the process of systematically collecting information for one of two purposes
    • to test an existing theory (deductive approach) or generate a new theory (inductive approach)
  • (^) In either case, one needs an understanding of hypotheses
  • Hypotheses: a testable statement about a specific relationship between two or more variables (at least one independent and one dependent variable)

instead of using experimental control we can use statistical control which is equally as effective)

  • Disadvantages: validity, if you’re dealing with sensitive issues reactivity can be a problem, can be expensive, can be very time consuming
  • Field research: going into the community meeting people, spending time (interpretive sociology) describe what the people are doing and to appreciate why they are doing it.
  • participant observation: a research method in which investigators systematically observe people while joining them in their routine activities
  1. Sample is not predefined
  2. Size of the sample (smaller/larger)
  3. One of them has a hypothesis (know what to test, the other does not) Questions; one is open ended the other is close ended Data; one is over whelmingly qualitative and the other is quantitative 1 key set of problems: using participant observations
  4. Too much participation: going native. The researcher has gone native = empathy sympathy. No longer friendly, you are now friends. Lost sight of the fact of why you are there; only reason you’re there is to research. Lost all objectivity
  5. Too much observation: ethnocentrism. What you’ve written is more about you then the group you are studying; writing down things without asking biased

Chapter 2 Culture: the ways of thinking, the ways of acting, and the material objects that together form a people’s way of life

  • Nonmaterial culture: the ideas created by members of a society, ideas that range from art to Zen
  • Material culture: the physical things created by members of a society, everything from armchairs to zippers Culture shock: personal disorientation when experiencing an unfamiliar way of life Culture enables us to be heroes valued, loved, respected by others Ethnocentric: cultural bias; seeing things from the perspective of one’s own culture Gynocentric: a female bias Eurocentric: western bias Afrocentric: African bias Norms: use norms to put our values into action; precise rules and expectations that guides people’s behavior Folklore: oral traditions that are handed down to future generations; stories from the past (jokes, superstitions, lullaby’s, old wives tales, slang etc) Every culture is normative; has different rules and expectations Prescriptive and proscriptive norm
  • Prescriptive: tells us what we ought to do
  • Proscriptive: tells us what is not to be done

May 9, 2017 Cultural elements

  1. Shared among members of the culture
  2. Passed on from one generation to the next
  1. They are going to affect the behavior of the people in that culture

These elements reinforce each other; bringing a culture together = cultural integration structural cultural function Extent to which cultures distinguish the significance Distinctive cultural elements that set them apart

  1. Distinctive values than the larger culture
  2. Behave differently to the larger culture
  3. If you stand out, it brings you in contact with law enforcement

Theories of culture

  1. Theory of race
  2. Marx’s historical theorem
  3. Structural functional idealism
  4. (^) Sociobiology theory Socialization May 11, 2017 Socialization
  • Gender socialization
  • Sex/gender: sex is not the same as gender; it is simple biology. Biological sex is based on physical characteristics vagina & penis
  • Gender is more complex, it involves social expectations of behavior; it’s what we, our community/society expects of us given the fact that we have certain biological accruements. These expectations can and do change over time. Biological makeup does not change over time
  • How do we learn the rules “to act properly” in gender (masculine/feminine)? ■ We follow a gender script process to become masculine/feminine per the expectations of society
  • Ex: boys peeing while sitting down ■ Starting at 3 years old children already have a preference with toys ■ Ground work for power relations (relationships etc.) has been in elementary school because these kids have been taught
  • Members of the opposite sex ■ Males are supposed to be assertive, competitive and not supposed to cry ■ (^) Females are supposed to be passive, emotional

May 12, 2017 Resource Dilution Theory

  • In large families, youngest child spends more time with siblings and less with parents, eldest child spent the most time with parents. First borns have a stronger command of language = tendency to read and write quicker (how much time is spent with the adult) = lots of attention from teachers; used to getting lots of praise; expected from the eldest
  • (^) time spent with parents = Intellectual stimulation Anticipatory socialization
  • as you grow up you are anticipating what you are going to be in the future institutions