SOCIOL 1Z03 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: The Sociological Imagination

• School: McMaster University
• Department: Sociology
• Course: SOCIOL 1Z03
• Professor: sandra colavecchia

Document Summary

Sociology is the systematic study of human behaviour in social context. My definition: connecting our ideas, feelings, behaviours, experiences, and relationships to our wider society (both local and global contexts, past and present). It is a way of understanding and contextualizing one"s personal experiences. Sociologists use divergent theories and qualitative and quantitative methods to try to understand society. Wanted to understand the social world "as it is" Believed hard sciences should be applied to the social world. Sociological imagination: individual experiences connected to a social context. C. wright mills gave the example of unemployment during the great recession. Greater diversity and choice for intimate relationships and private life. According to the most recent census, for the first time in our nation"s history one-person households have become the most common household structure. More canadians, particularly women, have the financial means to do so. Delayed union formation (some of these people will eventually live in a multi-person household)