SY101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Harriet Martineau, Talcott Parsons, George Herbert Mead
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Document Summary
Sociology the systematic study of human behaviour in social context. Social causes are distinct from physical and emotional causes (explains why if hard work causes prosperity, sometimes hard workers are poor) Sociologists main task is to identify and explain the connection between people"s personal troubles and the social structures in which they are embedded. Social construction of reality people shape reality as they interact with one another in the context of a certain social group or culture. E. g. , the difference between spit and saliva is not chemical, but social. Functionalist: level of analysis: macro, main focus: values, how do the institutions of society contribute to social stability and instability, major theorists: emile durkheim, talcott parsons, robert merton, principles of functionalism. Social stability maintenance of social order. Equilibrium can solve most social problems. Patterns of domination, submission, relations between high and low class. Major patterns of inequality produce either stability or change. Weapons of the weak (resistance of the poor)
