SOCY1002 Lecture 1: Introduction to Sociology
Week 2: Introduction to Sociology
Key Assumptions of Sociology
Humans and society are highly plastic. Humans don’t have just the ability to create
culture, but the literal need.
Humans are unique within the animal kingdom due to our extensive use of symbol
systems and capacity to adapt our environments. While some bill this difference as an
evolutionary advantage, the Anthropologist Clifford Geertz frames it differently: we use
symbols because we must. What distinguishes humans from other animals is both our
immense cognitive capacity and also, our very poor instincts.
Because humans have such poor instincts, our nature is to need culture. We require
symbol systems to organize and make sense of social interaction. We learn symbol
systems through primary and secondary socialization. Primary socialization is the symbol
system we learn from our family. Primary socialization is tweaked as we enter new
relationships and institutions (e.g., we may learn about different religions, food practices,
and hair styles when entering school for the first time). Secondary socialization continues
throughout the life course.
Humans are always structurally and culturally located
No action or interaction can be made sense of in isolation. Rather, humans are embedded
in and create culture and social structure. These are terms used frequently, but not often
defined.
Social Structure: patterns of behavior and the institutions that uphold them. E.g., how we
act in a classroom, as supported by the institutions of education and the economy.
Culture: The logic that guides patterned behaviors, learned through interaction. E.g.,
clothing in an educational setting is culturally prescribed, and varies across times and
geographies.
Language plays a key role in social life. It both enables and constrains.
Language is the set of shared symbols that allows people to communicate. It enables us
to share experiences, make requests, ask questions, and express ourselves. At the same
time, we are constrained by the words at our disposal. For example, if there were no word
for sadness, how could we express that emotion? This becomes clear when we look at
words that don’t translate between languages, or words that exist in one culture or region
but not another.
Language reflects and affects cultural logics. For example, the compulsory use of
masculine pronouns to refer to people (e.g. mankind) reflects cultural biases towards men
and reinforces those biases.
This all comes to a culmination point: Reality is socially constructed
There is no Capital T Truth. Rather, reality is that which we agree upon as real. Society—
Document Summary
Humans don"t have just the ability to create culture, but the literal need. Humans are unique within the animal kingdom due to our extensive use of symbol systems and capacity to adapt our environments. While some bill this di erence as an evolutionary advantage, the anthropologist cli ord geertz frames it di erently: we use symbols because we must. What distinguishes humans from other animals is both our immense cognitive capacity and also, our very poor instincts. Because humans have such poor instincts, our nature is to need culture. We require symbol systems to organize and make sense of social interaction. We learn symbol systems through primary and secondary socialization. Primary socialization is the symbol system we learn from our family. Primary socialization is tweaked as we enter new relationships and institutions (e. g. , we may learn about di erent religions, food practices, and hair styles when entering school for the rst time).
