SOCIOL 1Z03 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Auguste Comte, Antipositivism, The Sociological Imagination

• School: McMaster University
• Department: Sociology
• Course: SOCIOL 1Z03
• Professor: Jessica Braimoh

Document Summary

Sociology - systematic study of human groups and their interactions. Sociologists are interested in exploring the relationship between the individual and the social. Why are people poor an hungry when we have the tools to make it disappear and mass produce food. The social - the social arises in peoples activities and through the ongoing and purposeful concerting and coordinating of those activities. Social life is not chaotic but is instead organized to happen as it does. Our societies, groups of people we live and spend time with, is not random. There are social forces and relations that organize our lives. Sociologists study anything that is happening is society. We come to our studies because of our own realities. The ability to understand the dynamic relationship between individual lives and the larger society (c. wright mills, 1959). Agency - ability to make decisions by yourself micro. Structure - things happen outside of your control (impact on your life) macro.