SOCY 226 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Social Theory

• School: Queen's University
• Department: Social Sci, Edu and Soc Work - Sociology
• Course: SOCY 226
• Professor: Martin Hand

Document Summary

We will be primarily focusing upon north american and european societies. In the 20th century(up to the 1970s) depending on how (cid:494)society(cid:495) is defined, descriptions might include: The continual crises and pervasiveness of capitalism. The impacts of world wars and associated conflicts. The rise of mass production and mass consumption. The rise and fall of fascism and communism. The increased significance of mass media and mass culture. The breakdown of tradition and prominence of science and technology. The uncertainties around community, identity, belonging and the future. We use theory all the time: theory is an attempt to explain our everyday experience of the world. Theory can tell us something new about the world: the explanation for our experience might be something that we have not directly experienced at all. Social theory is employed: to explain and understand our experience on the basis f other experiences and general ideas about the world.