SOC 105 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Sociological Perspectives, Auguste Comte, Charismatic Authority

• School: Ryerson University
• Department: Sociology
• Course: SOC 105
• Professor: Mustafa Koc

Document Summary

Sociology: systematic study of social behaviour and human groups. The difference between sociology and common sense: common sense is not systematic, based on individual experience, one sided, tends to reflect prejudiced and mistaken interpretations. Society: a large social grouping that shares the same geographical territory and is subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. Structure versus agency: structures refer to pre-existing arrangements that influence our behaviour, agency refers to choices individuals make. Sociological imagination and c. wright mills: the ability to see the relationships between individual experience and larger society. It enables us to distinguish between personal troubles & public issues. (cid:498)neither the life of an individual nor the history of a society can be understood without understanding both(cid:499) (cid:523)mills(cid:524) There are multiple sociological perspectives that provide different focus on various aspects of social reality and different main premises. Paradigms/ perspectives: general frameworks, fundamental assumptions about society that guides sociological thinking.