SOC 1100 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Socioeconomic Status, Auguste Comte, Cultural Capital

• School: University of Guelph
• Department: Sociology
• Course: SOC 1100
• Professor: Deanna Behnke- Cook

Document Summary

Want to know why people act as they do, what motivates them, what challenges they face. Focus on: socioeconomic status, race, gender. Sociologists identify general social patterns in the behaviour of particular individuals. As human beings, aside from essential things (eg: food, water, sleep etc. 75% of the time when a person has sex for the first time, they are either high or drunk. Sociologists learn to give up the idea that human behaviour is simply what people decide to do: rather, it is understanding how society shapes our lives. Where we live shapes the lives we lead: your family, friends, socioeconomic status, gender, race, area you live in all play a part in making you who you are today. Societies throughout the world are increasingly interconnected. Many problems that we face in canada are more serious elsewhere. Thinking globally helps us learn more about ourselves. Sociology helps develop (canadian) public policy: creating laws against driving impaired.