SOC 2000 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Institutional Review Board, Formal System, Ethnography
Chapter 1: The Power of Society
The Sociological Perspective
• Sociology is the systematic study of human society.
• Society refers to the people who live in a defined territory and share a way of life
• Sociological perspective: seeing the general in the particular… not in categories
• The society in which we live has a lot to do with our everyday choice
• Social integration has a direct effect on suicide rates
• People with the greatest privileges tend to see individuals as responsible for their own
lives. Those at the margins of society, by contrast, are quick to see how race, class, and
gender can create disadvantages.
• Global perspective: the study of the larger world and our society’s place in it
• The world’s 194 nations can be divided into three broad categories according to their
level of economic development
o High-income countries: the nations with the highest overall standards of living
▪ 76 countries
o Middle-income countries: nations with a standard of living about average for the
world as a whole
▪ 70 countries
▪ 8 years of school on average
▪ Considerable social inequality
o Low-income countries: nations with a low standard of living in which most
people are poor
▪ 48 countries
▪ Poor housing, unsafe water, poverty
• Comparisons made for the following reasons:
o Where we live shapes the lives we lead
o Societies throughout the world are increasingly interconnected
o What happens in the rest of the world affects life here in the United States
o Many problems that we face in the United States are far more serious elsewhere
o Thinking globally helps us learn more about ourselves.
• Changes in Europe during the 18th and 19the centuries made people think more about
society and their place in it, spurring thought about society and the development of
sociology
o The rise of a factory-based economy lead to this
o Along with the explosive growth of cities
o And new ideas about democracy and political rights
▪ Philosophers
▪ French revolution
• These changes combined to make people more aware of their societies.
o Sociology born in England, France, and Germany
• Positivism: a scientific approach to knowledge based on “positive” facts as opposed to
mere speculation
o Comte’s philosophy
o Most sociologists consider science a crucial part of sociology
Applying the Sociological Perspective
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• Sociologists have helped shape public policy—the laws and regulations that guide how
people in communities live and work—in countless ways, from radical desegregation to
school busing
• The sociological perspective:
o The sociological perspective helps us assess the truth of “common sense”
▪ Asks whether our common beliefs are really true
o The sociological perspective helps us to see the opportunities and constraints in
our lives
▪ Pursue goals more effectively
o The sociological perspective empowers us to be active participants in our society
▪ Private problems become public issues
o The sociological perspective helps us live in a diverse world
▪ We tend to view our own way of living as right/natural/better
• Helps in any career that involves dealing with people
Sociological Theory
• Theory: a statement of how and why specific facts are related.
• Theoretical approach: a basic image of society that guides thinking and research
o 3 basic approaches: structural function, social-conflict, and symbolic interaction
• The structural-functional approach: is a framework for building theory that sees society
as a complex system whose parts work together to promote solidarity and stability
o This approach points to social structure (any relatively stable pattern of social
behavior)
o Also looks for each structure’s social functions: the consequences of a social
pattern for the operation of society as a whole.
o Manifest functions: the recognized and intended consequences of any social
pattern
o Latent functions: the unrecognized and unintended consequences of any social
pattern
o Social dysfunction: any social pattern that may disrupt the operation of society
• The social-conflict approach is a framework for building theory that sees society as an
arena of inequality that generates conflict and change
o Focuses on how social patterns benefit some while hurting others
o Used in effort to understand society but also in effort to reduce inequality
o Gender-conflict theory (or feminist theory): the study of society that focuses on
inequality and conflict between women and men
▪ Linked to feminism (support of social equality for women and men)
o Race-conflict theory: the study of society that focuses on inequality and conflict
between people of different racial and ethnic categories
• Symbolic interaction approach is a framework for building theory that sees society as the
product of the everyday interactions of individuals
o Both structural-function and social-conflict approach share a macro-level
orientation: a broad focus on social structures that shape society as a whole
o Sociology also uses a micro-level orientation: a close up focus on social
interaction in specific situations
Three Ways to Do Sociology
• 3 popular research orientations: positivist, interpretive, and critical sociology
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