SOC 1101 Study Guide - Fall 2018, Comprehensive Midterm Notes - Zapatista Army Of National Liberation, Youtube, Youth Subculture
12 Oct 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
SOC 1101
MIDTERM EXAM
STUDY GUIDE
Fall 2018
Sept. 11th, 2017
SOC 1101 D
Principles of Sociology
Kathleen Rodgers
WHAT IS SOCIOLOGY?
➢ “Seeing the general in the particular”
➢ Sociology is an approach; a way of thinking. PARTICULAR WAY OF ASKING QUESTIONS
➢ Steckley: “the social science that studies the development, structure, and functioning of human
society”
➢ Auguste Comte: “the scientific study of society”
➢ Anthony Giddens: “the study of society, social groups, and social life.”
➢ There is no single sociological standpoint or view. No one explanation of human behaviour.
➢ In other words, sociology is difficult to define. It is more productive explain what sociology does
than what it is
➢ Sociology involves looking for and looking at social patterns in
a. Social variables (age, gender, “race,” ethnicity, religion, ability, and sexual orientation)
b. Social institutions (Education, religion, family)
c. Social interactions
➢ For this reason, we can say that while sociology is the systematic study of society, it is really a set
of perspectives defines by a particular way of asking questions
➢ Sociological questions:
a. What is the relationship between individuals and society?
b. Are the most important determinants of social behaviour cultural or economic?
c. What are the bases of social inequality?
➢ People are social beings, our thinking and motivation shaped through interactions with people,
work, institutions.
➢ Sociologists see individuals as existing as part of a collectivity or society.
➢ Social context shapes behaviour, but humans have agency (capacity to think and make choices)
➢ Choices limited by social pressures. Decisions are the result of social context
➢ Family as an institution. Patterns/institutions that shape our lives
➢ Unstated assumptions/norms are present even in the bathroom. Gender norms are the most
powerful
MARGARET THATCHER (UK PM, 1979-1990) NEO-LIBERALISM
➢ “There’s no such thing as society. There are individual men and women and there are families. …
And no government can do anything except through people, and people must take care of
themselves first-- it is our duty to take care of ourselves.”
➢ Implication: ‘We are all on our own. Look after yourself. It’s a dog-eat-dog world.” “We are all
responsible for the situations in which we find ourselves.” Individualism of responsibility.
➢ There are no social problems, controls, norms, institutions, inequalities based on social
characteristics, sexism, racism
C. WRIGHT MILLS & SOCIOLOGICAL IMAGINATION
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➢ “Neither the life of an individual nor the history of a society can be understood without
understanding both.”
➢ The Sociological Imagination = the ability to see the relationship between individual experiences
and the larger society
a. Wanted to develop a tool that would allow us to “de-bunk” actions and ideas that are
normally taken for granted
b. “People do not usually .. (refer to article)”
c. Sociology=epiphany=collective action
d. Teach people to make connections; individual problems as a part of collective problems
e. Mills: The goal of sociologists is not to observe the world but to change it. Provide not
only insight, but also tools. Create knowledge that will produce social change
➢ Is unemployment the product of laziness? Maybe, but social context has a lot to do with it as well.
Ie. employment rate. Where you are born affects your chance of employment. Also race, gender,
age. Social forces that shape the likelihood of unemployment.
➢ Social discourse: Unemployed=lazy. Rich=hard working. Poor=unemployed. The solution to
unemployment is to “go and get a job”
CHILDBIRTH: INDIVIDUAL CHOICE OR SOCIAL TREND
➢ In capitalist society, women and family’s decision to have a child and when to have one is
carefully weighed/timed. Socio/economic factors
➢ Individual agency is limited by social context, even in something as private as childbirth
➢ In societies where education and work isn’t as available to women, the birth rate is higher
DURKHEIM AND SOCIAL FACTS
➢ Émile Durkheim (1858-1917)
➢ One of the founders of sociology
➢ In Rules of Sociological Method (1895), Durkheim coined the term social fact
○ Social facts are patterned ways of acting, thinking, and feeling that exist outside of any
one individual but exert social control over people (gender, racial categories)
○ Social facts allow sociologists to examine larger social forms rather than focusing on
individuals
➢ Social facts of life delineate certain choices for us
➢ We think of suicide as individual act due to an individual set of mind, whereas Durkheim treated
suicide as a social fact
➢ He asked: why do suicide rates vary? Why are some people more likely to commit suicide than
others?
➢ Men are 3x more likely to commit suicide
➢ If suicide is due to an individual state of mind (ie. depression), why do rates vary by nation? By
religion? Suicide is a sociological problem with a psychological basis.
➢ Durkheim found that certain groups were more likely to commit suicide: military officers,
Protestants, and unmarried people
➢ The propensity to commit suicide across nations is the same, what differs is their level of social
integration
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Sociology is an approach; a way of thinking. Steckley: the social science that studies the development, structure, and functioning of human. Auguste comte: the scientific study of society . Anthony giddens: the study of society, social groups, and social life. There is no single sociological standpoint or view. In other words, sociology is difficult to define. It is more productive explain what sociology does. Sociology involves looking for and looking at social patterns in than what it is: social variables (age, gender, race, ethnicity, religion, ability, and sexual orientation, social institutions (education, religion, family, social interactions. For this reason, we can say that while sociology is the systematic study of society, it is really a set. People are social beings, our thinking and motivation shaped through interactions with people, Sociologists see individuals as existing as part of a collectivity or society. Social context shapes behaviour, but humans have agency (capacity to think and make choices)
