Sociology 1020 Chapter Notes - Chapter week 1-6: Moral Agency, Georg Simmel, Laura Hamilton
9 May 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
October 12, 2016
Readings
Week 1
C. Wright Mills – The Poise
o The Sociological Imagination (Arch 5-9)
▪ Enables the processor to understand the larger historical scene in terms of its meaning for inner
life & the external career in a variety of individuals
▪ Take into account how individuals, in the confusion of their daily lives/experience, often
become falsely conscious of social positions
▪ Framework of modern society is sought & the psychologies of men & women are formulated
▪ Fist fuit of the soiologial iagiation:
• Idea that the individual can understand their experience & gauge their own fate by
becoming aware of all individuals in the same circumstances
▪ We dot ko the liit of as apait, ut e ko the liits of hua atue ae e
broad
▪ Enables us to grasp history & biography and the relations between them in society
▪ 3 types of questions:
• What is the structure of this society as a whole?
• Essential components
• Difference from other varieties of social order
• Meaning of any feature for its continuance & change
• Where does this society stand in human history?
• Mechanics by which it changes
• Meaning for the development of humanity
• Essential features of this time period
• Characteristics ways of history making
• What varieties of men and women now prevail in this society and in this period?
• Future varieties
• Selection & formation methods
• Conduction and characters of human nature in this society & period
• Meaning of human nature for each society
▪ Cotepoa as self-conscious view of himself rests upon an absorbed realization of social
relativity
▪ Sociological imagination is the most fruitful form of self-consciousness
o Public Issues vs. Private Troubles
▪ Essential tool of the sociological imagination
▪ Troubles occur within the character of the individual & the range of his/her immediate relation
with others
• Limited areas of social life of which he is personally aware
• Social setting is directly open to his personal experience
• A trouble is a private matter – cherished values feel threatened
▪ Issues are public matters that transcend local environments of the individual and the range of
his inner life
• Milieux into the institutions of a historical society as a whole
• An issue is a public matter – some value held by the public feels threatened
▪ Unemployment
• If 1 man out of 100,000 in a city, that is his personal trouble
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October 12, 2016
• If, in a nation of 50 million, 15 million men are unemployed, that is a public issue
• Structure of opportunities has collapsed
▪ War
• Personal problem would be how to survive or die with honour, how to climb the ranks,
or contribute to the termination of the war
• Public issue would be the causes of war, what type of man should fight, political,
economic, family and religious institutions
▪ Marriage
• Personal troubles between the husband and wife, fighting, etc.
• Public issues in the institution of marriage, high divorce rate
▪ Metropolis
• Personal trouble – finding an apartment, house, etc.
• Public issue – homelessness
o What we experience is often caused by structural changes
o To be aware of the idea of social structure and to use it with sensibility is to possess the sociological
imagination
Peter Berger – Iitatio to “oiolog
o “oiologists uestios eai essetiall the sae
▪ What are people doing with each other here?
▪ What are their relationships to each other?
▪ How are these relationships organized in institutions?
▪ What are the collective ideas that move men & institutions?
o Fascination of Sociology
▪ Perspective makes us see things in a new light
▪ Constitutes a transformation of consciousness
▪ More relevant existentially than that of many other intellectual disciplines
▪ More difficult to segregate in some special part of the mind
• Sociologist lives in society on and off the job
• Life is part of the subject matter
• Segregate professional insights from daily affairs
▪ First wisdom of soiolog is that thigs aet eatl hat the see
▪ Social reality has many layers of meaning
o Culture Shock
▪ Impact of a totally new culture upon a newcomer
▪ A shock with predictable physiological & moral consequences
• Explorers in the past encountered cannibalism, polygamy, puberty rites
• Now, more so the way people drive in different parts of the world
• Excitement that things are actually that different from home
• Sudden illumination of new and unsuspected facets of human existence in society
Fiona Ng – Tide Has an In-House “oiologist, ad He Jo Is to Figue Out What You Wat
o Jessica Carbino
▪ Ph.D. candidate in sociology at UCLA
▪ Wrote thesis on online dating
▪ Undergrad showed her Tinder
▪ First match was CEO & she got a job as the in-house sociologist
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October 12, 2016
▪ She knows users are not only looking for physical attractiveness but also socioeconomic
status and personality
▪ Filters through data through the lens of social behaviours
▪ Thi “liig
▪ Nonverbal cues first impressions can give us about a person
o Tinder
▪ Based on attraction and appearance
▪ Added more information to profiles like employment & education
▪ Caios oseatios:
▪ Men with a softer jawline are perceived as kinder
▪ Women who wear more makeup get more right swipes
▪ Selfie is the most common type of photo
▪ 80% of Tinder users are looking for long-term relationships
Yoni Appelbaum – Why America's Business Majors Are in Desperate Need of a Liberal-Arts Education
o Students are trying to obtain degrees that will secure them jobs in the shifting economy
o Many schools are changing their curriculum so that business students can get a liberal-arts education
o Busiess ajos gaduate ith soe tehial skills the eed ut the dot hae the itial-thinking
skills that they will also need
o Business, health & education majors substantially underperformed students in humanities, sciences,
social sciences and engineering
o Liberal-arts students have more active minds
o Strengthens ability to contribute to the greater society
Carl Straumshein – Leave it in the Bag
o When students had their laptops & tablets taken away, their grades improved
o Male studets ad studets ith high GPAs ae ost suseptile to fallig gades due to teholog-
induced distractions
o Use of technology in classrooms is on the rise, beneficial in some ways and detrimental in others
o Digital note-taking is not as effective as hand-written notes
Shannon Reed – The 7 Thigs Ne College “tudets Dot Ko That Die Pofessos Caz
o Youe ot i hage
▪ Student behaviour in the classroom can affect the grades of the student
o Dot pla o ou phoe o laptop he the pofesso is letuig
o Never complain to the professor about how busy you are
o Learn how to attach a file
o A professor is not your administrative assistant
o Make the extra effort
o Become aware of your preconceived ideas about people & seek to eradicate them
Hunter Rawlings – College is Not a Commodity. Stop Treating it Like Oe.
o Most commentary on the value of post-secondary education is naïve and misleading
o College is typically evaluated in economic terms
▪ Reduced to a commodity like a car or house
o The student has to do most of the work to obtain this value
o Value of the degee depeds oe o the studets iput tha the uiulu
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Document Summary
If 1 man out of 100,000 in a city, that is his personal trouble. Hunter rawlings (cid:862)college is not a commodity. Roberta spalter-roth & nicole van vooren (cid:862)what are they doing with a ba(cid:272)helo(cid:396)(cid:859)s deg(cid:396)ee i(cid:374) o(cid:272)iolog(cid:455)? (cid:863) Dan gardner (cid:862) isk(cid:863) chapte(cid:396) (cid:1007): to(cid:374)e age meets i(cid:374)fo(cid:396)(cid:373)atio(cid:374) age. Ala/acrl/anss (cid:862)i(cid:374)fo(cid:396)(cid:373)atio(cid:374) lite(cid:396)a(cid:272)(cid:455) ta(cid:374)da(cid:396)ds for anthropology a(cid:374)d o(cid:272)iolog(cid:455) tude(cid:374)ts(cid:863: standard 1: know what kind of information is needed, standard 2: access needed information effectively and ethically. October 12, 2016: standard 3: evaluate information and its sources critically, incorporate selected information into knowledge base and value system, standard 4: use information effectively and ethically to accomplish a specific purpose. Incarnation: t(cid:396)uth seeki(cid:374)g is steeped i(cid:374) othe(cid:396)s(cid:859) (cid:271)lood a(cid:374)d s(cid:449)eat. Bruce curtis (cid:862) eadi(cid:374)g efle(cid:454)i(cid:448)el(cid:455)(cid:863: systems theory/marxism, abstract organization of phenomena, studying sociology by taking a census, will never be 100% accurate. October 12, 2016: many times a census is corrupted because governments & authorities control how the society is portrayed.
