The Real World

An Introduction to SociologyFourth Edition

Kerry Ferris and Jill Stein

Chapter 1: Sociology and the Real World

What Is Sociology?

• Sociology is one of the social sciences—disciplines that examine the human, or social, world.

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Sociology and the Social Sciences

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• Sociology—the study of society

• According to Howard Becker, sociology is the study of people “doing things together” because neither the individual nor society exist independently of one another.

What Is Sociology? (cont’d.)

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• Sociology looks at a broad range of institutions or structures in our society (like education, the family, religion, economics, and politics), to better understand social relationships.

What Is Sociology? (cont’d.)

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• Sociologists are interested in all aspects of society.

• Society—a group of people who shape their lives in patterned ways that distinguish their group from other groups

What Is Sociology? (cont’d.)

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Culture Shock

• Culture shock is the sense of disorientation you experience upon entering a new environment.

• Behaviors that are typical in one society or culture may seem very strange in another context.

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Sociological Imagination

• Sociological imagination is a term coined by C. Wright Mills.

• Mills says, “To understand social life, we must understand the intersection between biography and history.”

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Sociological Imagination(cont’d.)

• Sociological imagination: a quality of the mind that allows us to understand the relationship between our particular situation in life and what is happening at a social level

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Levels of Analysis

• Sociologists can use different levels of analysis to explore social relationships:• Microsociology: examines small-group

interactions to see how they impact larger institutions in society

• Macrosociology: examines large-scale social structures to determine how they impact groups and individuals

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The Micro-Macro Continuum

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Sociological Theories

• Theories in sociology are propositions that explain the social world and help to make predictions about future events.

• Theories are also sometimes referred to as approaches, schools of thought, paradigms, or perspectives.

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Modern Schools of Thought

• Structural functionalism:• Society is viewed as an ordered system

of interrelated parts, or structures, which are the social institutions that make up society (family, education, politics, the economy).

• Each of these different structures meets the needs of society by performing specific functions for the whole system (society).

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• Émile Durkheim worked to establish sociology as an important academic discipline.

• Interested in the social factors that bond and hold people together

• Studied the correlation between social isolation and suicide

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Sociology’s Roots(cont’d.)

Émile Durkheim

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Modern Schools ofThought (cont’d.)

• Conflict theory: • Sees social class conflict as the basis

of society and social change• Proposes that conflict and tension are

basic facts of social life and suggests that people have disagreements over goals and values and are involved in struggles over both resources and power

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• Karl Marx was a German philosopher and political activist.

• Marx contributed significantly to sociology’s conflict theory.

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Sociology’s Roots(cont’d.)

Karl Marx

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• Marx believed that capitalism was creating social inequality between the bourgeoisie, who owned the means of production (money, factories, natural resources, and land), and the proletariat, who were the workers.

• According to Marx, this inequality leads to class conflict.

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Sociology’s Roots(cont’d.)

• Max Weber was also interested in how society was becoming industrialized.

• He was concerned with the process of rationalization, applying economic logic to all human activity.

• He believed that contemporary life was filled with disenchantment, the result of the dehumanizing features of modern societies.

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Sociology’s Roots(cont’d.)

Max Weber

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• Symbolic interactionism: • Sees interaction and meaning as central to

society and assumes that meanings are not inherent but rather are created through interaction

• Society is produced and reproduced through our interactions with each other, by means of language, and our interpretations of that language through interaction that we create a meaningful social reality

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Modern Schools ofThought (cont’d.)

• George Herbert Mead was interested in the connection between thought and action—or between the individual and society.

• Mead suggested that the meanings that we give to objects in our society are social processes—people interact, and meanings come from these interactions.

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Sociology’s Roots(cont’d.)

George Herbert Mead

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• Erving Goffman was interested in how the “self” is developed through interactions with others in society.

• Goffman used the term dramaturgy to describe the way people strategically present themselves to others.

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Sociology’s Roots(cont’d.)

Erving Goffman

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Class Activity

• In groups of 3-5, please answer

the following question…• Pick any topic from the syllabus (crime,

gender, race, social class, etc.) and discuss how each of the 3 Sociological Paradigms might view that topic• 1. Structural Functionalism• 2. Conflict Theory• 3. Symbolic Interactionism

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