Intro to Sociology

HSP3M

Ms. Gluskin

Questions

• “Why has Canada's crime rate been falling? • Do the new information and communication

technologies threaten our privacy rights? • Why do women still hit a 'glass ceiling' in the

corporate and professional worlds? • How does social class, gender and racism

influence social life and individual life-chances?”

Queen’s University. (2006). Department of Sociology. Retrieved

Feb. 3, 2011 from http://www.queensu.ca/sociology/

Study of People

Trent University. (n.d.). Sociology. Retrieved Feb. 3, 2011 from http://www.trentu.ca/sociology/

Areas of Study

• “Would you like to study organizations? Social networks? Gender roles and relationships? Family structure and behavior? Interpersonal relationships and processes? Urban development? Historical societies and economies? Rural social trends? Are you interested in social movements? Gang violence? Current immigration issues? Race and ethnic relations? Crime and incarceration? Perhaps you have questions about poverty and inequality… “

Stanford University. (n.d.). Stanford sociology programs. Retrieved Feb.

3, 2011 from ttp://www.stanford.edu/dept/soc/programs/index.html

“Sociologists study how societies are organized and how this organization shapes human behaviour. Sociologists primarily study their own culture and examine contemporary issues. They aim to produce research that has relevance to solving current social problems, such as poverty and inequality, racism, and population and environmental issues. As a discipline, sociology stresses empathy and tolerance, values of ever-increasing importance in our rapidly changing world.”

University of Victoria. (n.d.). Sociology: Making sense of societies. Retrieved Feb. 3, 2011 from http://web.uvic.ca/soci/

Soc Studies…

What Sociologists Do?

• “Sociologists are people who try to make sense of the social world, past, present and future. Sociologists reveal the hidden workings of society, and like Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz, they pull at the curtains of society to uncover the wizards hiding behind and operating the machinery.”

Ryerson University. (2011). Sociology: What is Sociology? Retrieved Feb. 3, 2011 from

http://www.ryerson.ca/sociology/whatis.html

“Sociology is the study of social life. Sociologists examine how society is created, maintained, and changed, and what the implications of social structures and social change are for people. Sociological research often provides challenges to common sense knowledge and helps us to understand that many of the things we perceive to be “natural” are in fact socially constructed and organized. It provides an opportunity to begin thinking critically about taken-for-granted assumptions, and in the process, understand the many ways personal experience is shaped by social processes and social institutions.”

Wilfrid Laurier University. (2011). Sociology. Retrieved Feb. 3, 2011 from http://www.wlu.ca/arts/sociology

Social Construction

Why Do Inequalities Exist?

Penn State Press. (n.d.). Sociology subject area. Retrieved Feb. 3, 2010 from

http://www.psupress.org/books/book_subject_soc.html

Equality Is the Goal…Yet Barriers Exist

University of Manitoba. (2011). Sociology. Retrieved Feb. 3, 2011 from http://www.umanitoba.ca/sociology/

Conflict

Acadia University. (2009). Department of sociology. Retrieved Feb. 3, 2011 from http://sociology.acadiau.ca/

Gender

Gender and Education Association. (2011). Gender differences in educational outcomes in Europe. Retrieved Feb. 3, 2011 from

http://www.genderandeducation.com/issues/gender-differences-in-educational-outcomes-in-europe/

The Shape of Sociology

Key Words

•Groups•Interaction•Power•Structure

You Exist in a Social Context

?

?

Income

Ethnicity

Gender

Age

You