 Is society evil or compassionate? Explain why you feel that way. Give me examples.

Sociology Chapter One

Sociology  Scientific study of human behavior shared by members of a group of society.  Investigates human social behavior from a group rather than an individual perspective.  Concentrates on patterns of social relationships, primarily in modern societies.  Always speak of groups and in the plural; not of individuals.  One of the Social Sciences.

Who were some famous Sociologists?????

Karl Marx  German scholar: Creator of Communism  Key to unfolding history was class conflict.  Marx’s Ideas  Economics was the driving force in history  All of history revolves around class struggle.  The “haves”- owned means of production and hence controlled society  The “have-nots”- proletariat, or working class.  Bourgeoisie Vs. Proletariat  Felt eventually a major revolution would result in a proletariat victory.  Despised Capitalism  Called for an international struggle to bring down capitalism  “Working men of all countries unite!”

Emile Durkhiem  Best known for his research on suicide.  Society exists because of broad consensus or agreement, among members of society.  One of the first Sociologists who made Sociology scientific and used statistics in studying human groups.  Developed methods that used observation, to collect and classify data and use that data for testing social theories.

Max Weber  Single most important influence on the development of sociological theory.  Human beings act on the basis of their own understanding of a situation.  The sooner sociologists discover the personal meanings, values, beliefs, and attitudes underlying human social behavior the better we can understand society as a whole.  Verstehen: understanding the social behavior of others by putting yourself mentally in their places.  Identifies rationalization as a key influence in the change from a preindustrial to industrial society.

Now onto Theoretical Perspectives……..  Most Sociologists are broken down into 3 “Theoretical Perspectives” or way they view and study.  Functionalist  Interactionist or Symbolic Interactionism  Conflict  There are others but these are the main ones you need to know.

Functionalist Perspective  Emphasizes the way in which parts of a society are structured to maintain its stability.  There are reasons and a purpose for everything.  All complex societies have economies, families, governments, and religions.  Manifest Functions: Open states conscious functions.  Latent functions: unconscious or unintended function.  Dysfunction: elements that have a negative consequence.  Values accounts for a high degree of cooperation found in society.

Interactionists  Focuses on the actual interaction among people.  Looks closer to individuals instead of looking at the larger picture.  Emphasizes the importance of shared symbols. If some people in a group do not share the same meaning for a given symbol confusion results.  Three assumptions to Symbolic Interactionism  We learn the meaning of a symbol from the way we see others reacting to it.  Once We learn the meanings of symbols, we base our behavior on them.  We use the meanings of symbols to imagine how others will respond to our behavior.

Conflict Perspective  Social behavior is best understood in terms of conflict or tension between competing groups.  Emphasizes conflict, competition, change, and constrain within a society.  Focuses on disagreements among various groups in a society or between a society.  Life is nothing but a contest and the prize is always power.

9/11  Writing Prompt:  What do the events of 9/11 say about our society? 9/11 would not have happened in the 1950’s: why not? What has changed?

Tech Trends  Get out your books and turn to page 28!  Get into groups of 2 or 3.  Read tech trends and answer the questions as the bottom.  Answer this question last:  Which perspective do you agree with the most overall? It might be the same as the one you choose for question one or it might be different!