Chapter 1 – The Sociological Perspective

Putting Social Life Into Perspective Sociology – the systematic study of human society and social interaction Why study it? helps us gain a better understanding of ourselves and our social world Enables us to see how behaviour is largely shaped by the groups to which we belong and the society in which we live Helps us look beyond our personal experiences and gain insights into society and the larger world order

Society – a large social grouping that shares the same geographical territory and is subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations Global interdependence – a relationship in which the lives of all people are closely intertwined and any one nation’s problems are part of a larger global problem Commonsense knowledge – a form of knowing that guides ordinary conduct in everyday life - many commonsense notions are actually myths

The Sociological Imagination Sociologist C. Wright Mills Sociological reasoning as the: sociological imagination – the ability to see the relationship between individual experiences and the larger society Enables us to understand the link between personal experiences and the social contexts in which they occur Helps us to distinguish between personal troubles and social (or public) issues Personal troubles – private problems of individuals i.e. one person being unemployed Public issues- matters beyond an individual’s own control that are caused by problems at the societal level i.e. plant closings

Example of an issue If a person commits suicide, many consider it the result of the individual’s personal problems Using our sociological imagination – can look at it as a societal problem Emile Durkheim (early sociologist) – high suicide rate was symptomatic of large-scale social problems.

The Development of Sociology Early social thinkers concerned with social order and stability: August Comte: coined the term sociology and founder most important contribution was positivism: belief that the world can best be understood through scientific inquiry believed that scientists & sociologists working together were capable of greater social understanding than church authorities or politicians and felt that the former should make all major decisions about society!

Emile Durkheim the founder of modern sociology was also interested in change in society, mainly because he lived during the Industrial Revolution (an era of great upheaval) “people are the product of their social environment” social facts – patterned ways of acting, thinking, and feeling that exist outside any one individual – exert social control over each person

observed that a breakdown in traditional organization, values, and authority results in a dramatic increase in anomie – individual feels society’s stability is breaking down, change is coming too fast and he/she cannot cope the founder of functionalism: the belief that society works logically and works to protect its members

Karl Marx differing views believed that conflict – especially class conflict – is inevitable and necessary class conflict is the struggle between members of the capitalist class (who own and control tools, land, factories and money) and members of the working class , who must sell their labour because they have no other means to earn a living society should not just be studied but should also be changed because the status quo (the existing state of society) involved the oppression of most of the population by a small group of wealthy people

Max Weber acknowledged the importance of economic interests in shaping human action, but suggested that other factors – such as religion- were also directly related to social change Sociology should be value free – that is, research should be conducted in a scientific manner and should exclude the researcher’s personal values and economic interests

Development of Sociology in North America From Western Europe sociology spread in the 1890’s to the U.S. First department of sociology was established at the University of Chicago Early 1900s sociology moves to Canada, appearing first at McGill University in Montreal (1925) and then at the University of Toronto