Chapter 1: An Introduction to Sociology in the Global Age

© 2017, SAGE Publications, Inc. Sociology The systematic study of the ways in which people are affected by, and affect, the social structures and social processes that are associated with the groups, organizations, cultures, societies, and world in which they exist. Sociology is the scientific study of social behavior and human groups. © 2017, SAGE Publications, Inc.

Two Lessons from Sociology What you think and do as an individual is affected by what is happening in groups, organizations, cultures, societies, and the world. Not only are you affected by larger events, you are also capable to some degree of having an impact on large-scale structures and processes. © 2017, SAGE Publications, Inc.

The Changing Nature of the World – and Sociology 18th and 19th centuries: Industrial Revolution Sociologists focused on factories, production, and blue-collar workers. Mid-20th century: Post-Industrial Age Sociologists focused on offices, bureaucracies, and white-collar workers. Present day: The Information Age Sociologists focus on knowledge, information, and technologies. Checkpoint 1.1 © 2017, SAGE Publications, Inc.

Central Concerns for a 21st-Century Sociologist: Globalization No social change today is as important as globalization. Globalization is arguably the most important instigator of social change and affects all aspects of the social world. Globalization is a central issue in sociology as well as the social world. Globalization is defined by increasingly fluid global flows and the structures that expedite and impede these flows. Figure 1.1 and Figure 1.2 © 2017, SAGE Publications, Inc.

Central Concerns for a 21st-Century Sociologist: Globalization Positives Greater access to goods, services, and information throughout the world Negatives Undesirable things (diseases, illegal drugs, and social movements) flow more easily around the world. © 2017, SAGE Publications, Inc.

Central Concerns for a 21st-Century Sociologist: Globalization Society, a complex pattern of social relationships that is bounded in space and persists over time, has traditionally been the largest unit of analysis in sociology. Transnational structures are becoming more important than individual societies. Social processes, like social structures, exist not only at the societal level but also at the global level. © 2017, SAGE Publications, Inc.

Central Concerns for a 21st-Century Sociologist: Consumption The process by which people obtain and utilize goods and services. As consumption increased so did the proliferation of credit cards and, predictably, credit card debt. Consumption and globalization are deeply intertwined. © 2017, SAGE Publications, Inc.

The McDonaldization of Society The process by which the rational principles of the fast-food restaurant are coming to dominate more and more sectors of society and more societies throughout the world. McDonaldization leads to the creation of rational systems that have four defining characteristics Efficiency Calculability Predictability Control © 2017, SAGE Publications, Inc.

Critiquing Consumption Consumption sites. How consumers use shopping malls and e-tailers in ways that were not anticipated by their designers. The Great Recession and its ongoing aftermath. © 2017, SAGE Publications, Inc.

Central Concerns for a 21st-Century Sociologist: The Digital World Sociologists have always been interested in the social aspects of technology. Technology: the interplay of machines, tools, skills, and procedures for the accomplishment of tasks. Figure 1.4 © 2017, SAGE Publications, Inc.

Central Concerns for a 21st-Century Sociologist: The Digital World Sociologists have tracked the evolution of technology, from assembly lines to automated factories to the digital world (computers, cell phones, and the Internet). Mediated interaction. Social networking and multitasking. Internet and consumption. © 2017, SAGE Publications, Inc.

Globalization, Consumption, the Digital World, and You College students have fellow students and professors from other parts of the world. You shop on the Internet. An increasing portion of your education is obtained through the Internet. © 2017, SAGE Publications, Inc.

Sociology: Continuity and Change The sociological imagination says that sociologists have a distinctive way of looking at the world. C. Wright Mills (1959) argued that sociologists have a unique perspective. © 2017, SAGE Publications, Inc.

The Sociological Imagination C. Wright Mills (1916–1962) described this type of creative thinking as the ability to view one’s own society as an outsider. It demonstrates the connection between history and biography, connects personal experiences – “troubles” – to larger social patterns – “social issues.” © 2017, SAGE Publications, Inc.

The Sociological Imagination The sociological imagination allows us to look beyond a limited understanding of things and people in the world and allows for a broader vision of society. Private troubles and public issues Increasing levels of consumption and debt (private trouble) morphed into a near collapse of the global economy (public issue). Will fleeting electronic social relationships (via Facebook and Twitter) lead all types of social relationships in the future? Figure 1.4 © 2017, SAGE Publications, Inc.

The Sociological Imagination: The Micro/Macro Relationship Micro – small scale Individual thoughts and actions and small group interactions. Macro – large scale Groups, organizations, cultures, society, and the world, as well as the interactions between these large structures. The micro-macro continuum Runs from the most microscopic to the most macroscopic of social realities. phenomena are roughly at the midpoint of this continuum best thought of as meso realities. © 2017, SAGE Publications, Inc.

The Sociological Imagination: The Micro/Macro Relationship Karl Marx (1818–1883) was interested in what workers thought and did (micro-scale phenomena) and the capitalist economic system (macro-scale phenomena). Randall Collins (2009) has sought to develop a theory of violence that deals with individuals skilled in violent interactions (micro-scale phenomena) and material resources used by violent organizations (macro-scale phenomena). © 2017, SAGE Publications, Inc.

The Sociological Imagination: The Agency–Structure Relationship Agency is the micro level; structure is the macro level. The agency–structure relationship has its roots in the European sociological perspective. Agency gives priority to the agent having power and a capacity for creativity. Agents both create and are constrained by social and cultural structures. © 2017, SAGE Publications, Inc.

The Agency–Structure Relationship Structures are autonomous and able to sustain themselves over a long period of time without disruptions from individuals. They are long-term often society-wide patterns of relationships, norms, values, and other social phenomena that include the family, education, media, the state, and the economy. © 2017, SAGE Publications, Inc.

The Social Construction of Reality This approach argues that agents (people at the micro level) create social reality which takes on a life of its own and becomes a structure (macro level) within which those who create the structure exist. It is a process of human creation that becomes invisible and relatively unquestioned the deeper it is embedded in peoples’ social practices. For example, designers (agents) create the world of fashion. © 2017, SAGE Publications, Inc.

© 2017, SAGE Publications, Inc. Structure and Process Social structures are enduring and regular social arrangements such as the family or the state, or even shopping malls. These change very slowly. Social processes are aspects of the social world such as shopping and childrearing practices. These change rapidly. © 2017, SAGE Publications, Inc.

Sociology’s Purpose: Science or Social Reform? The scientific view states that examining the relationship between structure and process should be a purely scientific endeavor. The social reform view states that as these relationships are discovered, this knowledge should be used to solve social problems. © 2017, SAGE Publications, Inc.

Sociology and Other Social Sciences and Common Sense Sociology, with its emphasis on studying various aspects of the social world, is one of the social sciences. Sociology, generally speaking, is the broadest of these fields. © 2017, SAGE Publications, Inc.

The Other Sciences and Globalization Anthropology: studies cultural aspects of societies around the world. Communications: studies mediated and nonmediated communication across the globe. Economics: examines production, distribution, and consumption of resources through markets across the globe. Figure 1.6 © 2017, SAGE Publications, Inc.

The Other Sciences and Globalization Geography: mapping of spatial relationships on a global scale. Political science: nation-states. Psychology: ways in which individual identities are shaped by awareness of the rest of the world. © 2017, SAGE Publications, Inc.

Sociology and Common Sense Common sense includes perceptions that are widely held. Sociology is the systematic study of the social world in both its minutest detail and its broadest manifestations. Example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPKKQnijnsM © 2017, SAGE Publications, Inc.