1 Copyright © 2004 by Nelson, a division of Thomson Canada Limited. Chapter 1Introducing Sociology by Robert Brym

2 Copyright © 2004 by Nelson, a division of Thomson Canada Limited. SOCIOLOGY Sociology is the study of the powerful social forces that influence social relations and personal lives. Sociology emerged at the time of the Industrial Revolution, an era of massive social transformation accompanied by new social problems.

3 Copyright © 2004 by Nelson, a division of Thomson Canada Limited. THE ENLIGHTENING PERSPECTIVE OF SOCIOLOGY Durkheim’s analysis of the relationship between suicide rates and social relations at the end of the nineteenth century is a classic and still highly informative example of the sociological perspective at work.

4 Copyright © 2004 by Nelson, a division of Thomson Canada Limited. DURKHEIM’S FINDINGS Some categories of people (men, Christians, the unmarried) have higher rates of suicide than others (women, Jews, the married). Why? Because people who are weakly integrated into social groups are more likely to take their own lives.

5 Copyright © 2004 by Nelson, a division of Thomson Canada Limited. DURKHEIM’S U-CURVE (I)

6 Copyright © 2004 by Nelson, a division of Thomson Canada Limited. As the level of social solidarity increases, the suicide rate declines. Then, beyond a certain point, it begins to rise again. At one extreme, anomic suicide occurs in very low solidarity settings. At the other extreme, altruistic suicide occurs in very high solidarity contexts, where norms tightly govern behaviour. DURKHEIM’S U-CURVE (II)

7 Copyright © 2004 by Nelson, a division of Thomson Canada Limited. Social forces exist as a distinct level of reality: They are external to individuals. They constrain individual behaviour. IMPLICATIONS OF DURKHEIM’S ANALYSIS OF SUICIDE

8 Copyright © 2004 by Nelson, a division of Thomson Canada Limited. SUICIDE IN CANADA TODAY Youth suicide, rare in Durkheim’s time, has risen since the 1960s in Canada. Suicide rates for men remain considerably higher than those for women.

9 Copyright © 2004 by Nelson, a division of Thomson Canada Limited. SUICIDE BY AGE AND SEX Insert Figure 1.2, p. 7

10 Copyright © 2004 by Nelson, a division of Thomson Canada Limited. SOCIAL STRUCTURES I Social structures are relatively stable patterns of social relations. The three social structures are: – Microstructures – Macrostructures – Global structures

11 Copyright © 2004 by Nelson, a division of Thomson Canada Limited. SOCIAL STRUCTURES II Microstructures are patterns of intimate social relations formed during face-to-face interaction (e.g., families, friendship circles). Macrostructures are overarching patterns of social relations (e.g., class relations, bureaucratic organizations).

12 Copyright © 2004 by Nelson, a division of Thomson Canada Limited. SOCIAL STRUCTURES III Global structures are social structures that lie outside and above the national level (e.g., the United Nations, the European Union, free trade areas such as the NAFTA region).

13 Copyright © 2004 by Nelson, a division of Thomson Canada Limited. FOREIGN AID, DEBT, AND INTEREST PAYMENTS, DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

14 Copyright © 2004 by Nelson, a division of Thomson Canada Limited. THREE REVOLUTIONS LED TO THE SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE The Scientific Revolution (circa 1550) encouraged the view that conclusions about society must be based on evidence. The Democratic Revolution (circa 1750) suggested that people create society and human intervention can therefore solve social problems. The Industrial Revolution (circa 1780) created a host of social problems that attracted the attention of social thinkers.

15 Copyright © 2004 by Nelson, a division of Thomson Canada Limited. COMPONENTS OF THE SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE The sociological imagination shows the connection between personal troubles and public issues. Values are ideas about right and wrong. Research is the process of systematically observing reality to “test” theories. Theories are tentative explanations of aspects of social life.

16 Copyright © 2004 by Nelson, a division of Thomson Canada Limited. SOCIOLOGY’S FOUR MAIN THEORETICAL TRADITIONS functionalism conflict theory symbolic interactionism feminism

17 Copyright © 2004 by Nelson, a division of Thomson Canada Limited. FOUR THEORETICAL TRADITIONS IN SOCIOLOGY

18 Copyright © 2004 by Nelson, a division of Thomson Canada Limited. POSTINDUSTRIALISM Postindustrialism is the technology-driven shift from manufacturing to service industries and the consequences of that shift for all of society.

19 Copyright © 2004 by Nelson, a division of Thomson Canada Limited. MAIN SOCIOLOGICAL ISSUES IN THE POSTINDUSTRIAL ERA autonomy versus constraint prosperity versus inequality diversity versus uniformity

20 Copyright © 2004 by Nelson, a division of Thomson Canada Limited. SUPPLEMENTARY SLIDES

21 Copyright © 2004 by Nelson, a division of Thomson Canada Limited. SUICIDE, CANADA, BY AGE COHORT, Source: “Suicides, and suicide rate, by sex, by age group.” On the World Wide Web at (15 November 2003). The text argues that youth suicide has increased in Canada since the 1960s. Is that increase evident in the period ? Why or why not?

22 Copyright © 2004 by Nelson, a division of Thomson Canada Limited. The European View of the World, Circa 1600