SOCIOLOGY An examination

SOCIOLOGY  Sociology developed as discipline as scholars looked to society to understand the world around them and address social problems  Sociologists study the organization, institutions, and development of society, changing relationships between individuals and the collective behavior of groups

DEFINING SOCIOLOGY  Study the interaction among people living together in a society and their actions beliefs, and behaviours in order to understand the society.  They compare and contrast human interaction and behavior between societies

SOCIOLOGICAL ISSUES  They examine a wide range of issues and topics such as:  Gender roles  Family structure  Criminal behavior  Ethnicity  Social classes  Social institutions  Sexuality

AUGUSTE COMTE ( )  First coined the term sociology-systematic study of society  Society is constantly changing, individuals and groups struggle to adapt to these changes  Change is positive for society  Positivism: strict application of the scientific method in order to obtain concrete, measurable, and testable data to understand societ y

SOCIOLOGISTS  Sociologists attempt to understand cultural expressions of a society- that is the shared symbols and learned behaviours that everyone in society recognizes and understands.  Learned behavior come from particular values, norms and roles held by members of a particular society

SOCIOLOGY  Values of society are shared ideas and standards that a society or a specific group considers acceptable and binding  Norms are expectations about how people should behave in particular contexts  The role of an individual refers to the expected behaviour of a person in a particular social positions

SOCIOLOGICAL SCHOOLS OF THOUGHT  Different ways of observing, studying and understanding society  Structural Functionalism  Emile Durkheim  Talcott Parsons  To study how social structures function to serve the needs of society

SCHOOLS OF THOUGHT  Conflict theory  Karl Marx  C. Wright Mills  To study how power forms the basis of the relationships between different groups and creates social conflict  Feminist Sociology  Dorothy Smith  To examine conflicts created by gender

SCHOOLS OF THOUGHT  Symbolic Interactionism  Charles Cooley  George Herbert Mead  Max Weber  To study the individual’s role and place within the wider society and how people create their world through social interactions  To examine how a physical environment and social structures determine individual behavior

MACROSOCIOLOGY  A wider perspective that is concerned with studying society as a whole  Analysis of social systems and large populations  Examine the role of large social institutions that individuals belong to.