1. What is Sociology?

2. Introduction to Sociology: What is Sociology?
Lesson Outline
What does society look like?
What is sociology?
Levels of Analysis
The Sociological Perspective
Introduction to Sociology: What is Sociology?

3. Introduction to Sociology: What is Sociology?
Sociology is the systematic or scientific study of human society and social behavior, from large-scale institutions and mass culture to small groups and individual interactions.
Introduction to Sociology: What is Sociology?

4. Cool Insights from Sociology
Humans cannot be understood apart from social context (i.e. society)
Society makes us who we are by structuring out interactions and laying out an orderly world before us
Society is a social construction
An idea created by humans through social interaction and given a reality through our understanding of it
Introduction to Sociology: What is Sociology?

5. Society Influences You
Death… Related to society?
-Of course!
Nephropathies – diseases of the kidney
Introduction to Sociology: What is Sociology?

6. Introduction to Sociology: What is Sociology?
Baby Names
Introduction to Sociology: What is Sociology?

7. Introduction to Sociology: What is Sociology?
Names that have gained the most popularity,
2004 – 2010
...Or, the names I’ll begin seeing all the time in
Introduction to Sociology: What is Sociology?

8. What Does Society Look Like?
Society is made up of many different components:
culture, race, family, education, social class, and people’s interactions.
People who share a culture and territory
Introduction to Sociology: What is Sociology?

9. Meaning through Interaction
People actively and collectively shape their own lives, organizing their social interactions and relationships
Sociologists study this social behavior by seeking out its patterns.
Patterns are crucial to our understanding of society
Introduction to Sociology: What is Sociology?

10. Introduction to Sociology: What is Sociology?
How Sociology fits in
Introduction to Sociology: What is Sociology?

11. Introduction to Sociology: What is Sociology?
Howard Becker defined sociology as the study of people “doing things together.”
This reminds us that society and the individual are inherently connected, and each depends on the other.
Sociologists study this link: how society affects the individual and how the individual affects society.
Introduction to Sociology: What is Sociology?

12. Introduction to Sociology: What is Sociology?
Levels of Analysis
We can study society from different levels:
Microsociology is the level of analysis that studies face-to-face and small-group interactions in order to understand how they affect the larger patterns and institutions of society.
Introduction to Sociology: What is Sociology?

13. Levels of Analysis (cont)
Macrosociology is the level of analysis that studies large-scale social structures in order to determine how they affect the lives of groups and individuals.
Introduction to Sociology: What is Sociology?

14. How We Use Levels of Analysis
Pam Fishman took a micro-level approach to studying issues of power in male–female relationships.
She found that in conversation, women ask nearly three times as many questions as men do, perhaps because a speaker is much more likely to ask a question if he or she does not expect to get a response by simply making a statement.
Introduction to Sociology: What is Sociology?

15. How We Use Levels of Analysis
Christine Williams took a macro-level approach to studying women in male-dominated occupations and men in female-dominated occupations.
She found that women in male-dominated positions faced limits on their advancement (the glass ceiling), while men in female-dominated positions experienced rapid rates of advancement (the glass escalator).
Introduction to Sociology: What is Sociology?

16. Levels of Analysis (cont)
When conducting research, methodology involves the process by which one gathers and analyzes data.
Quantitative research translates the social world into numbers that can be treated mathematically
Any type of social statistic is an example of quantitative research.
Introduction to Sociology: What is Sociology?

17. Levels of Analysis (cont)
Qualitative research works with non-numerical data such as texts, fieldnotes, interview transcripts, photographs, and tape recordings
Try to understand how people make sense of their world.
Participant observation, in which the researcher actually takes part in the social world he or she studies, is an example of Q__________ research.
Introduction to Sociology: What is Sociology?

18. The Sociological Perspective
The sociological perspective is a quality of the mind that allows us to understand the relationship between our particular situation in life and what is happening at a social level.
How does society have an impact on individuals’ lives?
Introduction to Sociology: What is Sociology?

19. Using the Sociological Perspective
In small groups:
How would you explain the following social problems using the sociological perspective?
Obesity
Homelessness/Poverty
Unemployment
Marriage
The metropolis
War
Introduction to Sociology: What is Sociology?

20. The Sociological Perspective (cont)
One way to gain a sociological perspective is to attempt to create in ourselves a sense of culture shock
Sense of disorientation that occurs when one enters a radically new social or cultural environment.
Arriving on a college campus/new school
Teaching the elderly to use technology
Introduction to Sociology: What is Sociology?

21. Starting Your Sociological Journey
We are called an everyday actor
We have the practical knowledge needed to get through daily life, but not necessarily the scientific or technical knowledge of how things work
Introduction to Sociology: What is Sociology?

22. Starting Your Sociological Journey
The social analyst studies the social world in a comprehensive, coherent, clear, and consistent manner in the pursuit of scientific knowledge.
Introduction to Sociology: What is Sociology?

23. Introduction to Sociology: What is Sociology?
Take Away Points
Humans cannot be understood apart from the social context they live in (society, culture and time + place)
The world around us profoundly shapes and influences who we are, how we behave and even how/what we think.
It is the job of the sociologist to understand how this process works and to what effect.
Introduction to Sociology: What is Sociology?

24. Introduction to Sociology: What is Sociology?
Lesson Quiz
1. Which of the following is NOT an example of a social science?
a. biology
b. political science
c. psychology
d. economics
Introduction to Sociology: What is Sociology?

25. Introduction to Sociology: What is Sociology?
Lesson Quiz
2. Sociology is defined as:
a. the scientific study of humans.
b. the study of ancient cultures and behavior.
c. the study of how the brain works.
d. the study of human society and social behavior.
Introduction to Sociology: What is Sociology?

26. Introduction to Sociology: What is Sociology?
Lesson Quiz
3. __________ is the level of analysis that studies face-to-face and small-group interactions in order to understand how those interactions affect the larger patterns and institutions of society.
a. Microsociology
b. Macrosociology
c. Sociology
d. Social science
Introduction to Sociology: What is Sociology?

27. Introduction to Sociology: What is Sociology?
Lesson Quiz
4. The glass escalator effect refers to the:
a. limits on the advancement of women in the workplace.
b. limits on the advancement of men in the workplace.
c. rapid rate of upward mobility for women.
d. rapid rate of upward mobility for men in female-dominated workplaces.
Introduction to Sociology: What is Sociology?

28. Introduction to Sociology: What is Sociology?
Lesson Quiz
5. A sense of disorientation that occurs when you enter a radically new social or cultural environment is called:
a. cultural mind.
b. culture shakes.
c. cultural fear.
d. culture shock.
Introduction to Sociology: What is Sociology?

29. Introduction to Sociology: What is Sociology?
Looking Forward...
How we come to understand the social world
Theories and Research Methods
Introduction to Sociology: What is Sociology?