SOCIOLOGY – The scientific study of human society and social

interactions.
SOCIOLOGICAL IMAGINATION (C. Wright Mills) –
Looking at all types of individual human behavior and
searching for the common patterns.
 ORIGINS OF SOCIOLOGY - COMTE

• August Comte was a philosopher .

• He coined the term sociology to refer to the science of man.
• He wanted to use the scientific methods of the natural
sciences to reveal the principles of society using empirical
means
• Comte suggested two areas of study:
• 1. Social Statics – The study of social structures and
interrelated parts
• 2. Social Dynamics – The study of social change and progress
in society
 DEFINITIONS
• Def - Scientific Method: Process by which
knowledge is built through observation
experimentation, generalization and verification
• Def – Empiricism: Generalizations (findings) are
only valid if the are based on evidence that can
be observed directly, or verified through the
senses
• Def - Paradigm: A model or framework that
guides research
 MARTINEAU

• Martineau was a social observer. Her choice of this endeavor

and her competence were in part due to her social isolation
caused by her handicaps.
• She was able to view society around her as an “OUTSIDER”

• She was an early proponent of using research findings to

improve society.
 ORIGINS - HERBERT SPENCER

• Spencer was a philosopher. He created the term social

darwinism, to apply Darwin’s idea of “the survival of the
fittest” to society. He did this at two levels:
• 1. He applied it to individuals, and their standing within
society. Largely discredited, this view blamed the individual
for being poor, uneducated, or otherwise unsuccessful.
• 2. More importantly for future sociology he also applied the
idea to society in general. He saw society as made up of
interdependent parts that have to function well
together, while each meeting a specific need of society.
• - Early structural functionalist view
 KARL MARX

• Marx was a historian and political economist. His predictions

of the rise of communism and his work toward that goal are
not important for sociology.
• However, his social criticism is important.
• CLASS CONFLICT - According to Marx:
• 1. All societies exhibit a struggle over scarce resources and
have inequality. (Feudalism, Capitalism)
• 2. In capitalism there are two main groups, owners and
workers. This division determines an individuals class.
• 3. Whoever controls the means of production, also controls
all other institutions in society (politics, education, religion)
 MARX - continued

• 4. By means of this influence the owners control

norms, values, laws and beliefs of a society to keep control.
• 5. The focus on conflict between groups in society (for Marx this
was economic conflict) and the desire to fix the problem (of
oppressed workers for Marx) are his imprints on Sociology.

• Def - Conflict Theory – Each individual or group struggles to attain

the maximum benefit and society changes as groups vie with each
other. Created an explanation for change. Structural/functional
theories have trouble explaining change in a balanced society
•
 KARL MARX

• Def - Evaluative Paradigm – Starts with a opinion about a

social fact, usually a critique/criticism.
• Then studies the problem, in part, to find ways to ameliorate
or fix it.
• Def - – to make or become better, more bearable or more
satisfactory.
• Modern Day extensions from economic criticism
• - feminism
• - race theory
• - gay rights
 EMILE DURKHEIM
• Durkheim was a French sociologist. He held a structural
functionalist paradigm toward society.
• - This meant that he viewed society as an organism that is
necessary in its current form for individuals to co-exist in
society and to have social cohesion
• 2 types of social cohesion for Durkheim
• - Mechanical (old) – People are of the same mind because
they have the same experiences, status and background:
• - as in farming villages
• - Organic (new) Based on contract law that creates the
“rules” for interaction. Industrialization, Division of
Labor, specialization are components of organic society
 DURKHEIM - SUICIDE

• Famous for his study of suicide which was one of the earliest
studies to apply the scientific method to a social problem.
• - Propose a theory - Suicide is a social fact based on levels
of social regulation and social integration.
• - Collect data – Used suicide rates collected by
governments (second hand data as opposed to primary)
• - Test the theory - Compare suicide rates between
groups with different levels of regulation and/or integration
• - Review the results to see if they confirm the theory and
create new theories based on results
 DURKHEIM - SUICIDE
REGULATION – The amount of social INTEGRATION – The amount of
control exerted by all social cohesion the individual feels toward
institutions the group/society
• TOO MUCH REGULATION: • TOO MUCH INTEGRATION:
FATALISTIC SUICIDE – The • ALTRUISTIC SUICIDE – The
individual feels they cannot individual identifies too strongly
influence the outcome; with the group and will sacrifice
their life for them.
• TOO LITTLE REGULATION:
• ANOMIC SUICIDE – Collapse of • TOO LITTLE INTEGRATION:
regulatory • EGOISTIC SUICIDE - Low feelings
mechanisms, instability leads to of involvement or responsibility
confusion about goals and means to others. Excessive individualism
to achieve them. can favor suicide.
 MAX WEBER
interactionist functionalist
• Verstehen – German word • However, Weber still felt
loosely translated as that the science needed to
empathetic understanding be scientific and rigorous.
• Sociology then is a science • He settled on using rational
concerned with the (logical) understanding of
interpretive understanding events
of social action • Ideal Types – Isolate key
• For Weber action is social if features of a phenomena
its subjective meaning takes (limited list). Then view and
into account the behavior of measure these to extract
others. scientific explanations.
 WEBER
• Weber used ideal types to study many facets of
social life. He used historical and literature reviews
rather than statistical studies.
• Bureaucracy – Weber, as opposed to Marx, felt
bureaucratic management would control both
capitalist and socialist societies and the individuals
within them.
• - He saw it as the ultimate result of the rise of
rationality in modern society.
• IDEAL ELEMENTS OF BUREAUCRACY. - He identified
Officeholders, an hierarchy, written records, strict
rules to follow, and specialization.
 WEBER
• Rise of Capitalism – Weber differed from Marx
about the explanation for the rise of
Capitalism. He started with the question of
why Protestants were more successful as
capitalists than Catholics
• Weber felt that the Protestant Ethic of hard
work and thrift, contributed to the capitalist
explosion in England and the United States.
• - Like Marx he looked to historical changes
to explain the rise of capitalism, but differed in
the answer.
 WEBER
• Weber also disagreed with Marx’s view that the
economic order determined all influence and control
• He argued that there were three sources of influence
within society
• 1. Class – this was equivalent to Marx’s economic
position
• 2. Status – This is equivalent to prestige. EX: Type
of job (doctor) , elder in society, church official.
• 3. Political Party – This is equivalent with
power, the ability to determine law and
enforcement.
• For Weber a class was a group that was similar across
all three variables.
 weber

• Weber did not explore the interpretive

understanding side of the discipline even
though he acknowledged its importance.
• This was left to the interactionists
 GEORGE HERBERT MEAD
• Mead was a philosopher at the University of
Chicago who was a pragmatist
• Def – Pragmatism- Test the truth of a belief by
its actual consequences. Tries to capture the
created, socially constructed reality
• Def – Phenomenology – Things do not have
meaning in and of themselves, their meaning
is created by like minded groups defining
them.
 MEAD
• Symbolic Interactionism (SI) a term coined by
Sociologist Herbert Blumer followed Mead’s
philosophy:
• Def: SI - It is concerned with the meanings that
people place on their own and other’s behavior.
• They oppose Behaviorists who believe that
humans, like other animals simply respond to stimuli.
S - R.
• Mead added the Organism to the middle of this
equation S - O - R. The organism interprets the
meaning of the stimulus before reacting.
 MEAD
• Herbert Blumer, Harold Garfinkel and Erving Goffman
all used the SI approach in sociology.
• This built upon, or expanded, Weber’s concept of
Verstehen.
• They view action as built up by the interaction of
people in social situations as they take into account
and interpret the actions of others.
• This work is now broadly called the
interactionist perspective, the third major
paradigm in sociology today.
 W. E. B. DUBOIS
• First African American to earn a PHD from Harvard
• Established and chaired the Sociology program at
Atlanta University
• His early work followed a very empirical, scientific
method. He conducted a large scale survey of blacks
in Philadelphia with minimal assistance
• - Door to door survey of 4500 individuals
• First person to use a conflict theory approach to
discuss race relations instead of economic issues.
• Decried the position society had placed blacks in and
worked to improve their social and educational
position.
 DUBOIS
• He extended the consideration of conflict within society
that sociologists study today to consider ethnicity.
(conflict theory)
• He followed in the footsteps of Martineau in that he did
not just identify the problems in society but felt it was
important that people work to fix them. (evaluative
paradigm)

• His work was not widely cited or accepted during his

early life due to both his subject and his status as an
outsider in a white, male academic world.
• This, and other factors, led him away from academics and
more into political action. He was a co-founder of the
NAACP.
 3 perspectives - Functionalism
• Structural/Functionalist: Studies mostly social structures.
• Def: Functionalism - Sees society as a system of
interrelated parts that function together well to enable
human coexistence. See society as stable and self-
regulating.
• Sociological Method: Analyze society by looking at the
parts and what purpose they serve and what positive
contribution they make.
• Primarily utilize the scientific method to create, test and
verify theories of social institutions.
• Durkheim and Weber both fit this schema. Although
Weber also recognized a role for considering individual
perspective.
 3 perspectives – Conflict theory
• Def: Conflict Theory – Proposes that each
individual, or group, struggles to maximize their
position an maintain it. This struggle leads to
changes in society, inequality, and conflict.
• See society in constant flux and change. Those with
power try to maintain it while others seek change.
• Sociological Method: Analyze society by looking at
the parts and what purpose they serve, but focus on
competition as opposed to smooth functioning.
• Primarily utilize the scientific method to create, test
and verify theories of social institutions
• Marx (economic) and DuBois (race relations) fit this
schema
 3 perspectives – Interactionist
• Def: Interactionist Perspective – Focuses on how people
interpret the social world in which they participate.
• Sees society as made up of meanings created by like minded
groups who interact with each other.
• Scientific Method: Analyze society by finding out how
understandings are built up and used to allow individuals to
function together.
• Use participant observation and other methods to study sub-
cultures much as anthropologists do with tribal cultures. Do
not usually generalize or verify(part of scientific method). Do
not create “grand” theories.
• Blumer, Garfinkel, Goffman used this methodology