Sociology: Recent Episodes
Aaron Crawford
Part 2: The Origins of Sociology
I. Late 1800s in Europe
a. post industrial revolution
i. urbanization - people had moved from farms to cities
II. Auguste Comte – French dude and father of sociology
a. Hoped to advanced society – to make it better
b. to do so, he focused on positivism – the idea that we should base our knowledge on scientific observation (because we can be “positive” that it’s accurate)
c. differentiated between:
i. social statics – study of social stability and order
ii. social dynamics – the study of social changes
III. Emile Durkheim’s theory of consensus
a. consensus means agreeing on something
b. Durkheim argued that societies exist because we’ve essentially agreed to be members of society
c. divided it chronologically
i. mechanical solidarity – preindustrial societies – consensus based on shared values and beliefs, strong social pressures for conformity, and dependence on tradition and family
ii. organic solidarity – postindustrial societies – consensus is based on each of us doing our jobs (we could not survive if all of the bankers suddenly quit)
IV. Max Weber’s verstehen
a. Weber believed that sociologists must discover the personal meanings, values, and beliefs underlying human social behavior.
b. How? – verstehen (putting yourself mentally in another person’s place)
Part 1: The Sociological Perspective
I. What is sociology?
a. the scientific study of social structure
b. Sociological perspective
i. Sociologists study groups
II. How is sociology different from other social sciences?
a. never focus on individuals
i. Take joining a gang for example.
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A psychologist may look at how the person felt – what personal experiences or feelings led to the joining.
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A sociologist would look at society:
a. Many people join gangs because society teaches them to be “masculine”
b. Many people join because they don’t see a lot of other options
c. Many join because their families struggle to provide basic feelings of belonging
b. Run through their days, thinking of the groups you are part of. Write their answers down on the left hand side of the board. Leave space – you will add more to the right later.
i. First thing in the morning, you wake up, you go downstairs. What group are you part of?
ii. Now you head to school. In the time before classes begin (between leaving your family, what group do you join?)
- What other groups are there around you?
iii. Now in class. What groups are there in a typical classroom?
- They may not come up with it, but it’s typically just students.
iv. Now you go home. With what groups do you interact?
1. If they don’t think of it, consider: friend groups, work groups, sports groups, etc.
III. How do group behavior and individual behavior differ?
a. To understand this, we must understand the term social structure
i. Social structure is the way that people interact with each other in patterned ways.
ii. Run through the list – starting with the classroom. In the right hand column, describe the patterns of interaction.
b. One cannot predict group behavior from individual behavior.
i. Great example: Asking a girl out. Along, she may be nice. Together, she and her friends giggle.
ii. Can you think of other times group behavior differs from individual behavior?
c. But why do people conform? – Why go along with the group if the group’s behavior differs from the individual’s?
i. The long answer: It’s super complicated, which is why we are going to spend the rest of the trimester exploring this question!
ii. The short answer: Because members of a group think, feel, and behave in similar ways.
- Members of the group have been taught to value the group’s ways.
IV. Sociological Imagination
a. Definition: The ability of individuals to see the relationship between events in their personal lives and events in society.
b. Why is it advantageous to use it?
i. People are not isolated – we are social by nature.
ii. We are not like an ant on top of a car tire – we know some force is moving, but we don’t understand how or why. We’re unable to see how what’s happening around us impacts us.
- Example: The Spanish-American War
a. The U.S. was an up-and-coming power with a lot to prove. Spain was gasping its last breath as a power.
i. A lot of Spaniards died fighting in a war they had no way of winning, and that was ultimately quite pointless. That’s sad.
b. Incidentally, the U.S. gained several sugar-producing islands in that war – which contribute to my own weight
iii. We’re able to see past the “conventional social wisdom”
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We learn that the people with whom we disagree may not be horrible, but they may in fact just see the world differently than us.
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This is absolutely essential in a republic like ours.