SOC102NOTE
COURSE OUTLINE
1. Doing Sociology
2 Basic tools used in sociology
3 Branches of Sociology and their sphere of operation
4. The founding fathers of sociology and their basic contribution to the discipline
5. The sociological imagination
6. Perception of Sociology
BASIC CONCEPTS IN SOCIOLOGY AND ANTHROPOLOGY
SOCIETY: humanly created organization or system of interrelationships that connects
individuals in a common culture. All the products of human interaction, the experience of
living with others around us.
CULTURE: sets of traditions, rules, symbols that shape and are enacted as feelings,
thoughts, and behaviors of groups of people. Referring primarily to learned behavior as
distinct from that which is given by nature, or biology, culture has been used to designate
everything that is humanly produced (habits, beliefs, arts, and artifacts) and passed from one
generation to another
LANGUAGE: a system of verbal symbols through which humans communicate ideas,
feelings, experiences. Through language these can be accumulated and transmitted across
generations. Language is not only a tool, or a means of expression, but it also structures and
shapes our experiences of the world and what we see around us.
VALUES: preferences - ideas people share about what is good, bad, desirable, undesirable.
These are usually very general, abstract, cut across variations in situations. NORMS:
concepts and behaviors that constitute the normal. Behavioral rules or standards for social
interaction.
SOCIAL ORGANIZATION: the arrangement of the parts that constitute society, the
organization of social positions and distribution of people within those positions. STATUS:
socially defined niches, positions (student, professor, administrator). ROLE: every status
carries a cluster of expected behaviors, how a person in that status is expected to think, feel,
as well as expectations about how they should be treated by others. The cluster of expected
duties and behaviors that has become fixed in a consistent and reiterated pattern of conduct.
GROUP: two or more people regularly interacting on the basis of shared expectations of
others’ behavior; interrelated statuses and roles.
INSTITUTIONS: patterns of activity reproduced across time and space. Practices that are
regularly and continuously repeated. Institutions often concern basic living arrangements that
human beings work out in the interactions with one another and by means of which
continuity is achieved across generations. The basic building blocks of societies. Social
institutions are like buildings that are at every moment constantly being reconstructed by the
very bricks that compose them.
SOCIAL STRUCTURE: is the patterned social arrangements in society that are both
emergent from and determinant of the actions of individuals. Likewise, society is believed to
be grouped into structurally-related groups or sets of roles, with different functions,
meanings, or purposes. the distinctive, stable arrangement of institutions whereby human
beings in a society interact and live together. Social structure is often treated together with
the concept of social change. The major components of social structure are statuses,
roles, social networks, groups and organizations, social institutions, and society. Specific
types of statuses include the ascribed status, achieved status, and master status. Social
structure guides people's behaviors.
AGENCY: "the realized capacity of people to act upon their world and not only to know
about or give personal or intersubjective significance to it. .. the power of people to act
purposively and reflectively, in more or less complex relationships with one another, to
reiterate and remake the world in which they live, in circumstances where they may
consider different courses of action possible and desirable, though not necessarily from
the same point of view."
IDENTITY: combines the intimate or personal world with the collective space of cultural
forms and social relations. Imaginings, consciousness, reflections of self produced,
improvised from cultural materials and social transactions. caught between past, present
and future, constant negotiation.
INEQUALITY: SOCIAL STRATIFICATION: the division of people socio-
economically into layers or strata. When we talk of social stratification, we draw
attention into the unequal positions occupied by individuals in society. In the larger
traditional societies and in industrialized countries today there is stratification in terms
of wealth, property, and access to material goods and cultural products.
RACE: a human group that defines itself and/or is defined by other groups as different…
by virtue of innate and immutable physical characteristics. It is a group that is socially
defined on the bases of physical criteria.
ETHNICITY: cultural practices and outlooks of a given community of people that set
them apart from others. Members of ethnic groups see themselves as culturally distinct
from other groups in a society, and are seen by those others to be so in return.
What are the tools of sociology?
In planning studies' designs, sociologists generally choose from four widely used methods
of social investigation: survey, field research, experiment, and secondary data
analysis, or use of existing sources.
The main methods sociologists use to generate primary data include social surveys
(normally using questionnaire), interviews, experiments and observations.
TERMS Data Collection Methods Ways to collect data on individual and group
characteristics, attitudes, beliefs, values, and behavior.
Quantitative Method Data collection techniques that convert individual or group
characteristics, attitudes, values, beliefs or behaviors into numbers.
Qualitative Method Data collection techniques that produce a written, audio or video
record of people’s words or behavior.
Variable A measure of a concept the value of which can change across people or cases.
Triangulate Using multiple data collection methods to understand a social issue or
problem from multiple angles and perspectives.
Experiments Exposing one group to a social force and another group to something
neutral and then comparing their reactions
Surveys Asking standardized questions of a group of people, either in person, or by
phone or mail.
Observation Observing people’s behavior in a particular setting on a particular topic,
either as a participant or non-participant in the activity. Field Notes A researcher’s
written notes about observations during or after an interview or observation in a
qualitative study
Participant Observation Observing people’s behavior in a particular setting on a
particular topic as a participant in the setting.
Non-Participant Observation Observing people’s behavior in a particular setting
on a particular topic as a non-participant in the setting.
In-Depth Interviews Asking people questions that require lengthy answers and which
they may answer through discussion.
Focus Groups In-depth interviews with a group of people, in which the interviewees
interactively discuss a topic.
Existing or Secondary Data Using numerical data previously collected by
individuals, groups or organizations, such as medical or criminal justice data.
Historical or Content Analysis Using written, audio or video documents that were
originally recorded for other purposes by individuals, groups or organizations.
Evaluation Research Collecting data to determine whether an intervention or program
works.
Ethnography or Case Study Studying every aspect of a group, organization, or
culture, through participation in and observation of it. Action Research Participating in
creating social change via a research project. Uses either or both quantitative and
qualitative data collection methods through participation in and observation of it.
Disproportionate Stratified Random A sample derived by dividing a population
into homogeneous groups called strata and then drawing a simple random sample from
within each strata in disproportion to which the strata exist in the population
Convenience Sample A sample derived by selecting people because they are easily
accessible. Quota Sample A convenience sample that attempts to select a percentage of
people with some characteristic(s), such as sex, race or age, that matches the percentage
that these characteristics exist in the population.
Snowball Sample A sample derived by finding one person in the target population and
then asking them to give you access to other people that they know in the population, and
then repeated as necessary.
Branches of Sociology
Sociology, like other sciences, was affected by many influences, one of which was the
phenomenon of specialization that was clearly manifested with the expansion of the
industrial revolution and the progress of scientific research, so its interests increased
and its fields expand, and each specialized in one aspect of social life.
Sociology is subdivided into many specialized fields, including:
Theoretical Sociology:
Sociological knowledge is composed of complex theoretical frameworks and
methodology. Theoretical perspectives in sociology are the methods of study of
previous social theories in a scientific manner
. Social theory is an assumption aimed at looking at objects of social reality, analyzing
and interpreting them from a social perspective, and mapping the connections between
individual concepts in order to organize and demonstrate social knowledge. Macro
versus Micro
Macro deals with a larger aspect of life whereas micro deals with minute aspects of life.
They are complementary to each other.
Applied Sociology:
Applied sociology is the practical analogs of academic sociology because it involves
applying sociological theory, methods, advanced knowledge and ideas in the field of
sociology to solve real-world problems.
Applied sociologists are trained in theory and research methods of discipline, and they
base their research on identifying problems in a society, group, or individual that they
live in, then they create practical strategies and interventions designed to eliminate or
reduce the problem.
Educational Sociology:
The sociology of education is the study of the individual experiences, public institutions
and social factors that influence the educational structures and processes, both within and
between societies. This branch examines educational methods that lead to an integrated
growth of personality because the main pillar in this branch is that education is a process
of socialization that is in no way separated from social phenomena. Cultural sociology
Rural Sociology:
Rural sociology is a branch of sociology associated with the study of social structure and
conflict in rural areas. Rural sociology studies rural society and the relations of the people
who live in the villages. It focuses on how rural people and communities are culturally,
socially, politically, and economically organized
Urban Sociology:
Urban sociology is the social study of life and human interaction in urban areas.
It is a normative discipline of sociology that seeks to study environmental processes and
structures, environmental changes and problems in metropolitan areas.
This branch examines the urban impact on the patterns of behavior and relationships of
individuals, examining its origin and methods of its interaction with urban life.
Religious Sociology:
Sociology of religion is the study of the beliefs, practices, morals, ethics and
organizational forms of religion using the quantitative methods and qualitative
approaches. This branch examines with introspection and analysis the religious systems
and doctrines that are widespread in human societies, regarding the multiplicity and the
variation of ages. The social environment surrounding the individual varies in the way of
life and the type of social relationships that constitute it.
Historical Sociology:
Historical sociology is a subfield of sociology that studies and analyzes social events in
previous societies and deals with its origins and development.
Historical sociology looks at how social structures are shaped by complex social
processes and it focuses on how societies develop through history.
Demographic Sociology:
Demography in relation to sociology is the study of population numbers, diversity, and
natural distribution in areas where the population is extensively present.
Demographic sociology also studies population divisions, studies the effect of population
changes, from a social point of view, and also studies the factors and direction of
population change.
Political Sociology:
Political sociology is concerned with the sociological analysis of political phenomena,
studying the impact of social variables on the formation of political power and
investigating topics such as citizenship, social movements, and the sources of social
power.
Industrial Sociology:
Industrial sociology is the study of the behaviors of people at the workplace and is
concerned with the social formation of industrial organizations and the emerging
relationships between them and the social system in general.
The sociology of work examines the direction and implications of trends in
technological change, labor markets, globalization, managerial practices, work
organization, and employment relations.
Social Psychology is a type of science that is concerned with studying the behavior
of individuals and groups in societies, knowing the nature of individuals' influence on
the social factors surrounding them, and determining the methods that are relied upon
to deal with these factors in a correct manner.
Social psychology is also defined as the science concerned with studying the
psychological characteristics of individuals who live in groups in order to identify
patterns, the methods on which they depend on their interaction, and how this
interaction affects their individual personalities.
Medical Sociology:
Medical sociology refers to the merging of medical science with sociology, and it is
one of the sciences that is used to study, analyze, and understand the social context of
matters related to health, disease, and medical care.
Medical sociology is an important science for sociologists, due to the contribution of this
science to causing some fundamental effects and changes in societies.
Military sociology:
Military sociology is an interdisciplinary subfield of sociology that aims to systematically
study the army as a social group rather than as a military organization and it examines
issues such as military social organization, race and gender representation in the military,
military families, military recruiting, war and peace, and the military as welfare.
Criminal Sociology:
Criminal Sociology (criminology) is concerned with the causes of crime and the social
factors that led to it, as well as the prevalence of crime, its methods, and patterns. It tries
to link this to the different cultures of societies and the different living conditions of
individuals.
Sociology of crime aims to empirically understand, develop, and test theories explaining
criminal behavior, the social structural factors, the formation and enforcement of laws,
and the operation of the criminal justice system.
Legal Sociology:
Sociology of law (or legal sociology) refers to the sociological study of law and legal
systems and their relationship to social structure.
Sociology of law focuses on understanding legal mechanisms and legal practice, as well
as establishing the foundation of jurisprudence.
The Sociological Imagination
Although the scale of sociological studies and the methods of carrying them out are
different, the sociologists involved in them all have something in common. Each of them
looks at society using what pioneer sociologist C. Wright Mills called the sociological
imagination, sometimes also referred to as the “sociological lens” or “sociological
perspective.” In a sense, this was Mills’ way of addressing the dilemmas of the
macro/micro divide in sociology. Mills defined sociological imagination as how
individuals understand their own and others’ pasts in relation to history and social
structure (1959). It is the capacity to see an individual’s private troubles in the context of
the broader social processes that structure them. This enables the sociologist to examine
what Mills called “personal troubles of milieu” as “public issues of social structure,”
and vice versa.
Mills reasoned that private troubles like being overweight, being unemployed, having
marital difficulties, or feeling purposeless or depressed can be purely personal in
nature. It is possible for them to be addressed and understood in terms of personal,
psychological, or moral attributes, either one’s own or those of the people in one’s
immediate milieu. In an individualistic society like our own, this is in fact the most
likely way that people will regard the issues they confront: “I have an addictive
personality;” “I can’t get a break in the job market;” “My husband is unsupportive;”
etc. However, if private troubles are widely shared with others, they indicate that there
is a common social problem that has its source in the way social life is structured. At
this level, the issues are not adequately understood as simply private troubles. They are
best addressed as public issues that require a collective response to resolve.
Obesity, for example, has been increasingly recognized as a growing problem for both
children and adults in North America. Michael Pollan cites statistics that three out of
five Americans are overweight and one out of five is obese (2006). In Canada in 2012,
just under one in five adults (18.4 percent) were obese, up from 16 percent of men and
14.5 percent of women in 2003 (Statistics Canada 2013). Obesity is therefore not
simply a private trouble concerning the medical issues, dietary practices, or exercise
habits of specific individuals. It is a widely shared social issue that puts people at risk
for chronic diseases like hypertension, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. It also
creates significant social costs for the medical system.
Pollan argues that obesity is in part a product of the increasingly sedentary and
stressful lifestyle of modern, capitalist society, but more importantly it is a product of the
industrialization of the food chain, which since the 1970s has produced increasingly cheap
and abundant food with significantly more calories due to processing. Additives like corn
syrup, which are much cheaper to produce than natural sugars, led to the trend of super-
sized fast foods and soft drinks in the 1980s. As Pollan argues, trying to find a processed
food in the supermarket without a cheap, calorie-rich, corn-based additive is a challenge.
The sociological imagination in this example is the capacity to see the private troubles and
attitudes associated with being overweight as an issue of how the industrialization of the
food chain has altered the human/environment relationship, in particular with respect to
the types of food we eat and the way we eat them.
By looking at individuals and societies and how they interact through this lens,
sociologists are able to examine what influences behaviour, attitudes, and culture. By
applying systematic and scientific methods to this process, they try to do so
without letting their own biases and pre-conceived ideas influence their
conclusions.