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SociologyChapter 1 The Sociological Imagination
What is Sociology?
First of all, sociology is the systematic study of human society. It is a form of consciousness,
a way of thinking, a critical way of seeing the social.
Seeing the general in the particular
Sociologists can identify general patterns of social life by looking at concrete specific
examples. We category we belong to, shape our experiences.
Everything is always different, but also a lot is the same.
Seeing the strange in the familiar
Sociologists understand that things aren’t what they seem. It is important to defamiliarize the
familiar. We don’t really choose what we do; it is determined or shaped by the society.
Individuality in social context: the strange case of suicide
We want to believe that our behavior is individualistic, but that’s not totally correct.
Nowadays, it seems to be important to be ‘unique’, but humans are meant to be social
beings. Durkheim showed this with the example of suicide, which is the most individual act
imaginable. However, it is strongly influenced by society. By integration and regulation. So,
things usually don’t only have an individual, but also a social explanation. The man is an
individual being AND a social being. By comparing China and Western countries, it is shown
that patterns of suicide are variable and aren’t constant around the world (women – men).
The Sociological Perspective in Everyday Life
Sociology and social marginality
Everyone feels like a social outsider somethings. Social outsiders are the ones that think
sociological. This is especially the case, when this feeling is acute and sudden. Outsiders
see the social patterns more. We need to take a step back to see things more clearly.
Sociology and social crisis
When a large amount of people have the same personal troubles, it becomes a social crisis.
When this happens, we start to seek causes elsewhere and people start to think sociological.
This often leads to social change.
Benefits of the sociological perspective
1. Debunking: we see that not everything what we thought was true, is the truth.
It’s a form of consciousness through which we challenge familiar understandings.
2. Understanding: better understanding of the situation
Assess opportunities and constraints of our lives
3. Empowering: we become active members of our society
4. Recognition: recognize human differences and human suffering
Problems with the sociological perspective
1. Everything is always changing: the world and the society.
2. Sociologists are people too and part of what they study
3. Sociology becomes part of the public debate and its knowledge becomes part of the
society
4. Distance and closeness: need to keep your distance, but also connect with the
society
Social Change and The Origins of Sociology
Complex social forces lead to major historical events. They don’t just happen.
Sociology is the product of the Enlightenment. Especially philosophers were dealing with
this. 10 key parts (Hamilton):
1. Reason became a key way of organizing knowledge, but it was tempered with:
2. Empiricism – facts that can be apprehended through the senses
3. Science – linked to experimental scientific revolution
4. Universalism – search for general laws
5. Progress – the human condition can be improved
6. Individualism – the starting point for all knowledge
, Sociology
7. Toleration – beliefs of other nations and groups aren’t inherently inferior to European
Christianity
8. Freedom
9. Uniformity of Human Nature
10. Secularism – often opposed to church
The ‘modern’ sociology however comes from Comte.
Science and sociology
Brilliant thinkers have been busy with the nature of society for a vary long time, but even the
big ones never looked at society with a pure sociological view. They were more busy with
‘the perfect society’ than understand the real one. Durkheim and Comte changed this.
Comte’s law of the 3 stages through which we try to understand the world:
1. Theological stage
Explanation via gods and spirits→ priests
2. Metaphysical stage
Explanation by abstract, philosophical speculation on the ‘natural order’ –
philosophers
3. Scientific stage
Scientific explanation by objective observations→ scientists
Comte was a proponent of positivism and he believed that society conforms to invariable
laws, just like the physical world operates according to laws of nature. It is still believed that
science is important for sociology, but it also known that humans are too spontaneous for it
to be that simple.
Change, transformation and sociology
Sociology was born out of the massive societal changes in the last 2 centuries:
The French Revolution and the Industrial Revolution. Because of these huge changes,
people started to look at society. The 4 big changes:
1. A New Industrial Economy: the growth of modern capitalism.
Drastic change in production→ poverty and mass suffering→ breakdown old society
and social order.
2. Growth of cities and the enclosure movement: people started moving closer to the
factories for work in a fast rate. Led to many issues
3. Political change: control and democracy. People wanted more control over their lives
because of all these changes. Countries with the biggest changes→ sociology
4. The eclipse of community or the loss of Gemeinschaft
Families moved, traditions changed.
Sociologists look to the future
Sociology was born through these changes, because they wanted to understand them.
Important people in sociology responded different to these changes. Some were scared of
what they might lead to, but they all had different concerns. What they did have in common
was the idea that society was more than just individual choice.
Sociological vs. social problems:
- Sociological
Logical problems, objective; discussed by academics
- Social problems
Issue of valuation or issue of action
Talked about on the new or just among friends/ families
- Almost all social problems are sociological problems, but not vice versa
Sociology vs. ‘common sense’ by Zygmunt Bauman:
- Responsible speech: rules of responsible arguments by scholars
- Size of the field: transcending own social world; not only what you see is important
- Making sense: explaining and interpreting human behavior by looking at different
figurations and institutions which people are embedded in
- Defamiliarize: the ability to discuss the familiar and the obvious
, Sociology
Chapter 2 Thinking Sociologically, Thinking Globally
An important dimension of sociology is theory, which makes it different. It theorizes
systematically. To see if a theory is correct, sociology uses facts, critical thinking and
research tools. Facts are often hard to come by though. To know how to link facts,
sociologists are guided by a theoretical perspective. Sociologists often have a different
idea about what’s the most important question and what to look at. Despite these differences,
sociology still has an array of basic images that guide thinking and research. There are 3
major theoretical ways of thinking about society, or classical perspectives. However, there
are also some emerging perspectives, new ones.
Classical, Traditional Perspectives in Sociology
There are 3 traditions:
1. The Functionalist Perspective
Another name is also functionalism. First of all, it says that our lives are guided by social
structure and its social functions. The social structure shapes our society and norms.
2 main men in this perspective are Comte and Spencer.
- Idea Comte: promote social integration during a time of tumultuous change.
- Idea Spencer: society is like the body: various structures are interdependent and
work together. “Survival of the fittest” was his idea and it refers to society, not living
creatures. If people had to compete among themselves, the “best” would win. His
ideas are social Darwinism and it isn’t used anymore because it’s conservative.
Durkheim didn’t agree with Spencer; he was more for social solidarity. Parsons is another
one who said that all societies must perform certain basic tasks to survive, like adapt.
Someone else with extra ideas was Merton:
- The consequences of any social pattern differ for various members of a society
- People rarely perceive all the functions of a particular social structure.
There are manifest and latent functions.
- Not all effects of a social structure are useful; these are social dysfunctions.
Not everyone agrees with what is useful and what isn’t.
This perspective isn’t used that often, because it sees society as a whole being
comprehensible, orderly and stable, neglecting the tension and conflict that could come from
it. It’s quite conservative.
2. The Conflict Perspective
The conflict perspective adds to the functional perspectives, focusing on division based on
inequality instead of solidarity. It states that social structure benefits some, while depriving
others. Many sociologists in this part, don’t only want to understand society, but they want to
reduce inequality, like Marx. Criticism:
- Too much focus on inequality; they forget the unity interdependence creates.
- No scientific objectivity, due to political goals.
- Like functionalism, it describes society too abstract and general.
3. The Action Perspective
The previous 2 share a macro-level orientation; they look only at the big picture. The social
action perspective, on the other hand, takes on a micro-level orientation, which is more
specific and looks at the point of view of people in the society. In between is meso-level.
Weber is an important founder. He believed that people’s actions and ideas shape their
society. Shared many ideas with Marx, but still in big contrast with him. He compared social
patterns in different types and places, using the ideal type of each social phenomenon.
These ideals are then compared to the actual types. This perspective is a lot like symbolic
interactionism of Mead, looking at how people interact and how people’s sense of self
changes through social experiences. People try to make sense of the world and socially
construct it using our surroundings, but how this is done is different for everyone.
Critique on micro-level orientation: They neglect the bigger picture.
Sociologists examine the social world by looking at (dys)functions, conflicts and consensus,
actions and meanings, using these perspectives.
, Sociology
Contemporary perspectives in sociology: Multiple perspectives, other voices and the
postmodern.
Sociology has multiple perspectives for looking at societies. Societies change, so do
perspectives. Some are just different versions of the classics, like conversational analysis.
Others have new ideas, like semiotics or Althusserian Marxism. The newer approaches
highlight different perspectives and standpoints. This is important, because it is simply
impossible to get the full truth of a society. It doesn’t exist, but the researcher is always a part
of the society it examines, which determines the view. Older views were specifically covered
by the same ‘type’ of people. The new ones brought in new voices, getting more angles. This
way, we can be a little more objective. However, all the new views agree that we can only get
partial stories now. Criticism on the classical views:
- Sociology has been by men for men and about men (white, straight men)
- Areas of significance to other groups have often been overlooked
- When they were presented, they were presented in a distorted fashion
An Example: The Case of a Feminist Sociology and The Missing Voice of Women
This voice was missing until the second wave of feminism→ feminist sociology and feminist
methodology. However, this still isn’t ONE voice. If you think that, that’s called essentialism.
There are many voiced and opinions here and to bring them together, takes the recognition
that they are multi-situated.
And Other Voices: A Postmodern Drift
The world has been changing a lot recently, and therefore sociology had to change.
Traditional form of society→ overarching belief system. There has been an increased
sensitivity to diversities. There will be a postmodern sociology.
Thinking Globally: A Global Perspective in Sociology
Not only sociology, but many fields had to incorporate a global perspective. Not only
Western views are important anymore.
How Does A Global Perspective Enhance Sociology?
Where you live and to what society you belong, affects your life and experiences.
1. Societies the world over are increasingly interconnected
People of different nations aren’t that different anymore, per se, due to globalization
2. A global perspective enables us to see that many human problems we face in Europe
are far more serious elsewhere.
3. Thinking globally is also an excellent way to learn more about ourselves
Globalization and Sociology
Globalization is used as a word a lot, but it has different meanings, like the increasing
interconnectedness of societies. Examples are McDonald’s, Coca-Cola, etc. What it does:
1. It shifts the borders of economic transactions
2. Expands communications into global networks
3. Fosters a new, widespread ‘global culture’
4. Develops new forms of international governance
5. Creates a growing awareness of shared common world problems
6. Fosters a growing sense of risk
7. Leads to the emergence of ‘transnational global actors’ who ‘network’
Example: Greenpeace. They’re not in one place; they are global citizens.
Marx – Inequality – Classical Historic Materialism
Durkheim – Cohesion – Integration Theory and Anomie Theory
Weber – Rationalization – World View Theory
Paradigm: Kuhn Cycle:
Normal science→ model drift→ model crisis→ model revolution→ paradigm change→ again
The classical perspectives are all paradigms, because a theory is a part of a paradigm.
A theory is a coherent system of statements about how and why specific facts are related.
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