Define Sociology Study of patterns of social relations or social interaction (who one associates with) What is sociological imagination, what does it involve? Can you distinguish between personal trouble and a public/structural issue? Viewing our actions in the larger social and historical contexts that shape what
circumstances. Personal trouble is anything that affects the individual at a personal level while public and structural effect the society or when multiple individuals are influenced by one problem What do the alcohol, bullying, coffee, romantic love examples from lecture and the text tells us about using sociology to re-envision the world? Particular behaviors are connected to many other social factors What are key aspects of thinking theoretically? Trying to answer "why" questions. Connecting behaviors to their likely causes; theories connect, help make sense of facts. Generalizing causal findings to a wide variety of situations (involves abstract, logical explanations to explain a variety of things). Evaluate or test our general explanation to see if it fits with facts What are two key theoretical Qs of sociology? Which do you think comes first and is therefore more important? And Where does social order come from? What are 5 key theoretical perspectives? Functionalism, Conflict and Marxist Class, Feminist, Rational Choice, and Symbolic
Match each sociologist to one of the above theoretical perspectives: Mead, Marx Durkheim, Weber: Mead/Weber: Symbolic, Marx: Conflict and Marxist Class, Durkheim: Functionalism
Methods! What makes sociology a science? How it is both a process and product. Has a unique subject matter that limits both processes of sociological research and theories The Research Process Key Steps: Define the research problem Review the evidence (literature review) Make the problem precise--specify your hypothesis Work out a research design
Carry out the research---collect data Interpret results---analyze data Report findings----publish or present them 4 Types of sociological questions? Factual Q: how many terrorists incidents were there? Comparative Q: how did the numbers vary by country? Development Q: how did the numbers change over time? Theoretical Q: Why did the numbers vary or change? 4 Main research designs? Experiment, survey, observation, comparative/historical Key methodological issues and concepts: Relationship of Facts and Theories: Causation Correlation Dependent/Independent Triangulation Mean, median
Culture!!
Define Culture (main components, subcultures?) Refers to all shared learning (or values, norms, language), and all of the material artifacts produced through that within a given society. Subcultural: variations in the above between distinct populations within a culture Nature vs Nurture Nature What makes us human is biology Our genetic makeup is reflected in behavior as well as physical traits and nature selects for traits that increase our chances of reproducing We behave in some ways but not others Nurture Our behavior is shaped by learning We have no culture at birth, will learn culture Spend a lifetime learning language and culture through social interaction How is culture linked to social conformity? Societies need some conformity to function smoothly; comes from shared
Distinguish between ethnocentrism from relativism Tendency to regard one's own culture as superior vs judging other cultures by