INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY

INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY Defined & the three perspectives

WHAT IS SOCIOLOGY? • The science that studies human social behavior & group interaction.

AND... • Behavior within a group is learned or socialized • Group membership determines viewpoint or perspective • We are all “ social animals” or social beings • Our actions need to be viewed within the societal context

Activity- Who will survive… • Related to perspectives in Sociology on Friday

Theoretical Perspectives & Suicide • Why do people commit suicide? • List 5 reasons/Discuss • Why is suicide rate higher in in teens in Japan vs the United States?

Structuralism • Structuralism Theories • Structuralist theories are based on the idea that individuals are molded and shaped by society • We are limited by the norms and values of our society that we have been socialized into. • Ex: Man is a caged bird • Society therefore controls the individual.

The Consensus Perspective • Society is a set of interrelated systems that work to produce a stable social system. • Society works through consensus. • Most People agree on what is best for society and work together to better society.

Functionalist Perspective • Emile Durkheim ,Max Weber, Auguste Comte • All Parts of societies are institutions - Institutions ( family , school) are interrelated and work together to form a society. -Society may not operate effectively- dysfunction may occur. Ex- divorce, failures, crime

FUNCTIONALIST • EX: Housing • Manifest- • Shelter • Latent- • Status, Wealth, Social Standing

THE CONFLICT PERSPECTIVE • Focus on forces in society that promote competition and change. • Conflict arises over competition for scare resources. • Groups are oppressed (kept without power and controlled). Examples:

CONFLICT • EXAMPLE: • Powerful establish rules • Control resources • Rich vs. Poor

Marxism & Feminism • Karl Marx • Ideas were political and economic • Marxist viewpoints: • One group in society – the bourgeoisie (upper/middle class) – are more powerful. • This power is economic (based on wealth) – ie they are richer and own the businesses in society and therefore get the profits that businesses make.

Marx continued… To stay in power the bourgeoisie need to control and exploit the proletariat (working class) Marxists argue that they do this by keeping the proletariat poor but also by socializing them into the false belief that society is meritocratic.

Feminism • Society is patriarchal (controlled by men) and that women have been and are oppressed by men. • Women have in the past been confined to the private sphere of the home and family, carrying out unpaid work in the form of childcare and housework. • .

Feminism…. • Sociology itself is malestream – studying society from a male perspective, looking at male issues and directing social policy in the interests of men.

THE INTERACTIONST PERSPECTIVE • Instead of seeing society as molding and controlling the individual, they see the individual as being in control • Agency= this is the idea that you have control over what you do – you are socialized into society’s norms and values but you can decide whether you follow them or not

Cont… • We learn shared meanings and interpretations of what goes on around us and this is what helps us to get on. • They believe that these meanings change from society to society

INTERACTIONIST: • EXAMPLE: • Symbolic Interaction= Shared meaning

CULTURAL EXAMPLES: • Symbolic Interaction: • Bottom of left shoe in Southeast Asia • Necks in Burma

INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY