Lecture Notes in Sociology
Introduction to Sociology
What is Sociology?
· “The scientific study of human life, social groups, whole societies and the human world as such” (Giddens, 2009).
· “Is the systematic study of social behavior and human groups. It focuses primarily on the influence of social relationships upon people's attitudes and behavior and on how societies are established and change.” (Schaefer, 1986)
· “Sociology, (then) is an attempt to understand the social world by situating social events in their corresponding environment (i.e., social structure, culture, history) and trying to understand social phenomena by collecting and analyzing empirical data.” (Berger, 1963)
Simply stated, Sociology is…
· Looks at how societies, social groups, social institutions, etc. interact with each other.
· Looks at how different social conditions shape different social relationships, particularly how people in different milieux act.
· Uses the principle of scientific inquiry in explaining the social phenomenon.
Sociology vs. ‘Common Sense’
“The poor are poor because of individual factors, such as laziness, lack of thrift, poor money management skills, or lack of effort or talent.”
“Men are from Mars and women are from Venus- that is, their roles in society are naturally unequal because of biological differences.”
“People who commit suicide are those who are mentally unstable.”
· A sociological perspective helps you to see how the events and problems that preoccupy us today are timeless — it is a result of the interweaving of historical factors and actions of large-scale forces.
· It is a connection between biography and history.
Why is there a need for a discipline such as Sociology?
Societies Before Sociology
· Socio-historical conditions that gave birth to the discipline:
o Rise of industrialization
o Secularization
o ‘Age of Reason/ Enlightenment
o Political Revolutions
17th and 18th-century philosophers tried to understand the relationship of the individual and society.
· John Locke (1632–1704)
o Society is formed via “Social Contract”. Society facilitates the free movement of goods, making life easier and predictable.
· Jean-Jacques Rosseau (1712–1788)
o Man is naturally good but he is corrupted by private property. Hence, private property creates social inequality.
· Ideas of Locke and Rosseau gave way to an emphasis on individual liberty and freedom. These ideas — “discovery” of the individual and its relationship to society, and their regulation of individual freedom by governments were the central themes in the European ideology on the eve of the 19th century.
Auguste Comte (1798–1857)
· Coined the term “Sociologie”
o Socius — companion
o Logos — knowledge
· Sociology was an offspring of the transition of societies from pre-modern to modern
· It was a science that aimed to encompass other social sciences such as history, economics, and psychology
What questions are posted by Sociology?
o Structure
o What is the structure of this particular society as a whole?
o What are its essential components, and how are they related to one another?
o How does it differ from other varieties of social order?
o Within it, what is the meaning of any particular feature for its continuance and for its change?
o History
o Where does this society stand in human history?
o What are the mechanics by which it is changing?
o What is its place within and it's meaning for the development of humanity as a whole?
o How does any particular feature we are examining affect, and how is it affected by, the historical period in which it moves?
o And this period — what are its essential features? How does it differ from other periods? What are its characteristic ways of history-making?
o Culture
o What varieties of men and women now prevail in this society and in this period? And what varieties are coming to prevail?
o In what ways are they selected and formed, liberated and repressed, made sensitive and blunted?
o What kinds of “human nature” are revealed in the conduct and character we observe in this society in this period?
o And what is the meaning for “human nature” of each and even’ feature of the society we are examining?
What is a Sociologist? What does he do?
Sociologist and the Social Worker
“Social work is a certain practice in society. Sociology is not a practice but an attempt to understand.” — Peter L. Berger in An Invitation to Sociology: A Humanist Perspective
· The Social worker derives his methodical approach from modern psychology.
· The Social worker intervenes and mediates in social problems. He does immediate actions and creates upright solutions to respond to the current needs of a particular community. The sociologist, on the other hand, looks at the root of a particular social phenomenon and he puts it in a socio-historical context to create an objective and scientific analysis for long-term solutions.
Sociologist and the Journalist
“When a dog bites a man, that is not news, because it happens so often. But if a man bites a dog, that is news.” — Alfred Harmsworth (1921)
· The journalist, like the sociologist, creates an elaborate investigation on social events and occurrences.
· The difference between them is that the journalist, though also interested in explaining social phenomenon, highlights on spectacular events and things that would captivate and awe the readers. The sociologist on the other hand looks for the mundane, the esoteric, and the typical. He explains how things “came to be”, and looks for the “natural” patterns of everyday life.
· The journalist looks for and writes about “the story”. The sociologist will try unraveling the story behind “the story”.
Sociologist and the Statistician
“Statistics can be very useful in answering certain sociological questions. But statistics does not constitute sociology.” — Peter L. Berger in An Invitation to Sociology: A Humanist Perspective
· Both the sociologist and statistician use statistics to explain the characteristics of a particular demography, population, or a group. The difference is that the sociologist uses statistics as a methodical tool to have a scientific basis for his sociological analysis.
· The statistician and sociologist both need data, but the sociologist applies a sociological perspective/ theory to interpret the data in order for it to be useful in explaining social phenomenon.
The Sociologist then is someone…
· Who sees through social relationships. He knows the story behind the “story”
· Who is value-free. He looks at social phenomenon without biases and neutral. But as a human being, the sociologist is value-bound.
· Who sees matters in a relative way. He knows that social actions derived from morals and ethics vary in particular social spaces and positions.
