Sociology Notes

Institutions culture groups interactions that we have that shape people how they think and what they do.

Everything we do we do with others. Constantly building and rebuilding relationships. Group people in our mind. (sex, race, religion, ect)

• Psychology- studies individual behavior (not big picture)
• Anthropology- Focused on human cultures- see how different societies have evolved.
• Political Science- study of politics, political behavior organization of government.
• Economics- production, consumption, of goods and services.
• Social Work- applied field. take what is learned in economics to help serve people in need.

• Tally's Corner
• Washington D.C. in a mostly A.A. neighborhood. Hung out with the people and saw how their lives were and how they lived. Must gain the trust of the people you are studying.

See the world through the eyes of others

ability to see the societal patterns that influence group life.

• wrote a book about sociological imagination.
• Goal is to understand the individual and the context that shapes our lives.

• Suicide, depression, biological not individual things but a social factor.
• Collected data from different place. (religion, marital status, urban and rural) Found when group ties are weak people felt disconnected and alone- higher rates of suicide- single, urban areas, Protestant.

• Easily done everyday
• tend to stereotype people and categorize by view point

Patterns in actions

Starts at personalized and works to Sociological

• Science around 1900's
• Industrialization-changed how people related to each other. country to city
• Major changes in economics- people now working for wages
• Extended families living together
• Produced social issues

• Coined the name sociology
• Use same producers as other sciences for social sciences
• Social states and social dynamics

Social life that have to do with order and stability give

Social life that have to do with social change

• Political activist
• Focused research on economic environment which societies developed
• historical materialism and mode of production
• Have means of production and is not controlled by haves

Based on importance of real life and materials that determine how people see the world work or creat

Things needed to produce goods and services ex- hand tools, knowledge, wealth, factories.

• Believed that the study of intentions, values, and beliefs underline why we do what we do.
• Value free sociology- insisted all sociology go into a study with no bias or judgement.

• How societies are held together.
• Social facts- aspects of social life that are pattern regularities that describe a whole
• Suicide

Level of analysis focuses on the relationship among social structures not looking at individuals.

Level of analysis concerned with people and how they interact in patterned ways and daily social life.

• 1. Stability- Chief criteria for any social structure and if it continues to the stability of society.
• 2. Harmony- all structures work together for harmony
• 3. Evolution- change over time in society

• 1. What is the nature of this social structure (What patterns exist)
• 2. What are the consequences of this social structure? (does is promote stability harmony?)

• Positive- Functions
• Negative- Dysfunction
• Mainfest- Intended or Recognized
• Latent- Unintended or Unrecognized
• (look at table in notes)

• 1. Competition
• 2. Structural inequality- individuals that benefit like the social structure the way it is.
• 3. Revolution- change occurring between competing issues. Happens fast not over time.

• How do they look at society. Ask questions.
• 1. Who benefits from social structure?
• 2. How do those who maintain their advantage?
• Who gets what in society?

• Addresses the subjective meaning of human acts and the processes through we come to develop and share these meanings.
• Assumptions:
• 1. Symbolic meanings are important (words/facial gestures)
• 2. Meanings grow out of relationships of one another
• 3. Meanings are negotiated
• Analysis:
• -How individuals are shaped by relationships and social structures
• -Also focus on the active role of the individual
• Evaluation:
• -Focuses attention on the personal relationships and encounters that are important in everyday lives
• -What we do as individuals take part place within the larger social structure.

• All that we do, use, produce, know in order to live in social groups (blue prints of society)
• All humans have these but they can vary.

When you judge a culture according to your own. Morals, ways of doing things, ect.

Idea that cultures should be studied on their own terms before you can judge.

• Rewards/punishments use to encourage socially acceptable behavior.
• Formal- People with authority (judge, professor)
• Informal- Can be given by anyone in society
• Positive-Reward
• Negative- Punishment
• (Look at table in notes)

pattern, reoccurring social relationships

• Positions a person occupies within a social structure.
• Ascribed- status given at birth
• Achieved- One that you earn

Experiences shared and recalled by many people. These memories are revived, preserved, shared, and passed on in stories, holidays, rituals and monuments. (holocaust and JFK)

• (I) Spontaneous, autonomous, creative self, capable of regreting expectations and acting unconventional, inappropriate or unexpected.
• (Me) Learn and internalize society’s expectations about what constitutes appropriate behavior and appearances

• Imagine how others view me.
• Preparatory Stage- Children have not yet developed metal capabilities that allow them to role take.
• Play Stage- voluntary and often spontaneous activity with favor no formal rules that is not subject to time or place pretend to be significant other.
• Game Stage- structures, organized activities that usually involved more that one person and a number of constraints.

• In-group- people identify and feel closely attached, especially when attachment is based on opposition towards another
• Out-group- a group toward which members of an in-group feel a sense of separates or opposition