Life In Sociology

1. Life In Sociology

2. What is Sociology???

3. Sociology is: • The Social Science that studies human society and social behavior. • Examples: • For the 1st time in US History a major political party has nominated an African American as President. • The Graduation rate in 17 of the nation’s largest cities is less than 50% • Sociologists develop theories on these and related topics to explain social behavior and its effects in our communities

4. What’s the difference between Sociology and Psychology?

5. Psychologists concentrate on the individual. • Sociologists concentrate on the group.

6. Why study sociology?

7. It can help you gain a new perspective on, or view of, yourself and the world around you. • Sociologist Perspective

8. Sociologist Perspective • Involves looking at social life in a scientific, systematic way, rather than depending on common-sense explanations usually found in the media. • Helps you see that all people are social beings. • Tells you that your behavior is influences by social factors • Tells you that your have learned your behavior from others

9. When did Sociology begin? Why?

10. When: Early 1800’s • Why: In response to the Industrial Revolution • Europe saw a rapid growth of urban populations • # of people seeking jobs outpaces available jobs • Housing shortages, crime rates, population problems • Individual rights became a major focus

11. Results: • American Revolution • French Revolution • Scholars began to ? the traditional explanations of life. • Scholars began to speculate that the physical world was based on a SET of basic principles that could be studied and analyzed through the use of scientific research methods.

12. Results Cont. • The questions then is or was, “what are the SET of basic principles?” • Various scholars came up with their own set of basic principles. • These sets of principles are based on how they saw the world around us and how we should respond to it.

13. Modern Perspective

14. Major Theoretical Perspectives • Sociologist develop theories in their efforts to explain the social world. • Theoretical Perspective: Is a general set of assumptions about the nature of things. (Outlines specific ideas about the nature of social life, and helps provide a foundations for their inquiries) • Functional Perspective • Conflict Perspective • Interactionist Perspective

15. Functionalist Perspective • Society is a set of interrelated parts that work together to produce a stable social system. • People agree on what is best for society and work together to ensure that the social system runs smooth • Look at society as a whole

16. Conflict Perspective • Look at the forces in society that promote competition and change. • Interested in those who possess more power in society exercise control over those with less power in society. • Non-violent- men and women, age, racial or national background • Competition of scarce resources is a the basis of social conflict

17. Interactionist Perspective • Focuses on how individuals interact with one another in society. • Interested in the way we respond to one anther in everyday situations • Child development, relationships within small groups, mate selections