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Today’s Outline

This course explores the sociological perspective, which helps assess common sense, identify social patterns, and understand the impact of society on our lives. Topics include global perspective, Durkheim's study of suicide, and C. Wright Mills' sociological imagination.

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Today’s Outline

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  1. Today’s Outline • LYW and Class Format • Introduction Discussion Board Postings • Syllabus Review • Contact Information • Learning Plans and Assessments • Opening Lecture

  2. The Sociological Perspective The systematic study of human society

  3. Benefits of the Sociological Perspective • Helps us assess the truth of common sense • Helps us assess both opportunities and constraints in our lives • Empowers us to be active participants in our society • Helps us live in a diverse world

  4. Al Sharpton “I never knew I was underprivileged until I took a sociology class at Brooklyn College”

  5. The Sociological PerspectivePeter Berger • Seeing the general in the particular • Sociologists identify general social patterns in the behavior of particular individuals. • Seeing the strange in the familiar • Giving up the idea that human behavior is simply a matter of what people decide to do • Understanding that society shapes our lives

  6. Application of Sociological Perspective

  7. Importance of Global Perspective • Where we live makes a great difference in shaping our lives • Societies throughout the world are increasingly interconnected through technology and economics. • Many problems that we face in the United States are more serious elsewhere. • Thinking globally is a good way to learn more about ourselves.

  8. Global Map 1.1Women’s Childbearing in Global Perspective

  9. “The world is a book, and those who study just their own society read only a single page”

  10. Durkheim’s Study of Suicide • Emile Durkheim’s research showed that society affects even our most personal choices. • More likely to commit: male Protestants who were wealthy and unmarried • Less likely to commit: male Jews and Catholics who were poor and married • One of the basic findings: Why? • The differences between these groups had to do with “social integration.” • Those with strong social ties had less of a chance of committing suicide.

  11. National Map 1.1Suicide Rates across the United States

  12. Figure 1.1 Rate of Death by Suicide, by Race and Sex, for the United States.

  13. Applying Durkheim Suicide rates are relatively high among college students; in addition some occupations (dentists, and artists) have high suicide rates while elementary school teachers have lower rates.

  14. C. Wright Mills’Sociological Imagination • The power of the sociological perspective lies not just in changing individual lives but in transforming society. • Society, not people’s personal failings, is the cause of social problems. • The sociological imagination transforms personal problems into public issues.

  15. C. Wright Mills It is the political task of the social scientist…to translate personal troubles into public issues.

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