The Sociological Perspective: Understanding Human Society

1. “...THE SYSTEMATIC STUDY OF HUMAN SOCIETY ” SYSTEMATIC SCIENTIFIC DISCIPLINE THAT FOCUSES ATTENTION ON PATTERNS OF BEHAVIOR HUMAN SOCIETY GROUP BEHAVIOR IS PRIMARY FOCUS; HOW GROUPS INFLUENCE INDIVIDUALS AND VICE VERSA AT THE “HEART OF SOCIOLOGY” THE SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE WHICH OFFERS A UNIQUE VIEW OF SOCIETY

2. EDUCATION AND LIBERAL ARTS WELL-ROUNDED AS A PERSON SOCIAL EXPECTATIONS MORE APPRECIATION FOR DIVERSITY THE GLOBAL VILLAGE DOMESTIC SOCIAL MARGINALITY ENHANCED LIFE CHANCES MICRO AND MACRO UNDERSTANDING INCREASE SOCIAL POTENTIALS REASONS FOR TAKING SOCIOLOGY

4. QUICK FIRE:What do people do?Why do people do what they do? Choose one of the following to answer: What are 2 things that might influence saying yes or no to a marriage proposal? What are 2 reasons why someone might consider suicide?

5. STUDENTS SHOULD BE ABLE TO SEE THE CONNECTION BETWEEN BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY!

6. DURKHEIM’S STUDY OF SUICIDE MORE LIKELY TO COMMIT MALE PROTESTANTS WHO WERE WEALTHY AND UNMARRIED HAD HIGHER SUICIDE RATES PROTESTANTISM AND INDIVDUALISM LESS LIKELY TO COMMIT MALE JEWS AND CATHOLICS WHO WERE POOR AND MARRIED BEING CATHOLIC AND GROUP-ORIENTATION 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 COMMITING SUICIDE

7. The Sociological Perspective OBSERVATIONS ARE CERTAINLY IMPACTED BY THE PERSONAL PERSPECTIVES THROUGH WHICH PEOPLE COME TO VIEW THE WORLD

8. Sociological Perspective • SEE THE GENERAL IN THE PARTICULAR • GENERAL SOCIAL PATTERNS IN THE BEHAVIOR OF PARTICULAR INDIVIDUALS • INDIVIDUALS ARE UNIQUE…BUT • SOCIETY’S SOCIAL FORCES SHAPE US INTO “KINDS” OF PEOPLE

9. What will we study using our “sociological perspective”? Social interaction/relationships – How do individuals behave when in groups? How do groups influence individual behavior? Social structures - What patterns can we identify during social interaction? Are there breaks in patterns? Social change/dynamics – Have these patterns changed over time?

10. Sociological Imagination • Sociological Imagination = ability to identify relationships between self and society

11. THE DISCIPLINE’S ORIGINS SOCIOLOGY SPRANG FROM THREE SEPARATE, YET INTERDEPENDENT REVOLUTIONS (1700-1900) THE SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION A BELIEF IN SCIENCE BEGAN TO REPLACE TRADITIONAL (religious) FORMS OF AUTHORITY THE ECONOMIC REVOLUTION INDUSTRIALISM AND CAPITALISM WERE CHANGING ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL PATTERNS THE POLITICAL REVOLUTION MORE DEMOCRATIC VALUES AND STANDARDS WERE BEING ADOPTED

12. PERSONALITIES AUGUSTE COMTE (1798-1857) POSITIVISM KARL MARX (1818-1883) CLASS CONFLICT/STRUGGLE HERBERT SPENCER (1820-1903) SOCIAL DARWINISM EMILE DURKHEIM (1858-1917) GROUP FORCES; SOCIAL SOLIDARITY W.E.B. DU BOIS (1868-1963) PLIGHT OF AFRICAN AMERICANS

13. WOMEN IN SOCIOLOGY HARRIET MARTINEAU (1802-1876) TRANSLATED THE WORKS OF AUGUSTE COMTE FOCUSED ON ISSUES SURROUNDING WOMEN’S RIGHTS SLAVERY THE WORKPLACE AND FACTORY LAWS JANE ADDAMS (1860-1933) SOCIAL WORKER DEVELOPED PLAN TO HELP IMMIGRANTS NEW TO CITY LIFE IN AMERICA HULL HOUSE IN CHICAGO NOBEL PEACE PRIZE WINNER, 1931

14. SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE(Theoretical Perspective) • THEORY: A STATEMENT OF HOW AND WHY FACTS ARE RELATED • PERSPECTIVE: A SET OF FUNDAMENTAL ASSUMPTIONS THAT GUIDES THINKING PEOPLE HOLD DIFFERING OPINIONS ABOUT THEIR SOCIAL WORLD WE ALL COME FROM DIFFERENT SOCIAL EXPERIENCES AND THEY BIAS OUR ASSUMPTIONS DOWN WITH PEOPLE UP WITH PEOPLE

15. FUNCTIONALIST PERSPECTIVE • THE BASICS • A MACRO-ORIENTED (LARGE-SCALE) PARADIGM • VIEWS SOCIETY AS A COMPLEX SYSTEM WITH MANY INTERDEPENDENT PARTS (INSTITUTIONS – family, government, religion, etc) • THE PARTS WORK TOGETHER TO PROMOTE SOCIAL STABILITY AND ORDER • MAJOR CHANGES TO THE SYSTEM’S PARTS IS NOT REQUIRED OR DESIRED; SYSTEM SEEKS TO MAINTAIN IT EQUILIBRIUM • KEY ELEMENTS: • MANIFEST FUNCTION – intended and recognized consequence of some element of society • LATENT FUNCTION – unintended/unrecognized consequence • DYSFUNCTION – negative consequence on stability of social system

16. CONFICT THEORY • THE BASICS: • A MACRO-ORIENTED PARADIGM FOCUS - VIEWS SOCIETY AS A STRUCTURED SYSTEM BASED ON INEQUALITY • SOCIAL CONFLICT BETWEEN GROUPS OVER SCARCE RESOURCES IS THE NORM • KEY ELEMENTS: • SOCIETY IS STRUCTURED IN WAYS TO BENEFIT A FEW AT THE EXPENSE OF THE MAJORITY • FACTORS SUCH AS RACE, SEX, CLASS, AND AGE ARE LINKED TO SOCIAL INEQUALITY • DOMINANT GROUP VS. MINORITY GROUP RELATIONS • SOCIAL CHANGE OCCURS DUE TO CONFLICT -i.e. Feminist Perspective

17. INTERACTIONIST PERSPECTIVE THE BASICS: • MICRO-ORIENTED PARADIGM (smaller scale) • THE VIEW THAT SOCIETY IS THE PRODUCT OF EVERYDAY INTERACTIONS • SOCIETY IS A COMPLEX MOSAIC OF UNDERSTANDING THAT EMERGES FROM THE VERY PROCESS OF INTERACTING KEY ELEMENTS • SYMBOLS – anything that represents something else • SYMBOLIC INTERACTION – focus on how people use symbols (meaning, language, and thought)

18. QUICK FIRE • What are some possible reasons for inaccurate statistics? • How can poorly designed social research affect public policy? http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/mon-august-17-2009/poll-bearers

19. TO BEGIN WITH, THERE ARE JUST TWO SIMPLE REQUIREMENTS: • LOOK AT THE WORLD USING THE SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE • A VARIETY OF SOCIAL BEHAVIORS CALLING FOR INVESTIGATION • BE CURIOUS AND ASK QUESTIONS • TAKE OFF THE “SOCIAL BLINDERS” THAT STOP MAKING ONE CURIOUS

20. COMMON SENSE VS. SCIENCE • POOR PEOPLE ARE MORE LIKELY THAN RICH PEOPLE TO BREAK THE LAW • YES, BUT WE TEND TO PROSECUTE THE POOR MORE, AND WE CREATE LAWS THAT SEEM TO ENSURE WE WILL PROSECUTE THE POOR MORE OFTEN • MOST POOR PEOPLE IGNORE OPPORTUNITIES TO WORK • IT IS TRUE FOR SOME, BUT NOT ALL POOR PEOPLE, AND KEEP IN MIND THAT MANY OF THOSE CLASSIFIED AS POOR ARE NOT EXPECTED TO BE WORKING (E.G., CHILDREN, THE ELDERLY, THE DISABLED, ETC.) • WORLDWIDE, MOST PEOPLE MARRY BECAUSE THEY ARE IN LOVE • IN MOST SOCIETIES, ROMANTIC LOVE HAS LITTLE TO DO WITH GETTING MARRIED TO SOMEONE

21. A LOGICAL SYSTEM THAT DERIVES KNOWLEDGE FROM DIRECT, SYSTEMATIC OBSERVATION • CONCEPTS • ABSTRACT IDEAS THAT REPRESENT SOME ASPECT OF THE WORLD, ALBEIT IN A SOMEWHAT SIMPLIFIED FORM (i.e. crime, poverty, education, etc) • VARIABLES • CONCEPTS WHOSE VALUES CHANGE FROM CASE TO CASE • INDEPENDENT AND DEPENDENT VARIABLES • MEASUREMENT OF VARIABLES • THE MEANS BY WHICH THE VALUE OF A VARIABLE IS DETERMINED

22. RELIABILITY - THE QUALITY OF CONSISTENT MEASUREMENT • DOES AN INSTRUMENT PROVIDE FOR A CONSISTENT MEASURE OF THE SUBJECT MATTER? • VALIDITY - THE QUALITY OF MEASURING PRECISELY WHAT ONE INTENDS TO MEASURE • DOES AN INSTRUMENT ACTUALLY MEASURE WHAT IT SETS OUT TO MEASURE? • WHAT ASSUMPTIONS MUST BE MADE ABOUT ISSUES OF RELIABILITY AND VALIDITY WHEN PERFORMING RESEARCH?

23. RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN VARIABLES • TYPES OF VARIABLES • INDEPENDENT:THE VARIABLE THAT CAUSES THE CHANGE (OVERCROWDING) • DEPENDENT: THE VARIABLE THAT CHANGES (DELINQUENCY) • CAUSE AND EFFECT • A RELATIONSHIP IN WHICH CHANGE IN ONE VARIABLE CAUSES CHANGE IN ANOTHER • EXAMPLE: OVERCROWDING CAUSES DELINQUENCY • CORRELATION • WHEN TWO OR MORE VARIABLES CHANGE TOGETHER THEY DEMONSTRATE CORRELATION • Spurious correlation – when causation is falsely identified because a third, unseen variable is actually the cause

24. Did you know?!? • Ice cream causes crime!! • High density living causes delinquency?

25. CORRELATION CAUTION IF TWO VARIABLES VARY TOGETHER, THEY ARE SAID TO BE CORRELATED. IN THIS EXAMPLE, DENSITY OF LIVING CONDITIONS AND JUVENILE DELINQUENCY INCREASE AND DECREASE TOGETHER.

26. CHECKING THE EFFECT OF A THIRD VARIABLE WHEN A THIRD VARIABLE IS CONSIDERED, IN THIS CASE THAT OF INCOME LEVEL, IS IT DISCOVERED THAT LOW INCOME MAY BE RELATED TO BOTH DENSITY OF LIVING CONDITIONS AND DELINQUENCY RATES. IN OTHER WORDS, AS INCOME LEVEL DECREASES, BOTH DENSITY OF LIVING CONDITIONS AND DELINQUENCY RATES

27. ORIGINAL CORRELATION DISAPPEARS THUS, WHEN INCOME LEVEL IS CONTROLLED (EXAMINE ONLY CASES WITH THE SAME INCOME LEVEL) DO THOSE WITH HIGHER DENSITY LIVING CONDITIONS STILL HAVE A HIGHER DELINQUENCY RATE? THE ANSWER IS NO. THERE IS NO LONGER A CORRELATION BETWEEN THESE TWO VARIABLES!

28. SO…WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN? SPURIOUS CAUSE CAUSE THE FINDINGS LEAD ONE TO CONCLUDE THAT INCOME LEVEL IS A CAUSE OF BOTH DENSITY OF LIVING CONDITIONS AND THE DELINQUENCY RATE. THERE MAY BE A CORRELATION BETWEEN THE ORIGINAL VARIABLES, BUT NOW DOUBT CAN BE CAST UPON THE THOUGHT THAT ONE CAUSESTHE OTHER.

29. CORRELATION TWO OR MORE VARIABLES CHANGE TOGETHER CONDITIONS FOR CAUSATION TO BE CONSIDERED EXISTENCE OF A CORRELATION THE INDEPENDENT (CAUSAL) VARIABLE PRECEDES THE DEPENDENT VARIABLE IN TIME NO EVIDENCE SUGGESTS THAT A THIRD VARIABLE IS RESPONSIBLE FOR A SPURIOUS CORRELATION BETWEEN THE TWO ORIGINAL VARIABLES CORRELATION OR CAUSATION? How do you know?

30. STRATEGIES FOR SYSTEMATICALLY CARRYING OUT SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH • EXPERIMENTS • HIGHLY CONTROLLED CONDITIONS • SURVEYS • QUESTIONNAIRES AND INTERVIEWS • PARTICIPANT OBSERVATIONS • JOINING IN ACTIVITIES OF GROUPS • EXISTING SOURCES • SECONDARY ANALYSIS OF DATA

31. Scientific Research – Method to their Madness SO MANY THINGS TO GET RIGHT! • SELECT AND DEFINE TOPIC • LITERATURE REVIEW IS CONDUCTED • ASSESS REQUIREMENTS FOR STUDY • DEVELOP KEY QUESTIONS TO ASK • CONSIDER ETHICAL ISSUES • DEVISE A RESEARCH STRATEGY • COLLECT THE DATA • INTERPRET THE FINDINGS • STATE CONCLUSIONS • PUBLISH THE FINDINGS

32. Problems, Problems, Problems • Identify a social problem you believe exists in our school, city, state, or nation (dependent variable) • Formulate a hypothesis – What do you think is causing this problem? (independent variable) • Is it possible that there are other causes to this problem? • Identify a research method that you believe would be best to study the cause of this problem and be able to explain why this is the best option. • Choose one research method you would NOT use and explain why it would not be appropriate for your “research project”.

33. THINK ABOUT WHY EACH REQUIREMENT IS IMPORTANT!! • MUST ENSURE CONFIDENTIALITY • MUST RECEIVE INFORMED CONSENT • SUBJECTS SHOULD BE MADE AWARE OF THE TRUE PURPOSE OF RESEARCH – ALWAYS IMPORTANT? • MAINTAIN AWARENESS OF ANY DANGERS

34. A Lack of Ethics in Past Medical Research • Holocaust victims • Tuskegee airmen • Milgram experiment part 1 • Milgram experiment part 2 • Milgram experiment part 3 • Stanford experiment