Sociology Class 1B

Seite 1

WHAT IS SOCIOLOGY?

- Research into how/why things change?

- Better know ourselves as a society

- To prevent/predict future sociological issues/events

- To figure out how we can best change society

Definitions

- The systematic study of human society (Society: The Basics)

- The study of the structure, development, ineratction, and collective behavior of organized groups of human beings (Merriam-Webster)

- Sociology emerged as a field of study in th elate 19th century as a way to understand the transition from traditional to modern society (University of Calgary)

- Emile Durkeim, Max Weber, Georg Simmel, Robert E. Park are considered the fathers of sociology

AREAS OF STUDY

- Families

- Ethnic Relations

- Schooling

- Social status and class bureaucracy

- Religious movements

- Deviance

- Elderly

- Social Change

- Study how social structures, social processes and cultural products constrain and enable human behavior

- Micro: Study issues of peoples self-identity, trust, and risk; does so through narratives and life stories and face-to-face interaction in day to day life.

- Macro: Look at institutions and the relationship between social processes and individual lives

(University of Calgary)

TOOLS OF STUDY

- Observational techniques (watching news, online activity, general "distance" observation)

- Surveys and interviews

- Statistical Analysis

- Controlled experiments

ASSIGNMENT:

Post on Populi or Facebook: take notice in your interactions with people in general settings. Do you see any patterns with the way people act, talk or dress.

WHY SOCIOLOGY?

- Connecting the past, present and future

- Sociology increases our understanding of our own society

- Helps us know when/how to challenge old ideas about how society should work

- Knowing about how the past shapes the current, helps us how our current society will shape future generations

- Understanding sociology helps us understand why structured inequalities, discrimination, and persistent poverty are so difficult to eliminate

- Gives us an understanding of how to build a better society

- We have a voice in a changing society

SOCIOLOGY IS.....

- Historical: we will look at contemporary social occurrences, their origins, and the processes that brought them about

- Comparative: we will learn to understand or society by comparing different groups o fpeople and engaging in the comparative study of social instityutions

- Reflexive: we will grasp the critical nature of sociology and its practival relevance for producing change by recognizing that in human society, knowledge has practival consequesnces

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