1sociology primer

sociology

why study sociology? to obtain factual information about our

society and different aspect of our social life.

sociological information enables us to understand our society more objectively and to see our place in it.

through sociology, we develop the capacity to see through some of the folk, traditional and conventional wisdom of our society.

it enables us to see the connection between our own personal experiences and the social forces in the bigger social world which influence our life.

the promise of sociology, according to Wright Mills, is that with all the problems and confusion of modern life, it can help us understand what is happening to us and why such social phenomena occur.

why study sociology?

point of discussion

The study of sociology broadens our experience as we learn to discard our

prejudices and become more understanding of the customs of other

people and as we realize that the truth is relative and “good” and “bad”

behavior depends upon the norms of conduct of the society in which

behavior takes place.

the science of sociology

what is sociology? sociology is the science of society and the social

interactions taking place.

it focuses on all kinds of social interaction involving social acts, social relationships, social organization, social structures, and social processes.

the social facts it gathers include the recurrent and repetitive forms of behavior: the attitudes, beliefs, values, norms, and social institutions which make up the social order.

sociology studies not only the structure and function of social organization but also the changes which take place within it.

as the science of society, it studies a wide variety of current issues and problems. Sociologists are interested in the study of family relations, separation and divorce, ethnic relations, population problems, poverty, agrarian reforms, labor relations, social mobility, vice and crime, etc., in the same way that social reformers, psychologists, social workers and public administrators are concerned with them; but unlike them, sociologists mainly gather objective data and do not initiate reforms.

what is sociology?

as a discipline, sociology takes a neutral position, carefully avoiding bias that would affect its findings and conclusions. It views problems objectively and scientifically.

sociology as a science tries to analyze and explain the patterns of group life and to discover the basic structure of human society and the forces that lead to social change

what is sociology?

areas of sociology1. Social organization. This includes the investigation of social groups, social institutions, social stratification and mobility, ethnic relations and bureaucracy. Sub-specialties are the sociology of economy, work, agriculture, industry, religion, politics, education, health and welfare, and recreation.

2. Social psychology. This field is concerned with the study of human nature as the outcome of group life, personality formation, and collective behavior. It studies how group behavior affects the individual and vice-versa.

3. Social change – social organization and social disorganization. This area involves the study of change in culture and social relations and ongoing social problems. It covers such areas as socialization, personal pathologies, delinquency and crime, family conflicts, population problems, religious problems, educational issues, underemployment and unemployment, poverty, civil liberties and subversion, political process, competition, reform and revolution, ethnic strifes, health and welfare problems, mass communication, the impact of natural disasters, and war.

areas of sociology

4. Human ecology. This is an area which is currently catching world awareness although it is one of the oldest fields of American sociology. It studies the behavior of a given population and its relationship to the group’s social institutions. These studies have shown, for example, the incidence of mental illness, alcohol and drug abuse, crime and prostitution in urban and blighted areas, and the exploitation as well as the preservation of natural resources.

areas of sociology

5. Population studies. This field is concerned with population count, composition, change, and quality as they influence the economic, political and social systems, and vice versa.

6. Sociological theory and research. This field is concerned with the discovery, development, and replication of research tools that will test the applicability and usefulness of the principles of group life as basis for the regulation of the social environment.

areas of sociology

7. Applied sociology. The findings of pure sociological research may be applied to such various fields as marriage and family counseling, child development, juvenile delinquency, criminology, penology, social work, education, communication, propaganda, industrial relations, marketing, mental health, ethnic relations, mass media and environmental preservation.

areas of sociology

history of scientific sociology Sociology, as a science, gradually developed from the early

part of the eighteenth to the first quarter of the nineteenth century. The early practitioners of the field were multidisciplinary in their orientation, deriving ideas from philosophy and the physical and biological sciences.

It was between 1760 and 1825 that Henri Saint-Simon wrote his ideas on the science of society based on the assumption that the law of human behavior could be determined in the same manner that the law of nature had been arrived at by astronomers, physicists, biologists, geologists, chemists, and other natural scientists.

Most significant of the forerunners of sociology are Auguste Comte, Karl Marx, Herbert Spencer, Emile Durkheim and Max Weber.

1. Auguste Comte (1718 – 1857)

Comte believed that social physics or positivism would be the key to humanity’s ongoing program. Being a product of the social revolution and social unrest of his time, he classified the existing sciences into a hierarchy, placing social physics at the top as the “queen of sciences.” The major divisions of this new social science were social statistics, the study of the structure of society, and social dynamics, which was concerned with social evolution and change.

Comte himself did little social research, so that his significant contribution consists primarily of his having aroused and inspired other scholars to make further pursuits in sociology. He believed that sociology was the means by which a more rational and just society could be achieved. To him goes the credit of being the father of sociology, having coined the term sociology.

history of scientific sociology

3. Herbert Spencer (1820 – 1903)

He was mainly concerned with the evolutionary changes in social structure and social institutions. He argued that human societies go through an evolutionary process like the process Darwin described in his theory of natural selection and coined the concept “survival of the fittest.” He espoused the belief that human societies evolved according to the principles of natural laws. Societies that adapt to their surroundings and can compete will survive; those that do not will meet difficulties and perish.


Spencers’ theory of evolution paralleled Darwin’s theory of biological evolution in certain ways, particularly in the idea that societies develop from relative homogeneity and simplicity to heterogeneity and complexity. As simple societies advance, they become more complex and differentiated. Spencer also thought of societies not simply as collections of individuals but as organisms with a life and vitality of their own. In his idea of survival of the fittest, Spencer involved a policy of noninterference in human affairs and society, believing that legislation to solve social problems would interfere with the natural selection process. He was against free public education, believing that those who really wanted an education would get the means to attain it, individuals who do not want to be taught nor want to learn do not deserve to survive.


5. Max Weber (1864 – 1920)

Weber’s work dwelt on the significance of subjective meanings people give to their interactions with others. He encouraged the study not only of social facts and social structures, but also of social action, the external objective behavior as well as the internalized values, motives, and subjective meanings that individuals give to their own behavior and perceptions of the behavior of others. He believed that qualitative, subjective methods as well as objective, quantitative methods should be used in the study of social actions. In the study of social class, Weber felt that subjective perceptions of power, wealth, ownership, and social prestige as well as the objective aspects of these factors, were significant.


major theoretical perspectives1. The Evolutionary Theory. Evolutionary theory proposes that societies, like biological organisms, develop through phases of increasing complexity and, as ecologists point out, are interdependent with their environment. Along with other early theorists, Spencer argued that evolution was progressive and that natural selection resulted in the survival of the fittest, enabling strong societies to survive and the weak ones to perish. Spencer rejected any type of interference with natural selection which would aid the weak.

2. Structural Functional Theory. It has been referred to as the social system theory, equilibrium theory or functionalism.

Likened to a biological structure, a social system has several interrelated interdependent parts, each with a certain function. The component parts of a social structure are families, neighborhoods, associations, schools, churches, banks, countries, etc. Within a structure are statuses which are ascribed by birth (sex, age, race) or achieved (school graduate, president, priest, lawyer, doctor), interrelated sets of which are social systems. Parents and children make up a family system. Associated with each status are a set of expectations and behaviors which comprise a general idea of appropriate behavior, as when one occupies the position of a student, teacher or principal. The expectation of behavior and actual performance in a certain position, however, may not always be congruent. Role expectations and behavior have to be learned through the socialization process.

major theoretical perspectives

Merton identified the functions of a social system as what the system does and the outcomes that arise from a certain type of structure. He said that a social system can have both manifest (intended or recognized) and latent (unintended or unrecognizable) functions. Parents have the manifest function of procreation, and latent function of ensuring that their children acquire occupational skills.

Merton claimed that not all functions of a social system ensure its equilibrium. Some may lead to an imbalance or disintegration of the system. These he termed dysfunctions, such as spouse beating, unfaithfulness, child abuse.


3. Conflict Theory. Marx’s works initiated the conflict theory shared by recent scholars who proposed that society can best be studied through conflict and power struggle. Marx maintained that history was a series of class struggle between the owners of production and workers, the dominant and the dominated, the powerful and the powerless and that the structure of society was determined by economic organization, and ownership of property, in which personal beliefs, cultural values, religious dogmas, institutional organization, and class hierarchy were reflected. Inequalities in the economic system would bring about revolutionary class conflict when the exploited class realize their present inferior status and rebel against the dominant property owners and employers.


Current theorists of conflict claim that conflict is a constant aspect of social life which involved a wide range of groups or interests, such as age groups, sex groups, religious groups, occupational and economic groups, political groups, educational groups, et. al., each pitted against each other for wealth, power and prestige which are limited and not available to everyone. Furthermore, those who possess wealth, power, and prestige fight to maintain the status quo. Thus, conflict need not always be equated with widespread debacles but can involve ordinary life activities between individuals and groups, neither must it be equated with the destruction or breakdown of society. Dahrendorf and Coser said that the integrative and constructive feature of conflict lay in a state where people with common needs and interests unite to work for goals that bring about social change for their own welfare.


4. Symbolical Interaction Theory. Society is reflected in every socialized individual and that its external forms and structures are likewise reflected through the social interactions occurring among individuals at the symbolic level. Language consists of symbols representing physical objects and abstract ideas and is used for communication.

George Herbert Mead, a significant contributor to the development of symbolic interactionism, theorized that humans are set apart from animals because of their ability to use language and to create and acquire social institutions, societies, and cultures. Socialization occurs at both symbolic and non-symbolic levels. Social interaction with others enables individuals to acquire the beliefs, values, and language of the society to which they belong and to learn what is appropriate or inappropriate, what is “right” or “wrong,” who is significant, or what is “beautiful” in a society. It provides the bases for decision-making or problem-solving. Families provide the foundation of this social interaction.


5. Exchange Theory. The exchange theory has economic, anthropological, psychological and sociological underpinnings. Its basic orientation is that life is a continual occurrence of rewards and cost exchanges. Economically, people exchange money, goods, and services, looking towards some profit or breaking even in the exchange. Anthropologically, psychologically, or sociologically, social factors are also involved. Labor, gifts, money, affection, and ideas are simply or totally offered for something in return.


The basic assumptions of this theory are:a. Most human stratifications are derived from the actions

of other humans.b. New associations are started because they are

expected to be rewarding, and old associations continue because they are rewarding.

c. When we received rewards or benefits from others, we are obliged to reciprocate by supplying benefits to them in return.

d. In general, giving is more blessed than receiving, because social credit is preferable to social indebtedness.


key terms class conflict – marx’s term for the struggle

between capitalists, who own the means of production, and the proletariat, who do not

conflict perspective – a theoretical perspective that focuses on conflict and change in society, particularly conflict between a dominant and a subordinate group, and emphasizes that conflict is a constant fact of social life

hypothesis – a tentative statement about how various events are related to one another

latent function – a function that is unintended and thus often unrecognized

manifest function – a function that is intended and seem obvious

key terms

mechanical stability – a form of social cohesion that develops when people do similar work and have similar beliefs and values, characteristic of simple, traditional societies

organic solidarity – a form of social cohesion that develops when the differences among occupations make people depend on each other, characteristic of complex, industrialized societies

key terms

social consensus – condition in which most members of society agree on what is good for everybody to have and cooperate to achieve it

social forces – forces that arise from the society we are part of

sociological imagination – c. wright mill’s term for the ability to see the impact of social forces on individuals, especially on their private lives

key terms

social integration – the degree to which people are related to a social group

Sociology – the scientific study of human social behavior

structural functionalism – a theoretical perspective that focuses on social order, which is assumed to be based on the positive functions performed by the interdependent parts of society

key terms

symbolic interactionism – a theoretical perspective that focuses on the interaction between individuals, and is based on the assumption that their subjective interpretations of each other’s actions influence their interaction

theoretical perspective – a set of broad assumptions about the nature of a subject, which cannot be proven true or false

key terms

theory – a set of logically related hypotheses that explains the relationship among various phenomena

verstehen – weber’s term for the subjective method, which requires sociologists to adopt an attitude of understanding or empathy toward their subjects

key terms

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