An Intro to Sociology…the study of interaction

Essential Questions:

• Why study sociology?• What is the nature of sociological study?• What problems does sociological research face?• Why is it important to think with a sociologically

aware mind?• How has the study of sociology evolved over time?• How can sociology inform our study of government?

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Defining the practice of sociology:What do sociologists DO?

• Study human interaction.• Study situations and formulate predictions of

the future.• Study human behavior in a society.• Develop ways of testing people’s reactions to

various situations in a natural setting.

Defining the practice of sociology

• What a broad field of study!• Sociologists must narrow their inquiry by

explicitly defining their parameters.• A combination of seemingly subjective variables

taken as objectively as possible.• What sociology is not…– Gossip, propaganda, mythology, … a pseudo-science

• THE MEASUREMENT OF HUMAN INTERACTION.• WHY DO PEOPLE ACT THE WAY THEY DO?

Why study sociology?

Why study sociology?

• To obtain a clearer view of our society, how it is organized, and how it works.

• To escape the limitations imposed and encouraged by our origins by viewing the social world objectively.

• To appreciate and understand various beliefs and practices.

• To understand patterns of social change in the contemporary world and gain some power to predict the future and reform or solve large systemic issues.

Sociological research…• Legitimate sociology uses the scientific method.– Characterization

• What will we try to solve or understand?– Hypothesis development

• What do we think our conclusion will be?– Experiments

• Research, testing etc.– Evaluation and improvement

• Accounting for mistakes. – Confirmation and conclusion.

• What we learned.

• Just like other sciences, sociology builds on bodies of information over time to reach more complex conclusions.

Problems with sociological research

• Sociology as a social science exposed to infinite variables and the need for incredibly strict parameters.

• Examples of the difficulty of implementing change based on research.– Do financial incentives boost student performance?

• How much money?• How will student performance be assessed?• What happens when the $ incentive is taken away?• Accounting for varying student ability levels? ?

Problems with research cont…

• Contamination of data• Self-modifying predictions• Values and biases• Partisanship• Prior commitments• SUBJECTIVITY!• Sociology as a fallacious pseudo-science

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To ameliorate some problems arising in sociological research…

• Specify what you want to find!– Example: How can we make school an enjoyable

and productive experience?• What constitutes “enjoyable”?• What constitutes productivity?• What is a healthy balance between that which is

enjoyable and productive?

• Specify HOW you will find these things!• Asking questions usually prompts more

questions, which leads to more complex answers!

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The vocabulary of sociology…An example we understand.

Santa Claus, by accepting responsibility for our gifts, allows us to express morally uncontaminated sentiments toward children. He is an especially important figure in American families because of the great emotional importance of the small family group for Americans. Santa Claus is likely to become important in other Western societies to the extent that their family systems become more like the American – to the extent that the power of extended families loses importance and to the extent that the nuclear family becomes the center of the emotional life of all of its members.

… In sociological terms Casual observation suggests considerable variation in

the degree to which Santa Claus is used as a child control device, in the degree to which parents tell children that rewards from Santa are contingent upon good behavior. (This variation is limited in two ways. First, the idea that Santa’s behavior is contingent upon good behavior is prevalent in the larger culture and manifested in such songs as “Santa Claus is Coming to Town.” Children may acquire the belief from other sources than their parents. Second, in fact Santa’s rewards are generally not contingent upon good behavior; parents who assert otherwise are bluffing.) We need information on the social determinants of these aspects of the behavior of Santa Claus.

Sociology vocabulary

Plato427-347 BCE in Greece

- The Republic and The Laws.- Societal stratification- Happiness correlates with social order.- Deviance correlates with social

integration.“A state arises, as I conceive, out of the needs of mankind; no one is self-sufficing, but all of us have many wants.”

Aristotle384-322 BCE in Greece

• A student of Plato’s• Social science must follow

strict scientific investigation procedures.

• The opposition of interests between rich and poor can only be conciliated in a state with a large, influential middle class.

Ibn Khaldoun1332 – 1406 in Arabia

• Fundamental forms of human association.

• The effect of contact between dissimilar social systems.

• The diffusion of culture traits.• The influence of climate on culture• The effects of urbanization and

population growth on political systems.

Sociological Thinkers

• Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations (1776)• Thomas Malthus’ The Principle of Population

(1798)• Auguste Comte’s The Course of Positive

Philosophy ( 1830-1842).• Herbert Spencer’s The Study of Sociology (1873)• Karl Marx’s Das Capital (1867)• … you.

Sociology and Government!

• How does American society and American culture dictate the course of politics? And vice versa?

• How does the media relate to American society and culture?

• How can citizens utilize an existing power structure to accomplish their goals?

• WHY DO PEOPLE ACT THE WAY THEY DO!?

Sociology and Government!

• As we have seen, SPIN can warp a definition or popular understanding of a word, phrase, person, group, institution, etc…

• How is spin currently played out in the media?– Case study: the word “progressivism”• Glenn Beck at the February 20th Conservative Political

Action Conference (3:16:30)• Versus• John Stewart’s spin on Glenn Beck’s spin on

“progressivism”