Sociology

Sociology is the scientific study of social structure, (how we act in a group not as an individual.

Social Structure is the patterned ways that people react in social situations.

Perspective is a particular point of view.(Example: the way we look at babies)

Which baby is the cutest?

Sociological Perspective looks at the way that society influences our behavior.

What do you eat in France if you are French?

What do you eat in China if you are Chinese?

What do you eat in the U.S., that you think that other people might find unusual?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oceyc9vxJHg

What was the most unusual food item that you saw in the video?

Why do you think people would eat these things?

What is perhaps the most unusual thing that you eat in your society?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbqpm1Eq8VQ

Sociological Studies include:

AnthropologyEconomicsHistoryHuman GeographyPolitical SciencePsychology

Sociology looks at the group behavior instead of the individual

Example: 2005 New England Patriots Superbowl Victory

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6I48V4p8q0

All groups encourage conformity.

All groups encourage conformity. Teens smoke to gain access to a group.

Fashion trends depend on it to take hold

Sociological Imagination is the ability of individuals to see relationships between events in their personal lives and events in their society. (C. Wright Mills)

One must look at their own society as outsiders

Example:U.S. society has looked at

childless couples or single children homes unfavorably. (Selfish couple/spoiled only child) Why?

When we were a rural society, people would need children to work the farm. Also people expected many of their children to die before they reached adulthood.

According to Mills, “Sociological Imagination helps us to grasp the connection between history and biography.”

1. What is the structure of society as a whole?2. Where does the society fit into human history?3. What are the characteristics of the people who live in the society