Chapter 1 The Sociological Perspective 1

SOCL 151 PRINCIPLES OF SOCIOLOGY
CHAPTER ONE – THE SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

1. Define the following: sociology, types of functions: manifest, latent and dysfunction, positivism, science, hypothesis, reliability, variable, independent variable, dependent variable, theory, random sample, validity, and replication.

2. Discuss what the concept “sociological perspective” means to sociology.

3. Distinguish between micro-sociology and macro-sociology.

4. Explain how the industrial revolution contributed to sociology.

5. Know the assumptions of structural-functional, conflict, and symbolic interaction theories.

6. Review the contributions of Augusta Comte, Herbert Spencer, Karl Marx, Emile Durkheim, Max Weber, Harriet Martineau, Jane Addams, and W.E. B. Dubois.

7. Review the development of sociology in the United States.

8. Review the process of the three types of research discussed in the textbook.

9. Outline the steps in the scientific method of research.

10. Differentiate between the following concepts: variable, independent and dependent variables, and control variables.

11. Explain the importance of operational de
12. Discuss what a sample is in survey research.

13. Explain the advantages and disadvantages of controlled experiments, survey research, and participant observation.

Do you every wonder why people in the Midwest drive pick-ups and the people in China want a bicycle? Do you ever think about why people were glued to their televisions when the World Trade Center Towers were destroyed by terrorists? Do you ever watch people at a ballgame or at a shopping mall? Have you ever wondered why these people behave as they do? Do you ask yourself why you make some of the decisions that you do? If you see influences from family, friends, co-workers, and the kind of economy that we live in, then you are practicing sociology. Sociology is concerned with the groups, large and small, that we are a part of and how they influence our behavior.
Sociology is one part of the social sciences. The social sciences are a related group of disciplines that study some aspect of human behavior. The differences are in the focuses. As examples, psychology focuses on such areas as the personality, the brain, and how we learn. History and political science study past events, government structures, and current affairs to understand our behavior. Economics includes areas such as supply and demand, government policies, and occupational trends. Anthropology focuses on cultures and how they determine certain behaviors.

Sociology can be explained by the updated version of an old story titled: The Elephant Story. It goes as follows:
It is said that in the recent past five wise men and women, all blindfolded, were led to an elephant. Each was asked to explain what they “saw”. The first, a psychologist, feeling the top of the head, said, “This is the only thing that counts. All feeling and thinking takes place inside here. To understand this beast, we need study only this.” The second, an anthropologist, tenderly touching the trunk and the tusks, said, “This is really primitive. I feel very comfortable here. Concentrate on these.” The third, a political scientist, feeling the gigantic ears, said, “This is the power center. What goes in here controls the entire beast. Concentrate your studies here.” The fourth, an economist, feeling the mouth, said, “This is what counts. What goes in here is distributed throughout the body. Concentrate your studies on this. Then came the sociologist (OF course!), who, feeling the entire body, said, “You can’t understand the beast by concentrating only one part. Each is but part of the whole. The head, the trunk and tusks, the ears, the mouth - all are important. And so are the parts of the beast that you haven’t even mentioned. We must remove our blindfolds so we can see the larger picture. We have to see the larger picture. We have to see how everything works together to form the entire animal. Pausing for emphasis, the sociologist added, “And we also need to understand how this creature interacts with similar creatures, HOW does their life in groups influence their behaviors?’ I wish I could conclude this fable by saying that the psychologist, the anthropologist, the political scientist, and the economist, dazzled upon hearing the wisdom of the sociologist, amidst gasps of wonderment threw away their blindfolds, and joining together, began to examine the larger picture. But, alas, and alack! Upon hearing this sage advice, each stubbornly bound their blindfolds even tighter to concentrate all the more on the single part. And if you listened very, very carefully you could even hear them saying, “Don’t touch the tusks.” “take your hand off the ears.” “Stay away from the mouth - that’s my area.”
Sociology, however, includes all of these areas of study and is probably the broadest of all of the social sciences. The main difference is that sociology focuses on the effects of groups on our actions and decisions. Sociology views behavior as resulting from all of the various influences that these disciplines specifically study. Certainly living in an industrial/technological society affects our motivations and our occupational choices. World War II affected how we view women in the labor force today. Telecommunications have influenced our current work patterns. These are a few examples that demonstrate the effects of our society on behavior.

Sociology is defined as the systematic study of human social interaction. This means how we interact with persons in any group setting. Most of us follow patterns in our behaviors (think about your morning routines, are they usually the same?) and this allows sociologists to learn something about our behavior. Sociologists try to describe and to explain behavior. They are people watchers – looking for patterns of behavior which allows sociologists to predict trends in behavior to help determine better social policies. However, sociologists realize that people change which requires that our predictions be tenuous. Never the less, sociologists want to develop a body of reliable knowledge that can be applied to make our lives more understandable.

Sociologists explain behavior through the concepts of structure and roles. Structure is much like a framework or script that guides our behavior. Roles, on the other hand, fit into a structure and deal with how we should perform. In a basketball game, rules serve to give the game structure. Everyone who plays knows or should know the rules of the game. This allows everyone to know how to behave and what to expect. Persons also play a part in the game. Some persons are players, coaches, or spectators among others. These are roles and a person filling a role knows how he or she should perform. Our roles set boundaries that allow some latitude. Some coaches throw temper fits, some coaches are very subdued, but they are all performing the role of coach. These concepts may be applied to any circumstance that we are in and can help us to understand what is expected of us.

SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE

With the use of sociological perspective one can see how a personal problem can be looked at as a social issue. When a problem becomes a social issue (a problem for many people) the solution to the problem lies within society instead of an individual. As an example when teenage pregnancy increased the educational system looked to see what could be done to ensure that teenage mothers could continue to get an education. They could have put the entire burden on the mothers but using the sociological perspective, many of the schools created day care centers in the schools. Sociologists are concerned with finding solutions to social problems within the society not the individual. Sociological perspective helps sociologist to do this. ORIGINS OF SOCIOLOGY
Sociological perspective is a direct result of the nineteenth century origins of sociology. During that time, Europeans especially were experiencing dramatic changes. The Industrial Revolution occurred when people moved from the countryside into cities to take factory jobs. These transitions connected with the industrial revolution produced great turmoil as people tried to adjust to these changes. There was no group to look at the problems that occurred as result of these changes. A group of scholars attempted to describe and explain these changes so individuals could better adjust to change. A new discipline was termed sociology by Auguste Comte who is considered to be the founder of modem sociology. Herbert Spencer is remembered for his application of “survival of the fittest” to sociology. Karl Marx is most noted for his idea of social change through class conflict. Emile Durkheim was concerned about stability of society. Max Weber felt the need to understand meanings of human behavior. Your textbook describes the theories and contributions of the early founders of sociology. These sociologists laid the groundwork for this discipline and their theories will be discussed at relevant points in the remaining lessons. The theories of the early sociologists have been grouped into three main theoretical perspectives under which most recent theories are classified.

THREE MAIN PERSPECTIVES

The three theoretical perspectives include structural-functional theory, conflict theory, and symbolic interaction. The origins of structural-functional theory, also known as functionalism, are associated with Emile Durkheim. Its basic argument is that society has certain jobs or functions that must be carried out if it is to survive. There are specific structures that are to do these jobs. If the structures do their jobs, the society will have the necessary stability and harmony needed for society to continue with little change or conflict. As you use this theory, it is important to keep in mind the basic assumptions of this theory of stability, harmony and evolutionary change. A good example would be that we have families to care for children and schools to educate them. We also have an economy in which to earn a living and a government that makes decisions regarding our welfare. Functionalists also argue that change should occur very slowly to allow people and institutions time to adjust. This is of course related to the time period in which this perspective was developed.

Conflict theory, which owes its origins to Karl Marx, objects strongly to this last point. It argues that society develops institutions that maintain an unequal social structure related mainly to social class interests. Conflict theorists maintain that more powerful groups in society have more privileged positions and are going to work to maintain such a structure. Conflict theorists believe that less powerful groups are eventually going to demand change and that society will be better over time because of the changes. Change is therefore inevitable and often good for society. The bases of this change occurs the first assumption of this theory in that all change occurs due to competition over scarce resources. The second assumption of this theory lies with the idea of structured inequality which means that those who have the most of those resources are not willing to share them. They want to maintain control of those resources though the use of their power. It takes the third assumption of this theory which is revolutionary change to make this redistribution of power to occur. Conflict theory gained support during the 1960s as a means to understand the civil rights movement and the women's movement. According to this theory, this conflict was necessary and produced a more equitable social structure. South Africa is a good example of a country that has had conflict over power based on race. Conflict theory views this struggle as inevitable and that power will eventually be redistributed.

These two theories are termed macro theories because of their focus on large-scale social structures. The third perspective, symbolic interaction is referred to as a micro theory because of its focus on small group interaction. This theory notes that persons must learn to fit into society and learn to communicate with other persons. It notes that this is a learning process that is based on acquiring use of symbols. Communication is based on shared symbols with language as the prime symbol. Think of how difficult it would be for you to relate to others without some method of communication using words. Society could not exist without some means of symbolic interaction. Interactionists view conflict as resulting from the different meanings that persons attach to various arrangements. Consider how many times you have been involved in a misunderstanding because of different interpretations of an event. The basic assumptions of this theory relates to understanding the meaning of symbols and behaviors. Society has to put meaning to each symbol for communication to occur. This meanings will change as one has experiences with the symbols. This theory is concerned about the relationship between the individual and the system being analyzed. It is all about relationships.

All three theoretical perspectives are useful for understanding social behavior more completely and all three will be discussed in subsequent lessons.

RESEARCH

All of the social sciences are based on the use of scientific methods to study human behavior. This means that we pay less attention to opinions and intuition and require evidence to support our explanations of behavior. In a sense, social scientists are similar to detectives investigating a crime and looking for physical evidence. As we will see, we look for social evidence to explain such things as racism, sexism, and poverty. This is referred to as empiricism which means verification through the senses. A clerk is being an empiricist when he or she asks to see your driver's license to cash a check. The clerk is verifying who you are. Social scientists want to do the same thing when explaining behavior, and we use the methods of science for this empirical approach.

Research itself is a systematic and objective attempt to study a problem for the purpose of deriving general principles. It is guided by previously collected information and aims to add to the body of knowledge on the subject. Knowledge grows when results are consistent from several similar research studies. Your text discusses six main strategies for gathering data (information) for social science research. Sociologists use all six strategies or methods, but their main method is survey research. Surveys consist of a series of questions that are administered to a large group of persons in some manner (e.g., through interviews, by mail, by telephone or internet). They typically use a sample of individuals drawn from a large population. This is done to save time and reduce costs and as long as it follows laws of probability (participants are selected randomly), the results should be quite adequate.

Research is a fascinating part of sociology, and your text cites a number of research studies throughout the chapters. However, you should always view research with some healthy skepticism. Good researchers will provide adequate information for you to decide whether to accept the results or to reject them. We are bombarded daily with statistics and these sections on research should help you to understand how they can be used correctly and realistically. Understanding this may help you to make more informed business or consumer decisions.