Soc 200 First Exam Study Guide
What is sociology?
(1) The scientific study of social behavior.
(2) The systematic study of social behaviors and social organization [organization of groups].
The Sociological Imagination
C. Wright Mills (wrote about sociological perspectives)
- History
- Biography: the events that occur in our life are affected by our history.
Sociology & Social Science
- Social Groups
- Social Facts: (Durkheim) something external to an individual & coercive (forced) upon an individual.
> (1) Material – object
> (2) Non-material – norms, laws, morals, language, religion
History of Sociology
- 1600-1789: The Enlightenment (the age of reason)
- Father of sociology: August Comte [wanted to created “social physics”]
- Early 1900’s - University of Chicago: “Chicago School”
> 1st sociology school
- 1930’s-1960’s
> Harvard University
> Talbott Parsons: functionalism
- 1960’s-1980’s: sociologists were more critical
- 1980’s-Present:
> center of sociology has become more scientific
> “sociology should be more about humanities”
Theories
1. Structural Functionalism (1930’s-1960’s)
- Society is like the human body:
> The body has different functions to make the body work (ex. heart, kidney, brain…)
> Society has different parts to help it work too (ex. school, politics, economics…)
> balance/equilibrium
2. Conflict Theory
- At the heart of all societies lays conflicts between groups.
- Marxists: If you want to understand a society you need to understand the conflicts.
3. Symbolic Interactionism
- George Herbert Mead (Philosophy, Chicago)
- Dominant micro (individual social interactions) approach
- the SOCIAL, the SYMBOL, the SELF
- We’re social before we’re an individual
- We use symbols: language
- The self is a symbol
- We’re motivated to find ourselves through social interaction.
Methods
- Quantitative vs. Qualitative Methods
> Quantitative: numeric (ex. # statistics)
> Qualitative: non-numeric (ex.
(1) The scientific study of social behavior.
(2) The systematic study of social behaviors and social organization [organization of groups].
The Sociological Imagination
C. Wright Mills (wrote about sociological perspectives)
- History
- Biography: the events that occur in our life are affected by our history.
Sociology & Social Science
- Social Groups
- Social Facts: (Durkheim) something external to an individual & coercive (forced) upon an individual.
> (1) Material – object
> (2) Non-material – norms, laws, morals, language, religion
History of Sociology
- 1600-1789: The Enlightenment (the age of reason)
- Father of sociology: August Comte [wanted to created “social physics”]
- Early 1900’s - University of Chicago: “Chicago School”
> 1st sociology school
- 1930’s-1960’s
> Harvard University
> Talbott Parsons: functionalism
- 1960’s-1980’s: sociologists were more critical
- 1980’s-Present:
> center of sociology has become more scientific
> “sociology should be more about humanities”
Theories
1. Structural Functionalism (1930’s-1960’s)
- Society is like the human body:
> The body has different functions to make the body work (ex. heart, kidney, brain…)
> Society has different parts to help it work too (ex. school, politics, economics…)
> balance/equilibrium
2. Conflict Theory
- At the heart of all societies lays conflicts between groups.
- Marxists: If you want to understand a society you need to understand the conflicts.
3. Symbolic Interactionism
- George Herbert Mead (Philosophy, Chicago)
- Dominant micro (individual social interactions) approach
- the SOCIAL, the SYMBOL, the SELF
- We’re social before we’re an individual
- We use symbols: language
- The self is a symbol
- We’re motivated to find ourselves through social interaction.
Methods
- Quantitative vs. Qualitative Methods
> Quantitative: numeric (ex. # statistics)
> Qualitative: non-numeric (ex.