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SOC1101
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SOC1101 LECTURE NOTESWEEK 1
THE SOCIOLOGICAL IMAGINATION
What is Sociology?
• Sociology is the systematic study of human society and social interactions
• Latin Socius
o Social, being with others
o Greek logos
What do Sociologists do?
• They notice/study social patterns
• They investigate and challenge commonly held assumptions
o Ex. The common assumption surrounding male nurses being feminine or a homosexual
• Sociology enables us to understand the world we live in
• Gives us an intellectual solution break down commonly held assumption
Sociological Imagination:
(Mills, 1954)
• The ability to see the relationship between personal experiences and the larger society
o He argued for when we created and shared sociological knowledge, it showed how
society works in terms of our own personal life
• Enables us to understand how our personal troubles are related to larger social trends/events
o Making it public issues
o Ex. Corporate downsizing, housing bubbles, confinements, Covid-19
o Ex. Coffee: Is a public matter
▪ Implies a cultural setting
▪ Socially significant
▪ Socially acceptable
▪ Implies an extensive social division of labour and a complex social organization
▪ Implies the world history, economics and politics of coffee
WEEK 2
ORIGIN OF SOCIOLOGY
Sociology is the systematic study of human society and social integration
Why was Sociology invented?
Classical Philosophers/social thinkers:
• Confucius
• Plato
, • Aristotle
• Ibn Khaldun
• Shakespeare
• Montesquieu
o Wanted to imagine the ideal society, however they could not
Social Change and Sociology:
• Spread throughout the western world
• 19th Century
The Three Revolutions
• Scientific Revolution
• Industrial Revolution
o From agriculture and handmade products to manufacturing and related industries
• Urbanization
o Population moving from rural areas to cities
Emerge of many new social problems:
• Anonymity
• Isolation
• Inadequate housing
• Crowded cities
• Unsanitary and unhealthy work and living conditions
• Homelessness
• High rates of poverty
• Pollution
• Criminal behaviour
• Popular discontent among the working class
o No unions during this time
o Strikes, protest, social uprising, angry mobs clashing with the police/army
Famous Novels from the 19th century:
• Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables
• Emile Zola's Germinal
• Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist
• Herman Melville’s novels
Political/Democratic Revolution:
• Changes in political thought
o Society as the product of individual self interest
o New political climate: individual freedom and rights
• The French Revolution
, o Introduction of a new principle into history by demanding political action to redress mass
poverty
▪ Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity
o Showed that social change was possible
Early Sociologists:
• How/ why societies change
• What are the social forces holding societies together to create order and stability over time
Suicide as a Social Fact:
• Social distribution of suicide and its rate among different groups and countries
o For any given country, the suicide rate is stable overtime
o Differs widely among them
• Britain > 2X Italy
• Denmark > 4X Britain
• Social Integration
o Categories of people with strong social ties had low suicide rates; more socially isolated
or individualistic people had higher suicide rates
WEEK 3
MAJOR THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES IN SOCIOLOGY
Auguste Comte (1798-1957):
• Coined the word Sociology
o Preferred the term Social Physics
• Sought to do a science of society
• Wanted to discover the laws of society
o Use this to solve social problems
o Believed that society confirmed to laws of its own
• Social statics (order and stability) and dynamics (conflict and change)
• Sociology was modelled after physics
Emile Durkheim (1858-1917):
• Created the first rules of methods of sociology
• Brought sociology to the University
o Created the first chair in sociology at la Sorbonne in Paris
• Trained the first students in the discipline
• Created the first academic sociological journal, L’annee sociologique (1898)
• Upset at the lack of intelligence
• Disturbed by antisemitism (he was Jewish)
o Society is more than the sum of its parts:
▪ Has a unique character of its own; not reducible to the behaviour of anyone
o Social Facts
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