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Summary KEY CONCEPTS IN THE SOCIAL SCIENCES
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Summary of the Sociology 5th edition book. Includes Chapter 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 15, 16, 19, 24, 26
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KEY CONCEPTS IN THE SOCIAL SCIENCES (KCSS)Sociology 5th edition
Chapter 1. The sociological imagination
Sociology: the systematic, skeptical and critical (scientific) study of human society;
embraces the whole range of human activities
- Challenging the obvious, questioning the world as it is taken for granted
Sociological perspective (Peter Berger):
- Seeing the general in the particular; identify general patterns of social life by
looking at concrete specific examples of social life (general patterns in the
behavior of particular individuals), general categories shape our particular life
experiences (e.g. nationality, gender)
- Seeing the strange in the familiar: de-familiarizing the familiar, give up the
familiar idea that human behavior is simply a matter of what people decide to
do, instead accepting the initially strange notion that society guides our
thoughts and deeds (structure)
- Seeing personal choice in social context: human behavior is not as
individualistic as we may think (agency)
Benefits
- Challenging the familiar understandings of ourselves and others: critically
assessing the truth of commonly held assumptions, challenging the ‘taken for
granted’
- Assessing the opportunities and constraints in our lives: what we are likely
and unlikely to accomplish for ourselves and how we can pursue our goals
most effectively
- Empowers us to be active participants in society; the greater our
understanding of the operation of society, the more we can take an active part
in shaping social life, not behaving according to the patterns
- Recognize human and cultural differences: think critically about the relative
strengths and weaknesses of all ways of life, including our own (no
ethnocentric bias)
Problems
- Changing world: findings may be proven wrong when situations and
circumstances change
- Sociologists are part of what they study: harder to distance ourselves from
world, bias
- Sociological knowledge influences society: recursive
,Origins and development of sociology
Three stages of historical development in our understanding of the world:
1. Theological stage (medieval): God’s will, thoughts guided by religion
2. Metaphysical stage (renaissance): society as a natural phenomenon
3. Scientific stage: positivism: understanding the world based on science,
society conforms to invariable laws (Auguste Comte, 1838): coined the term
sociology
18th + 19th century: industrial revolution, striking transformations in Europe:
- Rise of a factory-based economy, growth of modern capitalism
- Explosive growth of cities
- Political change: individual liberty and rights, democracy
- Gemeinschaft to Gesellschaft [Toennies]: Loss of gemeinschaft/human
community, rootless and impersonal societies (due to individualism)
,Chapter 2. Thinking sociologically, thinking globally
Theory: a statement of how and why specific facts are related
- Sociological Theory: to explain social behavior in the real world, a basic
image of society that guides thinking and research, serves as a roadmap
Classical theological perspectives of sociology
Functionalism [Robert K. Merton]: framework for building theory that sees society as
a complex system whose parts work together – often to promote solidarity and
stability (keep society going, the way it is
- Macro level orientation: a focus on broad social structures that characterize/
shape society as a whole
- Structural functionalist: organizes sociological observations by identifying
various structures of society and investigating the function of each one;
everything we do is because it is functional
Social structure: relatively stable patterns of social behavior
Social functions: the consequences of a social pattern for the operation of
society as a whole
Manifest functions: recognized and intended consequences
Latent functions: largely unrecognized and unintended (hidden) cons.
Social dysfunctions: any social pattern’s undesirable consequences
for the operation of society
Vision of society as a whole being comprehensible, orderly and stable, but
social patterns vary
Conservative: focus on stability at the expense of conflict and change
Conflict perspective [Karl Marx]: a framework for building theory that sees society
as an arena of differences and inequalities that generate conflict and change
- Macro-level orientation: understand society and change it
- How factors like social class, race, ethnicity, gender, disability, age are linked
to unequal distribution of money, power, education and social prestige
- Used to look at ongoing conflict between dominant and disadvantaged
categories of people
Glosses over how shared values or interdependence generate unity among
members of a society
No scientific objectivity
, Social action [Max Weber]: how human meanings and action shape society, society
is the way it is because we made it that way
- Micro level orientation: close up focus on the emerging meanings of social
interaction in specific situations
- Symbolic interactionism (Gottman): theoretical framework that envisages
society as the product of the everyday interactions of people doing things
together, for building theory that sees society as the product of the everyday
interactions of individuals (e.g. performing a waitress job)
- Society is the reality people construct for themselves as they interact with one
another; through the human process of finding meaning in our surroundings,
we define our identities, bodies and feelings, and come to ‘socially construct’
the world around us
- Mosaic of subjective meanings and variable responses
Highlighting what is unique in each social scene risks overlooking the
widespread effects of our culture
Contemporary perspectives in sociology:
Postmodernism: recognition of different perspectives, points of view, cultures or
standpoints
Global perspective: the study of the larger world and each society’s place in it
- Our place in society profoundly affects our life experiences
- Benefits:
Globalization: the increasing interconnectedness of societies; economic,
cultural, technology, hybridization: stimulates international markets and
wealth
Perspective on human and societal problems: many human problems we
face in Europe are far more serious elsewhere
Learning more about ourselves
Key features:
- Shifts borders of economic transactions
- Expands communications in global networks (e.g. internet, telephones)
- Fosters a new global culture
- Develops forms of international governance (e.g. UN)
- Awareness of shared world problems
- Fosters growing sense of risk (e.g. AIDS)
- Networks of transnational global actors
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