Sociology
1. Sociology: the science of (lesson 1)
- social bahavior
- social life (between people)
- social living
- social interaction
- social human conditions
- relationships and connections
2. Starts with a social problem
SP = migration, unemployment, racism
-> but when do they become a problem for the society
-> ex. back in the days, more people died from a car accident than drugs
- Something objectively wrong in social life or societal living
Poverty, trafficking, exclusion, road rage
-> you can see it happen
- Subjective component: fact ≠ problem
• Illiteracy (who cannot read or write), female subordinacy (not allowed to vote, drive cars)
-> for a really long time that wasn’t a social problem, you didn’t have to write to be a part of the society
- Scope and nature of group perception
Drug use vs. drug prohibition
- Not imposed
-> politics are not the ones who can say, this is a problem
-> It needs to be feeled by the society that there is a problem.
- Sociologist as fellow player
-> you are in it, complex
social imagination
Personal difficulties as a private matter
-> you have a problem; you go talk to people
-> first you think this is only happening to me
We need to look broader.
- Structure of and relations in society
- historical position and change of society.
- human nature in society
-> you try to transcend the individual problems to social matters (issues)
-> creating a general concern
,Example:
- taking antidepressants
-> very personal, traumatic experience
-> take a step back and look broader, there are increasing numbers of people
-> there is something happing with the entire society
-> burn-out generation (you are fighting the symptoms, not the cause )
-> activates politics, law makers -> to debate, to fight for rights
3. The late emergence of sociology as a science
1. Astronomy -> far away
2. Physics -> a lot closer to home, but not living nature
3. Biology -> living organisms, a lot closer to humanity
4. Sociology -> 18th – 19th century
-> Why did it take so long
- Natural distance is lacking
- Sociology disenchants and provokes resistance
- Sociological consciousness is stimulated by crisis (cfr. social problem)
Natural distance is lacking
We are a part of the society, it is within us
-> it all seems so naturally (how we react, how we speak)
Issue: you need to step out of the society to observe yet, you must be a part of it to study it
Sociology = gaining observative knowledge that allows you to go both broader and deeper
-> sociology is within us because society is within us
example: clip -> if you are too focused on one thing, you will miss out on the resr
sociology disenchants and provokes resistance
1. objective approach to humanity reveals the truth and ugliness
-> Show where things go wrong, where the problems are
example: #metoo, white privilege
-> often people don’t see the problem at first, but they are being exposed to a
problem, because they’re also a part of the system
example clip: stepping out of your own culture, to observe and look at the problems
2. Powerful and elite
, - sociology as subversive -> need for democratic society
you need democratic because you need to be able to say what you think
subversive -> turn it around, the elite ur at the bottom, mean are at the bottom -> feminism
The sociological consciousness is stimulated by crisis
Always have, and always will
-> Europe in 18th – 19th century: major social changes revealed.
problematic social reality
Still ongoing: technological flight, production levels, liberal democracies, media, globalization, ...
-> someone is working on something that will change everything like holograms
lot of change happening, and we don’t know how they will affect our future
-> already problems now from the technology
-> bv, globilatizon, media, a lot of changing is happening -> a lot to talk about and
consider from a point of view
their first needs something to happen before they see a problem.
4. The great Transformation
First:
- stayed at one point
- claimed a spot of land, then another person also claims a spot of land
-> settled
-> city’s grow, states grow
Arising of an complex division of labor, governance, legal rules
- transition crises where accompanied by myths and religions
-> when their where changes -> their anchor became their faith
-> give them a safe heaven
-> explaining what transitions, you are going too
Early evidence
Confucius (500 B. C.)
- ‘do not do unto others what you do not want done to yourself’
, - lived in turbulent times -> chines society (poverty)
- equality and competent leadership
-> how can you make a stable system
-> competent leadership
-> thrue education, not only for the elite but for everyone (equity)
- return to societal stability through family, morality, respect and actions
Ibn Khaldun (1332-1406)
- universal theory of societal structures
• Cyclical pattern of build, peak, decline and fall
-> is a cyclical pattern: if we are all equal to each other -> than their will
arise solidarity -> all work together – that’s how you build a bigger social environment -> can build
a bigger empire -> equity start to arise.
- importance of social cohesion pr solidarity: nomadic tribes (move areas) > sedentary societies (stay at one
place)
- Division of labor: more than sum of parts
4.1. European turning point: French revolution (1789-1794)
- Political modernization and democratization
-> people from the bottom came too the top and vise verse
- Revolutionary innovation:“liberty,equality,fraternity”
Constituent assembly
Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (1789)
Abolition of feudalism
Expropriation of church property
Death penalty for the king
free and equal
4.2. British industrial revolution (18th-19th century)
- Technological innovation
- Starting point: textile industry
Water-> steam power was invented -> using it to activate machines
-> relay important -> changed everything, hygiene, electricity, the fabrics
could be in the city -> people could live in the neighborhood
- Artisanal craft work -> exchangeable factory work
-> people who made shoes, clothes owned the process -> craft work
-> in factory’s -> made people more extendible -> you al did a small task in the chain -> could specialize ->
easier to find those people
- Social problem: coexistence of social classes?