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Summary Introduction to Sociology Book
Summary of 13 chapters from Introduction to Sociology by Frank van Tubergen. Complete summary in English.
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Introduction to sociologyFrank van Tubergen
Chapter 1
Social phenomena are things that happen in society, when something is perceived problematic, it becomes a
social problem. Check the theory and criteria from Schuyt.
1.1 Sociological perspective
Individual perspective focuses on explanation of human behavior from individual causes, the sociological
perspective on the other hand (social imagination) is the explanation of human behavior focusing on the social
causes/looking at the social context (environment in which people are embedded). The social perspective
examines social phenomena aim to understand is how human behavior typically results from shared contextual
conditions and how this gives rise to collective outcomes.
Individual perspective: individual characteristics (e.g., personality, genes)
Sociological perspective: collective behavior and social context/social causes (e.g., country, family)
How do these two perspectives relate to one another? Supplemental perspectives, together they make a more
comprehensive explanation of human behavior. Concluding, both are needed. Alternative perspectives on the
other hand, argues that e.g., individual perspective does not matter at all, or the other way around.
Another relation between the two perspectives are proximal and ultimate causes. Proximal causes are seen as
individual causes of human behavior, not ultimate. Proximate causes can be found close to the phenomena, and
the ultimate causes are to be found deeper, also called distal causes.
The differences in social contexts have to do with the scale or level of the context. The micro level is the level at
which the individual operates, meso level is intermediate, e.g., schools, families etc. The last level is macro, this
is the highest level that individuals share, such as countries or groups of countries.
Durkheim’s study: suicide (1897)
Before 19th century, suicide was only seen as immoral act, nothing else. After 19 th century this changed,
suicide became a large topic in scientific research. However, mostly only explained by individual
perspectives (e.g., mental disorders, alcoholism). Durkheim used this data for his research challenging the
individual perspective. After this he shows that contextual conditions greatly affect suicide. Big influence on
outlining the sociological perspective on human behavior.
1.2 Social problems
A social problem is also named a public issue and includes going beyond the individual (affects many people)
and an issue with many people concerned (in conflict with certain values). When the problem is generally
regarded as a problem since people think it is undesirable and conflicts values, it is recognized as a social
problem instead of personal trouble, when the problem is related to the personal life of the individual. However,
social problems fluctuate over time and differ across societies and countries, same applies for what people
consider desirable. What is a social problem in one country might not be a social problem is another? What is
considered a social problem depends on people their values.
1.3 Three aims of sociology
The role of sociologists is to come up with accurate scientific descriptions and theoretical explanations for social
phenomena, and to apply their knowledge.
Social problems describeexplainapplysolve social problems.
Sociologist’s approach social problems scientifically, as social phenomena. Understanding social phenomena
thereby contributes to understanding and solving social problems.
Describe: coming up with descriptions of social phenomena.
Explain: causes of the descriptions.
Apply: sociological work can be valuable to predict, what is likely to happen. Another way to apply is by
developing and evaluating social interventions (social policy measure). Sociological work carried out in view of
, current social problems existing in society it is called societal relevance (relevance of sociological work for the
understanding of social problems). Social problems often have multiple causes, also non-social factors.
1.4 Three types of sociological questions
Sociological studies start with questions; however, scientific questions need to be differentiated from normative
questions. Social problems are typically framed as normative questions (questions that entail value judgement).
In sociological studies, these normative questions are set aside. Normative questions are focused on what one
should do, what people consider bad or good, their values and beliefs. It is important to differentiate the
normative aspects of questions from the scientific part, this allows you to ask scientific questions (question that
does not entail value judgements).
Three types of scientific questions:
- Descriptive Qd, concerned with describing social phenomena (how much, how many, what is
happening? observe)
- Theoretical Qt, explanatory questions, why is this happening? Targeted at understanding the
phenomena. Answers are theories, therefore the symbol T, from which can derive hypotheses and
testing (test questions).
- Application Qa, when sociologists apply their knowledge, targeted towards predictions or social
interventions. Answers to the questions are interventions or predictions.
1.5 The art of asking good sociological questions
Two guidelines for good questions are precision and relevance. Going wrong with vague formulation and
multiple interpretations. The art is to such ill-defined questions (vague and ambiguous) into precise questions
(clear interpretation). Four ingredients for a precise question: 1. The human behavior you are interested in, 2.
Social context, 3. Period, 4. Population. The other guideline is relevance. Sociological studies are motivated by
the existence of social problems, however, sometimes also be conducted in the view of scientific relevance
(relevance of sociological work for the accumulation of sociological knowledge). This knowledge deriving from
the scientific relevance studies could eventually contribute to understanding social problems, but this is not the
primary motivation. The two different motivations can be differentiated into scientific knowledge B (k) and
social problems B (sp).
Before studying a phenomenon, you want to make sure you have the background information on the phenomena
to prevent irrelevant questions. Therefore, it is highly recommended that you do a literature review (systematic
overview of theories and observations that are known typically in a certain specialized field of research). If you
make a false assumption in your question, we call it a false theoretical question (which aims to explain
something that does not exist). To avoid, make sure the descriptions of phenomena are correct, only then move
on to explaining the social facts. Some questions might be precise but not relevant, only focusing on one country,
year, and population. More interesting is to make a comparison in your question: comparative-case questions
(include some comparison of cases, such as multiple social contexts, multiple moments in time and/or multiple
populations). This is more interesting because they are more aligned with the sociological perspective.
Sociologists research how social contexts change over time to discover societal trends.
1.6 Sociology and common sense
Sociology started roughly around 1900, more than 100 years faced an enormous growth of scientific
observations and explanations. Some people might argue sociology is common sense (everyday thinking,
intuitions, beliefs, and perceptions). The experiment to show that sociology is not that obvious was introduced
by American sociologists Paul Lazarsfeld in 1949. In his book why everything is obvious- once you know the
facts the sociologist Duncan Watts argues that common sense helps with practical issues we encounter daily, and
that common sense is often wrong when it comes to understanding social phenomena.
Learning from the experiment is the difference of private sociologists (we all are because we engage in social
life and develop own private beliefs about social phenomena, the way human beings in daily life, make sense of
social world) and academic sociologists (in which knowledge becomes public “objectively”, academic sociology
is the way academic institutions describe and explain the social world).
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