Sociology Lecture 1
Sociology
Investigates society in a systematic way
Investigates human patterns of thinking feeling and social action - not focused on the individual but
based on how people interact with each other and how this has influence on what people are doing
Looks at how can see the general in the special
1. Debunking: • Not everything we think is always true… • Understanding • Better understaning of
the circumstances we live in (and why) • Empowering • Shows disadvantages for some groups, Which
can mobilize them… • Recognition / Acknowledgement• Everything changes always • Sociologists are
also people • Distance is difficult • Sociology becomes part of societal discourses
Sociology:
Science of society
A science
B social/societal problems
Social problems vs personal troubles: 3 people lose their jobs in a city of 100000 people social problem
when a lot of people lose their jobs because then also no money for supermarkets etc
Social problems: delinquency, terrorism, migration, self-enrichment (bonus ceo), poverty, divorce,
extreme-right, left, secularization, school dropout, differences in health, bureaucracy, urban decay,
individualization, ethnic integration
Social problems: 6 criteria (Schuyt)
• 1.Problem involves many people
• 2.‘private troubles’- everybody experiences it themselves
• 3.Accumulation of problems - unemployment leads ton decrease in social contact less
money to travel to go to bars
• 4.Not temporary/ persistent
• 5.Systematic causes - laws and policies
• 6.Fundamental values threatened
Dog poo: social problem
Involves many people
Private troubles -stepping in poo can happen to everyone
Accumulation of problems - more pollution easier
Persistent
Systematic causes- yes has to deal with how we deal with dogs and what we allow and not allow
Values threatened- yes a lot of people don't like to live in such an are area
Losing WC: no social problem
Involves many people
Private troubles - lot of Dutch people don’t like it
Accumulation of problems - no maybe less sale of t shirts but no
Persistent
Systematic causes - debatable soccer practice
Values threatened- no
,Social problems and sociological problems
Social problems is something that is not liked by a lot of people - logical problems and objective
Sociological problems is a challenge for scientists to investigate the problem in an academic way - social
problems issue of valuation/ it is bad that people, issue of action/ something should be done.
Scientific question about social problems = sociological problems - what is the cause of the problem how
does it works and why is it a problem
What-questions
Not
• in what way can we rule out delinquency
• Normative
But
• what is going on
• Who are committing more crimes than others
• Facts
Why- questions
• why
• Why do lower educated people commit more crimes than higher educated people
Micro
• family
• Friends
Meso
1. office
2. University
Macro
1. government
2. Country
Difference between sociology and psychology
1. •psy states problem mostly at individual level
2. •Soc states problem mostly at societal
Type of explanation
• •psy gives individual explanation (psyche)
• •Soc gives social explanation
Psy for example say that psych disorder gives a higher chance of murder
Soc says for example that people who are not socially embedded have a higher chance of murdering
people because that can create a psych disorder.
Scientific approach P-T-O
Problem -> why?
Theory -> maybe because
Observation -> is the explanation true
,P1 why- question
-why do men have higher income than women
T1 maybe because
• •because men are higher educated than women, and a higher education level is
associated with a higher income ( human capital theory)
O1 is it true
• •40% of difference in income is due to difference in educational level
• •But: even with a similar education men have a higher income
• •T is partly true, but not sufficient
Observation raises a new question
P2 why
• •why do women with the same educational level as men, still have lower income
T2 maybe because
O2 is t2 true
Observation 2 can lead to a new question
This is called the empirical cycle pto-pto
There also is a po-pto: this is an example of asking a what question
P1: what is the change in crime in Netherlands between 2000-2015
O1: decrease
P2: why a decrease
T2: because of wealth
O2: T2 not true. In prosperous countries sometimes higher crime rates (USA)
P3 why?
Key questions of sociology:
1. 1.Social inequality: to what extent are scarce recourses unequally distributed - land
poverty status power
2. 2.Social cohesion: to what extent do members of society live peacefully together? - order
3. 3.Rationalization (or culture): to what extent is a society rationalized? - idea is that our
society is more and more rational organized
1. 1.Karl Marx (1818-1883)
2. 2.Emile Durkheim (1858-1917)
3. 3.Max Weber (1863-1921)
1. 1.Poverty, self enrichment, differences in health, school dropout, ethnic integration - are
they inequality treated
2. 2.Individualisation, delinquency, divorce, ethnic integration - in what way are they
embedded in society, urban decay, extreme right.
3. 3.Individualisation, bureaucracy, secularisation.
These questions are overarching questions: leads to new questions.
, Sociology lecture 2 explicit/ added information:
In times past questions as to the what and the why of the empirical world were often answered by
myths; and to some extent, this is so even in our time. But gradually, the myths are displaced by the
concepts, hypotheses, and theories developed in the various branches of empirical science,
including the natural sciences, psychology, and sociological as well as historical inquiry.
Myth- redbull gives you more energy
Truth- causes obesity and insomnia
Ground rules P
Structured questions
Not- why do men earn money
But- why do mean earn more money than women
Comparison - people/time
Not- why do people in Tilburg earn less money
But- why do people in Tilburg earn less money than people from other parts in society
Precise and unambiguous
Not - what is the issue about money of men and women
But- to what extent do men earn more money than women
Not- what is going on with delinquency in the Netherlands
But- what percentage of the Dutch population that committed a violent offense in 2019 (even more
precise what crime)
True questions
With regards to asking good questions, if you want to ask a question about why men hit their wives
more than wives hit their man, you have to know if this is actually the case. Instead, you ask: what
(question) is the proportion of husbands hitting their wives, and what is the proportion of wives hitting
their husbands? Here you can observe (O) who hit who more and then ask the why question
Specific order of asking questions:
Descriptive: what is going on - to what extent do men earn more money than women?
(Comparative: what is going on compared to) - to what extent has this gap changed over time?/ is
this gap different than he gap in Belgium?)
Explanatory: why is this going on - why do mean earn more money than women - coming up with a
theory from literature (human capital theory)
(Test question: is it going on because of) is this truly because of higher educational levels) so to
check whether your answer to the question is right?)
Application question: does this policy lead to this outcome? To a desired outcome. Does a reduction
in the educational gap between men and women lead to a decrease in the gender income gap?
A. outcome:
Desired solution in studied phenomenon
Phenomenon: income gap men-women
Desired solution: diminishing income gap men-women
Then applying a policy of women more studying
Deduction and induction
