Post on 14-Dec-2015
According to Allan Johnson, what does sociological practice offer?
What does Johnson say we must do before we can eliminate the unnecessary suffering in the world?
BELL WORK/NOTES – EXAMINING SOCIAL LIFE – 1/21/14This is your header! You should write it at the top of the page
CAN YOU DEFINE…. Psychology?
The study of behavior and mental processes History?
The study of past events in human societies Economics?
The study of productions, distribution & consumption of goods and services
Anthropology? The comparative study of past and present culture
Sociology? The study of human social behavior from a group
perspective
NOTES – EXAMINING SOCIAL LIFE – 1/30/14
HOW DO YOU THINK SOCIOLOGICALLY?
You have to ask the right questions, sociologists are concerned with a variety of things, some examples? Race gender, Socioeconomic status (how much $$$ someone
makes) Age Occupation Political Preference Etc…
NOTES – EXAMINING SOCIAL LIFE – 1/30/14
WEEKEND ACTIVITY – DOING SOCIOLOGY – Over the weekend, your task is to
practice some sociology. You are to go to a public place and
simply observe & take notes for at least an hour
Take notes on the people you see Are they alone or with other people? Describe their behavior/how they are
communicating with others Take note on sources of mass media,
clothing, music etc.. BE SURE TO RECORD THE TIME OF EACH
OBSERVATION
SET UP YOUR NOTEBOOK Location:______________ Time Observations
Summary of observations – 1 paragraph
WEEKEND ACTIVITY – DOING SOCIOLOGY –
THINGS TO TAKE NOTE OF WHILE OBSERVING
Different groups of or individual people Clothing, the way people carry themselves in
public Sources of mass media, music Race, gender, ethnicity, socioeconomic
status, age, occupation Activities people are engaged in Topics of conversation
QUESTIONS TO ASK YOURSELF FOLLOWING YOUR OBSERVATIONS
(1) What is the structure of this particular society as a whole? What are its essential components, and how are they related to one another? How does it differ from other varieties of social order? Within it, what is the meaning of any particular feature for its continuance and for its change?
(2) Where does this society stand in human history? What are the mechanics by which it is changing? What is its place within and its meaning for the development of humanity as a whole? How does any particular feature we are examining affect, and how is it affected by, the historical period in which it moves? And this period - what are its essential features? How does it differ from other periods? What are its characteristic ways of history-making?
(3) What varieties of men and women now prevail in this society and in this period? And what varieties are coming to prevail? In what ways are they selected and formed, liberated and repressed, made sensitive and blunted? What kinds of `human nature' are revealed in the conduct and character we observe in this society in this period? And what is the meaning for 'human nature' of each and every feature of the society we are examining?
Once you’ve reflected on your observations, write at least a paragraph and be prepared to share it with the class on Monday.
NOTES – THE DEVELOPMENT OF SOCIOLOGY – 1/31/14 Sociology as an academic discipline began in the
1800s What was going on in the 1800s that could have led to
the development of sociology? Why sociology is a subject:
1. The industrial revolution Rapid growth of urban populations leads to many social
problems 2. American & French Revolutions
People could no longer question the effect of society on the individual
3. The Enlightenment/Renaissance Rejection of religious explanations & adoption of the
scientific method
EARLY EUROPEAN SOCIOLOGISTS
Auguste Comte 1798-1857) Sort of looks like Hannibal
LecterConsidered the father of
sociologyLived through the French
RevolutionFocused on two areas
Social order & Social change
Also coined the term “Sociology”
HARRIET MARTINEAU 1802-1876
British author Wrote Society in America
in 1837Looked at marriage. The
family, race relations, education and religion
Basically established the focus of sociological study
Argued that scholars should advocate change for the problems they studied
Spoke in favor of women’s rights, religious tolerance & abolition of slavery
HERBERT SPENCER 1820-1903 Thought of society as an
organism w/ a set of interdependent parts that worked to maintain the system over time
STRONGLY influenced by Charles Darwin
Came up with Social Darwinism – coined the term “survival of the fittest”
KARL MARX 1818-1883 Father of Socialism Divided society into two
parts The bourgeoisie (boozh-
wah-ZEE) They own the means of
production & the Proletariat or
workers Believed that the
majority of social issues were an outcome of the conflict between these two groups
EMILE DURKHEIM 1858-1917 Like Comte, Durkheim was
concerned with social order Like Spencer, he saw society
as a set of interdependent parts that served different functions
Particularly interested in religion – he believed that shared beliefs were the glue that held society together
Wrote one of the 1st true sociological studies – Suicide
MAX WEBER 1864-1920
Interested in separate groups within society rather than society as a whole
Thought that sociologists should go beyond observable facts and work to uncover peoples feelings and thoughts by using the principle of VERSTEHEN (fer-SHTAY-en)
Verstehen involves an attempt to understand the meanings individuals attach to their actions
BELL WORK & NOTES MODERN PERSPECTIVES – 2/3/14
What is VERSTEHEN & how does it apply to what you guys did over the weekend?
Once you’ve answered the question, go over your observations & be prepared to share what you saw with the class
Take 5 minutes to answer these questions in your notebook 1. What do you see in this picture? 2. How does this picture tell you about the society
that these individuals are a part of? 3. What types of questions do you think sociologists
would ask upon seeing a picture like this?
What sociologists see: An orderly world where all involved are fulfilling a role. The young people are
preforming their role- that of a student & the school is performing its task of preparing students to be productive citizens in society
Others would see a setting where there is competition for resources, they would be curious about the power relationships involved in this picture and how those relationships affected the distribution of resources
Still others would see a setting made up of small groups. They would have to know how relationships among these groups affect what foes on in school
NOTES MODERN PERSPECTIVES – 2/3/14
Major Theoretical Perspectives Sociologists develop theories or explanations of
relationships among particular phenomena to better understand the world
There are 3 major Theoretical Perspectives, or schools of thought in sociology
Each one is a lens that presents a slightly different image of society or focuses on different aspects
FUNCTIONALIST PERSPECTIVE Society is a set of interrelated parts that
work together to produce a social system.
Primarily focuses on the functions of things like, family, religion, education and economy
To functionalists society is best compared to the human body – a variety of systems work together to ensure the bodies survival
FUNCTIONALIST PERSPECTIVE Realizing that not everything
element of society is functional functionalists are also concerned with Dysfunction or the negative
consequence an element has for the stability of society
Functions can be either positive or negative, they can also either be a Manifest function – the
intended and recognized consequence of some element in society
Or Latent function – unintended
or unrecognized consequence of an element of society
BELL WORK & CONTINUED PERSPECTIVE NOTES – 2/4/14
Identify something in your life (other than school or a car) that you interact with on a daily basis and describe its manifest & latent functions
Identify and describe the two groups the conflict perspective primarily concerned with
CONFLICT PERSPECTIVE Focuses on the forces in society
that promote competition and change
Particularly interested in the family, racial groups, gender & the relationship between the workers and employers
The basis of social conflict is the competition over scarce resources
When a group obtains those resources they generally protect them through laws, social programs or violence
Examples?
SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONIST PERSPECTIVE Focus on small groups and how
individuals interact with one another in society
Interested in the ways individuals respond to one another in everyday situations
Interested also in the symbols (a symbol is anything that represents anything else) that play a part in our daily lives
3 basic parts of symbolic interactionism Meaning Language Thought
LEVELS OF ANALYSIS
Microsociology- small group settings and the everyday face to face interactions
Macrosociology – study of large scale systems or society as a whole
Globalization – the development of economic political sand social relationships that stretch world wide
PERSPECTIVES PRACTICE
Use your notes, your neighbor and a book if necessary, to complete the sociological perspectives worksheet.
NOTE BOOK CHECKSTHE FOLLOWING SHOULD BE IN YOUR NOTEBOOK FOR TOMORROW
Bell Work/Notes – Examining Social Life – 1/30/14
Weekend Activity – DOING Sociology – Notes – The development of Sociology –
1/31/14 Bell Work & Notes MODERN PERSPECTIVES –
2/3/14 Bell Work & continued Perspective notes –
2/4/14 Homework – Research Methods
SOCIOLOGICAL EXPERIMENTS
Objectives:
I can describe the process of Sociological research and the scientific method
I can Apply the different types of Sociological research
BELL WORK Write down the steps of the scientific method!!
Can you think of a time when you have used the scientific method in your life? Discuss with a partner on a possible scenario where you have and report back to the class
- Debating what movie to see or where to eat - Figuring out how to act on dates “If I open the door for her and listen to her
stories, then the I will get another date” - If your TV gets fuzzy or Xbox won’t work, you
experiment with different knobs and buttons until it does!
Ask a Question
Background Research
Hypothesis
Test Hypothesi
s
Analyze
Data
Draw Conclusion
SINCE THE FIRST STEP TO RESEARCH IS TO ASK A QUESTION….
Brainstorm 4 questions you have about human behavior/ social interaction!
For Example: Mr. K wonders why the same students seem to be consistently late to class
NATURALISTIC OBSERVATION
A study method that involves covertly or overtly watching subjects' behaviors in their natural environment, without intervention
SURVEYS
Research method in which information is obtained by asking many individuals a fixed set of questions
LONGITUDINAL STUDIES
Method of research where data is collected about a group of participants over a number of years to asses how characteristics change or remain the same during development
CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY
Method of research in which data is collected from groups of participants of different ages and compared so that conclusions can be drawn about differences due to age
STATISTICAL ANALYSIS/ CORRELATIONAL STUDIES
The measure of a relationship between two variables or sets of data
How does time spent studying psychology correlate to a students’ final grade?
Time Spent Studying
Time Spent Brushing Teeth
Final G
rade in S
oci
olo
gy
Final G
rade in S
oci
olo
gy
Final G
rade in S
oci
olo
gy
Days Absent
EXPERIMENTS
Allow the researcher to control the situation and reduce the influence of outside influence
Hypothesis-educated guess about the relationship of 2 variables
Variable- any factor capable of change Experimental group-the group to which an
independent variable is applied Control group- the group that is treated the
same way as the experimental group except that the independent variable is not applied
ACTIVITY
With the person next to you try to match your 8 questions (4 each) about human behavior to the method of study that would be most effective. Once you’ve matched them, talk to Mr. K and come to write your questions on the different pieces of paper around the room
WHICH PERSPECTIVE DOES THE FOLLOWING DESCRIPTION, TOPICS, INDIVIDUALS OR TERMS APPLY TO?
Weber Interactionism
When a group attains power over another group, they will make laws and ruels to protect their position of power Conflict
Family, automobiles, education, crime Functionalism
Dating/marriage tradition, development of children, group relationships Interactionism
Interested in those who have power and those who do not conflict
This theorist was interested in groups and individuals within society and how they interacted with one another Weber
This theorist was interested in how different parts of society work together to create agreement Durkheim
This theorist believed society was created by competition for power and control of resources Marx
He was also interested in the jobs different groups performed and if the groups were functioning correctly Durkhiem
This theorist studied why thins in society stay the same and or change Comte
Marx stated that these people own nothing and work for those who own businesses Proletariat
the main or intended function of something Manifest function
The unintended function of something Latent function
How was Frankie's incident used by the Cuban American group as a way to gain attention Interactionism
How did the different people in the government work together to make the decision to send Frankie back to Cuba Functionalism
How did the newspapers, television etc. use frankies story to make more profit and communicate their political views Interactionism
How does a family with divorced parents like Frankie’s family influence society functionalism
BELL WORK – 2/12/14 – LUNCH TABLE ANALYSIS
Take out your completed notes from when you observed and analyzed your lunch table.
Write a paragraph summary of what you observed
I’m going to be walking around to check in your chapter 1 review, once you finish your paragraph discuss with a neighbor what you noticed at your lunch table