1 copyright © 2004 by nelson, a division of thomson canada limited. chapter 1introducing sociology...

Copyright © 2004 by Nelson, a division of Thomson Canada Limited. 1

Chapter 1Chapter 1 Introducing SociologyIntroducing Sociologyby Robert Brymby Robert Brym


SOCIOLOGYSOCIOLOGY

• Sociology is the study of the powerful social forces that influence social relations and personal lives.

• Sociology emerged at the time of the Industrial Revolution, an era of massive social transformation accompanied by new social problems.


THE ENLIGHTENING THE ENLIGHTENING PERSPECTIVE OF SOCIOLOGYPERSPECTIVE OF SOCIOLOGY

• Durkheim’s analysis of the relationship between suicide rates and social relations at the end of the nineteenth century is a classic and still highly informative example of the sociological perspective at work.


DURKHEIM’S FINDINGSDURKHEIM’S FINDINGS

• Some categories of people (men, Christians, the unmarried) have higher rates of suicide than others (women, Jews, the married).

• Why? Because people who are weakly integrated into social groups are more likely to take their own lives.


DURKHEIM’S U-CURVE (I)DURKHEIM’S U-CURVE (I)


• As the level of social solidarity increases, the suicide rate declines. Then, beyond a certain point, it begins to rise again.

• At one extreme, anomic suicide occurs in very low solidarity settings.

• At the other extreme, altruistic suicide occurs in very high solidarity contexts, where norms tightly govern behaviour.

DURKHEIM’S U-CURVE (II)DURKHEIM’S U-CURVE (II)


Social forces exist as a distinct level of reality:

• They are external to individuals.

• They constrain individual behaviour.

IMPLICATIONS OF IMPLICATIONS OF DURKHEIM’S ANALYSIS OF DURKHEIM’S ANALYSIS OF SUICIDESUICIDE


SUICIDE IN CANADA TODAYSUICIDE IN CANADA TODAY

• Youth suicide, rare in Durkheim’s time, has risen since the 1960s in Canada.

• Suicide rates for men remain considerably higher than those for women.


SUICIDE BY AGE AND SEXSUICIDE BY AGE AND SEX

Insert Figure 1.2, p. 7


SOCIAL STRUCTURES ISOCIAL STRUCTURES I

• Social structures are relatively stable patterns of social relations.

• The three social structures are:– Microstructures– Macrostructures– Global structures


SOCIAL STRUCTURES IISOCIAL STRUCTURES II

• Microstructures are patterns of intimate social relations formed during face-to-face interaction (e.g., families, friendship circles).

• Macrostructures are overarching patterns of social relations (e.g., class relations, bureaucratic organizations).


SOCIAL STRUCTURES IIISOCIAL STRUCTURES III

• Global structures are social structures that lie outside and above the national level (e.g., the United Nations, the European Union, free trade areas such as the NAFTA region).


FOREIGN AID, DEBT, AND FOREIGN AID, DEBT, AND INTEREST PAYMENTS, INTEREST PAYMENTS, DEVELOPING COUNTRIESDEVELOPING COUNTRIES


THREE REVOLUTIONS LED THREE REVOLUTIONS LED TO THE SOCIOLOGICAL TO THE SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVEPERSPECTIVE

• The Scientific Revolution (circa 1550) encouraged the view that conclusions about society must be based on evidence.

• The Democratic Revolution (circa 1750) suggested that people create society and human intervention can therefore solve social problems.

• The Industrial Revolution (circa 1780) created a host of social problems that attracted the attention of social thinkers.


COMPONENTS OF THE COMPONENTS OF THE SOCIOLOGICAL SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVEPERSPECTIVE

• The sociological imagination shows the connection between personal troubles and public issues.

• Values are ideas about right and wrong.

• Research is the process of systematically observing reality to “test” theories.

• Theories are tentative explanations of aspects of social life.


SOCIOLOGY’S FOUR MAIN SOCIOLOGY’S FOUR MAIN THEORETICAL TRADITIONSTHEORETICAL TRADITIONS• functionalism

• conflict theory

• symbolic interactionism

• feminism


FOUR THEORETICAL FOUR THEORETICAL TRADITIONS IN SOCIOLOGYTRADITIONS IN SOCIOLOGY


POSTINDUSTRIALISMPOSTINDUSTRIALISM

• Postindustrialism is the technology-driven shift from manufacturing to service industries and the consequences of that shift for all of society.


MAIN SOCIOLOGICAL MAIN SOCIOLOGICAL ISSUES IN THE ISSUES IN THE POSTINDUSTRIAL ERAPOSTINDUSTRIAL ERA

• autonomy versus constraint

• prosperity versus inequality

• diversity versus uniformity


SUPPLEMENTARY SLIDES


SUICIDE, CANADA, BY AGE SUICIDE, CANADA, BY AGE COHORT, 1981-97COHORT, 1981-97

0

5

10

15

20

25

1-14yrs

15-19yrs

20-24yrs

25-44yrs

45-64yrs

65+yrs

1981

1991

1997

Source: “Suicides, and suicide rate, by sex, by age group.” On the World Wide Web at http://www.statcan.ca/english/Pgdb/health01.htm (15 November 2003).

The text argues that youth suicide has increased in Canada since the 1960s. Is that increase evident in the period 1981-97? Why or why not?


The European View of the The European View of the World, Circa 1600World, Circa 1600

1 copyright © 2004 by nelson, a division of thomson canada limited. chapter 1introducing sociology...

Documents

social structures

social groups

canada today youth suicide

powerful social forces

suicide rates

new social problems

anomic suicide

altruistic suicide