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Chapter 1
The Sociological
Perspective
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What Is Sociology?
• Systematic– Scientific discipline; patterns of behavior
• Human society– Group behavior is primary focus; how groups
influence individuals and vice versa
• At the “heart of sociology”– Sociological perspective; unique societal view
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Why Take Sociology?
• Education and liberal arts– Well-rounded as a person– Social expectations
• More appreciation for diversity– The global village
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Why Take Sociology?
– Domestic social marginality
• Enhanced life chances– Micro and macro understanding– Increase social potentials
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Benefits of the Sociological Perspective
• Helps us assess the truth of common sense
• Helps us assess both opportunities and constraints in our lives
• Empowers us to be active participants in our society
• Helps us live in a diverse world
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Importance of Global Perspective
• Where we live makes a great difference in shaping our lives
• Societies are increasingly interconnected through technology and economics
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Importance of Global Perspective
• Many problems that we face in the United States are more serious elsewhere
• Thinking globally is a good way to learn more about ourselves
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The Sociological Perspective Peter Berger
• Seeing the general in the particular– Sociologists identify general social patterns in
the behavior of particular individuals.
• Seeing the strange in the familiar– Giving up the idea that human behavior is
simply a matter of what people decide to do– Understanding that society shapes our lives
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Durkheim’s Study of Suicide
• Emile Durkheim’s research showed that society affects our most personal choices– More likely to commit: male Protestants who
were wealthy and unmarried– Less likely to commit: male Jews and
Catholics who were poor and married
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Durkheim’s Study of Suicide
• One of the basic findings: Why?– The differences between these groups had to
do with “social integration”– Those with strong social ties had less of a
chance of committing suicide
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C. Wright Mills’ Sociological Imagination
• Sociological perspective lies in changing individual lives & in transforming society
• Society, not people’s personal failings, is the cause of social problems.
• The sociological imagination transforms personal problems into public issues.
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The Origins of Sociology
• Sociology has its origins in powerful social forces– Social Change
• Industrialization, urbanization, political revolution, and a new awareness of society
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The Origins of Sociology
– Science• 3-Stages: theological, metaphysical & scientific
– Positivism–A way of understanding based on science
– Gender & Race• These important contributions have been pushed
to the margins of society
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Sociological Theory
• How and why facts are related– Explains social behavior to the real world
• Theoretical paradigm: fundamental assumptions that guides thinking– Structural-functional– Social-conflict– Symbolic-interaction
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Structural-Functional Paradigm
• The basics– A macro-level orientation, concerned with
broad patterns that shape society as a whole– Society as a complex system; parts work
together to promote solidarity and stability
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Structural-Functional Paradigm
• Key elements– Social structure: any relatively stable patterns
of social behavior found in social institutions– Social function refers to the consequences for
the operation of society as a whole
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Who’s Who in the Structural-Functional Paradigm
• Auguste Comte– Importance of social integration during times
of rapid change
• Emile Durkheim– Helped establish sociology as a discipline
• Herbert Spencer– Compared society to the human body
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Who’s Who in the Structural-Functional Paradigm
• Robert K. Merton– Manifest functions are recognized and
intended consequences– Latent functions are unrecognized and
unintended consequences– Social dysfunctions are undesirable
consequences
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Social-Conflict Paradigm
• A macro-oriented paradigm
• Views society as an arena of inequality that generates conflict and social change
• Society is structured in ways to benefit a few at the expense of the majority
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Social-Conflict Paradigm
• Factors such as race, sex, class, and age are linked to social inequality
• Dominant group vs. disadvantaged group relations
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Who’s Who in the Social-Conflict Paradigm
• Karl Marx– The importance of social class in inequality
and social conflict
• W.E.B. Du Bois– Race as the major problem facing the United
States in the 20th century
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Feminism and the Gender-Conflict Approach
• A point of view that focuses on inequality and conflict between women and men
• Closely linked to feminism, the advocacy of social equality for women and men
• Harriet Martineau & Jane Addams: women important to sociology development
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The Race-Conflict Approach
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• Point of view; focuses on inequality & conflict between people – Of different racial and ethnic categories
• People of color important to the development of sociology: – Ida Wells Barnett and W.E.B. Du Bois
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Symbolic-Interaction Paradigm
• The basics– A micro-level orientation, a close-up focus on
social interactions in specific situations – Views society as the product of everyday
interactions of individuals
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Symbolic-Interaction Paradigm
• Key elements – Society is a shared reality that people
construct as they interact with one another– Society is a complex, ever-changing mosaic
of subjective meanings
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Who’s Who in the Symbolic-Interaction Paradigm
• Max Weber– Understanding a setting from the people in it
• George Herbert Mead– How we build personalities from social
experience
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Who’s Who in the Symbolic-Interaction Paradigm
• Erving Goffman– Dramaturgical analysis
• George Homans & Peter Blau– Social-exchange analysis
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Critical Evaluation
• Structural-Functional– Too broad– Ignores inequalities of social class, race &
gender– Focuses on stability at the expense of conflict
• Social-Conflict– Too broad
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Critical Evaluation
– Ignores how shared values and mutual interdependence unify society
– Pursues political goals
• Symbolic-Interaction– Ignores larger social structures, effects of
culture, factors such as class, gender & race
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Applying the Approaches: The Sociology of Sports
• The Functions of Sports– A structural-functional approach directs our
attention to ways sports help society operate– Sports have functional and dysfunctional
consequences
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Sports and Conflict
• Social-conflict analysis points out games people play reflect their social standing
• Sports have been oriented mostly toward males
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Sports and Conflict
• Big league sports excluded people of color for decades
• Sports in the United States are bound up with inequalities based on – Gender, race, and economic power
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Sports as Interaction
• Following symbolic-interaction approach: – Sports are less a system than an ongoing
process
• Structural-functional, social-conflict, and symbolic-interaction:– Provide different insights into sports. – No one is more correct than the others
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