PowerPoint Presentation

The Sociological ImaginationVariety of societies in history (imagine you were born in the year 1700)in todays world (imagine you were living in Sierra Leone or in UK)in a world that is yet to come (just imagine)

Social forces that organise society in very different ways.1700s: small communities; you would not have travelled anywhere except perhaps to a nearby town.Today: shopping centers, cars, telephones, McDonalds, mobiles, planes, Iphones, IpadsTomorrow: trends; new technologies, babies in test tubes, designer babies, genetic engineering, new technologies implanted in our bodies 1What is sociology?Systematic study of human societies.Understanding society in a disciplined way.A form of consciousness, a way of thinking, a critical way of seeing the social. (=> political => a martial art (P. Bourdieu))The study of socius (companionship), bases of social membership.The analysis of the structure of social relationships constituted by social interactions. It asks how does it matter that humans live always (and cannot but live) in the company of, in communication with, in an exchange with, in competition with, in cooperation with other human beings?

The science of the origin, history and constitution of human society

=> Societies change => Meanings change

Theory and practicePeter Berger:*Seeing the general in the particular (categories of people => shape our particular life experiences)

*Seeing the strange in the familiar (things are not what they seem; defamiliarise the familiar (Z.Bauman)

Differences / ranking in the hierarchy: class / ethnicity / gender;Society showing the patterns and processes shaping what we do

Teen Facebook party goes viral in Netherlands (22 Sep 2012)

The teenage girl forgot to mark an invitation on social networking site Facebook as privateRiot police have been called into a sleepy Dutch town to contain 4.000 party-goers after a teenager's birthday party invitewent viral."She posted the invitation on Facebook and sent it to friends, who then sent it to other friends and soon it spread like wildfire across the Internet.Police were pelted with stones, bottles, bicycles, and potted plants when they tried to enter the house in Haren(with a population of 18,000).A scene of "chaos: several people had been injured, two seriously.Cars and doorways were damaged by objects thrown at police blocking the street where the girl lives.Previously "Project X" parties have run riot in different parts of the world including Germany, Australia and especially the US. 5Society as a prisonWalls of our imprisonment:CulturesSocial divisionsEconomiesPower structuresFamiliesReligionSciences and technologiesOr the capitals for our freedom?Society is in workIndividuality in social contextSociological perspective challenges common sense: human behaviour is not as individualistic as we may think.Ex: suicide (very personal?)Socially shaped by society;Peoples degree of social integration strong or weak social ties.The sociological perspective in everyday lifeSociology and social marginalitySociological thinking social outsiders Being aware of social patterns.

- Sociological perspective: step back a bit of familiar routines => new awareness and curiosity.- Questioning of all that is taken for granted (margins, boundaries, etc.).The experience of a Turkish worker in Germany (or a Pakistani in England) who learns how much race affects his personal life.Or an Armenian in Turkey Women, gays, disabled people We are all experiencing social marginality from time to time But not in acute ways.8 Sociology and social crisisPeriods of massive social change or social crisis => stimulating sociological vision.(I cant find a job or The economy has collapsed I cant find a job ?)

-Sociological thinking often fosters social change=> learning about the operation of the system, wishing to change it

Benefits of sociological perspective

1) A form of consciousness challenging familiar understanding of the order (ourselves and others)=> critically assessing the truth of commonly held assumptions.Asking questionsModernity: freedom?Religion: backwardness?

2) Enables us to assess both the opportunities and constraints that characterise our lives.=> the pattern and order; understanding the game!=> being effective players!

3) Empowers us to be active participants in the society (not accepting the status quo)=> no one particular political orientation; but a critical tendency..

4) Helps us to recognise human differences and human suffering and to confront the challenges of living in a diverse world.

=> our natural livings / different life styles / ways of life=> poverty, illness, war, exclusion, prejudices, exploitation Problems with the sociological perspective 1) Sociology is part of changing world=> a moving object: a finding of today may soon be wrong tomorrow.2) Sociologists are part of what they study=> danger of ethnocentrism3) Sociological knowledge becomes a part of society

Reflexivity: sociology and society; society thinking about itself Social change and the origins of sociologySocial events: products of powerful social forces (complex, only partly predictable)The term sociology: 1838, Auguste ComteProduct of modern societies, EnlightenmentReason; a way of organising knowledge,Empiricism; senses,Science; experimental,Universalism; general laws,Progress,Individualism,Toleration,Freedom,Uniformity of Human Nature,Secularism

The age of Reason and ProgressR. Descartes (1596-1650) I. Kant (1724-1804)Cogito ergo sumRationalism and empiricism

A. Smith, D. Hume, Diderot, Voltaire, J-J. Rousseau, T. Hobbes, J. LockeThe social contract general willLeviathan absolute authority or chaosLaw Science and sociologyBefore sociology: ideal society (philosophical issue)Pioneers: A. Comte, E. Durkheim, F. Tnnies=> how society could be improved=> understanding how society operates

Comte: scientific approach (from Copernicus, Galileo, Newton):-medieval period: theological stage (religious), -Renaissance: metaphysical stage (natural)-the final: scientific stage..

Positivism: society conforms to invariable laws (as nature)

But todays perception: human behaviour is more complex than natural phenomena (maybe the universe is much more chaotic!)Change, transformation and sociologyMODERNITYEurope: Massive social transformation => sociology2 revolutions: 1789, 18th century industrial revolutionScientific discoveries, technological advances,

A new industrial economy: the growth of modern capitalism (larges machines, anonymous, industrial workforce, change in the production)The growth of cities; factories attracting people (housing, social problems, poverty, crime, social crisis) => New classes: bourgeoisie, working class 3) Political change (changes in political thought; tradition under attack)Thomas Hobbes, John Locke (17th), Adam Smith (18th), American Declaration of Independence, Tocqueville (19th)From loyalty to the rulers => to the idea that society is the product of individual self-interest

4) The loss of communityTnnies (19th): Progressive loss of GemeinschaftIndustrial revolution undermining the social fabric of family and tradition => individualism, businesslike emphasis on facts and efficiency, rootless, impersonal, self-interest => Gesellschaft Sociologists: order, movement and the the futureFrench revolution / Industrial revolutionExciting and dangerous times Radically different prescriptions for the problems of modernity-A. Comte, F. Tnnies => fear of uprooting => conservative approach => to shore up the family and traditional morality,-K. Marx => great wealth in the hand of a small elite, others facing hunger and misery..Common conviction: society rests on much more than individual choice.

Going faster? Returning to the past?Developing new forms of social organisation? combining modern rationality with traditional collective responsibility?Today; continuous changeDigital technologies, new media, reproductive technologies, global interconnectionsTraditional families, religions, patterns of work and government => rethoughtDivisions of class, ethnicity, age, genderNew world conflicts over religion and culturePostmodern / Information societyPivotal social forces: social class, culture, race, ethnicity, the economy and the family (ways in which individuals are guided, united and divided)InterdisciplinarityHistory, philosophy, anthropology, literature, or more recently, womens/feminist studies, media/film studies, cultural studies, cyber studies, ethnic studies, human rights, queer studies

Sociology is not some dry enterprise detached from life (C.W. Mills)The sociological imagination: grasping history and biography and their relations in the social structure.