Chapter 1

Question 1

Sociologists notice social patterns:

Answer 1

– They recognize that our personal experiences are affected by our social location (sex, age, class, ethnicity, “race,” religion, and sexual orientation).

– They investigate and challenge the social patterns that other people perceive
Examples: Pink tax, smartphones and gender, driving and race or ethnicity, airport security, male nurses and
sexual orientation

Question 2

Sociologists discuss social issues

Answer 2

– Sociological research enables us to discuss social issues, such as the legalization of marijuana, in an informed and
critical manner
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– It helps us understand how socializing influences shape our opinions

– It allows us to challenge perceptions such as stereotypes

Question 3

What is sociology (what it involves)

Answer 3

Sociology involves looking for and looking at social patterns in

• Social variables, such as age, gender, “race,” ethnicity, religion, ability, and sexual orientations

• Social institutions such as education, religion, and the family

• Social interactions

Question 4

Sociology has a lot in common with other social sciences such as

Answer 4

anthropology, economics, history, psychology, philosophy and political science

Question 5

Why Study Sociology?
• Studying sociology helps you gain a greater understanding of:

Answer 5

• The social world (i.e. social practices, attitudes, institutions)
  – Yourself (how you relate to pattern of social behaviour)
  – Others in multicultural and diverse social world across Canada
  – Worlds of nations and their social institutions

Question 6

The Heart of Sociology: The Sociological Imagination

Answer 6

C. Wright Mills coined the term sociological imagination

– Society, not the individual is the primary focus

– The sociological imagination allows us to understand individuals’ circumstances as shaped by social forces

– The sociological imagination helps us to understand the connections between the political and the personal.

Question 7

The Origins of Sociology

Answer 7

Ibn Khaldûn (1332–1406), an Arab scholar, was the first person to carry out a systematic study of sociological subjects

– In his book An Introduction to History, he developed a systematic approach to studying various types of societies and their histories, cultures, and economies

– Khaldûn discovered that as societies become more affluent, they inevitably reach a point of decay and demise

Question 8

The Development of Sociology in Europe

Answer 8

• Sociology emerged as an area of academic interest in France, Germany, and Britain during the 19th century
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– It developed as a response to dramatic social changes such
as:
• Industrialization
• Urbanization
• Population increases

Question 9

Spotlight on: Max Weber
A Founder of Modern Sociology

Answer 9

• Weber explored how a set of values embodied in early Protestantism, specifically the Protestant (work) ethic led to the development of modern capitalism

• However, there is no sociological evidence that capitalism developed primarily in Protestant countries or that other religions do not display a similar work ethic

• Latin American scholars argue that capitalism is rooted in colonialism and colonial exploitation

Question 10

Auguste Comte
(1798–1857, French)

Answer 10

A proponent of positivist philosophy, he aimed to develop a social science that could be used for social reconstruction.

Question 11

Harriet Martineau
(1802–1876, British)

Answer 11

Widely viewed as the first woman sociologist, she wrote extensively on social, economic, and historical topics and translated several of Comte’s works.

Question 12

Karl Marx
(1818–1883, German)

Answer 12

The founder of modern communism, he viewed social change in terms of economic factors.

Question 13

Herbert Spencer
(1820–1903, British)

Answer 13

Social evolutionist sought to apply Darwin’s theory of natural selection to human societies and coined the term “survival of the fittest.”

Question 14

Friedrich Nietzsche
(1844–1900, German)

Answer 14

Philosopher rejected Christianity’s compassion for the weak and championed the “will to power” and the Übermensch (“superman”), who could rise above the restrictions of ordinary morality.

Question 15

Émile Durkheim
(1858–1917, French)

Answer 15

Among the first to consider society as a legitimate subject of scientific observation, he studied society in terms of “social facts” such as ethics, occupations, and suicide.

Question 16

Georg Simmel
(1858–1918, German)

Answer 16

Father of microsociology studied the way people experience the minutiae of daily life.

Question 17

Georg Simmel
(1858–1918, German)

Answer 17

Father of microsociology studied the way people experience the minutiae of daily life.

Question 18

Max Weber
(1864–1920, German)

Answer 18

Identified a set of values, the “Protestant (work) ethic,” to which he attributed the rise of capitalism.

Question 19

Antonio Gramsci (1891–1937, Italian)

Answer 19

Marxist theorist and co-founder of Italy’s Communist Party developed a theory of hegemony and power while in prison for political activism.

Question 20

The Spread of Sociology
to North America

Answer 20

• Sociology emerged in North America during the late 19th/early 20th century

• North American sociologists sought to understand rapid social changes linked to European immigration

• The University of Chicago’s sociology department (founded 1892) was the first sociology department in North America

• In the 1920s and 1930s, the “Chicago School” produced several prominent sociologists, such as Robert Park, Ernest Burgess, Everett C. Hughes, George Herbert Mead, Edwin Sutherland, and Jane Addams

Question 21

William Graham Sumner
(1840–1910)

Answer 21

Yale professor taught the first American course in sociology and explored the social significance of manners, mores, and taboos.

Question 22

Thorstein Veblen
(1857–1929)

Answer 22

Economist and social critic attacked American “conspicuous consumption.”

Question 23

Jane Addams
(1860–1935)

Answer 23

Social worker/activist, sociologist, and intellectual established America’s first settlement house, in Chicago.

Question 24

George Herbert Mead
(1863–1931)

Answer 24

Father of “symbolic interactionism” looked at how the self is constructed through personal exchanges with others.

Question 25

Charles Horton Cooley (1864–1929)

Answer 25

Symbolic interactionist advanced the idea of the looking-glass self, asserting that the self is created and reinforced through social interaction.

Question 26

Robert Park
(1864–1944)

Answer 26

Urban sociologist was a founding member of the Chicago school of sociology.

Question 27

W.E.B. Du Bois
(1868–1963)

Answer 27

Documented African-American experience and introduced the concept of “double consciousness” whereby colonized people are forced to see the world from the viewpoint of the colonizer, which creates internal conflict.

Question 28

Edwin Sutherland
(1883–1950)

Answer 28

Criminal sociologist and symbolic interactionist introduced the idea of white-collar crime.

Question 29

Everett C. Hughes (1897–1983)

Answer 29

Chicago school sociologist studied the ethnic division of labour in the French-Canadian province of Quebec.

Question 30

The Canadian perspective has some unique focal points:

Answer 30

The relationship between French and English

The development of the Canadian West

The connection between class and ethnicity

Close working relationship with anthropology

The relationship between Indigenous people and settlers, and the colonial state

Question 31

The Development of Canadian Sociology

Answer 31

• In Canada, the first sociology department was founded in 1922 by Carl Addington Dawson at McGill University

• At the same time, the sociological tradition of political economy emerged at the University of Toronto, Harold Innis was a pioneer in this field

• Samuels Delbert Clark made significant contributions to the development of sociology in Canada, he is considered a “sociological historian”

Question 32

Canadian sociologist

Carl Addington Dawson 1887-1964

Answer 32

Founded McGill’s university sociology department, social gospel movement and hands on social work

Question 33

Canadian sociologist

Everett C. Hughes 1897-1983

Answer 33

Community research, Ethnic divisions of labour

Question 34

Canadian sociologist

Horace Miner 1912-1993

Answer 34

Ethnography, social anthropology of folk society

Question 35

Canadian sociologist

Harold Innis 1894-1952

Answer 35

Political economy

Question 36

S. D. Clark 1910-2003

Answer 36

Sociological historian

Question 37

John Porter
Social Class and Ethnicity
John Porter (1921–1979)

Answer 37

– Examined the relationship between social class and ethnicity

– Coined the term vertical mosaic to describe hierarchical stratification of racial, ethnic, and religious groups due to systemic discrimination

– Porter found that Anglo-Saxon Protestants occupied the top of the hierarchy, followed by French-Canadians while racially marginalized groups concentrate at the bottom of the hierarchy

Question 38

Early Women Sociologists and the
Writing of Gender in Canada

Answer 38

Annie Marion MacLean (1870–1934)
– First Canadian woman to obtain a PhD in sociology (University of Chicago)
– She pioneered the sociological study of working women

Aileen Ross (1902–1995)
– First woman hired as a sociologist at a Canadian university (University of Toronto)
– She completed the first study of homeless women in Canada

Helen C. Abell (1917–2005)
– Founder of rural sociology in Canada

Question 39

Spotlight on: Dorothy Smith (1926-2022)

Answer 39

Best known for two key theories:

Feminist standpoint: Knowledge is developed form a particular lived position, making objectivity impossible

Institutional ethnography: Challenges the need for a neutral stance in sociological research

Question 40

The Growth of Sociology in Canada

Answer 40

Sociology did not become a significant area of study in Canada until the 1960s and 1970s
- Most sociologist during this period were hired from the United States and Britain, and sociology textbooks lacked Canadian perspectives

– This led to a push to Canadianize sociology textbooks

– Today most introductory sociology textbooks are Canadian in origin; however, there is still an underrepresentation of Indigenous sociologists in these books

Question 41

Spotlight on: Indigenous Sociologists

Answer 41

John Steckley’s 2003 work “Aboriginal Voices and the Politics of Representation in Canadian Sociology Textbooks” argued that the production of Canadian introductory textbooks involved a general failure to create an Indigenous sociology

->requires the inclusion of sociologists such as Harold Cardinal, George Manuel, and Howard Adams