Introduction To Sociology Flashcards
What is sociology?
Sociology is the scientific study of human society and social behavior. It looks at how individuals and groups interact as well as how social structures and institutions shape our lives.
The birth of sociology
Sociology was coined by a French philosopher, Auguste Comte 1838, who is known as the father of sociology. People started to question traditional beliefs and authority. Comte, Spencer, and Durkhein began to develop new ideas.
Political revolution
The French Revolution (1789) was an immediate factor giving rise to sociological theorizing. The French Revolution was a reaction of the unfair privileges of the nobility and monarchy. It led to the overthrow of the king and a more democratic system government. The negative consequence is the reign of terror, where thousands of people were executed.
Industrial Revolution
Was a transition from creating goods by hand to using machines. People left farms to work at industrial occupations offered in towns and factories. This triggered massive population movements, rapid urbanization, and change of family structures
The Enlightment revolution
Was a period of intense intellectual and cultural change that occurred in Europe in the 18th century. People started to question religion and traditional beliefs. It was a shift from the divine right of kings to the shift, the popular sovereignity(power)
Reason
Used to discover the laws of nature and improve society
Empiricism
Knowledge should be based on observations and experiments rather than authority and tradition.
Science
To expand human knowledge is through scientific research
Universalism
There are universal laws that should be applied equally to people
Comte and the sociological positivism
Auguste Comte, the father of sociology and the founder of the school of thought as positivism, argued that social phenomena can be studied the same way as natural science, through scientific research.
He believed that sociology should be based on observable facts and measurable data rather than subjective experience and opinions.
The theological stage
Was dominated by religion. People used supernatural or religious explanations to understand the world around them.
E.g. people may attribute thunderstorms as actions from gods or supernatural beings.
The metaphysical stage
People began to move away from supernatural explanations and started to use reason and logic to understand the world. They began to develop philosophical theories about the nature of the universe and the human mind. They also began to question accepted religious beliefs of the theological stage.
The positive stage
People began to use scientific methods to understand the world. They made observations, developed hypotheses, and tested them through experimentations.
C Wright Mills notion of social imagination
Social imagination involves putting things in a wider context and looking at the broader picture. People need to use social imagination to break out the idea that people are trapped in their own perspectives and can not see the bigger picture.
Mills believed that social imagination allowed individuals to see the connections between their personal experiences and the broader social world
Unemployment and economic inequality
In south africa high unemployment rates and economic disparities are persistent challenges. Social imagination can help us recognize that these issues are not solely individual problems but a deeply historical, political, and economic structures
E.g. apartheid as led to the unequal distribution of wealth and opportunities, leaving black people jobless and with no better education.
Xenophobic violence
Rather than viewing xenophobic violence as isolated conflicts, we can recognize it as social tensions fueled by economic insecurities, exploitation, and political scapegoating.
Refugee in Syria and Europe
Crisis skimming from the Syrian Civil War and its impact on Europe can be comprehended through social imagination. Rather than viewing refugees simply as numbers or stats, social imagination helps prompt us to consider individual stories behind each refugee.
Functionalism
Each part of the society has a specific role or function to play. Failure of one part of the society to fulfill its function means that the entire society may not function. We can never understand a society by focusing on a single part of that society.
E.g. a family provides stability and support, while education provides skills and knowledge that help individuals participate in society.
Structure
Relationships between members of the society are organized in terms of social rules that regulate how individuals should behave.
Values
Provides guidelines and overall beliefs about what is considered good or bad.
E.g. respect, honesty, equality, and justice. These values are often expressed through cultural rituals such as family gatherings.
Function
Study different parts of society and how each part relates to the entire society.
E.g. family,education,government
The conflict perspectives ( Radical Marxism)
Focuses on the conflict between different groups in society. These conflicts arise from the inequality in power and resources and can be seen in things like class conflict and radical oppression.
These conflicts are between the owners of the means of production and the poor working class.
The unequal distribution of resources causes social inequalities.
Contradiction and conflict
In order to understand society, we need to look at ways in which people produce and reproduce their lives through work.
For a society to change, change needs to begin at the bottom(economic base).
Relations of production
The relationship between the owners of the means of production and the workers who produce the goods and services.
Exploitation and oppression
In the capitalist system, owners control the means of production and make decisions about what to produce and how to distribute profits. This relationship is exploitative because the poor working class do not have control over their labor and do not receive the full value of their labor.
Social change
Karl Marx believed that the conflict between the two groups would eventually lead to a communist revolution in which the poor working class would seize control over the means of production.
