Lecture 1 Pt. 2 Flashcards
Auguste Comte
first described the term sociology
- the difference between social thought and study before and after the existence of sociology is the focal point
the law of three stages (Auguste Comte)
- theological stage: until the Middle Ages, people believed that God’s will shaped society
- physical phase: emerged during the Renaissance, society began to be seen as natural and non-supernatural
- scientific phase: began with the work of Copernicus, Galileo, and Newton, and is the phase now being used in the study of society (also called positivism)
Comte’s 2 components of sociology
- social statistics: how society is held together
- social dynamics: how society is changing
social Darwinism
when people compete among themselves, the most intelligent, productive, and ambitious people would always win
social quaestie
characterizes the missery of urbanization and industrialization
- dealt with by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels
paradigm
a view of society that guides scientific thinking and research
the Kuhn Cycle
- normal science: in the beginning, there are some things that one can no longer explain with the theories one has
- model drift: during this step, a shifting of theories takes place
- model crisis: the shift creates a crisis about existing theories
- model revolution: a revolution occurs
- paradigm change: the circle occurs again
structural functionalism
uses a framework for theorizing that views society as a complex system in which mutual cooperation occurs, providing stability and solidarity
- focuses on social structures, which are relatively stable patterns of social behavior
- also focuses on social functions
- strongly influenced by Comte, Durkheim, Spencer, and Merton
social functions
a way of understanding social structures and are direct consequences of the functioning of society
manifest vs latent functions
distinguished by Merton
- manifest functions are intended and recognized consequences of a social pattern
- latent functions are the unintended consequences of a social pattern
social dysfunction
a social pattern that disrupts the functioning of society
- structural functionalism pays almost no attention to the inequalities that cause conflict; this causes this appraoch to be seen as conservative
downside of functionalism
it sees society as a large framework that can be understood, organized, and stable
- sociologists today question if this is a realistic view
sociology of conflict
focuses on the inequalities within society that create conflict and change
- downside is that it fails to recognize how shared values can also create unity between people
social action perspectives
begins with the way people orient themselves toward each other
- represents the micro level orientation rather than the macro orientation of the functional and conflict perspectives
- focuses on how the meanings people attach to interactions and events shape the world
- Max Weber shaped this perspective
symbolic interactionism
society is understood as the result of the interactions between individuals
- Weber and Mead are pioneers of this movement
- Mead looked at how we base our self-concept on social experiences
rational choice approach
involves orientation to the micro level and rational action as in (symbolic) interactionism
- the idea is that social actions can be traced back to rational choices about what is best (cost-benefit analysis)
- origins are with the Homans and Blau, who argued that interactions are guided by expectations about how we are better or worse off (also called exchange theory)
overview of the 3 main theories
applying sociology to sports
- structural functionalism: sports promote teamwork, discipline, and social unity
- social conflict theory: highlight inequality, such as gender and racial disparities in professional sports
- symbolic interactionism: examines how players, fans, and coaches create meanings in sport culture
4 different ways of knowing
- faith/belief: people accept things as true based on religious or spiritual beliefs
- expert authority: truth is based on information from specialists in a field
- common agreement: society collectively agrees on what is considered true
- science: uses empirical evidence (observable facts) to verify truth
the positivist method
a system that bases its knowledge on direct and systematic observations
- terms or concepts are the basic elements and represent a part of the world in a simplified form
- quantitative data
challenges of studying people
- people are unpredictable: no one acts the same way all the time
- people change when they’re watched
- what’s true today might not be true tomorrow
- sociologists are part of society
interpretive sociology
focuses on the meanings people assign to their social reality
- founded by Max Weber
- in addition to getting a picture of what people do, it is important to find out why people do it
- according to Weber, verstehen is the most important thing in interpretive sociology
- quantitative data
3 sociological research methods
- positivist method
- interpretive sociology
- critical sociology
critical sociology
focuses on the need for social change in society
- founded by Karl Marx
- sociologists are expected to work for greater social equality
- a reaction against objectivity and focuses not only on scientific questions but also on moral and political ones
