Week 1 slides Flashcards
What is sociology?
The study of how societies are organized and how that organization affects the behaviour of the people who live in them.
Overlaps with economics, psychology, anthropology, and political science.
What is sociological imagination and what did C.Wright Mills say about it?
It is a unique way of looking at the world. He said we should look at the intersection of our personal stories with the larger social context.
Social Imagination. Why is scotch tape called Scotch? and why does its have plaid packaging?
- Old stereotypes portrayed Scottish people as cheap
- anything scotch was cheap, or a good buy
When did sociology emerge and what was the social context?
emerged in 1800s.
industrial revolution
- massive urbanization
rapid movement to cities
How are people in cities?
- increasingly dependant on each other
can’t grow their own food or build own house
trade wages for food, clothing, shelter
Specialization called division of labor - advantages: allows different groups to specialize in various tasks, becoming particularly
good at them & creating a surplus to trade - disadvantages: few options for those who don’t have a desirable skill or product to offer others
What are founders of sociology?
early sociologists were trying to explain the rapid changes they saw around them.
They also predict the consequences of those changes for society over time
Who were the 5 key founder of sociology?
Karl Marx, Emile Durkheim, Max Weber, Jane Addams, W.E.B. du bois
Who was Karl Marx?
Believed all societies throughout history were
based on social conflict.
○ Key to understanding a society was to look at the economic relationships in that society—how things are made and distributed
○ Groups with different resources and interests always
struggle – dialectic
■ Proletariat
■ Bourgeoisie
What are the social classes?
There are 2 economic groups/social classes.
Capitalist: own factories
Workers: work for wages
Both groups want more economic resources
Karl Marx says these groups will ALWAYS be in conflict
What is alienation?
Alienation means the feeling of being disconnected.
○ Little control over how they do their work
○ Little autonomy
○ From the product
○ From the means of production
○ From each other
○ From species being
○ From oneself
Who is Emile Durkheim?
Emile Durkheim wanted sociology to be a rigorous science.
Sociologists should focus on social facts
○ Things that exist outside the individual and put constraints on our behavior
○ Look at patterns rather than the individual
Durkheim emphasized solidarity: how people in a society are connected
■ Mechanical solidarity- highly integrated with one another (traditional)
■ Organic solidarity- distantly connected, but highly reliant (industrial)
Key elements in society are:
○ Integration- how tied you are to others
○ Regulation- social norms
STRUCTURAL SOCIOLOGY
Who is Max Weber?
Unlike Marx and Durkheim, Weber said we need to look at individuals and the meanings they make of their own behaviour–
Interpretive understanding
Social Action - behaviors that produce structures
○ We should investigate to understand the causes of social actions
Our values influence our behavior– Culture
METHODOLOGICAL INDIVIDUALISM
Who is Jane Addams?
Studied poverty, particularly as it affected
women and children
Founded Hull House as a center of
activism, social reform, and study
Argued for socially-engaged research
○ Get those you study involved in the research
they are experts on their own lives
○ Research should lead to social reforms that
improve residents’ lives
Chicago School of Sociology
Who is W.E.B. Du Bois?
Studied race and interactions between races
Engaged in activism
○ Co-founded National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NAACP)
Challenged Marxist views of society
○ Said slavery was key to development of American society
○ Marx said slavery couldn’t exist within capitalism
○ Du Bois disagreed
■ Slavery became a major way of creating wealth – made money for those shipping and selling enslaved people, those using enslaved people instead of paying workers
What did W.E.B. Du Bois explain about psychological wage?
Du Bois explained that low-wage White workers didn’t join with enslaved Black workers because their social status mattered, not just their income. Being White gave them a sense of superiority, even if they were poor. This was called a “psychological wage”—a feeling of being better than Black people, even if they had less money. White workers resisted changes for racial equality because they wanted to keep their higher social status over Black people, even if those changes could improve their own economic situation.
Who is Thorstein Veblen?
Leisure Class
● Conspicuous Consumption
● Pecuniary emulation
● Veblen Good- luxury item that increases in
prices as demand increases
● Status Symbol
How was the city life?
Overcrowded housing: frequent fires
No laws regulating wages, work hours, holidays
Lack of sanitation and sewage
Disease outbreaks
