Sociology is the scientific study of social structure; patterned social behavior.

Social Structure is the

patterned interaction of people in social relationships. Sociology focuses on patterns rather than
individual actions.

A perspective is a particular point of view. Our attitudes and beliefs are determined by our
perspectives. Sociology looks beyond personal perspectives and is interested in exposing the causes
and sources of human behavior, which is also known as the debunking tendency.

The Sociological Perspective is a view that looks at the behavior of groups, not individuals.
Sociologists want to understand how individuals are influenced by the society and culture they live in.

Anthropology - investigates culture, customary beliefs and material traits of groups.

Economics - study of production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services.
History - written record of the human past.
Human Geography - examines the interaction between populations and the places they live in.
Political Science - investigates the organization, administration, history and theory of government.
Psychology - investigates human mental and emotional processes.

C. Wright Mills explains that “personal troubles” can explain human behavior in individualistic or
personal terms - for example a young man joining a gang to prove his toughness. These are “public
issues” that deal with things that affect groups within a society or society as a whole.

Sociologists focus on patterns of behaviors shared by members of a group or society rather than
the behaviors of individuals. They attempt to explain what factors lead to social problems

Emile Durkheim helped develop sociological perspective. He explained that the mixing of the
individual parts creates a new whole with new characteristics. People's behavior within a group cannot
be predicted from their personal characteristics.

All groups encourage conformity, which is behavior that matches group expectations.

The Sociological Perspective enables us to understand how social forces affect our lives, preventing
us from being prisoners of these forces. This is Sociological Imagination, the ability to see the link
between society and self.

Looking at society as outsiders allows us to escape our personal perspectives and cultural beliefs and
see that the problems that people face reflect our larger social forces and trends. The Sociological
Imagination questions common interpretations of human social behavior. It challenges
conventional social wisdom.

In order to uncover the connection between social history and biography, there are three sets of
questions:
1) What is the structure of the society as a whole, and which parts are essential and how are the
others related?
2) Where does society fit into human history, and how is society changing, and what effect does
it have on the development of humanity as a whole?
3) What are the characteristics of the people who live in the society, and how are they shaped by
the society?
Sociology began in the late nineteenth-century Europe during a time of great social upheaval.

Auguste Comte
- Recognized as the father of sociology. Coined the term sociology, and used positivism, the
belief that knowledge should be derived from scientific observation, to study social behavior.
He also distinguished social statistics, the study of social stability and order, and social
dynamics, the study of social change. He published his theories in a book titled “Positive
Philosophy”.

Harriet Martineau
- Lost her sense of taste, smell and hearing, and is best known for her translation of Comte’s
Positive Philosophy. Established herself as a pioneering feminist theorist, and spoke up about
women and slaves.

Herbert Spencer
- Explained social stability by comparing it to the human body, that parts work together in order
to function correctly. Introduced a theory of social change called Social Darwinism, based on
the theory of evolution that explained that evolutionary social change led to progress,
provided people did not interfere.

Karl Marx
- Identified social classes, and predicted that at some point all industrial societies would contain
only two social classes: the bourgeoisie (class owning the means for producing wealth.
Capitalists owned or controlled the means for producing the wealth ), and the proletariat,
who work for the bourgeoisie and are paid just enough to stay alive.
- Class Conflict was the ongoing struggle between the bourgeoisie ( owners ) and the
proletariat ( working class ).

Emile Durkheim
- Society exists because of a broad consensus, or agreement, among members of a society. In
pre industrial times, societies were based on Mechanical Solidarity, or the social dependency
based on a widespread consensus of values and beliefs and dependence on tradition and
family. While in industrial societies, societies were based on Organic Solidarity, or the social
interdependency based on a high degree of specialization of roles. Wrote Suicide: A Study in
Sociology.

Max Weber
- Wrote The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. Explained that humans act on the
basis of their own understanding of a situation. He believed that an understanding of the
personal intentions of people in groups can best be accomplished through verstehen, the
understanding of social behavior by putting yourself in the places of others. He also identified
rationalization, or the mind-set emphasizing knowledge, reason and planning.

The First Department of Sociology was in the University of Chicago in 1892..

Jane Addams
- Co-founded with Ellen Gates Starr the Hull House in Chicago's slums, that helped people
who needed refuge, particularly those who dealt with discrimination. She was also active in
the woman suffrage and peace movements. Won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1931.

W.E.B Dubois
- First African American to receive a doctorate from Harvard University. Published The
Philadelpia Negro. Demanded civil rights and racial equality for African Americans.

Booker T. Washington
- Founded the Tuskegee Institute. Worked under the assumption that African Americans
should accept segregation in return for promises of economic gains.

Robert Ezra Park

- Aided Booker T. Washington at the Tuskegee Institute, and later on taught at the University of
Chicago, where he specialized in race relations and human ecology. Later became a reporter.

George Hebert Mead

- Taught at the University of Chicago, and explained our sense of self develops as we interact
with our world. Language, symbols, and community are the heart of this process.

Julian Samora
- First Mexican American to earn a doctorate from Washington University. Conducted
pioneering work in Mexican American studies, and focused on civil rights, discrimination,
poverty, public health and movement of people along the Mexican American Border.

Perception is the way the brain interprets an image or event. It is influenced by the beliefs or values
you hold. It draws your attention to some things and blinds you to others

A Theoretical Perspective is a set of assumptions about an area of study accepted as true. The three
theoretical perspectives most widely used are functionalism, conflict theory, and symbolic
interactionism.

Therese five key concepts in sociology:

1) Functional Integration - interdependence among the parts in a social system. They work
together for the whole system to function well.
2) Social Structure - pattern of social behaviors in a group or society. ( Social Institutions are
the organized ways in which a society meets its basic needs, such as family, economy, etc ).
3) Power - ability of one party to get other parties to do its will or to ensure that it will benefit
from the actions of other parties. Mirrors Weber's view of power.
4) Social Action - refers to the way in which someone's actions are coordinated with his or her
sentiment, and is a central concept in symbolic interactionism.
5) Culture - refers to the language, norms,values, beliefs, knowledge, symbols and physical
objects that are shared by members of a society or group.

Functionalism is an approach that emphasizes the contributions made by each part of society. Sees
the parts of a society as an integrated whole. A change in one part of a society leads to changes in
other parts. It assumes that societies tend to return to a state of stability after some upheaval has
occurred.

Robert Merton states there's two kinds of functions, manifest functions, which are intended and
recognized, and latent functions, which are unintended and unrecognized. An example is the
manifest function of a school to teach math, and a latent function of school is the development of
close friendships. Dysfunctions are negative consequences of an aspect of society.

Values are broad ideas about what most people in a society consider to be desirable. They influence
social behavior.

Conflict Perspective is an approach that emphasizes the role of conflict, competition, and constraint
within a society. It’s the reverse of functionalism.

In functionalism agreements contribute to common goals, while in conflict perspective it focuses on

disagreements.

Power is the ability to control the behavior of others.

Functionalists could see the internet as positive and negative, as it has a lot of benefits such as job
opportunities for disabled, but it also provides access to young people about pornographic material,
and can cause the formation of hate groups. Conflict Theorists focus more on the negative
consequences, such as the layoff of service workers and move their jobs to lower wage countries.

Symbolic Interactionism is an approach that focuses on the interactions among people based on their
mutually understood symbols. It focuses on the actual interaction among people.

A symbol is something chosen to represent something else, and that symbol can be abstract. It is not
determined by its own physical characteristics. Those who create the symbols give them meaning.

Herbert Blumer coined the term and outlined three assumptions:

1) First, we learn the meaning of the symbol by the reactions of others to it.
2) Second, once we learn the meaning of symbols, we base our behavior ( interactions ) on them.
3) Finally, we use the meanings of symbols to imagine how others will respond to our behavior.

Erving Goffman introduced dramaturgy, an approach that depicts human interactions as theatrical
performances. It depicts the notion that we have images of ourselves we want to present to others.
This is referred to as presenting of self, or impression management.