IMAGINATION. Chapter Outline

Transcription

1 C HAPTER 1 THE SOCIOLOGICAL IMAGINATION Chapter Outline I.Why Focus on Mobile Phones? A. Core Concept 1: Sociology is the scientific study of human activity in society. More specifically it is the study of the social forces that affect the things people do with and to one another. 1. Social forces: anything humans create that influence or pressure people to interact, behave, respond, or think in certain ways. a. The mobile phone is a human-created technology that has transformed or will transform every aspect of life. II.The Sociological Imagination A. Core Concept 2: The sociological imagination is a quality of mind that allows people to see how remote and impersonal social forces shape their life story/biography. 1. Biography: all the day-to-day activities from birth to death that make up a person s life 2. Sociological Imagination: a point of view that allows us to identify seemingly remote and impersonal social forces and connect them to our biographies. Why it is important to develop sociological imagination? The payoff for those who acquire the sociological imagination is that they can better understand their own biography, recognize that choices exist, and that their choices have larger consequences for others. 3. Social facts: ideas, feelings, and ways of behaving that possess the remarkable property of existing outside the consciousness of the individual (Durkheim 1982, p. 51) 4. Currents of opinion: the state of affairs with regard to some way of being. The intensity of these currents is broadly reflected in rates summarizing various behaviors. III.Troubles and Issues A. Core Concept 3: Sociologists distinguish between troubles, which can be resolved by changing the individual, and issues, which can be resolved only by addressing the social forces that created them. 1. Troubles: personal needs, problems, or difficulties that can be explained as individual shortcomings related to motivation, attitude, ability, character, or judgment. The resolution of a trouble, if it can indeed be resolved, lies in changing the individual in some way. 1

2 Chapter 1 2. Issues: matters that can be explained only by factors outside an individual s control and immediate environment 3. Many people cannot see the intricate connection between their personal situations or troubles and the larger social forces. a. Sociological imagination: the quality of mind that enables individuals to thing about what is going on in the world and what may be happening within themselves (Mills 1959, p. 5) IV.The Industrial Revolution A. Core Concept 4: Sociology emerged in part as a reaction to the Industrial Revolution, an ongoing and evolving social force that transformed society, human behavior, and interaction in incalculable ways. 1. The Industrial Revolution transformed virtually every aspect of society. a. Mechanization: the process of replacing human and animal muscle as a source of power with external sources derived from burning wood, coal, oil, and natural gas. i. Changed how goods were produced and how people worked. ii. Changed notions of time and space 1.Developments such as the railroad, steamship, cotton gin, spinning jenny, running water, central heating, electricity, telegraph and mass-circulation newspapers transformed how people lived their daily lives and with whom they interacted. iii. The Industrial Revolution drew people from even the most remote parts of the globe into a process that produced unprecedented quantities of material goods. B. Core Concept 5: Early sociologists were witnesses to the transforming effects of the Industrial Revolution. They offered lasting conceptual frameworks for analyzing the ongoing social upheavals. 1. Sociology emerged as an effort to understand the dramatic and almost immeasurable effects of the Industrial Revolution on human life across the globe. 2. Although the early sociologists wrote in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, their observations remain relevant. Because most of us living today know only an industrialized life, we lack the insights that came from living through the transformation. a. Auguste Comte ( ): Known as the father of positivism. Gave sociology its name in b. Karl Marx ( ): Sought to analyze and explain how conflict drives social change. i. The system of production accompanying the Industrial Revolution gave rise to two distinct classes 1.bourgeoisie: the profit-driven owners of the means of production 2.proletariat: individuals who must sell their labor to the bourgeoisie c. Émile Durkheim ( ): Focused on the division of labor and solidarity. 2

3 i. Solidarity: the system of social ties that connects people to one another and to the wider society ii. The sociologist s task is to analyze and explain solidarity and the ties that bind people to one another. 1.Egoistic describes a state in which the ties attaching the individual to others in the society are weak. 2.Altruistic describes a state in which the ties attaching the individual to the group are such that the person has no life beyond the group 3.Anomic describes a state in which the ties attaching the individual to the group are disrupted due to dramatic changes in economic circumstances such as a recession, a depression, or an economic boom. 4.Fatalistic describes a state in which the ties attaching the individual to the group involve discipline so oppressive that it offers no chance of release. d. Max Weber ( ): Made it his task to analyze and explain how the Industrial Revolution affected social actions actions people take in response to others with emphasis on the forces that motivate people to act. i. He defined four important types of social actions. 1.Traditional - a goal is pursued because it was pursued in the past 2.Affectional - a goal is pursued in response to an emotion, such as revenge, love, or loyalty 3.Value-rational - a valued goal is pursued with a deep and abiding awareness of the symbolic significance of the actions taken to pursue the goal 4.Instrumental - a goal is pursued by the most efficient means, often without considering the appropriateness or consequences of those means. ii. Weber maintained that in the presence of industrialization, behavior was less likely to be motivated by tradition or emotion and was more likely to be instrumental-rational. e. W. E. B. DuBois ( ): Wrote about the strange meaning of being black and about the color line. i. Double consciousness: this sense of always looking at one s self through the eyes of others, of measuring one s soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity. ii. DuBois traced the origin of the color line, beginning with the slave trade, to the scramble for Africa s resources and maintained that an honest review of Africa s history could only lead to the conclusion that Western governments and corporations coveted Africa for its natural resources and for the cheap labor needed to extract them. f. Jane Addams ( ): Cofounded one of the first settlement houses in the United States, the Chicago Hull House. i. Maintained that settlements were equivalent to an applied 3

4 Chapter 1 university where knowledge about how to change the situation of people could be applied and tested. 1.Advocated for sympathetic knowledge: firsthand knowledge gained by living and working among those being studied. V.The Importance of a Global Perspective A. Core Concept 6: A global perspective assumes that social interactions do not stop at political borders and that the most pressing social problems are part of a larger, global situation. 1. Global interdependence: A situation in which social activity transcends national borders and in which one country s problems such as unemployment, drug abuse, water shortages, natural disasters, and the search for national security in the face of terrorism are part of a larger global situation. 2. Globalization: The ever-increasing flow of goods, services, money, people, information, and culture across political borders. 3. A global perspective is guided by the following assumptions: a. Globalization is not new, although the scale of global interdependence has changed dramatically with the Industrial Revolution. b. Globalization has been further intensified by mobile phones, the internet, and related digital technologies, which allow people around the world to communicate instantaneously. c. Globally established social arrangements that we never see deliver to us products and services, including apple juice containing concentrate from Austria, China, Turkey, and other countries. d. The global exchange of goods, services, and influences is uneven, with some countries most notably, the United States generally being the more dominant trading partner. e. Multinational and global corporations are key forces in structuring social relationships that transcend national boundaries. f. Efforts to open and erase national boundaries are accompanied by simultaneous efforts to protect and enforce boundaries. g. As part of the pursuit of profit, multinational corporations are increasingly gaining and solidifying control over scarce and valued basic life-sustaining resources, such as water, seeds, human organs and tissue, and DNA. VI.Why Study Sociology? A. Core Concept 7: The sociological perspective offers a framework that can be used to address work-related issues and tasks. Studying sociology also includes learning important career-oriented skills. 1. The sociological perspective, with its focus on human activities and relationships and the forces that shape them, informs decision making. This perspective is valuable because most work-related tasks and issues revolve around successfully coordinating interactions among employees, clients, consumers, suppliers, and other interested parties. 2. A degree, minor, concentration, or strong interest in sociology will give you the following distinct analytical skills: a. To anticipate the intended and unintended consequences of 4

5 corporate, government, or other policies, practices, and technologies. b. To identify and project population trends, including those of birth, death, migration, marriage, divorce, and family size. c. To appreciate and consider viewpoints other than your own. d. To use the methods of social research to recognize and provide useful information. e. To collect information via interviews, questionnaires, observation, case studies, secondary data analysis, and content analysis, and to analyze the results. f. To avoid using superficial knowledge or personal bias as a basis for making decisions and recommendations that affect others. VII.Summary of Core Concepts A. Core Concept 1: Sociology is the scientific study of human activity in society. More specifically, it is the study of the social forces that affect the things people do with and to one another. B. Core Concept 2: The sociological imagination is a quality of mind that allows people to see how remote and impersonal social forces shape their life story or biography. C. Core Concept 3: Sociologists distinguish between troubles, which can be resolved by changing the individual, and issues, which can be resolved only by addressing the social forces that created them. D. Core Concept 4: Sociology emerged in part as a reaction to the Industrial Revolution, an ongoing and evolving social force that transformed society, human behavior, and interaction in incalculable ways. E. Core Concept 5: Early sociologists were witnesses to the transforming effects of the Industrial Revolution. They offered lasting conceptual frameworks for analyzing the ongoing social upheavals. F. Core Concept 6: A global perspective assumes that social interactions do not stop at political borders and that the most pressing social problems are part of a larger, global situation. G. Core Concept 7: The sociological perspective offers a framework that can be used to address work-related issues and tasks. Studying sociology also includes learning important career-oriented skills. 5