I. Figures in Sociology A. Figures in Sociology Although many, these are the big names 1. Marx ( ): We will discuss Marx throughout the

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1 I. Figures in Sociology A. Figures in Sociology Although many, these are the big names 1. Marx ( ): We will discuss Marx throughout the course, especially in relation to inequality, but a brief history of him and his ideas is sufficient for now. a. Believed history was the history of class struggle Dialectical materialism (Thesis, Antithesis, Synthesis) b. Major ideas: 1) society is a totality of interrelated parts, 2) primary importance of the economic sector, 3) social construction of ideas (ruling ideas of the time are those of the ruling class, 4) conflict produces change c. Marx believed that social scientists should actively work at making a better society his personal goal was to liberate workers (proletariat) from the poverty and oppression brought on by industrialization and the owners (bourgeoisie). d. Revolution was the only way to do this. Marxism is confused often with the old Soviet Union and its communism, not the communism that Marx had envisioned. e. Lived in 19 th century unrestrained capitalism and industrialization (private property, ownership, great wealth, profit, exploitation) f. Owners hire workers, compete, strive for as much profit as possible Means of production: plants, factories, tools, machines g. Believed that capitalism was inevitably due to collapse because of the inherent contradictions of inequality Causes within itself its own destruction Workers would band together and fight the rich and take over society they would rule and create a single or classless society where everyone was free and equal h. Alienation: Work was a distinct activity that separates humans from animals Humans put imagination and creativity into their work to make it meaningful --- people are what they do Capitalism transforms work from something meaningful to meaningles Driven by profit people are mere appendages of the machine separating them from what they do, from who they are, and other workers (people). People lose control, estranged from social world, life is meaningless.

2 2. Durkheim ( ): Focused on the unity and strength of society a. Suis Generis society as its own entity (more than the sum of its parts b. Distinguished between two types of solidarity: mechanical and organic c. Mechanical Solidarity: Primitive society, everyone does same thing, share identical values that keep society together, simple division of labor d. Organic Solidarity: Complex division of labor, industrial society, organic like the body each part performs a function for the whole makes them interdependent holds society together e. Anomie: Industrialization causes societal norms to be in conflict or absent from the individual Threat to morality very concerned with social control and morality Need firm societal guidelines f. Suicide studied suicide as a societal problem rather than an individual psychosis. Religion and social cohesiveness prevent people from killing themselves (first empirical study suicide rates) Social stats Looked at religion, marriage, social ties, etc.

3 3. Weber ( ): Marx emphasized alienation, Weber emphasized Rationalization a. Rationalization deliberate calculation, efficiency, self-control, effectiveness in accomplishment of explicit goals b. Tradition is replaced by rationality (efficient for capitalism turns to iron cage) c. Impersonal, goal directed activities of bureaucracy d. Verstehen: See the world as it is expressed or experienced by others e. Ideal Type: Typological tool

4 B. Sociological Perspectives 1. Functionalism a. Each part of society contributes to the overall functioning of the social system. b. Three major underlying assumptions of this theory are that every part of society exists because it: Contributes something positive to the overall stability and functioning of society. It serves some purpose. It fulfills some basic need. c. Anything that is not found in a particular society is absent because the society doesn't need it in order to exist. d. Functionalism compares society to an organic unit like the human body. If something is found in our body, it bust serve some purpose and have a consequence for the operation of the overall system. Therefore, society, like the body, is a stable system. Society, like the body, is in a state of equilibrium Herbert Spencer is the sociologist that can be credited with contributing major ideas to functionalism, such as: The idea that social organizations form because they help fulfill some need, and; Social behavior that we would think of as bad or dysfunctional for society are actually practical. Emile Durkheim is considered to be the "father of functionalism." He believed that things in society happen for two reasons: To fulfill some specific social void or need, and To help establish and maintain social order Durkheim also believed that to understand society, you have to use both historical and functional analysis Work on Suicide

5 Talcott Parsons, a major sociological thinker of American Functionalism believed that the overall system and subsystems work together to form a balanced, stable whole that naturally tends toward stability rather than disorder. The force that underlies this stability of society is consensus. There is a strong agreement in the society on how to think and act. We are socialized to conform to similar rules and values in order to keep things running smoothly. When there are disruptions of the flow by members of society, this creates a strain that must be managed, bringing it back into balance. Functionalism views everything as a positive contribution to society, even something you might consider harmful or detrimental. Robert Merton, another sociologist, saw that not all human behavior is positively functional. Therefore, some of the disruptions in the smooth flow of society can be considered dysfunctions. He also made a major distinction with the idea of manifest and latent functions, as well as manifest and latent dysfunctions: Manifest refers to functions that are explicit, outward, or obvious reasons why we have something in society. Latent refers to the less obvious, more hidden-from-view, implicit reasons why something exists. It is important to remember that positive or negative functions don't necessarily mean good or bad, they are merely the consequences of actions or ideas for the stability of a social system.

6 2. Conflict a. The Conflict Perspective looks at systematic patterns of benefits and deprivations, patterned social struggles, and patterned competition within society, in order to find out who systematically suffers, or who benefits from social inequalities. These questions lead to a focus on power struggles, social stratification, and political movements. The theory states that unequal power relations in society inevitably lead to conflict, therefore making it a predictable part of societal interaction. Conflict becomes a source of both social order and social change. This is different from functionalism because conflict theory does not focus on social stability as an explanation, but rather social conflict. A conflict analysis assumes that when people interact, they almost always try to maneuver against one another in order to gain personal or class advantages. Members of each social class are self-interested, trying to achieve personal satisfaction. This assumes that people interact with one another as members of particular groups or social classes that are in competition with one another. Through these competitive interactions, they come to understand the status they hold in society, what their needs are, and how their own personal and class interests can be pursued. The material arrangements that influence particular interactions are also studied because most situations involve some type of inequality between interacting groups. This means that viewing relations from a conflict perspective involves looking at how evenly distributed the valued resources of society are, and how available they are to each of the interacting groups, as well as how any unevenness affects them. It is also important to look at how the groups with the most advantages try to dominate the groups with the least, and how these subordinate groups respond. People use many different kinds of tools to win conflicts, and the tools they use depend on their position in society. Those in the advantaged positions have access to the mass media, education, the police, as well as other powerful aids to help them gain control over resources. Thus, they are able to stay in the dominant position. There are only two possible outcomes of a conflict: dominance or a balance of forces. Either one side defeats the other or both sides are at a balance. In either case, a kind of social stability develops.

7 Class Conflict is one of the most widely studied forms of conflict and occurs at the level of social class. Karl Marx developed the idea that history is a struggle between two classes -- the capitalists or the bourgeoisie, and the workers, or the proletariat. Because the capitalists want to stay in control while keeping their profit high, they oppress the workers by controlling how much they make as well as the values and norms they believe in. Thus keeping the workers quiet and obedient. This doesn't always work, so conflict develops in the form of labor disputes, strikes, or revolution. Societal Conflict occurs when two different societies are in conflict and usually takes the form of war. It's important to ask in these situations, who benefits from the war by way of land, money, or time. C. Wright Mills developed the idea of the power elite, which are the key people in society who are able to control the lives and resources or large numbers of other people. To understand society, we must begin by identifying the key power holders and understand how they use their power, over whom they use it, and under what circumstances they use it. In the Conflict Perspective, stratification is functional only for those at the top. Otherwise, there is a constant struggle between different classes in society for scarce resources. People are in the position they are because the dominant group of society is using propaganda, coercion, and violence to protect the upper class from the lower classes.

8 Karl Marx was a major theorist of the conflict perspective that focused mainly on the class struggles of individuals. Marx felt that history was and is constantly filled with class struggle. Only two major groups were involved in that struggle: those who owned major resources used to produce things in society, and a bigger part of the population that owned nothing. This group was exploited by the other. This could be seen in the Roman times between the elite versus their slaves, in feudal times, the nobles versus the serfs, and now in modern industrial times with the capitalists versus the workers (bourgeoisie vs. proletariat). The Capitalists seized the profit the workers made in factories, forcing them to sell their labor at low wages. In each stage of history, internal contradictions would eventually lead the oppressed group to overthrow the ruling class. This would happen over and over until the capitalists would be too weak to stop the workers from taking over. The workers would wake up to their exploited condition and a revolution would occur. From that point on there would be no classes, and no inequality. This is what Marx called class consciousness. The workers actually saw the position they were in and came together in order to fight for their interests as a group. This has not yet occurred in American society, and some say it's because we have a different kind of capitalism than Marx saw. Yet most conflict theorists believe that stratification in our society leads to progressively greater strains and tensions between classes, and inevitably to social change. Whether that's a revolution, we'll have to wait and see. Others say that elite have many weapons at their disposal in order to keep society and the lower classes under control. Two of the main ways are the use of force, and the mass media. Force: use the police, military, national guard, FBI, etc. In the long run, it depends on legitimacy in order to maintain stratification. This is the belief that existing social and political institutions are the best one's for society. All ruling elite use their position at the top of society to create an ideology. This is a complex set of beliefs, values, and norms, which rationalize and support the elite's power and privileges. The dominant or most important and valued ideas in history have been the ideas of the ruling class.. The mass media is not necessarily controlled by the government or big corporations, but the ruling class does influence what kind of information we get and what kind of ideas we listen to.

9 Anti-government and Anti-business views are rarely expressed, and Hollywood gives us its share of who are enemies are: both foreign and in this country. Most of the media gives the same messages of free enterprise, equality of opportunity, individualism, hard work, and consumerism. This ideology taught through the mass media is used by the elite to confuse, distract, and divide the lower classes. In fact, what it does is make the lower classes comply or do whatever the upper class asks. This is explained by Marx's idea of false consciousness. This is where people hold beliefs that are really opposed to their interests or aren't for their own good, but benefit the elites, and keep them in control. People think certain values will help them but the ruling class tricks them into believing these so they will never smarten up and take over. Like blaming the victim.

10 3. Symbolic Interactionism a. The last two theories were macro views. They looked at relations of the larger society. Symbolic Interactionism deals with the micro or individual interactions of people. b. The idea here is to understand people's behaviors as the people themselves understand them. All individuals bring unique interpretations of their own actions with them to every interaction they have. And the people they interact with are constantly developing their own interpretations of other's words and behaviors. To truly understand the group process, each person's beliefs, attitudes, values, and behaviors must be examined and understood in their proper context. Anything that people experience or define as real is real. Without an understanding of context, you can't really comprehend the actions of any particular group. Symbolic Interactionists believe that an outsider trying to explain a group's behaviors might be misled by looking merely at the group members' overt actions. Only the people interacting can truly know what their interaction means; and it is this type of understanding symbolic interactionists try to achieve. George Herbert Mead contributed significantly to symbolic interactionism with this distinction between the I and Me. The "I" is the response of one person to the attitudes of others. It is the self-identified actor in social interaction. People think of themselves as directly affecting others opinions and actions. The "Me" is the set of attitudes one assumes as a result of interacting with other people. People think of themselves as objects of others' opinions or actions. Social interaction is a reciprocal process: How we act will determine how others will treat us, this in turn feeds into how we treat them.

11 a. C.H. Cooley: The looking glass self: we imaginatively assume the reactions of other people. The self emerges in a three-step sequence: The image of your own appearance You form an image of how you appear to other people (physical, personality, and behavior). The image of how others judge you How other people judge the image of you. How others perceive and judge you is the image you see in the looking glass (mirror) The responses of other individuals and society. You response to imagine reactions of others If you like what you see in the mirror your self-esteem will be bolstered increases development Negative reactions of others will cause you anxiety or modification of behavior. Finally, Erving Goffman developed an approach he called dramaturgy, where social interaction can be viewed as a series of small plays. Interactions are scripted by the roles of participants. We have these roles because we are socialized to know what others expect our behavior to be in different situations. People become skilled at what role to play and when to play it. Patterns begin to develop as to what roles each person plays, making it easier to see how each person deals with certain situations.

12 II. Methods of Sociology Because sociology is a science as well as being a theoretical discipline, it is important to know the ways in which sociologists study society scientifically when they do research on a particular social problem or issue. In Sociological research, there are two different approaches one can take when looking at or studying a particular social situation. The two types are pretty much opposite one another, with its own set of techniques and philosophy. It is important to understand that each type is well suited for the particular type of inquiry into the specific issue although both methods can be used on the same problem.

13 A. Quantitative 1. Quantitative research designs are considered more scientific, objective, and tend to be more legitimate in social science circles. Whenever journal articles are written in Sociology, it is mostly the quantitative ones that get published in more prestigious journals. This doesn t mean it is better, but that is the way it is perceived by many. a. Quantitative research designs are numbers oriented, usually involving the collection of large amounts of numerical data that will be interpreted and analyzed using statistics b. Looks at likelihood or probabilities as well as comparisons of various groups using certain criteria. 2. Advantages and Disadvantages of Quantitative Research a. Advantages include: the availability of well established study designs in sociological literature analysis of data is easy and straight forward b. Disadvantages include: absence of first hand observation of social behaviors and phenomenon allowing the sociologists insight into group behavior and other social phenomena problems caused by sample sizes 3. Examples of Quantitative Research a. Survey The survey method of gathering data is probably the most common and widely used quantitative methods. It is based on asking specific questions --when combined create a construct of what the researcher is trying to find (ex. Prejudice) The assumption is that some behavior or situation can be understood if they are given honest through answers to a series of questions that relate to what they are looking for. There are many types of surveys, such as written, monitored questionnaires; mailed questionnaires; man on the street interviews; and telephone surveys You may have all experienced surveys at one time or another through work, school, or on the telephone (telemarketing) at the most inconvenient time you could possibly think of.

14 Population: When a survey is done, it is directed at some sort of population, which is basically any group that the researcher is studying (ex. Students, the elderly, those on welfare, etc.) It would be impossible to survey everyone in an entire population, especially if you were looking at a country, or even all students in the United States it would be too time consuming and would cost too much, plus the chances of everyone wanting to participate are slim. Thus, researchers use a sample of smaller cases and use it to represent the entire population Representative Sample: Rather than even using a large sample, researchers try to at least get a representative sample. It acts as a small mirror of the population, thus it demands that there be equal or close to equal proportions in the sample of different groups as you would find in the population (ex. African Americans, Whites, women, elderly, gays, etc.) Thus the sample can be generalized to the population, the same outcomes that are true for the sample should be true for the population. Thus, even small samples can lead to accurate estimates of a large population is the magic number for being able to generalize to most any size population. Random Sampling: The best way to achieve generality is to use a random sample. This is where everyone in the population has an equal and same chance of being chosen to be in the sample. Thus, what is true of your sample is most likely true for the rest of the population. Many times computers are used or tables of many numbers called random number tables, where you choose the first number by closing your eyes and pointing then choose every sixth or tenth or whatever. Keep in mind that if the sample is improperly drawn, research bias can occur (a biased sample is used). This can create misleading results.

15 b. Controlled Experiment: Another quantitative method is the controlled experiment. This isn t used much in sociology because sociologists try to look at social phenomenon or things that go on in society -- not an artificial laboratory. This is where relationships are looked at between two variables in highly controlled conditions. The experimental group in an experiment is the group that receives the treatment, is the one tested, or observed. The control group does not receive the treatment but is used as the comparison to the treated group. There are many kinds of experimental designs that can be used (pretest posttest, posttest, pretest, etc.) This technique is mostly used in psychology where unwitting freshmen are subjected to the tests of professors and grad students.

16 B. Qualitative 1. When sociologists use qualitative methods, they are looking for subjective understandings, interpretations, and meanings. They are used so the researcher can get an overall feeling and totalistic understanding of the particular phenomena. It rarely uses statistical analysis and the subjects are looked at over time, notes are taken. Acquire a deeper understanding of what is going on see the situation as the people themselves do (Symbolic Interactionism) Allows one to capture the feel, texture, and meaning of the behavior and the context within which it takes place. 2. Advantages and Disadvantages of Qualitative Research a. The advantages are: firsthand observations allowing for insights into group and social dynamics flexibility in modifying research interests while in the field b. Disadvantages are: the subjectivity of the researcher (bias) uncertainty of representativeness generalizability is uncertain as well 3. Examples of Qualitative Research a. Historical records: this is research based on old letters, diaries, journals, or records (birth, death, etc.). It provides detailed information and broad explanations situates research in history. The information can be used to compare situations across history, but can also be biased. (History written by the victors, rich better documented, illegal immigrants, illiterate, rural populations, etc.) b. Interviews and Life Histories: Asks questions of a respondents and then records the answers (Structured Interview). Look for meaning and symbolism in the answers Life Histories involve a series on interviews or one long interview that looks for changes in the person over time, why those changes occurred, and how it affected the person. c. Participant Observation: One of the most common qualitative research designs, this places the researcher in the actual environment of the person or persons they are trying to study either overt or covert. The sociologist goes in the field to observe people and behaviors naturally. Just notes are taken. C. Ethics: It is important to remember in social research, in any kind of research, that the subjects of the study should not be harmed in any way (mentally or physically). a. Questions causing emotional damage or embarrassment b. Privacy and Anonymity concerns c. ASA attempts to protect subjects and universities have the Human Subjects review Board (HSRB).