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CHAPTER OUTLINE Chapter 1 I. Introduction A. Sociology is defined as the science dealing with the study of social forces. It is the science of society and social behavior. B. Social forces that shape our lives: 1. Ideologies 2. Social relationships 3. Groups such as race, sex, and class 4. Structured pressures coming from corporations or international politics II. The Sociological Perspective (The sociological ways of perceiving and interpreting the social world) A. 3 key assumptions of the sociological perspective: 1. Individuals are by their nature social beings. a. Human infants are totally dependent on others for an extended period of time. b. Throughout history humans have demonstrated a capacity and need to cooperate with others in order to survive. 2. Individuals are largely socially determined a. Society (e.g., rules, values, goals) is transmitted to the child through the family. b. The individual's identity and perceptions are shaped by the social environment. c. One of the main tasks of sociology is to identify these social forces. d. However, this does not imply a total social determinism (the assumption that human behavior is explained exclusively by social forces). 3. Individuals create, sustain, and change the social forms within which they conduct their lives. a. Assumptions 1. Social groups of all sizes and types (families, peer groups, work groups, etc.) are made by people. 2. Interacting people create social structures that become sources of control over them. 3. The continuous interaction of group members act to change the group. b. Four important implications: 1. Social forms that are created have a certain momentum of their own that defies change. 2. Social organizations, because they are created and sustained by people, are imperfect. 3. Through collective action, individuals are capable of changing the structure of society and even the course of history. 4. Individuals are not passive; rather, through the process of human agency, they actively shape social life by adapting to, negotiating with, and changing social structures. B. Problems with the Sociological Perspective 1. Sociology is not a comfortable discipline. a. The sociological perspective challenges what is ordinarily taken for granted to the extent that sociologists: 1) Sociologists do not take everything at face value. 2) They ask questions about existing social arrangements. b. The critical examination of society 1) Sociology perspective demystifies and demythologizes social life. 2) It sensitizes individuals to the inconsistencies present in society. c. The sociological assumption is that the social world is human-made and therefore not sacred. d. An understanding of society's constraints is liberating. e. However, sociology is difficult because the behavior of sociology's subjects is not always certain. 2. Sociology is extraordinary because it can be regarded as both trivial and threatening. a. Some students may see sociology as trivial and boring. 1. May question the value of sociology and see Sociology as a science of the obvious. 2. Most are unconscious of their social boundaries. b. Sociology is subversive; it undermines our foundations by questing social arrangements. III. The Historical Development of Sociology A. Sociology emerged in Western Europe during the late eighteenth century, spurred by social changes brought on by the Industrial Revolution, the French Revolution, urbanization, capitalism, and the intellectual ideals of the period (e.g., progress, democracy, freedom, individualism, and the scientific method). B. Auguste Comte (1798-1857) 1. The founder of sociology 2. Sought to establish sociology as a science free of religious arguments about society and human nature. 3. Believed that positivism, which is the philosophy that knowledge should be based on systematic principles, experiments, and comparisons, could solve social problems. C. Emile Durkheim (1858-1917) 1. Durkheirn a. Provided the rationale for sociology by emphasizing social facts, which are human factors that explain human behavior. b. His classic study of suicide (1897) demonstrates how social factors explain individual behavior. 2. Durkheirn also pointed out the binding power of belief systems, how labeling some people as deviant reaffirms our conception of what is right, and. the impact of the division of labor on social solidarity. 3. Key concepts introduced by Durkheim: social roles, socialization, anomie, deviant behavior, social control, and the social bond. D. Karl Marx (1818-1883) - The founding father of conflict theory 1. Devoted his life to analyzing and criticizing the society around him. 2. He reasoned that the economic system found in society provides the basic social structures, which are: a. System of stratification b. Unequal distribution of resources c. The bias of the taw d. Prevailing ideology. 3. Interested in how the economic system, particularly capitalism, shaped society. a. Owners of capital: 1. Exploited their workers for maximum profit. 2. Used their economic power to keep the less powerful in their place and to benefit unequally. 3. Determined the prevailing ideology created false consciousness (believing in ideas that are not in their objective interests but rather in the best interests of the capitalist class) which contributed to the oppression of the working class. 4. Social change occurs when the contradictions inherent in capitalism cause the working class to: a. Recognize their oppression b. Develop class consciousness by recognizing their class interests, common oppression, and an understanding of who their oppressors are c. Revolt against the system. 5. Marx made extraordinary contributions to core sociological concepts: systems of inequality, social class, power, alienation, and social movements. E. Max Weber (1864-1920): A response to Marx 1. Much of Weber's thought was a reaction to the writings of Karl Marx (who Weber considered to narrowly deterministic. 2. Weber contended: a. The basic structure of society comes from three sources: the political, economic, and cultural spheres. b. Weber argued that political power may have its source in the charisma, or expressive qualifies, of individual leaders or in organizations. 3. The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (1904), which demonstrates how the Protestant belief system made capitalism possible, was Weber's most important work. 4. Weber added to the field of sociology such core concepts: power, ideology, charisma, bureaucracy, and social change. IV. Sociological Methods: The Craft of Sociology A. 4 types of sociological questions: 1. Factual questions try to identify "who," "what," "when," and "where." 2. Comparative questions allow us to compare one area or group to others. (See Table 1.1) 3. Historical questions look for trends and changes over time. 4. Theoretical questions seek to identify causal relationships a. Theoretical questions ask why?' b. A sociological theory is a set of ideas that explains a range of human behavior and a variety of social and societal events. B. Problems in collecting data 1. Objectivity a. Sociologists as social scientists are obligated to study society in a detached and dispassionate manner. b. However, sociologists are also members of society with beliefs, feelings, and biases. 2. Value neutrality (to be absolutely free of bias in research) can be attacked from three positions: a. Scientists should not be morally indifferent to the implications of their research. b. Type of problems researched and strategies employed tend either to support the existing societal arrangements or to undermine them. In both cases, social research is political. c. Bias is inevitable in studying social problems. d. Sociologists must display scientific integrity and must recognize bias so that it does not and must recognize bias so that it does not invalidate their findings. 3. Minimizing bias (see Research Methods box) 4. Non-scientific analysis a. People tend to generalize from personal experiences, which is a sampling problem. b. People may make assumptions from a single case. c. People tend to use some authority, such as the media or the Bible, instead of their senses. 5. Prevailing myths and stereotypes that are contradicted by scientific evidence. a. Six myths that are not supported by the facts: 1. Most homeless people are disabled by drugs, mental disease, or physical afflictions. 2. Adolescent Blacks are more likely than adolescent whites to use drugs. 3. Welfare makes people dependent, lazy, and unmotivated. 4. Welfare is given more generously to the- poor than to the non- poor. 5. Blacks are similar in their behaviors (i.e. they are monolithic). 6. Unmarried women are having children to increase their welfare payments. b. Use of aphorisms, proverbs and conventional wisdom to describe events. C. Sources of data 1. Survey research-allows researcher to obtain information using standardized questionnaires and sophisticated statistical techniques. a. Data may be gathered using: 2. Personal interviews (caption, p.21) 3. Written questionnaires b. The researcher obtains information: 1. From a selected sample (a representative part of a population). 2. Regarding a particular variable (an attitude, behavior, or condition that vary in magnitude and significance from case to case). 2. Experiments are used to understand the cause and-effect relationship among a few variables. a. Two groups are used: 1. The control group, which is a group of subjects not exposed to the independent variable. 2. The experimental group, which is made up of the subjects who are exposed to the independent variable. b. Change is studied because the researcher. 1. Varies the subjects' exposure to the independent variable, which is the condition that is believed to be responsible for the anticipated change. 2. The amount of change that happens to the dependent variable (the variable that is influenced the effect of another variable) is observed and measured. 3. Observations can be used to record or watch and study what occurs in a community, group, or social event. 4. Existing data, which has been collected by another researcher or agency, may be used as the source of data needed to describe. CHAPTER OUTLINE Chapter 2 1. Introduction A. The authors discuss the Sherifs' classic summer camp experiment to illustrate the dynamics of social organization. When the boys enrolled in the camp were divided into two groups, each group developed: 1 . Divisions of labor 2. Hierarchial structure of ranks 3. kules that governed behavior 4. Punishments for violations of the rules 5. Specialized languages (argots) with nicknames and group symbols 6. Member cooperation to achieve goals. II. The Micro Level: The Process of Social Organization A. The process of social organization 1 . Social organization refers to the ways in which human conduct is socially organized - that is there are observed regularities in the behavior of people 2. The social conditions that constrain human behavior can be divided into two groups: a. Social structure - the structure of behavior in groups and society; b. Culture - the shared beliefs of group behavior that: 1) Unites members, and 2) Guides their behavior B. Social Structure - patterns that emerge when people interact-through linkages and networks-over time 1. Aggregates - a collection of individuals who happen to be at the same place at the same time. 2. Groups - collections of people who, because of sustained interaction, have evolved a common structure and culture. a. Social interaction is the basic building block of groups. 1) Communication through speech, the written work, or a symbolic act such as a wink, facial expression, or gesture. 2) Social interaction may be either transitory or enduring. A case of enduring social interaction is a social relationship in which members are united at least in some minimal with the other members of the group. b. Members of a social relationship behave differently than they would as participants in a fleeting interaction. And once interaction takes place, the behavior of participants is profoundly altered. C. Culture - the shared beliefs of a group's members that serve to guide and constrain their conduct. 1. Norms are common expectations that emerge about how people should act. 2. Values are the criteria that emerge for judging what is appropriate, correct, moral, and important. 3. Social roles are the expectations that group members have of individuals occupying various positions Within the group. D. Norms are the behavioral expectations that members of a particular group collectively share. 1 . Folkways are the minor rules that vary from group to group. Folkways involve etiquette, customs, and minor regulations. 2. Mores are important norms, the violation of which results in severe punishment. Mores involve morality and can be thought of as "moral imperatives." E. Status and Role are the positions of social organization within the group. An understanding of what positions are present and how they are interrelated provides a "structural map" of the social group. 1. Status refers to the position one plays in an organization or group. 2. Hierarchy refers to the arrangement of people in order of importance and in terms of how they are rewarded and esteemed. 3. An individual's master status refers to a status that has exceptional significance for social identity; it "trumps" all other statuses when a situation or an individual is evaluated by others. 4. The behavior expected of a person occupying a status in a group is that person's role, which are behavioral expectations and requirements attached to a position in a social organization. 5. A-Jthough role performance by members may vary, the organization or group generally remains stable. 6. The role performance of the occupants of the various statuses in an organization or group can vary for three reasons: a. Personality variables can make obvious differences in the behavior of individuals even under identical groups statuses and situations. b. The status occupant 1) May not receive a clear, consistent message as to what behavior is expected in a given status. 2) May hold multiple group memberships and statuses with conflicting expectations. 3) May change statuses within the group or organization and thus be subject to changed expectations. c. Roles have the power to protect individuals and relieves the individual of the responsibility for action. 7. Social Control is achieved by the group by a. Demanding conformity on certain important norms, and b. Socializing members to internalize the group's norms and values, and c. Establishing sanctions or social rewards and punishments for approved and disapproved behavior. d. Society's sanctions (or the threat of sanctions) act to constrain the individual and maintain social control. 8. Primary and Secondary Groups a. A social group is: 1 ) An organization created through enduring and attemed interaction. 2) People who have a common identity, share a common culture, and define themselves as a distinct social unit. 3) Two types: a) Primary Groups are groups whose members are the most intimately involved with each other, small and face-to-face; informal in organization, and long-lasting. b) Secondary Groups are much larger and more impersonal; formally organized; task- oriented; and relatively non-permanent. 4) Primary groups within secondary groups are important in carrying out the goals of the secondary group because they create loyalty, discourage individualism, and generate shared goals and values, all of which are important to the long-term success of the larger group. b. Bureaucracy: The Ultimate Secondary Group 1 ) A bureaucracy is a hierarchical formal organization characterized by rationality and efficiency - that is, improved efficiency and more effective attainment of common goals. 2) Organization efficiency is maximized: a) The work is divided into small tasks and performed by specialists b) There is a hierarchy (chain of command), with each position having clearly defined duties and responsibilities c) Behaviors are governed by standardized, written, and explicit rules d) All decisions are made on the basis of technological knowledge (not personal considerations). e) Members are judged solely on the basis of proficiency and discipline is impartially enforced. 3) Bureaucracies - a "well-oiled machines"? a) Bureaucracies pervade all levels of government, the church, education, organized sports (e.g., the NCAA and athletic departments at "big-time" schools), and corporations. b) McDonaldization describes the increasing bureaucratization of social life (George Ritzer). c) Benefits of bureaucracy include: i) Division of labor is efficient. ii) Specific expectations of members. iii) Rewards based on achievement rather than favoritism. iv) Expertise for specific tasks coordinated to accomplish complex goals. d) Criticisms of bureaucracy include: i) Excessive number of regulations. ii) Blind obedience to these rules and the unquestioned following of orders that prevents the efficient handling of unusual situations. iii) Where adherence to was once a means to and end becomes an end-, in-itself (Merton). iv) "Iron cage" of rationality - bureaucracies are cages in the sense that people are trapped in them, their basic humanity denied. • Causes dehumanization that is characteristic of bureaucracies. • Weber feared dehumanization would overtake modem society. 9. Power of the Social Group - Groups affect peoples lives in a number of ways: a. The group affects the probability of suicide -Durkheim 1) One's attachment to a group affects the probability of suicide. 2) Durkheim posited three types of suicide: a) Egoistic - when an individual has minimal ties to a social group. b) Altruistic - when an individual is totally group-oriented. c) Anomic - when an individual experiences conflicting group expectations. b. The group affects the individual's perceptions. 1) Asch's experiment examined the effect of group pressures. He asked subjects to compare the length of a line on a card; some participants were coached to give the wrong answer, when pressured, subjects often agreed with incorrect answers. 2) Sherif, in a series of experiments, tried to determine the extent of conformity of subjects. He had subjects placed alone in a dark room and asked to describe when a light moved. When placed in a group, individuals frequently modified their observations to make them consistent With those of others in the group. c. The group affects the individual's convictions. 1 ) Provides effective social support for members even in the face of contradictory evidence. 2) Festinger conducted an experiment to see how a group would handle a prophecy and a disconfirmation of it. The leader of a group, whose members believed there would be a devastating flood, was instructed to assemble the group and wait for a flying saucer to arrive and save them. When the spacecraft did not appear, another communication was made to the leader they the area was being spared. The group was not disillusioned, but instead reaffirmed their beliefs and doubled their efforts to win converts. d. The group affects the individual's health and life. 1) Because a child is destined to occupy the social stratum (caste, cJass, etc.) into which he or she is bom, other members of that stratum (usually the family) will prepare the child for his/her role in society. 2) Examples: a) The family of a child in Indian's lower classes will prepare the child to become a beggar by intentionally deforming the child (deformed beggars are seen as more successful at the task). b) Many Appalachian families practice serpent handling and expose themselves and their children to injury or death c) Members of certain religious sects refuse medical treatment for themselves and their children (e.g., the Church of the First Bom). e. Group affects the individual's behavior 1) Although human beings are biologically programmed to eat, drink, sleep, and engage in sexual activity, human groups significantly shape how these drives are met. 2) Our everyday activities, our perceptions and interpretations, and our attitudes are the productions of our group memberships. f. Social groups undergo a "universal process" - the process of social organization. 1) Interaction among the social actors in a social organization is constant and continuous, reinforcing stability 2) However, group interactions also brings about change III. The Macro Level: The Social Structure of Society A. Societies 1. Are the largest social organizations to which people owe their allegiance. 2. A society is a. An aggregate of people who are united by a common culture. b. An aggregate of people who are relatively autonomous and self-sufficient. c. An aggregate of people who live in a definite geographical location B. A society is a social system, composed of interdependent parts that are linked together into a boundary-maintaining whole. 1. A system has a. Order and predictability within the system b. Clear boundaries in terms of membership and terTitory c. The parts are interdependent 2. The authors use the U.S. economy as an example of interdependence. C. Culture of society 1. Culture explains the persistence of most aspects of social life. 2. Culture explains much of individual and group behavior. D. Social classes 1. Social stratification is the hierarchical arrangement of people in terms of power, prestige, and resources 2. At the individual level, placement in the hierarchy directly affects self-perception, motivation, political attitudes, and the degree of advantage or disadvantage in school, the economy, courts, and life itself 3. At the society level, the extent of inequality affects the types and magnitude of social problems, societal stability, and economic growth D. Social institutions 1. Institutions are social arrangements that channel behavior in prescribed ways in important areas of social life. 2. Institutions are interrelated sets of norms, values, and role expectations. 3. Social institutions are the product of cultural evolution that tend to be conservative, but are subject to deliberate efforts toward constructive changes. CHAPTER 3 OUTLINE I. Introduction A. How can one explain violence? 1. One's answer depends on one's vantage point in the power structure, because violence is defined as such if the act threatens the power structure. 2. Violence always refers to a disruption of some condition or order. However, order, like violence, is also politically defined 3. Order itself can be very destructive to some categories of persons (e.g., caste and class systems) a. For instance the normal way society is organized does harm to some people (e.g. minorities in some society's receive poor health care, low wages, segregated facilities, unfair systems of justice, inferior education.) b. Sometimes the term "violence" is not applied to high mortality rates and rates of preventable disease that prevail among the poor and powerless in every society. c. The term "institutional violence" is used to imply that the system itself injures and destroys. 4. Violence is defined politically through the selection process; some acts of violence are not forbidden or condemned. a. For instance, property damaged during celebrations like the Mardi Gras or destruction by students on spring break in Florida. b. The same destruction in a demonstration intended to change the system would be defined as violent. c. Thus, violence is condoned or condemned through political pressures and decisions. 5. Understanding the relationship between the power structure and violence and how violence is defined helps us to understand the role of conflict and order in society. II. Social Systems: Order and Conflict A. The analysis of society begins with a mental image or model of its structure. 1. The analytical model (or mental picture one has of the structure of society) influences what sociologists: a. Look for. b. What they see. c. How they explain the phenomena that occur within society. 2. One characteristic of society is the existence of segmentation: a. Segmentation is the basis for the two prevailing models of society. b. May result from differences in age, race, sex, physical prowess, wisdom, or any other characteristic considered important by its members. c. The important question is "What is the basic relationship among the parts of society?" d. The contradictory. answers to that question protide the rational for two models of society - conflict and order. B. The order model, which is sometimes referred to as functionalism 1. The order model attributes to society: a. The essential characteristics of cohesion, consensus, cooperation, reciprocity, stability, and persistence. b. The various parts of the system are basically in harmony with each other. c. A high degree of cooperation (and societal integration) arises because there is a high degree of consensus on societal goals and cultural values. 2. Central questions for order theorists a. What is the nature of the social bond? b. What produces social cohesion? 3. Emile Durkheim provided the classic discussion of the order model in the early 1900S a. For Durkheim, there were two types of societies: 1) Smaller, less complex societies a) Solidarity among members occur through the collective holding of beliefs. b) Social integration occurs because the members are alike. 2) Modern, complex societies a) Social integration is achieved through differentiation. b) Society is based on a division of labor in which members involved in specialized tasks are united by their dependence on each other. b. Durkheim focused on integration by determining the manifest and latent consequences of social structures. 1 ) Manifest consequence refers to the intended consequence of a particular function in society (for instance, the manifest consequence of the punishment of crime is punishing and deterring the criminal). 2) Latent consequence refers to the unintended consequence of a societal function. For instance, the latent consequence of the punishment of crime is the societal reaffirmation of what is to be considered moral. c. By focusing on the consequences of social structures and activities-intended and unintended, and negative, malintegrative functions (dysfunctions) we can better understand social arrangements and activities. C. The conflict model 1. Offers a different view of society which posits that: a. Conflict is a normal feature of social life. b. Conflict influences the distribution of power. c. Conflict influences the direction and magnitude of social change. d. Because the individuals and groups of society compete for advantage, the degree of social integration is minimal and tenuods. e. Social change results from the conflict among competing groups; therefore change tends to be drastic and revolutionary. f. Conflict results from the dissimilar goals and interests of social groups g. Conflict is the result of social organization itself. 2. Historically, the most important conflict theorist has been Karl Marx. a. Marx believed that there exists in every society a dynamic tension between two groups who were the sources of division and exploitation. The two groups are: 1) Owners of the means of production. 2) Workers, who work for them. b. Marx focused on inequality-between the oppressors and the oppressed, the dominant and the dominated, the powerful and the powerless. 1) The powerful protect their privileges by supporting the status quo. 2) The powerful abuse the powerless, thereby sowing the seeds of their own destruction. 3) The destruction of the elite is accomplished when the dominated people unite and overthrow the dominants. 3. Contemporary conflict theorist, Ralf Dahrendorf argued that: a. Although conflict is a universal condition, aspects of social organization other than economic factors generate it. b. Conflict is inherent in social organization because organization means that power is distributed unequally between "haves" and "have-nots." 4. Conflict theorists emphasize that any unity present in society results from coercion, not from consensus. D. The duality of social life 1. An overview or order and conflict theories (see Table 3.1) reveals that: a. Each focuses on reality, but only part of that social reality. b. Scientists have tended to accept one or the other of these models, thereby focusing on only part of the social reality for two reasons: 1) One model or the other was in vogue at the time. 2) One model or the other made more sense for the analysis of the particular problems of interest. 2. The analysis of sport illustrates the difference in how sociologists are influenced by the order and the conflict models. a. From the order perspective, it is argued that sport contributes to the stability of society; it preserves the existing order by: 1) Symbolizing the American way of life (e.g., competition, individualism, achievement, fair play). 2) Socializing youth to adopt desirable character traits, to accept authority, and to strive for excellence.