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Chapter 1 Notes

I. The Sociological Perspective A. This perspective is important because it provides a different way of looking at life, and contributes to our understanding of why people are the way they are. B. Sociology stresses the broader social context of behavior. 1. At the center is the question of how people are influenced by their society. 2. Sociologists look at peoples social location: culture, social class, gender, race, religion, age, and education. 3. Sociologists consider external influencespeoples experiencesthat are internalized and become part of a persons thinking and motivations. II. Origins of Sociology A. The study of sociology emerged as a result of the changes taking place in European societies at that time. These changes include: (1) the Industrial Revolution, in which traditional society and culture were transformed; (2) the American and French Revolutions, out of which new ideas about the rights of individuals within society were accepted; and (3) the application of scientific methods to find answers for questions about the natural order and our social world. B. applying the scientific approach to the social worldbut he did not utilize this approach himself. C. coined the term Darwinism. D. struggle between the proletariat and the bourgeoisiewas the key to human history. E. level of social integration, the degree to which people are tied to their social group, was a key to understanding suicide. Central to his studies was the idea that human behavior cannot be understood simply in individual terms, but must be understood within the larger social context in which it occurs. F. Protestantism encouraged greater economic development and was central to the rise of capitalism in some countries. Auguste Comte coined the term sociology and suggested the use of positivism Herbert Spencer, another social philosopher, viewed societies as evolutionary,the survival of the fittest, and became known for socialKarl Marx, founder of the conflict perspective, believed that class conflictt heEmile Durkheim studied the social factors underlying suicide and found that theMax Weber defined religion as a central force in social change, i.e., III. Sociology in North America A. Sexism and Early Female Sociologists. In the early years of sociology, the field was dominated by men because rigidly defined social roles prevented most women from pursuing an education.

1. Women were supposed to devote themselves to the four Ks: Kchen, Kinder, und Kleider 2. At the same time, a few women from wealthy families managed to get an education. 3. United States; she published research. She is credited with translating Comtes original works into English. B. Racism At The Time. Ph.D. from Harvard. 1. Du Bois conducted extensive research on race relations in the United States, publishing a book a year on this subject between 1896 and 1914. 2. Frustrated at the lack of improvements in race relations, Du Bois turned to social action, helping to found the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). C. house for the poor, and worked to bridge the gap between the powerful and the powerless. D. Theory Versus Reform. By the 1940s, as sociologists became more concerned with establishing sociology as an academic discipline, the emphasis shifted from social reform to social theory. 1. parts of society harmoniously work together. 2. Countering this development was sociologists to get back to social reform. He saw the emergency of the Kirche,(church, cooking, children, and clothes).Harriet Martineau studied social life in both Great Britain and theSociety in America, documenting herW.E.B. Du Bois was the first African American to earn aJane Addams and Social Reform. Addams founded Hull House, a settlementTalcott Parsons developed abstract models of society to show how theC. Wright Mills, who urged power elite E. The Continuing Tension: Basic, Applied, and Public Sociology. The debate over what should be the proper goals of sociological analysis, analyzing society or reforming society, continues today. 1. attempts at applied sociology was the founding of the NAACP by W.E.B. Du Bois and the establishment of Hull House by Jane Addams. 2. Today, applied sociologists work in a variety of settings, from business and hitech to government and not-for-profit agencies. 3. Applied sociology is the application of sociological knowledge. 4. as an imminent threat to freedom.Applied sociology exists between these two extremes. One of the first Basic Sociology.

5. Public Sociology. IV. Theoretical Perspectives in Sociology A. together and how they work. There are three major theoretical perspectives in sociology. B. to establish meaning, define their relationships, develop their views of the world, and communicate with one another. A symbolic interactionist studying divorce. Theory is defined as a general statement about how some parts of the world fitSymbolic interactionism views society as composed of symbols that people use would focus on the changing meanings of marriage, divorce, and family to explain the increase in divorce rates. C. function, which contributes to societys equilibrium. Spencer functionalism. 1. consequences of peoples actions. There are both Functional analysis sees society as composed of various parts, each with aAuguste Comte, Herbert, and Emile Durkheim all contributed to the development ofRobert Merton used the term functions to refer to the beneficialmanifest functions actions intended to help some part of the systemand latent functions unintended consequences that help social systems adjust. There are also latent dysfunctions equilibrium. 2. A functionalist would try to explain divorce by looking at how industrialization and urbanization both contributed to the changing function of marriage and the family. unintended consequences that undermine a systems D. According to for scarce resources. Divorce results from the shifting balance of power within the family. Men have resisted as women have gained power and tried to address inequalities in the marital relationship. conflict theory, society is composed of groups competing E. The perspectives differ in their level of analysis. examination of the large-scale patterns of society and is the focus for functional and conflict analysis. and is the focus for symbolic interactionism analysis. F. Each perspective provides different and often sharply contrasting pictures of the world. Sociologists use all three perspectives because no one theory or level of analysis encompasses all of reality. G. Research without theory is of little value; it becomes a collection of meaningless Macro-level analysis is anMicro-level analysis is an examination of social interaction facts to represent the way life really is. Theory and research have a reciprocal relationship since theory is used to interpret research findings and research helps generate theory. And theory that is unconnected to research is abstract and empty, unlikely VI. Doing Sociological Research A. Common sense cannot be relied on as a source of knowledge because it is highly limited and its insights often are incorrect. It is necessary to do sociological research to move beyond common sense and understand what is really going on and why. B. Scientific research follows eight basic steps:

1. Select a topic: this depends on what the researcher wants to know more about and explain. 2. Define the problem: this involves specifying exactly what the researcher wants to learn about the topic. 3. Review the literature: to uncover existing knowledge about the problem. 4. Formulate a hypothesis: state the expected relationship between variables or precise ways to measure the variables. 5. Choose a research method: the method is influenced by the research topic, based on a theory. Hypotheses need operational definitions, 6. Collect the data: concerns over definitions measure what was intended and which data produces consistent results, are the issues in this step. 7. Analyze the results: use a range of techniquesfrom statistical tests to content analysisto analyze data. Computers have become powerful tools in data analysis because they reduce large amounts of data to basic patterns in much less time than it used to take. 8. Share the results: write a report and publish the results to make the findings available for replication and review by others. validitythe extent to which operationalreliabilitythe extent to VII. Research A. questions. 1. The first step is to determine a studiedand selecting a target population who are intended to represent the population to be studied. 2. In a same chance of being included in the study. A sample sophomores, juniors) of the target population (a college or university); everyone in the subgroup has an equal chance of being included in the study. Because a random sample represents the target population, you can generalize your findings. 3. The allowed to express their own ideas so that the findings will not be biased. 4. Sociologists must decide between asking Surveys involve collecting data by having people answer a series ofpopulationt he target group to besamplei ndividuals from among therandom sample, each member in the target population has thestratified randomis a sample of specific subgroups (e.g. freshmen,respondents (people who respond to the survey) must beclosed-ended questions (the respondent selects one from a list of possible answers) and open-ended questions own words).

5. Establishing subjectsis important. (respondents answer the question in theirrapporta feeling of trust between researchers and B. the research setting and observe what is happening in that setting. C. In a D. researchers. E. books, newspapers, police reports, and records kept by a wide variety of organizations. F. 1. Experiments require an the independent variableand a exposed to the independent variable. Participant observation, or fieldwork, requires that the researcher participate incase study the researcher focuses on a single event, situation, or individual.Secondary analysis involves analyzing data already collected by otherDocuments, or written sources, may be obtained from many sources, includingExperiments are especially useful in determining causal relationships.experimental groupthe subjects exposed tocontrol groupt he subjects not 2. Experiments involve in something) and G. not know they are being studied. VIII. Gender and Sociological Research A. Gender issues can be an impediment in research. B. Researchers sometimes make mistakes. independent variables (factors that cause a changedependent variables (factors that are changed).Unobtrusive measures involve observing the social behavior of people who do IX Ethics and Values in Sociological Research A. Ethics are of fundamental concern to sociologists doing research. B. Ethical considerations include being open, honest and truthful, not falsifying results or stealing someone elses work, not harming the subject in the course of conducting the research, protecting the anonymity of the research subjects, and not misrepresenting themselves to the research subjects. C. Efforts by

with which sociologists view ethical considerations. Research by Humphreys subjects. D. values or biases should not influence social researchand objective, or totally neutral. 1. Sociologists agree that objectivity is a proper goal, but acknowledge that no one can entirely escape values. 2. one way to avoid the distortions that differing values can cause. 3. This debate illustrates the continuing tensions over the goal of sociological research. Some sociologists lean towards basic sociological research that has no goal beyond understanding social life and testing social theory; others feel that the knowledge gained should be used to reform society. Mario Brajuha to uphold his research ethics reflect the seriousnessLaudraised questions about how researchers represent themselves toWeber advocated that sociological research should be valuefreepersonalReplication, or repeating a study to see if the same results are found, is KEY TERMS After studying the chapter, review each of the following terms. applied sociology relationships to the macro level of crime and pollution (p. 12) : the use of sociology to solve problemsf rom the micro level of family basic sociology groups, not to make changes in those groups (p. 12) : sociological research whose purpose is to make discoveries about life in human bourgeoisie

: Marxs term for the capitalist (owner) class (p. 6) case study (p. 26) : a study in which the researcher focuses on a single event, situation, or even individual class conflict : Marxs term for the struggle between capitalists and workers (pp. 6-7) closed-ended questions respondent (p. 24) : questions followed by a list of possible answers to be selected by the conflict theory competing for scarce resources (p. 18) : a theoretical framework in which society is viewed as being composed of groups control group : the group of subjects not exposed to the independent variable (p. 27) dependent variable : a factor that is changed by an independent variable (p. 27) documents material of any sort, including photographs, movies, and so on (p. 27) : in its narrow sense, written sources that provide data; in its extended sense, archival experiment variables to test causation (p. 27) : the use of control groups and experimental groups and dependent and independent experimental group : the group of subjects exposed to the independent variable (p. 27) functional analysis parts, each with a function that, when fulfilled, contributes to societys equilibrium; also known as

: a theoretical framework in which society is viewed as composed of variousfunctionalism and structural functionalism (pp. 16-18) hypothesis from a theory (p. 20) : a statement of the expected relationship between variables according to predictions independent variable variable (p. 27) : a factor that causes a change in another variable, called the dependent macro-level approach : an examination of large-scale patterns of society (pp. 19-20) micro-level approach : an examination of small-scale patterns of society (pp. 19-20) nonverbal interaction (p. 19) : communication without words through gestures, space, silence, and so on objectivity : value neutrality in research (p. 31) open-ended questions : questions that respondents are able to answer in their own words (p. 24) operational definitions : the ways in which variables in a hypothesis are measured (p. 20) participant observation research setting while observing what is happening in that setting (p. 26) (or fieldwork): research in which the researcher participates in a population : the target group to be studied (p. 22) positivism

: the application of the scientific method to the social world (p. 5) proletariat : Marxs term for the working class (p. 6) public sociology sociological perspective for the benefit of the public (p. 12) : a middle ground between research and reform, it refers to harnessing the random sample being included in the study (p. 22) : a sample in which everyone in the target population has the same chance of rapport : a feeling of trust between researchers and the people they are studying (p. 26) reliability : the extent to which data produce consistent results (p. 21) replication : repeating a study in order to test its findings (p. 31) research method surveys, participant observation, case studies, secondary analysis, documents, experiments, and unobtrusive measures (pp. 20-21) (or research design): one of seven procedures sociologists use to collect data: respondents questionnaires (p. 23) : people who respond to a survey, either in interviews or by self-administered sample : the individuals intended to represent the population to be studied (p. 22) science : requires the development of theories that can be tested by research (p. 5) [the] scientific method

: the use of objective, systematic observation to test theories (p. 5) secondary analysis : the analysis of data already collected by other researchers (p. 27) social integration : the degree to which people feel a part of social groups (p. 7) social interaction : what people do when they are in one anothers presence (p. 19) social location society (p. 4) : the group memberships that people have because of their location in history and society : people who share a culture and a territory (p. 4) sociological perspective context (p. 4) : understanding human behavior by placing it within its broader social sociology : the scientific study of society and human behavior (p. 6) stratified random sample study (p. 22) : a random sample in which only certain subgroups are included in the survey : the collection of data by having people answer a series of questions (pp. 21-22) symbolic interactionism symbols that people use to establish meaning, develop their views of the world, and communicate with one another (p. 15) : a theoretical perspective in which society is viewed as composed of theory

explanation of how two or more facts are related to one another (p. 15) : a general statement about how some parts of the world fit together and how they work; an unobtrusive measures 27) : ways of observing people who do not know they are being studied (p. validity : the extent to which an operational definition measures what was intended (pp. 20-21) value free research (p. 31) : the view that a sociologists personal values or biases should not influence social values beautiful or ugly (p. 31) : the standards by which people define what is desirable or undesirable, good or bad, variables from one case to another (p.20) : factors thought to be significant for behavior, which vary