Lecture 1 A Brief Introduction to Sociology by

Lecture #1 A Brief Introduction to Sociology by Mira Maulsharif, Ph. D. in sociology (candidate of sociological science), associate professor (docent)

F What do sociologists study, analyze, and write about? F What is the subject matter of sociology? (. . New FolderAVIWhat_Is_Sociology 4_xvid. avi)

Sociology is … the systematic study of: F the social behavior of individuals; F the workings of social groups, organizations, cultures, and societies; F the influence of social groups, organizations, cultures, and societies on individual and group behavior.

Sociology is the scientific study of society and human behavior.

Topics of Study Subject areas in Sociology are as varied as society itself. F Sociologists study: – very small social relationships (involving only a few people such as the family); – larger social collectivities (organizations and institutions). Concerned with: Social class, poverty, gender, race and ethnicity, religion, social mobility, education, culture, socialization, conflict, power, deviance. F F Very large social relationships (between nations) are also the domain of sociology (as of economics and political science); In fact, the whole topic of globalization is relevant to sociologists.

Microscopic Sociology and Macroscopic Sociology F We have mentioned: u Individuals, groups, organizations, cultures, and societies. F These are all points along a continuum that extends from the smallest units of sociological analysis, individuals, to the largest units, societies. – The smallest units are at the microscopic end of the social continuum; – The largest units are at the macroscopic end.

The terms microscopic and macroscopic F Microscopic sociology refers to the study of the smallest social units, namely, individuals and their thoughts and actions. F Macroscopic sociology focuses on larger social units such as groups, organizations, cultures, and societies.

Between microscopic social units and macroscopic units there are many different social phenomena, F such as families, small groups (bowling teams), large groups (religious congregations), and organizations (the United States Navy). F For convenience we can divide the range of social phenomena into the microscopic and macroscopic realms, but we should recognize that many social phenomena fall in the middle of the continuum and are difficult to categorize as strictly microscopic or macroscopic.

Some Fundamental Ideas of Sociology The actions and behaviors of humans create social settings and social rules … …but that these same settings and rules, in turn, influence the way humans act: Societies and other social Settings are humanly created F social settings influence and constrain human behavior F

Societies and Other Social Settings Are Humanly Created The social settings in which people live, and the social rules by which they live, have all been humanly created. F The general sociological point is that every day people affirm or modify their social settings, and by doing so they maintain or change them. Whenever modifications and changes are made, resistance usually arises from those who prefer the existing social arrangements. F Sociology is concerned with the way individuals—in the past and in the present— support or change their social settings. F

Social Influences on Human Behavior F Our attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors about the most fundamental things of life—morality, politics, religion, work, entertainment—are also changed. F Throughout our lives we are changed and modified as we enter different stages of life, different levels of education, new occupations, new communities, and new times.

The beginning of Sociology

The beginning of Sociology F No precise date can be given for the founding of sociology, but its beginnings date back to the early 1800 s. F General agreement prevails that the work of the French scholar Auguste Comte (17981857) gave sociology its name and an identity that eventually led to its status as a scholarly discipline.

F Of course, long before the term sociology was coined there were intellectuals, philosophers, and religious leaders who made observations about the nature of human behavior and human society. F A brief look at the ideas of the nineteenthcentury scholars who formed this distinctive new field of study will add to our understanding of sociology. F We will begin with the founder of sociology, Auguste Comte.

Isidore Auguste Marie François Xavier Comte Auguste Comte (19 January 1798 – 5 September 1857) was a French philosopher, a founder of the discipline of sociology and of the doctrine of positivism.

Social physics sociology F The appeal that the physical sciences had for Comte is revealed in the fact that he first called this new science of society social physics. Later, because that label had already been used by a Belgian scholar named Quetelet, Comte changed the name to sociology.

Two important ideas in Comte's work 1. He gave sociology a position among the other sciences of his time, and although it required the work of later scholars to solidify that position, Comte's pioneering effort deserves recognition. F 2. Also important in Comte's work is the idea that, as a science, sociology could solve social problems such as war, revolution, crime, and poverty. This idea continues to be a significant feature of sociology today. F

Emile Durkheim FAfter Comte, no sociologist worked more diligently to give sociology a place among the established scholarly disciplines than the French scholar Emile Durkheim (1858 -1917).

David Émile Durkheim Set up the first European department of sociology at the University of Bordeaux in 1895, publishing his Rules of the Sociological Method. F Durkheim's seminal monograph, Suicide (1897), a study of suicide rates amongst Catholic and Protestant populations, pioneered modern social research and served to distinguish social science from psychology or political philosophy. F For him, sociology was the science of institutions, its aim being to discover structural "social facts“. F

Emile Durkheim

F Mechanical solidarity Typical F Organic solidarity F Anomie literally means normlessness; it refers to situations in which individuals are uncertain about the norms of society.

FDurkheim's analysis of suicide is considered by many sociologists an excellent demonstration of the science of sociology (1 st- his use of suicide statistics that allowed him to do his analyses and report his findings in a quantitative form; 2 nd - he used social factors (in this case, societal conditions) to explain individual behavior). FDurkheim demonstrated a basic sociological premise, which is that human behavior can be explained in social terms.

Suicide (Durkheim, 1897 -1951) Our normal first reaction to a report of suicide is to try to understand explain this event in individual, usually psychological, terms. F Durkheim demonstrated that the social contexts in which people live can explain variations in the frequency of suicide. F For example, he collected analyzed statistical data on suicide rates in various European countries, and found that suicide rates went up during periods of social upheaval and change. He reasoned that during times of revolution, war, or economic depression, the conventional rules of conduct would be in flux and, therefore, unclear. Durkheim called this societal condition anomie. F

Max Weber F The German sociologist Max Weber (1864 -1920), like Durkheim, saw problems in the way European societies were changing. F The key change, according to Weber, was the increase of rationality as the basis of human behavior.

Rationality is a form of human action in which goals and objectives are set, and then achieved in the most efficient way possible. The choice of a behavior is based on how quickly and easily it will allow a person to reach a chosen goal or objective. F Weber believed that, over the course of several centuries, the Western world had come to emphasize rationality so completely that it dominated every aspect of modern social life. Although rationality has obvious benefits, Weber also considered it a negative development in human societies. F Furthermore, he believed that the trend toward an evergreater emphasis on rationality would continue. For Weber, the problems of the modern world, with its emphasis on rationality, were like an "iron cage" from which there was no hope of escape. F

Maximilian Carl Emil "Max" Weber F F (21 April 1864 – 14 June 1920) was a German sociologist and political economist Profoundly influenced social theory, social research, and the discipline of sociology itself. Weber's major works dealt with the rationalization and "disenchantment" he associated with the rise of capitalism and modernity. Weber was, along with his associate Georg Simmel, a central figure in the establishment of methodological antipositivism; presenting sociology as a nonempirical field which must study social action through resolutely subjective means. He is typically cited, with Émile Durkheim and Karl Marx, as one of the three principal architects of modern social science, and has variously been described as the most important classic thinker in the social sciences.

F The most visible symbol of rationality and efficiency to Weber was the bureaucracy. A large university, is one type of bureaucracy, but many other organizations are equally familiar examples. F In a bureaucracy, the standards of rationality and efficiency reign supreme; work is carefully divided into simple precise steps and made routine. The emphasis is only on speed and efficiency, with little regard for whether the work is meaningful for individual workers.

Karl Heinrich Marx (May 5, 1818 – March 14, 1883) German philosopher, political economist, historian, political theorist, sociologist, communist, and revolutionary His ideas played a significant role in the development of modern communism and socialism. Marx summarized his approach in the first line of chapter one of The Communist Manifesto, published in 1848: "The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles. "

Summary F Sociology is the study of human behavior, in all its many forms. F Sociological specialties or subfields focus on some part of human behavior and/or some aspect of social life. F Sociologists have different theoretical preferences, research preferences, and levels of analysis (microscopic or macroscopic).

Summary FAlthough sociologists differ on a number of issues, they generally share some fundamental ideas and views. One is that societies and other social settings are humanly created. Every day, people affirm and modify their social settings, but these same social settings, in turn, influence and constrain human behavior.

Summary FSociology provides an awareness and knowledge of cross-cultural and cross-national information. Through sociological concepts and theories, sociology can aid in understanding many issues and problems beyond the subject immediately under study.

Summary F The beginnings of sociology can be dated to the early 1800 s, when the work of Auguste Comte gave sociology its name and its place among other scholarly disciplines. F Among the other pioneers of sociology, the most famous are Emile Durkheim and Max Weber. Karl Marx was an early analyst and critic of society whose ideas have had a profound effect on contemporary sociology.