The Sociological Perspective The systematic study of human

The Sociological Perspective The systematic study of human society .

Alexander Vladimirovich Lissovsky • Ph. D – social psychology, St. Petersburg State University • MA – sociology, Duke university, NC, USA. • 30 years experience in sociological and marketing research. • Hobbies: Reading, Sports – basketball, badminton, Jazz, Mushroom hunt.

Grade components • 55% Research projects • 35% Test (multiples choice and open questions) • 10% In class activity Request for monitors (старосты) -- e-mail for the group -- photos of the classmates

What Is Sociology? “. . . The systematic study of human society ” – Systematic • Scientific discipline that focuses attention on patterns of behavior – Idiosyncratic is interesting, but… rather for the psychology of personality – Human society • Group behavior is primary focus; how groups influence individuals and vice versa – E. g. Composition of groups (who will be your classmates) – At the “heart of sociology” • The sociological perspective which offers a unique view of society – Ex. Why people move from Far East of Russia to European part of Russia?

Why Take Sociology? • Education and liberal arts – Well-rounded as a person – Social expectations • More appreciation for diversity – The global village – Domestic social marginality • Enhanced life chances – Micro and macro understanding – Increase social potentials

Benefits of the Sociological Perspective 1. Helps us assess the truth of common sense – Baseball sails: 500000 bats, 2 balls, 1 glove. 2. Helps us assess both opportunities and constraints in our lives 3. Empowers us to be active participants in our society 4. Helps us live in a diverse world

Do you have a sociological intuition? Answer True or False. • It is absolutely unacceptable in US for students to eat in a class during lectures, but in Latin American countries it is OK. • Although a capital punishment is cruel those countries, which practice it, enjoy much lower criminal rates for murdering, robbing and rapes.

Do you have a sociological intuition? (continued) • In modern industrial countries one half of the married couples divorce. • Wars are inevitable, they correspond to aggressive nature of humans and anthropologists witness that armed conflicts are (and were) widespread among so-called “primitive tribes”

Do you have a sociological intuition? (continued) • Love is a natural and necessary element in all human societies, which is closely related to marriage. • During the WWII it was much easier for less educated soldiers to adopt for army service compared to more educated soldiers.

Do you have a sociological intuition? (continued) • Everywhere in the world people value highly money and other material resources and invest a lot of effort striving for prosperity. • The percentage of people who commit suicides are approximately the same in all countries: everywhere there are people, who are unhappy or mentally disturbed.

Importance of Global Perspective • Where we live makes a great difference in shaping our lives • Societies throughout the world are increasingly interconnected through technology and economics. • Many problems that we face in Russia are more serious elsewhere. • Thinking globally is a good way to learn more about ourselves.

The Sociological Perspective Peter Berger • Seeing the general in the particular – Sociologists identify general social patterns in the behavior of particular individuals. • E. g. social organization of space • Seeing the strange in the familiar – Giving up the idea that human behavior is simply a matter of what people decide to do • E. g. dolls and toy guns brought to school – Understanding that society shapes our lives • What you need to do before you get a permission to travel abroad.

Common Sense • Absence makes the heart grow fonder • Разлука любовь бережет • Разлука для любви, что ветер для искры: маленькую затушит, а большую сделает еще сильнее • Far from eye, far from heart! • Out of sight, out of mind! • С глаз долой – из сердца вон!

Common Sense • Two heads are better than one • Одна голова хорошо, а две – лучше • Many commanders sink the ship. Everyone's business is nobody's business. • У семи нянек дитя без глазу.

Common sense • Work will still be there (tomorrow) • работа не волк, в лес не убежит • Never put off till tomorrow what you can do today. • Никогда не откладывай на завтра то, что можешь сделать сегодня. • Не оставляй на завтра дела, а оставляй хлеба.

Durkheim’s Study of Suicide • Emile Durkheim’s research showed that society affects even our most personal choices. – More likely to commit: male Protestants who were wealthy and unmarried – Less likely to commit: male Jews and Catholics who were poor and married • One of the basic findings: Why? – The differences between these groups had to do with “social integration. ” – Those with strong social ties had less of a chance of committing suicide.

C. Wright Mills’ Sociological Imagination • The power of the sociological perspective lies not just in changing individual lives but in transforming society. • Society, not people’s personal failings, is the cause of social problems. • The sociological imagination transforms personal problems into public issues.

The Origins of Sociology • One of the youngest of academic disciplines, sociology has its origins in powerful social forces. • Social Change – Industrialization, urbanization, political revolution, and a new awareness of society • Science – 3 -Stages: Theological, Metaphysical & Scientific – Positivism–A way of understanding based on science • Gender & Race – These important contributions have been pushed to the margins of society.

Sociological Theory • Theory: a statement of how and why facts are related – Explains social behavior to the real world • Theoretical paradigm: A set of fundamental assumptions that guides thinking – Structural-functional – Social-conflict – Symbolic-interaction.

Structural-Functional Paradigm • The basics – A macro-level orientation, concerned with broad patterns that shape society as a whole – Views society as a complex system whose parts work together to promote solidarity and stability • Key elements: – Social structure refers to any relatively stable patterns of social behavior found in social institutions. – Social function refers to the consequences for the operation of society as a whole.

Who’s Who in the Structural. Functional Paradigm • Auguste Comte – Importance of social integration during times of rapid change • Emile Durkheim – Helped establish sociology as a discipline • Herbert Spencer – Compared society to the human body • Robert K. Merton – Manifest functions are recognized and intended consequences. – Latent functions are unrecognized and unintended consequences. – Social dysfunctions are undesirable consequences.

Social-Conflict Paradigm • The basics: – A macro-oriented paradigm – Views society as an arena of inequality that generates conflict and social change • Key elements: – Society is structured in ways to benefit a few at the expense of the majority. – Factors such as race, sex, class, and age are linked to social inequality. – Dominant group vs. disadvantaged group relations

Who’s Who in the Social-Conflict Paradigm • Karl Marx – The importance of social class in inequality and social conflict • W. E. B. Du Bois – Race as the major problem facing the United States in the 20 th century

Feminism and the Gender-Conflict Approach • A point of view that focuses on inequality and conflict between women and men • Closely linked to feminism, the advocacy of social equality for women and men • Women important to the development of sociology: Harriet Martineau and Jane Addams

The Race-Conflict Approach • A point of view that focuses on inequality and conflict between people of different racial and ethnic categories • People of color important to the development of sociology: Ida Wells Barnett and W. E. B. Du Bois

Symbolic-Interaction Paradigm • The basics – A micro-level orientation, a close-up focus on social interactions in specific situations – Views society as the product of everyday interactions of individuals • Key elements – Society is nothing more than the shared reality that people construct as they interact with one another. – Society is a complex, ever-changing mosaic of subjective meanings. E. g. Car accident – “I can’t operate: this is my son”.

Who’s Who in the Symbolic-Interaction Paradigm • Max Weber – Understanding a setting from the people in it • George Herbert Mead – How we build personalities from social experience • Erving Goffman – Dramaturgical analysis • George Homans & Peter Blau – Social-exchange analysis

Critical Evaluation • Structural-Functional – Too broad, ignores inequalities of social class, race & gender, focuses on stability at the expense of conflict • Social-Conflict – Too broad, ignores how shared values and mutual interdependence unify society, pursues political goals • Symbolic-Interaction – Ignores larger social structures, effects of culture, factors such as class, gender & race

Applying the Approaches: The Sociology of Sports • The Functions of Sports – A structural-functional approach directs our attention to the ways in which sports help society operate – Sports have functional and dysfunctional consequences

Sports and Conflict • Social-conflict analysis points out that games people play reflect their social standing. • Sports have been oriented mostly toward males. • Big league sports excluded people of color for decades. • Sports are bound up with inequalities based on gender, race, and economic power. – Sports as a social elevator.

Sports as Interaction • Following the symbolic-interaction approach, sports are less a system than an ongoing process. • All three theoretical approaches— structural-functional, social-conflict, and symbolic-interaction—provide different insights into sports. None is more correct than the others.