From Social Thought to Social Science

From Social Thought to Social Science Social sciences developed out of the

human desire to understand the world and predict events

RenaissanceScience comes first to the natural and physical world

Science of sociology emerges from the social ferment of 18th and early 19th centuries

Scientific Revolution French Revolution

Industrial Revolution

Emerging scientific discoveries had huge impact on people’s social lives

Kepler, Copernicus, Newton, Galileo, Descartes, and Ptolemy

Voltaire

Rousseau

Diderot

Montesquieu

18th Century philosophers believed in progress guided by human reason rather than the idea of preordained fate

French Revolution

American and French revolutions were social movements fueled by the ideas of: Egalitarianism Democracy Self-government

Industrial Revolution

Horses to the Steam Engine

Rural to Urban Cottage industry to

Mass production

Massive changes in society

New social conditions require new ways to answer social questions

If the current social structure was not divinely ordained, what structure would replace old traditions?

Would people’s increasing desire for freedom lead to deterioration of social order?

Answers to these questions not found in Scripture or Greek Classics

Sociological Imagination

Sociologists are concerned with how social conditions influence our lives as individuals

The sociological imagination helps one see the relationship between social conditions and one’s own situation in life

Early Sociologists thinking

KARL MARX(1818-1883): Conflicts between workers and owners of capital would cause major upheavals

People should try to change societyMarx didn’t consider himselfA sociologist, but his ideas About class struggle are sociological

EMILE DURKHEIM(1858-1917): Social change would be the result of population growth, and change in organization of work and community life

Well known for suicide studies Each country had stable suicide

rates, and different sub groups

had different suicide rates

THEREFORE human behavior cannot be understood simply in individualistic terms; we must always examine Social forces in people’s lives

MAX WEBER(1864-1920): People attach meaning to their own actions and the actions of others. Social life is based on the accumulation of individual interactions.

Societies differ in how

their members see the

world and interact with it.

Sociology, the Human Science

DEFINITION: “The scientific study of human societies and human behavior in the many groups that make up society

CORE IDEA: Individual choice is always determined to some extent by a person’s environment

“How is our identity shaped by culture?”

““Theory”Theory”

A suggested explanation for something…

A systematic and general attempt to

explain something…

“Why do people get married?”

“Why do people commit

crimes?

“How does the media affect us?” “Why do kids play

truant from school?”

“Why do some people believe in

God?”

““Theory”Theory”

…is something we use all the time in our

everyday life

“Why do I feel unwell?”

“Why are my friends behaving

oddly?”

“Why do I have to go to school?”

We all use theory to construct explanations about the social world in which we live…

Which, in a way, is what Sociologists also try to do…

In a slightly different way, of course…

sociological theories are usually known by their more-

common label of “Sociological Sociological PerspectivesPerspectives”

A “perspective”, for our current purposes, is simply

a way of looking at and understanding the social

world.

Different sociologists, working within different perspectives, construct different theories about the nature of that world…

Sociological Perspectives…Sociological Perspectives…The following slides are designed to help you understand the basic themes / principles of a range of sociological perspectives

They do this by using analogies…

In other words, they help you to decide “what society is like” (from different sociological perspectives) by asking you to compare “society” to something familiar…

Part of your task in the following screens, therefore, is to use a variety

of different analogies to develop a picture of how the concept of “society”

is seen and explained by different sociological perspectives…

Functionalism

Social structures exist to fulfill vital functions (purposes) for society

Function of family is to raise and train new generation

Change can throw social structures out of balance. Agrarian societies with large families became

out of sync as need for labor decreases. Now current family structures are

‘dysfunctional’

Functionalism…Functionalism…

“Society Is Like”: A Human Body

Characteristics of human body… Characteristics of society…

Each part of the body works in harmony with all other parts

Each part of society works in harmony with all other parts

Conflict theory

Emphasizes the role of conflict and power in social change

How power affects distribution of scarce resources

How conflict changes societies. (Politics, social movements, corporate power structures and struggles)

Conflict theory

Most history points to conflict and strife as basic to society WWI and WWII The Great Depression Civil Wars Holocaust

Conflict Theory…Conflict Theory…

“Society Is Like”: A Football league

Characteristics of football league… Characteristics of society…

A league is characterised by competition between teams

Society involves competition between social groups / classes

Major Sociological Perspectives

INTERACTIONISM: Views social order and social change as

resulting from repeated interactions among individuals and groups.

EXAMPLE: “Alive” Our world is socially constructed.

Nothing contains ‘built in’ meanings. Humans give arbitrary meanings

How do they learn and understand social meanings?

‘social processes’ Meanings can be changed

“Society Is Like”: A Play

Characteristics of a play… Characteristics of society…

A play has actors who play their individual roles

Society consists of individual actors who play a variety of

roles

Interactionism…Interactionism…

APPLY THESE 3 PERSPECTIVES TO SPORTS

Functions of sports? manifest? latent? dysfunction?

Sports and Conflict race? economic power?

Sports as Interaction rules? ongoing and changing? different realities?

Levels of analysis:

MACRO: Whole societies and the way they are changing

Large scale patterns of society

Levels of Analysis: MicroImplications of individual

behavior

Levels of Analysis: MicroImplications of individual

behavior

Personal Space Examples of marking personal space

at school? Class? lunch? bus? bathroom?

How do you feel when someone invades your personal space? Why do you think you feel this way?

Look around class right now. How are people marking their personal space?

Intimate distance: 6-18 inches

personal distance: 18 inches to 4 feet

social distance: 4-12 feet

Public distance: 12 feet or more