What is Sociology?

Tuesday, January 13, 2015

SOC101- Introductory Sociology

Examining the Ordinary

Step One Description

What is the object under consideration?
How would you describe it in detail?
What do you call it?

Step Two Local Analysis

How is it used?
How is it bought and sold?
Who benefits from it?
Who suffers from it?

Step Three Global Analysis

Does it exist in other countries?
If so, does it exist in the same form?
Where, globally, is it made?
Does it affect life (positively or negatively) in other countries?

Step Four Historical Analysis

When did it come into existence?
Why did it appear at that time?
How has it changed over time?
What other aspects of life have changed as the result of it?
What will this object be like in the future (will it even exist)?

Definition

This is covered in
detail in your
reading
assignments for
January 13th.

(drawing from Peter Bergers

Invitation to Sociology)

The sociological perspective is the process of

seeing the general in the particular. The
perspective assumes that things are not what
they seem and attempts understand society
through an empirical gaze.
C.

Wright Mills, The Sociological Imagination

The sociological imagination enables its possessor

to understand the larger historical scene in terms
This is also
covered
of its meaning for the inner life and the externalin your
text. Read The
Promise link from
career of a variety of individuals.
the reading
assignment for
January 13th.

The Sociological Perspective

Schwartz, Christine R., and Hongyun Han. 2014.

The Reversal of the Gender Gap in Education
and Trends in Marital Dissolution. American
Sociological Review 79: 605-629

Bearman, Peter S. and Hannah

Bruckner. 2001. Promising the
Future: Virginity Pledges and First
Intercourse. American Journal of
Sociology 106: 859-915.

We will revisit
these articles in
Lecture #3:
Sociological
Investigations
on Tuesday,
January 20th

Ramey, David M. 2013.

Immigrant Revitalization
and Neighborhood Violent
Crime in Established and
New Destination Cities.
Social Forces 92: 597629.

They

employ the
sociological
perspective
They debunk takenfor-granted
assumptions.
They take into account
historical and
geographic context.
They make go beyond
the particular to find
generalities.

They

Ditto from
the last
slide. We
will revisit
this slide
later.

are empirical

They are grounded in

scientific
disinterestedness.
They are informed by
broader sociological
theory.
They are based on
repeated observations.
They draw conclusions
from systematic
analysis.

What Makes These Research

Studies Sociological?