Chapter 1

The Sociological Perspective

“Seeing the general in the

particular” (Peter Berger)
 What is Sociology?
 the systematic study of human society
and social interaction
 Sociologists use theoretical perspectives and
research methods to systematically examine
social behaviour
 Sociology provides important insights on
pressing social issues–such as sexual assault,
suicide, and homelessness–in contemporary
societies
 Sociologists…..
 Identify general social patterns in the
behaviour of particular individuals
 See the strange in the familiar
 Give up the idea that human
behaviour is simply a matter of what
people decide to do
 Understand that society shapes our

lives
Why Study Sociology?
 Sociology helps us see the complex
connections between our own lives and
the larger, recurring patterns of the
society and world in which we live
 reveals the limitations of myths
associated with commonsense
knowledge that guides out lives
 C. Wright Mills (1959) said…
 We need to develop the sociological
imagination
 a "quality of mind" that "enables us to grasp history and
biography and the relations between the two in society."
 A sociologist asks questions like:
 What is the structure of this particular society as a
whole?
 Where does this society stand in human history?
 What varieties of men and women now prevail in this
society?
The Sociological Imagination
and Obesity
 Is obesity a social issue or a personal
problem?

 Watch The Sociological Imagination

from Sociology Live (2015)
 Seeing Sociologically: the
Impact of Crisis
 Periods of change or crisis encourage
us to use the sociological perspective
 Example – Durkheim was a
“conservative” sociologist
 Social upheaval in the late 19 th century

stimulated his investigation of social

order, functionality of society, and effect
of morality/religion
Seeing the Personal in the
Social – Emile Durkheim
 The power of society to shape
even our most private choices
 Durkheim and Suicide (1897)
 Found that lack of social integration
(weak ties to others) and the presence
of anomie (weaker norms) in society
affected suicide rates
 Especially true for males, Protestants

 His findings still hold true today

Suicide (the School of Life, 2015)
 This brief video highlights some of
Durkheim’s ideas, especially the idea
that a strong sense of community leads
to lower suicide rates.

 Suicide
 Seeing Sociologically: the
Effect of Marginality
 People at the margins of social life are
aware of social patterns that others
rarely think about
 Example – Montesquieu, a French nobleman
who tried to look at French society impartially
and sociologically wrote the Persian Letters
(https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Persian_Letters)
in 1721
 An attempt to describe society from the margins

through the viewpoint of two fictional Persian

“outsiders” and their correspondence
The Development Of
Sociological Thinking
 Industrialization (the process by which
societies are transformed from dependence
on agriculture and handmade products to an
emphasis on manufacturing and related
industries)
 Urbanization (the process by which an
increasing proportion of a population lives in
cities rather than rural areas) contributed to
the development of sociological thinking.
 Sociological Theory
 Theory: a statement of how and why facts
are related
 Theoretical Approach: A basic image of
society that guides thinking and research
 Structural-functional
 Social-conflict (includes Gender-conflict and Race-
conflict approaches)
 Symbolic-interactionism
 Paradigm: the theoretical approach and its
particular research methodology
Early Social Thinkers
 Auguste Comte
 Harriet Martineau
 Herbert Spencer
 Emile Durkheim
 Karl Marx
 Max Weber
Auguste Comte (1798-1857)
 coined the term sociology
 stressed the importance of positivism
 a belief that the world can best be
understood through scientific inquiry
 Saw the sciences as a hierarchy with
sociology at the top
 Auguste Comte wanted to use sociology
to study society scientifically
 Three-stages of historical development:
 Theological (society structured according to
God’s will – “supernatural” power)
 Metaphysical (society is a “natural” system –
i.e. Thomas Hobbes wrote the Leviathan,
1651 on the need for a social contract)
 Scientific (use of science to study society –
development of early positivism)
 Harriet Martineau (1802-1876)
Herbert Spencer (1820-1903)
 Martineau - first female sociologist
 British social theorist and social reformer
 Early feminist – critical of inequality
 when studying society, one must focus on all aspects
of it – “public sociology”
 Herbert Spencer – “survival of the fittest”
 Applied evolutionary theory to study of society
 Wrote “Social Statics” (Comte’s term) which deals with
the conditions of social order
 Founder of “Social Darwinism” – societies are evolving
organisms
Emile Durkheim (1858-1917)
 “father of sociology” – most famous for:
 Division of Labour in Society
 Rules of the Sociological Method
 Suicide: A Study in Sociology
 Credited with developing structural
functionalism and making sociology a
“science”
 Sociology should study “social facts”
 Structural-functionalism
 Macro level orientation
 society is made up of interrelated parts,
each of which contributes to the
functioning of society as a whole.
 stable patterns (social structure) which
have consequences or functions (social
functions) for society as a whole.
 Latent and manifest functions (Merton)
 sometimes the parts can be dysfunctional
for society
 Structural functionalist
thinkers and critique
 Important Sociologists:
 Auguste Comte, Emile Durkheim, Herbert Spencer,
Robert K. Merton
 Critique:
 Focusing on social stability and unity, ignores

inequalities
 Such inequalities cause tension and conflict

 The approach ends up being politically

conservative
 Karl Marx (1818-1883)
 Developed socio-political theory of Marxism
 most famous works The Communist Manifesto
(with F. Engels, 1848) and 3 volume Capital
(Das Kapital, 1867)
 Concern with class conflict, exploitation and
alienation
 Social-conflict theory
 Social change occurs out of conflict
between groups in society (bourgeoisie vs
proletariat)
 Social conflict theory
 Macro level approach
 focuses on the social processes of competition
and power
 resources and rewards are unevenly
distributed, and inequality produces conflict.
 some groups may gain power and advantage
over others
 Factors such as race, sex, class, and age are
linked to social inequality
Related Conflict Approaches
 Gender-conflict approach
 focuses on inequality and conflict
between women and men
 Race-conflict approach
 focuses on inequality and conflict
between people of different racial and
ethnic categories
Social conflict theorists
Critique of social conflict theory
 Important Sociologists:
 Karl Marx, W.E.B. Du Bois
 Critique:
 Ignores how shared values and
mutual interdependence unify society
 If theorists pursue political goals,

cannot be scientific (not objective)

Max Weber (1864-1920)
 Economist and socio-political theorist
 Concerned about the “iron cage of
bureaucracy”
 Famous for The Protestant Ethic and
the Spirit of Capitalism (1904)
 Capitalism developed out of Protestant
religious ideology
 Ideals drive society and social change
Symbolic Interactionism
 Micro-level approach
 Reality socially created through people’s
everyday interactions and symbolic
communication with one another
 Focus on subjective meanings created
through interaction
 Important Sociologists:
 Max Weber, George Herbert Mead, Erving

Goffman, George Homans & Peter Blau

Critique
 Ignores larger social structures,
effects of culture, factors such as
class, gender, ethnicity, and race
 Other Approaches
 Postmodernism
 critical of modernism with a mistrust of grand theories
and ideologies
 Human sciences cannot be scientific because of
human subjectivity
 Deconstruct and demystify assumptions, hierarchies of
knowledge, and ideological motivation of social
science
 Contemporary Feminism
 Advocate social, political, and economic equality for all
 Use of a feminist research method – collaborative, in
depth, intimate in order to devolve control
 Analysis of Religion through
the Three Major Approaches
 Structural functionalism:
 Religion promotes social cohesion. It binds the
community of believers together (Durkheim)
 Religion helps maintain the social order. It
reinforces the norms and values of society.
 Religion provides meaning, gives answers
about the universe.
 Religion provides psychological support for
important events and in crises
 Analysis of religion (cont.)
 Social conflict:
 Religion is the "opium of the people," lulling
people into passive acceptance of injustices
(Karl Marx).
 Religion legitimates the social inequities in
societies.
 Religion benefits the dominant group.
Analysis of religion (cont.)
 Symbolic interactionism:
 Each religious community has its own
definition of the sacred.
 Religious communities have unique sets of
beliefs, rituals, and experiences.
Feminist and Postmodernist
 Feminist: all major religions (and most
minor ones) are dominated by men

 Postmodernist: Does God exist?