1. Introduction to Sociology
The Sociological Perspective

2. Journal Question:
Do you think society has the power to influence your personal decisions, values or beliefs? Why or why not?

3. Learning Targets:
I can use the sociological perspective to see how society influences my personal life.
I can explain the changes that led to the development of sociology

4. How much does society influence our everyday lives?
Image reference: Macionis, John. Sociology . Page 3
5 minutes

5. Definitions
Sociology: the systematic study of society
The Sociological Perspective: the special point of view that sees how a society affects the lives of people.
2 minutes

6. Using the Sociological Perspective
Jane married John because she loved him
Jane married John because he doesn’t drink too much and has a steady job VS
Studies have shown that what women want in a potential spouse depends on their social class!

7. Using the Sociological Perspective
Fred goes to get his flu shot because he deeply cares about he doesn’t want to get sick and miss work
Fred gets his flu shot because of societal expectations to maintain health and wellness and not spread disease VS
Studies have shown that what women want in a potential spouse depends on their social class!

8. Practice using the sociological perspective
We may make choices about what we do in our lives, but do our individual choices tell the whole story??
With your group, come up with at least 5 choices that you make (either on a daily basis or long-term basis) that are ALSO affected by society.
Use the sociological perspective to undercover general patterns of society in the lives of particular people (you and your peers)
We live in a society that values personal decision and choices. “I’ll do what makes me happy and you do what makes you happy.” We are not used to thinking that society has an affect on what we do. So using the sociological perspective can be a little tricky sometimes.
5 minutes

9. What is the importance of global perspective for sociology?
Definitions
Global perspective: the study of the larger world and our society’s place in it
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2 minutes
What is the importance of global perspective for sociology?

10. Importance of a Global Perspective
1. Where we live shapes the lives we lead
To understand ourselves and appreciate others, we must understand how countries differ
1 minute

11. Importance of a Global Perspective
2. Societies throughout the world are increasingly interconnected
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12. Importance of a Global Perspective
3. Many social problems we face in the US are far more serious elsewhere
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13. Cartograms
worldmapper.org

14. Importance of a Global Perspective
4. Thinking globally helps us learn more about ourselves

15. Thinking Globally: The Global Village
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16. Thinking Globally: The Global Village
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Do any of these statistics surprise you? Which ones? Why?

17. Thinking Globally: The Global Village
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How do you think the lives of poor people in a lower income country differ from those typical of people in the United States?

18. Thinking Globally: The Global Village
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Is someone’s “choice” to attend college affected by the country in which we live? How?

19. A NEW AWARENESS OF SOCIETY
Origins of Sociology
Important changes took place in Europe during the 18th and 19th century
1. The Rise of a New Industrial Economy
2. The Growth of Cities
3. Political Change
A NEW AWARENESS OF SOCIETY

20. A New Industrial Economy
Small-scale manufacturing at home large scale manufacturing in mills and factories
Inventors used new sources of energy like the power of moving water and then steam to operate large machines
What kind of affect do you think this had on normal everyday people? Working at home or in small knit communities to all of a sudden working as one worker of 1000 in a factory. How can this affect social relationships?

21. The Growth of Cities As cities grew, so did social problems! Pollution
Textile mills led to an increased demand for wool
Landowners fenced more farmland for sheep to graze
Without land, farmers forced to look for work in cities
The Growth of Cities
As cities grew, so did social problems!
Pollution
Crime
Homelessness

22. Political Change
Europeans in the Middle Ages viewed societal structure as God’s will.
However, the growth of cities attacked Middle Age tradition
Shift from moral obligation to God  pursuit of self-interest
Influenced by writings of Enlightenment philosophers

23. Origins of Sociology
Sociology was born in England, France and Germany precisely where the changes were greatest
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Auguste Comte: French social thinker credited with first coining the term sociology in 1838

25. Sociological Theory
Theory: a statement of how and why specific facts are related
Sociological Theory: Attempts to explain the how and why of social behavior in the real world
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26. So how do sociologists figure out what issues to study?
The structural-functional perspective
Sociologists apply a theoretical perspective
(a basic image of society that guides thinking and research)
The social-conflict perspective
The symbolic-interaction perspective

27. The Structural-Functional Perspective
A perspective of sociology that sees society as a system of interrelated parts that work together to promote harmony and stability
SOCIETY
Religion
Education
The Family
Judicial System
Social Structure: Education
Social Function: Learning, Socialization
According to this perspective, stability and order are normal in society

28. (expanded our understanding of social function)
Social Functions
Manifest function: the recognized and intended function or consequence of any social structure
 The function of going to college in our society is to gain an education to perform jobs after graduation
Latent function: the unrecognized and unintended consequence of a social structure
 Colleges and universities bring together young people of similar backgrounds leading to marriages!
Social dysfunction: a social structure or pattern that may disrupt the operation of society
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Robert Merton
(expanded our understanding of social function)

29. Real World Application: The Structural-Functional Perspective and Marriage
The traditional family structure in which the husband was a breadwinner and the wife tended children and did housework was ‘functional’. Men could earn more income and women were naturally better at childcare and thus, the traditional family structure worked.
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Lecture Note:
Parsons look at social structures like the family and saw the niche of each group. He stated that men occupied a specific role of instrumental leadership-he made decisions and worked for the family. Women on the other hand, had an expressive role-they cared for children. This arrangement was confirmed and supported by other institutions, such as the church and labor market. Traditional men’s work paid better and the church encouraged women to stay at home and cultivate domestic dreams. Thus, society worked as a whole.
It should be noted that structural functionalists, like Robert Merton, amended the ideas of Parson to suggest that no all parts of social structures were functional. Critics of Parsons and other functionalist claimed that the perspective was overarching and took an inherently conservative view of the world. Robert Merton, a student of Parsons, divided social structures into manifest and latent functions. Manifest functions were the open, expressed functions of social structures and latent functions were the unintended ones. A manifest function of the 1950’s labor market was to provide breadwinner jobs for men. But a latent function of this was to discourage women from entering the labor market and thus competing with men. Robert Merton also the functions of social structures and relationships into functional and dysfunctional elements. While the breadwinner model persisted, Merton would suggest that unequal pay for women for the same jobs (and some would even argue that domestic labor should be compensated like formal employment) was dysfunctional. Merton’s adaptation of Parson’s functionalism stated, in essence, that elements can exist in society that do not help all parts or what is functional (ie advantageous) for one person is not for another person. These dysfunctional elements are generally unacknowledged and also latent functions.
The tumultuous 1960’s shifted the theoretical focus of American sociology from functionalism to conflict theory which we will discuss next. While functionalism had garnered numerous criticisms in early part of the 20th century, the rapid social change of the 1960s and 1970’s made structural functionalism to seem incompatible with instability and change. Let’s discuss the emergence of this perspective……
Manifest Functions: raise children to be responsible citizens, child rearing (but mother) and provide income (by father), provide love and support to members of family
Latent function: heavily implemented gender roles (the traditional family discouraged women from having successful careers in the workplace)
What are some manifest functions?
Latent functions?
Are there any social dysfunctions?

30. The Social Conflict Perspective
A perspective of sociology that sees society as an arena of inequalities that create conflict and change
Social groups struggle for scarce resources and power
According to this perspective, conflict is normal. Stability and order are not.
Men
Women
Women
Workers
Management
European Americans
Racial Minorities

31. Real World Application: Conflict Perspective and Marriage
The male breadwinner model benefits men in 2 ways (among others):
It reduces potential competition from women in the labor market
It downplays women’s contributions in domestic work
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What Parsons saw as functional, conflict theorists see as an indication of who has the upper hand. In the case of the traditional family structure, men benefit from social structures that give them the upper hand. Through cultural norms and their active efforts, they systematically block women from having careers that pay well and reiterate their role in the house. Social institutions, what Marx would call the ‘ideological superstructure’, uphold social inequalities. Churches, for example, might indoctrinate people to believe that women should serve a submissive role in family and society. It is no coincidence that, traditionally, men most leadership roles in the church.
Conflict theorists suggest that perpetual conflict can and does led to social change. The women’s suffrage movement, women’s liberation movement, and even the current debates on the government’s role in providing contraception for women are examples of how conflict is manifested and how over time, oppressed groups can earn some concessions.
This model demonstrates that men have the upper hand in society

32. The Symbolic-Interaction Approach
A perspective of sociology that sees society as “played out” through daily interactions between people . People interact through shared symbols which give meaning to social interactions
 “Reality is based on shared subjective agreement

33. Symbolic Interactionism Visualized
Husband and Wife Talk
You greet Your neighbor on the way to work
Society
Smile at the barista at the coffee shop
Text your friend about the sale at the Gap
You respond to your boss’s
Lecture Notes:
Notice in my drawing how neither circle is much bigger than the other. This is intentional-symbolic interactionists count even the smallest, most mundane actions in their analysis of society. It is the sum these actions that creates society. Symbolic interactionism maintain that we need others to help us shape and negotiate reality. Reality is a social construction that we agree upon through our interactions with others.
Move to the next lane on highway for the car on exit ramp
Tuck the children into bed
Give up your seat on the bus for the elderly woman

34. Real World Application: Symbolic Perspective and Marriage
Symbolic interactionists would suggest that couples negotiate their particular roles. Through verbal and non-verbal interactions, they can negotiate things like:
If and how many children they will have
How domestic chores should be split
How will they divide time for themselves from time with other couples and friends
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Lecture Note:
Couples may consciously or unconsciously work out what it means to be married. Though they are ostensible symbols, like a wedding ring and marriage ceremony at a church, there are numerous symbols embedded in the conversations and actions that cue the social actors into what is reality. From personal experience, I’ve noticed that some married couples distance themselves from their single friends once they get married. I’ve talked to some married couples about this and some of them actually discuss with one another how much time should be spent with each other and how much time should be spent with friends. Other times, however, there is an unspoken agreement that the one-on-one time with one’s spouse takes precedent over old friends. There is no universal law, according to symbolic interactionists, as to why this exists. Sometimes people are socialized into this belief through observing their friends and family members who were recently married. Other times, couples forge their own expectations for a marriage; they might decide that hanging out with old friends should be kept to a minimum.
Symbolic interactionists are not necessarily concerned with structural inequalities, like conflict theorists, nor do they believe that seek order and stability when observing social life. There is no overarching theme for social life, but instead a thousand small interactions that make up the whole. This ‘bottom-up’ approach to studying social life takes a neutral stance on the role of the sociology. Symbolic interactionists do not generally see the discipline of sociology as a vehicle for social change.
Symbolic interactionism has been criticized for the immediacy of its observations. We may, for example, interact with people of other races according to deep-seated biases. In no way, then, do we negotiate the meaning our interactions. There are variables, like sex, education, and gender, that influence how we interact. Some critics point to the fact that symbolic interactionism blurs these distinctions. The third criticism of symbolic interactionism is that not all interactions are of equal value. Telling a friend who’s moving away “Let’s keep in touch” is not the same as telling your future spouse “I do” at the altar of the church.*
*Criticisms of Symbolic Interactionism adopted from: Folts, E. (2011). The Sociological Perspective [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from ASU Learn :

35. Seeing “Sports” Through the Lens of theoretical approaches
How would a sociologist view organized sports through the lens of a structural-functional perspective?
How do sports help operate society and build harmony and stability?
What are the manifest functions? Latent functions? Social dysfunctions?
How about through the lens of conflict perspective?
How do sports divide society or create conflict between social groups?
Symbolic-interaction perspective?
How are sports affected at the micro-level? Consider individual players and symbolic meaning on the field (and off the field)
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36. Assignment
You may work in groups to finish the theoretical perspectives worksheet
Anything that you do not finish will be homework.
This is due next time you come to class