The Sociological Perspective

What is Sociology? Study of Society…what does that mean? It examines the ways in which the forms of social structure & social categories & various social institutions affect human attitudes, actions, and opportunities. Sociology enables us to understand the structure and dynamics of society, and their intricate connections to patterns of human behavior and individual life changes.

Why Care About Understanding Society? We are products of society and society is a product of us Understand why and how we came to be like we are Our position within the social structure (society) determines how we will act, think, and what resources we have Our place in society is the intersection of many social relationships Gender, race, class, age, geography, sexuality

Examining the present with the past “[Humans] make their own history, but they do not make it just as they please; they do not make it under circumstances chosen by themselves, but under circumstances directly encountered, given and transmitted from the past.” - Karl Marx To understand the present social arrangement in society, sociologists must also look into the past

How sociologists study society Sociologists look to explain how and why things happen. In every question a sociologist asks and every answer they give you will find an explanation of the how and why Keep this in mind over the semester!

Critical Thinking is Required Sociology is a critical, analytical, and empirical discipline and sociological thinking is a process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and evaluating

Beliefs vs. Sociological Analysis As social beings, we see the social world through our own lens of experience and belief system and often make judgments based on our personal beliefs To remain objective, sociology helps us see how that lens was formed and be honest about our assumptions What we see with sociological analyses often challenges many of our thoughts and beliefs Come to class prepared to be exposed to alternate explanations of the world and to try and understand them

Exercise: Who am I? On the same piece of paper from before: Next: Ten answers to the question – “Who am I?” Next: Pair up with a class member and share Chose 3 answers and introduce your partner and their answers Examine the data on the board and write a paragraph explaining it – note any patterns Finally: Do men and women define themselves differently?

Examining our Analysis Is our analysis based on beliefs or what is in the data? What are we missing? Are there more meaningful/additional relationships to explore?

What we did… Collected data Interpreted data and looked for patterns Used concepts – gender Asked questions: factual, interpretive and not moral or aesthetic

In conclusion: Sociology provides us with the tools to examine the social world empirically, analytically, and critically To do this objectively we have to constantly examine how our own perspectives and experiences shape how we view and interpret the world around us

The Sociological Perspective Sociology seeks to understand the relationship between the individual and society with:

C Wright Mills: Sociological Imagination A quality of mind that allows us to connect: “Personal troubles of the milieu” with “Public issues of social structure” Examining these relationships gives us the knowledge to understand society, our place in it, and the ability to make changes

HIV/AIDS Globally

Understanding and Explaining HIV/AIDS Cultural Explanations Social Structure Explanations Political Explanations Individual Explanations

Social Consciousness Another sociologist, Peter Berger, believes that we need a social consciousness or “A form of consciousness that enables us to see the "reality" behind the "facades." He asks us to critically examine the things that are familiar to us as unfamiliar “It can be said that the first wisdom of sociology is this – things are not what they seem.”

Practicing Social Consciousness Have you ever asked yourself: Why do women shave their legs? Why is it normal in our culture for women to shave their legs and not men?

Asking How & Why (and when) with Social Consciousness When did this ideal emerge? How did this ideal emerge? Why did this ideal emerge?

In Conclusion… A sociological perspective requires us to think critically and analytically about the social world around us, our place in it, our relationships to others, and our own personal beliefs and values While sociologists study many aspects of society and social issues, the core concepts of the discipline are power, inequality, social justice, and social change