Welcome to Soc 1A! Quick Writing and Attendance Review Syllabus Sociological Perspective and Analysis Homework:  Introduction to Sociology: Chapter 1

Quick Writing:  Name,  major/interests/goals  What do you hope to learn from this class?  How do you plan on succeeding in this class?  Explain the quote at the top of the syllabus

Review the Syllabus

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

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