1. Sociology

2. What is Sociology?
Study of the development and structure of human society (institutions)
How it – society – works,
Sociology is the study of social life, social change, and the social causes and consequences of human behavior. (American Sociological Association)

3. Sociology Subject Matter:
Investigate the structure of groups, organizations, and societies, and how people interact within these contexts.
Nearly all human behavior is social
Subject matter of sociology ranges:
- intimate family - hostile mob - organized crime - religious cults - divisions of race, gender and social class - shared beliefs of a common culture - sociology of work, of sports.

4. The Roles we Play We all play certain roles in our society
Social Scientists refer to this as status
Position within an institution
eg. There are many positions at HCS
teacher,
vice-principal,
guidance counselor,
coach,
principal,
student,
janitor
Board member

5. Hierarchy
Hierarchy is the ranking system used in any particular environment based on authority of power
Each position/role requires a certain type of expertise * valued by society
Need to distinguish between these roles * e.g., people are expected to dress and act in a certain way
On any given day we can play many different roles in society

6. Rules, Norms and Values Values – every society has a system of
Set of values assigned to each role
The practitioners of these roles are expected to accept and internalize these values.
Norms – These are ideas set out for a particular role that are expected, standard behaviour
(eg. Catholic Priests are celibate)
Rules – These are developed by institutions based on their system of values

7. Deviance
Deviance – Any behaviour that is different from the societal norm
Deviant because society does not accept it
Range from simple eccentricities to behaviour that harms society or is considered disreputable or criminal…
We must not say that an action shocks the common conscience because it is criminal, but rather that it is criminal because it shocks the common conscience. We do not reprove (denounce) it because it is a crime, but it is a crime because we reprove it. ~ Emile Durkheim
Any problems?

8. Deviance and Crime Is Durkheim right?
Is what is criminal only that which violates the norms (and laws) of a given society?
Are there capital ``C`` crimes?
Can you think of a way in which this would be contradictory to your way of thinking of law and/or truth?

9. Indeed, some or even much criminal action may be attributable to the violation of a given society’s law (based on ever-changing norms and values)
Some crimes must never be conceived only as such. There is also the violation of what could be called universal law; the normative principles of human behaviour established by the divine

10. Kingston Penitentiary
Rehabilitation
Sociology has formed a strong link with the justice system, obvs…
A fundamental component of modern imprisonment is rehabilitation, or trying to re-educate and resocialize inmates
grow to accept society’s values and norms to restore back in
There is also retribution
the dispensing or receiving of reward or punishment
something given in recompense;
especially punishment
Rehabilitation or Retribution?
Kingston Penitentiary

11. Is there another way? What is the purpose of punishment?
to impose a penalty on for a fault, offense, or violation; to inflict a penalty for the commission of (an offense)
Incapacitation: A felon in prison cannot commit crimes while imprisoned. An executed felon cannot commit a crime ever again.
Deterrence: The threat of punishment deters people from engaging in illegal acts.
Retribution: The felon harmed society; therefore society (or the direct victims) is entitled to inflict harm in return.
Rehabilitation: The punishment changes the felon in order to make him a better citizen afterwards. (The punishment can include mandatory vocational training, counseling, drug treatment, etc.)
Restitution: The felon is required to take some action to at least partially return the victim to the status quo ante. (state existing before)
Restoration: a system of criminal justice that focuses on the rehabilitation of offenders through reconciliation with victims and the community at large.
With the high cost of prison system, convict unemployment, poor education rates and recidivism, another model is needed… (But that’s a different topic)

12. Schools of Thought

13. Structural-Functionalism
Society should provide its members w/ fundamental needs - STABILITY
A system must have a way of fulfilling material needs * e.g., socializing and educating the young, a way of regulating human reproduction (usually marriage)
S-F’s try to explain the role of society’s INSTITUTIONS in enabling human society to function
Do not concern themselves with change but instead with how society works to meet its needs

14. Neo-Marxism
Based on ideas originally proposed by Karl Marx ( )
Economic power and material wealth make real power
Key to understanding societies
The struggle for economic power means that society is not static but ever-changing
social change is the result of a change made to the economic system
Neo-Marxists believe the economic system creates a rich class of owners and a poor class of workers
They also believe that social institutions (churches, schools, prisons etc.) have been created to perpetuate the division between the powerful and the powerless

15. Feminist Theory
Feminist Theorists focus on sex and gender issues, aiming to understand the nature of gender inequality
Belief that men and women deserve equality in all opportunities, treatment, respect, and social rights.
Belief that many social inequalities are based on unhealthy / undesirable gender social norms, laws and traditions,
Women have traditionally been marginalized by men and discriminated

16. Liberal Feminism First wave
Focuses on women’s ability to show and maintain equality through own actions and choices.
Liberal feminists argue society holds false belief that women are, by nature, less intellectually and physically capable than men,
discriminate against women in the academy, the forum, and the marketplace.
“Female subordination is rooted in a set of customary and legal constraints that blocks women’s entrance to and success in the so-called public world” Rosemarie Tong
Emphasize the equality of men and women through political and legal reform.
Roots go back to Enlightenment
Mary Wollstonecraft, (late 18th cent)
Suffragettes (Louisa May Alcott)

17. Radical Feminism
Second Wave
Popular in 1960s and early ‘70s counter-cultural movements
Focuses on patriarchy as a system of power that organizes society based on the assertion that male supremacy oppresses women.
Believes that notion of gender should be removed entirely
Radical feminism aims to challenge and overthrow patriarchy by opposing standard gender roles and oppression of women and calls for a radical reordering of society

18. Cultural Feminism
Most radical feminists retreated to cultural feminism
Dominant culture is difficult to “radically” transform
Instead, work toward a more feminized next generation, more subversive
modern society is hurt by encouraging masculine behavior, but society would benefit by encouraging feminine behavior instead
As various 1960s movements for social change fell apart or got co-opted, folks got pessimistic about the very possibility of social change. Many of then turned their attention to building alternatives, so that if they couldn't change the dominant society, they could avoid it as much as possible. That, in a nutshell, is what the shift from radical feminism to cultural feminism was about. These alternative-building efforts were accompanied with reasons explaining (perhaps justifying) the abandonment of working for social change. Notions that women are "inherently kinder and gentler" are one of the foundations of cultural feminism, and remain a major part of it. A similar concept held by some cultural feminists is that while various sex differences might not be biologically determined, they are still so thoroughly ingrained as to be intractable.