1. Sociology
BHS TQA LEVEL 3

2. What is sociology? Sociology is the study of society.
Psychology looks at the individual mind. Whereas Sociology looks at the wider society, the group.
Sociology’s basic move is to argue that if you want to understand why people do what they do, look at the groups of which they are part.

3. 1. Are poor people more likely to commit crimes than wealthy people?
2. Are all people born with the same intellectual ability?
3. Is romantic love part of every society?
4. Are women less likely to commit violent crimes than men?
5. Is academic achievement related to socio-economic background?
6. Is colour-blindness more common in men than in women?
7. During childhood, do girls increase in height faster than boys?
8. During what phase of the sleep cycle does dreaming occur?
9. Do human beings have a natural instinct to mate with the opposite sex?
10. Can animals think?
11. Does playing music to a baby before it is born increase
its chances of being musical?
12. Are people from ethnic backgrounds more likely to
be members of a social club?

4. Sociology…
The subject arose as an attempt to understand the far-reaching changes in human societies over the past two to three centuries.

5. Recap Social forces How did we end up in this classroom?
Names – asymmetrical stigma (gender)
Suicide

6. Suicide Sociology: Suicide rates are steady over time.
Therefore the rates are embedded in a structure and in certain groups. For example, the different rates between rural/urban and men/women. There are also differences in the rates between religious groups (e.g. protestant and Jewish groups)
Psychology:
Cognitive (knowledge/beliefs) – He believed he was worthless.
Emotional (moods/feelings) – He felt depressed.
Motivational (drives/needs/goals) – He no longer wanted to live.

7. Emile Durkheim on Suicide
Egoistic suicide: ‘What should I live for?’
- Nothing outside of the self
- Meaninglessness
- Married people are less likely to commit suicide than single people.
- Even widows/widowers are protected/less likely to commit suicide (especially if they have children)
-Incorporated into a society larger than themselves.

8. Emile Durkheim on Suicide
Anomic suicide (from French word ‘anomie’)
- Tends to exist in periods when there is rapid social change/transformation (e.g. economic growth or downturn)
Before the modern period, suicide was very rare.
- This suicide occurs when there are no limits to aspirations. (e.g. celebrities, athletes, musicians)

9. Auguste Comte ( )
Gave Sociology its name (‘social’ and ‘ology’…meaning ‘study of’)
Human societies are natural systems whose order and progress can be studied through scientific methodology.

10. C Wright Mills (1916-1962) Wrote ‘The Sociological Imagination’ (1959)
Only by understanding social forces (i.e. having a sociological imagination) can we understand where we and why we are there.
We are shaped by history, biography AND social structures.
Remember we talked about why are we here. Wright Mills says we must look beyond the individual and their sense of how they got to be where they are in life.

11. Power belongs to the individual who is able to grasp the external forces that govern his life and his psychological development, to make reflections about them and to make rational decisions in order to guide the course of his life.

12. The Sociological Imagination
The sociological imagination allows us to locate ourselves within a social context.
We come to know our own “chances” in life through becoming aware of others in the same circumstances.

13. Sociological Imagination
Private problems Public issues
Example: ‘The working poor’

15. A call for political action
C Wright Mills takes his theory a step further:
The sociological imagination allows us to have a dignified life AND a better world.
Understand (through data collection, observation etc.) so that you can CHANGE the world.

16. A sociologist that is following the sociological imagination is engaged.
Sociology is too important to be left to just the sociologists; particularly in a democratic society.

17. “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful
Committed citizens can change the world: Indeed it’s the only thing that ever has.”
- Margaret Mead

18. Criticism
- Sociology should not be political, particularly in its approach to research.
- We should be objective

19. We are constantly being shaped by the society (social environment) in which we exist.

20. What is a ‘society’?
A society is a large social grouping that shares the same geographical territory and is subject to the same political authority and cultural expectations.

21. Culture A shared way of life Norms, values and beliefs
(Also tends to include language, roles,
knowledge and skills)
Material and non-material

22. Tall and athletic: Ostrich plumes and pompoms emphasise height
Narrow face: Decorated with red ochre
Wide eyes: Black eyeliner made from charred egret bones
Facial symmetry: Enhanced with black, yellow and white patterns
Aquiline nose: White clay arrow stripe to look more streamlined
Long braids and cowrie shells: Symbolise fertility and wealth
White and regular teeth: Bared and emphasised with black lipstick
Good dancer: Beaded necklaces and bodices jangle against chest in time to the beat

23. Values
General beliefs about what is right or wrong, and the important standards which are worth maintaining and achieving in any society. (Browne, 2005, p. 460)

24. Values How do you come to know these values? List:
1) The groups you are part of…
2) The values shared by members of those groups
3) Three values that you have
How do you come to know these values?

25. Norms More specific than values. The social rules of a society.
Define and guide normal behaviour.

26. The urinal

27. Nathan For You Your task:
Write down some of the norms that Nathan fails to follow in this episode.

28. Objective truth vs. Social truth
Objective truth – Does not matter whether you get an EA/Dux of Sociology
Social truth – Does matter in particular group (e.g. your family)
Your social world defines what is enough and sets your aspirations…

29. How do we know how to behave in society?
Socialisation:
A lifelong process, starting from birth, which involves learning how to become part of society. During this process we learn what is socially acceptable within our culture and begin to form our identities.

30. Agents of Socialisation
Family – primary socialisation
School – secondary socialisation
Peers
Work - tertiary socialisation
Media