WHAT IS SOCIOLOGY?

Sociology is a scientific discipline that looks beyond

the individual, to the way people are grouped and
society is organized, and how this impacts patterns of
living and understanding.
WHAT DOES SOCIOLOGY STUDY?
human society and
social behavior
how people relate to
each other The focus is on the
social processes and GROUP over the
interaction individual
social structures and Sociology teaches us
institutions to look at life in a
social issues and scientific, systematic
problems way
WHAT TOPICS DOES IT COVER?

Traditional focuses: social relations, social stratification,

social interaction, culture and deviance, and its
approaches
More topics: social control, socialization and personality,
group behavior, social class and social institutions

Sociology has expanded: the study of economic activity,

health, and even the role of social activity in the
creation of scientific knowledge as well as network
analysis.
IMPORTANT ISSUES ABOUT SOCIOLOGY
The values, beliefs, lifestyles of those around us, as
well as historic events help to undergo changes and we
become unique individuals who have varied outlooks
on social reality.
So sociology courses deal with the social atmosphere
that helps to make us who we are and how we behave.
 The key component of this course is to study
ourselves and the society that influences our
behaviour.
SOCIOLOGISTS
What do they do? How?
 - sociologists enter the
 TRY TO UNDERSTAND the social world,
 - they gather data and
social world.
 - evaluate their theories
 MAKE THEORIES about the in light of the data they
collect (a.k.a.
world.
deduction).
Sociologists do or just propose theories about how the
social world works.
Sociologists test their theories about how the world
works using the scientific method.
Sociology, then, is an attempt to understand the social
world by situating social events in their corresponding
environment (i.e., social structure, culture, history) and
trying to understand social phenomena by collecting and
analyzing empirical data.
[Empirical - derived on observation, relying on observation, that can be proved
by observation or experiment]
What can sociology
tell us?
SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE
By taking a scientific look into human group
behavior, one can gain a view of oneself in
relation to the rest of society:

How do expectations of society affect individual

behaviour
Help to find a balance between personal desires
and demands of environment
How does environment shape individual beliefs
• human behaviour is complex, making prediction -
especially at the individual level - difficult or even
impossible
• society is constantly changing, making it difficult for
sociologists to maintain current
understandings; in fact, society might even change as a
result of sociological investigation
• it is difficult for sociologists to remain objective
when the phenomena they study is also part of their
social life
• By taking a scientific look into human group
behavior, one can gain a view of oneself in relation to
the rest of society
 SOCIOLOGICAL IMAGINATION

From classical article written by C. Wright Mills

Understanding that social situations maybe a product
of society and not fully in the control of the
individuality
Ability to see our own life and that of others as part of
a larger human drama = “…ability to see the connection
between the larger world and our personal lives”
(Mills)
MACRO – and MICRO SOCIOLOGY
Macro perspective Micro perspective

Study of social structure / Study of social interaction

institutions
Human behaviour is based on
Position within social structure individuals’ interpretation of
(status, roles, institutions) a situation and the meaning
determines human behaviour they give it
SOCIOLOGY as SCIENCE: sociologists use
scientific methods to collect data for interpretation

Surveys
Case studies
Observations
Reports
Research
Phenomenon: observable fact or event
Data interpretation project
BRIEF HISTORY
Started in early 19th century – as a response to
modernity
Society begins to develop faster
Travel becomes more common
Development of technology
Nature of work changes (e.g. people now worked in
factories)
Standardization of work (=agreeing upon technical
standards)
IMPORTANT FACTS
- people were exposed to cultures and societies different to their
own because of the ability to move and technological advances
- it led to the change of their norms and values, started to
understand the world in a different way, sometimes the
breakdown of traditional norms and customs
- sociologists tried to understand that phenomenon, researched
“what holds social groups together and also exploring possible
solutions to the breakdown of social solidarity”.
IMPORTANT FACTS (cont.)
Early practitioners developed the discipline as an attempt
to understand societal changes.
Some early sociological theorists: Marx, Weber, and
Durkheim
They were concerned with the ability to situate personal
troubles within an informed framework of social issues.
FLORIAN ZNANIECKI
Polish contribution to the history of
sociology – helped to establish the
department of sociology in Germany (1920)