Lecture #1_3МЖ_для студентов

1. Lecture 1. Introduction to sociology

What is sociology?
Why study sociology?
Diversity of sociological approaches
Social analysis model
Basic research methods
Structure of sociology as a science
Rise of sociology
Sociology of A. Comte

2. Society is…

Society
is…
• A society is a group of people who share a culture
and live more or less together. They have a set of
institutions which provide what they need to
meet their physical, social, and psychological
needs and which maintain order and the values
of the culture.
That reminds us that
society and the
individual are
inherently connected,
and each depends on
the other.
Sociologists study this link:
how society affects the
individual and how
individuals constitute
and perpetuate society

3.

Society is…
society (n.)
1530s, "companionship, friendly association with
others," from Old French societe "company" (12c.,
Modern French société), from Latin societatem
(nominative societas) "fellowship, association, alliance,
union, community," from socius ("companion").
Meaning "group, club" is from 1540s, originally of associations of
persons for some specific purpose. Meaning "people bound by
neighborhood and intercourse aware of living together in an
ordered community" is from 1630s. Sense of "the more cultivated
part of any community" first recorded 1823, hence "fashionable
people and their doings." The Society Islands were named 1769 by
Cook on his third Pacific voyage in honor of the Royal Society,
which financed his travels across the world to observe the transit
of Venus.

4.

What is sociology?
Synchronically (about how society is constituted)
- the systematic study of human social life. At the heart of
sociology is a question: How is social order possible under
conditions of constant inequality, wars, poverty, illness and
other woes?
Diachronically (about how society changes over time)
- a critical analysis of the modernity. At the heart of sociology
is another question: How does the modernized world differ
from the previous periods of history, i.e. the traditional
society?
-A special point of view called the sociological
perspective reveals that the relation between
history and biography, the individual and society,
is integral to thinking sociologically.

5. Факторы модернизации

1. Экономическая либерализация: становление рыночной экономики
(капитализма) как свободного рынка труда, капитала, товаров и услуг.
События: буржуазные революции.
2. Политическая либерализация: становление демократии, т.е.
укрепление правового государства (разделение властей), естественных
прав человека, снижение политической роли Церкви, создание
международного права
События: Вестфальский мир, европейские демократические
революции.
3. Социальная либерализация: становление открытой классовой
социальной структуры взамен сословного деления. Вертикальная
социальная мобильность становится более свободной и средний класс
преобладает.
События: урбанизация, миграция населения, рост среднего класса.
4. Культурная либерализация: начало научной революции и развитие
светских культуры, образования и образа жизни.
События: Ренессанс, Реформация, Просвещение, первая
индустриальная революция (НТП).

6.

Human society operates with different social
structures intertwined with human agency
Structures are the more or less stable patterns of
people’s interactions and relationships, such as social
roles, norms, values, gender, class, institutions, etc.
They constrain human agency, i.e. our daily actions
and interactions.
Sociology inquires into the ways agency affects
and is affected by the social structures and social
changes.

7. Social sciences

Social Sciences are the disciplines that
use the scientific method to examine the
social world, in contrast to the natural
sciences, which examine the physical
world.
Diversity of social sciences includes ….?

8. How sociology fits in

Why so?

9. Scopes of social sciences

Psychology mostly looks at linkage between
individual behavior and mind
Anthropology mostly examines culture and
evolution of humans
Economics focuses on the behavior and interactions
of economic agents and how economies work
Political science focuses on government institutions
and political behavior
So, they all study particular
dimensions of the same –
the social (sociality)

10.

Source: Shepard J.M., Green R.W. Sociology and You. 1st Student edition.

11. Sociology as the ‘mother’ social science

Our
perspective
is twofold:
we are both
above and within
social
sciences
Individual
The
Social
Culture
Society

12. The social

Dorothy Smith (1926 – ) defines
the social as the “ongoing
concerting and coordinating of
individuals’ activities”.
The social means that you are
never alone with your personal
issues because:
There are always other people with
similar issues.
Your personal issues are resulted
from the social being of yourself:
what you do, feel, and think is social
in nature (constructed by other
people).
The social is
omnipresent
interconnectivity
of people, it is
an invisible web
we are all embedded
in

13. Какое общество изучает социология?

Общество как нечто, отличное от природы
(человеческое общество).
Общество как нечто большее, чем сумму индивидов
(как социокультурную общность).
Общество как социетальную систему на макроуровне
(классы, группы, категории, институты и др.) и
межличностное взаимодействие на микроуровне.
Общество как историческую эпоху (современное, а не
традиционное общество).
Общество как социальность (базовые структуры и
паттерны совместной жизни людей)

14.

THE ESSENCE OF SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE
C. Wright Mills (1916-1962) wrote the famous book ‘The
Sociological Imagination’ (1959).
The sociological perspective enables
us to develop a sociological imagination.
That is, knowing how social forces affect
our lives can prevent us from being
prisoners of those forces. C. Wright Mills,
an American sociologist, called this
personal engagement of sociology the sociological
imagination—the ability of individuals
to recognize the relationship between events
in their personal lives and processes in a larger society.

15. Why study sociology?

It helps us:
Explain society (by learning the social
laws).
Understand other people (by learning
what is common and what is different
between us).
Promote social changes for the benefit of
people (from team-building to social
movements and innovations).
Succeed in our own life (by learning selfmanagement).

16. Insights from sociology

Humans cannot be understood apart from social
context (i.e. society).
People actively and collectively shape their own
lives, organizing their social interactions and
relationships into a meaningful world.
The world around us profoundly shapes and
influences who we are, how we behave and even
how/what we think.
It is the job of the sociologist to understand how
this process works and to what effect.
Patterns are crucial to our understanding of
society.

17. Perspectives and paradigms in classical sociology

Functionalist
perspective
Positivism as the
background (A. Comte,
H. Martineau)
Social organicism
Conflict/critical
perspective
Classical
functionalism
Structural
functionalism
(T. Parsons, R.
Merton)
Modern conflict
theory
Frankfurt
school/critical
theory
1st wave Feminism
(Ch. Perkins Gilman, et
al.)
Symbolic
interactionism
(W. Thomas, G.H.
Mead, H. Blumer)
(T. Adorno, E. Fromm )
‘Verstehende’
sociology
(M. Weber)
(C. Wright Mills, L.
Coser)
(E. Durkheim)
(K. Marx, F. Engels)
(H. Spencer)
Marxism
Interpretive
perspective
Social
phenomenology
(A. Schutz)
Dramaturgical
analysis
(E. Goffman)

18. Still major classical sociologists

Emile Durkheim,
Functionalism
(1858–1917)
Karl Marx,
Conflict perspective
(1818–1883)
Max Weber,
Interpretivism
(1864-1920)

19.

20.

21.

Source: Shepard J.M., Green R.W. Sociology and You. 1st Student edition.

22. Levels of Analysis

Macrosociology is the level of analysis that studies
large-scale social structures in order to determine
how they affect the lives of groups and individuals.
Macrosociology focuses on large-scale issues
Ex: Functionalism, Conflict Theory
Microsociology is the level of analysis that studies
face-to-face and small-group interactions in
order to understand how they affect the larger
patterns and institutions of society.
Microsociology focuses on small-scale issues.
Ex: Symbolic Interactionism

23. Dimensions of Analysis

Objective dimension of social analysis
comprises all material, formal, external, visible
phenomena on micro- and macro level of social
life.
Ex: from human actions up to international
organizations
Subjective dimension of social analysis
pertains to invisible, ideal, internal (but still
powerful) phenomena within human minds.
Ex: from individual needs/emotions/opinions to
cultural norms and values

24.

Social analysis model

25.

26. Sociological research methods

When conducting research, methodology involves the
process by which one gathers and analyzes data.
Depending on data, we recognize two types of research:
Quantitative:
research that relies on
numerical data. It
translates the social
world into numbers
that can be treated
mathematically; this
type of research often
tries to find causeand-effect
relationships.
Ex.: questionnaire
Qualitative: research which
uses observation or
conversational communication
and relies upon descriptive
data. It works with nonnumerical data such as texts,
fieldnotes, interview transcripts,
photographs, and tape
recordings; this type of research
often tries to understand how
people make sense of their
world. Ex.: participant
observation

27. Basic research methods

Surveys - research method in which people respond to
questions (most commonly used method in sociological
research)
Questionnaire/polling: asking a sample population to respond
to a series of close(d)-ended questions.
Interview: asking of open-ended questions in order to
gain an in-depth information.
Field Research (fieldwork) - refers to gathering primary data from
a natural environment people live in. Sociologist steps into new
environments and observe, participate, or experience those worlds.
Ethnography (natural/direct observation): observation of a
naturally occurring setting, and making a written account (field
notes) of what goes on there.
Participant observation: researcher is being actively involved
with the group under observation, (s)he becomes a member in a
social setting (s)he is examining.

28. Basic research methods

Case study - an in-depth analysis of a single event, situation, or
individual (i.e. drug-lord, rape-victim, transgendered person). To
conduct a case study, a researcher examines existing sources like
documents and archival records, conducts interviews, engages in
natural observation and even participant observation, if possible.
Experiment - the testing of a hypothesis about the relationship
between an independent variable (cause) and a dependent
variable (effect). Experiments are usually set up so that the scientist
controls the introduction of possible independent variables. Used
more by psychologists than sociologists, e.g. see Milgram, Zimbardo.
Laboratory experiments - take place in a controlled
environment, such as a laboratory.
Field experiment - take place in a real-life setting such as a
classroom, the work place or even the high street. E.g. Hawthorne
experiment, ‘breaching’ experiments. Limitations: Hawthorne
effect, ethical reasons.

29. Basic research methods

Analysis of Documents - analyzing any cultural artifacts to provide
data for or insights into a research issue. A document is any cultural
product including hand-written documents such as letters, printed
documents, paintings, photographs, charts, maps, films, videos
television programmes, newspapers. There is no single 'document
analysis' method, various techniques (from content analysis to
semiotics) are used depending on the type of document and the
intention of the research.
Secondary Analysis - refers to the use of existing research data to
find answer to a question that was different from the original work.
Unlike previous methods that collect primary data, secondary
analysis rests on secondary data that has been collected by previous
researchers or organizations such as the government. Quantitative
sources of secondary data include official government statistics and
qualitative sources are very numerous including government reports,
newspapers, personal documents such as diaries as well as audiovisual content available online.

30.

31. Структура социологии как науки

Первый уровень. Теоретическая социология и соц. теория
Общетеоретические концепции и методологии (парадигмы):
социальный реализм (функционализм, конфликтная
парадигма); социальный номинализм (символический
интеракционизм и др.), интегрализм (современные подходы).
Частные (специальные, отраслевые) теории, или теории
среднего уровня: экономическая, политическая социология и
др.
Второй уровень. Эмпирическая социология.
Фундаментальные эмпирические исследования.
Методы, техники, процедуры
Базы данных и архивы данных.
Третий уровень. Прикладная социология.
Заказные опросы/Маркетинг/PR.
Управление организацией/HR.
Государственное управление.

32.

THE FOUNDING FATHER OF SOCIOLOGY:
AUGUSTE COMTE
Auguste Comte [kawnt](17981857) – French philosopher, the
Father of sociology. He was the
first who used the term Sociology
publicly in his multivolume The
Course in Positive Philosophy
(1830–1842) in 1839.
Sociology as a term derives from
the
Latin
word
socius
(companion) and the Greek word
logos (study of), meaning “the
study of companionship”.
His motto was: “Love for the
principle and Order for the base;
Progress for the goal.”
Some historians state
that the term sociology
was first coined in 1780
by the French political
essayist EmmanuelJoseph Sieyès (1748–
1836) yet in an
unpublished
manuscript

33.

COMTE’S CONTRIBUTION: METHODS
Three basic methods of early sociology, proposed by Comte:
Observations that should be directed by some theory;
Experimentation (study of social disorder);
Comparison: to compare human societies to lower
animal societies; to compare societies in different parts
of the world; to compare societies in their development.
Overall methodology:
historical research;
the use of methods taken from hard sciences (at that
time there were no specific sociological methods),
mainly from physics;
Sociological study of society is composed of social
statics and social dynamics.

34.

COMTE’S CONTRIBUTION: THE LAWS
Law of classification of sciences (bottom-up):
astronomy; mathematics; physics; chemistry; biology;
‘social physics’ (that was later renamed as
sociology) at the top.
Law of the three stages in the mental development
of mankind: a) the theological stage that
presupposes the search for absolute knowledge; b)
the metaphysical stage presupposes philosophical
interpretations; c) a positivist stage - the search
for law that govern all phenomena.
Law of double evolution according to which the level
of social development in the modern world
depends on the level of the development of
positivist sciences (consider IT-technology now!)