CHAPTER OUTLINE

I. The Sociological Perspective

A. This perspective is important because it provides a different way of looking at life and it contributes to our understanding of why people are the way they are.

B. Sociology stresses the broader social context of behavior.

1. At the center is the question of how people are influenced by their society.
2. Sociologists look at the social location—culture, social class, gender, race, religion, age, and education—of people.
3. Sociologists consider external influences—people’s experiences—that are internalized and become part of a person’s thinking and motivations.

II Origins of Sociology

A. Sociology emerged as a result of changes in European societies that were taking place at that time:

(1) the Industrial Resolution, in which traditional society and culture were transformed;
(2) the American and French revolutions, out of which new ideas about the rights of individuals within society were accepted; and
(3) the application of scientific methods to find answers for questions about the natural order and our social world.

B. Auguste Comte coined the term sociology and suggested the use of positivism—applying the scientific approach to the social world—but he did not utilize this approach himself.

C. Herbert Spencer, another social philosopher, viewed societies as evolutionary, coined the term the survival of the fittest, and became known for social Darwinism.

D. Karl Marx, founder of the conflict perspective, believed that class conflict—the struggle between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie—was the key to human history.

E. Emile Durkheim studied the social factors that underline suicide and found that the level of social integration, the degree to which people are tied to their social group, was a key social factor in suicide. Central to his studies was the idea that human behavior cannot be understood simply in individual terms but must be understood within the larger social context in which it occurs.

F. Max Weber defined religion as a central force in social change; for example, Protestantism encourages greater economic development and was the central factor in the rise of capitalism in some countries.

III Sexism in Early Sociology

A. In the 1800s, women were assigned the roles of wife and mother. Few were able to acquire the education required to become sociologists, and those who did were ignored.

B. Harriet Martineau was exceptional. She studied social life in Great Britain and the United States and eventually published Society in America two to three decades before Max Weber or Emile Durkheim were even born.

IV. Sociology in North America

A. Sociology was transplanted to the United States in the late nineteenth century, first taking hold at the University of Chicago, the University of Kansas, and Atlanta University.

B. Jane Addams was active in promoting social reform. In 1889, she founded Hull House, a settlement house that served the needs of Chicago’s urban poor. Sociologists from the nearby University of Chicago were frequent visitors.

C. W. E. B. Du Bois was the first African American to earn a doctorate at Harvard University. He spent most of his career at Atlanta University, where he conducted extensive research on race relations in the United States. He was committed to social action, helping to found the NAACP.

D. During the 1940s, the focus shifted from reform to theory; Talcott Parsons developed abstract models of society to show how the parts of society harmoniously work together. In the 1950s, C. Wright Mills urged sociologists to get back to social reform. He saw imminent danger in the emergence of a power elite within the United States.

E. Recently, there have been attempts to blend sociological knowledge with practical results through the development of applied sociology.

1. Applied sociologists work in various social settings.
2. Applied sociology is not the same as social reform because the goal is not to rebuild society but to bring about change in a limited setting.

V. Theoretical Perspectives in Sociology

A. Theory is defined as a “general statement about how some parts of the world fit together and how they work.” There are three major theoretical perspectives in sociology.

B. Symbolic interactionism views society as being composed of symbols that people use to establish meaning, define their relationship, develop their views of the world, and communicate with one another. A symbolic interactionist studying divorce would focus on the changing meanings of marriage, divorce, and family to explain the increase.

C. Functional analysis sees society as being composed of various parts, each with a function, which contributes to society’s equilibrium. Auguste Comte, Herbert Spencer, and Emile Durkheim all contributed to the development of functionalism.

1. Robert Merton used the term functions to refer to the beneficial consequences of people’s actions. There are both manifest functions—actions that are intended to help some part of the system—and latent functions—unintended consequences that help social systems adjust. There are also latent dysfunctions, unintended consequences that undermine a system’s equilibrium.

2. In trying to explain divorce, a functionalist would look at how industrialization and urbanization both contributed to the changing function of marriage and the family.

D. According to conflict theory, society is viewed as being composed of groups competing for scarce resources. Divorce is seen as the outcome of the shifting balance of power within the family. As women have gained power and tried to address inequalities in the relationship, men have resisted.

E. The perspectives differ in their level of analysis. Macro-level analysis—an examination of large-scale patterns of society is the focus for functional and conflict analysis. Micro-level analysis—an examination of social interaction is the focus for symbolic interactionism.

F. Each perspective provides a different and often sharply contrasting picture of the world. Sociologists use all three perspectives because no one theory or level of analysis encompasses all of reality.

G. Research without theory is of little value—a collection of meaningless facts. Theory that is unconnected to research is abstract and empty, unlikely to represent the way life really is. Theory and research have a reciprocal relationship: Theory is used to interpret research findings, and research in turn helps to generate theory.

VI. Doing Sociological Research

A. Common sense cannot be relied on as a source of knowledge because it is highly limited and its insights often are incorrect. To move beyond common sense and understand what is really going on and why, it is necessary to do sociological research.

B. Scientific research follows eight basic steps.

1. Selecting a topic depends on what the researcher wants to know more about and explain.
2. Defining the problem involves specifying exactly what the researcher wants to learn about the topic.
3. Reviewing the literature uncovers existing knowledge about the problem.
4. Formulating a hypothesis involves stating the expected relationship between variables, based on a theory. Hypotheses need operational definitions—precise ways to measure the variables.
5. Choosing a research method is influenced by the research topic.
6. Collecting the data involves concerns about validity—the extent to which operational definitions measure what was intended—and reliability—the extent to which data produce consistent results.
7. Analyzing the results involves the use of a range of techniques—from statistical tests to content analysis—to analyze data. Computers have become powerful tools in data analysis because they reduce large amounts of data to basic patterns in much less time than it used to take.
8. Sharing the results by writing a report and publishing the results makes the findings available for replication.

VII. Research Methods

A. Surveys involve collecting data by having people answer a series of questions.

1. The first step is to determine a population—the target group to be studied—and selecting a sample—individuals from among the target population who are intended to represent the population to be studied.
2. In a random sample, everyone in the target population has the same chance of being included in the study. A stratified random sample is a sample of specific subgroups (e.g., freshmen, sophomores) of the target population (e.g., a university) in which everyone in the subgroup has an equal chance or being included in the study. Because a random sample represents the target population, you can generalize your findings.
3. The respondents (people who respond to a survey) must be allowed to express their own ideas so that the findings will not be biased.
4. Sociologists must decide between asking closed-ended questions, in which the respondent selects one from a list of possible answers, and open-ended questions, in which respondents answer the question in their own words.
5. It is important to establish rapport—a feeling of trust between researchers and subjects.

B. In participant observation, the researcher participates in a research setting while observing what is happening in that setting.

C. Secondary analysis is the analysis of data already collected by other researchers.

D. Documents—written sources—may be obtained from many sources, including books, newspapers, police reports, and records kept by various organizations.

E. Experiments are especially useful in determining causal relationships

1. Experiments require an experimental group—the group of subjects exposed to the independent variable—and a control group—the group of subjects not exposed to the independent variable.
2. Experiments involve independent variables (factors that cause a change in something) and dependent variables (factors that are changed).
F. Unobtrusive measures involve observing social behavior of people who do not know they are being studied.

VIII. Ethics In Sociological Research

A. Ethics are of fundamental concern to sociologists when it comes to doing research.

B. Ethical considerations include being open, honest, and truthful; not falsifying results or stealing someone else’s work; not harming the subject in the course of conducting the research; protecting the anonymity of the research subjects; and not misrepresenting themselves to the research subjects.

C. Efforts by Mario Brajuha to honor his research ethics reflect the seriousness with which sociologists view ethical considerations. Research by Laud Humphreys raised questions about how researchers represent themselves to subjects.

D. Weber advocated that sociological research should be value free—personal values or biases should not influence social research—and objective—totally neutral.

1. Sociologists agree that objectivity is a proper goal but acknowledge that no one can escape values entirely.
2. Replication—repeating a study to see whether the same results are found—is one means to avoid the distortions that values can cause.
3. This debate illustrates the continuing tensions over what should be the goal of sociological research. Some sociologists lean toward basic sociological research that has no goal beyond understanding social life and testing social theory, others feel that the knowledge should be used to reform society.