SOCIOLOGY

Sociology as Social Science

Sciencerefers to the body of knowledge obtained

by methods based on systematic

observation.

collect precise information through

methods of study that are as objective as

possible

Sociology as Social Science

Social science is the study of the social features of humans and the

ways in which they interact and change.

include sociology, anthropology,

economics, history, psychology, and political science.

Sociology as a social science

Sociologists study the:

influence that society has on people’s attitudes and behaviorthe ways in which people interact and shape society.social relationships of humans scientifically

■What are the areas/issues/topics studied by sociologists?

Altruism, Morality and Social Solidarity Evolution, Biology and Society Political SociologyAnimals and SocietyFamily PopulationAsia and Asian America Global and Transnational Sociology Race, Gender, and ClassBody and Embodiment History of Sociology Racial and Ethnic MinoritiesChildren and Youth Human Rights Rationality and SocietyCollective Behavior and

Social MovementsInternational MigrationReligionCommunication and Information Technologies Labor and Labor Movements Science, Knowledge, and TechnologyCommunity and Urban Sociology Latino/a Sociology Sex and GenderComparative and Historical SociologyLawSexualitiesCrime, Law, and Deviance Marxist Sociology

Social PsychologyCulture Mathematical Sociology Sociological Practice and Public SociologyDisability and Society Medical Sociology Teaching and LearningEconomic Sociology Mental Health TheoryEducation MethodologyEmotions Organizations, Occupations, and Work

Aging and the Life Course

Environment and

Technology

Peace, War, and

Social Conflict

Alcohol, Drugs,

and Tobacco

Ethno-methodolog

y and Conversation Analysis

Political Economy of the World-

System

HOW WOULD DIFFERENT SOCIAL

SCIENTISTS STUDY THE IMPACT OF THE GLOBAL

RECESSION THAT BEGAN IN 2008?

Studying the global recession that began in 2008Historians

stress the pattern of long-term fluctuations in world markets.

Economists discuss the

roles played by

government, the

private sector, and the world monetary system.

Psychologists

study individual cases of

emotional stress among

workers, investors,

and business owners.

Political scientists

study the degree of cooperation among

nations—or lack of it—in seeking economic solutions.

What about sociologists?Impact of recession in 2008

Marriage• the median age of first marriage has risen to 28.7 years for men and 26.7 years for women

• fewer people are making that trip to the altar than in the past

Education• private school enrolment from elementary through high school declined from 13.6 percent in 2006 to 12.8 percent in 2010 as families cut back on nonessential expenditures

Environment actions• carpools shrink and more people end up driving to work alone

Activity

■If you are a sociologist, what would be your focus on issue of people committing suicide?

SOCIOLOGY AND COMMON SENSE

Think about it..Why is the Mona

Lisa the most famous painting

in the world? 

Why did J.K. Rowling‘s Harry Potter books sell over 300 million

copies? 

Who is more chatty, men or

women?

Why is Madonna the most successful female musical

artist of all time?

…or COMMON SENSE, eh?

Sociology and Common Sense

■Several children’s publishers reject the initial Harry Potter manuscript

■No one pay much attention to the Mona Lisa for nearly 400 years

■Music critics dismiss the early Madonna as an attention seeker with limited talent

■Researchers have found little difference between the sexes in terms of their talkativeness– Over a five-year period researchers

placed ,unobtrusive microphones on 396 college students in various fields, at campuses in Mexico as well as the United States

– both men and women spoke about 16,000 words per day (Mehl et al. 2007)

■Why is common sense may sometimes be dangerous?

Sociology and common sense

In our daily lives, we rely on common sense to get us through many unfamiliar situations. It is not always reliable because it rests on commonly held beliefs rather than on systematic analysis of facts.Like other social scientists, sociologists do not accept something as a fact because “everyone knows it.”

Common sense

a hodge-podge of things, neither

coherent nor internally

self-consistent

Accum-ulated advice

Expe-riences

Aphorisms

NormsReceive

d wisdom

inherited

beliefs

Intros-pection

Common sense

■It is a common sense now that the earth is round– based on centuries of scientific work that

began with the breakthroughs made by Pythagoras and Aristotle

■Remember, it is common sense before that the earth was flat.

Remember this as well (from Duncan Watts)Birds of a feather flock together, but opposites also attract.Two minds are better than one, except when too many cooks spoil the broth. Does absence make the heart grow fonder, or is out of sight out of mind?  At what point does try, try again turn into flogging a dead horse? And if experience is the best teacher, when should one also maintain a beginner’s mind?

SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY

Why do people commit suicide?

■Traditional commonsense answer:– people inherit the desire to kill themselves.

■Another common sense answer in 1900s:– sunspots drive people to take their lives

Why do people commit suicide?

■Sociologists– concerned with identifying the social forces

that systematically cause some people to take their own lives.

– In order to undertake this research, sociologists develop a theory that offers a general explanation of suicidal behavior.

Sociological Theory

Theorya set of

statements that seeks to explain problems, actions, or behavior.

An effective

theory may have both explanator

y and predictive

power.

helps to see the

relationships among

seemingly isolated

phenomena

helps to understand

how one type of

change in an

environment leads to

other changes.

not a final statement

about human

behavior.

On suicides

■The World Health Organization (2010) estimates that almost a million people die from suicide every year.

On suicides

Emile Durkheim

suicide, although it is a solitary act, is related to group lifepeople without religious

affiliations had a higher suicide rate than those who were affiliatedthe unmarried had much higher rates than married people

soldiers had a higher rate than civilians

On Suicide In Las Vegas, for example, sociologists have observed that the chances of dying by suicide are strikingly high—twice as high as in the United States as a wholeWhat happens in Vegas may stay in Vegas• but the sense of community

cohesiveness that the rest of the country enjoys may be lacking (Wray et al. 2008, 2011)

THANK YOU!