sociological imagination
TRANSCRIPT
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How can a sociological imagination
help you better understand your
world?
Why do social contexts matter?
Where did sociology come from, and
how is it different from the other
social sciences?
How can this book help you develop a
sociological imagination?
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C. Wright Mills
Sociological imagination
Helps us to ask hard questions and seek answers about the social worlds we inhabit
The sociologist C. Wright Mills on
his motorcycle in a famous photo.
Sociological Imagination
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Looking through a Sociological Lens
Sociological imagination
Challenges our basic impulses to see aspects of life as inevitable or natural
Provides insight into stereotyping and active discrimination
Facilitates more active and effective participation in the world around us
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Engaging Our Sociological Imaginations
Learning to ask good questions
The ability to ask hard questions instead of accepting easily available answers is the
hallmark of sociological imagination.
How are these sociological questions formed?
Lets look at some examples.
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Forming Sociological Questions
What types of questions are sociologists
particularly well equipped to explore?
Lets look at four:
How do students lives before college shape their experiences in college?
How do the social organizations of college life shape students; experiences?
Does the experience of college benefit everyone equally?
How are students college paths shaped by the larger labor markets awaiting students upon graduation?
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The Endless Reach of the Sociological Imagination
Exposure to violence is
another topic explored
by sociologists.
Living in a high-crime
neighborhood increases
stress levels and is
harmful to children in
many ways. See Sharkeys research findings
later in the chapter.
What about exposure
to violence?
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How Do Our Families Shape Our Social Development?
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How Do Our Families Shape Our Social Development?
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How Do Our Communities Shape Our Social Development?
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How Do the Organizations and Institutions We Are a Part
of Help Us Form Our Identities?
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How Do the Organizations and Institutions We Are a Part
of Help Us Form Our Identities?
Would it be the same today as then? 1910 African American male in South 1940s child from Detroit working-class family 1950s woman entering adulthood
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Sociology as the Study of Social Contexts
So
cio
log
y Involves study of the diverse
contexts within which society influences individuals
Distinguishes between social interaction and social structure
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Sociologys Historical Context
Comte (1798-1859)
Coined term sociology
Veblen (1857-1929) Commons (1862-1945)
Economics and sociology
Smith (1723-1790) Marx (1818-1883)
Philosophy and economic relations
Durkheim (1858-1917)
Father or sociology
First European Sociology Department and major European journal of sociology
University of Chicago
First U.S. Sociology Department
Great Thinkers and Schools
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Sociologys Historical Context
Industrialization
Growth of factories and large-scale goods production
New technologies and innovations
Immense social changes Different approaches needed
Urbanization
Growth of cities in late nineteenth century in U.S., Europe, and elsewhere
Shift from agriculture to manufacturing
Problems were markedly different
New type of political challenge, including social movements
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Sociologys Family: Siblings
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How is Sociology Different?
How we see a community or social
setting is shaped by what vantage
point we use. Viewed from space,
social life doesnt appear very different, but the closer we get the
greater the differences we can see.
Different levels Different units of analysis Wider range of connections than
other social sciences
Do you know ways in which
sociology differs from other social
sciences?
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Sociologys Children