Social Experience O Second example essay topic

What is Sociology? Sociology is the systematic study of human society. Peter Berger said in his book Invitation to Sociology that Sociological perspectives involves seeing the general in the particular, seeing the strange in the familiar and individuality in social context. Seeing the general in the particular is how sociologists look at the patterns of life in people's behaviour. Seeing the strange in the familiar is recognizing the impact society has on our lives. Individuality in Social Context Emile Durkheim, a pioneer in sociology chose suicide as a topic of research.

He was able to demonstrate that social forces figure in the apparently isolated act of self-destruction. He found that men, protestants, wealthy people and the unmarried each had significantly higher suicide rates compared to women, Roman Catholics and Jews, the poor and married people. The sociological perspective in everyday life? Benefits of sociological perspective The sociological perspective o Becomes a way of thinking, "a form of consciousness" that challenges familiar understandings of us and of others, so that we can critically assess the truth of commonly held assumptions. o Enables us to assess both the opportunities and the constraints that characterize our lives. o Empowers us to be active participants in our society. o Helps us to recognize human differences and human suffering and to confront the challenges of living in a diverse world. Problems with the sociological perspective. o Sociology is part of a changing world. o Sociologists are part of what they study. o Sociological knowledge becomes part of society.

Social change and the origins of sociology Science and Sociology Auguste Comte, Emile Durkheim, and Ferdinand Toe nnies were three pioneers in sociology whose goal was to understand how society actually operates. Comte sorted human efforts to comprehend the world into three distinct stages. o The first stage was the medieval period in Europe which he termed the theological stage. This is the stage where thoughts about the world were guided by religion, therefore people regarded the society as an expression of God's will. Humans were capable of fulfilling a divine plan. o The Renaissance Era was the metaphysical stage when people came to understand society as natural rather than supernatural. Thomas Hobbes posited that society reflected not the perfection of God as much as the failings of a rather selfish human nature. o The final stage was the scientific stage.

The scientific approach was first used to study the physical world to study society. Positivism is a means of understanding the world based on science. How did sociology develop? Sociology was born out of the 'massive social transformation' of the past two centuries.

Two great revolutions - the French Revolution of 1789, and the more general 'industrial revolution' traced to England in the eighteenth century - 'have all but totally dissolved the forms of social organization in which humankind has lived for thousands of years of its previous history. There were four dimensions of change as traditions crumbled. o First, there was a new industrial economy. Scientific discoveries and technological advances had produced a factory-based industrial economy. o Second, there was urbanization. The factories drew millions of people from the countryside, causing an explosive growth of cities. o Third, there was political change. The people from the burgeoning industrial cities had new ideas about democracy and political rights. o Finally, there was the loss of community. The theory of Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft were used to describe the loss of community.

Gemeinschaft had traditional ties that bound people of a community together, 'people were essentially united in spite of all separating factors. ' Gesellschaft described the modern world that turned societies inside-out so that people are 'essentially separated in spite of uniting factors. ' This was especially found in large cities. There was the steady loss of traditional morality, the human community. Sociologists look to the future Auguste Comte and Ferdinand To nnies feared that people would be uprooted from long established local communities and overpowered by change. There will be continuing change in the future.

CHAPTER TWO OVERVIEWWhat is the classical tradition of sociology? Starting a short tour of sociological theory A theory is a statement of how and why specific facts are related. Durkheim explained his observations of certain categories of people by creating a theory: a high risk of suicide stems from a low level of social integration. A theoretical perspective is seen as a basic image that guides thinking and research. Mainstream or 'classical' perspectives in sociology The classical perspectives are the functionalist perspective, the conflict perspective and the social action. These are sociologists three major ways of thinking about society.

The functionalist perspective can be defined as the framework for building theory that envisages society as a complex system whose parts work together to promote solidarity and stability. This perspective began by recognizing that our lives are guided by social structure which means relatively stable patterns of social behaviour. Auguste Comte and Herbert Spencer were two sociologist who used this theoretical approach of functionalism. Emile Durkheim continued the development of sociology after Comte's Death. The ideas of Herbert Spencer and Emile Durkheim were carried by Talcott Parsons who treated society as a system. The conflict perspective is a framework for building theory that envisages society as an arena of inequality that generates conflict and change.

Both the functional and conflict perspective share a macro-level orientation which means that there is a focus on broad social structures that characterize society as a whole. The goal of Karl Marx was to reduce social inequality. The action perspective is a micro theory that focuses on how actors assemble social meanings. This micro-level orientation focuses on social interaction in specific situations. The macro level orientation focuses on broad social structures that characterize society as a whole.

Max Weber shared many of Marx's idea about social conflict but departed from Marx'x materialist analysis. He thinks beliefs and values have transforming power. The newer perspectives in sociology: Other voices and the postmodern Sociology contains multiple perspectives meaning it takes on many perspectives for looking at social life rather than just one. There are many other perspectives that have emerged although functionalism, conflict theory and action sociologists are still common positions in sociology. French philosopher Leotard used the term 'death of the meta narrative' as a way of rejecting any idea that there is one and only one Big Story of Sociology. The new voices include women, racial and ethnic minorities, colonized people throughout the world, gays and lesbians, the elderly, disabled people and various other marginalized or overlooked groups.

The development of a second wave of feminism fostered both Feminist sociology and feminist methodology and changed the fact of sociology been by men, about men and for men. The essentialist thinking is when we suggest that women are all the same. Essentialism is the belief in essences that are similar. And other voices: a postmodern drift In this section Sociologists spoke about a new generation of sociology in the making and is bringing about what is called the postmodern stance. Giddens called this the runaway world where modernity is accelerating.

Thinking globally: a global perspective in sociology global perspective is the study of the larger world and each society's place in it. Three reasons to consider why global thinking should figure prominently in the sociological perspective are: 1. Societies all over the world are increasingly interconnected. 2.

A global perspective enables us to see that many human problems we face in Europe are far more serious elsewhere. 3. Thinking globally is also an excellent way to learn more about ourselves. Globalization and Sociology Globalization is the increasing interconnectedness of societies. Worldwide multicultural companies such as Coca-Cola, McDonald's and Nike exist across the globe and produce and market goods across many countries.

They present their logos and images across the globe. Key features of globalization are: 1. Shifted the borders of economic transactions 2. Expanded communications into global networks such as TV, satellites, digital media, personal computers, mobile phones, and all the information technologies help to shrink the world. 3.

Fostered a new, widespread 'global culture'4. Developed new forms of international governance 5. Created a growing awareness of shared common world problems 6. Fostered a growing sense of risk - What Ulric k Beck called the World Risk Society 7. Led to the emergence of 'transnational global actors' who 'network " Taking stock and looking ahead The author suggests that sociologists should take a global perspective by using globalization. CHAPTER THREE OVERVIEWTHE BASIS OF SOCIOLOGICAL INVESTIGATION Seeing the world sociologically and asking sociological questions are fundamental to sociological investigation and divides the research process into the following three kinds of issues. o Theoretical / epistemological question so Technical question so Ethical, political and policy questions WHAT IS A SOCIOLOGICAL 'TRUTH'?

MATTERS OF EPISTEMOLOGY Epistemology is that branch of philosophy that investigates the nature of knowledge and truth. Commonsense vs. scientific evidence Four statements that many people might assume to be true, even though each is at least partly contradicted by scientific research are: 1. Poor people are far more likely than rich people to break the law. 2.

We now live in a middle class society in which most people are more or less equal 3. Differences in the behaviour of females and males reflect 'human nature'4. Most people marry because they are in love. The two sociologie's: Positivist and humanistic sociologiesPositivism is a logical system that bases knowledge on direct, systematic observation. Scientific knowledge rests on empirical evidence meaning information we can verify with our senses. Humanistic epistemology sees that studying the human world is very different from studying the physical, biological or material world.

The positivist baseline The ideal of objectivity Objectivity is a state of personal neutrality in conducting research. Replication is a repetition of research by other investigators. Some limitations of scientific sociology 1. Human behaviour is too complex to allow sociologists to predict precisely any individual's actions. 2. Because human beings respond to their surroundings the mere presence of a researcher may affect the behaviour being studied 3.

Social patterns change constantly; what is true in one time or place may not hold true in another. 4. Because sociologists are part of the social world they study, being value free when conducting research can be difficult. 5. Human behaviour differs from all other phenomena precisely because human beings are symbolic subjective creatures The humanistic stance: the importance of subjective interpretation First, science is a series of rules that guide research, rather like a recipe for cooking. Second science cannot account for the vast and complex range of human motivations and feelings, including greed, love, pride and despair.

Third, we also do well to remember that scientific data never speak for themselves. Interpretation is necessary for numbers that are collected. Emergent Epistemologies Realism is a theoretical system of concepts that are evolved to handle a particular problem. Essentialism is the belief that qualities are inherent specific objects. Making sense of Sociological data Concept is a mental construct that represents some part of the world, inevitably in a simplified form.

A variable is a concept whose value changes from case to case. Measurement is the process of determining the value of a variable in a specific case. Socio-economic status is income, occupation and education combined into a single composite assessment of social class. Reliability is the quality of consistent measurement Validity is the quality of measuring precisely what one intends to measure. Relationships among variables The scientific ideal is cause and effect meaning a relationship in which we know that change in one variable causes change in another. The independent variable is the variable that causes the change.

The dependent variable is the one that changes. Correlation is a relationship by which two or more variable change together. Issues of sampling Usually a researcher begins a survey by designating a population, the people who are the focus of the research. Researchers then collect data from a sample, a part of a population that represents the whole. There is random sampling, quota samples and snowball samples. Random sampling is when researchers draw a sample from the population in a way that every element in the population has a chance of being in the sample.

Quota samples represent the group of people it wants to make statements about. Snowball samples is associated with case studies and qualitative research often in areas of research where respondents are hard to find. The Tools of Sociological Research research tool is a systematic technique for conducting research. The four most common methods are; 1. The experiment - a research method for investigating cause and effect under highly controlled conditions.

2. The survey - a research method in which subjects respond to a series of items in a questionnaire or an interview. A questionnaire is a series of written questions a researcher supplies to subjects requesting their responses. An interview is a series of questions a researcher addresses personally to respondents. 3. Fieldwork, ethnography, participant observation - participant observation is a method by which researchers systematically observe people while joining in their routine activities.

Ethnographies refer to unfamiliar cultures Studying communities in other societies is called fieldwork. 4. Secondary and historical analysis - Secondary analysis is a research method in which a researcher utilizes data collected by others. Emerging research tools are: o Life stories Dairies o Logs and time budget so Letters Photographs o Film and video ETHICAL, POLITICAL AND POLICY Questions Feminist methodology: gender and research Gender is one political dimension of research.

This means the significance members of a society attach to being female or male. Margaret Eichler identified five threats to sound research that relates to gender. 1. Androcentricity 2. Overgeneralizing 3.

Gender blindness 4. Double standards 5. Interference o Feminist Research Research Ethics The new technologies in research The interplay of theory and method PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER: PLANNING A SOCIOLOGICAL PROJECT 1. Get yourself a research problem and define the topic of investigation.

2. Start keeping a log and record files. 3. Find out what others have learned about the topic. 4. Assess the requirements for carrying out the research 5.

Specify the research questions. 6. Specify your theoretical orientation and perhaps your disciplinary links 7. Consider ethical issues 8.

Devise a research strategy 9. Draw up a written research proposal in which you outline the above stages and say what you will be doing. 10. Gather and record the data 11. Interpret the data 12. State your conclusions.

13. Share your results 14. Where possible store your data in an archive. CHAPTER FOUR OVERVIEW Changing Patterns of Society Sociocultural evolution is the process of change that results from a society's gaining new information, particularly technology. HUNTING AND GATHERING SOCIETIES Hunting and Gathering society had simple technology for hunting animals and gathering vegetation and had indigenous people who were nomadic. They were based on kinship and the family obtained and distributed food, protected its members and taught necessary skills to children.

The weapons they used were the spear, the bow and arrow, and stone knife to wage war. HORTICULTURAL AND PASTORAL SOCIETIES Horticulture is technology based on using hand tools to cultivate plants. These tools are the hoe to work the soil and the digging stick to punch holes in the ground for seeds. Pastoralism is technology based on the domestication of animals.

Domesticating plants and animals generated a material surplus. The pastoral society viewed God as directly involved in the well-being of their entire world. Compared to the hunters and gatherers, horticulturalists and pastoralists displayed more social inequality, engaged in slavery, protracted warfare and even cannibalism. Agrarian society In this society agriculture was discovered where the technology of large scale facing using ploughs harnessed to animals or more powerful sources of energy.

Other technological innovations were irrigation, the wheel, writing, numbers, and the expanding use of metals. Agrarian societies exhibit dramatic social inequality. Industrial Societies Industrialism is technology that powers sophisticated machinery with advanced sources of energy. This creates factories near centralized machinery and energy sources.

Industrialisation contributes to urbanization as it draws people from the countryside to the cities where the factories are built. Industrial technology recasts family too, diminishing its traditional significance as the centre of social life. The standard of living has risen but poverty is still a serious problem in industrial societies. Post Industrial Societies Post industrialism refers to computer-linked technology that supports an information based economy. Post industrial production focuses on computers and other electronic devices that create, process, store and apply information. Technological determinism: a cautious word First, the technology does not determine societies o Second we must be wary of saying these five societies evolve from one to the next. o Third, we must recognize the limits of technology o Finally humanity's relation to the physical environment Explaining modern industrial society Karl Marx, Max Weber, and Emile Durkheim vision of society tried to answer key questions: o How do societies of the past and present differ from one another? o How and why does a society change?

What forces divide a society? What forces hold it together? o Are societies getting better or worse? Karl Marx: Capitalism and conflict The key to Marx's thinking is the idea of social conflict, the struggle between segments of society over valued resources. Society and production Marx said that Capitalism transformed a small part of the population into capitalists who are people who own factories and other productive enterprises. A capitalist's goal is profit. It also transformed most of the population into industrial workers who are proletariat's.

Proletariat's are people who provide labour necessary to operate factories and other productive enterprises. All societies are composed of social institutions which are the major spheres of social life, or society's subsystems, organized to meet basic human needs. The economic system is the base or social infrastructure The family, the political system and religion are the superstructure which are built on this foundation. Conflict in history Karl Marx materialist analysis spoke about historical and contemporary conflict between social groups. Communism refers to a social system in which the production of food and other material goods is a common effort shared more or less equally by all members of the society. Merchants and skilled crafts workers in the cities formed a new social category the bourgeoisie.

Capitalism and Class conflict Class conflict refers to antagonism between entire classes over the distribution of wealth and power in society. Capitalism produced alienation, the experience of isolation resulting from powerlessness. Four ways in which capitalism alienates workers are: 1. Alienation from the act of working 2. Alienation from the products of work 3. Alienation from other workers 4.

Alienation from human potential. MAX WEBER: THE RATIONALIZATION OF SOCIETY Max Weber's idealist approach reveals that modes of thought have a powerful effect on society. He contrasted the tradition of pre-industrial societies and the rationality of modern industrial societies. Tradition meant sentiments and beliefs passed from generation to generation.

Rationality deliberate, matter of fact calculation of the most efficient means to accomplish a particular goal. Calvinist built the foundation of capitalism as they reinvested their profits for greater success. Seven traits of rational social organization: 1. Distinctive social institutions 2. Large-scale organizations 3. Specialized tasks 4.

Personal discipline 5. Awareness of time 6. Technical competence 7. Impersonality Bureaucracies treat people as a series of cases rather than as unique individuals. EMILE DURKHEIM: SOCIETY AND FUNCTION Emile Durkheim's approach relates social elements to the larger society through their functions. He acknowledged the advantages of modern freedom, but he warned of a rise in anomie, a condition in which society provides little moral guidance to individuals.

The preindustrial societies had the system of mechanical solidarity where social bonds, based on shared morality, that unite members of pre-industrial societies. The mechanical solidarity declined and there was a new social integration the organic solidarity, which is social bonds, based on specialization, that unite members of industrial societies. THE CONTEMPORARY SHAPE OF WORLD SOCIETIES The world in 2000 is composed of 195 Nation States, 10,000 spoken Languages. Societies were classified as First World, Second World, and Third Worlds. With regards to economic development the countries were then categorized into High, medium- and low-income countries. High income countries are industrialized nations in which most people enjoy material abundance.

Middle-income countries are nations characterized by limited industrialization and moderate personal income. Low income countries have limited industrialization and severe poverty. The Human Development Index is one way of looking at world societies. The three issues are longevity, knowledge, and standard of living.

Chapter Five Overview What is Culture? Culture is defined as 'designs for living': the values, beliefs, behaviour, practices and material objects that constitute a people's 'way of life'. Non-material culture is the intangible world of ideas created by members of a society that span a wide range from altruism to zen. Material culture are the tangible things created by members of a society.

Cultural practices are the practical logic's by which we both act and think in a myriad of little encounters of daily life. The major components of culture The five major components of culture are: o Symbols - Anything that carries a particular meaning recognized by people who share culture. The study of symbols and signs is called semiotics. o Language - A system of symbols that allow members of a society to communicate with one another. o Values and beliefs - Values are the standards people have about what is good and bad. Beliefs are specific statements that people hold to be true. o Norms - rules and expectations by which a society guides the behaviour of its members. Proscriptive norms mandate what we should not do while prescriptive norms tell us what we should do. Mores refer to a society's standards of proper moral conduct.

Folkways refer to a society's customs for routine, casual interaction. o Material Culture - This involves artifacts which are tangible human creations. Cultural diversity: many ways of life in one world High culture refer to cultural patterns that distinguish a society's elite Popular culture refers to the cultural patterns that are wide spread among a society's population Cultural capital describes the practices where people can wield power and status because of their educational credentials, general cultural awareness and aesthetic preferences. Subcultures are cultural patterns that set apart some segment of a society's population. Counter cultures are cultural patterns that strongly oppose those widely accepted within a society contra culture. Cultural Change change in one dimension of a culture usually accompanies other transformation as well.

Cultural integration is the close relationship among various elements of a cultural system. Cultural lag is the fact that cultural elements change at different rates which may disrupt a cultural system. Cultural changes are set in motion in three ways. The first is invention, the process of creating new cultural elements. Discovery is the second cause of change, which involves recognizing and understanding something not fully understood before. Diffusion is the third cause of cultural change where cultural traits are spread from one society to another.

Ethnocentrism and cultural relativityEthnocentricism is the practice of judging another culture by the standards of one's own culture. Cultural relativism is the practice of judging a culture by its own standards. A global Culture? Societies around the world have global connections involving the flow of goods, information and people. The global economy: the flow of goods, Global communications: the flow of information and Global migration: the flow of people are links that have partially made the cultures of the world more similar. Cultural hybridization refers to the ways in which parts of one culture get recombined with the cultures of another.

G localisation refers to the ways in which global phenomena are responded to differently in local cultures. Understanding culture Sociologists use various theoretical paradigms to understand culture. The classic approach from anthropology: the functions of a culture - Thinking functionally helps make sense of an unfamiliar way of life. Culture, conflict and coercion - Through culture, coercive power may not be needed to maintain dominance. Hegemony refers to the way in which one class dominates another through consent rather than force. From culture to cultural studies Postmodernism and the new culture Postmodern culture is usually seen to (a) celebrate the surface rather than depth; (b) be eclectic and pastiche d (c) adopt ironic an even cynical tones.

John Barth has called postmodernism 'the literature of exhaustion': it is often indulgently self-reflective, and is often linked to contradiction, permutation, discontinuity, randomness and excess. Looking ahead: Culture as constraint - Culture isolates us from one another Culture as freedom - Culture gives us the responsibility to make and remake a world for ourselves. Chapter SixMcDonaldisation of society is a process by which the principles of the fast-food industry come to be applied to more and more features of social life. Social Groups social group refers to two or more people who identify and interact with one another. Charles Horton Cooley was famed for his idea of the looking glass self. o Primary groups are small socials group whose members share personal and enduring relationships. o Secondary groups are large and impersonal social groups whose members pursue a specific interest or activity. o Reference groups are social groups that serve as a point of reference in making evaluations or decisions. While members of primary groups display a personal orientation, people in secondary groups reveal a goal orientation.

Group conformity Solomon Asch and Stanley Mil gram studied group conformity, the power of group pressure to shape human behaviour. Samuel A. Stouffer and his associates conducted a classic study of reference group dynamics during WWII. Group sizes play a crucial role in how group members interact. George Simmel a German sociologist built a sociology of forms in which he explored social dynamics in the smallest social groups. Dyad refers to a social group with two members. Triad refers to a group with three members.

Social diversity Social diversity affects group dynamics. Peter Blau points out four ways in which the composition of social groups affects inter-group association. 1. Large groups turn inwards 2. Heterogeneous groups turn outwards 3. Special parity promotes contact.

4. Physical boundaries foster social boundaries. Organizations Formal organizations are large secondary groups that are organized to achieve their goals efficiently. Types of formal organizations o Utilitarian organizations provide material rewards for its members such as Large business enterprises that generate profits for their owners and income in the form of salaries and wages for their employees. o Normative organizations are not for income but to pursue goals they consider morally worthwhile. They are also called voluntary associations such as the Red Cross. o Coercive organizations are distinguished by involuntary membership that have extraordinary physical features, such as locked doors ad barred windows and are supervised by security personnel. o Total institutions transform a human being's overall sense of self.

Bureaucracy is an organizational model rationally designed to perform complex tasks efficiently. Six key elements of the ideal bureaucratic organization are: 1. Specialisation 2. Hierarchy of offices 3. Rules and Regulation 4. Technical competence 5.

Impersonality 6. Formal, written communications Problems of bureaucracy 1. Bureaucratic alienation 2. Bureaucratic inefficiency and ritualism - Bureaucratic ritualism is a pre occupation with rules and regulations to the point of thwarting an organization's goals. 3. Bureaucratic inertia - The tendency of bureaucratic organizations to perpetuate themselves.

4. Bureaucratic abuse of power: oligarchy - the rule of the many by the few. Total Institutions are settings in which people are isolated from the rest of society and manipulated by an administrative staff. McDonaldisation has four principles, efficiency, , uniformity and predictability, and control through automation. Human ising bureaucracy means fostering a more democratic organizational atmosphere that recognizes and encourages the contributions of everyone. Three paths to a more humane organizational structure are; 1.

Social inclusiveness 2. Sharing of responsibilities 3. Expanding opportunities for advancement. Five distinctions between formal organizations in Japan and their counterparts in industrial societies of the west are: 1. Hiring and advancement 2. Lifetime security 3.

Holistic involvement 4. Non-specialised training 5. collective decisionmaking A network is a web of social ties that links people who identify with one another. The telephone, networks in the global village, and. The internet is a vast electronic network linking millions of computers worldwide. Chapter SevenMicrosociology is the study of everyday life in social interactions. Five key ideas that help organize or everyday lives are interaction, identity, bodies, emotion, and biography.

The social construction of reality Social construction of reality was introduced by Peter Berger and Thomas Luck mann as the process by which people creatively shape reality through social interaction. The Thomas Theorem The Thomas Theorem states that situation we d eine as real become real in their consequences. Becoming social: the process of socializationA process of socialization is a lifelong social experience by which individuals construct their personal biography, assemble daily interaction al rules and come to terms with the wider patterns of their culture. Socialization theory asks five broad questions: Whois being socialized?

By whom? How? Where? When? Psychologists John B. Watson behaviour ism theory held that specific behaviour patterns are not instinctive but learned. Psychologists Harry and Margaret Harlow conducted a classic investigation of the effects of social isolation on non-human primates.

Social isolation in childhood can affect children. Becoming biographies? Two theories of socializationA personal biography is a person's unique history of thinking, feeling and acting. Sigmund Freud: The importance of the unconscious He spoke about the work of the unconscious. People's lives are partly shaped by emotional experiences, traumas and family romances which then become too difficult to confront and so become hidden from the surface workings of life, whilst still motivating our actions. He spoke about Life and Death, the Id, Ego, Superego and Personality development.

The Id represents human being's basic drives. The ego is a person's conscious efforts to balance innate, pleasure-seeking drives with the demands of society. The superego is the operation of culture within the individual. George Herbert Mead and the social self Self is the human capacity to be reflexive and take the role of others. o First the self emerges from social experience. o Second social experience involves communication and the exchange of symbol so Third to understand intention, you must imagine the situation from another person's point of view. The looking-glass self is the image people have of themselves based on how they believe others perceive them. He also spoke of the I and the me meaning the self as the subject as we initiate social action and the self as the object because taking the role of another forms an impression of ourselves.

Generalised other refer to widespread cultural norms and values we use as references in evaluating ourselves. The life course and generations Understanding life course development cohort is a category of people with a common characteristic, usually their age. An 'age-cohort generation is a group of people born in a specified period of years, who are hence tied together through a particular shared historical time period. A 'generation cohort perspective' is the more subjective sense that people acquire of belonging to a particular age reference group through which they make sense of their 'memories' and 'identities'. Constructing situations: Erving Goffman and drama Erving Goffman studied the interaction order which is what we do in the immediate presence of others.

He said we engage in dramaturgical analysis, the investigation of social interaction in terms borrowed from theatrical performance. This involve performances, Non-verbal communication, Idealization, Embarassment and tact. Nonverbal communication is communication using body movements, gestures and facial expressions rather than speech. Demeanour is the general conduct that reflects a person's level of social power.

Personal space refers to the surrounding area to which an individual makes some claim to privacy. Ethno methodology and conversational analysisEthnomethodology is the study of the way people make sense of their everyday lives. Conversation analysis is looking at the language and the rules through which we speak, the sequence of talks. Identity Social identity is our understanding of those who we are and of who other people are and reciprocally other people's understanding of themselves and of others.

De centered is a process by which a centre core or essence is destabilized and weakened. The sociologie's of the body and the emotions. Bodies are biological, natural and given. The social body According to Chris Shilling we are involved in body projects, the process of becoming and transforming a biological entity through social action. Sociologist talk about cyborgs which are creatures which connect a human and biological properties to technological ones. Emotions in everyday life Emotions are something we feel within, they are personal, psychological, private.

The emotional labour is the management of feeling to create a publicly observable facial and bodily display. CHAPTER 8 Social divisions take place when human differences are rendered socially significant, differences between people that are valorize d, given strength and made significant start to play crucial roles in the shaping of a society. What is social Stratification? Social Stratification refers to a system by which a society ranks categories of people in a hierarchy. It has four basic principles: Social stratification is a characteristic of society, not simply a reflection of individual differences, persists over generation, is universal but variable and involves not just inequality but beliefs. Individuals do experience social mobility which is a change in ones position in a social hierarchy.

Social divisions can be organized through other key social processes such as gender, ethnicity, sexuality, disability and age. Some key processes at work include Social exclusion, exploitation, powerlessness, cultural imperialism and violence. Closed and open systems of stratification: slavery, caste, estate, and class " Closed system allow little change in social position, while open systems permit some mobility. The slavery system is a form of social stratification in which people are owned by others as property. Modern slavery include forced labour, debt bondage, prostitution and servile marriage. The estate system is a system based on a rigidity interlocking hierarchy of rights and obligations.

Three major groups were the nobility, clergy, and commoners. The caste system is based on inherited status or ascription applied to India. Four major categories are: the Brahman's, kshatriyas, Vaisyas and Shur das. People outside the system are the untouchables. The social class system is social stratification resulting from the unequal distribution of wealth, power and prestige.

Some examples of stratification at work: Japan and Russia Social stratification in Japan mixes the traditional and the contemporary. Japan is at once the world's oldest, continuously operating monarchy and a modern society in which wealth follows individual achievement. The Russian federation which rivaled the USA as a superpower while it existed as the Soviet Union was born out of revolution in 1917. The Russian revolution ended the feudal system and transferred most farms, factories and other productive property from private ownership to state control. The role of ideology: stratification's 'staying in power " Social hierarchies are built on ideology, which are cultural beliefs that serve to legitimate key interests and hence justify social stratification. Explaining social stratification Society may be stratified by function, the operation of a society or meritocracy, the system of social stratification based on personal merit.

Marxist and neo-Marxist ideas on stratification and conflict Four reasons why capitalism was not overthrown are: The fragmentation of the capitalist class, white collar work and rising standard, more extensive worker organizations and more extensive legal protection. Other sociologists defended marx capitalism and responded with their own set of five key points which are: wealth remains highly concentrated, white-collar positions offer little to workers, progress require struggle, the law still favours the rich and the global system of capitalism. Max Weber viewed social stratification as more complex interplay of three distinct dimensions, class refers to a continuum ranking from high to low, status measures social prestige and power. CHAPTER SEVENTEEN OVERVIEWWHAT ARE FAMILIES? Family is a social institution that unites individuals into cooperative groups that oversee the bearing and raising of children.

Kinship is a social bond, based on blood, marriage or adoption, that joins individuals into families. Family unit is a social group of two or more people related by blood marriage or adoption who usually live together. Families form around marriage which is a legally sanctioned relationship, involving economic cooperation as well as normative sexual activity and childbearing that people expect to be enduring. Families of choice are people with or without legal or blood ties who feel they belong together and wish to define themselves as a family. Christopher Carrington says families are achieved thigh various forms of work: feeding work, house work and kin FAMILY AND HISTORY Throughout history families have been shaped by age, cycles, class, region, and ethnicity making families varied and complex. Lawrence Stone in a classic study charted three phases of family in Western Europe. o First, is Open Lineage which involves a lack of close relations and lack of privacy, but extensive kin. o Second is Restricted Patriarchy where there were increased loyalties to the state and church and less to kin and community. o Last but not least is 'Closed domesticated families which highlights privacy, bonds between children and parents and affective individualism.

Families vary and change with class and environment. THE CLASSIC APPROACH - FUNCTIONS OF THE FAMILY The tasks of families 1. Socialization 2. Regulation of sexual activity 3.

Social placement 4. Material and emotional security INEQUALITY AND THE FAMILY How families perpetuate inequality are: 1. Property and inheritance 2. Patriarchy 3. Race and Ethnicity The micro sociology of the familyMicrosociology explores how individuals shape and experience family life. The Social-exchange analysis depicts courtship and marriage as forms of negotiation.

Individuals seek to make the best deal in selecting a partner. New Developments: 'family practices " David Morgan suggested that families can be analysed as a set of practices. These practices highlight. o The doing of familie so The everyday life of familie so The processes and fluidity of family life Regularities o Interplay of biography and history Interplay of positions FAMILY DIFFERENCES IN THE UK: CLASS ETHNICITY AND GENDER Dimensions of inequality are social class, ethnicity and gender which are powerful forces that shape marriage and family life. Social class Social class shape a family's financial security and range of opportunities, the family size and shape. There is the upper class, middle class and working class. Ethnic minorities Asian families Afro Caribbean families Gender affects family dynamics since husbands play a dominant role in the vast majority of families PRACTICES OF FAMILY LIFE Practising care Doing violence - this involves violence against women and violence against children.

TOWARDS THE POSTMODERN FAMILY? American family sociologist Judith Stacey has argued that we may be discovering the postmodern family. Household size - There has been a decline in the traditional household of two parents and dependent children Marriage and divorce - There has been a decline in first marriage and the rapid growth of divorce. Today's divorce rate is much higher than a century ago; four in ten marriages will end in divorce. There has also been a general drift towards marrying at older ages.

Divorce has been rising because: 1. Divorce is legally easier to accomplish 2. Demographic changes 3. Individualization is increasing 4.

Romantic love often subsides 5. Women are now less dependent on men and have changed expectations 6. Many of today's marriages are stressful 7. Divorce is more socially acceptable Remarriage Remarriage often creates blended families, composed of children and some combination of biological parents and step-parents. This usually include children from the previous marriage. Family violence, victimizing both women and children is far more common than official records indicate.

Lone parent families Over 90% of lone parent families are headed by a single mother usually resulting from divorce, separation, death or the choice of an unmarried woman to have a child. Five types of lone-parent families are: o Single lone mother so Divorced lone mother so Separated lone mother so Widowed mother so Lone fathers Cohabitation is the sharing of a household by an unmarried couple. Step-parenting involves a natural parent and the husband or wife of the parent. Gay and lesbian couples: registered partnerships and marriage SinglehoodLooking ahead: families in the twenty-first century Based on current trends we can make five predictions about the future of family life o First divorce rates are likely to remain high, even in the face of evidence that divorce can harm children Second, family life in the twenty-first century will be highly variable. o Third, men are likely to play changing roles in child rearing. o Fourth, economic changes will continue to reform marriage and the family. o Finally, the importance of new reproductive technologies will increase. CHAPTER EIGHTEEN OVERVIEWTHE NATURE OF RELIGION Religion is a matter of faith, belief anchored in conviction rather than scientific evidence. Durkheim explained we organize our surroundings by defining most objects as profane meaning that which is an ordinary element of everyday life.

He said we also set somethings apart as sacred. Sacred is that which is defined as extraordinary, inspiring a sense of awe, reverence, and even fear. Religion is a social institution involving beliefs and practices based upon a conception of the sacred. All religions have models of life by which people can organize their activities. These include a cosmogony, a tale about how the world / universe was created; theodicy, a tale about how evil and suffering is to be found in the world; and a broad vision of the ethical life. The sacred is the focus of the ritual, which is formal, ceremonial behaviour.

Religiosity is the importance of religion in a person's life. Charles Glock distinguished five distinct dimensions of religiosity. Experiential religiosity Ritualistic religiosity Ideological religiosity Consequential religiosity Intellectual religiosity Understanding Religion Each theoretical paradigm suggests ways in which religion affects social life. The functions of religion: religion as ritual Emile Durkheim, explained a totem, an object in the natural world collectively defined as sacred becomes the centerpiece of ritual, symbolizing the power of society to transform individuals into a powerful collectivity. He pointed out three major functions of religion for the operation of society: o Social Cohesion o Social control o Providing meaning and purpose Constructing the sacred: religion as action Max Weber's theory is an example of action theory. From an action perspective, religion is socially constructed.

This is one of the chief mechanisms through which meanings are constructed and people make sense of their lives. Inequality, conflict and religion: religion as power Marx had a sociological view of religion, in which he claimed that religion served ruling elites by legitimizing the status quo and diverting people's attention from the social inequalities of society. Most religions create or reinforce systems of stratification. He said that gender and ethnicity also figure in religion's tie to social inequality. Newer perspectives: religion as a chain of memoryHervieu-Leger talks of 'the crumbling memory of modern societies' and sees them as 'amnesic's societies in so far as they tend to forget their traditions and their past.

The Nature of religious organizations Sociologists have categorized religious organizations in the world into church, sect and cult. The church is a type of religious organization well integrated into the larger society. A church generally takes one of two forms. Ecclesia means a church formally allied with the state. A denomination is a church independent of the state that accepts religious pluralism The sect is a type of religious organization that stands apart from the larger society.

The cult is a religious organization that is substantially outside a society's cultural traditions. The social shape of global religions Six of the major world religions are; o Christianity - This was originated as a cult and has a unique version of the Supreme Being as a sacred Trinity: God the creator; Jesus Christ, Son of God and Redeemer; and the Holy Spirit, a Christian's personal experience of God's presence. Christianity is an example o monotheism, a belief in a single divine power. This broke the traditional polytheism, belief in many Gods in the Roman Empire. o Islam - This is the second largest faith in Europe. Islam is the word of God as revealed to the prophet Mohammed who was born in Mecca. In Arabic the word Islam means both submission and peace. o Judaism is composed of three main denominations: the Orthodox, Hasidism and Conservative Judaism.

They became monotheistic and had a special relationship with God where they became chosen people. o Hinduism is the oldest of world religions o Buddhism Confucianism an ecclesia the official religion of China. Religion in the twenty-first century Four major trends at work Limited partial secularization o The growth of fundamentalists alongside 'the clash of civilizations'o The arrival of new religious movements and the 'New Age'o The development of new institutional forms of religion. Secularization is the historical decline in the importance of the supernatural and the sacred. Fundamentalism is a conservative religious doctrine that opposes intellectualism and world accommodation in favour of restoring traditional other-world spirituality Civil religion a quasi religious loyalty binding individuals in a basic secular society is one dimension of secularization said Robert Be llah. Mega Churches are very large worship centres while the Cyber church is those churches that are found in a website. Chapter 19 Education Education is the social institution guiding the transmission of knowledge, job skills, cultural norms and values.

Much education is a matter of schooling, formal instructions under the direction of specially trained teachers Global Education and Literacy We spend much of our first 20 years in various kinds of school: nursery, primary, secondary, and tertiary. The English word school comes from the Greek word leisure. Global education and literacy involve so The illiteracy question - Despite the world growth in education illiteracy remains a major issue. The problem of illiteracy in the US is most among the Latinos due to a dropout rate of almost 30% among 14 to 24 year olds. o The new illiteracy meaning the inability to use computers, word processing, email and website as societies develop and expand information technology. o Resolving illiteracy is teaching practical knowledge and skills to provide for basic life needs in a changing natural environment rather than formal degrees on paper. Schooling around the world Schooling in the United States - This involved promoting social mobility by funding state schools to offer equal opportunity for all bright and motivated students to succeed in spite of the educational and economic background of their parents. Schooling in India - The wealthy in India pursue high quality early schooling.

The majority of the population cannot afford this therefore primary education is received in crowded classrooms. Patriarchy shapes Indian education where more boys than girls attend secondary schools. Schooling in Japan - Japan's educational system produces some of the highest achievers in maths and sciences. Around half of Japanese students attend cram schools to supplement their standard education and prepare for exams. Schooling in Europe - Most European countries have a multi-track secondary education system which channel students towards university and others to vocational training.

Schooling in the UK - Three major Acts have shaped the British education during the twentieth century: The Balfour Act in 1902 The Butler Act of 1944 The Baker Act of 1988 Understanding education in the modern world Classroom Interaction: The micro sociology of schools One approach of studying education is to look at what goes on in the classroom. Researchers often applying symbolic interaction ism and the method of participant observation have documented the perspectives of teachers and students, the processes through which classrooms are constructed and negotiated, the different students roles and cultures which emerge within these classrooms and the impact of social divisions (gender, class, disability and race) on these interactions. Four major types of small sub-group of gay male students were o The Macho Lad so The Academic Achiever so The New Enterpriser so The Real Englishmen Another approach to studying education is through social divisions and social conflict. Education at all levels becomes a means for the reproduction of society's inequalities: it can act as a means of social control, reinforcing acceptance of status quo. Compliance, punctuality and discipline were and still are part of what conflict theorists call the hidden curriculum, the subtle presentation of political or cultural ideas outside the formal curriculum. Social divisions and schooling Class divisions - Conflict theorists argue that schools routinely tailor education according to students social background, thereby perpetuating social inequality.

Disability divisions - The education experience for the disabled will remain inferior since teachers often have lower expectations; courses are taught specialist training in life skills rather than academic knowledge. They attend schools with special education needs. Ethnic differences - Racial differences in educational achievement appear in many countries. Gender differences - Many of the world's societies have considered schooling more important for boys than for girls. Women study traditionally feminine subjects, such as literature while men study mathematics and engineering. Sexuality, gender and the school Gender segregation is common in children's and young people's lives as there is a division into boy's worlds and girl's worlds.

There are further divisions in gender identity, fashioned around sexuality. Ability or merit? Streaming and teaching Schools use test as a basis for streaming, the assignment of students to different types of educational programmes. Some current issues in Education Funding crises, market forces and centralization o Excellence and quality: the culture of auditing o Dangerous school so The ideology of Credentialismo Education and the Information Revolution Looking ahead Education can improve literacy, raise general standards of knowledge and awareness, and provide a better-trained workforce.

CHAPTER TWENTY OVERVIEWWhat is Health? The World Health Organization defined health as in 1946 as a state of complete physical, mental and social well being. The major theme of this chapter is 'health is as much a social as a biological issue. Health and Society Key aspects of health include People judge their health relative to others People often equate 'health' with morality Cultural standards of health change over time Health and living standards are interrelated Health relates to social inequality Health and the body - This looking at the sociology of health and illness which looks at the way the body breaks down in society and needs to be socially repaired. Medical regimes are necessary to organize work around birth, disease, decay and death. Health: a global survey Health in low-income countries The WHO reports that 1 billion people around the world - one in five - suffer from serious illness linked to poverty.

Poor sanitation and malnutrition kill people of all ages, especially children. Contaminated water breeds infectious diseases that affect both adults and children. Poorer societies have a shortage of doctors medical personnel and funding of medicine. Health in high income countries In high income societies scientists developed vaccines against deadly diseases which declined the prevalence of infectious diseases, but chronic illnesses including heart disease ad cancer affects the old age.

The rise of a medical model Industrialisation facilitated a 'medical model' of health. This model claims: Diseases arise from biological breakdown within the individual. Diseases have specific causes which can be located. The focus of attention is, therefore, upon the body of the ill person, rather than on the general well being. The correct response to illness is treatment within a medical environment. Treatment is 'scientifically neutral'; that is free of value judgement's.

Some social links to illness The Acheson Report suggests factors that need to be identified in understanding the main determinants of health. the broadest features of the society - disease patterns in low-income and high-income societies specific living conditions such as working and housing: poor work conditions and housing contribute to poor health. Social and community networks of support Individual lifestyle factors, such as alcoholism and smoking Age, sex and constitutional factors Social epidemiology is the study of how health and disease are distributed throughout society's population. Social class - The death rate among newborns is significantly higher among the children of unskilled workers than it is among children born to the privilege. The Black report had four main arguments that explained social class differences around health. Statistical artifacts Natural-health selection explanations Materialist explanations Cultural explanations Healthcare systems and the medical establishment Medicine is a social institution concerned with combating disease and improving health.

Healthcare is any activity intended to improve health. Government offers healthcare equally in the Socialist societies, while the in the capitalist societies the people provide their own health care with financial resources and personal preferences. Healthcare has to be purchased. Holistic, alternative or complementary medicine Holistic medicine is an approach to health care that emphasizes prevention of illness and takes account of a person's entire physical and social environment.

Foundations of holistic healthcare are: Patients are people Responsibility, not dependency Personal treatment Understanding health and medicine According to Parsons the normal response to disease is to assume the sick role which are patterns of behaviour defined as appropriate for people who are ill. This has four characteristics: Illness suspends routine responsibilities, A person's illness is not deliberate, A sick person must want to be well and an ailing person must seek competent help. The doctor's role is assessing the sick and restoring them to their normal routine. This responsibility is based on specialized knowledge. Patients are expected to follow the doctor's orders and give personal information that will assist in their efforts. Constructionists look at how individuals respond to illness and the ways in which medical knowledge is produced and organized.

Three concepts that helped Bury to see the different ways people respond to illness are coping, strategies and style. Corbin and Strauss made a set of linked distinctions: illness work, everyday life work and biographical work. Narratives of Illness are stories that patients tell about distressing illnesses -chronic pain, AIDS, dying colostomy and others retell. Four standard ritual patterns emerged from Phil Strong's classic study 'The Ceremonial Order of the Clinic: The bureaucratic, clinical, private rituals and the charity pattern. Medicalisation is the process by which events and experiences are given medical meaning and turned into medical problems. There is conflict among health, medicine and society therefore there is social inequality in health and the profit motive is inconsistent with the interest of patients.

AIDS and sociology AIDS is an incurable disease in which the body's immune system breaks down caused by the Human Immune deficiency virus that is transmitted through body fluids. AIDS has many sociological implications. Stigma and prejudice, measurement problems, political and cross-cultural issues, having a major impact on children, the patterns of epidemiology are some of the implications AIDS have on society. Medical ising death and dying Death is physically removed form everyday activities as death occurs in hospitals and nursing homes. Hospital morgues are located out of the sight of visitors and patients. Stages of dying and bereavement are denial, anger, negotiate, resignation and acceptance.

Health will continue to improve in the twenty-first century. Chapter 21 The media age is where mass media plays a prominent role in our everyday lives. Politics, religion, sports, business have all relayed in our homes via the television. The Media and social change People act on the media to bring about social change. Mass media is any social or technological device used for the selection, transmission or reception of information. McLuhan says 'The Medium is the Message'.

He sees the history media falling into three major periods. First, is the oral culture where the ear is the important sense. Second is the writing and printing culture where the ear is exchanged for the eye. The third is electronic culture where television changes the way we experience the world. PCs, laptop and mobile phones and its text messages are more central to our lives. Media Theories The classical hypodermic model assumes that people are passive and the media message has direct impact upon them.

The functionalist theories of the media speaks about the surveillance function, the status conferral function, the enforced application of social norms' function, the transmission function and the narcotizing function. The conflict theories of the media see the dominant classes owning the media and using them as a mechanism to serve their own interests. Symbolic-interaction ism involved the research the impact cinema-going has on young people's lives. The theory of moral panics where a group of persons become a threat to society's values and interests Three key questions in media analysis Harold las well said the goal of media research was to answer who says what, in which channel, to whom with what effect? Codes are rule-governed systems of signs. Encoding is putting a message of any kind into a language Decoding is the process by which we hear or read and understand a message.

The first question highlights the codes in media texts, all media products such as television programmes, films, rock CDs, books, newspapers, website pages, etc., The second question concerns the ways in which the media texts are produced. The third question looks at decoding. All three act as a feedback loop. News is a central media product in modern societies and a means of mass communication. News includes featuring of personalities, elites, narrative structures, good visuals and aesthetics entertainment, importance, brevity, negativity and recency. Globalization of themediaThe media is the central means of which globalization takes place as countries are connected through films, video, television, cable and satellites.

The global economy is undergoing an Information Revolution that will be as significant as the Industrial Revolution. The information economy is growing faster than the global economy and will continue to grow. The television is at the forefront of the globalization of the media Three key aspects of this globalization process are: The globalization of means The globalization of content The globalization of ownership and the decline of public television The rise of the internet Looking ahead: the future of the media It seems that our ch.