sociology

sslj/
noun
1.the study of the development, structure, and
functioning of human society.
2.the study of social problems.

SOCIOLOGY AND ITS ORIGINS

THERE WAS NOT A SOCIOLOGY AS

A DISTINCT DISCIPLINE BEFORE
THE ARRIVAL OF THE
19TH CENTURY.

IN THE
BEGINNING

SOCIOLOGY CAME INTO VIEW

ABOUT THE MIDDLE OF THE
19TH CENTURY WHEN
EUROPEAN SOCIAL OBSERVERS
BEGAN TO USE SCIENTIFIC
METHODS TO TEST THEIR IDEAS.
THREE FACTORS LED TO THE
DEVELOPMENT OF SOCIOLOGY.
1.

INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

2.

IMPERIALISM

3.

NATURAL SCIENCE.

INDUSTRIAL
REVOLUTION
Citizens in industrial cities
developed new ideas about
democracy and political
rights. They did not want to
remain tied to their rulers.
Therefore the ideas about
individual liberty, individual
rights to life, liberty, and
pursuit of happiness came to
be, which actually laid the
foundation to future political
revolution.

IMPERIALISM
Europeans successfully

conquered many parts of

the world.
They were exposed to
enormously different
cultures.
Startled by this different
way of life, Europeans
started to ask why
cultures differed.

THE SUCCESS OF
NATURAL
SCIENCE
People started to
question important
aspects of their social
world. They started
using the scientific
method (systematic
observation,
objectivity) to the
study of human
behavior.

NEWTONS LAWS
EXPLAINED THE MOVEMENT
OF EVERYTHING VISIBLE IN
THE UNIVERSE, FROM
PLANETS TO BUILDINGS.
IT SEEMED LOGICAL TO
DISCOVER THE LAWS
UNDERLYING SOCIAL
PHENOMENA.

Throughout

Sociology's history, there have been many famous

sociologists who have influenced the field of sociology, as well as the
world at large.

AUGUSTE COMTE

Auguste Comte was born January

20, 1798.
Comte is known as the founder
of positivism and is credited with
coining the term sociology. Comte
helped shape and expand the field
of sociology and placed a great
deal of emphasis in his work on
systematic observation and social
order.

KARL MARX born May 5, 1818

Karl Marx is one of the most famous men in the discovering of sociology.
He is known for his theory of historical materialism, which focuses on the
way social order, like class structure and hierarchy, appears out of the
economic system of a society.
He theorized this relationship as an investigation between the base and
superstructure of society.
Some of his notable works, like "The Manifesto of the Communist Party,"
were co-written with Friedrich Engels. Much of his theory is contained in
the series of volumes titled Capital.
Marx has been described as one of the most influential figures in human
history, and in a 1999 BBC poll was voted the "thinker of the millennium"
by people from around the world.

Emile Durkheim "father of sociology, born in

France on April 15, 1858.

Emile Durkheim is knows as the "father of

sociology" and is a founding figure in the field
of sociology. He is credited with making
sociology a science. One of his most famous
pieces of work includes Suicide: A Study In
Sociology. Another important work of his that
focuses on how society functions and
regulates itself is The Division of Labor in
Society.

Max Weber born April 21, 1864 in Erfurt,

Germany

Max Weber was a founding figure of

the field of sociology and is considered
one of the most famous sociologists in
history. He is known for his thesis of the
"Protestant Ethic" as well as his ideas
on bureaucracy.

Harriet Martineau born in 1802 in Norwich,

England.

While being wrongfully neglected in most

sociology classes today, Harriet Martineau
was an important British writer and
political activist. She was one of the
earliest Western sociologists and founders
of the discipline.
Her study focused on the intersections of
politics, morals, and society, and she wrote
abundantly about sexism and gender roles.

W.E.B. Du Bois born in Great Barrington,

Massachusetts on February 23, 1868.
W.E.B. Du Bois was an American sociologist best
known for his scholarship on race and racism in the
aftermath of the U.S. Civil War.
He was the first African American to earn a doctorate
degree from Harvard University and served as the head
of the National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People (NAACP) in 1910.
His most notable works include The Souls of Black
Folk, in which he advanced his theory of "double
consciousness," and his massive book on the social
structure of U.S. society, Black Reconstruction.

Alexis de Tocqueville born July 29, 1805

Paris, France.
Alexis de Tocqueville, a
sociologist best known for his
book Democracy in America.
Tocqueville published many
works in the areas of
comparative and historical
sociology and was very active in
politics and the field of political
science.

Antonio Gramsci was born in Sardinia in

1891
Antonio Gramsci was an Italian political
activist and journalist who wrote prolific
social theory while imprisoned by Mussolini's
fascist government from 1926-34.
He advanced Marx's theory by focusing on
the role of intellectuals, politics, and media in
maintaining the dominance of the bourgeois
class in a capitalist system. The concept of
cultural hegemony is one of his key
contributions.

Michel Foucault born October 15, 1926 Poitiers,

France

Michel Foucault was a French social

theorist, philosopher, historian, public
intellectual and activist. He is best known
for revealing through his method of
"archaeology," how institutions hold power
by creating debates that are used to control
people. He is one of the most widely read
and cited social theorists, and his theoretical
contributions are still important and
relevant today.

C. Wright Mills born August 28, 1916 Waco, TX

C. Wright Mills is known for his

controversial assessments of both
contemporary society and sociological
practice, particularly in his book The
Sociological Imagination (1959).
He also studied power and class in the
United States, as displayed in his book
The Power Elite (1956).

Much of what we know about societies

and social behavior has come to be,
thanks to various sociology theories.
There are some theories that have fallen
out of popularity, while others still are
extensively accepted. All have
contributed a great deal to our
understanding of society and social
behavior.

SOCIOLOGICAL
THEORIES
theory
Noun

By learning more about these theories,

you can gain a deeper and richer
understanding of sociology's past, present
and future.

a supposition or a system of ideas

intended to explain something,
especially one based on general
principles independent of the thing to be
explained.

Symbolic
Interaction
Theory
The symbolic
interaction perspective,
also called symbolic
interactionism, is a
major framework of
sociological theory.
This perspective relies
on the symbolic
meaning that people
develop and rely upon
in the process of social
interaction.

Conflict Theory
Conflict theory shows how
important the role of coercion
and power is, in producing
social order. This perspective
is obtained from the works of
Karl Marx, who saw society
as fragmented into groups
that compete for social and
economic resources.
Social order is maintained
by domination, with power in
the hands of those with the
greatest political, economic,
and social resources.

Functionalist
Theory
The functionalist
perspective, also called
functionalism, is one of the
major theoretical
perspectives in sociology.
It has its origins in the works
of Emile Durkheim, who was
especially interested in how
social order is possible or
how society remains
relatively stable.

Feminist Theory
Feminist theory is one of the
major contemporary sociological
theories. It examines the status of
women and men in society with
the purpose of using that
knowledge to better women's
lives.
Feminist theory is most
concerned with giving a voice to
women and emphasizing the
various ways women have
contributed to society .

Critical Theory
Critical theory is a type of
social theory geared
toward evaluating and
changing society as a
whole, in contrast to
traditional theory geared
only to understanding or
explaining it.
Critical theories aim to
dig beneath the surface of
social life and uncover the
assumptions that keep us
from a full and true
understanding of how the
world works.

Labeling Theory
Labeling theory is one of
the most important
approaches to
understanding deviant and
criminal behavior.
It begins with the
assumption that no act is
solely criminal.
Definitions of criminality
are established by those in
power through the
formulation of laws and the
interpretation of those laws
by police, courts, and
correctional institutions.

SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY

SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY TRIES
TO EXPLAIN SOCIALIZATION AND
ITS EFFECT OF THE
DEVELOPMENT OF THE SELF.
IT LOOKS AT THE INDIVIDUAL
LEARNING PROCESS, THE
FORMATION OF SELF, AND THE
INFLUENCE OF SOCIETY IN
SOCIALIZING INDIVIDUALS.
SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY IS
COMMONLY USED BY
SOCIOLOGISTS TO EXPLAIN
DEVIANCE AND CRIME.

STRUCTURAL STRAIN THEORY

ROBERT K. MERTON
DEVELOPED THE STRUCTURAL
STRAIN THEORY AS AN
EXTENSION OF THE
FUNCTIONALIST PERSPECTIVE
ON DEVIANCE.
THIS THEORY FOLLOWS THE
ORIGINS OF DEVIANCE TO THE
TENSIONS THAT ARE CAUSED BY
THE GAP BETWEEN CULTURAL
GOALS AND THE MEANS PEOPLE
HAVE AVAILABLE TO ACHIEVE
THOSE GOALS.

Rational Choice
Theory
Economics plays a huge
role in human behavior.
People are often
stimulated by money and
the possibility of making a
profit. They calculate the
likely costs and benefits of
any action before deciding
what to do.
This way of thinking is
called Rational Choice
Theory.

Game Theory
Game Theory is a
theory of social
interaction, which
attempts to explain the
interaction people have
with one another.
As the name of the
theory suggests, Game
Theory sees human
interaction as just that:
a game.

Current Events in Sociological Context

The Relationship
Between Gender and
Violence.

Why We're Not

Really Doing
Anything About
Climate Change.

Child Immigrants are Very

Much "Our Problem."

Current Events in Sociological Context

contd.

The Social and Economic

Fallout of Defunding
Planned Parenthood

Sociologists Take
Historic Stand on
Racism and Police
Brutality

Americans Own
Nearly Half the
Guns in the World.
Wait, What?!

Importance Of Sociology
Before to the birth of sociology, the study of society was carried on in
an unscientific manner and society had never been the main concern of
any science. It is through the study of sociology that the truly scientific
study of the society has been possible. Sociology, because of its bearing
upon many of the problems of the present world, has assumed such a
great importance that it is considered to be the best approach to all the
social sciences.
THE PRESENT WORLD IS SUFFERING FROM MANY PROBLEMS WHICH CAN BE
SOLVED THROUGH SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF THE SOCIETY.

What is SOCIOLOGY you ask?

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WORK CITED

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