SOC 110

Introduction to Sociology
The Sociological Imagination

Logistics

Checking in

Texts
Canvas
Clickers

Quick test today join session on Ch. 41 (clicker) or session id

socrules
Official Calibration next time

Office Hours

Rawlings: 3:30-4:30 M/W; 10:00-noon Thurs

Is my clicker working???
A.

Yes!

100%

Yes!

What is Sociology?

Sociology is not the study of peopleor not so simply.

Sociology is not a method of doing research.

What is Sociology?

At the heart of sociology is the sociological

imagination

Sociology often starts with making trouble that is,

questioning our everyday and commonsense explanations for
why we do things.

Sociology begins with the radical thesis that the way the
social world is put together in a given time and place is not
inevitable, natural, or necessarily optimal (i.e. good).

What is sociology?

Why Do We Do That?

Sociology concerns socially meaningful human behavior

For example, we dont study sneezing.

But we do study how people interpret or react to sneezing!
Why do we say, bless you after a sneeze?

What is sociology?

No, really, why do we do that?

A. I never do that!
B. I only do that if I know the person pretty well.
C. I do that as long as the person seems nice.
D. I do that whenever any person sneezes.
E. I do that whenever any living creature sneezes in my presence.

So what does this say?

Sneezing is an involuntary and inherently meaningless behavior its

something all mammals do.
But we attribute meaning to it.
Saying, bless you is really saying I acknowledge your worth as a
fellow being.
It is a taken-for-granted ritual that we perform, and not doing it
says something.

So what does this say?

The sociology of sneezing says a lot about social

boundaries who is an insider vs. an outsider and
who we consider worthy of respect, etc.

I will often say bless you to my dog but not my catHmmm.

Rafiki Rawlings

Rajah Rawlings

What is sociology?

The Social Construction of Reality

Sociology is a way of seeing the world that leads to

systematic and purposeful data collection and analysis.

It stems from the premise: If men define situations as real, they

are real in their consequences. (WI Thomas, 1928)

Who is Blind?

What is sociology?

Sociology makes the familiar seem strange, and

sometimes the strange seem familiar.

Things we take-for-granted and seem natural may be arbitrary

and done very differently elsewhere or at other times in own
history.
Families, race, gender, leisure, etc.

What is sociology?

How will future sociologists see us?

How many of you think killing cats sounds like a good nights
entertainment?

Me neither! But Darntons The Great Cat Massacre shows that this was
more common and accepted in the 18th Century. Why?
Today, bullfighting, boxing and especially football are sources of
entertainment, riches, and esteem.

What is sociology?

Cultural anthropology more often takes the goal of

making the strange seem more familiar (ethnographies of
less developed societies); while sociology focuses more
on modern developed societies and studies what seems
natural but isnt.

What is sociology?

Using the Sociological Imagination

Connects our own personal biographies with history.

Shows that how we live is part of a huge variation in human
societies and only one way that social life is accomplished.

What is sociology?

There are many others and outsiders within our own

society whose behaviors may be thought of as exotic,
strange, and perhaps justwrong.

What is sociology?

Sociology is not one topic or theory

Many overlapping topics and theories

The sociology of
Culture, education, religion, sports, knowledge, medicine, the family,
organizations, the economy, etc.

We collect and analyze data in a systematic way

Sometimes to interpret how people think and make sense of their

worlds
Sometimes to build and test hypotheses connected with theories
about how the social world works.
No single theory can explain everything so we shoot for middle
range theories that generalize to a certain social phenomenon.

Lets start with you

Why are you here?

Not as in what is the meaning of life?, but why are you
here in this classroomright now

Lets start with you

Some sociologists would be very interested in what it

means to go to college that is, why this is a meaningful
activity for people.

These researchers would engage in observation and

interviewing in order to explore the meaning of college,
perhaps how this has changed over time, or varies from one
group to another.

The meaning of college has changed dramatically,

especially in the last 50 years.

For Next Time

Read about the Nacirema tribe in Henslin (also on

Canvas)