Lesson 1:

What is Sociology?

Intro to Sociology
Prepared by: Apurva Tolia

Three revolutions had to take

place before the sociological
imagination could crystallize:
The scientific revolution (16th c.)
encouraged the use of evidence to
substantiate theories.
The democratic revolution (18th c.)
encouraged the view that human
action can change society.
The industrial revolution (19th c.)
gave sociologists their subject matter.

Sociology
Sociology is the systematic study
of human society and social
interaction. It is based on the idea
that our relations with other people
create opportunities for us to think
and act but also set limits on our
thoughts and action.

What is Sociology?

Sociology is also the

study of reifications, or
social constructions.

Introduction to Sociology: What is

Sociology?

Sociology
Howard Becker defined
sociology as the study of
people doing things
together.

Introduction to Sociology: What is Sociology?

Sociology
This reminds us that
society and the
individual are
inherently connected,
and each depends on
the other.
Introduction to Sociology: What is Sociology?

Sociology
Sociologists study this
link: how society
affects the individual
and how the
individual affects
society.
Introduction to Sociology: What is Sociology?

A society is a large social grouping that shares

the same geographical territory and is
subject to the same political authority and
dominant cultural expectations.

Society Is.
A society is a group of people who
share a culture and live more or less
together. They have a set of
institutions which provide what they
need to meet their physical, social,
and psychological needs and which
maintain order and the values of the
culture.
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Social structures are the more

or less stable patterns of
peoples interactions and
relationships.

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Institutions are the principal social

structures that organize, direct, and
execute the essential tasks of living.

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Some institutions are:

Family,
Educational,
Economic,
Religion,
Law,
Political Systems

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Sociological Imagination
The ability to see the
relationship between individual
experiences and the larger
society.

Cool Insights from Sociology

Humans cannot be
understood apart from
social context (i.e. society)

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Cool Insights from Sociology

Society makes us who we

are by structuring out
interactions and laying
out an orderly world
before us

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Cool Insights from Sociology

Society is a social construction,

that is an idea created by humans
(i.e. doesnt exist in the biological
world but only in the social world)
through social interaction and
given a reality through our
understanding of it and our
collective actions.
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Society Influences You

Death
Related to
society?

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Baby Names

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Names that have gained

the most popularity,
2004 2010
...Or, the names Ill begin seeing all
the time in 2022-2028

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What Does Society Look Like?

While the idea of society is familiar, describing it can be
difficult. Ultimately society is made up of many
different components, such as culture, race, family,
education, social class, and peoples interactions.
People who share a culture and territory

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Meaning through Interaction

People actively and collectively shape their own lives,
organizing their social interactions and relationships
into a meaningful world.
Sociologists study this social behavior by seeking out
its patterns.
Patterns are crucial to our understanding of society

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Society

Society is a group of people

who shape their lives in
aggregated and patterned
ways that distinguish their
group from other groups.

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The Social Sciences

Social Sciences are the disciplines that use the
scientific method to examine the social world, in
contrast to the natural sciences, which examine the
physical world.
Examples of social sciences include .?

Introduction to Sociology: What is Sociology?

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How Sociology fits in

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Levels of Analysis
We can study society from different levels:
Microsociology is the level of analysis that
studies face-to-face and small-group
interactions in order to understand how
they affect the larger patterns and
institutions of society.
Microsociology focuses on small-scale issues.
Ex: Symbolic Interactionism

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Levels of Analysis (cont)

Macrosociology is the level of analysis that studies
large-scale social structures in order to determine
how they affect the lives of groups and individuals.
Macrosociology focuses on large-scale issues.
Ex: Functionalism, Conflict Theory

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How We Use Levels of Analysis

Pam Fishman took a micro-level approach to
studying issues of power in malefemale
relationships.
She found that in conversation, women ask
nearly three times as many questions as
men do, perhaps because a speaker is much
more likely to ask a question if he or she
does not expect to get a response by simply
making a statement.

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Levels of Analysis (cont)

When conducting research, methodology
involves the process by which one gathers
and analyzes data.
Quantitative research translates the social
world into numbers that can be treated
mathematically; this type of research often
tries to find cause-and-effect
relationships.
Any type of social statistic is an example
of quantitative research.
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Levels of Analysis (cont)

Qualitative research works with nonnumerical data such as texts, fieldnotes,
interview transcripts, photographs, and tape
recordings; this type of research often tries
to understand how people make sense of
their world.
Participant observation, in which the
researcher actually takes part in the social
world he or she studies, is an example of
qualitative research.

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Take Away Points

Humans cannot be
understood apart from the
social context they live in
(society, culture and time +
place)

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Take Away Points

The world around us

profoundly shapes and
influences who we are, how
we behave and even
how/what we think.

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Take Away Points

It is the job of the sociologist

to understand how this
process works and to what
effect.

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Lesson Quiz
1. Which of the following is NOT an example of a social
science?

a. biology
b. political science
c. psychology
d. economics

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Lesson Quiz
2. Sociology is defined as:
a. the scientific study of humans.
b. the study of ancient cultures and behavior.
c. the study of how the brain works.
d. the study of human society and social behavior.

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Lesson Quiz
3. __________ is the level of analysis that
studies face-to-face and small-group
interactions in order to understand how
those interactions affect the larger patterns
and institutions of society.
a. Microsociology
b. Macrosociology
c. Sociology
d. Social science

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Lesson Quiz
4. A sense of disorientation that occurs when you enter a
radically new social or cultural environment is called:

a. cultural mind.
b. culture shakes.
c. cultural fear.
d. culture shock.

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For Next Time:

How we come to understand the social world
Theories and Theorists
Read more!

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