Sociology Notes

Sociology notes:

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

What is sociology?
-sociology is one of the social sciences. Disciplines that study the human or social world.
-sociology: study of society.
-according to Howard Becker, sociology is the study of people "doing things together".
-this should remind us that society and the individual each need the other to exist.

Friday, August 24, 2012

-sociology looks at a broad range of institutions.
-institutions can be physical buildings, but they are also structures that make up our society.
Basic five:
1.) family
2.) education
3.) religion
4.) economy
5.) government

Sociological imagination
-the sociological imagination is a term coined by C. Wright Mills.
-Mills says, "to understand social life, we must understand the intersection between biography and history."
-he believed all great sociologists possess sociological imagination.
-sociological imagination: the ability to understand the connection BETWEEN our personal lives as INDIVIDUALS and the events occurring in the SOCIETY around us.

History of sociology
-came from the industrial revolution

Monday, August 27, 2012

Auguste Comte (1798-1857)
-he named the discipline
-*known as "father of sociology"
-*developed the theory known as "positivism" which is the idea of applying the scientific method to the study of human behavior.

Harriet Martineau (1802-1876)
-known for translating Comte 'introduction to positive philosophy' into the English language; this loved these ideas into England and the united states.

Hebert Spencer (1820-1903)
-coined the phrase "the survival of the fittest"
-*applied the theory of evolution to the social world. Social darwinismu
-Produced first sociological textbook
-*compared society to a living organism with parts meant to work together in harmony for good of the whole.

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Emile Durkheim (1858-1917)
-Emile Durkheim worked to establish sociology as an... [continues]

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