Real World Sociology
Sociology and the Real World
Chapter 1
Sociology is the systematic or scientific study of human society and social behavior, which includes all levels within the structure of the society, from large-scale institutions and mass culture to small groups and individual interactions. Howard Becker’s definition of sociology is that sociology means “doing things together." Sociologists studies how society affects the individual and how the individual affects society.
Social sciences examine the social world, while natural sciences examine the physical world. Examples of social sciences include economics, psychology, geography, communication studies, anthropology, history, and political science.
The Sociological Perspective is the first step to understanding …show more content…
Wright Mills, the term sociological imagination describes the ability to look at issues from a sociological perspective. It is the ability to understand the relationship between ones’ situation in life and what is happening at a social level. When applying sociological perspective, we focus on the social context in which people live and how that social context has an impact on that individuals’ lives.
Levels of analysis
Microsociology studies face-to-face and small-group interactions to better understand how they affect the larger patterns and institutions of society. For example, in Pam Fishman’s article “Interaction: The Work Women Do”, she analyzed men and women’s conversation patterns. Macrosociology studies large-scale social structures in order to determine how they affect the lives of groups and individuals. For example, Christine Williams examined men and women in numerous occupations to discover differences in each gender’s opportunity for advancement in different careers.
The micro perspective assumes that society’s larger structures are shaped through individual interactions while the macro perspective assumes that the society’s larger structures shape those individual interactions.
Sociology’s Family …show more content…
The four major agents of socialization are the family, schools, peers, and the mass media.
The most significant agent of socialization is the family and it teaches us the basic values and norms that shape our identity.
Schools provide education and socialize us through a direct as well as a hidden curriculum that teaches important behaviors for our future.
Peers can become more immediately significant than the family, especially as children move through adolescence.
The mass media in recent time has become an important agent of socialization, oftentimes overriding the family and other institutions in instilling norms and values.
Resocialization is the process of replacing previously learned norms and values with new ones as a part of a transition in life.
Statuses and Roles
A status is a societal position in a social hierarchy that comes with a set of expectations.
An ascribed status is that which we are born with that is unlikely to change.
An achieved status is that which we have earned through individual effort or that is imposed by others.
Master status is a status that seems to override all others and affects all other statuses that one
Chapter 1
Sociology is the systematic or scientific study of human society and social behavior, which includes all levels within the structure of the society, from large-scale institutions and mass culture to small groups and individual interactions. Howard Becker’s definition of sociology is that sociology means “doing things together." Sociologists studies how society affects the individual and how the individual affects society.
Social sciences examine the social world, while natural sciences examine the physical world. Examples of social sciences include economics, psychology, geography, communication studies, anthropology, history, and political science.
The Sociological Perspective is the first step to understanding …show more content…
Wright Mills, the term sociological imagination describes the ability to look at issues from a sociological perspective. It is the ability to understand the relationship between ones’ situation in life and what is happening at a social level. When applying sociological perspective, we focus on the social context in which people live and how that social context has an impact on that individuals’ lives.
Levels of analysis
Microsociology studies face-to-face and small-group interactions to better understand how they affect the larger patterns and institutions of society. For example, in Pam Fishman’s article “Interaction: The Work Women Do”, she analyzed men and women’s conversation patterns. Macrosociology studies large-scale social structures in order to determine how they affect the lives of groups and individuals. For example, Christine Williams examined men and women in numerous occupations to discover differences in each gender’s opportunity for advancement in different careers.
The micro perspective assumes that society’s larger structures are shaped through individual interactions while the macro perspective assumes that the society’s larger structures shape those individual interactions.
Sociology’s Family …show more content…
The four major agents of socialization are the family, schools, peers, and the mass media.
The most significant agent of socialization is the family and it teaches us the basic values and norms that shape our identity.
Schools provide education and socialize us through a direct as well as a hidden curriculum that teaches important behaviors for our future.
Peers can become more immediately significant than the family, especially as children move through adolescence.
The mass media in recent time has become an important agent of socialization, oftentimes overriding the family and other institutions in instilling norms and values.
Resocialization is the process of replacing previously learned norms and values with new ones as a part of a transition in life.
Statuses and Roles
A status is a societal position in a social hierarchy that comes with a set of expectations.
An ascribed status is that which we are born with that is unlikely to change.
An achieved status is that which we have earned through individual effort or that is imposed by others.
Master status is a status that seems to override all others and affects all other statuses that one