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The Real World
An Introduction to Sociology
Third Edition
Kerry Ferris and Jill Stein
Chapter 1: Sociology and the Real World
What Is Sociology?
• Sociology is one of the social sciences—
disciplines that examine the human or social
world.
Sociology and the Social Sciences
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What Is Sociology? (cont’d.)
• Sociology can help you develop a
sociological perspective—a way of taking
a sociological approach or thinking
sociologically about the world.
What Is Sociology? (cont’d.)
• Sociology—the study of
society
• According to Howard
Becker, sociology is the
study of people “doing
things together” because
neither the individual nor
society exist
independently of one
another.
What Is Sociology? (cont’d.)
• Sociology looks at a broad range of
institutions (structures in our society, like
education, economics, and politics) to better
understand social relationships.
What Is Sociology? (cont’d.)
• Sociologists are interested in all aspects of
society.
• Society—a group of people who shape their
lives in patterned ways that distinguish their
group from other groups
Culture Shock
• Culture shock happens when
you experience a sense of
disorientation upon entering a
new environment.
• Behaviors that seem typical in
one society or culture may seem
very strange in another context.
Sociological Imagination
• 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.”
Sociological Imagination
• Sociological imagination: a quality of the
mind that allows us to understand the
relationship between our particular
situation in life and what is happening at
a social level
The Beginner’s Mind
• Like it sounds, the “beginner’s mind” is the
opposite of an expert’s mind. Bernard
McGrane says that to explore the social
world, it is important that we clear our minds
of stereotypes, expectations, and opinions so
that we are more receptive to our
experiences.
Levels of Analysis
• Sociologists can use different levels of
analysis to explore social relationships:
• Microsociology: examines small-group
interactions to see how they impact larger
institutions in society
• Macrosociology: examines large-scale social
structures to determine how they impact groups
and individuals
The Micro-Macro Continuum
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Microsociology
Macrosociology
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Sociological Theories
• Theories in sociology are propositions that
explain the social world and help to make
predictions about future events.
• Theories are also sometimes referred to as
approaches, schools of thought,
paradigms, or perspectives.
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Sociology’s Roots
• Auguste Comte:
• Stated that sociology needed to be treated
like any other scientific discipline
• Laid the groundwork for future sociologists
and helped build the discipline
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Auguste Comte
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Sociology’s Roots (cont’d.)
• Harriet Martineau:
• A social activist who traveled the United
States and wrote about social changes that
were radical for this time period
• Martineau translated Comte’s work into
English, making his ideas accessible to
England and America.
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Harriet Martineau
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Sociology’s Roots (cont’d.)
• Herbert Spencer was the first great Englishspeaking sociologist.
• Spencer believed in evolution and coined the
phrase “survival of the fittest.”
• He believed that societies evolve through
time by adapting to their changing
environment. His philosophy is often referred
to as social Darwinism.
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Herbert Spencer
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Sociology’s Roots (cont’d.)
• Émile Durkheim worked to establish
sociology as an important academic
discipline.
• Interested in the social factors that bond and
hold people together
• Studied the correlation between social
isolation and suicide
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Émile Durkheim
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Sociology’s Roots (cont’d.)
• Karl Marx was a German philosopher and
political activist.
• Marx contributed significantly to sociology’s
conflict theory.
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Karl Marx
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Sociology’s Roots (cont’d.)
• Marx believed that capitalism was creating
social inequality between the bourgeoisie,
who owned the means of production (money,
factories, natural resources, and land), and
the proletariat, who were the workers.
• According to Marx, this inequality leads to
class conflict.
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Sociology’s Roots (cont’d.)
• Max Weber was also interested in how
society was becoming industrialized.
• He was concerned with the process of
rationalization, applying economic logic to
all human activity.
• He believed that contemporary life was filled
with disenchantment, the result of the
dehumanizing features of modern societies.
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Max Weber
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Sociology’s Roots (cont’d.)
• George Herbert Mead was interested in the
connection between thought and action—
between the individual and society.
• Mead suggested that the meanings that we
give to objects in our society are social
processes—people interact, and meanings
come from these interactions.
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George Herbert Mead
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Sociology’s Roots (cont’d.)
• Erving Goffman was interested in how the
“self” is developed through interactions with
others in society.
• Goffman used the term dramaturgy to
describe the way people strategically present
themselves to others.
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Erving Goffman
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Schools of Thought
• Your book refers to paradigms, or schools of
thought. Paradigms are ways of thinking or
theoretical “umbrellas,” meant to provide a
broad explanation for the way things work.
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Modern Schools of Thought
• Structural functionalism:
• Society is viewed as an ordered system of
interrelated parts, or structures, which are
the social institutions that make up society
(family, education, politics, the economy).
• Each of these different structures meets
the needs of society by performing specific
functions for the whole system (society).
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Modern Schools of Thought
(cont’d.)
• Conflict theory:
• Sees social conflict as the basis of society
and social change
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Modern Schools of Thought
(cont’d.)
• Symbolic interactionism:
• Sees interaction and meaning as central to
society and assumes that meanings are
not inherent but rather are created through
interaction
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New Theoretical Approaches
• Feminist theory:
• Looks at both gender inequalities in society
and the way that gender structures the
social world and considers remedies to
these inequalities
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New Theoretical Approaches
(cont’d.)
• Queer theory:
• Proposes that categories of sexual identity
are social constructs and that no sexual
category is fundamentally either deviant or
normal
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New Theoretical Approaches
(cont’d.)
• Postmodernist theory:
• Suggests that social reality is diverse,
pluralistic, and constantly changing
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Sociology and the Real World —
Concept Quiz
The social sciences could include all of
the following except:
a. sociology.
b. psychology.
c. anthropology.
d. economics.
e. biology.
Sociology and the Real World —
Concept Quiz
If you are a researcher interested in knowing
how many people in your city live below the
poverty line, you might get census data to
find that information. Then, you could count
the number of people that meet your criteria.
What kind of research are you doing?
a. quantitative
b. qualitative
Sociology and the Real World—
Concept Quiz
The sociological imagination gives us a
way to look at the world beyond our own
personal experience.
a. true
b. false
Sociology and the Real World—
Concept Quiz
Abstract propositions that both explain the
social world and make predictions about
future events are known as:
a. theories.
b. social inequalities.
c. ideas.
d. social assumptions.
e. means of production.
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Sociology and the Real World—
Concept Quiz
What are paradigms?
a. broad theoretical perspectives
b. specific research methods
c. dominant sociological
applications
d. all of the above
e. none of the above
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Sociology and the Real World—
Concept Quiz
Marx believed that there was a class
struggle between:
a. groups of people who worked alongside one another.
b. groups of people who practiced different religions.
c. people who owned the means of production and
people who worked for a wage.
d. people who were born rich versus people who
earned their wealth.
e. people who were born poor versus people who fell
into poverty due to a poor work ethic.
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Sociology and the Real World—
Concept Quiz
Which of these sociological paradigms
has proved to be the most influential of
the twentieth century?
a. structural functionalism
b. conflict theory
c. symbolic interactionism
d. world-systems theory
e. critical race theory
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The Real World: An Introduction To Sociology, 3rd Edition
Copyright © 2012 W. W. Norton & Company
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Chapter 1
The Real World
AN INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY
3rd Edition
Kerry Ferris
and
Jill Stein
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