Transcript What is Sociology anyways?

Happy Friday!!!
 Take
out your class contract I need to collect
those
 We
are going to present our puzzle pieces to the
class so we can get to know each other!
 Did
you know: In some smaller towns in Arizona, it
is illegal to wear suspenders
What is Sociology anyways?
Isn’t it just common sense??
“After
September 11, 2001,
Americans became more patriotic”
Some Americas are more or less
likely than others to proclaim
extreme pride in their country….but
why?? THAT’S SOCIOLOGY!
Lets start at the beginning….
Social
Science: The study of the social
features of humans and the ways in which
they interact and change
Divisions of Social Science:
Anthropology
Psychology
Economics
Political Science
History
Sociology
How did Sociology emerge?
People
have been trying to figure out how social
life works since ancient times
Sociology as a science emerged in the 1800s
Rapid
social and political changes bc of Industrial
Revolution
Rapid growth of urban populations= social problems
Focus on liberty and individual rights in political
movements
Attempts to prove beliefs through observations and
experimentation
So again, What is Sociology?
Definition:
The scientific study of
social behavior and human groups
Focuses on social relationships
How those relationships influence
people’s behavior
How societies develop and change
The Sociological Perspective
A
view of the world that helps you gain a
new perception of social life
Helps you see that all people are social
beings
Tells you behavior is influenced by social
factors
Helps your broaden your understanding of
society
Helps you find and accept balance
Social Imagination
An
awareness of the relationship between
an individual and the wider society, both
today and in the past
Key element: Gives us the ability to view
one’s own society as a outsider would,
rather than only from the perspective of
personal experiences and cultural biases
2 major questions we ask
two
basic questions that sociologists
ask about human behavior:
(1) the descriptive question (i.e.,
What do people do?)
(2) the explanatory question (i.e.,
Why do people do what they do?
Let’s try something
List
6 reasons why someone might
seriously consider suicide
For your 6 reasons…
Tell
me the feelings that go along
with each reason
In
other words: what feelings would
such a person experience that would lead
him or her to consider suicide
Look at your list of feelings
How
are they alike?
What “theory” can we create to
explain why people commit suicide?
“The Unhappiness Theory”
“People
commit suicide because they
are seriously, chronically, and
profoundly unhappy”
example of an individualistic (or nonsociological) explanation
Why is the rate of suicide
higher in Oregon than it is in
New York
What factors did you list?
How
are they similar?
The difference between the
“thinkings”
sociological
thinking considers
external factors
non-sociological (or individualistic)
consider internal factors