SSA1201 Lecture 1

5 levels: Society, community, organizational, interpersonal and

individual
- Nation, neighbourhood association, hospitals and charities,
friends and families
This model is static and does not account for the interplay of actors.
Sociological imagination: an awareness of the relationship between
an individual and the wider society.
- Patterns of group behaviour
- Could make people more aware, more objective.
- Question the biases.
There are broader relationship issues between personal and public:
- Individual unemployment vs. widespread unemployment.
- The individual self is not isolated but achieved through
socialization
Broad social Conditions:
Class/Socio-economic status
Gender
Power
State policies: particularly in Singapore.
There is a need to fully consider not merely on the individual level
but also on the social level. E.g. Primary school streaming of
students based on their individual learning ability. Creating a certain
social stigma/perception.
Theories/Approaches to Sociology
- Structural Functionalism: Society is a system of integral parts
in harmony/balance. Whatever disrupts it causes disharmony.
- Conflict Perspective: stresses on power, class, gender and
ethnic conflict.
- Symbolic Interactions: more micro-perspective, interacts on a
more individual level.
- Feminist Perspective: Patriarchy, power differentials between
man and woman.