Week 8 Notes

Lecture 1: Research in Sociology

Equality in jobs for women and men
Sociology
The systematic study of the relationships among people and organizations
Group, unit analysis is always the group
Baby Boomers are starting to collect Social Security
Sociology of Aging
Sociologists dont want biological overlaps
Sociology of Knowledge: how social world helps shape what we take for granted
knowledge
Patterns of human interaction
Always study the group
Formal Institutions
Government
Church
Family
Informal Institutions
Gangs
Social Networks
Support Groups
2 ways to do research
Macro Sociology: how groups relate to each otheroverall arrangements in society
Micro Sociology: everyday patternshow individuals relate within the group
-Schutz model
Research Methods
Experiment (rare)~
Explain causes, difficult in sociology
Content Analysis~
Analysis of texts, documents, articles, letters
Making inferences
Content of interviews analyzed
Coding of newspapers
Participant Observation~
Problem of deception- going in to group without saying youre a researcher
Interview~
Open-ended interviews, unstructured
Interviewer seeks in-depth information
Intensive Interview: relies on open-ended questions following by probing questions in a
flexible format
-First, introduce yourself then ask some non-offensive background questions to relax
the person, simple back and forth helps to establish rapport
-Then ask a question that gets at the heart of your topic in a broad sense
-Some people dont like to talkyou may have to probe to get answers
-EX: Michael Moore intensive interview with James Nichols: back and forth rapport then
in-depth talk, reluctant to answer at first but then gets to heart of topic by probing
Survey~
90% of data for Sociological Research is from surveys
Sociologys Major Postulates *
1. Human actions are determined by the environment
2. Humans cannot survive in social isolation (GROUP)
3. Authority always appears in a large group setting (sometimes to restrain conflict)
Sociologys Moral Message (Max Weber)
Inform society (through research) about social problems and encourage government to
solve the problems and improve society
Lecture 2: Big Three in Sociology
Organizing Principles in Society
August Comte not in here
Karl Marx
Society organized by economic class
Position by economic class depending on money
Socioeconomic status
What distinguishes the various economic types of society from one anotheris nothing
other than the way in which surplus labor is extorted from the actual producer, from the
worker.
Demassing money for its own sake
Karl Marx did lithographs in prison
Revolution was inevitable, protest inevitable (INCORRECT! Capitalism reformed itself)


Max Weber
Agreed with Marx
But status defines who and what we are in relation to others
Not only economic class, but how others view us= PRESTIGE
Jobs that pay high, are kind of low in prestige
Scientists and doctors, professors not paid the highest but have the highest prestige
-Same with fire fighters, teachers
Highest paid public paid university employees- 4,000,000 a year
-Football coaches: paid so much!
Social Status: determined by status, pursuit of wealth associated with only passions,
character of sport (hobby to accumulate money or competition)
Individual shapes society
Emile Durkheim
Lost child
Social Integration (and its opposite anomie)
To love society is to love something beyond us and something in ourselves
Society shapes individual
Organizing Principle: how integrated we are into the society
Society is unit itself
Society able to guide us with norms and guidelines and culture
Societies rules help us integrate when not to strict
Not failure of the individual
Cant reduce society to individuals
Social Integration Theory: the whole is greater than the sum of its parts
Group interactions produce and maintain moral values and beliefs= predictability and
stability
Suicidea weak collective conscience
Anomie: societal normlessness that breeds crime and suicide
Up to society to encompass individual not individual
Consensus Theory: suicide
-Van Gough
-Ernest Hemingway
-Jim Morrison
-Kurt Cobain
-Werent incorporated into the society






Lecture 3: Sociology and Crime
Deviance
Types of Crimes
Criminal Justice
Punishment
Routine Activities Theory
Crime can only occur if:
1. Suitable Target- must have value ($?)
2. Absence of Capable Guardian (alone?)
3. Motivated Offender (reason?)
Neighborhood Watch
-Neighbors watch out for each other (Capable Guardian, alarm system)
-2
nd
Amendment Police Department