Sociology

Sociology

• Who are the people

around you?
• What is their story?
• How do these stories
affect you?
 Sociology
Etymological Definition
• “socius” (Latin) = “group / partners”
• “logos” (Greek) = “study”

• “sociology” – coined by August Comte

(French philosopher, 1798-1857)
Essential Definition
• Scientific study of
patterns of human
interaction that
deals with the study
of group life (Joseph
Fichter).
 Sociology
• “scientific”
– Body of knowledge of
patterned structure
– Utilizes scientific methodology
– Investigates the social world
– Inquires how groups are
formed
– Determines how groups affect
the individual and vice versa
 Sociology
• “Human interactions”
– Social relations
– Story of people
– Ways toward each other
– Social behavior
(and not of the individual)
– Changes taking place within society
 Sociology
Sociology is the systematic
study of human society and
social interaction. It is based
on the idea that our relations
with other people create
opportunities for us to think
and act but also set limits on
our thoughts and action.
 Sociology
• Howard Becker defined
sociology as the study of
people “doing things
together.”

Introduction to Sociology: What is 9

Sociology?
 Sociology
• This reminds us that society
and the individual are
inherently connected, and
each depends on the other.

Introduction to Sociology: What is 10

Sociology?
 Sociology
• Sociologists study this link:
how society affects the
individual and how the
individual affects society.

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Sociology?
 A society is a large social grouping that shares the same
geographical territory and is subject to the same political
authority and dominant cultural expectations.
 Society Is….
A society is a group of people who
share a culture and live more or less
together. They have a set of
institutions which provide what
they need to meet their physical,
social, and psychological needs
and which maintain order and the
values of the culture. 13
Social structures are
the more or less
stable patterns of
people’s interactions
and relationships.
14
Institutions are the
principal social
structures that organize,
direct, and execute the
essential tasks of
living.
15
Some institutions are:
Family,
Educational,
Economic,
Religion,
Law,
Political Systems
16
 Cool Insights from Sociology
• Society makes us who we are by
structuring out interactions and
laying out an orderly world
before us

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Sociology?
 Cool Insights from Sociology
• Society is a social construction, that is an
idea created by humans (i.e. doesn’t exist
in the biological world but only in the
social world) through social interaction
and given a reality through our
understanding of it and our collective
actions.

Introduction to Sociology: What is 18

Sociology?
 What Does Society Look Like?
• While the idea of society is familiar, describing
it can be difficult. Ultimately society is made
up of many different components, such as
culture, race, family, education, social class,
and people’s interactions.
• People who share a culture and territory

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Sociology?
 Meaning through Interaction
• People actively and collectively shape their
own lives, organizing their social interactions
and relationships into a meaningful world.
• Sociologists study this social behavior by
seeking out its patterns.
• Patterns are crucial to our understanding of
society

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Sociology?
 Society
• Society is a group of people who
shape their lives in aggregated and
patterned ways that distinguish their
group from other groups.

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Sociology?
 Areas of Sociology
1. Social organization
study of the various social
institutions, social groups,
social stratification, social
mobility, bureaucracy,
ethnic groups and
relations.
 Areas of Sociology
2. Social Arts
3. Social Structures – arrangement
in the society
4. Social Processes – refers to the
recurrent and patterned
interactions or responses of
individuals to one another which
have attained stability
 Areas of Sociology
5. Social Relationship
- Provide sociological
information that will help in
understanding society
objectively through the use
of scientific investigation
 Areas

1.Physical 1. Social organization

anthropology 2. Social psychology
2. Cultural 3. Social change and social
anthropology disorganization
3. Archeology 4. Human ecology
5. Population and
4. Linguistics
demography
6. Sociological theory and
method
7. Applied sociology
 SOCIOLOGY
• Focuses on social
processes
• Recent social science
• Understand way of life,
society culture
• Complimented by
anthropological research
• Originated from Western
civilization (historical)
• Method: particular
(sampling)
ANTHROPOLOGY
• Focuses on culture
• Recent social science
• Understand way of life,
society culture
• Complimented by
sociological researches
• Originated from
primitive groups (pre-
historic)
• Method: generic
(holistic)
 Anthropology and Sociology
• Both sciences attempt to understand way of
life as manifested by the interdependence of
society and culture
• Sociology zooms in at social process,
whereas, Anthropology focuses on culture
• Anthropological studies are used by social
scientists and vice versa
• Thus, both sciences are intimately related to
each other—i.e., humanities.