RAUS Lecture 1

RURAL AND URBAN
SOCIOLOGY
Lecture 1
8/29/2018 Rural and Urban Sociology Graduate School - USeP CEd 1st Semester SY 2018-2019 1
christopher.balubayan@usep.edu.ph. Contact No. 09465911231
Auguste Comte
• “Society is no more decomposable unto individuals than a
geometric surface is into lines, or a line into points
• “Without extolling or condemning political facts, science regards

them as object of observations: it contemplates each phenomenon
in its harmony with coexisting phenomena.. And each of them is
explained when it has been connected with the whole of the
existing situation and the whole of the preceding movement
• “It is our business to contemplate social order that we may perfect

it.”
– Comte, August, The Positive Philosophy, Harriet Martineau,

Trans. And ed (New York: AMS press [1855] 1974): 235-522.
– Biography of Compte
8/29/2018 Rural and Urban Sociology Graduate School - USeP CEd 2

1st Semester SY 2018-2019
Jeremy Bentham
• “The community is a fictitious body composed only
of its individual members, and thus the interest of the
community is no more than the sum of the interests of
the individual members who compose it
• The notion of a body politic is a metaphor through which

poetry has invaded the domain of reason”
– Biography of Bentham
– Bentham, Jeremy The Works of Jeremy Bentham John Bowring,
ed. (Edinburgh: W. Tait; London:Simkin, Marshall, 1843): 306

Georg Simmel
• “There is an old conflict over the nature of society. One side mystically exaggerates
its significance, contending that only through society is human life endowed with
reality. The other regards it as a mere abstract concept by means of which the
observer draws the realities, which are individual human beings, into a whole as one
calls trees and brooks, houses and meadows, a ‘landscape’.
• However one decides this conflict the fact remains that… in order to satisfy their
urges and attain their purposes, individuals associate in the innumerable forms
of social life, all the with-one-another, for-one-another, in-one-another, against-
one-another, and through-one-another, in state commune, in church and economic
associations, in family and clubs.”
– Georg Simmel “The Sociology of Sociability” ( Everett C. Hughes Tr.)

The American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 55, No. 3 (Nov., 1949: 254
– Georg Simmel (March 1, 1858 – September 28, 1918

– Biography of Simmel

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.
• Social structures are the more or less stable patterns of people’s

interactions and relationships.
• Institutions are the principal social structures that organize, direct,

and execute the essential tasks of living. Societies represent the
most comprehensive and complex type of social structure in today’s
world.
• Some institutions are: Family, Medical, educational, economic,

religious, legal and political systems
8/29/2018 Rural and Urban

Rural Sociology
and Urban Sociology
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Society Is Studied By…
 Using Scientific methods to Study
 Variations in social structures
 Variations in social Institutions
 How they are held together
 How they change
 How they effect the people who interact
in them
 This is what makes up sociology

What Is Sociology?
Sociology:
• The systematic study of the
relationship between the individual
and society and of the consequences
of different types of relationships.
• Sociology Focuses on:
– How social relationships influence people’s attitudes
and behavior
– How major social institutions affect us
– How we affect other individuals, groups, and
organizations
Rural and Urban Sociology Graduate School - USeP CEd 7
The Sociological Perspective
 The sociological perspective helps us to see general
social patterns in the behavior of particular
individuals.
 It allows or forces us to look beyond the outer

appearances of our social world and discover new
levels of reality
 It also encourages us to realize that society guides

our thoughts and deeds — to see the strange in the
familiar
 Sociology also encourages us to see individuality in

social context.

The Sociological Imagination
• The sociological imagination provides the ability to see
our private experiences and personal difficulties as
entwined with the structural arrangements of our
society and the times in which we live.
• Understand social marginality, the state of being

excluded from social activity as an “outsider.” People at
the margins of social life are aware of social patterns that
others rarely think about
• C. Wright Mills described sociological imagination as

“An awareness of the relationship between an individual
and the wider society, and …the ability to view our
society as an outsider might, rather than relying only on
our individual perspective, which is shaped by our
cultural biases”
Benefits of the Sociological Perspective
• The sociological perspective helps us assess the truth of “common sense.”
• The sociological perspective helps us assess both opportunities and constraints

in our lives.
• The sociological perspective empowers us to be active participants in our

society.
• The sociological perspective helps us to live in a diverse world. It also

encourages us to realize that society guides our thoughts and deeds — to see
the strange in the familiar
The Origins of Sociology

• Three major social changes during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries are
important to the development of sociology.
1.  The rise of a factory-based industrial economy.
2.  The emergence of great cities in Europe.
3.  Political changes, including a rising concern with individual liberty and rights.
– The French Revolution symbolized this dramatic break with political
and social tradition.

Founders of Sociology
• Aguste Comte
– System of Positive Polity, or Treatise on Sociology, Instituting
the Religion of Humanity.
• Emile Durkheim
– The Division of Labor in Society
– The Elementary Forms of Religious Life
– Suicide
• Karl Marx
– Das Kapital
• Max Weber
– The Protestant Ethic and the Rise of Capitalism
– The Sociology of Religion
– The theory of Social and Economic organization

Aguste Comte Emile Durkheim
Lived 1798-1857 • Lived 1858-1917
• Influential French sociologist,
Believed that the major goal of sociology was
to understand society as it actually
educator, and public official
operates. • Studied the ties that bind society
together
Comte favored positivism—a way of  Mechanical solidarity
understanding based on science.
 Traditional societies are united
Comte saw sociology as the
product of a three-stage historical
by social similarities
development.  Organic solidarity
 Modern societies are united
– The theological stage, in which by interdependence
thought was guided by religion.  Anomie
 Rapid social change leads to
– The metaphysical stage, a loss of social norms and
transitional phase.
produces many social
problems
– The scientific stage

Karl Marx Max Weber
• Lived 1864-1920
• Lived 1818-1883 German philosopher • German scholar who studied wide
Writer and social critic variety of topics
• Like other peers, he studied the
• Personally involved in social change impact of industrialization on
peoples’ lives
• Believed social scientists should help • Support for value free studies and
to improve society objective research
• Struggle between owners and workers • Rationalization

– Traditional societies emphasize
• Capitalist owners will oppress ordinary emotion and personal ties
people – Modern societies emphasize
calculation, efficiency, self
• Eventually, people become alienated control
– Personal ties decline and
• People lose control over their lives people become “disenchanted”

Marx, Durkheim, and Weber Compared
• How is life treating you?
– Marx’s alienated person
• I really don’t care (because I’m detached from my work and
from other people).
– Durkheim’s anomic person
• I’m distressed by it (because there are no common rules or
norms to guide me).
– Weber’s rational person
• Let me think about it, and I’ll get back to you later (because I
need to make some calculations before I know how to answer).
Other Important Founders

2. Harriet Martineau: Feminist and Methodologist
Studied social life in Britain and US, translated Comte. Studied the impact of
inequality
3. Herbert Spencer and Social Darwinism
An evolutionary model of society, known for “social Darwinism” but thought that
attempts at social reform were wrong.
Rural and Urban Sociology
© 2010
Graduate
Alan S. School
Berger - USeP CEd 14
American Sociology
1 In the United States, sociology and the modern university system rose together. Early
American sociology was optimistic, forward-looking, and rooted in a belief in
progress, the value of individual freedom and welfare
2. An exception to such optimism is the work of W.E.B. DuBois, who took sociology out
of the ivory tower and did investigative fieldwork.
3. Contributions of considerable significance to sociology were also made by sociologists
at the University of Chicago, where the first department of sociology in the United
States was established in 1892.
– Dominated sociology for the first half of the 20th century
– Noted for study of urban problems and cities
Early American Sociologists

• W. E. B. Du Bois (1868–1963)
– Combined emphasis on analysis of everyday lived experience with
commitment to investigating power and inequality based on race
– Revealed social processes that contributed to maintenance of
racial separation
Rural and Urban
© 2006
Sociology
Alan S. Berger
Early American Sociologists
• Ida Wells-Barnett (1862–1931)
–An early feminist
–Argued that societies can be judged
on whether the principles they claim
to believe in match their actions
–Used her analysis of society to
resist oppression
Rural and Urban
© 2010
Sociology
Alan S. Berger
Sociological Theory
• A theory is a statement of how and why specific facts are related.
The goal of sociological theory is to explain social behavior in the
real world.
• Theories are based on theoretical paradigms, sets of assumptions

that guide thinking and research.
• Sociologists ask two basic questions:
– What issues should we study?
– How should we connect the facts?
• I call this the plotting or outlining of how you want to tell the story of
society.
• In addition to the three perspectives today there are three ways of
using the perspectives to look at social issues.
Rural and Urban Sociology © 2010 Alan

Graduate S. Berger
School - USeP CEd 17
Sociological Meta Theories
• Three general theoretical orientations

or perspectives for the study of
society
a. Structural-Functionalism perspective
b. Conflict perspective
c. Interactionist perspective
Rural and Urban

© 2010
Sociology
Alan S. Berger
The Structural-Functionalist Perspective
• Parts of a social system work together to

maintain a balance
1) Functions are actions that have positive
consequences
2) Dysfunctions are actions that have negative
consequences
3) Manifest functions are intended
4) Latent functions are unintended
Rural and Urban

© 2006
Sociology
Alan S. Berger
Structural Functionalism
● The structural-functional theory is a framework for building theory that

sees society as a complex system whose parts work together to
promote solidarity and stability.
a. It asserts that our lives are guided by social structures

(relatively stable patterns of social behavior).
b. Each social structure has social functions, or consequences,

for the operation of society as a whole.
c. Key figures in the development of this paradigm include

Auguste Comte, Emile Durkheim, Herbert Spencer, and Talcott
Parsons and Robert Merton
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and © 2010
Sociology
Urban Alan S. Berger
Sociology Graduate
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Structural Functionalism
● Robert Merton introduced three concepts related to
social function:
a. manifest functions, the recognized and

intended consequences of any social pattern
b. latent functions, largely unrecognized and
unintended consequences and
c. social dysfunctions, undesirable consequences
of a social pattern for the operation of society.
● The influence of this paradigm has declined in recent

decades. It focuses on stability, thereby ignoring
inequalities of social class, race, and gender
Rural and Urban

© 2006
Sociology
Alan S. Berger
The Conflict Perspective
• Society is held together by who has power
at a moment in time
a. Power allows some to dominate others
b. Dominance leads to conflict
c. Conflict and change are inevitable
d. Conflict holds society together as new
alliances are formed and others fail
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© 2010
School
Alan- S.
USeP
Berger
CEd 22
Social Conflict
●The social-conflict paradigm is a framework for building theory that
sees society as an arena of inequality that generates conflict and
change.
a. Most sociologists who favor the conflict paradigm attempt not only
to understand society but also to reduce social inequality
b. Key figures in this tradition include Karl Marx, W. E. B. Du Bois,
and Wright Mills
●This paradigm has developed rapidly in recent years. It has several

weaknesses.
 It ignores social unity based on mutual interdependence and

shared values.
 Because it is explicitly political, it cannot claim scientific
objectivity.
 Like the structural-functional paradigm, it envisions society in
terms of broad abstractions.
Rural and Urban
© 2010
Sociology
Alan S. Berger
The Symbolic Interaction Perspective
• Individuals construct the nature of their social

world through social interaction
a. Social life is possible only because humans can

communicate through symbols
b. All human communications take place through the
perception and interpretation of symbols
c. How people define situations is important
d. There is a general consensus on how situations are
defined
e. We do not respond directly to reality but to the
symbolic meanings we attach to the real world
Rural and Urban Sociology © Graduate
2010 AlanSchool
S. Berger
- USeP CEd 24
Symbolic Interaction
● The symbolic-interaction paradigm is a framework for building theory that sees society as the product of
the everyday interactions of individuals.
 The structural-functional and the social-conflict paradigms share a macro-level orientation,

meaning that they focus on broad social structures that shape society as a whole. In contrast,
symbolic-interactionism has a micro-level orientation; it focuses on patterns of social interaction in
specific settings.
 Key figures in the development of this paradigm include
a. George Herbert Mead

b. Erving Goffman
c. George Homans
d. Peter Blau
•
Symbolic Interactionism
Symbolic interactionism attempts to explain more clearly how individuals
actually experience society. However, it has two weaknesses:
 Its micro-orientation sometimes results in the error of ignoring the

influence of larger social structures.
 By emphasizing what is unique, it risks overlooking the effects of
culture, class, gender, and race.
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© 2006
Sociology
Alan S. Berger
Comparison of Three Theoretical Perspectives
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© 2010
Sociology
Alan S. Berger
Table 1.1 (p. 15)
Comparison of Three Theoretical Perspectives
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© 2006
Sociology
Alan S. Berger
Contemporary ways of applying sociological Perspectives
● Critical Theory which grew out of a dissatisfaction with 20th-
century sociology in general and Marxism in particular
● Feminism intellectual movement in the humanities and social

sciences that is having a profound impact on the nature and
direction of sociology
● Postmodernism which expresses a deep distrust of science

and the principle of objectivity.
● Today’s leading theorists
Talcott Parsons
Robert Merton
C. Wright Mills
Paul Lazarsfeld
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© 2010
Sociology
Alan S. Berger
Sociology’s Four Realms
• Basic Science
– Expanding knowledge
• Critical Sociology
– Debate, argument, and controversy
• Applied Research
– Application of knowledge to real-world problems
• Public Activism
– Working for social change
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© 2010
Sociology
Alan S. Berger
Practicing Sociology
Applied Sociology Clinical Sociology
• use of the • dedicated to
discipline of facilitating
sociology with the change by
intent of yielding altering social
practical relationships or
applications for restructuring
human behavior social
and organizations institutions
Rural and Urban
© 2006
Sociology
Alan S. Berger
Using the Sociological Imagination
• Globalization: worldwide integration of
government policies, cultures, social
movements, and financial markets through
trade and the exchange of ideas
 Our lives are more connected with and

interdependent upon diverse groups of
people
• Social problems must be addressed before

they overwhelm the world
Rural and Urban
© 2010
Sociology
Alan S. Berger

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RURAL AND URBAN

• “Without extolling or condemning political facts, science regards

• “It is our business to contemplate social order that we may perfect

– Comte, August, The Positive Philosophy, Harriet Martineau,

8/29/2018 Rural and Urban Sociology Graduate School - USeP CEd 2

• The notion of a body politic is a metaphor through which

8/29/2018 Rural and Urban Sociology Graduate School - USeP CEd 3

– Georg Simmel “The Sociology of Sociability” ( Everett C. Hughes Tr.)

– Georg Simmel (March 1, 1858 – September 28, 1918

8/29/2018 Rural and Urban Sociology Graduate School - USeP CEd 4

• Social structures are the more or less stable patterns of people’s

• Institutions are the principal social structures that organize, direct,

• Some institutions are: Family, Medical, educational, economic,

8/29/2018 Rural and Urban

 This is what makes up sociology

8/29/2018 Rural and Urban Sociology Graduate School - USeP CEd 6

 It allows or forces us to look beyond the outer

 It also encourages us to realize that society guides

 Sociology also encourages us to see individuality in

Rural and Urban Sociology Graduate School - USeP CEd 8

• Understand social marginality, the state of being

• C. Wright Mills described sociological imagination as

• The sociological perspective helps us assess both opportunities and constraints

• The sociological perspective empowers us to be active participants in our

• The sociological perspective helps us to live in a diverse world. It also

The Origins of Sociology

Rural and Urban Sociology Graduate School - USeP CEd 10

Rural and Urban Sociology Graduate School - USeP CEd 11

Rural and Urban Sociology Graduate School - USeP CEd 12

• Struggle between owners and workers • Rationalization

Rural and Urban Sociology Graduate School - USeP CEd 13

Other Important Founders

Early American Sociologists

• Theories are based on theoretical paradigms, sets of assumptions

Rural and Urban Sociology © 2010 Alan

• Three general theoretical orientations

Rural and Urban

• Parts of a social system work together to

Rural and Urban

● The structural-functional theory is a framework for building theory that

a. It asserts that our lives are guided by social structures

b. Each social structure has social functions, or consequences,

c. Key figures in the development of this paradigm include

a. manifest functions, the recognized and

● The influence of this paradigm has declined in recent

Rural and Urban

Rural and Urban Sociology Graduate

●This paradigm has developed rapidly in recent years. It has several

 It ignores social unity based on mutual interdependence and

• Individuals construct the nature of their social

a. Social life is possible only because humans can

 The structural-functional and the social-conflict paradigms share a macro-level orientation,

 Key figures in the development of this paradigm include

a. George Herbert Mead

 Its micro-orientation sometimes results in the error of ignoring the

Rural and Urban

Rural and Urban

● Feminism intellectual movement in the humanities and social

● Postmodernism which expresses a deep distrust of science

● Today’s leading theorists

Rural and Urban

Rural and Urban

 Our lives are more connected with and

• Social problems must be addressed before