PSCC Ch 1-2 Slides

8/4/2019 PSCC Ch 1-2 Slides

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• Can we find meaning and fulfillment outside of our jobs/

careers? Is it a ploy of capitalism to convince us that lifefulfillment, satisfaction and success can come only throughwork? This, in turn, compels us to buy into the notion thatwe must go to college and we must aspire to jobs above themenial service sector jobs or trades that you are limited towith a high school diploma.

• What if we could drive a bus for 30 hours a week, earnenough to afford a decent home and all the othernecessities, and then have 60-70 hours a week to immerseourselves in relaxation, hobbies, reading, exploration,adventure, spending time with our families, etc.? Couldn't wefind fulfillment, satisfaction and success in this manner?



What is “Society”?

A grouping of individuals, which ischaracterized by common interests

A group of people who live together in an organized way, coordinatingactivities, and making collectivedecisions about how to do things



Why society?

We increase our survival chances bycoordinating our activities with others



What is “Sociology”?Sociology is the scientific study of interactions

and relations among human beingsSociology is a way of looking at our social world,a way of thinking, and a set of concepts thatfacilitate critical and informed answers to

questions like:Why do people do what they do?

Why are things the way they are?



Why did sociology emerge?Enlightenment, scientific and

industrial revolutions led toBelief in logical explanations for things (not religious ones)

Rapid social changeConfusion, anomie about people’splace in the world



Sociology’s founders: Émile Durkheim

Mechanical Solidarity-society held

together by sameness (shared interestsand similar circumstances lead toshared ideas, values and goals)

Organic Solidarity-modern, diversesocieties lack shared values, but areheld together by interdependence



Sociology’s founders:Ferdinand Tönnies

Gemeinschaft-relationships that are

ends in themselves, emotion-basedGesellschaft-relationships that are ameans to an end

The type of relationship governsthe rules of the relationship



Examples of Gemein/Gesellschaftrelationshi sGemeinschaft: friends, spouses, parent/

childGesellschaft: doctor/patient, clerk/customer, worker/boss

Playing with the gray areas makes for great drama/comedy

Can you think of examples from film,TV, literature?



Sociology’s founders:Max Weber

rational behavior-calculating,means-to-end

nonrational behavior-no goal in

mind, aimed at appreciating theexperience



More Weber...

Max Weber also believed that modernsociety’s focus on rationality, in somecases, traps us in an “iron cage of rationality,” also known as “theirrationality of rationality.”

What do you think Weber meant by this?



Sociology’s founders:Karl Marx

All of society and all social behavior can be explained in economic terms.

There are two classes in society:the bourgeoisie own the means of production and the proletariat who have nothing but their labor to sell



American Sociology

Applied vs. Basic science Jane Addams: poverty in Chicago

The Chicago School: Everyday Life

DuBois: Racial Dimensions of Marx



“Student Participation in theCollege Classroom”More interactions between students and

professor in smaller than in large classesRegardless of size

about the same # of students

participatesmall # of students account for mostof interactions



Conclusions...!Students don’t talk because:

They determine whether a teacher really wants participation

consolidation of responsibility

teachers rarely call directly onsomeone



Students’ previous history predisposes

them to view the college classroom as aplace where professor dispensesknowledge and students acquireknowledge

When challenged to think critically,students take critiques of their ideas ascriticisms of themselves



The value of thinking sociologically...

Student participation, or the lack thereof,

in college classrooms does not justhappen. Rather,

A combination of factors--includingdifferent definitions of the situation by

teachers and students, prior experiences,infrequency of exams, gender of teacher--shape the patterns of participation



Sociological Imagination

Personal Troubles vs Social Issues

If we want to understand theexperiences of individuals, we need tolook to the social. If we want to make

differences in the lives of individuals,we may need to make changes at thelevel of the social.



Exercising the Sociological Imagination

Think of the ways in which we tend tosee the following as personal troublesrather than public issues/socialproblems:

Divorce

Drug/alcohol problems

Teen pregnancy



Manifest vs Latent Functions

The manifest vs. latent functions of things in

society

manifest functions are intended reflect asociety’s desired outcomes

latent functions are unintended consequencesof things aimed at a desired outcome (they canbe desirable or undesirable)

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PSCC Ch 1-2 Slides