LESSON 1  Sociologists look for patterns in social

relationships
INTRODUCTION:
 widens our perspective or point of view to
ANTHROPOLOGY -systematic study of the the world
biological, cultural, and social aspects of man
The Disciplines of Social Sciences
Greek: Anthropos (man) + logos
 Psychology
(study/inquiry)
 Economics
 significant branch of knowledge  History
–integrates elements from biological
The Sociological Perspective
sciences and humanities to comprehend
human species (their past practices and  helps you see that all people are social
social patterns, across diverse cultures) beings
 tells you that your behavior is influenced by
RENOWNED ANTHROPOLOGISTS
social factors and that you have learned
 Edward Burnett Taylor your behavior from others
 Franz Boas  helps you broaden your view of the world
 Alfred Kroeber  shows you many different perceptions of
 Bronislaw Malinowski social reality
 Clifford Geertz  helps you find acceptable balance between
 Margaret Mead personal desires and the demands of your
social environment
Political Science -systematic study of politics
The Origins of Sociology
 the activity through which people make,
preserve, and amend the general rules  started since the start of the nature of
under which they live (Andrew Heywood) social life and first human interaction
 focuses on fundamental values of equality,  an academic discipline that started in 1800s
freedom and justice and its processes linked  Factors that led to the development of
to the dynamics of conflict, resolution, and sociology:
cooperation –rapid social and political changes in
Europe leading to Industrial Revolution
INFLUENCIALS IN THE FIELD –rural economy with farms and cottage
industries gave way to the large-scale
 Plato and Aristotle
production
 Niccolo Machiavelli
–factory replaced the home as the main site
 Jean Jacques Rousseau
for manufacturing
 Baron de Montesquieu
–growth of cities, making people to leave
 Thomas Hobbes
their homes from the countryside
 John Locke –the rapid growth of urban populations
 Karl Marx produced a multitude of social problems
–number of people outpaced available jobs
Sociology -study of society
–housing shortages, crime increased, and
 study of human social life, groups, and pollution became a major problem
society (Anthony Giddens) –hard to adapt to the impersonal nature of
 academic discipline that attempts to urban life
provide a deeper assessment of individual –the effect of society on the individual
and group behavior and social could no longer be ignored
phenomenon, by the interplay of economic, –individual liberty and individual rights
political and social factors became the focus of a wide variety of
 political movements and gave rise to the Herbert Spencer (1820-1903)
American and French Revolutions -Civil Engineer; studied natural and social
 These political, social, and economic sciences
changes caused scholars to question the
 Adopted the biological model of society -in
traditional explanations of life
a living organism, the biological systems
 1700s: development of physical sciences
work together to maintain the organism's
 Scientists rejected traditional and religious
health
explanations of the physical world
 Society- is a set of independent parts that
-They speculated that physical world
work together to maintain the system over
operated according to systematic
time
properties and laws
-They attempted to prove their beliefs  He was strongly influenced by the views of
through observation, experiments, and Charles Darwin
careful collection and analysis of  “Survival of the fittest” -coined to describe
information this process
 1800s: scholars believed that the social  Social Darwinism
world was based on a set of basic principles Karl Marx (1818-1883)
that could be studied and analyzed through -German scholar;
the use of scientific research methods -identified several classes in 19th century
Auguste Comte (1798-1857) industrial society -farmers, servants, factory
-French philosopher, founder of sociology as a workers, craftspeople, owners of small
distinct subject businesses, and moneyed capitalists

 first scholar to apply the methods of the  predicted that all industrial societies would
physical sciences to the study of social life contain only two social classes:
 intrigued by the causes and consequences –Bourgeoisie (Capitalists): are those who
of the French Revolution own the means for producing wealth
–Areas of study: social order and social (capital)
change –Proletariat: work for the bourgeoisie and
–Social statics and social dynamics -a are paid just enough to stay alive
process that holds the society together and Emile Durkheim (1858-1917)
changes the society
–Introduced the principle of Positivism  Late 20s accepted teaching position in
University of Bourdeaux in France
Harriet Martineau (1802-1876)
 developed the country's first university
 Published Society in America (book) -a sociology course
review of how well the United States lived  First to systematically apply the methods
up to its promise of democracy of science to the study of society
 Includes marriage, the family, race  Society exists because of broad consensus,
relations, education and religion or agreement
 Her detached style of reporting set the  Mechanical solidarity (preindustrial
standard for objectivity in sociological society) and organic solidarity (industrial
research society)
 1853: published a translation of Comte's
Positive Philosophy
 Spoke out for women's rights, religious
tolerance and end of slavery
 LESSON 2 Assumptions of the Conflict Perspective

THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVE: a. A society experiences inconsistency and

1. Functionalist Perspective conflict everywhere
(Structural Functionalism) b. A society is continually subjected to change
c. A society involves the constraint and
-focuses on the structure of the society
coercion of members of the society
-society is held together through
consensus with the common good in mind THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVE:
3. Symbolic Interactionist Perspective
Robert Merton (1996) Two Kinds of Function
-focus on how people use symbols when
1. Manifest Function interacting
-intended and recognized consequences of -involves imagining how others see things
some elements of society
-Before they see social interaction as more
2. Latent Function individuals reacting to each other's actions
-unintended and unrecognized -involves individuals constantly defining
consequences of an element of society and interpreting each other's action
Dysfunction
Essential Elements for Interactionist
-negative consequence an element has for the
stability of the social system a. Meaning
-the individual responds to people and
 Dysfunctional elements things based on the meanings he or she
–disrupt the working society as a whole and gives to those people or things
create social problems b. Language
 Dysfunctions can lead to change, because -meanings arise out of the social interaction
society must adopt and adjust that the individual has with others
c. Thought
Assumptions of Functionalism
-the individual adjusts and modifies
a. A society is relatively integrated as a whole meanings through internal conversation
b. A society tends to seek relative stability
Assumptions in Symbolic Interactionist
c. Most aspects of a society contribute to the
Perspective
society's well-being and survival
d. A society rests on the consensus of its a. People's interpretations of symbols are
members based on the meanings they learn from
others
THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVE:
b. People base their interaction on self-
2. Conflict Perspective
interpretation of symbols
-focus on the force in society that c. Symbols permit people to have internal
emphasizes conflict, competition, change, conversations. Thus, they can gear their
and constraint within a society (Giddens, interaction to the behavior that they think
1987, 2005) others expect of them and the behavior
-Following the principle of Karl Marx, they expect from others
conflict theorists are interested in how
Sociological Research Methods
those in power exercise control over those
4 Research Methods
with less power in society
-interested in nonviolent competition 1. Survey
between various groups in society -men -allows the sociologists to collect data from
and women, people of different ages, or large numbers of people
people of different racial or national Two common techniques in gathering
backgrounds survey -questionnaires and interviews
2. Analysis of Existing Sources
Historical Method
-involves examining any materials from the
past that contain information of sociological
interest
-enables the researchers to make
comparisons between events of today and
events that happened in the past
Content Analysis
-involves counting the number of times a
particular word, phrase, idea, event, symbol
appears in a given context
3. Observational Studies
-observes the behavior of individuals and
groups in actual social settings.
Data can be collected in two ways -
detached observation or participation
observation
a. Participant Observation
b. Case Study
-it is an interview analysis of a person,
group, event, or problem
-relies on observational techniques

Answer the following questions,

1.What is the importance of studying the

society?

2.What are the three major theoretical

perspective? Explain briefly.