F soc usic lecture two

Effective from September 2015 | F_Soc USIC Sociology week 2 – Society

Foundation of Social Science

Lecture Two


Contents1. Review from Lecture One2.What is Sociology?3. Developing Sociological Thinking4.Case Study5. Conclusion6.Homework

sheffield.ac.uk/international-college

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Review from Lecture One

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Sociologists have done much to identify the dynamics of urban development and the social problems associated with cities.

A great many organisations, institutions and groups cross paths within cities.Cooperation between cities should play a significant role in addressing international, political, economic and social issues.



Role of Sociology in Studying Societies

• Sociology is the scientific study of human life, social groups, whole

societies and the human world (Giddens & Sutton, 2013:4).

• Societies are a group of people living in a bordered territory who share

common cultural characteristics such as language, values and basic

norms of behaviour (Giddens & Sutton, 2013).

• We belong to one or more societies here in the UK and where you are

from back home.

• e.g. SIC student society (UK) and Chinese society back home.

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• As a result, our behaviours are influenced by the different societies

we interact with daily.

• For example, as a member of your family you may behave in a

certain way as a means of following your parents’ rules, such as how

you dress.

• However as a member of your society of friends you may have a

different manner in which you dress influenced by your friends

views.

• How we behave within the different societies we belong to and what

triggers the changes in our behaviours are all a part of social science

studies.

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Developing Sociological Thinking• Learning to think sociologically means nurturing our imagination

• Therefore to study sociology we need to break free from the routine process of just learning through books.

• Doing sociological work means we need to remove our pre-set views of the world, like a pair of tainted glasses, and attempt to see people and society through new, untainted lenses

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C. Right Mills and Sociological Imagination

• The American sociologist C. Right Milles, coined the term ‘sociological Imagination’ by which he refers to ‘the vivid awareness of the relationship between [personal] experience and the wider society… to be able to connect personal troubles to public issues’.

• Let’s take for example the following case study of coffee

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Case Study: Sociologists Study Coffee

Coffee is not just a beverage or refreshmentFor many the morning cup of coffee is the first step to starting their day, meeting for a coffee is more about the opportunity to get together with others, or more about chatting than drinking the coffeeCoffee is also a stimulant and habit-forming where some people become addicted. It is not normally regarded as a drug because it is socially acceptable. In some societies, however, such as Mormon religious societies, coffee consumption is frowned upon. (Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/0/20203949)

Sociologists are interested in why these differences exist and what brought them about.

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http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/0/20203949



Coffee is caught up in a complex set of social and economic relationships stretching across the planet:

Coffee tends to be consumed in large quantities in wealthy countries (US, UK, Australia, across Europe, etc.) but grown primarily in poor ones (Colombia, Guatemala, Uganda, Ethiopia, India, etc.)

Coffee is one of the most valuable commodities in international trade provides many countries with their largest source of foreign exchange.

The production, transportation and distribution of coffee require the cooperation of thousands of people miles apart in order to make the coffee available for the consumer.

Studying such global connections is an important task for sociologists today.

Coffee: More than a beverage 9



As a result of the global transactions that must take place in order to make coffee available to a consuming nation coffee has become branded and politicized.

Coffee has become a lifestyle choice Some people only drink organic coffee or coffee

that is fairly traded Others may prefer to patronize independent coffee

houses rather than corporate chains such as Starbucks and Costa.

Sociologists take into account the many factors involved in the act drinking coffee.

Consumer’s lifestyles and habits Production of coffee Economic impact coffee production has on

developing nations

Coffee and global transactions 10

http://www.fairtradeusa.org/what-is-fair-trade


Sociologists view the world and the people in it with a very different lens than the average person.

By ‘Sociological Thinking’ we take trivial things like coffee and delve deeper into the influence that this trivial object has on society and the world.

Sociology is not a discipline that acknowledges a single body of ideas as universally accepted.

While there are some theories that are more widely accepted than others, sociologists often disagree about how to study human behaviour and how to interpret research findings.

Example: research shows an increasing divorce rate in country X. how would you interpret the data?


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Case Study Analysis


• To complicate things further, sociology differs from other sciences like physics and chemistry in that as sociologists we are studying ourselves and this can challenge our own views attitudes – our pre-set ideas of the world.


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Why study Sociology?

• So why do we study sociology?


Take business majors for example:•Need more than just maths and economics•Need to understand people and societies•Sociology teaches us how to understand and communicate with people (staff and customers)•Business managers with a background in sociology can more readily anticipate customer needs and respond to employee demands


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Why Sociology?


Let’s take for example business managers and staff issues:Sociology provides business leaders and human resource managers an advantage working with employees through•Increased awareness of the social and cultural aspects influencing individual actions•Avoid alienating employees or hurting company loyaltyFor example, a company may have a number of employees of a particular religion- these employees may require special accommodations regarding workdays or work attire.Managers can take this into account when approving employee annual leave requests or regarding setting the employee dress code


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Sociology does more than simply teach us about people, it provides us with tools to help us study societies in a detached way without bringing in our own personal views, beliefs and biases.

One way of studying societies without bias is by relying on established ideas about different aspects of society.

These established ideas have been tested to be true or applicable to specific societies – these ideas are referred to as theories.

So let us move on and learn more about why theories are and how they are used in sociology.


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Why Sociology?


Theory – described as an attempt to identify general characteristics that explain regularly observed events.

•E.g. theory of gravity •Why do things fall to the ground?•How do people and things stay grounded and not float about?•Newton hypothesized that gravity pulled people and objects to the ground•He tested his idea repeatedly and after getting the same result deduced that his hypothesis was correct

Established theory or universal theory


16Sociological Theory


Theories are linked to broader theoretical approaches and strongly influenced by the research results they generate.

Theories are an essential part of all academic subjects (including natural and sociological) - they allow us to provide explanations rather than simply listing a series of facts.

Example: Rate of married couples in Britain since the 1950s to present.

• Statistics and data tell us how they have changed (increased or decreased)

• But we need to also explore the reasons for this change and theories can provide a guide to develop some possible explanations.


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We have learned a definition of sociology and what sociological thinking entails

How we apply sociological thinking to everyday behaviours like coffee drinking

Why we study sociology and how sociological thinking can be applied in non-sociological fields like business management.

We also learned what theories are and their role in research.

Next week we will explore the origins of sociology and the historical events in Europe in the 18th and 19th centuries that facilitated the development of sociology. We will learn about the sociological thinkers of those times and their theories that are still used in contemporary research.


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Summary


Homework:

In preparation for seminar one, all students are required to complete their week one homework (Traditions, Society, Institutions, Family and Values) available on the Student Workbook and be prepared for a 5 minute in class presentation.


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References: •Giddens, A. and Sutton, P. (2013) Sociology, Cambridge: Polity Press.•Mills, C. W. (1959) The Sociological Imagination, Oxford University Press, London.


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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sociological_Imagination

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxford_University_Press

F soc usic lecture two

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