What is sociology

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What is sociology?
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What is sociology?

• Term coined by Auguste Comte in 1838.
• The scientific study of human social behavior.
• What do we mean by scientific?
• What do we mean by social?

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What is the goal of sociology?

• Document and explain patterns and regularities of
  social life
• Make accurate predictions about social behavior

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Sociology seeks to see

• the general in the specific.
• the strange in the familiar.
• individuality in social context.
• --Peter Berger

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Major topics in sociology

• Socialization
• Social inequality
• Social institutions
• Social change

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Examples of sociological questions

• How much power do social institutions like the
  economy have over everyday life?
• How do politics affect what we know and our
  beliefs?
• How does socialization affect who we become and
  what we believe?

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How does sociology affect you?

• Most difficult aspect of sociology
• People have trouble questioning the truth of
  their own beliefs and values
• An example of the subjectivity of right and wrong
  killing is wrong
• THE BIG QUESTION - Would you have the same
  beliefs if you had been socialized differently
  (i.e., raised by different people, practiced a
  different religion, attended a different school)?

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Using sociology

• Question conventional wisdom
• The conventional view serves to protect us from
  the painful job of thinking.
• --John Kenneth Galbraith
• Use empirical evidence
• Based on methodological observation
• Removes personal bias

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Using Sociology

• An example the death penalty
• Conventional wisdom the higher the penalty, the
  less likely a person is to commit a crime
  therefore, the possibility of the death penalty
  should reduce crime.
• What does the empirical evidence show?

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Sociological Imagination

• Coined by C. Wright Mills in 1959
• An understanding of the relationship between
  larger social factors and peoples personal lives
• Can help us realize the true origins of social
  problems we face, enabling us to respond
  effectively to them
• Personal troubles vs. social issues