Introduction to Sociology Lecture 1 Outline of Sociology

Introduction to Sociology Lecture 1 - Outline of Sociology Phua Kai Lit, Ph. D (Johns Hopkins) ADTP Sunway University

COURSE MATERIAL (online) l phuakl. tripod. com/sunway_phua. html l Details on all the assignments that make up your final grade (IMPORTANT!)

Lecture Objectives l l l l Understand what the academic discipline called “Sociology” is all about The Sociological Perspective How sociology differs from anthropology and psychology Gain an idea of what sociologists study How to think like a sociologist - socio variables Research methods in sociology (in brief) How can sociological findings contribute to society

What is “Sociology”? l Scientific (systematic, empirical, objective) study of society, social groups, social behavior and other social phenomena l For example, study differences between agricultural society and industrial society; gangs; religious groups; social change and what factors affect this

What is the Sociological Perspective? l Common sense versus the Sociological Perspective (how social forces shape people and influence their behavior) l Common sense - main ethnic groups (“races”) in Malaysia are “Malays”, “Chinese”, “Indians”. Main groups in USA are “whites”, “blacks”, “Asians”, “Native Americans” l Sociological Perspective - ethnic group identity is “socially constructed” (humanmade) and can come into being, change over time, and even disappear completely!

How is Sociology different from Anthropology and Psychology? l Sister disciplines - especially Anthropology l Anthropology - studies different aspects of human culture. Material culture, non-material culture l Psychology - studies human behavior and what factors (internal and external) affect this, the focus tends to be on the individual

l o g l All sorts of things i s l Useful to engineers: how technology affects society t Technology ---> Society e. g. AI and the future of work. s Society ---> Technology e. g. why are some societies more inventive than others? s l Useful to business people: social change t Population ageing & how this affects business; u WWW (Internet) and modern business

Variables sociologists focus on Thinking like a sociologist: l Ethnicity (“race”) l Social class l Gender (“sex”) l Age l Location l Educational level l Marital status l Religious orientation (religiosity) l Sexual orientation 8

S o c i o l o g y 1. Field Research a. Observation: simple observation versus participant-observation b. Ethnography (extended observation of whole community) c. Case study: In-depth study of single event or situation using archives, documents, interviews etc. Can be historical. 2. Survey research (questionnaires) 3. Experiments 4. Secondary data analysis 9

a l F i n d i n g Social class differences in behavior e. g. healthrelated behavior (smoking, drinking) l Changes in behavior of females over time (education, labour force participation) l Population - fertility, population aging, migration l Changes in the structure of the family e. g. single parent family l 10

Challenges and Limitations of Sociological Research l “Science” and positivism - scientific method, experiments, data collection, scientific laws l Induction and deduction Grand Theory (macrosociology) l Interpretive sociology (microsociology) l l 11 Sociocultural change, values, beliefs and behavior

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