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Copyright © 2004 by Nelson, a division of Thomson Canada Limited. 1
Chapter 1Chapter 1 Introducing SociologyIntroducing Sociologyby Robert Brymby Robert Brym
Copyright © 2004 by Nelson, a division of Thomson Canada Limited. 2
SOCIOLOGYSOCIOLOGY
• Sociology is the study of the powerful social forces that influence social relations and personal lives.
• Sociology emerged at the time of the Industrial Revolution, an era of massive social transformation accompanied by new social problems.
Copyright © 2004 by Nelson, a division of Thomson Canada Limited. 3
THE ENLIGHTENING THE ENLIGHTENING PERSPECTIVE OF SOCIOLOGYPERSPECTIVE OF SOCIOLOGY
• Durkheim’s analysis of the relationship between suicide rates and social relations at the end of the nineteenth century is a classic and still highly informative example of the sociological perspective at work.
Copyright © 2004 by Nelson, a division of Thomson Canada Limited. 4
DURKHEIM’S FINDINGSDURKHEIM’S FINDINGS
• Some categories of people (men, Christians, the unmarried) have higher rates of suicide than others (women, Jews, the married).
• Why? Because people who are weakly integrated into social groups are more likely to take their own lives.
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DURKHEIM’S U-CURVE (I)DURKHEIM’S U-CURVE (I)
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• As the level of social solidarity increases, the suicide rate declines. Then, beyond a certain point, it begins to rise again.
• At one extreme, anomic suicide occurs in very low solidarity settings.
• At the other extreme, altruistic suicide occurs in very high solidarity contexts, where norms tightly govern behaviour.
DURKHEIM’S U-CURVE (II)DURKHEIM’S U-CURVE (II)
Copyright © 2004 by Nelson, a division of Thomson Canada Limited. 7
Social forces exist as a distinct level of reality:
• They are external to individuals.
• They constrain individual behaviour.
IMPLICATIONS OF IMPLICATIONS OF DURKHEIM’S ANALYSIS OF DURKHEIM’S ANALYSIS OF SUICIDESUICIDE
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SUICIDE IN CANADA TODAYSUICIDE IN CANADA TODAY
• Youth suicide, rare in Durkheim’s time, has risen since the 1960s in Canada.
• Suicide rates for men remain considerably higher than those for women.
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SUICIDE BY AGE AND SEXSUICIDE BY AGE AND SEX
Insert Figure 1.2, p. 7
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SOCIAL STRUCTURES ISOCIAL STRUCTURES I
• Social structures are relatively stable patterns of social relations.
• The three social structures are:– Microstructures– Macrostructures– Global structures
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SOCIAL STRUCTURES IISOCIAL STRUCTURES II
• Microstructures are patterns of intimate social relations formed during face-to-face interaction (e.g., families, friendship circles).
• Macrostructures are overarching patterns of social relations (e.g., class relations, bureaucratic organizations).
Copyright © 2004 by Nelson, a division of Thomson Canada Limited. 12
SOCIAL STRUCTURES IIISOCIAL STRUCTURES III
• Global structures are social structures that lie outside and above the national level (e.g., the United Nations, the European Union, free trade areas such as the NAFTA region).
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FOREIGN AID, DEBT, AND FOREIGN AID, DEBT, AND INTEREST PAYMENTS, INTEREST PAYMENTS, DEVELOPING COUNTRIESDEVELOPING COUNTRIES
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THREE REVOLUTIONS LED THREE REVOLUTIONS LED TO THE SOCIOLOGICAL TO THE SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVEPERSPECTIVE
• The Scientific Revolution (circa 1550) encouraged the view that conclusions about society must be based on evidence.
• The Democratic Revolution (circa 1750) suggested that people create society and human intervention can therefore solve social problems.
• The Industrial Revolution (circa 1780) created a host of social problems that attracted the attention of social thinkers.
Copyright © 2004 by Nelson, a division of Thomson Canada Limited. 15
COMPONENTS OF THE COMPONENTS OF THE SOCIOLOGICAL SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVEPERSPECTIVE
• The sociological imagination shows the connection between personal troubles and public issues.
• Values are ideas about right and wrong.
• Research is the process of systematically observing reality to “test” theories.
• Theories are tentative explanations of aspects of social life.
Copyright © 2004 by Nelson, a division of Thomson Canada Limited. 16
SOCIOLOGY’S FOUR MAIN SOCIOLOGY’S FOUR MAIN THEORETICAL TRADITIONSTHEORETICAL TRADITIONS• functionalism
• conflict theory
• symbolic interactionism
• feminism
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FOUR THEORETICAL FOUR THEORETICAL TRADITIONS IN SOCIOLOGYTRADITIONS IN SOCIOLOGY
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POSTINDUSTRIALISMPOSTINDUSTRIALISM
• Postindustrialism is the technology-driven shift from manufacturing to service industries and the consequences of that shift for all of society.
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MAIN SOCIOLOGICAL MAIN SOCIOLOGICAL ISSUES IN THE ISSUES IN THE POSTINDUSTRIAL ERAPOSTINDUSTRIAL ERA
• autonomy versus constraint
• prosperity versus inequality
• diversity versus uniformity
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SUPPLEMENTARY SLIDES
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SUICIDE, CANADA, BY AGE SUICIDE, CANADA, BY AGE COHORT, 1981-97COHORT, 1981-97
0
5
10
15
20
25
1-14yrs
15-19yrs
20-24yrs
25-44yrs
45-64yrs
65+yrs
1981
1991
1997
Source: “Suicides, and suicide rate, by sex, by age group.” On the World Wide Web at http://www.statcan.ca/english/Pgdb/health01.htm (15 November 2003).
The text argues that youth suicide has increased in Canada since the 1960s. Is that increase evident in the period 1981-97? Why or why not?
Copyright © 2004 by Nelson, a division of Thomson Canada Limited. 22
The European View of the The European View of the World, Circa 1600World, Circa 1600