A p e r s p e c t i v e i s a p a r t i c u l a r p o i n t o f v i e w, w e a l l s e e w h a t i s happening around us through our own perspectives.
I'm hungry God, help me brother What is the social structure?
Social structure refers to the patterned ways in which people interact in
social relationships.
For example
High school students in a classroom behave in different ways. Some students
l i s t e n t o e v e r yt h i n g t h e i r t e a c h e r s a ys , a n d o t h e r s s p e n d mu c h o f t h e t i me d a yd r e a mi n g . B u t i n a n y s c h o o l w e h a v e t h e f o l l o w i n g :
Te a c h e r s w a l k a r o u n d t h e r o o m, w o r k w i t h s t u d e n t s , g i v e t e s t s , a n d S t u d e n t s follow the teacher’s lesson plan, make notes, and take tests
What is the sociological perspective?
S o c i o l o g i s t s , l i k e p s yc h o l o g i s t s , f o c u s o n h u ma n b e h a v i o r, f r o m d i ff e r e n t perspectives
And the sociological perspective focuses on the social, or group, sociologists
never focus on the individual.
This focus on patterns rather than individual actions is part of the
u n i q u e p e r s p e c t i v e o f s o c i o l o g y. What is the difference between sociology and the other social sciences?
Anthropology
Anthropologists concentrate on the study of Primitive societies (societies that do
n o t u s e w r i t i n g ) . S o c i o l o g i s t s f o c u s o n mo d e r n , i n d u s t r i a l s o c i e t i e s .
Economics
E c o n o mi c s i s t h e s t u d y o f p r o d u c t i o n , g o o d s a n d s e r v i c e s .
E c o n o mi s t s f o c u s o n a s i n g l e p a r t o f s o c i e t y - t h e e c o n o m y. S o c i o l o g i s t s e x p l o r e all parts
History
Methodology – how historians conduct research – is one of the things that sets h i s t o r y a p a r t f r o m s o c i o l o g y.
Unlike historians, socio logists use a wide range of research methods in addition t o h i s t o r i c a l d o c u me n t s , i n c l u d i n g o b s e r v a t i o n , i n t e r v i e w s , a n d q u e s t i o n n a i r e s . Sociology Name: Michael Ezzat Grade: 11 week: 2 Academic Year: 2023-2024
What were the theories of the pioneers of sociology?
Auguste Comte
A Frenchman is recognized as the father of sociology, Comte believed, that social behavior had to be studied scientifically. Because no science of society existed, Comte attempted to create one himself.
Comte also distinguished between social statics, the study of social stability and order, and social dynamics, the study of social change, and this distinction remains at the center of modern sociology.
Herbert Spencer To explain social stability, Herbert Spencer compared society to the human body. He explained that, like a body, a society is composed of parts working together to promote its well-being and survival, people have brains, stomachs, nervous systems, and limbs. Societies have economies, religions, governments, and families
Karl Marx Karl Marx a German scholar, did not consider himself a sociologist. Nevertheless, his ideas have had a major effect on the field.
Marx felt great concern for the poverty and the working class which were suffering from inequality, and he thought that sociologists should try to change the society rather than merely study it.
Marx identified several social classes in industrial society, among them were farmers, factory workers, and owners of small businesses, He predicted that at some point all industrial societies would contain only two social classes: the bourgeoisie "who own the means for producing wealth" and the proletariat " who work for the bourgeoisie and are paid just enough to stay alive" For Marx, the key to the unfolding of history was class conflict between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat, and he predicted that workers or the proletariat would overtake the bourgeoisie.
And out of this conflict would come a "communistic" society, with no powerless workers, no conflict, live in equality.
Emile Durkheim
According to Durkheim, society exists because of a broad agreement, among members of society, about values and beliefs, traditions, and family rules.
This is how preindustrial societies were, depending on what Durkheim called "mechanical solidarity" until we got industrial societies, they were based on "organic solidarity" Sociology Name: Michael Ezzat Grade: 11 week: 3 Academic Year: 2023-2024
Theoretical Perspective of sociology
Five Key Concepts of Sociology
Functional integration
Refers to the cooperation among the parts in a social system. Each part of the society influences the whole system to function well.
Social structure
Refers to the pattern of social behavior in a group or society. It acts as a framework for society.
Power
Refers to the ability of one part to get other parts to do its need.
Social action
Refers to the way in which someone’s actions are shaped by his or her environment.
Culture
Refers to the language, values, beliefs, knowledge, that are shared by members of a society or group. Functionalism
Functionalism emphasizes the functions of each part of a society. For example, family, economy, and religion are “parts” of a society. The family contributes to society by providing for the reproduction and care of its new members. The economy contributes by dealing with production, goods, and services. Religion contributes by emphasizing beliefs.
Functionalism and Social Change
These parts of a society are integrated as a whole. a change in one part of a society leads to changes in other parts, for example families before and after the Industrial Revolution.
Functionalism assumes that societies try to return to a state of stability after some change has occurred. A society may change over time, but functionalism believes that it will return to a stable state.
Types of Functions
According to functionalism, there are two kinds of functions. Manifest functions are planned and recognized. Latent functions are unrecognized.
For example, one of the manifest functions of school is to teach math skills. A latent (and positive) function of schools is the development of close friendship. Conflict Perspective
The conflict perspective focuses on the disagreements among groups in a society or between societies. Groups and societies compete to promote their own special values and interests.
Supporters of the conflict perspective see social living as a competition. According to this perspective, groups with the most power—the ability to control the behavior of others—who get the largest share of society.
This power might be wealth, prestige, privileges, or anything else that allows particular group to limit the less powerful groups
Conflict Perspective and Social Change
In order to have a society we need the balance of power among these groups in society, when this balance shifts, change occurs.
For example, the balance of power between men and women has changed, we have seen larger numbers of women in jobs were limited just to men like lawyers, pilots, drivers, or even managers. The divorce rate has risen and we got “strong independent women”
According to the conflict perspective, these changes are the result of increasing power among women. Symbolic Interactionism
Both functionalism and conflict theory deal with large social units, such as the economy, and broad social processes. At the close of the nineteenth century, some sociologists turned their attention to the way people interact Instead of concentrating on large social structures.
Symbolic interactionism that focuses on interaction among people—interaction based on mutually
understood symbols
The meaning of Symbols
To understand social interactionism, we need to talk first about symbols.
A symbol is something observable that often represents something not observable, something that is abstract, It may be an object, a word, a facial expression, or a sound. For example, The American flag is a symbol of the United States.
The meaning of a symbol is determined by who create and use the symbols, if people in a group do not share the same meaning for a given symbol, confusion results Sociology Name: Michael Ezzat Grade: 11 week: 4 Academic Year: 2023-2024
What research methods do sociologists use?
Firstly we have two major methods that sociologists use to conduct research which is either quantitative or qualitative.
Quantitative research uses a huge amount of data while qualitative research focus on the quality of data not just the quantity
About 90 percent of the research published in major sociological journals is based on surveys, so this approach is discussed first.
Survey Methods The survey, in which people are asked to answer a series of questions, is the most widely used research method among sociologists. It is ideal for studying large numbers of people, and we describe the people surveyed in terms of populations and samples.
Who will be surveyed?
A population is all those people with the characteristics a researcher wants to study, if a need to study the Egyptian high school students so my population is all the high school student in Egypt
But it’s so hard to survey all those people, that’s why we go with a sample, limited number of cases selected carefully from the larger population.
The sample must have the same basic characteristics as the general population, if a sample is too small or does not match the general characteristics of the population, the survey results cannot be used to make generalizations about the entire population. How do surveys gather the data?
In surveys, information is obtained through either a questionnaire or an interview. A questionnaire is
a written set of questions that survey participants answer by themselves. In an interview, a trained interviewer asks questions and records the answers. Questionnaires and interviews may contain closed-ended for example, multiple choice questions, or open-ended questions for example, essay questions.
Secondary Analysis (Pre Collected Data)
When a researcher uses information that someone else has already collected, this is known as secondary analysis, this pre collected data include government reports, company records, voting lists, or even reports of research done by other social scientists.
Performing secondary analysis on existing data is a cost-effective way to do research. In addition,
government data is generally more detailed, extensive, and accurate. It doesn’t have any disadvantages unless the researcher want a specific data that hasn't been collected before.
Field Research
Field research refers to Qualitative research, it looks closely at aspects of social life that cannot be measured quantitatively, the most common method of field research is the case study.
Case study is studying one case and then generalizing the findings to similar situations, for example, the conclusions of a study on drug use in Chicago should also apply to other large cities.
Some case studies involve participant observation. In participant observation, a researcher becomes a member of the group being studied. What skills do sociologists use?
Conducting sociological research involves more than simply employing one or more of the available research methods. Sociologists also need to know how to work with statistics, evaluate Internet resources, and read tables and graphs.
Tables and graphs.
Graphs and tables are useful for sociologists because they allow them to quickly see relationships and trends in the data. For example, compare data for different age groups, or see how data changes over time.
Evaluate Internet resources
Many sociological journals are available on the Internet. In these journals, you can find reports on a wide variety of sociological research and theories. Not all information on the Internet is reliable, that’s why, It is critical to evaluate the information and its source before using it.
statistics
Sociologists use Statistics as a method for analyzing, and presenting demographic information about the characteristics of a population. Sociology Name: Michael Ezzat Grade: 11 week: 5 Academic Year: 2023-2024
The Nature of Causation
Scientists assume that an event occurs for a reason. According to the concept of causation, events occur in predictable ways. One event leads to another. Why does a ball thrown into the air return to the ground? Why do the planets stay in orbit around the sun?
Also, social scientists look for the factors that cause social events. Early sociologists such as Auguste Comte and Émile Durkheim, studied human social behavior in much the same way as a natural scientist would study the physical world.
But, social events are too complex to be explained by any single factor. The concept of multiple causation states that an event occurs as a result of several factors working in combination.
What, for example, causes crime? Modern criminologists have shown that many factors contribute to crime, including peer pressure, the use of drugs, hopeless poverty, and poor parenting. Each of these single factors is called a variable. Variables A variable is a characteristic—such as age, education, or occupation. Some variables have greater density than others. Some people have higher incomes than other people. Some students get better grades than other students.
So we have many types of variables, the first one is the quantitative variable
A quantitative variable is a variable that can be measured and given a numerical value, like income, height, weight, and score on exams. The analysis of this variable involves the use of mathematical operations and statistics.
The second one is the qualitative variable, It is an “either/or” or a “yes/no” variable. Like male or female; they are married or unmarried. Qualitative variables are often used to categorize data
Another three types of
variables Are independent, dependent, and intervening variables.
Independent variable is the variable that the researcher needs to study or make changes in it. The dependent variable is what results from the change in the independent variable
For example, you might look at the time spent studying for a test as an independent variable that could cause a change in a grade—a dependent variable.
An intervening variable influences the relationship between an independent and a
dependent variable. Correlations
A correlation is simply a measure of how things are related to one another. When a change in a behavior, or event (independent variable) is tied to a change in another trait, behavior, or event (dependent variable), a correlation exists. The correlation may be positive or negative.
A positive correlation exists if both the independent variable and the dependent variable change in the same direction if the dependent variable increases, the independent variable increases.
In a negative correlation, the variables change in opposite directions. An increase in
the independent variable is linked to a decrease in the dependent variable.
It is very important to remember that the existence of a correlation does not necessarily mean a cause-and-effect relationship exists. Standards for Showing Causation
Three standards are commonly used by sociologists to determine causal
relationships.
Standard 1
Two variables must be correlated, they must change together. The direction of change does not matter.
Standard 2
All other possible factors must be taken into account. Remember that correlation is not the same thing as causation. The fact that two events are correlated does not mean that one causes the other. The apparent connection between variables can actually be the result of other factors.
This is what we call a spurious correlation, an apparent relationship between two
variables that is actually caused by a third variable
Standard 3
A change in the independent variable must occur before a change in the dependent variable can occur. Sociology Name: Michael Ezzat Grade: 11 week: 5 Academic Year: 2023-2024
Steps for Doing Research
1. Identify the Problem. Researchers begin by choosing an object or topic for study. Most topics are chosen because they interest the researcher.
For example, a government agency may notice that teenage suicide rates have increased in a particular state. Alternatively.
2. Review the Literature. Once the object or topic of study has been identified, the researcher must find out all he can about any earlier research. This process is called a literature search.
For example, a sociologist investigating suicide will probably develop an approach related to the classic study of suicide by Émile Durkheim as well as to the work of other sociologists who have researched the topic.
3. Formulate Hypotheses. The next step is to develop a hypothesis based on what is known. A hypothesis is a testable statement of relationships among variables.
4. Develop a Research Design. A research design states the procedures the researcher will follow for collecting and analyzing data. Will the study be a survey or a case study? If it is a survey, will data be collected from an entire population, or will a sample be selected from only one city? 5. Collect Data. There are three basic ways of gathering data in sociological research— asking people questions, observing behavior, and analyzing existing materials and records. Sociologists studying interracial marriages could question couples about ways they communicate. They could compare the divorce rate among interracially married couples with the divorce rate of the population as a whole.
6. Analyze Data. Once the data have been collected and classified, they can be analyzed to determine whether the hypotheses are supported.
7. State Findings and Conclusions. After analyzing the data, a researcher is ready to state the conclusions of the study. The methods are described (for example, a survey or a case study) and hypotheses are formally accepted, rejected, or modified. The conclusions might also suggest new methods for research. By making the research procedures public, scientists make it possible for others to duplicate the research, conduct a slightly modified study, or go in a very different direction.
