Sociology-scientific study of society researching the changes in society
4 ?s: is society changing, how, why? How can we make it better
Comte-1798-1857- father of soc, “If you studied society and changed it, eventually it would end up peaceful’ Martineau- 1802-1876 1st female soc agreed with Compte. Studied British/American societies. “If you changed slavery (wrong to own person) if you give people freedom to work, production level will increase. Backed up with bible. Eliminating slavery will improve economy have gender equality to raise self-esteem. Today we still have inequality. Middle east doesn’t have women’s rights, 37 mill slaves in world
Spencer- 1820-1903 compares society to living organism. Each part of your cells has its own function and you need all of them to work together. We need teachers, police, etc. Each part impacts society. Unhealthy cells (gangs criminals). If there’s an unhealthy part the rest works harder. ‘Leave society alone and till fix itself’ it’ll work towards stability. Thinks all the bad people in society should die(waste of time/resources/energy). ‘Society of the fittest’
Karl Marx-1818-1883 Competition + conflict are needed b/c it’s healthy. Need conflict b/w haves + have nots. Conflict causes change. You need to fix someone. GROUPS: civil rights (could face death), union workers, Christians (dying in Egypt), Woman’s rights. All fight for generations to come
Cap System: When everyone makes a certain amt of $ and the rest goes to gov’t+help debt +everyone would have healthcare and school –kills motivation –no new products
Durkheim- 1858-1917- applied scientific method to society, fascinated by suicide, looked at rates in different countries, U.S. has high rate, poorer countries have lower rates, the more alienated you feel, the higher the rate, isolation causes meaninglessness. Study friends on fb
Lost Children- founded b/c of syphilis outbreak. Peer group: wealthy, didn’t care,no self control, group sex, drugs and drinking. Had no leader. Parents: busy, not strict, don’t eat together (families who eat together have better grades, communication, goals set, less drugs, drinking, sex) Parents were wanted by children. If parents don’t enforce limits it creates high anxiety. Father teaches self control by wrestling and tell kids its just playing. Neglect depends on social class. Your parents have a choice to choose you. Heather: mom went on work trips left her alone for days at a time. She was 12 and had sex. Never ate together. Self destructive behavior is a cry for help. Teens involved in sex have higher rate of depression. The more drugs and alcohol, the higher the sex rate.