Intro into Sociology
January 16th 2015
Auguste Comte (1798-1857)
Earliest Sociologist
Question he had: What holds society together? What creates social order instead of anarchy or chaos? What cause society to change?
Little bit ambitious of sociology and would take the place of religion.

Emile Durkheim (1858-1817)
French and grew up in a Jewish family
Tried to legitimize sociology as an academic field
Studied Suicide and why some group of people have higher rate of them instead of other
Causes of Suicide
1. Depression
2. Stress
3. Anxiety
4. Illness
Emile found that Protestant has higher rate of suicide than Catholics
Questions: What are the sources of order and stability in society?

Karl Marx (1818-1883)
Interest in understanding the economy
Very involved in politics but flee from France and exiled in England
Conflict Theory: Believes in center of every society is a conflict
Conflict between the Bourgeoisie and Proletariat Bourgeoisie- Owners of the means of productions Proletariat- Exploited workers who sell their labor

Max Weber (1864-1920)
Disagree with Karl Marx
Saw religion as another influence and historical change in society
Looking how Capitalism emerge
Financial Success: One of the looks that people think they were going to be save on judgment day.

Origins of American Sociology
The University of Chicago
George Herbert Mead

Racism and Sexism in Sociology
All sociology so far was written in white man’s point of view and expected everyone to see what they see.

Jane Addams (1860)-1935)
Very active in Chicago
Tried to teach people who didn’t have access into the university

W.E.B DuBois (1836-1963)
First African American Sociologist
Not allow to eat or share room with white sociologist due to the racism during that time period
Founded the NAACP and is still active even today.

Theoretical Paradigms
Paradigms are models or frameworks of the world.
Ways or different view on the world even though we are looking at the same thing.
3 different Paradigms
1. Functionalist Paradigms- Associated with Durkheim: Equilibrium.
Focus on relationship among the parts of society
How these parts are functional or dysfunctional
Believe there is consensus about what norms & value are important.
2. Conflict Paradigms
Associate with Karl Marx
Always a completion for scarce resources in society
Do not believe that people are in a state of consensus
How elites use their power to control less powerful group.

3. Symbolic Interactionism Paradigm
Associate George Herbert Mead, Charles Cooley and Herbert Bulmer

January 21st, 2015

Scientific Approach vs Ordinary Observation

What errors do we often make using Ordinary Observation?
Inaccurate Observation- Tend to use semiconscious and passive observation rather than conscious observation.
Overgeneralization- Tend to look for patterns around us and assume that a few similar events provide evidence of a general pattern.
Selective Observation- Tend to look for future events and situation that fit our prior understanding of a pattern r generalization and ignore those that do not fit.
Resistance to change- We may be reluctant to reevaluate our views even in light of new information.

Key things in a Scientific Approach: Observation, Generalization from our observation, Reasoning about the connections between different things we’ve observed, Reevaluating our understanding of the world based on the observation.

How Can we Evaluate Our Work?
Validity
Reliability
Generalizability

2 types of method Sociologist use to collect data
1. Quantitative Methods- Attempt to measure behavior by quantifying it.
Experiment (tries to measure cause/effect in a controlled environment)
Surveys (ask large groups of people a series of questions about behavior and attitudes)

2. Qualitative Methods- Attempt to get a deep detailed view of people’s lives (usually in their natural settings)
Observation/Ethnography (The researcher intensively studies the behavior of individuals in their usual social