Chapter 1: Roots of Sociology Sociology of human society and social interaction.

Chapter 1: Roots of Sociology
Sociology is the systematic and objective study
of human society and social interaction.
Sociologists use research techniques similar to those of
the natural sciences. They often conduct research using
scientific method. That is, they establish testable
hypotheses and decide ahead of time which results will
lead them to accept or reject the hypotheses. Like other
scientists, sociologists strive to reach conclusions and
present findings that are objective—not biased by
emotion or preferences. It is this commitment to scientific
methods that makes sociology different from the
nonscientific disciplines of the humanities.
The history and development of
sociology
• Henry de Saint-Simon(1760-1821)
– He was the first scholar to treat society
as a distinct and separate unit of
analysis. He also was one of first to
stress the idea that the social sciences
might use the new methods of the
natural sciences. But like most of the
early social thinkers who followed the
Industrial Revolution, Saint-Simon was
interested in the analysis of society
only as it related to his desire for social
reform.
Industrial Revolution
• Industrial change
– Movement of
people from
villages to cities
– Working in
factories away from
families
– Travel becomes
more common
• Rapid social
change
– New forms of social
interaction occur
– Pace is too fast for
some and they fall
off by embracing
social movements
or getting involved
in drugs and/or
crime
Industrial Revolution
• Nature of work changes
– People now worked in factories
– Standardization of work
• Ones interaction is influenced by work
• Nature of interaction changes
– People communicate with a broader spectrum
of people—railways, planes, internet
– People move to urban areas, families split
August Comte(1798-1857)
• He was considered the founder
of sociology. He had once been
personal secretary to SaintSimon. Comte coined the term
sociology. Previously, he had
called the discipline “positive
philosophy”( social physics ),
both to stress its scientific nature
and to distinguish it from
traditional philosophy. The aim of
sociology, as he saw it, was to
find the “invariable laws” of
sociology upon which a new
order could be based.
Harriet Martineau
English (1802-1876)
• Published Theory and Practice of
Society in 1837, a year or two before
Comte coined the term sociology
• Studied family, race relations, and
religion in America. Concerned with
the plight of women and children
during Industrial Revolution.
• Detached style of reporting set the
standard for objectivity in sociological
research
• Pioneering nature largely ignored by
male disciplines.T ranslated
Comte’s work into English
Herbert Spencer
• Spencer (1820-1903) put the idea
that society is like an organism—a
self-regulating system. Drawing an
analogy to Charles Darwin’s
theory of biological evolution,
Spencer suggested that societies,
like animal species, evolved from
simple to more complex forms.
Spencer was an early advocate of
what later came to be called Social
Darwinism—the view that the
principle of survival of the fittest
applies to societies and within
societies.
Karl Marx(1818-1883)
• In contrast to Spencer’s view
that societies are subjected to
“natural” laws, Marx believed
that societies follow historical
laws determined by economic
forces. He saw human history as
a series of inevitable conflicts
between economic classes.
• Marx’s view on class conflict
are reflected in the conflict
school of modern sociology
Primitive society slavery 
feudalism capitalism 
communism
“The workers of the world have nothing
to lose but their chains; they have a
world to gain. Workers of the world
unite.”(Marx)
Contemporary Marxists
• Capitalists look for profit as a sign of
success
• It may ignore human needs and people
may not be able to buy products
• Capitalism survived and flourished by
sucking the blood of living labor
Emile Durkheim(1858-1917)
More than anyone, the French scholar
Emile Durkheim defined the subject
matter of sociology and pointed out
how it differed from philosophy,
economics, psychology, and social
reform. In The Rules of Sociological
Method (1894) and in Suicide (1897),
Durkheim argued that the main concern
of sociology should be what he called
social facts. In contrast to those who
reduce most social phenomena to
individual psychological and biological
traits, Durkheim felt that the main
building blocks of societies are laws,
customs, instititions, and organizations.
Durkheim
• Wrote the book Suicide to look at
circumstances that cause people to kill
themselves
• Found 4 types
– Egoistic—lack group ties
– Altuistic—strong group ties
– Anomic—normlessness—due to changes
– Fatalistic—no hope for change
Max Weber(1864-1920)
• Weber was perhaps the greatest single
influence on modern sociology. He was
particularly interested in the larger
dimensions of society—its organizations
and institutions—which he studied on a
vast historical and worldwide scale. He
is perhaps best known for his
bureaucracy and capitalism. Much of
Weber’s thought contrasts strongly
with that of Marx. Weber argued that
sociology should include the study of
“social action”.
Weber
• Four types of social action
– Traditional—goal pursued as in the past
– Affectional—goal is emotion
– Value-rational—goal pursued because of it’s
value without consideration of
appropriateness
– Instrumental—goal is carefully thought out in
relationship to other goals
George Simmel(1858-1918)
• Unlike the other theorists we have
discussed, who were interested in
studying the larger structures of society,
Gorege Simmel focused on smaller social
units. He put forth the idea that society is
best seen as a web of patterned
interactions among people. He also
believed the main purpose of sociology
should be to examine the basic forms that
that these interactions take. Some
examples of the basic forms of interaction
that Simmel analyzed are cooperation and
conflict, leaders and followers, and the
process of communication.
Jane Adams (1880-1935)
• Won the first Nobel
Peace Prize (1931) given
to an American
sociologist
• Founded Hull House for
the poor in Chicago.
Influenced the “Chicago
School” of applied
sociology
• • Pioneered the study of
social problems
Sociological Perspectives
• The Structural/Functional
Perspective
• The Conflict Perspective
• Symbolic/Interactionist Perspective
Structural-Functional
• Society is viewed
as a complex
system of parts
(structures) that
• interact to
perform various
necessary
functions
• Shared values,
norms, attitudes
and beliefs
(consensus)
• Change is viewed
as gradual and
disruptive
• Macrosociology
Functionalist Perspective
• Society is a set of inter-related parts that works
best in a stable system-study families or
education
• Some elements can be dysfunctional-these
destabilize the system
• Manifest function is the intended and
recognized consequence of some element on
society- car is speedy transportation
• Latent function is an unintended consequencecar as sign of wealth or class
Conflict Theory
• • Views society as a struggle for resources and
power
• • Change is inevitable, often beneficial and can be
violent
• • Conflict between the classes determines social
change
• • Some groups prosper at the expense of others
• • Conflict is universal; social consensus is limited and
•
inequality is widespread
• Macrosociology
Symbolic Interactionism
• Studies society through interactions within individual
and small groups
• Interaction between individuals is negotiated through
shared symbols (anything that represents something
else), words, gestures and nonverbal communication.
• Humans are social animals and require interaction
Asks the questions” “How do individuals experience
one another?” “How do they interpret the meaning of
these interactions?” and “How do people construct a
sense of self and the society as a whole?”
• Microsociology
Development of American
Sociology
• First period--1905-1918
– Pioneers in teaching sociology in colleges
– Many early sociologists were the sons of small
town ministers
– They looked at social problems
– Urbanism was seen as a source of problems
– Were conservative and sought social reform
– American Sociological Association est. 1905
• Second era--1918-1935
– Period after World War
I left people
disillusioned
– Sociologists began to
use the scientific
method
– Wanted sociology to
be value-free--study
what is there without
being judgmental
• Third period--1935-54
– Sociologists began to
integrate theory,
research, and
application
– Sociologists became
more professionalized
– Encouraged the use of
basic research
• Period four--Coming of the Age
of Sociology--1954--on
– Supreme court case of
Brown v Board of
Education of Topeka
Kansas--initiated a call for
racial integration
– Began numerous “rights”
movements--Vietnam War,
Women, Gays and Elderly
– Sociology exploded in early
part of this period
• Early European sociological
theorists supported the global
understanding by studying
people from many cultures
• Lives of people are now
intertwined
• Events of the world effect us all
• Global themes help us to
appreciate how an action in
one part of the world affect
people in another
• Sociology helps us understand
global interdependence
Development of American
Sociology
• Chicago School
– Sociology first became an established
discipline in the Midwest. The
sociologists at the University of
Chicago during this period came to
be known collectively as the
“Chicago School”. They were
interested in such typical American
social problems as ghettos,
immigration, race relations, and
urbanization. They assembled a vast
amount of useful statistical data and
developed many important concepts
that are still in use.
Robert Park
• The leading figure at the University of Chicago
was Robert Park (1864-1944), who began
teaching there in 1914. Park was a unique
combination of news reporter, social activist,
researcher, and pure theorist. He combined the
perspectives of biology, conflict theory, and the
sociology of Gorge Simmel into the first major
introductory textbook in sociology. Many of his
students later became influential sociologists at
other American universities.
Gorge Herbert Mead
• Gorge Herbert Mead (1863-1931) was
the major theorist of the symbolic
interactionist branch of sociology that
was born at the University of Chicago.
Mead stressed that humans respond to
abstract meanings as well as to concrete
experience. Unlike most theorists of the
time, Mead claimed that the human mind
and self-consciousness are largely
social creations. Thus he helped to
define that aspect of sociology that sees
individual behavior as the product of
society.
W. E. B. DuBois
(American) (1868-1963)
• First Afro-American PhD
•
•
•
•
graduate of Harvard University
• Wrote The Philadelphia Negro
(1899) on race relations
double consciousness of blacks-always looking at oneself through
the eyes of others
Showed how there can exist a
double feeling while living in a
single society
Believed Western nations
exploited Africans and blacks
taking their wealth leaving them
politically powerless and
impoverished
Talcott Parsons
(American) (1902-1979)
• • Reintroduced the
theories of European
sociologists while
•
teaching at Harvard
University
• • Structural/Functionalist
• • Abstract “ivory tower”
theoretician
• • Emphasis on empirical
research--not social
reform
C. Wright Mills
(American) (1916-1962)
• Taught at Columbia
University
• • Marxist,
structural/functionalist
theorist
• • Key concepts: power
elite, radical social
change, social
•
injustices, applied
sociology, the
“sociological
imagination”
Robert K. Merton
(American) (1910-2002)
• • Taught at Columbia
University
• • Sought to bridge the
European “grand” theories
and a
•
more focused research style
• • Structural/Functionalist
• • Key concepts: manifest &
latent functions, “Strain
Theory”
•
of deviance, dysfunctions
Charles Horton Cooley
(American) (1864-1929)
• • Symbolic
interactionist theorist
• • We develop a sense
of who we are in
society based upon
• interaction with
others and how we
feel others perceive us
• • The “Looking Glass
Self”
Erving Goffman
(American) (1922-1982)
• Symbolic interactionist
theorist
• • Believed we play
roles and present a
“face” for public
view
• • Key concepts:
dramaturgical
approach, frontstage &
backstage
• selves, presentation
of self
Sigmund Freud
(German)(1856-1939)
• Psychoanalyst
• • Key concepts:
unconscious, id, ego,
superego, psychosexual
• stages,
psychoanalysis, ego
defense mechanisms,
free association.
• dream interpretation
Erik Erikson
(German/American)(1902-1994)
• • Psychologist
• • Eight Stages of Man
(Psycho-social
stages)
• • Focused on ego
conflict through the
life span and how
they are resolved
Carol Gilligan
(American) (1936- )
• • Social psychologist:
former student of Lawrence
Kohlberg
• • Took a feminist
perspective to moral
reasoning, author of
•
In a Different Voice, which
proposes that males and
•
females have different
moral reasoning
• • Key concepts: caring
perspective (females);
justice & law (males)
Albert Bandura
(American) (1925- )
• • Social (cognitive)
psychologist, performed
classic study of
•
imitation and aggressive
behaviors in children.
• • Key concepts: social
learning theory, imitation,
models,
•
vicarious reinforcement,
expectancies self efficacy,
reciprocal determinism
B(urrhus) F(redrick) Skinner
(American) (1904-1990)
• • Psychologist, learning
theorist, behaviorist. Taught at
Harvard
•
University, probably the most
famous American psychologist
• • Wrote several books
including: The Behavior of
Organisms,
•
Beyond Freedom and
Dignity, and Walden Two
• • Key concepts: operant
learning, positive & negative
reinforcement, punishment,
behavior modification
Sociological theories (1)
• The functionalist perspective
– It emphasizes the way in which each part of
society contributes to the whole so as to
maintain social stability. According to this
perspective, society is like the human body
or any other living organism. Like the parts
of the body (such as the limbs, the heart,
and the brain), the parts of society (such as
families, businesses, and governments)
function together in a systematic way that is
usually good for the whole. Each part helps
to maintain the state of balance that is
needed for the system to operate smoothly.
Sociological theories (2)
• The conflict perspectives
– It emphasizes conflict as a permanent aspect of societies and a
major source of social change. This perspective is based on the
assumption that the parts of society, far from being smoothly
functioning units of a whole, actually are in conflict with one
another. This is not to say that society in never orderly—conflict
theorists do not deny that there is much order in the world—but
rather that order is only one outcome of the ongoing conflict
among society’s parts and that it is not always the natural state
of things.
– Conflict theorists trace their roots back to Marx and Simmel.
They stress the dynamic, ever-changing nature of society. To
them, society is always in a fragile balance. More often than not,
social order (often quite temporary) stems from the domination of
some parts of society over other parts rather than from the
natural cooperation among those parts. Order is the product of
force and constraint—domination—of the over the weak, the rich
over the poor.
Sociological theories (3)
• The interactionist perspective
– It focuses on how people interact in their
everyday lives and how they make sense of
their social interaction. Interactionists do not
see society as such a controlling force, at
least not to the degree that the
macrosociologists do. Interactionists stress
that people are always in the process of
creating and changing their social worlds.
Interactionists explore people’s motives,
their purposes and goals, and the ways they
perceive the world.
Three perspectives—a summary
Perspective
Central concern
Scope of
theorizing
Typical
concepts
Some
proponents
Fuctionalist
How parts contribute to
workings of total society
or institutions
Maro-level
Manifest
Durkeim
functions,
Parsons
latent functions, Merton
dysfunctions
Conflict
Social conflict and
inequalities; why they
arise and how they are
maintained,
Maro-level
Class struggle,
self-interests,
domination of
some social
groups
Marx
Dahrendorf
Collins
interactionist
Everyday encounters
between people and the
symbols by which they are
interpreted
microlevel
Definition of
the situation,
Looking glass
self
Mead
Cooley
Goffman
Assignment
• Choose ONE (1) of the following topics. Maximum length is 2 pages.
• Due Friday, September 7th, 2012.
• Biography…Pick one of the sociologists discussed in class or in
your book. Include basic biographical information, the perspective
used in their studies, and their areas of interest. Discuss at least one
of their seminal works. Why do you finding them interesting?
• Sociology and the scientific method…After discussing the
requirements of objective research in the field of sociology, I asked
you to begin to develop a plan of research on a topic of your own
choosing. Describe the study. What is your preliminary hypothesis?
Where will you go to perform a literature review. Are there ethical
considerations? How will you design the study-ex. Survey, field
observation, etc.?
Chapter 2 culture and social
structure
• Culture refers to the social heritage of a people—those learned
patterns for thinking, feeling, and acting that are transmitted from
one generation to the next, including the embodiment of these
patterns in material items. It includes both nonmaterial culture—
abstract creations like values, beliefs, symbols, norms, customs, and
institutional arrangements—and material culture—physical artifacts
or objects like stone axes, computers, loincloths, tuxedos,
automobiles, paintings, hammocks, and domed stadiums.
• Society refers to a group of people who live within the same territory
and share a common culture. Very simply, culture has to do with the
customs of a people, and society with the people who are practicing
the customs. Culture provides the fabric that enables human beings
to interpret their experiences and guide their actions, whereas
society represents the networks of social relations that arise among
a people.
Components of culture
• Norms
Norms are social rules that specify appropriate and inappropriate
behavior in given situations. They tell us what “should”,
“ought”, and “must” do, as well as what we “should not”,
“ought not” and “must not” do. In all cultures, the great
body of rules deal with such matters as sex, property, and safety.
--Folkways: describe socially acceptable behavior without moral
significance. Nonconformity does not threaten society. Ex.
Handshake.
--Mores: greater moral significance is attached, nonconformity
does threaten society, violations are defined by LAW to assure
social stability.
Components of Culture
Values
values are broad ideas regarding what is desirable, correct, and
good that most members of a society share. Values are so
general and abstract that they do not explicitly specify which
behaviors are acceptable and which are not. Instead, values
provide us with criteria and conceptions by which we evaluate
people, objects, and events as to their relative worth, merit,
beauty, or morality. Shared beliefs on what is good and bad.
Technology
objects and the rules for using them, rules for acceptable use
Components of culture
• Symbols and language
– Symbols are acts or objects that have come to be
socially accepted as standing for something else.
They come to represent other things through the
shared understanding people have.
– Language is a socially structured system of sound
patterns (words and sentences) with specific and
arbitrary meanings. Language is the cornerstone of
every culture. Its is the chief vehicle by which people
communicate ideas, information, attitudes, and
emotions to one another. And its is the principal
means by which human beings create culture and
transmit it from generation to generation.
Levels of Culture
• Cultural trait- an individual tool, act or belief
• Combine Cultural complexes- cluster inter-related
traits
• Culture Patterns- the entire
Inter-related whole
Football---all sports culture
Cultural Universals
• Differences, but all same basic human needs that
society must meet
• George Murdock, 1940s study, 65 cultural universals
found (music, body adornment, funeral ceremonies,
myths and folklore, gifting, medicine)
• Ex family- introduce new members to society, care until
self-sufficient, introduce to culture…look differentextended family, 1 husband several wives, single parent
• Margaret Mead, 2 societies differ, Arapesh v.
Mundugmor, temperament result of culture not biology
Language
• Edward Sapir & Benjamin Whorf: linguistic
relativity:
• 1. language shapes how people think
• 2. people who speak different languages
perceive the world in different ways
• Language conditions you to notice some
aspects and ignore others
• Inuit SNOW
Judgments?
• Ethnocentrism- tendency to view own culture as
superior. Can build unity. Can stagnate society as shut
off from ideas and others. Can lead to conflict.
• Cultural Relativism- Cultures should be judged only
by their own standards not those of another culture.
Understand don’t judge.
• Cows in India, Marvin Harris, Cannibals & Kings, key role in
agriculture
• Cultural discontinuity- subgroups who live within a
predominant culture—what if at odds?
• Subculture-don’t need to reject all the values of the
predominant culture, ethnic, religion, age, occupational
political, geographic, gender—no threat to society, can
serve important functions
• Counterculture- REJECTS predominant values, norms of
the larger society, replaces them with a new set of
cultural values. Hippie movements of the 1960s.
What are American values?
• Robin M. Williams, “American Society”, 15
values central to American life
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Personal achievement
Individualism
Work
Morality & Humanitarianism
Efficiency & Practicality
Progress & Material Comfort
Equality & Democracy
Freedom
• Other core values: nationalism, patriotism,
science & rationality
• James Henslin- education, religious values
not of a particular church, romantic love
• Physical fitness, fulfillment of potential
• Environmentalim in 60s
Values can conflict
• Culture of narcissism- potential disorder to
selfishness
• Capitalism is a material gain culture good?
Daniel Bell-NO focus bad, Daniel
Yankelovich- YES good
• Advertising- see 1500-3000 commercials a
day.
• HW: magazines, pics
• Internalization of norms- people follow
because believe good, becomes part of a
persons personality
• What if reject?
Sanctions
• Motivate people to follow because of
rewards or punishment
• POSITIVE- use rewards, praise good
behavior. Ex. Pay raises, cheering crowd,
encourages conformity to norms
• NEGATIVE- to discourage unwanted
behavior, punishment. Ex. Ridicule,
frowns…fines, imprisonment
• FORMAL- if praise/punishment is paid by
a formal institution or regulatory agency:
school, business, government—low
grades, suspension, demotion at job vs.
raises, awards, medals
• INFORMAL- most norms are enforced
informally. Compliments, gifts v. gossip,
ridicule, ostracism
= Social Control
• Enforcing norms through internal or
external means.
• Societies self-regulate to maintain stability.
• How do societies change? Slow v. rapid
change? Stability risked?
6 Factors stimulate change
• 1. Values and Beliefs- change one part of the system all
change
• Ideology-system of beliefs that justify the social, moral,
religious, political or economic interests held by a group
or society.
• Social Movements-long term conscious effort to promote
or prevent social change. Large numbers of people. Ex.
Civil Rights, Prohibition, Women’s Suffrage,
Environmental. Can transform the entire political
landscape.
• 2. Technology- use to manipulate your
environment. Inventions material and
nonmaterial.
• 3. Population- change in the size of the
population or a new subgroup bringing a
new influence. Ex: change in average age
of population, migration, economic
efffects.
• 4. Diffusion-process by which cultural traits
are spread from one society to another.
Increase contact increases sharing. Media
now constant. REFORMULATION is when
a culture adapts a trait to their own needs.
• 5. Physical environment- food= scarcity,
natural disasters, change in natural
resources- ex Oil crisis 70s.
• 6. Wars and Conquests- loss of lives, war
zone cultures, change in the status of
women on the homefront WW II.
Resistance to Change
• Ethnocentrism- if change comes from outside
• Cultural Lag- timeframe for change, material
culture changes faster than nonmaterial. Ex:
summer vacations, James Henslin-needed for
agricultural reasons but resistance to year round
schooling; computers and Luddites.
• Vested Interests- if satisfied with the status quo,
why risk the unknown? Workers against new
technology. Oil companies resist alternative
fuels.
Social structure (1)
• Statuses
– A status is a socially defined position in a group or
society. Being female, black, a lawyer, or a rather is a
status. There are two types of statuses. A status can
be gained by a person’s direct effort, usually
through competition, is called an achieved status
（成就地位）. Most occupational positions in modern
societies are achieved statuses. A social position to
which a person is assigned according to standards
that are beyond his or her control—usually parentage,
age, and sex—is called ascribed status（先赋地
位）.
Social structure (2)
• Role
– A role is the behavior expected of someone with a given status
in a group or society. According to Ralph Linton (1936), one
occupies a status, but plays a role.
– There is sometimes a difference between the way a role is
written in society’s script and the way people play that role.
The role expectation(角色期待）, society’s definition of the
way a role ought to be played, does not always match role
performance（角色表演）, the way a person actually plays a
role.
– In the course of one day’s social interaction, a person must
play many different roles. If opposing demands are made on a
person by two or more roles, the situation is called role conflict
（角色冲突）. Sometimes, opposing demands are built in into a
single role; the personal stress caused by such opposing
demands of a single role is called role strain (角色紧张Good,
1960).
Social structure （3）
• Group
– Statuses and roles are building blocks for more comprehensive
social structures, including groups. Sociologists view a group as
two or more people who share a feeling of unity and who are
bound together in relatively stable patterns of social interaction.
– A group is more than a collection of people. Sociologists
distinguish it from an aggregate(集合), which is simply a
collection of anonymous individuals who are in one place at the
same time. Shoppers in a mall, individuals waiting in line for
football tickets, and audience at a concert, and a crowd watching
a hockey game are examples of aggregates.
– A group also differs from a category(类别), a collection of
people who share a characteristic that is deemed to be of social
significance. Common categories include age, race, sex,
occupation, and educational attainment.
Social Structures (4)
• Institutions
– Sociologists view institutions as the principal
instruments whereby the essential tasks of living are
organized, directed, and executed. Each institution is
built about a standardized solution to a set of
problems. The family institution has as its chief focus
the reproduction, socialization, and maintenance of
children; the economic institution, the production and
distribution of goods and services; the political
institution, the protection of citizens from one another
and from foreign enemies; the religious institution, the
enhancement of social solidarity and consensus; and
the educational institution, the transmission of the
cultural heritages from one generation to the next.
Social structure (5)
• Societies
– A group of people who live within the same territory
and share a common culture. By virtue of this
common culture, the members of a society typically
possess similar values and norms and a common
language. Its members perpetuate themselves
primarily though reproduction and comprise a more or
less self-sufficient social unit. A society can be as
small as a tribal community of several dozen people
and as large as modern nations with millions of
people.
– Sociologists have classified societies in a good many ways. One
popular approach is based on the principal way in which the
members of a society derive their livelihood. Clearly, survival
confronts all peoples with the problem of how they will provide
for such vital needs as food, clothing , and shelter.
• Hunting and gathering societies（狩猎采集社会） represent the
earliest form of organized social life. Individuals survive by hunting
animals and gathering edible foods. These societies are constantly
on the move and small, consisting of about fifty or so members.
Kinship is the foundation for most relationships.
• Some ten thousand or so years ago, human beings learned how to
cultivate a number of plants on which they depended for food. The
digging stick, and later the hoe, provided the basis for horticultural
societies（园耕社会）. Horticulturalists clear the land by means of
“slash and burn” technology, raise crops for two to three yeas,
and then move on to new plots as the soil becomes exhausted.
Their more efficient economies allow for the production of a social
surplus—goods and services over and above those necessary for
human survival. This surplus becomes the foundation for social
stratification.
– Five to six thousand yeas ago, in fertile river valleys such as
those of the Middle East, the plow heralded an agricultural
revolution and the emergence of agrarian societies.
Innovations meant larger crops, more food, expanding
populations, and even more complex forms of social
organization. In time sophisticated political institutions emerged,
with power concentrated in the hands of hereditary monarchs.
– About 250 years ago, the Industrial Revolution gave birth to
industrial societies whose productive and economic systems
are based on machine technologies. The energy needed for
work activities came in increasingly from hydroelectric plants,
petroleum, and natural gas rather than from people and animals.
Economic self-sufficiency and local market systems were
displaced by complex divisions of labor, exchange relationships,
and national and international market systems.
– Some social analysts contend that the United States is currently
moving in the direction of a postindustrial society (Bell, 1973).
Other metaphors have been applied to the new and
revolutionary patterns, including Alvin Toffler’s (1980) third
wave （第三次浪潮）and John Naisbitt’s (1982) megatrends
(大趋势）.
Chapter 3 Socialization
• In comparison with other species, we enter the
world as amazingly “unfinished” beings. We
are not born human, but become human only in
the course of interaction with other people. Our
humanness is a social product that arises in the
course of socialization—a process of social
interaction by which people acquire the
knowledge, attitudes, values, and behaviors
essential for effective participation in society. By
virtue of socialization, a mere biological
organism becomes transformed into a person—
a genuine social being.
The self
• The formation of self is a central part of the
socialization process. It is not a biological given,
but emerges in the course of interaction with
other people. The self represents the ideas we
have regarding our attributes, capacities, and
behavior.
• Charles H. Cooley (1902) contended that our
consciousness arises in a social context and
coined the term looking-glass self—a process
by which we imaginatively assume the stance of
other people and view ourselves as we believe
they see us.
• George H. Mead (1863-1931) contended that we
gain a sense of selfhood by acting toward
ourselves in much the same fashion that we act
toward others. In doing so, we “take the role of
the other toward ourselves.” We mentally
assume a dual perspective: We are
simultaneously the subject doing the viewing
and the object being viewed. In our imagination,
we take the position of another person and look
back on ourself from this standpoint.
• Mead designates the subject aspect of the selfprocess the I and the object aspect of self the
me.
• According to Mead, children typically pass
through three stages in developing a full sense
of selfhood:
– The play stage（玩耍阶段）: children take the role of
only one other person (significant other 重要他人）at
a time and “try on” the person’s behavior.
– The game stage（游戏阶段）: children assume many
roles.
– The generalized other stage（类化他人阶段）:
children recognize that they are immersed within a
larger community of people and that this community
of people has very definite attitudes regarding what
constitutes appropriate behavior. The social unit that
gives individuals their unity of self is called the
generalized other.
Chapter 4 groups and
organizations
• The nature of social groups
– A social group can be defined as two or more people
who have a common identity and some feeling of
unity, and who share certain goals and expectations
about each other’s behavior.
• People are bound by within two types of bonds: expressive
ties and instrumental ties. Expressive ties (表现性关系）are
social links formed when we emotionally invest ourselves to
other people. Through association with people who are
meaningful to us, we achieve a sense of security, love,
acceptance, companionship, and personal worth.
Instrumental ties (工具性关系）are social links formed
when we cooperate with other people to achieve some goal.
Primary group and secondary
group
• A primary group (初级群体) is a relatively small,
multipurpose group in which the interaction is intimate
and there is a strong sense of group identity. In primary
group, people are bound by primary relationship—a
personal, emotional, and not easily transferable
relationship that includes a variety of roles and interests
of each individual.
• A secondary group (次级群体) is a specialized group
designed to achieve practical goals; its members are
linked mainly by secondary relationships. In contrast to a
primary relationship, a secondary relationship is
specialized, lacks emotional intensity, and involves only
a limited aspect of one’s personality.
Characteristics of primary and secondary
relationships
Primary relationship
Secondary relationship
1.Includes a variety of roles and
interests of each of the participants. It
is general and diffuse in character.
1. Usually includes only one role and
interest of each participant. It is
specialized in character.
2. Involves the total personality of each 2. Involves only those aspects of the
participant.
personalities of the participants that
are specifically relevant to the situation.
3. Involves communication that is free
and extensive.
3. Limits communication to the specific
subject of the relationship.
4. Is personal and emotion laden.
4. Is relatively impersonal and
unemotional.
4. Is not easily transferable to another
person.
5. Is transferable to others; that is , the
participants are interchangeable.
Other groups
• An in-group (内群) is a group with which
we identify and to which we belong. An
out-group (外群) is a group with which we
do not identify and to which we do not
belong.
• Reference groups (参考群体）—— social
units we use for appraising and shaping
attitudes, feelings, and actions.
Groups dynamics
• Group size
– The smallest possible group, a dyad (二人组）, is a
group of two members. The bond formed by two
people is unique: they can develop a sense of unity
and intimacy not found in most larger groups.
– According to Simmel, the triad （三人组), or group of
three members, is in some ways the least stable of
small groups.
– As group gets larger, it grows dramatically more
complex and formal. With each additional member
there is a geometric increase in the number of
possible social relationships within the group.
• Leadership
– Two types of leadership roles tend evolve in
small groups (Bales, 1970). One, a task
specialist, is devoted to appraising the
problem at hand and organizing people’s
activity to deal with it. The other, a socialemotional specialist, focuses on overcoming
interpersonal problems in the group, defusing
tensions, and promoting solidarity. The former
type of leadership is instrumental, directed
toward the achievement of group goals; the
latter is expressive, oriented toward the
creation of harmony and unity.
• Classical experiments in leadership by Kurt
Levin and his associates (1939)
– In these pioneering investigations, adult leaders
working with groups of 11-year-old boys followed one
of three leadership styles. In the authoritarian (权威
的） style, the leader determined the group’s
policies, gave step-by-step directions so that the boys
were certain about their future tasks, assigned work
partners, provided subjective praise and criticism, and
remained aloof from group participation. In contrast,
in the democratic （民主的） style, the leader
allowed the boys to participate in decision-making
processes, outlined only general goals, suggested
alternative procedures, permitted the members to
work with whomever they wished, evaluated the boys
objectively, and participated in group activities. Finally,
in the laissez-fair （放任的）style, the leader
adopted a passive, uninvolved stance; provided
materials, suggestions, and refrained from
commenting on the boy’s work.
– The researchers found that authoritarian
leadership produces high level of frustration
and hostile feelings toward the leader.
Productivity remains high so long as the
leader is present, but it slackens appreciably
in the leader’s absence.
– Under democratic leadership members are
happier, feel more group-minded and
friendlier, display independence, and exhibit
low levels of interpersonal aggression.
– Laissez-faire leadership resulted in low group
productivity and high levels of interpersonal
aggression.
• Group think
– A decision-making process found in highly
cohesive groups in which the members
become so preoccupied with maintaining
consensus that their critical faculties are
impaired.
• Conformity
– Groupthink research testifies to the powerful
social pressures that operate in group
settings and produce conformity. Although
such pressures influence our behavior, we
often are unaware of them. In a pioneering
study, Muzafer Sherif (1936) demonstrated
this point with an optical illusion.
Formal organizations
• A group people deliberately form for the achievement of
specific objectives.
• Types of formal organizations
– Amitai Etzioni (1964) classifies organizations into three types:
voluntary, coercive, and utilitarian. Voluntary organizations are
associations that members enter and leave freely. People also
become members of some organizations—coercive
organizations—against their will. They may be committed to a
mental hospital, sentenced to prison, or drafted into the armed
forces. Individuals also enter formal organizations formed for
practical reasons—utilitarian organizations. Universities,
corporations, farm organizations and government bureaus and
agencies are among the organizations people form to
accomplish vital everyday tasks.
Bureaucracy
• A social structure made up of a hierarchy of
statuses and roles that is prescribed by explicit
rules and procedures and based on a division of
function and authority.
• Weber’s analysis of bureaucracy
– 1. Each office or position has clearly defined duties
and responsibilities. In this manner, the regular
activities of the organization are arranged within a
clear-cut division of labor.
– 2. All offices are organized in a hierarchy of authority
that takes the shape of a pyramid. Officials are held
accountable to their superiors for subordinates’
actions and decisions in addition to their own.
• 3. All activities are governed by a consistent system of
abstract rules and regulations.
• 4. All offices carry with them qualifications and are
filled on the basis of technical competence, not
personal considerations.
• 5. Incumbent do not “own” their offices. Positions
remain the property of the organization, and
officeholders are supplied with the items they require
to perform their work.
• 6. Employment by the organization is defined as a
career. Promotion is based on seniority or merit, or
both.
• 7. Administrative decisions, rules, procedures, and
activities are recorded in written documents preserved
in permanent files.
Disadvantages of bureaucracy
• Trained Incapacity （练就的无能）
– Social critic Thorstein Veblen (1921) pointed
out that bureaucracies encourage their
members to repy on established ruled and
regulations and to apply them in an
unimaginative and mechanical fashion—a
pattern he called trained incapacity. As a
result of the socialization provided by
organizations, individuals often develop a
tunnel vision that limits their ability to respond
in new ways when situations change.
• Parkinson’s Law
– Northcoe Parkinson (1962) contends that
bureaucracy expands not because of an
increasing workload, but because officials
seek to have additional subordinates hired in
order to multiply the number of people under
them in the hierarchy. These subordinates in
turn create work for one another, while the
coordination of their work required still more
officials.
• Oligarchy (寡头政治）
– Robert Michels (1911/1966), a sociologist and
friend of Weber, argued that bureaucracies
contain a fundamental flaw that makes them
undemocratic social arrangements: They
invariably lead to oligarchy—the concentration
of power in the hands of a few individuals,
who use their offices to advance their own
fortunes and self-interests. He called this
tendency the iron law of oligarchy（寡头政
治铁律）.