Sociology is the systematic study of human society and social interaction. It examines how society influences individuals and how individuals influence society. Sociology analyzes social phenomena at both the micro and macro levels and uses both quantitative and qualitative research methods. The key insights of sociology are that humans cannot be understood apart from their social context and that societies profoundly shape human behavior, thought, and action.

1. Lesson 1:
What is Sociology?
Intro to Sociology

2. Three revolutions had to take
place before the sociological
imagination could crystallize:
 The scientific revolution (16th c.)
encouraged the use of evidence to
substantiate theories.
 The democratic revolution (18th
c.) encouraged the view that
human action can change society.
 The industrial revolution (19th c.)
gave sociologists their subject
matter.

3. Sociology
Sociology is the
systematic study of
human society and
social interaction. It
is based on the idea
that our relations with
other people create
opportunities for us to
think and act but also
set limits on our
thoughts and action.

4. Introduction to Sociology: What is
Sociology?
4
What is Sociology?
Sociology is also the
study of reifications, or
social constructions.

5. Introduction to Sociology: What is
Sociology?
5
Sociology
Howard Becker defined
sociology as the study
of people “doing things
together.”

6. Introduction to Sociology: What is
Sociology?
6
Sociology
This reminds us that
society and the
individual are
inherently connected,
and each depends on
the other.

7. Introduction to Sociology: What is
Sociology?
7
Sociology
Sociologists study this
link: how society
affects the individual
and how the
individual affects
society.

8. A society is a large social grouping that shares
the same geographical territory and is
subject to the same political authority and
dominant cultural expectations.

9. 9
Society Is….
A society is a group of people who
share a culture and live more or less
together. They have a set of
institutions which provide what they
need to meet their physical, social,
and psychological needs and which
maintain order and the values of the
culture.

10. 10
Social structures are the more or less
stable patterns of people’s interactions
and relationships.

11. 11
Institutions are the principal social
structures that organize, direct, and
execute the essential tasks of
living.

12. 12
Some institutions are:
Family,
Educational,
Economic,
Religion,
Law,
Political Systems

13. Sociological Imagination
 The ability to see
the relationship
between individual
experiences and the
larger society.

14. Introduction to Sociology: What is
Sociology?
14
Cool Insights from Sociology
Humans cannot be
understood apart from
social context (i.e.
society)

15. Introduction to Sociology: What is
Sociology?
15
Cool Insights from Sociology
Society makes us who
we are by structuring
out interactions and
laying out an orderly
world before us

16. Introduction to Sociology: What is
Sociology?
16
Cool Insights from Sociology
Society is a social
construction, that is an idea
created by humans (i.e. doesn’t
exist in the biological world but
only in the social world)
through social interaction
and given a reality through our
understanding of it and our
collective actions.

17. Society Influences You
 Death…
Related to
society?
Introduction to Sociology: What is
Sociology?
17

18. Baby Names
Introduction to Sociology: What is
Sociology?
18

19. Introduction to Sociology: What is
Sociology?
19
Names that have gained
the most popularity,
2004 – 2010
...Or, the names I’ll begin seeing all
the time in 2022-2028

20. Introduction to Sociology: What is
Sociology?
20
What Does Society Look
Like?
 While the idea of society is familiar,
describing it can be difficult.
Ultimately society is made up of
many different components, such
as culture, race, family, education,
social class, and people’s interactions.
 People who share a culture and
territory

21. Introduction to Sociology: What is
Sociology?
21
Meaning through Interaction
 People actively and collectively shape
their own lives, organizing their social
interactions and relationships into a
meaningful world.
 Sociologists study this social
behavior by seeking out its patterns.
 Patterns are crucial to our
understanding of society

22. Introduction to Sociology: What is
Sociology?
22
Society
Society is a group of people
who shape their lives in
aggregated and patterned
ways that distinguish
their group from other
groups.

23. Introduction to Sociology: What is
Sociology?
23
The Social Sciences
 Social Sciences are the disciplines
that use the scientific method to
examine the social world, in contrast
to the natural sciences, which
examine the physical world.
 Examples of social sciences include
….?

24. Introduction to Sociology: What is
Sociology?
24
How Sociology fits in

25. Introduction to Sociology: What is
Sociology?
25
Levels of Analysis
 We can study society from different levels:
 Microsociology is the level of analysis that
studies face-to-face and small-group
interactions in order to understand how
they affect the larger patterns and
institutions of society.
 Microsociology focuses on small-scale
issues.
 Ex: Symbolic Interactionism

26. Introduction to Sociology: What is
Sociology?
26
Levels of Analysis (cont)
 Macrosociology is the level of
analysis that studies large-scale
social structures in order to
determine how they affect the lives of
groups and individuals.
 Macrosociology focuses on large-scale
issues.
 Ex: Functionalism, Conflict Theory

27. Introduction to Sociology: What is
Sociology?
27
How We Use Levels of
Analysis
 Pam Fishman took a micro-level approach
to studying issues of power in male–female
relationships.
 She found that in conversation, women
ask nearly three times as many questions
as men do, perhaps because a speaker is
much more likely to ask a question if he or
she does not expect to get a response by
simply making a statement.

28. Introduction to Sociology: What is
Sociology?
28
Levels of Analysis (cont)
 When conducting research, methodology
involves the process by which one
gathers and analyzes data.
 Quantitative research translates the
social world into numbers that can be
treated mathematically; this type of
research often tries to find cause-and-
effect relationships.
 Any type of social statistic is an example
of quantitative research.

29. Introduction to Sociology: What is
Sociology?
29
Levels of Analysis (cont)
 Qualitative research works with non-
numerical data such as texts, fieldnotes,
interview transcripts, photographs, and
tape recordings; this type of research often
tries to understand how people make
sense of their world.
 Participant observation, in which the
researcher actually takes part in the social
world he or she studies, is an example of
qualitative research.

30. Introduction to Sociology: What is
Sociology?
30
Take Away Points
Humans cannot be
understood apart from the
social context they live in
(society, culture and time +
place)

31. Introduction to Sociology: What is
Sociology?
31
Take Away Points
The world around us
profoundly shapes and
influences who we are, how
we behave and even
how/what we think.

32. Introduction to Sociology: What is
Sociology?
32
Take Away Points
It is the job of the
sociologist to understand
how this process works and
to what effect.