Sociological Imagination

Soc 153Southwestern Illinois College

B. Wallace

Sociological Imagination

• Started By C. Wright Mills

• Goal For most Intro Classes

• Thinking Outside The Soc Box

Sociological Imagination

• Grasp idea of your personal life and history

“Seldom aware of the intricate connection between the patterns of their own lives and the course of world history-making in which they might take part.”

Troubles & Issues

• Troubles– Occur within our

realm, within our personal relations

• Issues– Deal with

Organizations– Can Affect History

Sociologist Ask Three Main Questions

• We Like to Look at Structure– Social Structure, Structure of Society,

Organizational Structural

• How is Society Changing, • Why Does Society Change, • How has ______ changed society

• Who will prevail in this society– How these chosen few selected

Apply Sociological Imagination To Every Day Things

How To Get This Point

AcrossSure, Could Use A Beer

One of The Best Places for a beer is

My Goal:

To understand Sociological Imagination, you have to think in terms of sociology.

I want you to understand that sociology is just not a class, it is a way of thinking about the world we live in.

Keys to Thinking Sociological

Were are taught to look at how things affect us personally, but why not ask yourself how does an issue relate to our society. How does this issue affect my community, my society, my culture and are their inequalities about this issue?

I Know What You Are ThinkingBaseball and Sociology

Culture

Racism

Gender Inequalities

SocializationDeviance

Religion

Collective Groups

Social Class

You Can Apply Baseball to the

Following Areas of Sociology

Almost Any Issue You Can Think Of Can Relate to

Sociology• So is baseball just a game?

• Let me Illustrate Sociological Imagination and Baseball…

Let’s Start With Socialization

How Did You Learn To Follow…

Becoming A Chi Cubs Fan

• My Grandfather a Cub’s Fan

• My Mom a Cub’s Fan

• My Dad A Red Sox Fan

The Day the Curse Continued

• 1986 World Series…

• A Wild Pitch, then Buckner’s fielding error.

Socialized Into A Team’s History

• Ask Yourself The Following Questions…– How Did You Learn To Like

Certain Team? Was it Due to Family, Peers, or Location?

Socialization and Sports

• Where Did We Learn The Rules of Baseball?

• Playing In the Neighborhood.

Little League

• Functions of Little League– We learn how to interact with team

members– How to Play the Game?– Learn The Roles of the Game

Dysfunctions of Little League

• Parents Living Through Their Children

• Parents Challenging Authority – “Hey Ump…What Are You Blind”

• What Does This Teach Our Youths?

US History and Baseball

Does Baseball Reflect American Culture?

Think about this for a few seconds

1850 Through 1920

In the 1850’s

• Baseball Was Played In Communities Throughout The US

• African Americans Were Not Always Allowed To Play Within City Limits

Start of Professional Baseball

• National Association of Base Ball Players Started in 1858

• Started With 22 Teams

National Association of Base Ball

• Excluded Any Team with One or More African American Players

• This Lead to the Creation of The Negro League.

Negro League Baseball

• Amateur Leagues Started around 1860

• Professional Teams Started in 1880s.

First African American Professional Player

• Moses Fleetwood Walker

• First Professional Baseball Player in Major League Baseball, Played for the Toledo Blue Stockings

Negro League History• There Were Several Different Leagues

Throughout the Period of 1880 till 1940• Leagues Suffered Finical Problems

1930 Through 1960s

Import Events

• Jackie Robinson Signed with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1945 for $600 a month

Important Events

• 1949– Negro League

Officially Ended

• 1954– Brown vs. Board of

Education

Racial Inequalities

• We tend to forget about baseball assorted past.

• Segregation and Racism Plagued Our Country, and at the same time baseball was segregated from players to fans

Social Class & Baseball

Is Baseball still America’s Favorite Sport?

Who Makes Up Baseball’s Fan Base?

Fans by Age

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American Favorite Sport

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Football baseball Basketball Auto Racing Hockey

Percentage

Americans Favorite Sports

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2003 2004 2005 2006

Years

Football

Basketball

Baseball

Goes Back To Socialization

• Change in Fan Base is Due to Socialization

• More Kids are learning Football & Basketball from Parents

• Fewer and Fewer Children are playing organized Baseball

“The Reality is that today in most urban African American communities, not only do young people not play baseball, they don’t even watch it”

Dr. Harry Edwards UC-Berkely

Reality Check

• Due to Socialization, only 9% of Professional Players Are African American

• Which is about the same percentage in the mid 1950 to 1960s.

% of African Americans in Baseball

0%2%4%6%8%

10%12%14%16%18%20%

1991199219931994199519961997199819992000200120022004

Social Class & Baseball

Payroll by Teams

New York Yankees $194,663,079Boston Red Sox $120,099,824Los Angeles Angels $103,472,000Chicago White Sox $102,750,667New York Mets $101,084,963Los Angeles Dodgers $98,447,187Chicago Cubs $94,424,499Houston Astros $92,551,503Atlanta Braves $90,156,876San Francisco Giants $90,056,419St. Louis Cardinals $88,891,371

Bottom 5 Payrolls

Cleveland Indians $56,031,500Kansas City Royals $47,294,000Pittsburgh Pirates $46,717,750Colorado Rockies $41,233,000Tampa Bay Devil Rays $35,417,967Florida Marlins $14,998,500

Payroll Facts

Total Payroll for all 30 MLB Teams

2,326,706,685The top 25 Players

Earn a Total of $398,400,000.00

Which is 17.1% of Entire Payroll

of MLB

Average salary for players is approx 1.6

million

Are baseball players worth

$1.6 million or more.

What is Their Status In Society?

Who Pays For All Of This

Avg Ticket in MLB

Avg Family Cost in MLB

1996 $11.32 $103.072001 $17.64 $140.632004 $19.82 $155.712006 $22.21 $171.19

Tickets Family Costs Rank in MLB1996 $9.91 $91.64 222001 $18.53 $151.93 62004 $23.78 $170.49 62006 $29.78 $207.21 4

Who Really Paid For

the New Busch Ball Park

Deviance

Cheating

• Baseball has its own history of cheating– Deviance has almost been celebrated by

the fans

Case of The Spitball• Spitballs Outlawed by the game in 1920

• Still Had 17 Spitball pitchers Until 1930s.

MLB Had “legal” Spitball Pitchers Until

1934, as long they admitted to

throwing a spitball,

it was considered legal

“Saint” Bill Veeck• Owner of Chicago

White Sox and also owned Milwaukee Brewers at one TimeInstalled Moveable

Fences in Milwaukee

Also Hired Eddie Gaedel

Not For His Skill,

But Hired Because He was

Under 4 Feet Tall

Conspiracy of the Juiced Baseball

Highest Fan Ratings came

Between 1998 and 2001

Due to Sosa and McGwire

There has been an increased

Number of home runs has increased since 1998

Is due to better technology,

better training methods,

Or is there deviance in the Dugout?

Managing the Deviance

• Major League Baseball Commissioners always took a “hands off” approach towards Baseball’s deviant side

• American Public has always embraced the antics of baseball

Steroids and the Players

• Is due to Strain? Or pressure Players Feel to Compete

• Public Demand for the Home Run?

• Do Home Runs Sell Tickets?

• Something to Think about

How Fans Feel About The Increase in Home Runs

Reason for increased HRs

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Performanceenhancing Drugs

Increase in Hitting Decline in Pitching Juiced Ball Other

ConclusionReligion

We Accept Open Signs of A Person’s Religion

Examples…Rituals of Batters

GenderHow Would We Feel About Professional

Female Baseball Players

Collective Behavior

How Do Crowds Know How to React or

How Do the Crowds Know how to Chant Certain Slogans

Let’s Take A Quick Look At Other of Baseball

Sociology.

May be This Idea Will Help

• How Would You Explain Baseball To A Extraterrestrial Being.

How Would You Explain

All The Different Behaviors

That Occur During A Game

How Explain Why So Many

People Talk About

Baseball Throughout

The Day

Now It Is Your Turn

In Class Assignment

• Ask the following question:– How the affected society– Can it be related to socialization, deviance,

etc– Do not Forget to Look How and Who

makes the Product