Session 1

Introduction to Sociology

Date: February 10th, 2017

Course instructor: Cherry Chan

Mothercraft College

Agenda

1. Course outline

2. What is sociology?

3. Theoretical perspectives

4. Research

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Sociology

• Studies social behaviors and human groups(Schaefer & Haaland, 2014)

How do you study people?

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Sociological Theory

• Theories are used to examine relationships amongst observations

• What are the social forces that influence human behaviors?

(Schaefer & Haaland, 2014)

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Sociological Imagination

• “An awareness of the relationship between an individual and the larger society”

• “The ability to view one’s own society as an outsider world, rather than only from the perspective of personal experiences and cultural biases”

(Schaefer & Haaland, 2014, p.5)

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Theoretical Perspectives Functionalist Conflict Feminist Interactionist

View of society

Stable and well-integrated

Tension and struggle amongst groups

Gender inequality Active in influencing social interactions

View of individual

People are socialized to perform societal functions

People are shaped by power, coercion, and authority

Differencesaccording to social class, race, ethnicity, age, sexual orientation, and physical ability

People manipulatesymbols and create their social world through interactions

View of social order

Maintained through cooperation and consensus

Maintainedthrough force and coercion

Maintained through standpoints that do not include those of women

Maintained by shared understanding of everyday behavior

(Schaefer & Haaland, 2014)

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2011: Education in Canada

Profession Number of Males Number of Females Proportion of Women

Early childhood educators and assistants

6,050 181,705 97%

Elementary school and kindergartenteacher

43,390 227,810 84%

Secondary schoolteachers

72,015 101,960 59%

(Statistic Canada, 2015)

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Durkheim• Solidarity

– The degree to which group members share beliefs and values

– The intensity and frequency of group members’ interactions

• “Suicide rates of a society reflected the extent to which people were or were not integrated into the group life of the society”

• “Religion reinforces group solidarity”

• Anomie: “the loss of direction that a society feels when social control of individual behavior has become ineffective”

(Schaefer & Haaland, 2014, p. 9-10)

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Early Thinkers

• Auguste Comte: “a theoretical science of society and systematic investigation of behavior is needed to improve society” (Schaefer & Haaland, 2014, p.9)

– Society has its own set of laws in which it operates

• Harriet Martineau: interested in how law, economy, trade, and population impact social problems

– Women’s rights and religious tolerance advocate

• Herbert Spencer: society is bound to change; used the concept of evolution

– Individuals compete to improve society

(Schaefer & Haaland, 2014)

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Macro versus Mico

• Macrosociology: large scale research (i.e. civilization, international research)

• Microsociology: small groups (i.e. teacher expectations affecting student performance)

• Robert Merton

– Sociology should bring the “macro” and the “micro” together

(Schaefer & Haaland, 2014)

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Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)

• “The OECD provides a forum in which governments can work together to share experiences and seek solutions to common problems. We work with governments to understand what drives economic, social and environmental change. We measure productivity and global flows of trade and investment. We analyse and compare data to predict future trends.”

• “Drawing on facts and real-life experience, we recommend policies designed to improve the quality of people's lives.”

(OECD, 2016)

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Wellbeing Toronto

If you would like to “get to know” a center that you will be working with, what would you find

out about the center?

(City of Toronto, 2017)

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ReferencesCity of Toronto (2017). Wellbeing Toronto map. Retrieved from:

http://map.toronto.ca/wellbeing/

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (2016). About the OECD. Retrieved from: http://www.oecd.org/about/

Schaefer, R. & Haaland, B. (2014). Sociology: A brief introduction (5th

Canadian ed.). Canada: McGraw-Hill Ryerson Ltd.

Statistics Canada (2015). Back to school…by the numbers. Retrieved from: http://www.statcan.gc.ca/eng/dai/smr08/2014/smr08_190_2014