Sociology is a scientific study of society, including patterns of social relationships, social interactions, social issues, environment and culture. It is a social science that employs various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop the body of knowledge about social order, acceptance, and change or social evolution. Many sociologists aim to conduct research that can be applied directly to social policy and welfare, while others focus primarily on refining the theoretical understanding of social processes. Subject matter ranges from the micro-sociology level of each agent and interaction to the macro level of the system and social structure.
The traditional focus of sociology includes social stratification, social class, social mobility, religion, secularization, law, sexuality, gender, and aberrations. As all areas of human activity are influenced by the interaction between social structures and individual agencies, sociology gradually expands its focus to other subjects, such as health, medical, economics, military and correctional institutions, the Internet, education, social capital, and the role of social activities in development scientific knowledge.
Various social scientific methods have also been expanded. Social researchers use a variety of qualitative and quantitative techniques. Linguistic and cultural changes in the mid-twentieth century led to an increasingly interpretive, hermeneutic, and philosophical approach to community analysis. In contrast, the late 1990s and early 2000s have demonstrated the emergence of very strict analytical, mathematical, and computational techniques, such as agent-based modeling and social network analysis.
Social research tells politicians and policymakers, educators, planners, legislators, administrators, developers, business leaders, managers, social workers, non-governmental organizations, nonprofits, and people interested in solving social problems in general. There are often many crossings between social research, market research, and other statistical fields.
Video Sociology
Classification
Sociology is distinguished from the various subjects of general social science, which have little to do with sociological theory or social-science research methodology. The US National Science Foundation classifies sociology as a field of STEM.
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History
Origins
Sociological reasoning precedes the foundation of discipline. Social analysis has its origins in the general knowledge and philosophy of the West, and has been done since the days of the ancient Greek philosopher Plato, if not before. The origin of the survey, ie the collection of information from individual samples, can be traced back to at least the Domesday Book in 1086, while ancient philosophers such as Confucius wrote about the importance of social roles. There is evidence of early sociology in medieval Arabic writings. Some sources consider Ibn Khaldun, a 14th-century Arabic Islamic scholar from North Africa (Tunisia), to have been the first sociologist and sociology father (see branches of early Islamic philosophy); his Muqaddimah is probably the first work to advance soci-scientific reasoning about social cohesion and social conflict.
The word sociology (or "sociologie" ) comes from Latin and Greek. Latin word: socius , "companion"; suffix -logy , "study of" from the Greek - ????? from ?????, lÃÆ'³gos , "word", "knowledge". It was first created in 1780 by the French essay Emmanuel-Joseph SieyÃÆ'¨s (1748-1836) in an unpublished manuscript. Sociology was then defined independently by the French scientific philosopher, Auguste Comte (1798-1857), in 1838. Comte used this term to describe a new way of looking at society. Comte has previously used the term "social physics", but which has subsequently been adapted by others, especially Belgian statistician Adolphe Quetelet. Comte sought to unite history, psychology, and economics through a scientific understanding of the social world. Writing shortly after the malaise of the French Revolution, he proposed that social ills can be improved through sociological positivism, the epistemological approach described in the Course in Positive Philosophy (1830-1842) and the General View of Positivism > (1848). Comte believed a positivist stage would mark the last era, after the theological and conjunctive metaphysical phases, in the development of human understanding. In observing the circular dependence of theories and observations in science, and after classifying science, Comte can be considered the first philosopher of science in the modern sense of the term.
Comte gave a strong impetus to the development of sociology, a fruit-producing impulse in the late decades of the nineteenth century. Saying this is certainly not to claim that French sociologists such as Durkheim are loyal followers of the high priest of positivism. But by forcing the discontinuity of each of its basic sciences on the particular science implied in the hierarchy and by emphasizing the nature of sociology as the scientific study of social phenomena Comte placed sociology on the map. To be sure, its beginnings can be traced back far beyond Montesquieu, for example, and to Condorcet, not to speak of Saint-Simon, Comte's immediate predecessor. But Comte's clear recognition of sociology as a certain science, by its own character, justifies Durkheim in regarding him as the father or founder of this science, despite the fact that Durkheim did not accept the idea of ​​three states and criticized him. Comte's approach to sociology.
Both Auguste Comte and Karl Marx (1818-1883) began to develop a scientifically justified system behind the industrialization and secularization of Europe, informed by key movements in the philosophy of history and science. Marx rejected Comtean positivism but in an attempt to develop a society's science but was later recognized as the founder of sociology when it acquired a broader meaning. For Isaiah Berlin, Marx can be considered a "true father" of modern sociology, "as far as anyone can claim a title."
To provide a clear and unified answer in empirical terms familiar to the theoretical questions most dominated by the human mind at the time, and have deduced from them clear practical clues without creating a clear artificial relationship between the two, is a major accomplishment Marx's theory. The sociological treatment of historical and moral problems, which Comte and afterwards, Spencer and Taine, have been discussed and mapped into concrete, precise studies only when militant Marxist attacks make their conclusions as a burning issue, thus thereby making the search for more evidence passionate and attentive to more powerful methods.
Herbert Spencer (April 27, 1820 - December 8, 1903) was one of the most popular and influential 19th-century sociologists. It is estimated that he sold a million books in his life, far more than any other sociologist at the time. So powerful was the effect that many other nineteenth-century thinkers, including Durkheim, defined their ideas in relation to their counterparts. Durkheim's Foundation of academic disciplines
The world's first formal department of Sociology was founded by Albion Small - at the invitation of William Rainey Harper - at the University of Chicago in 1892, and the American Journal of Sociology was founded shortly afterwards in 1895 by Small as well. However, the institutionalization of sociology as an academic discipline was chiefly led by Durkheim's à mil ° mile (1858-1917), which developed positivism as a foundation for practical social research. While Durkheim rejects many details of Comte's philosophy, he maintains and perfects his method, maintaining that the social sciences are a logical continuation of nature into the realm of human activity, and insist that they can maintain the same objectivity, rationalism, and approach to causality. Durkheim founded the first department of European sociology at the University of Bordeaux in 1895, publishing its Sociological Method Rules (1895). For Durkheim, sociology can be described as "the science of institutions, their origins and their functions".
Durkheim's Monography, Suicide (1897) is considered a seminal work in statistical analysis by contemporary sociologists. Suicide is a case study of suicide rate variations among Catholics and Protestants, and serves to distinguish sociological analysis from psychology or philosophy. It also marks a major contribution to the theoretical concepts of structural functionalism. By carefully examining suicide statistics in different police districts, he attempts to show that the Catholic community has a lower suicide rate than Protestants, something associated with social causes (as opposed to individual or psychological). He developed the objective idea of ​​sui generis "social facts" to describe a unique empirical object for sociology to study. Through such a study he argues that sociology will be able to determine whether a particular society is 'healthy' or 'pathological', and seek social reform to counteract organic or social anomaly.
Sociology quickly evolved as an academic response to the perceived challenges of modernity, such as industrialization, urbanization, secularization, and the process of "rationalization". This field is dominated in continental Europe, with British anthropology and statistics generally following a separate path. However, at the turn of the 20th century, many active theorists in the English-speaking world. Some early sociologists were limited to the subject, interacting also with economics, jurisprudence, psychology and philosophy, with theories adapted in different fields. From the very beginning, sociological epistemology, methods, and framework of investigation, have developed significantly and diverged.
Durkheim, Marx, and German theorist Max Weber (1864-1920) are usually referred to as the three major architects of sociology. Herbert Spencer, William Graham Sumner, Lester F. Ward, W. E. B. Du Bois, Vilfredo Pareto, Alexis de Tocqueville, Werner Sombart, Thorstein Veblen, Ferdinand TÃÆ'¶nnies, Georg Simmel and Karl Mannheim are often included in the academic curriculum as founding theorists. The curriculum may also include Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Marianne Weber and Friedrich Engels as founders of the feminist tradition in sociology. Each key figure is associated with a particular theoretical perspective and orientation.
Position and anti-positivismMarx and Engels attributed the emergence of modern society above all with the development of capitalism; for Durkheim it was particularly associated with industrialization and the new social division of labor that took place; for Weber it must be done with the appearance of a distinctive way of thinking, a rational calculation that he associates with Protestant Ethics (more or less what Marx and Engels have to say about "cold wave of egoistic calculations"). Together, the works of these great classical sociologists put forward what Giddens recently described as 'the multidimensional view of institutions of modernity' and which emphasizes not only capitalism and industrialism as the key institutions of modernity, but also 'control' (which means 'information control and social oversight') and 'military power' (control of means of violence in the context of industrialization of war).
Positivism
The thorough methodological principle of positivism is to conduct sociology broadly in the same way as natural science. Emphasis on empiricism and the scientific method is sought to provide a tested foundation for sociological research based on the assumption that the only authentic knowledge is scientific knowledge, and that such knowledge can only come through positive affirmation through scientific methodology.
Our ultimate goal is to extend scientific rationalism to human behavior.... What we call positivism is only a consequence of this rationalism.
This term has long ceased to bring this meaning; no less than twelve different epistemologies are referred to as positivism. Many of these approaches do not identify themselves as "positivists," some because they themselves appear in opposition to older forms of positivism, and some because their labels have long been a term of abuse because they are mistakenly associated with theoretical empiricism. The degree of anti-political criticism is also distorted, with many rejecting the scientific method and others simply trying to change it to reflect the development of the 20th century in the philosophy of science. However, positivism (widely understood as a scientific approach to the study of society) remains dominant in contemporary sociology, especially in the United States.
LoÃÆ'¯c Wacquant distinguishes three main strains of positivism: Durkheimian, Logical, and Instrumental. None of this is the same as set by Comte, which is unique in advocating a rigid (and possibly optimistic) version. While Durm Durkheim rejects many details of Comte's philosophy, he maintains and perfects his method. Durkheim argues that the social sciences are a logical continuation of the natural into the world of human activity, and insist that they must maintain the same objectivity, rationalism, and causality approach. He developed the objective idea of ​​sui generis "social facts" to describe a unique empirical object for sociology to study.
The various positivisms that remain dominant today are called instrumental positivism. This approach distances epistemological and metaphysical concerns (such as the nature of social facts) supporting methodological clarity, replication, reliability and validity. This positivism is more or less identical with quantitative research, and resembles only the older positivism in practice. Because it does not carry explicit philosophical commitments, practitioners may not belong to any particular school of thought. This type of modern sociology is often credited to Paul Lazarsfeld, who pioneered large-scale survey surveys and developed statistical techniques to analyze them. This approach fits well with what Robert K. Merton calls a middle-level theory: a generalized abstract statement of a separate hypothesis and empirical regularity rather than starting with the abstract idea of ​​the social whole.
Anti-positivism
The reaction to social empiricism began when the German philosopher Hegel voiced opposition to empiricism, which he rejected as uncritical, and determinism, which he regarded as too mechanistic. Karl Marx's methodology was borrowed from Hegelian dialecticism but also the rejection of positivism that supported critical analysis, which sought to complement the "fact" empirical acquisition with the elimination of illusions. He argues that appearance should be criticized not only documented. Early hermeneuticists such as Wilhelm Dilthey pioneered the distinction between natural and social sciences ('Geisteswissenschaft'). Various philosophers of neo-Kantian, phenomenologists and human scientists further theorize how the analysis of the social world is different from the natural world because of the irreducibly complex aspects of society, culture, and human existence.
At the turn of the 20th century the first generation of German sociologists formally introduced the methodology of anti-positivism, proposing that research should concentrate on human cultural norms, values, symbols and social processes seen from a strictly subjective perspective. Max Weber argues that sociology can be described loosely as a science because it is capable of identifying the causal relationships of human "social action" - especially between "ideal types", or hypothetical simplification of complex social phenomena. As a non-positivist, however, Weber seeks relationships that are not "historical, invariant, or generalizable" as pursued by natural scientists. German sociologist Ferdinand TÃÆ'¶nnies, theorized on two important abstract concepts with his work on "Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft" (lit. community and community ). TÃÆ'¶nnies marks a sharp line between the realm of concepts and the reality of social action: the former must be treated axiomatic and in a deductive way ("pure sociology"), while the latter is empirically and inductively ("applied sociology").
[Sociology is]... a science whose object is to interpret the meaning of social action and thereby give a causal explanation of the manner in which the action takes place and the resulting effect . By 'action' in this definition means human behavior when and as far as agent or agent sees it as meaning meaningful we mean that (a) the meaning is actually intended either by the individual agent on a particular historical event or by any number of agents on the approximate averages in a particular set of cases, or (b) the meanings associated with agents or agents, as types, in pure types built in abstract. In either case it is 'meaning' to be regarded as something that is objectively 'right' or 'right' by some metaphysical criteria. This is the difference between empirical action sciences, such as sociology and history, and any kind of discipline before, such as jurisprudence, logic, ethics, or aesthetics whose purpose is to extract from the subject- The meaning of matter is 'true' or 'valid'.
Both Weber and Georg Simmel pioneered the " Verstehen " (or 'interpretative') method in the social sciences; a systematic process in which outside observers seek to relate to particular cultural groups, or indigenous peoples, in their own ways and from their own point of view. Through Simmel's work, in particular, sociology acquires a character that may be beyond the collection of positivist data or a large and deterministic structural legal system. Relatively isolated from the sociological academies throughout its life, Simmel presents an idiosyncratic analysis of modernity that is more akin to the phenomenological and existential writers than Comte or Durkheim, paying particular attention to form, and possibly to, social individuality. His sociology involved in neo-Kantian investigations into the limits of perception, asking 'What is society?' in direct reference to Kant's question 'What is nature?'
The deepest problem of modern life flows from individual efforts to maintain independence and the individuality of its existence against the power of community sovereignty, against the weight of historical and cultural heritage and external life techniques. Antagonism represents the most modern form of conflict that primitive man must do with nature for the existence of his own body. The 18th century may call for liberation from all bonds that grow historically in politics, in religion, in morality and in economics to allow human natural virtues, which are equal in each person, to develop without inhibition; the nineteenth century may have sought to promote, in addition to human freedom, its individuality (which relates to the division of labor) and its achievements that make it unique and irreplaceable but which at the same time make it more dependent on the complementary activities of others; Nietssche may have seen the relentless struggle of the individual as a prerequisite for full development, while socialism finds the same in the oppression of all competitions - but in each of the same basic motives are at work, ie individual resistance to leveled, swallowed up in social-technological mechanisms.
Other developments
The first college course entitled "Sociology" was taught in the United States at Yale in 1875 by William Graham Sumner. In 1883 Lester F. Ward, the first president of the American Sociological Association, published Dynamic Sociology - or applied social science based on static sociology and less complex sciences and attacked the laissez-faire sociology of Herbert Spencer and Sumner. The 1200-page Ward book is used as the core material in many of America's earliest sociology subjects. In 1890, the oldest surviving American course in modern tradition began at the University of Kansas, in a discourse by Frank W. Blackmar. The Department of Sociology at the University of Chicago was founded in 1892 by Albion Small, who also published the first sociology textbook: Introduction to the study of society 1894. George Herbert Mead and Charles Cooley, who had met at the University of Michigan in 1891 (along with John Dewey) moved to Chicago in 1894. Their influence gave rise to the social psychology and symbolic interactionism of the modern Chicago School. The American Journal of Sociology was founded in 1895, followed by the American Sociological Association (ASA) in 1905. The sociological "classical canon" with Durkheim and Max Weber at the top is owed partly to Talcott Parsons, which is largely credited with introducing well to American audiences. Parsons consolidates sociological traditions and sets the agenda for American sociology at the fastest disciplinary growth point. Sociology in the United States is less historically influenced by Marxism than its counterparts in Europe, and to this day remains largely more statistically in its approach.
The first department of sociology founded in England was at the London School of Economics and Political Science (home of the British Journal of Sociology) in 1904. Leonard Trelawny Hobhouse and Edvard Westermarck became lecturers in the discipline at the University of London in 1907. Harriet Martineau, an English translator Comte, has been called the first female sociologist. In 1909 the Deutsche Gesellschaft fÃÆ'¼r Soziologie (Association of German Sociology) was founded by Ferdinand TÃÆ'¶nnies and Max Weber, among others. Weber founded the first department in Germany at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich in 1919, after presenting an influential new antipositivist sociology. In 1920, Florian Znaniecki established the first department in Poland. The Institute of Social Research at the University of Frankfurt (later the Frankfurt School of Critical Theory) was founded in 1923. International cooperation in sociology began in 1893, when Renà ©  © Worms founded the International Institute of Sociologie , an institution later defeated by the much larger Association of International Sociology (ISA), was founded in 1949.
Theoretical traditions
Classic Theory
The contemporary discipline of sociology is theoretically multi-paradigmatic as a result of classical social class disputes. In a sociological theory survey proposed by Randall Collins, he retroactively labeled various theorists as belonging to four theoretical traditions: Functionalism, Conflict, Symbolic Interactionism, and Utilitarianism. Modern sociological theories derive primarily from the functional notes (Durkheim) and the central-conflict (Marx and Weber) social structures, as well as symbolic interactionist traditions consisting of the microstructural (Simmel) and pragmatic (Mead, Cooley) structural theory of social interactions. Utilitarianism, also known as Rational Choice or Social Exchange, although often associated with economics, is an established tradition in sociological theory. Finally, as Raewyn Connell puts it, a tradition that is often overlooked is Social Darwinism, which carries the logic of Darwin's biological evolution and applies it to people and society. This tradition is often in line with classical functionalism. It was the dominant theoretical stance in American sociology from about 1881 to 1915 and attributed to some of the founders of sociology, especially Herbert Spencer, Lester F. Ward and William Graham Sumner. Contemporary sociological theory retains the traces of each of these traditions and it is by no means exclusive.
Functionalism
The broad historical paradigm both in sociology and anthropology, functionalism discusses the social structure, called social organization among classical theorists, as a whole and in terms of the necessary functions of its constituent elements. The common analogy (popularized by Herbert Spencer) is to regard norms and institutions as 'organs' working towards the functioning of the whole 'body' of society. The perspective is implicit in the original sociological positivism of the Comte, but is fully considered by Durkheim, again with respect to the observable structural law. Functionalism also has an anthropological basis in the work of theorists such as Marcel Mauss, Bronis? Aw Malinowski and Radcliffe-Brown. This is a special use of Radcliffe-Brown that the 'structural' prefix appears. Classical functionalist theory is generally unified by its tendency toward the biological analogy and the idea of ​​social evolutionism, that the basic form of society will increase in the complexities and forms of social organization that encourage solidarity will eventually overcome social disorganization. As Giddens says: "Functional thinking, from Comte and so on, has looked specifically at biology as a science that provides the closest and most suited model for social science.Biology has been taken to provide guidance for conceptualizing the structure and functioning of social systems and for analyzing the process of evolution through the mechanism of adaptation... functionalism greatly emphasizes the superiority of the social world over its individual parts (ie its constituent actors, human subjects). "
Conflict theory
The functionalist theory emphasizes the "cohesive system" and is often contrasted with the "conflict theory", which criticizes the whole socio-political system or emphasizes inequalities between specific groups. The following quotes from Durkheim and Marx symbolize the political, as well as theoretical, differences between functionalist thinking and conflict respectively:
To achieve the outer civilization enabling by the surrounding environment nexus will result in diseases not covered by the communities we live in. Collective activity can not be pushed beyond the point determined by the condition of a social organism without damaging health.
The history of all existing societies is the history of the class struggle. Freeman and slaves, nobles and plebeians, lords and slaves, gentlemen and travelers, in one word, oppressors and oppressed, stand in constant opposition to each other, undertake uninterrupted struggle, now hidden, now open, each battle end time, either in the revolutionary revolutionary society's broadest constitution, or in the general destruction of competing classes.
Symbolic Interactionism
Symbolic interaction; often associated with Interactionism, Phenomenological Sociology, Dramaturgy, Interpretivism, is a sociological tradition that places emphasis on subjective meaning and empirically revealed social processes, commonly accessed through micro-analysis. This tradition emerged in the Chicago School of the 1920s and 1930s, which before World War II "has been the center of sociological research and postgraduate studies". This approach focuses on creating a framework for building a theory that sees society as the product of daily individual interaction. Society is nothing more than a shared reality that people construct when they interact with each other. This approach sees people interacting in countless settings using symbolic communication to accomplish tasks at hand. Therefore, society is a mosaic of subjective meanings that are complex and ever-changing. Some critics of this approach argue that it sees only what happens in certain social situations, and ignores the effects that culture, racial or gender (ie the socio-historical structure) may have on the situation. Some important sociologists associated with this approach include Max Weber, George Herbert Mead, Erving Goffman, George Homans, and Peter Blau. It is also in this tradition that the ethical-empirical approach of Ethnomethodology arises from the work of Harold Garfinkel.
Utilitarianism
Utilitarianism is often referred to as the theory of exchange or rational choice theory in the context of sociology. This tradition tends to favor the agency of individual rational actors and assumes that in interaction individuals are always trying to maximize their own interests. As Josh Whitford put it, rational actors are assumed to have four basic elements, individuals have (1) "knowledge of alternatives," (2) "knowledge, or beliefs about the consequences of alternatives," (3) "ordering preferences for results, "(4)" A decision rule, to choose between possible alternatives "The exchange theory is specifically associated with the work of George C. Homans, Peter Blau and Richard Emerson. Organizational sociologist James G. March and Herbert A. Simon note that individual rationality is limited by context or organizational setting. The utilitarian perspectives in sociology were, in particular, revitalized at the end of the 20th century by the work of former ASA president James Coleman.
Following the decline of the theory of sociocultural evolution, in the United States, Chicago School's interactionism dominated American sociology. As Anselm Strauss explains, "We do not consider symbolic interaction a perspective in sociology, we think it is sociology." After World War II, mainstream sociology shifted to Paul Lazarsfeld's studies at Columbia University and the general theory of Pitirim Sorokin, followed by Talcott Parsons at Harvard University. In the end, "the failure of the departments of Chicago, Columbia, and Wisconsin [sociology] to produce a large number of graduate students interested in and committed to the general theory in 1936-45 was an advantage of the Harvard department." As Parsons began to dominate the general theory, his work dominated the reference of European sociology - almost completely eliminating quotes from both the sociocultural-evolutionary American tradition as well as pragmatism. In addition to the Parsons revision of the sociological canon (which included Marshall, Pareto, Weber and Durkheim), the lack of theoretical challenges of other departments fostered the rise of the Parson's structural-functional movement, which peaked in the 1950s, but in the 1960s declined rapidly.
In the 1980s, much of the functionalism in Europe has been largely superseded by conflict-oriented approaches and for many in the discipline functionalism is considered "dead as a dodo." "According to Giddens, the orthodox consensus concluded in the late 1960s and 1970s as a middle ground shared by other competing perspectives gave way and was replaced by various confusing competing perspectives.The 'third generation' of social theory includes an inspired phenomenological approach, critical theory, etnomethodology, symbolic interactionism, structuralism, post-structuralism, and theories written in the tradition of hermeneutics and ordinary language philosophy. "
Pax Wisconsana
While some conflict approaches are also gaining popularity in the United States, the mainstream of discipline has instead shifted to a variety of single-oriented, or "grand", theoretical oriented empirical theories. John Levi Martin refers to the "golden age of methodological unity and theoretical rest" as Pax Wisconsana, as it reflects the composition of the department of sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison: many scholars work on separate projects with little dispute. Omar Lizardo describes Pax Wisconsana as: "a settlement of the theory/method of war in the Midwestern, where [sociologists] agree on at least two working hypotheses: (1) big theory 'is waste of time; (2) [and] good theories must be good for thinking or going to the trash. "Despite the reluctance to the great theory in the latter half of the 20th century, several new traditions have emerged that propose various syntheses: structuralism, post-structuralism, cultural sociology and theory system.
Structuralism
The structuralist movement originated mainly from Durkheim's work as interpreted by two European anthropologists. The theory of the structure of Anthony Giddens refers to the linguistic theory of Ferdinand de Saussure and the French anthropologist Claude LÃÆ'Â vi-Strauss. In this context, 'structure' does not refer to 'social structure' but to a semiotic understanding of human culture as a sign system. One can describe the four central principles of structuralism: First, the structure determines the overall structure. Second, structuralists believe that every system has a structure. Thirdly, structuralists are attracted to 'structural' laws relating to coexistence rather than change. Finally, the structure is the 'real thing' beneath the surface or the look of meaning.
The second tradition of structuralist thinking, a contemporary of Giddens, emerged from an American school of social network analysis, spearheaded by the Harvard Social Relations Department led by Harrison White and his students in the 1970s and 1980s. This tradition of structuralist thinking holds that, rather than semiotics, the social structure is a patterned network of social relations. And, rather than Levi-Strauss, this school of thought refers to the notion of structure as theorized by the contemporary anthropologist Levi-Strauss, Radcliffe-Brown. Some refer to this as "network structuralism," and likened it to "British structuralism" as opposed to "French structuralism" of Levi-Strauss.
Post structuralism
Post-structuralist thinking tends to reject the 'humanist' assumption in the execution of social theory. Michel Foucault gives a strong critique in his book Archeology of Human Sciences, though Habermas and Rorty both argue that Foucault replaces only one system of thought with another. This dialogue between intellectuals highlights a trend in recent years for particular school sociology and school philosophy to intersect. The anti-humanist position has been attributed to "postmodernism", a term used in a particular context to describe an era or phenomenon, but is sometimes interpreted as the method .
Central theoretical issues
Overall, there is a strong consensus on the central problem of sociological theory, which is largely inherited from classical theoretical traditions. This consensus is: how to connect, overcome or overcome the following "big three" dichotomies: subjectivity and objectivity, structure and agency, and sync and its deacons. First offer with knowledge , second with action , and last with time . Finally, sociological theory often wrestles with the problem of integrating or transcending the gap between microcosms, mesos and macro-scale phenomena, which are part of the three main problems.
Subjectivity and objectivity
Problems of subjectivity and objectivity can be divided into concerns over the general possibilities of social action, and, on the other hand, the specific problems of social scientific knowledge. In the former, subjectively is often equated (though not necessarily) with the individual, and the intent and interpretation of the individual from the goal. The goal is often regarded as a public or external action or outcome, to the wider community. The main question for social theorists is how knowledge reproduces along the subjective subjective-objective chain, namely: how is interactivity achieved? While, historically, qualitative methods have attempted to tempt subjective interpretations, quantitative survey methods also seek to capture individual subjectivity. Also, some qualitative methods take a radical approach to the objective description in situ.
The last concern with scientific knowledge produces the fact that a sociologist is part of the object they want to explain. Bourdieu puts this issue rather briefly:
How does the sociologist's influence in practicing this radical doubt is so necessary to classify all the prejudices attached to the fact that he is a social being, that he is socialized and directed to feel "like a fish in water" in the social world whose structure he has internalized ? How can it prevent the social world itself from carrying out the construction of the object, in a sense, through itself, through this unconscious operation or operation without realizing itself as the real subject
Structure and agency
Structures and agencies, sometimes referred to as determinism versus volunteerism, form a perpetual ontological debate in social theory: "Does the social structure determine a person's behavior or what is a human agency?" In this context 'agents' refers to the capacity of individuals to act independently and make free choice, while 'structure' is concerned with factors that limit or influence individual choices and actions (such as social class, religion, sex, ethnicity, ). Discussions about the superiority of structure and agency are related to the core of sociological epistemology ("What kind of social world?", "What is the cause in the social world, and what is the effect?"). The eternal question in this debate is "social reproduction": how do structures (in particular, structures that produce inequality) be reproduced through individual choices?
Sync and diachronics
Sync and diachronic, or statics and dynamics, in social theory is a term that refers to the distinction arising from the work of Levi-Strauss inheriting it from the linguistics of Ferdinand de Saussure. Former time slice for analysis, so it is a static social reality analysis. Diachrony, on the other hand, tries to analyze dynamic sequences. Following Saussure, sync will refer to a social phenomenon as a static concept such as language , while diachrony will refer to a process that goes on like an actual remark . In Anthony Giddens's introduction to the Central Problem in Social Theory, he states that, "to show the interdependence of actions and structures... we must understand the time-space relationship inherent in the constitution of all social interactions." And like structures and agencies, time is an integral part of the discussion of social reproduction. In terms of sociology, historical sociology is often better positioned to analyze social life as a diachronic, while survey research takes a snapshot of social life and is thus better equipped to understand social life as synchronized. Some argue that synchronous social structures are methodological perspectives rather than ontological claims. However, the problem for theory is how to integrate the two ways of recording and thinking about social data.
Research methodology
Many people share sociological research methods into two broad categories, although many others see the research method as a continuum:
- Quantitative design approaches social phenomena through quantitative evidence, and often relies on statistical analysis of many cases (or between deliberately designed treatments in the experiment) to make valid and reliable general claims
- Qualitative design emphasizes the understanding of social phenomena through direct observation, communication with participants, or text analysis, and can emphasize contextual and subjective accuracy over the public
Many sociologists are divided into support camps for specific research techniques. This dispute is related to the epistemological debate on the historical core of social theory. Although very different in many aspects, the qualitative and quantitative approach involves systematic interaction between theory and data. Quantitative methodology holds a dominant position in sociology, especially in the United States. In the two most quoted discipline journals, quantitative articles are historically outnumbered by a factor of two. (Most articles published in the largest British journal, on the other hand, are qualitative.) Most textbooks on social research methodology are written from a quantitative perspective, and the term "methodology" is often used synonymously with "statistics". Practically all sociology PhD programs in the United States require training in statistical methods. The work produced by quantitative researchers is also considered more 'credible' and 'unbiased' by the larger public, although this assessment continues to be challenged by antipositivists.
The choice of method often depends heavily on what the researcher wants to investigate. For example, a researcher with an interest in drawing statistical generalizations across the population can manage the survey questionnaire to a representative sample population. Conversely, a researcher who seeks full contextual understanding of an individual's social actions may choose observations of ethnographic participants or open interviews. Studies will generally combine, or 'triangulate', quantitative and qualitative methods as part of a 'multi-strategy' design. For example, quantitative research can be done to obtain statistical patterns or target samples, and then combined with qualitative interviews to determine the game of the agency.
Sampling
Quantitative methods are often used to ask questions about a very large population, making a complete census or count of all members in an unfeasible population. The 'sample' then forms a manageable segment of the population. In quantitative research, statistics are used to draw conclusions from this sample regarding the population as a whole. The sample selection process is referred to as 'sampling'. While it is usually best to take a random sample, attention to differences between specific subpopulations sometimes requires multilevel sampling. Conversely, the impossibility of random sampling sometimes requires nonprobability sampling, such as easy sampling or snowball sampling.
Method
The following list of research methods is not exclusive or complete:
- Archive research or Historical methods: refers to secondary data located in archives and historical records, such as biographies, curriculum vitae, journals, and so on.
- Content analysis: The content of interviews and other texts is systematically analyzed. Often the data is 'coded' as part of a 'grounded theory' approach using qualitative data analysis software (QDA), such as Atlas.ti, MAXQDA, NVivo, or QDA Miner.
- Experimental research: The researcher isolates a social process and reproduces it in the laboratory (for example, by creating a situation where unconscious sexist judgment is possible), looking to determine whether or not a particular social variable can cause, or depend on, other variables for example, see if people's feelings about traditional gender roles can be manipulated by different gender stereotyping activations). Participants were randomly assigned to different groups serving as controls - acting as reference points as they were tested in relation to the dependent variable, although without being exposed to an attractive independent variable - or receiving one or more treatments. Randomization allows researchers to ensure that any differences generated between groups are the result of treatment.
- Longitudinal research: Extensive examination of a particular person or group over a long period of time.
- Observation: Using data from the senses, researchers record information about social or behavioral phenomena. Observation techniques may or may not display participation. In participant observations, researchers enter the field (such as community or workplace), and participate in field activities for a long time to gain a deep understanding of them. The data obtained through this technique can be analyzed quantitatively or qualitatively. In observational studies, a sociologist might study global warming in some parts of the less populous world.
- Survey research: Researchers collect data using interviews, questionnaires, or similar feedback from a pool of people sampled from a particular population of interest. Survey items from interviews or questionnaires may be open or closed. Data from surveys are usually analyzed statistically on a computer.
Computational sociology
Sociologists increasingly use computational intensive methods to analyze and model social phenomena. By using computer simulations, artificial intelligence, text mining, complex statistical methods, and new analytical approaches such as social network analysis and social sequencing analysis, computational sociology develops and tests complex social process theory through the modeling of bottom-up social interactions.
Although the subject matter and methodology in the social sciences are different from those in the natural sciences or computer science, some of the approaches used in contemporary social simulations come from areas such as physics and artificial intelligence. In the same way, several approaches derived from computational sociology have been imported into the natural sciences, such as the size of the centrality of the network from the field of social network analysis and network science. In the relevant literature, computational sociology is often associated with studies of social complexity. The concept of social complexity such as complex systems, the non-linear interconnection between macro and micro processes, and their emergence, has entered the vocabulary of computational sociology. A practical and well-known example is the development of computational models in the form of "artificial society", in which researchers can analyze the structure of social systems.
Scope and topics
Culture
The sociologist's approach to culture can be divided into "cultural sociology" and "cultural sociology" - the term is similar, though not entirely interchangeable. Cultural sociology is an older term, and considers some topics and objects as "culture" more or less than others. In contrast, cultural sociology sees all social phenomena as inherent cultures. Cultural sociology often tries to explain certain cultural phenomena as the product of social processes, while cultural sociology sees culture as a potential explanation of social phenomena.
For Simmel, culture refers to "the coaching of individuals through the agents of external forms that have been objectified in the course of history". While early theorists such as Durkheim and Mauss were influential in cultural anthropology, cultural sociologists were generally distinguished by their attention to modern society (not primitive or ancient). Cultural sociology often involves hermeneutic analysis of words, artifacts and symbols, or ethnographic interviews. However, some sociologists use historical-comparison or quantitative techniques in cultural analysis, Weber and Bourdieu for example. Subfield is sometimes allied with critical theory in the tone of Theodor W. Adorno, Walter Benjamin, and other members of the Frankfurt School. Very different from the sociology of culture is the field of cultural studies. Birmingham School theorists such as Richard Hoggart and Stuart Hall questioned the division between "producers" and "consumers" seen in previous theories, emphasizing reciprocity in text production. Cultural Studies aims to examine the subject matter in terms of cultural practice and its relation to power. For example, the study of subcultures (such as white-skinned working-class youth in London) would consider the social practices of groups associated with dominant classes. The "cultural rotation" of the 1960s eventually put culture much higher on the sociological agenda.
Art, music and literature
Sociology of literature, film, and art is part of the sociology of culture. This field studies the social production of artistic objects and their social implications. A noteworthy example is Pierre Bourdieu's 1992 Les RÃÆ'¨gles de L'Art: GenÃÆ'¨se et Structure du Champ Littà © à © raire , translated by Susan Emanuel as Rules of Art: Genesis and Literature Structure (1996). None of the founders of sociology produced detailed art studies, but they developed ideas that were then applied to literature by others. Marx's ideological theory is directed to literature by Pierre Macherey, Terry Eagleton and Fredric Jameson. Weber's theory of modernity as a cultural rationalization, applied to music, was then applied to all arts, including literature, by writers of the Frankfurt School such as Adorno and JÃÆ'¼rgen Habermas. Durkheim's view of sociology as an externally-defined social fact study was transferred to literature by Robert Escarpit. Bourdieu's own work is clearly indebted to Marx, Weber and Durkheim.
Criminality, deviation, law and punishment
Criminologists analyze the nature, causes, and control of criminal activity, drawing on methods across sociology, psychology, and behavioral sciences. Sociology of irregularities focuses on actions or behaviors that violate the norm, including legally enforced rules (eg, crime) and informal offenses against cultural norms. It is the authority of sociologists to study why these norms exist; how they change over time; and how they are enforced. The concept of social disorganization is when the wider social system leads to violations of the norm. For example, Robert K. Merton produces a typology of irregularities, which includes individual cause and effect explanations and system level of deviations.
Legal sociology
Legal studies play an important role in the formation of classical sociology. Durkheim famously describes the law as a "visible symbol" of social solidarity. Sociology of law refers to the sub-disciplines of sociology and approaches in the field of legal studies. Sociology of law is a diverse field of study that examines the interaction of law with other aspects of society, such as the development of legal institutions and the influence of laws on social change and vice versa. For example, recent influential work in this area relies on statistical analysis to suggest that the increase in detention in the US over the past 30 years is due to changes in law and police and not on crime increases; and that this increase significantly contributes to maintaining racial stratification.
Communications and information technology
Sociology of communication and information technology including "social aspects of computing, the Internet, new media, computer networks, and other communications and information technologies".
Internet and digital media
The Internet is of great interest to sociologists in many ways; most practical as a tool for research and as a discussion platform. The sociology of the Internet in a broad sense considers the analysis of online communities (eg newsgroups, social networking sites) and cyberspace, so there is often overlap with the sociology of society. An online community can be studied statistically through network analysis or interpreted qualitatively through virtual ethnography. In addition, organizational change is catalyzed through new media, thereby affecting social change in general, possibly forming a framework for transformation from industry to information society. One of the important texts is Manuel Castells' The Internet Galaxy - a title that forms an inter-textual reference to Marshall McLuhan's The Gutenberg Galaxy . Closely related to the sociology of the Internet, it is the digital sociology, which extends the scope of study to address not only the internet but also the impact of digital media and other devices that have emerged since the first decade of the twenty-first century.
Media
As with cultural studies, media studies are different disciplines owed to the convergence of sociology and other social and human sciences, in particular, literary criticism and critical theory. Although the production process or critique of aesthetic forms is not within the sociologist's scope, the analysis of socializing factors, such as ideological effects and audience acceptance, derive from sociological theories and methods. Thus 'media sociology' is not a subdiscipline per se, but media is a common and often inseparable topic.
Economic sociology
The term "economic sociology" was first used by William Stanley Jevons in 1879, which was subsequently coined in the works of Durkheim, Weber and Simmel between 1890 and 1920. Economic sociology emerged as a new approach to the analysis of economic phenomena, which emphasized the class. relationships and modernity as philosophical concepts. The relationship between capitalism and modernity is a prominent issue, perhaps best demonstrated in Weber's Protestant Ethics and the Spirit of Capitalism (1905) and Simmel's The Philosophy of Money (1900). The contemporary period of economic sociology, also known as the new economic sociology, was consolidated by Mark Granovetter's 1985 work entitled "Economic Action and Social Structure: Embeddedness Problems". This work describes the concept of attachment, which states that the economic relationships between individuals or firms occur in existing social relations (and thus are structured by these relationships and the larger social structure in which they are part). Social network analysis has become a major methodology for studying this phenomenon. Granovetter's theory of weak bond strength and the structural hole concept of Ronald Burt are two of the best known theoretical contributions of this field.
Work, jobs and industry
Sociology of work, or industrial sociology, examines "the direction and implications of trends in technological change, globalization, labor markets, work organization, managerial practices, and employment relations to the extent to which these trends are closely linked to changing inequalities in modern societies and to experience changing from individuals and families the ways in which workers challenge, reject and make their own contributions to work patterns and form work institutions. "
Education
Sociology of education is the study of how educational institutions determine the social structure, experience, and other outcomes. Especially with regard to the modern school system of industrial society. A 1966 classic study in this field by James Coleman, known as the "Coleman Report", analyzed the performance of over 150,000 students and found that the student's background and socioeconomic status are far more important in determining educational outcomes than the differences measured in school resources ( ie per student expenditure). The controversy about the "school effects" that the study is stoking continues to this day. The study also found that disadvantaged black students benefit from attending racial mixed classrooms, and thus serve as a catalyst for desegregation buses in American public schools.
Environment
Environmental sociology is the study of human interaction with the natural environment, usually emphasizing the human dimension of environmental problems, the social impact of the problems, and efforts to overcome them. Like other sociological sub-fields, scholarships in environmental sociology may be at one or more levels of analysis, from global (eg world systems) to local, community to individual. Attention is also given to the process by which environmental problems become defined and known for humans. As noted by renowned environmental sociologist John Bellamy Foster, the predecessor of modern environmental sociology is Marx's analysis of the metabolic gap, which influences contemporary thinking about sustainability. Environmental sociology is often interdisciplinary and overlaps with the sociology of risk, rural sociology and the sociology of disasters.
Human ecology
Human ecology is concerned with the interdisciplinary study of the relationship between humans and their natural, social, and artificial environments. In addition to environmental sociology, this field overlaps with architectural sociology, urban sociology, and to some extent visual sociology. In turn, visual sociology - related to all visual dimensions of social life - overlaps with media studies because it uses photography, film, and other media technologies.
Pre-social wiring
Social pre-cable offerings with fetal social behavior studies and social interactions in a multi-fetal environment. In particular, social prepayment refers to the ontogeny of social interaction. Also informally referred to as, "Cable becomes social." The theory questions whether there is a tendency for a social-oriented action to be present before it is born. The research in this theory concludes that the born baby is born into the world with a unique genetic cable to be social.
Indirect evidence supporting the social pre-wiring hypothesis can be revealed when examining the behavior of newborns. Newborns, even a few hours after birth, have been found to display readiness for social interaction. This preparedness is expressed in ways like imitating facial movements. The observed behavior can not be contributed to the current socialization or social construction. In contrast, newborns are likely to inherit in some social behavior and identity through genetics.
The main evidence of this theory is found by examining multiple pregnancies. The main argument is, if there is social behavior inherited and developed before birth, then one should expect twins to engage in some form of social interaction before they are born. Thus, ten fetuses were analyzed over a period of time using ultrasound techniques. By using kinematic analysis, the result of the experiment is that the twin fetus will interact with each other for longer periods and more often when the pregnancy continues. Researchers can conclude that the performance of the movement between twin friends was not intentional but specifically addressed.
The social pre-wiring hypothesis proves to be true, "The main advancement of this study is the demonstration that 'social action' has been done in second trimester pregnancy.Starting from the 14th week of twin pregnancy the fetus plans and executes a special movement aimed at twin coins. forces us to precede the emergence of social behavior: when the context allows, as in the case of twin fetuses, other directed actions are not only possible but more dominant than self-directed actions. "
Family, gender and sexuality
Family, sex and sexuality form a wide field of inquiry studied in many sub-fields of sociology. The family is a group of people associated with familial ties: - Blood/marriage/civil partnership or adoption. The family unit is one of the most important social institutions found in some form in almost all known societies. It is the basic unit of social organization and plays a key role in socializing children into their community culture. Family sociology examines families, as institutions and units of socialization, with particular attention to the historical emergence of the relatively modern core family and its different gender roles. G
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