What is Sociology?

The word sociology comes from a combination of the Latin socius (meaning ‘companion’) and the Greek logos (meaning ‘the study of’), so the word literally means the study of companionship, or social relations.

Sociologists are primarily interested in all that happens to people in terms of their relationships with others.
These may be:

• personal relationships with people we know well, such as family members, friends and people we know at work or college

• impersonal relationships, such as those we have with people who serve us in shops, take away our rubbish or drive the taxi we are in

• indirect relations with people we neither know nor see, but whose actions influence our lives. For example, a decision by corporate executives in the United States to shut down an overseas plant can affect the working and domestic lives of thousands of people who live nowhere near the USA. Presidential race in the USA???

SO, the scope of sociology may be very wide. From schools and families, to industrialization and globalization.

However, the key idea in all sociological research is that people’s lives and behaviour cannot be understood apart from the social contexts in which they participate, directly or indirectly.
SO, sociology:

• Is the scientific study of social life, social relations, social groups.
• Shows us the social dimension of situation sthat we perceive as personal
• Is skeptical of pre-determines, pre-given, taken for granted explanations
• Not nornative, not prescribe rules; tries to understand and analyze

We exist as natural beings and social beings:

1. Doğal varlık
2. Sosyal varlık (toplumsal gerçeklik)

What does our natural being requirew? What kinds of activities? Not very different from other species.

For instance, INSTINCT.
What is it? What kinds of conduct?
Merrriam Webster definition:

• way of behaving, thinking, or feeling that is not learned/ innate a natural desire or tendency that makes you want to act in a particular way; Shared by all members of a group
• something you know without learning it or thinking about it; not choose! Present at birth
• a natural ability

Genetically fixxed behaviours that are shared by all members of a group.

Example: Kuşların yuva yapması (birds nesting). Yılın belli bir döneminde, içgüdüsel olarak yuva yapmaya başlarlar. Sadece ne yapacağını değil, nasıl yapacağını da söyler içgüdü. O yuva nasıl kurulacak bilir kuş. Hayvanların üremesi de böyle örneğin. Yok bu akşam üremeyelim demez kuşlar. Belli dönemde yapılır üreme işlemi; neslin devamı önemlidir.

So, do people have instincts? Sociologically NO. Why?

Exercise 3:
Example. Eating. Is it an instinct?
Example. Motherhood. Is it an instinct?
Example. Reproduction. Is it an instinct?
Eating -

• Peki ya oruç? Dini inanışınız ya da ideolojik/siyasi duruşunuz yeme dürtünüzün/ihtiyacınızın önüne geçer. Ya da rejim yapmak? Kendi bedenimizle, görüntümüzle kurduğumuz ilişki? Hayvanlar çok karbonhidrat yedim, birkaç gün sadece protein alıcam demezler!!

Motherhood -
http://www.milliyet.com.tr/bebegini-internetten-satan-anne-baba-istanbul-yerelhaber-1236237/
Ne demiştik içgüdü için? Bir türün tüm örnekleri tarafından, aynı şekilde sergilenen davranış biçimi. Annelik böyle mi? Haberlerde çıkan 6 aylık bebeğini evde yalnız bırakıp, ailesini ziyarete giden kadını hatırlayalım. Ya da taşıyıcı anneler? (surrogate mothers). Tecavüz sonucu hamile kalan kadınlar?
http://t24.com.tr/haber/tecavuz-sonrasi-hamile-kalan-kadin-olsem-de-bu-cocugu-aldirmak-istiyorum,212077
Demek ki annelik aslında toplumsal olarak kodlanan, kurulan bir şey. Sosyal olarak anlamlandırıyoruz. Ayrıca kültürel farklar da var; kültürler arasında iyi anne tanımları değişir. Ayrıca dönemsel farklılıklar? (bkz. Annelik Duygusu: Mitler ve Deneyimler)

Reproduction-  Doğum kontrolü nedir? Kürtaj nedir?

So people have biological drives (biyolojik dürtü- e.g. sex, aggression), physical reflexes (automatic response to a stimulus; e.g contraction of pupil when exposed to bright light) and intuitions (socially learned) but NOT instincts.
Even if instincts exist in humans, humans can still change themselves or be shaped by others to overcome their instincts. Since humans can be shaped (or molded or changed), they can be socialized
Because one of the things that in fact seperates us from other beings and that makes us social beings is that human attach MEANING to their actions, to their relations. Bext to the natural World that we share with other species, we live in this socially constructed world of meaning.

We also create social rules of conduct for cohabitation within this World.

Social/cultural rules/codes? How do they emerge?

Can differ between societies, communities. Even a simpel sign might represent different things in different cultures. That is how people coming from the same culture, interpret signs or bodily conduct in the same way.
Example: Language . Cultural structure. Allows people to understand each otehr within the same scheme of meaning.
But only a small part of communication is carried out verbally. Most of it is allowed through non-verbal communication (tone of voice, gestures)
Example: Signs?



Example: Burp? Spitting?
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/secretarial-when-it-is-polite-to-burp-1196980.html
O halde, sosyal davranışlarımızın içerisinde hangilerinin ayıp, yakışıksız olarak kodlanacağı kültürel bir yapım sürecidir. Ve durağan da değildir. Değişir. Çünkü toplumlar değişir.
Example: ???
O halde, insanın doğal gerçekliğinin yanında bir de toplumsal gerçekliği vardır. (Yüksel, s. 4). Sosyoloji de bu toplumsal gerçekliği anlamaya ve analiz etmeye çalışan sosyal bilim dalıdır. Toplumsal yaşamı inceler. Yani tek tek kişileri değil; toplumsal yaşam içinde kurulan ilişkileri, bu ilişkilerin getirdiği davranış biçimlerini, bu davranışlara yüklenen anlamları, onları belirleyen kuralları, bu kuralları uygulayan kurumları inceleyen bilimdir.

SO, what is a SOCIETY?

A group of people living in a bounded territory who share common cultural features such as language, values and basic norms of behaviours.
Hence, not just being together, sharing acommon goal. Also interaction. Relations.
Also includes social institutions: Social relationships are rarely random. Normally they are organised invarious ways. Sociologists refer to these patterns of behaviour as social institutions. Types of family life, education and religious practice are examples of social institutions, where behaviour tends to be regular or patterned.
This is called the social structure of a society.

O halde, bir şeyin sosyolojisini yapmak ne demektir?
How is it different from common sense?

• asking distinct sociological questions
• doing research, and
• applying or testing sociological theories.

1. Asking sociological questions

Birçoğumuz dünyayı kendi yaşamımızda var olanlar ışığında görmeye alışmışızdır. Sosyoloji bize dünyayı daha geniş açıdan, daha farklı, çok boyutlu görmemizi öğretir. Bize doğal geleni, alışılmış olanı, bize ait olduğuna inandığımızı sorgulamayı öğretir.
Sociological imagination- sosyololojik tahayyül/ imgelem – C. W. Mills

A sociologist has to break free from the immediacy of her personal circumstances; think herself away from the familiar routines of our Daily lives in order to look at them from a new point of view; “making the familiar strange”- seeing the taken for granted World around you afresh

Örn: Kahve içmek! Bu kadar sıradan olan bir davranış hakkında sosyolojik olarak ne söylenebilir?? (Giddens. P.5)

• Her şeyden önce kahve sadece bir içecek değildir; gündelik hayatımız içerisinde sembolik bir değeri vardır (not just a refreshmen, symbolic value)
  • Nasıl? Örneğin kahve içmek için buluşacak olan iki kişi bir ilişki içerisindedir.
  • Ve kahve içme olayının kendisi muhtemelen bu kişilerin bir araya gelip birşeyler paylaşması kadar önemli değildir. (rituals associated with coffee are more important than the actual act of drinkingthe coffee). People getting together for coffee are probably more interested in seeing each other

• Ayrıca, kahve kafein içeren bir uyuşturucudur da
  • Ancak kahve de sigara gibi toplumsal olarak kabul edilmiş uyuşturuculardır (socially acceptable drug) .
  • Neden, nasıl? Sosyologlar kahvenin neden bazı toplumlarda sosyal olarak kabul görmüş bir uyuşturucu olduğunu anlamaya çalışırlar
• Ayrıca, kahve tüketen her kişi aynı zamanda bir dizi sosyal ve ekonomik ilişkinin içinde de yer alır. Nasıl? (presumes a long process of social and economic development)
  • Became popular from late 1800s on but eas popular among elites before. Western exansion led to its mass consumption.
  • Kahve dünyanın en zengin insanlarıyla en fakir insanlarını bağlayan bir ürün; Petrolden sonra uluslararası ticaretin en değerli metası

• Çoğunlukla zengin ülkelerde tüketilir ancak fakir ülkelerde üretilir. Bu anlamda da kahve çekirdeğini toplayanlarla bu çekirdeği satanlar arasında sosyal ve ekonomik bir ilişki söz konusudur.

WATCH:

• At the heart of debates on globalization, international fair trade, human rights and environmental destruction

WATCH:


WATCH LATER:
(coffee economics)

1. Doing research

How do sociologists study crime?
They:

• examine the official crime rates to see how crime is related to aspects of society, such as geographical region or people’s age or social background
• explore how the statistics are produced and how reliable they are
• interview people who have committed crimes
• talk to victims of crime
• observe the police at work
• study the workings of the courts and the legal system
• join criminal gangs
• visit prisons and have even have had themselves locked up to observe prison life from the inside!

So, we can see that a second major difference between the layperson and the sociologist is that sociology involves the systematic study of societies from a wide range of sources.
Structural/MACRO approach-
a structural, or macro, perspective that means looking at societies as systems, and trying to work out how different institutions ‘function’ to produce particular outcomes

1. 18 BAK- guide

MICRO approach- relationship between individuals and institutions

1. 18 BAK

Sociology, then, is not just about just about the wider ‘outside’ picture of patterns of social organisation and behaviour. It also explores the ‘inside story’ of people’s lives, how they make sense of social situations, their values, beliefs, prejudices and, if the research calls for it, even their darkest secrets.

• Applying sociological theories

Sociologists can provide explanations of human behaviour that are different from commonsense.
Ask and answer the “why” question.. To do so we construct theories.

Theorizing: Constructing abstarct interpratations using a series of logically related statements that explain a wide variety of situations. (Giddens, p. 9)

Example:
For example, a key concept in sociology is anomie. A person can be said to be anomic, or deregulated, when they have aspirations, or goals, without any obvious means of obtaining them.

A US sociologist, Robert Merton (1910–2003), used the concept of anomie to develop a sociological theory of rising crime in US society. He argued that although the culture of US society encourages everyone to pursue the ‘American dream’ of achieving wealth, status and power, most people from disadvantaged backgrounds, who do not have access to good educational institutions or useful social contacts, have no legitimate means of achieving these aspirations. Therefore, they are in a state of anomie and more likely to try to obtain their goals by illegitimate means through crime.

So, although commonsense theories tend to explain crime in terms of the characteristics of individuals – they are bad, have had a bad upbringing and so on – Merton’s explanation locates the causes of crime in terms of the organisation of wider society
SO theories allow us to make sense of the World.

INDIVIDUAL and SOCIETY

Sociologists are interested in studying individuals, and a lot of sociological research involves talking to and observing individuals. Rather, thinking sociologically involves seeing the relationship between the individual and society as a two-way, rather than a one-way, street. As individuals we obviously create societies but sociologists argue that, in important respects, societies also create us.

We are not passive in the process through which we are shaped by the society, we also contribute to it. We are always influenced by our social context, but not entirely. Sociology innvestigates this relationship between the society and actors. We are structured by society but we also shape it. This is called process of structuration.
Örnek: Coffee- How do we contibute to this process? (Giddens, p. 8)

We saw such impact of actors in political scenes inrecent decades? Arab spring? Occupy Wall Street? Gezi?
**
Lets look at this relationship between the society and the individual: (Guide, p. 26)
Exercise 4:
Imagine you have 10 words to describe the person you are to someone who has never met you. Write down the 10 words you would use. I am:
1…………………………………
2…………………………………
3…………………………………
4…………………………………
5…………………………………
6…………………………………
7…………………………………
8…………………………………
9…………………………………
10…………………………………

Julie’s list
I am:

1. British
2. Afro-Caribbean
3. female
4. hairdresser
5. student
6. wife
7. mother
8. intelligent
9. attractive
10. popular.

Social identity (public self)
First three answers are British, Afro-Caribbean and female, characteristics she shares with millions of other people.
Each of these has a social component, involves a social relationship with others.

Nationality:
For many people, their nationality is still an important statement of their social identity. Most nation states, or countries, not only have their own language, government and laws, they also have their own traditions, customs and generally accepted ways of behaving (norms)
Many of these norms vary over time within a particular country and also vary between countries. These cultural norms have an important influence on us. They affect how we behave, how we view the behaviour of others and how we ‘see’ the world.

Ethnicicty:
By an ethnic group, sociologists mean a social group that has certain common characteristics, such as a shared culture, history, language, customs and institutions.
However, whether a person identifies primarily with a nation or with an ethnic group, or with a combination of the two, the same sociological ideas apply. Nationality and ethnicity confer identities on people that influence their relationships, values and behaviour.

Gender:
Although gender may appear to be purely biological, as we are simply born either male or female, sociologists have shown that gender has important social dimensions. Social and ethnic groups tend to place different expectations on males and females and this then shapes the subsequent behaviour of boys and girls and men and women.

WATCH: https://www.facebook.com/lollyanddoodlepage/?hc_ref=NEWSFEED&fref=nf
For sociologists, gender is not just a biological category. It is also social. We don’t just become men or women. In important respects we learn to be men or women through social interaction.

Social roles
Like Julie, you may also have put down some of the things you do. In answers 4–7 she has told us about her occupation, that she is a student and that she is a wife and a mother. These are also common everyday words, but they have also have specific social expectations attached to them. Sociologists sometimes refer to these as social roles, because it is as if societies are giving people scripts they are expected to follow rather like actors in a play.

Personal identity (mark the individual)
Like Julie (answers 8–10), you may also have put some personal characteristics on your list, things that say something about you as a specific individual, rather than as a social role you share with millions of others. Sociologists refer to these characteristics as aspects of our personal identity. For example, you may have said that you are hardworking or lazy, outgoing or shy, easy-going or stressed. At first sight these characteristics appear to be purely ‘personal’ rather than social but, when you think about it, they also have social aspects to them.
Julie has said she thinks she’s intelligent. But how does a person know whether or not they are intelligent? If you are a student, for example, there are certain social criteria by which you can judge this. For example,
if your teachers praise your contributions in class, give you good marks and write favourable comments on your coursework – or even tell you that with your natural ability you should be doing much better! – then you are more likely to begin to develop an idea of yourself as capable or intelligent. This may then be confirmed by getting good marks in the exams.
In short, even the ideas we have about ourselves as individual people – such as whether we think we are intelligent or stupid, attractive or unattractive, fat or thin, outgoing or shy – arise from social relationships and socially accepted norms and standards.

When we think about what we are, we compare ourselves with these social norms. How do we match up?

We also monitor other people’s reactions to us in daily life. How do others see us? This in turn may influence our behaviour in all sorts of ways. For example, we may try to make ourselves more clever, more assertive, or more sociable and outgoing. Or we may go the other way and accept that we can never be any of these things and adjust our behaviour accordingly, perhaps by not working in class, or not trying to make friends
Erving Goffman (1969): On stage and off stage
Erving Goffman (1969) brought a new, and some would say cynical, twist to the question of changing social identities. He argued that identities were not so much a part of us – permanently or temporarily – as resources we ‘pick up and put down’ to negotiate everyday life. Identities are things we consciously manipulate, or present, in given situations.
So, for Goffman, we are rather like actors ‘playing’ the roles on stage, such as the enthusiastic teacher, the caring nurse or lazy student, and we selfconsciously monitor our ‘performances’.

However, not all social life is like this. Goffman recognised that, like actors, people have time off stage, or backstage, when they are less obviously presenting an identity. So although people may still be playing roles backstage at home, for example – husband, wife, daughter, etc. – they are doing so less self-consciously, there is less deliberate ‘presentation of self’ and more congruence between how we are seen and how we really are.

Socialisation

We observed in the last section that a key sociological problem is the relation between the individual and society. But how does this arise?
In very general terms, we are all born into societies where there are already established patterns of organised behaviour that we referred to earlier as social institutions, such as speaking a particular language or organising ourselves into small groups called families.
Sociologists use the term socialisation to describe the various processes through which people learn about, and generally conform to, the norms and values of the social groups in which they live. Socialisation processes can be divided into three stages.

• Primary socialisation involves the socialisation of the young child by the family.

• Secondary socialisation is socialisation by the school. Schools obviously

teach us academic skills but, as sociologists have shown, they are teaching us a lot more. It is from school that we learn, for example, punctuality, cooperation, team games, discipline and that good work will be rewarded, bad work penalised. This is sometimes known as the ‘hidden curriculum’. So, in number of ways, schools are trying to socialise us for adulthood. However, socialisation doesn’t end when we leave school

• Tertiary, or adult, socialisation continues through our lives. For example, as we saw in the previous section, people are socialised into ethnic, gender and work identities. Another example is socialisation into old age. People do not just get old. They also learn what is expected of them when they are becoming old. In some societies growing old gracefully means retreating into the background. Medical sociologists have even shown that terminally ill people are socialised by medical and nursing staff into dying in the ‘right way’.

So socialisation is a continuous process: it begins when we are born and only ends when we die.
Here we are going to look at two of the most influential theories of socialisation developed by two of the leading figures of twentieth century sociology, Talcott Parsons (1902–1979) and G.H. Mead (1863–1931).