Introduction to sociology
Chapter 1 Questions
The sociological perspective
Individual perspective = Type of explanation of human behaviour which focuses on individual causes.
Social context = Social environment in which people are embedded.
The unique perspective taken by sociologists is to understand the behaviour of persons by
considering their social context.
Sociologists say that social context change and they study the human consequences of such changes.
Sociological imagination (Sociological perspective) = Type of explanation of human behaviour which
focuses on social causes.
The task for sociologist is to identify social causes of human behaviour.
Thus, the sociological perspective seeks to explain human behaviour by the social context individuals
share.
The sociological perspective is different from the individual perspective not only because it focuses
on social causes of behaviour (instead of individual characteristics), but also because it considers
collective outcomes (instead of the behaviour of a few individuals).
The sociological perspective instead examines social phenomena.
Thus what sociologists aim to understand is how, first human behaviour typically results from shared
contextual conditions and how, subsequently, this gives rise to collective outcomes.
Social phenomenon = Collective human behaviour.
Sociologists argue that behaviour has social causes and that such shared social contexts result in
collective outcome.
Supplemental perspectives
Often sociologists argue that the sociological perspective supplements the individual perspective.
If only individual causes underlie behaviour then individual treatments should be highly effective.
In reality, however, such treatments fail all too often.
Alternative perspectives
The individual and sociological perspectives can also be framed as alternative perspectives.
Proximate and ultimate causes
Proximate causes are the factors that are ‘close to’ the phenomena the researcher want to explain.
They are individual causes of human behaviour.
Proximate cause Individual perspective
Ultimate causes are factors that are ‘deeper’ ‘hidden’ in the background.
,Ultimate causes explains proximate causes.
To designate the difference in scale (level) of social context sociologist use the terms micro, meso &
macro level.
Micro level = lowest level, refers mainly to individuals and their behaviour, attitudes, resources, etc.
The level at which individuals operate.
Meso level = Middle level, designates social conditions that individuals share in their immediate
environment.
Examples: Families, neighbourhoods, schools, organizations.
Macro level = The highest level that individuals share.
Examples: Nations, groups of nations, continents.
Social problems
A social problem, also named public issue, is commonly understood as a problem that:
1. Goes beyond the individual it affects many people
2. Is an issue about which many people are concerned it is in conflict with certain values.
Example: If obesity is generally regarded as a problem – because people find it undesirable and it
conflict with certain values – it is called a social problem, a public issue.
What is identified as a social problem varies from time to time, from context to context.
What might be a social problem in one country might not be so in another and even in the same
social context people may disagree about whether something is a social problem or not.
What people consider as a social problem depends on their values.
Example: It could be that certain neighbourhoods in the country are confronted with violence and
poverty, whereas other neighbourhoods do rather well. In that case, one could be tempted to not
call this a social problem as not many people in the country at large are affected (criterion 1), or
concerned about it (criterion 2). However within the neighbourhood that are plagued by violence
and poverty it is considered a social problem.
Three aims of sociology
Generally speaking, the aim of sociologists is to come up with accurate scientific descriptions and
theoretical explanations for social phenomena, and to apply their knowledge.
Social problems typically become the target of government organizations, which attempt to mitigate
these problems. Once a situation is considered as a public issue, government agencies develop policy
measures and interventions.
however in order to come up with interventions that are effective, one needs to get an insight
into the nature and cause of the social problem.
, To assess how large the social problem is, what causes the problem and which interventions are
effective, the work of sociologists is needed.
Social problems have a normative dimension: desirable goals or values are threatened, people want
to solve this problem. “What should be done”.
In sociology, social problems are studied as social phenomena, which means that they are not
studied as a normative problem but as a scientific phenomenon of interest. Understanding social
phenomena thereby contributes to understanding and solving of social problems.
There are three aims of sociology: To describe and to explain social phenomena and to apply this
knowledge.
Describe
The first aim for sociologists is to come up with accurate descriptions of social phenomena.
Important contribution to understanding social problems because people could uphold erroneous
beliefs about it.
Explain
The second aim for sociologists is to come up with scientific explanations for social phenomena.
Sociologists come up with explanations and subsequently use empirical data to examine whether
these explanations are true.
Apply
The third aim of sociology is to apply and share it’s insights it returns to the normative domain this
way, to the public concern about social problems.
1. To come up with predictions, to describe what is likely to happen
2. To develop and evaluate social interventions (intervention = social policy measure)
interventions are subject to scientific insights and empirical work and are targeted towards
reducing social problems.
Societal relevance = The relevance of sociology to society is the scientific knowledge they produce in
light of social problems.
Sociologists fulfil the important role of informing the public debate and policy makers with scientific
knowledge.
Three types of sociological questions
Scientific question = Question that does not entail value judgements.
Normative question =
What should be done?
Descriptive question =
Targeted to describing social phenomena How much/many?
Theoretical question =
Targeted to understanding social phenomena Why is this happening?
, Application question =
Targeted to applying scientific knowledge What will happen? What are the
consequences?
The art of asking good sociological questions
Two elements for developing a good sociological question Precision and relevance.
Precision The question you raise is clear. That you make explicit what you are interested in.
1. The human behaviour you are interested in
2. The social context
3. The period
4. The population
Relevance Your sociological question becomes more relevant when you can relate it to social
problems that exist in society.
Literature review before conducting a sociological study If the research has already been done
then the question will be irrelevant.
Literature review = systematic overview of the theories and observations that are known
(background knowledge), typically in a certain specialized field of research.
False theoretical question = Theoretical question that aims to explain something that does not exist.
Comparative case question = Question which includes some comparison of cases More aligned to
the sociological perspective.
If social conditions shape human behaviour, we should see that under different social conditions
people act differently. by studying comparative cases we can discover such social causes.
Sociologists study how social contexts change over time, to discover social trends.
Sociology and common sense
Common sense = Everyday thinking, intuitions, beliefs and perceptions.
Common sense helps us with practical issues that we encounter on a daily basis. Common sense
thinking is often wrong when it comes to understanding social phenomena.
Social knowledge often challenges common sense i.e. people’s descriptions of reality and their
explanations.
All of us human beings are private sociologists, because we engage in social life and develop our
own, private, beliefs about social phenomena, about what’s happening and why.
One difference is that, in academic sociology, knowledge becomes available to others, it becomes
public, ‘objective,’ and hence the subject of critique and systematic inquiries by many people.
Chapter 1 Questions
The sociological perspective
Individual perspective = Type of explanation of human behaviour which focuses on individual causes.
Social context = Social environment in which people are embedded.
The unique perspective taken by sociologists is to understand the behaviour of persons by
considering their social context.
Sociologists say that social context change and they study the human consequences of such changes.
Sociological imagination (Sociological perspective) = Type of explanation of human behaviour which
focuses on social causes.
The task for sociologist is to identify social causes of human behaviour.
Thus, the sociological perspective seeks to explain human behaviour by the social context individuals
share.
The sociological perspective is different from the individual perspective not only because it focuses
on social causes of behaviour (instead of individual characteristics), but also because it considers
collective outcomes (instead of the behaviour of a few individuals).
The sociological perspective instead examines social phenomena.
Thus what sociologists aim to understand is how, first human behaviour typically results from shared
contextual conditions and how, subsequently, this gives rise to collective outcomes.
Social phenomenon = Collective human behaviour.
Sociologists argue that behaviour has social causes and that such shared social contexts result in
collective outcome.
Supplemental perspectives
Often sociologists argue that the sociological perspective supplements the individual perspective.
If only individual causes underlie behaviour then individual treatments should be highly effective.
In reality, however, such treatments fail all too often.
Alternative perspectives
The individual and sociological perspectives can also be framed as alternative perspectives.
Proximate and ultimate causes
Proximate causes are the factors that are ‘close to’ the phenomena the researcher want to explain.
They are individual causes of human behaviour.
Proximate cause Individual perspective
Ultimate causes are factors that are ‘deeper’ ‘hidden’ in the background.
,Ultimate causes explains proximate causes.
To designate the difference in scale (level) of social context sociologist use the terms micro, meso &
macro level.
Micro level = lowest level, refers mainly to individuals and their behaviour, attitudes, resources, etc.
The level at which individuals operate.
Meso level = Middle level, designates social conditions that individuals share in their immediate
environment.
Examples: Families, neighbourhoods, schools, organizations.
Macro level = The highest level that individuals share.
Examples: Nations, groups of nations, continents.
Social problems
A social problem, also named public issue, is commonly understood as a problem that:
1. Goes beyond the individual it affects many people
2. Is an issue about which many people are concerned it is in conflict with certain values.
Example: If obesity is generally regarded as a problem – because people find it undesirable and it
conflict with certain values – it is called a social problem, a public issue.
What is identified as a social problem varies from time to time, from context to context.
What might be a social problem in one country might not be so in another and even in the same
social context people may disagree about whether something is a social problem or not.
What people consider as a social problem depends on their values.
Example: It could be that certain neighbourhoods in the country are confronted with violence and
poverty, whereas other neighbourhoods do rather well. In that case, one could be tempted to not
call this a social problem as not many people in the country at large are affected (criterion 1), or
concerned about it (criterion 2). However within the neighbourhood that are plagued by violence
and poverty it is considered a social problem.
Three aims of sociology
Generally speaking, the aim of sociologists is to come up with accurate scientific descriptions and
theoretical explanations for social phenomena, and to apply their knowledge.
Social problems typically become the target of government organizations, which attempt to mitigate
these problems. Once a situation is considered as a public issue, government agencies develop policy
measures and interventions.
however in order to come up with interventions that are effective, one needs to get an insight
into the nature and cause of the social problem.
, To assess how large the social problem is, what causes the problem and which interventions are
effective, the work of sociologists is needed.
Social problems have a normative dimension: desirable goals or values are threatened, people want
to solve this problem. “What should be done”.
In sociology, social problems are studied as social phenomena, which means that they are not
studied as a normative problem but as a scientific phenomenon of interest. Understanding social
phenomena thereby contributes to understanding and solving of social problems.
There are three aims of sociology: To describe and to explain social phenomena and to apply this
knowledge.
Describe
The first aim for sociologists is to come up with accurate descriptions of social phenomena.
Important contribution to understanding social problems because people could uphold erroneous
beliefs about it.
Explain
The second aim for sociologists is to come up with scientific explanations for social phenomena.
Sociologists come up with explanations and subsequently use empirical data to examine whether
these explanations are true.
Apply
The third aim of sociology is to apply and share it’s insights it returns to the normative domain this
way, to the public concern about social problems.
1. To come up with predictions, to describe what is likely to happen
2. To develop and evaluate social interventions (intervention = social policy measure)
interventions are subject to scientific insights and empirical work and are targeted towards
reducing social problems.
Societal relevance = The relevance of sociology to society is the scientific knowledge they produce in
light of social problems.
Sociologists fulfil the important role of informing the public debate and policy makers with scientific
knowledge.
Three types of sociological questions
Scientific question = Question that does not entail value judgements.
Normative question =
What should be done?
Descriptive question =
Targeted to describing social phenomena How much/many?
Theoretical question =
Targeted to understanding social phenomena Why is this happening?
, Application question =
Targeted to applying scientific knowledge What will happen? What are the
consequences?
The art of asking good sociological questions
Two elements for developing a good sociological question Precision and relevance.
Precision The question you raise is clear. That you make explicit what you are interested in.
1. The human behaviour you are interested in
2. The social context
3. The period
4. The population
Relevance Your sociological question becomes more relevant when you can relate it to social
problems that exist in society.
Literature review before conducting a sociological study If the research has already been done
then the question will be irrelevant.
Literature review = systematic overview of the theories and observations that are known
(background knowledge), typically in a certain specialized field of research.
False theoretical question = Theoretical question that aims to explain something that does not exist.
Comparative case question = Question which includes some comparison of cases More aligned to
the sociological perspective.
If social conditions shape human behaviour, we should see that under different social conditions
people act differently. by studying comparative cases we can discover such social causes.
Sociologists study how social contexts change over time, to discover social trends.
Sociology and common sense
Common sense = Everyday thinking, intuitions, beliefs and perceptions.
Common sense helps us with practical issues that we encounter on a daily basis. Common sense
thinking is often wrong when it comes to understanding social phenomena.
Social knowledge often challenges common sense i.e. people’s descriptions of reality and their
explanations.
All of us human beings are private sociologists, because we engage in social life and develop our
own, private, beliefs about social phenomena, about what’s happening and why.
One difference is that, in academic sociology, knowledge becomes available to others, it becomes
public, ‘objective,’ and hence the subject of critique and systematic inquiries by many people.
