Social Science Reviewer, Study notes of Social Sciences

Download Social Science Reviewer and more Study notes Social Sciences in PDF only on Docsity! THE STUDY OF SOCIOLOGY AND ANTHROPOLOGY SCIENCE  Is a way of learning about the world through disciplined inquiry which combines systematic theory and observation that provide explanation of how things work.  THEORY is a system of ideas or statements held as an explanation of a group of facts or phenomena. It gives description and explanation of matters of everyday life or facts about the world.  As a method of inquiry, science is a way of finding out about the world through rigorous and disciplined collection of facts and logical explanation.  Science can also be viewed as a way of life when one imbibes the knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary in scientific investigation. CLASSIFICATION: NATURAL SCIENCES  Study phenomena and processes as well as objects in nature and provide systematic information of the non-human and physical aspects of the natural world.  Biology, physics, chemistry, zoology, geology, and astronomy. SOCIAL SCIENCES  Involved in the study of society, social relations, and human behaviour.  The social scientist makes use of the methods and tools used by the natural scientist in the study of social behaviour and social phenomena and their subjects are human beings who can and do talk back.  Economics, political science, psychology, sociology, anthropology, and history. DIVISION: PURE SCIENCES  Concerned with the pursuit of knowledge and empirical truth and the development of theory. Its goal is to discover truth.  The pure scientist derives intellectual pleasure in advancing knowledge  Economics, political science, anthropology, and sociology APPLIED SCIENCE  Directed toward the use of scientific knowledge and theory for the solution of practical problems.  Social work, education, public administration, ethics, and management FACTORS TO DEVELOPMENT OF SOCIOLOGY 1. THE TURMOIL OF THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION  By the middle of the 19th century, Europe was changing from agriculture to factory production. This violently changed people's lives. Masses of people were forced off the land. Moving to the cities in search for work, they found anonymity, crowding, filth, and poverty. Their ties to the land, to the generations that had lived there before them and to their way of life were abruptly broken.  They also found horrible working conditions: low pay, exhausting hours, dangerous work, foul smoke, and much noise. To survive, families had to permit their children to work in these same conditions; some children were even chained to factory machines to make certain they could not run away. 2. THE SUCCESS OF AMERICAN AND FRENCH REVOLUTIONS  These encouraged people to rethink social life. New ideas arose, including the conviction that individuals possess inalienable rights.  As this new idea caught fire, many traditional Western monarchies gave way to more democratic forms and to other manifestations of political change. The ready answers of tradition, including religion, no longer sufficed. 3. IMPERIALISM  The Europeans had been successful in conquering many parts of the world. Their new colonial empires, stretching from Asia through the North America, exposed them to radically different cultures. Startled by these contrasting ways of life, they began to ask why cultures differed. 4. THE SUCCESS OF THE NATURAL SCIENCES  Just as the time when people were questioning fundamental aspects of their social worlds, the scientific method--using objective, systematic observations to test PIONEERS OF SOCIOLOGY AUGUSTE COMTE POSITIVISM – using scientific methods to reveal the laws by which societies and individuals interact. HARRIET MARTINEAU First woman sociologist Illustrations of POLITICAL ECONOMY that educated people about principles of economy. Credited with the first systematic methodological international comparisons of social institutions. Th Theories--was being tried out in chemistry and physics. Many secrets that had been concealed in nature were uncovered. KARL MARX German philosopher and economist SOCIAL CONFLICT COMMUNIST MANIFESTO – looks at the society as a result of struggles of different classes over the means of production. HERBERT SPENCER The STUDY OF SOCIOLOGY He favoured that allowed market forces to control capitalism. GEORGE SIMMEL Addressed topics such as social conflict, the function of money, individual identity in the city life, and the European fears of outsiders. MICRO-LEVEL THEORIES Cultures are the creative capacities of individuals. EMILE DURKHEIM Helped establish the first European department of Sociology SOCIAL FACTS determine whether the society is healthy or pathological. Suicide is caused by socioreligious forces rather than to individual or psychological causes. GEORGE HERBERT MEAD SOCIAL SELF The mind and self are developed as a result of social processes. How individual views himself is based to a very large extent on interactions with others. Symbolic-interactionism and the micro-level approach MAX WEBER VERSTEHEN – to grasp by insight; to understand in a deeper way; understanding form the insider’s point of view. Proposed the philosophy of ANTIPOSITIVISM whereby social researchers would strive to subjectively represent social processes, cultural norms, and social values. C. WRIGHT MILLS SOCIAL IMAGINATION – seeing the general in the particular and seeing the strange in familiar Power Elite DEFINITION OF SOCIOLOGY It is the science of society and social interaction taking place among individuals in a social group. It focuses on all kinds of social interaction, social acts, social relationships, social organization, and social processes. EMILE DURKHEIM - pointed out that sociology’s social scope is social facts such as facts of religion, law, moral ideas, and economics. SOCIOLOGIST study human behaviour, interaction, and organization. They observe the activity of social, religious, political, and economic groups, organizations, and institutions. They are interested in knowing the cause of social facts, the function of social institutions, and the meaning of social interaction. VARIOUS AREAS OF CONCERN OF SOCIOLOGY SOCIAL ORGANIZATIONrefers to the network of relationships in a group and how they interconnect. It involves the study of social groups, institutions, ethnic relations, social stratification, social mobility, etc. SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGYstudies human nature and personality as the product of group life. It also touches on the study of social attitudes and collective behaviour. culture. Uses two techniques such as:Ethnography and Ethnology. 3. ARCHAEOLOGY - reconstructs the cultural events of the past since the development of culture through the material remains left by people. It involves the study of ancient people and past phases of present- day civilization. 4. LINGUISTICS - This is the study of human language, its complex system of symbols and its development. 5. APPLIED ANTHROPOLOGY - is focused on the application of ideas and information gathered for the solution of specific problems to achieve particular ends. The ideas gathered are used for policy recommendations, development planning, and advocacy. PIONEERS OF ANTHROPOLOGY  JANE GOODALL, DIAN FOSSEY, BIRUTE GALDIKAS - Primatologists observe primates both in their natural habitats and in the laboratory. Pioneering work in observing primates in the field. They all lived in damp, solitary, and difficult conditions and had to wait patiently for months before they could get close enough to the animals to understand their social behaviour.  DONALD JOHANSON - best known for his discovery of “Lucy,” one of the most complete skeletons of Australopithecus afarensis known, in the Afar region of Ethiopia in 1974.Lucy is part of the new species Australopithecus afarensis, a member of the human family or hominin that walk the earth 3.2 million years ago.  A FORENSIC ANTHROPOLOGIST EXAMINING HUMAN REMAINS - forensic investigations have been ongoing trying to locate the thousands of people murdered by the ruthless mitary regime that operated from 1576 to 1983.  ARCHEOLOGICAL SERVICES INC - in response to increasing public awareness of the importance of the province’s heritage. It is the largest private archaeological and cultural heritage consulting company in Ontario. PERSPECTIVES OF ANTHROPOLOGY A. CULTURAL RELATIVISM was a response to cultural evolutionism (the theory that all cultures evolved from "savage" to "barbarian to civilized,") which assumed an ethnocentric view that nineteenth- century European culture was superior to all others. B. FUNCTIONAL THEORY is the idea that every belief, action, or relationship in a culture functions to meet the needs of individuals. This theory stresses the importance of interdependence among all things within a social system to ensure its long-term survival. C. CULTURAL MATERIALISM was pioneered by Arvin Harris in 1960s, states that materials or conditions within the environment (for example, climate, food supply, geography) influence how a culture develops, creating the ideas and ideology of a culture. D. FEMINIST ANTHROPOLOGY to ensure that female voices were heard and included in research. They also compared cultures to see how many were dominated by men, how many were dominated by women, and how many were egalitarian. E. POSTMODERNISM is the belief that it is impossible to have any "true" knowledge about the world. It rejects the idea of objective truth. Postmodernists try to deconstruct, or break down, what a society believes to be true. DEFINITION OF SOCIETY Latin word socius, which means an association, togetherness, and group life. a large group or a collectively of people that share more or less common and distinct culture, occupying a certain geographical locality, with the feeling of identity and belongingness , having all the necessary social arrangements or institutions to sustain it . A society is an autonomous grouping of people who inhabit a common territory, have a common culture and are linked to one another. BASIC FEATURES OF SOCIETY  A relatively large grouping of people in terms of size  Members share common and distinct culture.  Definite, limited space or territory  Feeling of identity and belongingness among people  Members are considered to have a common origin and common historical experience  Members may speak a common mother tongue or a major language that serve as a national heritage DIFFERENT VIEWS OF SOCIETY KARL MARX - understood human history as a long and complex process. The story of society spins around social conflict that arises from how people produce material goods. MAX WEBER - the power of ideas also shapes society. Contrasted the traditional thinking of simple societies with the rational thought that dominates our modern way of life. EMILE DURKHEIM - helped us to see the different ways that traditional and modern societies hang together. GERHARD AND JEAN LENSKI - understand the differences among societies that have flourished and declined throughout human history. SOCIO-CULTURAL EVOLUTION refers to the changes that occur as a society acquires new technology. EVOLUTION OF SOCIETIES 1. HUNTING AND GATHERING SOCIETIES  Simplest of all kinds of societies  They spend most of their time looking for game and collecting plants to eat. They also must be nomadic moving on to find new sources of vegetation or to follow migrating animals.  Hunters and gatherers use simple weapons like Spears, bow, arrow, and stone knife but rarely do they use them to wage war. Their real enemy is the forces of nature. 2. HORTICULTURAL SOCIETIES  People subsist through the cultivation of plants for food consumption without the use of mechanized tools or the use of animals to pull plows.  Horticulturalist formed settlements, moving on only when they depleted the soil. 3. PASTORAL SOCIETIES  A group of people who live a nomadic or semi- nomadic lifestyle while also herding and caring for agricultural animals.  The term ''pastoral'' comes from the Latin word pastor, meaning 'shepherd. TRANSHUMANCE - form of pastoralism or nomadism organized around the migration of livestock between mountain pastures. PASTORAL NOMADISM –it is a way of life of peoples who do not live continually in the same place but move cyclically or periodically. 4. AGRARIAN SOCIETIES - the dawn of civilization. It encourages permanent settlements. There is expansion of land area and population; surfacing of more specialization. 5. INDUSTRIAL SOCIETIES - Characterized by the use of advanced technology, including machinery, to mass produce goods and services. It had significant social, economic, and cultural impacts, transforming societies in ways that were previously unimaginable. 6. POST – INDUSTRIAL SOCIETIES–production is based on computers and other electronic device that create, process, store and apply information  People develop information based skills  Uses less and less of its labor force GROUPS AND ORGANIZATION COLLECTION OF PEOPLE SOCIAL GROUP  Two or more people who identify and interact with one another  Made up of people with shared experiences, loyalties and interest  Think of themselves as special “WE” CATEGORY  People with a status in common  They know others who hold the same status, the vast majority are strangers to one another  E.g homeowners, soldiers, millionaires, Roman Catholic CROWD  Temporary, loosely formed collections of people  Too anonymous and transitory to qualify as groups  People may interact but not very much  E.g students sitting tohether in a lecture hall AGGREGATE  Cluster of people who may be on close physical proximity but do not interact with one another  They may look at each other, brushed shoulders or any parts of their bodies unintentionally but they are not concerned with one another  E.g people sharing an escalator, lining up for a movie ticket THE SOCIAL GROUP  interact on a fairly regular basis thru communication. They affect and influence each other  Develop a structure where each member assumes a specific status and adopts a particular role. Each member accepts certain duties and responsibilities and is entitled to certain privileges  Members of the group agree to some extent on important norms, goals , and values are agreed upon  Feel a sense of identity. They think of themselves as united and interdependent, somewhat apart from other people TYPES OF SOCIAL GROUP 1. Groups according to SOCIAL TIES PRIMARY GROUP  Most fundamental unit of human society.  Long lasting group whose members have intimate personal, continuous face to face relationships  Characterized by strong ties of love and affection, personal identity personal identity with the group, mutuality of interest, cooperation and “we” feeling  (CHARLES HORTON COOLEY) small group whose members share personal and enduring relationships.  Primary relationships, people feel they can “be themselves” without worrying about impression they making  think of their group as an end in itself rather than as a means to other ends  tend to view each other as unique and irreplaceable  e.g families, gangs, friendships SECONDARY GROUP  Individual comes in contact later in life  Large and impersonal social group whose members pursue a specific goal or activity  Characterized by impersonal, business-like, contractual, formal, and casual relationship  Short term, beginning and ending without particular significance  Include more people than primary groups. DO NOT think themselves as “WE”  Primary groups display personal orientation, secondary groups have a goal orientation  People engage because people need other people for the satisfaction of their complex needs or because they have certain obligations toward them as in business  We tend to “keep score”, mindful of what we give others and what we receive in return – remain formal and polite  E.g industrial workers, business associates faculty staff 2. Groups According to SELF IDENTIFICATION IN GROUP  Social unit in which individuals feel at home and with which they identify  Have “WE” feeling for they are similar in certain ways  Social group commanding a member’s esteem and loyalty  Members generally hold overly positive views of themselves and unfairly negative views of various out groups  POWER shapes intergroup relations. Powerful in group can define others as lower status out group OUT GROUP  Social unit to which individuals do not belong due to differences in certain social FOLKWAYS - norms for routine, casual interaction - draw a line between right and rude LAWS - institutionalized norms that guide members of the society - authorized institution serves as agent of implementation of laws SOCIAL CONTROL  members of society encourage conformity to norms  shame - painful sense that others disapprove of our actions  guilt - negative judgment we make ourselves CHARACTERISTICS OF CULTURE  Edward Burnett Tylor proposed that cultures- systems of human behavior and thought-obey natural laws and can therefore be studied scientifically.  Culture, focuses on attributes that people acquire not through biological inheritance but by growing up in a particular society where they are exposed to a specific cultural tradition, remains useful.  Enculturation is the process by which a child learns his or her culture. CULTURE IS LEARNED  people create, remember, and deal with ideas. They grasp and apply specific systems of symbolic meaning CULTURE IS TRANSMITTED  transmitted through observation  modify their behavior not just because other people tell them to but because of their own observations and growing awareness of what their culture considers right and wrong  Culture also is absorbed unconsciously CULTURE IS SHARED  Culture is an attribute not of individuals per se but as individuals as members of groups.  they are individuals first and members of groups second  this idea is the opposite of the lesson being taught in this chapter about culture.  Without doubt we have distinctive features because we are individuals, but we have other distinct attributes because we are members of groups. CULTURE IS SYMBOLIC  (Leslie White) Culture is dependent upon symbolling. Culture consists of tools, implements, utensils, clothing, ornaments, customs, institutions, beliefs, rituals, games, works of art, language, etc.  culture originated when our ancestors acquired the ability to use symbols, that is, to originate and bestow meaning on a thing or event, and, correspondingly, to grasp and appreciate such meanings.  something verbal or nonverbal, within a particular language or culture that comes to stand for something else.  usually linguistic. CULTURE SEIZES NATURE  Culture imposes itself on nature  Culture takes the natural biological urges and teaches us how to express them in particular ways.  habits are parts of cultural traditions that have converted natural acts into cultural customs.  People need to nat. But what we eat how we eat where we eat, and why we eat, are all determined by culture. CULTURE IS ALL-ENCOMPASSING  culture includes much more than refinement, taste, sophistication, education, and appreciation of the fine arts  most interesting and significant cultural forces are those that affect people every day of our lives, particularly those that influence children during enculturation  Culture as defined anthropologically, encompasses features that are sometimes regarded as trivial or unworthy of serious study, such as "popular culture." CULTURE IS INTEGRATED  Cultures are not haphazard collections of customs and beliefs  Cultures are integrated, patterned systems.  If one part of the system (eg, the economy) changes, other parts change as well  Cultures are integrated not simply by their dominant economic activities and related social patterns but also by sets of values, ideas, symbols, and judgments  Cultures train their individual members to share certain personality traits. A set of characteristics central or core values (key, basic, or central values) integrates each culture and helps distinguish it from others PEOPLE USE CULTURE ACTIVELY  Ideal Culture - what people say they should do and what they say they do.  Real Culture - actual behavior as observed by the social scientist. CULTURE IS ADAPTIVE AND MALADAPTIVE  adaptive behavior that offers short-term benefits to individuals may also harm the environment and threaten the group's long- term survival.  despite the crucial role of human adaptation, cultural traits and patterns can also be maladaptive, threatening the group's existence (survival and reproduction OTHER CONCEPTS IN THE STUDY OF CULTURE MULTICULTURALISM AND PLURALISM MONOCULTURAL  society or community characterized by a single dominant culture.  there is a lack of significant diversity in terms of cultural backgrounds, values, and traditions. MULTICULTURAL  society or community that embraces and consists of various cultural groups and individuals with distinct backgrounds, traditions, and often languages. PLURALISM  state in which multiple cultures, ethnicities, or groups coexist harmoniously within a society.  It emphasizes mutual respect and recognition of different cultural identities while maintaining a sense of unity and shared civic value HIGH CULTURE AND POPULAR CULTURE HIGH CULTURE  cultural patterns that distinguish a society's elite  derived from the term "highbrow A centuries ago, people Influenced by phrenology-the bogus nineteenth century theory that personality was affected by the shape of human skull praised the tastes of those termed "highbrows" while dismissing the appetites of "lowbrows POPULAR CULTURE  designates cultural patterns that are widespread among a society’s population  high culture is superior to popular culture  We should resist such judgments for two reasons:  First, neither elites nor ordinary people share all the same tastes and interests, people in both categories differ in numerous ways.  Second, do we praise high culture because it is inherently better than popular culture, or simply because its supporters have more money, power and prestige SUBCULTURE  cultural patterns that set apart some segment of a society's population  source not only of pleasing variety but also of tension and outright violence.  involve not just difference but hierarchy.  what we view as "dominant" or "mainstream culture are patterns favored by powerful segments of the population, while we view the lives of disadvantaged people as "subculture." COUNTERCULTURE  cultural patterns that strongly oppose those widely accepted within a society.  ISSUES IN UNDERSTANDING CULTURE ETHNOCENTRISM, CULTURAL RELATIVISM AND XENOCENTRISM ETHNOCENTRISM  practice of judging another culture by the standards of one's own culture CULTURAL RELATIVISM  practice of evaluating a culture by its own standards XENOCENTRISM  way of looking at our own culture as inferior resulting to a motivation to shift to a more superior culture. CULTURE CHANGE CULTURAL INTEGRATION  close relationships among various elements of a cultural system CULTURAL LAG  the fact that some cultural elements change more quickly than others, which may disrupt a cultural system CAUSES OF CULTURE CHANGE 1. INVENTION  process of creating new cultural elements. 2. DISCOVERY  involves recognizing and better understanding something already in existence-from a distant star, to the foods of another culture, to the athletic prowess of women. paper in 1898 and thus discovered radium. 3. DIFFUSION  the spread of cultural traits from one society to another. SOCIAL AND CULTURAL ISSUES SOCIAL ISSUE  sometimes called a social problem  any condition or behavior that has negative consequences for large numbers of people  generally categorized as a condition or behavior that needs to be addressed Objective component: For any condition or behavior to be considered a social problem, it must have negative consequences. Example: Climate Change Subjective component: There must be a perception that a condition or behavior needs to be addressed for it to be considered a social problem. Rubington and Weinberg (2010) stated that this component lies at the heart of the social constructionist view of social problems Example: The history of attention given to rape and sexual assault in the United States before and after the 1970s The social constructionist view raises an interesting question: When is a social problem a social problem?  According to some sociologists who adopt this view, negative conditions and behaviors are not a social problem unless they are recognized as such by policymakers, large numbers of lay citizens, or other segments of our society.  Other sociologists say that negative conditions and behaviors should be considered a social problem even if they receive little or no attention. Perception matters at least as much as reality, and sometimes more so. In line with this belief: SOCIAL CONSTRUCTIONISM  emphasizes that citizens, interest groups, policymakers, and other parties often compete to influence popular perceptions of many types of conditions and behaviors.  its emphasis on perception has a provocative implication: just as a condition or behavior may not be considered a social problem even if there is strong basis for this perception, so may a condition or behavior be considered a social problem even if there is little or no basis for this perception.  A historical example about this: women in college during the 1800s THE NATURAL HISTORY OF A SOCIAL PROBLEM Spector & Kitsuse (2001) - most social problems go through a natural history consisting of several stages of their development Stage 1: Emergence and Claims Making  A social problem arises when a social entity, such as a social change group, news media, or influential politicians, calls attention to an undesirable condition or behavior and tries to influence public perceptions of the problem, its reasons, and possible solutions.  This process is crucial in turning a condition or behavior into a social problem. Some social entities succeed more than others due to their resources and influence. Most studies of this stage of a social problem focuses on the efforts of social change groups and the larger social movement to which they may belong, as most social problems begin with bottom-up efforts from such groups. Stage 2: Legitimacy  Once a social group succeeds in turning a condition or behavior into a social problem, it usually tries to persuade the government to take some action spending and policymaking to address the problem. As part of this effort, it tries to convince the government that its claims about the problem are legitimate that they make sense and are supported by empirical (research-based) evidence. To the extent that the group succeeds in convincing the government of the legitimacy of its claims, government action is that much more likely to occur. Stage 3: Renewed Claims Making  Social change groups often find government action limited in addressing social problems, reserting their demands and criticizing the government’s response. This stage often involves tension between the groups and their