Download Society Affect - Introduction to Sociology - Lecture Notes and more Study notes Introduction to Sociology in PDF only on Docsity! Summary of Lecture Course 1. What is Sociology 2. How Does Society Affect Us? 3. How Does Society Control Us ? 4. How Do We Become Social 5. Gender as Social Process docsity.com What is Sociology 1. The Sociological Imagination makes sociology distinct from both other human sciences and from our common-sense understanding The central claim of the sociological imagination is that we live in a socially constructed reality 2. Social Reality We become aware of this reality by placing human experience in the context of real social structures. That is, actual, tho’ often unrecognised patterns, behaviour and relationships. 3. Social Modernity These patterns take a distinctive form in modern societies re urbanisation, industrialisation etc. These affect the way we live; re geographical and social mobility, loss of community, growth of impersonal relationships, class conflict docsity.com How Do We Become Social How does society affect that which we consider most ‘personal’ – our identity, our sense of self? 1. The internal conversation between the ‘I’ and ‘Me’, the latter expressing the attitude of the ‘Generalised Other’. Consequently, at the level of interaction we develop the ability to see ourselves (‘I’) as others would (‘Me’), i.e. others reactions are a looking glass for the self 2. At the structural level we are required to act and think as individuals – through which society, tho’ real, becomes invisible to us. 3. A failure to present a socially approved self through interaction performance creates the danger of stigmatisation. If we threaten the social order through our discrepant appearance we risk being excluded as a deficient self. Hence the development of strategies to manage actual or potential sources of stigmatisation docsity.com Gender as Social Process The instance of gender was used to illustrate main themes in the course 1. Natural and Social; Roles; Identity and Deviance. The significance of the distinction between ‘sex (physiology) and gender (culture). How the latter is constructed from the former through social rules and defined as social roles. How we become ‘male’ or ‘female’ through socialisation. The stigmatisation of those whose appearance and/or behaviour does not fit the gender role and the use of a range of corrective and coping strategies to bring the biological self into line with social expectations. Adaptive deviance – challenges to dominant definitions of the gendered self through sexual subcultures 2. Social Structure and Identity. The social reality of gender is maintained in part through the organisation and distribution of work. The significance of the separation between home (female) and work (male). The organisation of work and workplaces through assumptions of the gender of the worker. Female paid labour as typically the extension of, and subordinate to, domestic work. Growth of the service sector creating a demand for women’s ‘natural’ skills whilst confirming their domestic aptitude; the second shift social change as extending rather than transforming the female identity docsity.com
