Unit_1._Introduction_to_Sociology_[Autosaved].pptx

This presentation is well prepared for all nursing students so that they can pass with a distinction any sociology.
This is it an introduction to Sociology

1. Introduction to Sociology  

2. Sociology as a Discipline   Each of us is a social being. We are born, fully develop into human beings, and typically live out our lives in a social environment .

3. Sociologists study the influence of social factors on behaviour

4. Latin and Greek word Socia meaning society Logia meaning ‘study of …..’ Therefore, sociology simply means ____________________________

5. What is Sociology? Sociology is the systematic study of society and social interaction [Kendal 2012].

6. Sociology – a disciplined approach (which is scientific in nature) to understanding society and social life. Sociologists study patterning of interaction among people, with an emphasis on group contexts and broad societal forces ( Chalfant & Labeff . 1988)

7. The Focus of Sociology the group not individual (compare with psychology). interaction between people – the ways in which people act towards, respond to, and influence one another. What we think, how we feel, and what we say and do are shaped by our interactions with other people.

8. A basic premise of sociology is that human behaviour is shaped by the group to which people belong and by the social interaction that takes place within these groups.

9. Sociology as a discipline concerns itself with: Social acts Social relationships Social organization Community Institutions in society.

10. Sociology and Common Sense Common sense knowledge guides ordinary conduct in everyday life. However, many common sense notions are actually myths.

11. Common sense refers to ideas that are so completely taken for granted that they have never been seriously questioned and seen to be sensible to any reasonable person [Ballantine & Roberts 2015]

12. The difference between common sense and sociology is that sociologists test their beliefs by gathering information and analysing the evidence in a planned, objective, systematic, and replicable (repeatable) scientific way. Example 

13. Circle True or False Lower-class youths are more likely to commit crimes than middle-class youths according to statistics. T/F People who are regular Christian church goers are less likely to be involved in theft than people who do not go to church. T/F

14. Sociology challenges the obvious and assesses the evidence and arguments for and against any particular position which is advanced.

15. Sociology and Critical Thinking Thinking sociologically is a form of critical thinking that involves: Objectively assessing ideas, statements, and information. Defining problems,

16. Looking beneath the surface of commonly held assumptions, Questioning assumptions, Logically and systematically analysing evidence, Recognizing biases,

17. Avoiding knee-jerk reactions to issues and arguments, Forming reasonable solutions to problems, Developing tolerance for a certain amount uncertainty and ambiguity.

18. Sociological thinking in relation to health : Provides new ways of seeing and understanding aspects of health and health care that you previously took for granted or never even noticed.

19. Offers an opportunity to think about and adjust your own beliefs and care practices by taking into account the often-neglected sociological factors and societal contexts that influence health and illness and our professional responses to it.

20. It will challenge the status quo and questions or exposes established social arrangements and unequal power relations.

21. In order to ‘think sociologically’ in your care practice you will need to develop systematic doubts about everyday common sense and taken-for-granted explanations that are part of the contemporary health field.

22. Sociological thinking required taking a closer look at our social world.

23. Simply put, sociological thinking involves asking questions and questioning answers.

24. The Sociological Imagination Sociology is a discipline that tries to place individual experience in a larger social context.  

25. C . Wright Mills (1959) called this sociological imagination: t he ability to see our private experience, personal difficulties, and achievements as, in part, a reflection of structural arrangements of society and the times in which we live.

26. He suggested that many of the things we experience as individuals are really beyond our control. They have to do with society as a whole, the way it is organized, and its historical development

27. Society as a whole: personal troubles versus public issues The sociological imagination helps us distinguish between personal troubles and public issues.   Public issues are problems that affect a large number of people. Example Widespread child malnutrition in a community as a result of high prices of energy-protein food

28. P ersonal troubles are private problems that affect individuals and these problems must be solved by individuals within their immediate social setting . Example Only two nursing students failing end –of –semester examinations out of 150 is a personal trouble for the two students.

29. However, sometimes personal troubles may be related to public issues. Example: The individual dying of kidney failure faces a very personal tragedy, and yet this is also a public matter if we look at lack of both human and material resources in our hospitals

30. The way society is organized The way society is organized based on social factors such as gender and class has an effect on peoples’ behaviour.

31. Example: Class: poor living and working conditions make people sicker, and poorer people die earlier than their counterparts at the top of the social system. Gender: gender relations where it is mostly women who are disadvantaged in relation to health issues.

32. Historical perspective It allows us to understand the distinctive nature of our present society by comparing it with the past. The way society is structured and organised is located in history.

33. Examples Historical changes in patterns of social life can explain changes in patterns of illness and disease.   Example ____________________________________________ Doctors take a patient’s history: a patient’s or client’s personal biography locates the person’s experiences and behaviour historically.

34. Key points Be sceptical, questioning and critical Focus on how ‘the social’ affects health and health care (and social life generally) Contest ‘individual’ explanations of health and illness experience. Put issues into a historical perspective

35. The Subject Matter of Sociology The emergence of sociology The central ideas of the major pioneers of sociology, to a significant extent, continue to be central concerns today.

36. Auguste Comte (1798 – 1857) The founding father of sociology Positivism: the belief that society can be studied and analysed using scientific methods through: observation, comparison, experimentation, historical method

37. An understanding of society requires a concern for: sources of order and continuity (social statics) sources of change (social dynamics).

38. Herbert Spencer (1820 – 1903) He used an organic analogy to explain social stability; like human beings, society is composed of inter-rated parts that work together to promote its wellbeing and survival.

39. An individual has a brain, a stomach, a nervous system, limbs etc. a society has an economy, religion, politics, education, and family.

40. Just as these parts make essential contributions to the functioning of the human body, social institutions are crucial for a society’s functioning.

41. Karl Marx (1818 – 1883) He was repulsed by the poverty and inequality that characterised the 19 th Century.  Poverty was not a natural or a God-given condition but poverty and inequality were man-made condition fostered by private property and capitalism.

42. All industrial societies ultimately would contain only two social classes: the bourgeoisie: those who own the means for producing wealth in industrial society the proletariat: those who labour for the bourgeoisie at subsistence wages.

43. Class conflict – conflict between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat which would produce a classless society without exploitation of the power-less by the powerful.

44. Emile Durkheim (1858 – 1917) Central to Durkheim’s sociology is the concept of social integration.  Social integration refers to the density of social relationships, literally the number of relationships that exist among a collection of people.

45. The more people are connected to one another, the stronger and more meaningful are the sentiments that emerge out of these relationships.

46. Durkhiem argued that social integration is necessary for the maintenance of the social order and for the happiness of individuals.

47. In The Division of Labour in Society (1893/1964), Durkheim examined social solidarity, the tendency of people to maintain social relationships.

48. Mechanical Solidarity Social unity that comes from a consensus of values and norms, strong social pressure for conformity, and depend on tradition and family.

49. Organic solidarity Social unity based on a complex of highly specialised roles that make members of a society dependent on one another. Found in modern society.

50.   In his classic study of suicide, Durkheim demonstrated that social life must be explained by social factors rather than by individualistic ones.

51. He was among the first to stress the importance of using reliable statistics to examine theories of social life.

52. Max Weber (1864 – 1920) Knowing patterns of behaviour is less important than knowing the meaning people attach to behaviour.  

53. Weber’s emphasis was on the subjective meanings of human action which could be accomplished through a method he called: Vesterhen – understanding the behaviour of others by putting oneself mentally in their place.

54. He strongly counselled sociologists to conduct: Value-free sociology – concern itself with establishing what is, not what ought to be.

55. Value-free research – personal biases are not allowed to affect its conduct and outcome.

56. Authority - in particular the rational-legal authority based on impersonal rules that have been rationally worked out and formalised.