chapter1-3 - Chapter#1 Groups and Relationships A...

Chapter #1
Groups and Relationships:
A Sociological Sampler
I. What is Sociology?
1) Definition :
“The scientific study of the
patterns and processes of
human social relations”
2) Comparing/Contrasting
Sociology with other social
sciences
3) Micro vs. Macro-Sociology

II. Sociology as a social science
1) What is a theory?
(Testability/Falsifiability)
2) What is causation?
a)Time-ordering
b)Correlation
c)Nonspuriousness
3) What is Research?
4) Measurement _
a)Measurement Error/Bias
b)Studying self-aware
subjects
c)Validation research,
unobtrusive measures, etc.
5) Units of analysis
6) The social scientific process
a)Wonder
b) Conceptualize

c)Theorize
d)Operationalize
e) Hypothesize
f) Observe
g)Analyze + Interpret
h)Assess

III. The Discovery of Social Facts
and the Historical Emergence of
Sociology
1) Moral Statistics : The work of
Andre Guerry, Adolph Quetelet,
Henry Morselli, and others
2) Some important early
discoveries
a)Stability
b)Variation
c)Upward trends
3) Emile Durkheim’s Study of
Suicide Rates
4) The Sociological Imagination
(C. Wright Mills)

Chapter #2: Concepts for Soclal and
Cultural Theories
I. What is a Society?
a. Definition : any relatively self-
contained and self-sufficient
group of people who are united
by social relationships
II. Social Structure
a. Definition : Characteristics of
a group rather than an individual
b. Examples of Social Structure
i. Sex-ratios
ii. Population density
iii. Age composition