Foundations Of Sociology

[Su Mcdowall]

Thereis not a sharp line between meaningful action and reactive action, actions for which actors do not intend a meaning. A great deal of interesting and important behavior for the sociologist to study, especially when we talk about traditional actions, lies between intentional and reactive action. In some cases, such as mystical experiences, we cannot hope to understand the meanings of the action because the actors do not understand the actions themselves. It is often necessary to separate out those aspects which can be understood from those elements which cannot.

The goal of all our interpretations is to find evidence. This evidence can take a rational or an empathetic form. Rational evidence is obtained in the case of actions in which the intended meanings can be intellectually understood wholly and clearly. Empathetic evidence is obtained when actions and their attendant feelings and lived experience are completely relived in the sociological imagination. For the first, every interpretation of a rationally directed purposive action, is quite clearly evidence.

But even of the second, we can learn almost as much about the world from this empathetic understanding. For example, we can try to relive empathetically actions of extreme religious devotion, even as they go against our own beliefs. We can gain some understanding of the intended meanings through empathy, allowing for the influence of various emotions (anxiety, anger, ambition, envy, jealousy, love, pride, lust, etc.) on the course of the action and the means used to perform the action. It is even possible to understand many irrational and emotional actions as deviations from pure types of action that would happen if everything proceeded in a rationally purposive way.

Operations and actions which are meaningless must still be taken into account if they cause or are caused by, promote or place obstacles in the way of, social actions. Even inanimate objects, such as machines, can have meanings related to their use by humans in social interactions. The flooding of a river may be a natural occurrence, but the way humans respond (for example, by moving away from areas likely to flood) is an important object of sociological study. Or take the way we deal with death, and entire cycle of life, from infancy to old age. In all cases, the sociologists; task is to interpret the meanings humans give to their actions and by doing so to understand the actions themselves.

Understanding can mean two things. In the first, direct understanding, we comprehend the meaning an actor gives. For example, we understand an outburst of anger, seeing evidence of it in a red face or exclamation. We can directly understand the action of aiming a gun. But understanding can be more than direct; it can be explanatory. We understand something aiming a gun not merely directly but also more deeply in terms of motive, if we know other facts about why the person is aiming the gun. If he has been ordered to do so in battle, for example, that is a rational motive; on the other hand, if he is aiming at someone out of fear, this is an irrational motive. To understand sociologically means to grasp the complex of meanings surrounding the specific observed action.

But all of our interpretations are hypotheses about the world. We cannot know for sure if our interpretation is correct. As with all hypotheses, it is crucial to have some way of checking our interpretation. The best way to do this would be by experiment, using the scientific method. Statistical methods can give some approximate results, but only in cases that are measurable in which numerical relationships are possible to establish. Apart from these methods, then, the best option is to compare as many events as possible, keeping as many things similar as possible and investigating one particular point, motive or cause.

Certain facts of life, such as birth and death or the flooding of a river, do not count as sociological because they lack the meaningfulness derived from motives described above. This does not mean they are less important, however. But they do operate in an area distinct from that of meaningful social action. They are conditions of action, or obstacles to action, or promoters of action, but not social actions themselves.

Sociological laws are but theories generated by interpretative sociology. They are observationally verified statements of the likelihood of an expectation of a certain outcome from a particular social action. Sociological laws are most intelligible when the outcome results from a rational pursuit of a clear goal and when the means-end context is clear.

Classical Sociological Theory and Foundations of American Sociology Copyright 2018 by Allison L. Hurst is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

In this module, we first establish a foundational understanding of what sociology is and review its history. Then, we will learn about the main theoretical perspectives central to sociology, and we will see how they can be applied in the real world.

You will come to find that sociology is pertinent to every aspect of your life. You may see yourself as an individual, but by virtue of your gender, race, class, sexual orientation, ethnicity, religion, or even consumption habits, you are also a member of several social groups, all of which are interacting constantly. You also operate as in individual within society and thus encounter a variety of social institutions such as government, the economy, religion, education, and the criminal justice system in your everyday life.

Did you know that the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., Ronald Reagan, Robin Williams, and First Lady Michelle Obama were all sociology majors? Chances are good that you will find the subject fascinating, too!

All proposals must be submitted in accordance with the requirements specified in this funding opportunity and in the NSF Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPPG) that is in effect for the relevant due date to which the proposal is being submitted. It is the responsibility of the proposer to ensure that the proposal meets these requirements. Submitting a proposal prior to a specified deadline does not negate this requirement.

Principal Investigators should select PD 98-1331 in the program announcement/solicitation block on the proposal cover sheet for submission of regular research projects to the sociology program. Projects are evaluated using the two foundation-wide criteria, intellectual merit and broader impacts. In assessing the intellectual merit of proposed research, four components are key to securing support from the Sociology Program: (1) the issues investigated must be theoretically grounded; (2) the research should be based on empirical observation or be subject to empirical validation or illustration; (3) the research design must be appropriate to the questions asked; and (4) the proposed research must advance our understanding of social processes, structures and methods.

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Hurst limits central coverage to Marx, Durkheim, and Max Weber, the ubiquitous three white, male, European theorists of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This is an unfortunate limitation for instructors seeking to destabilize the canon and...read more

Hurst documents everything thoroughly and her sources are easy to locate. Although I disagree with the framing of Marx, Durkheim, and Weber as an exclusive set of founding theorists, their ideas are represented accurately. I especially appreciated the thorough and careful referencing. Really user friendly and easy to confirm.

Although there is some interpretation that goes with the framing of any academic subject, I think the author does a nice job of documenting sources and providing reasonable justifications for the claims made in this book.

The organization is sensible, following chronological order. The book begins with Marx and Engels and traces the history of classical theory through Durkheim and, then, to Weber. In Part IV, the early American sociologists are similarly discussed in chronological order. This makes perfect sense, given that contemporary theory builds on or reacts to years of previous classical theory.

The book predominantly focuses on Marx, Durkheim, and Weber. For a long time, those have been "the big three" when teaching sociology. However, attempts at trying to decolonize sociology, more emphasis is needed on other incredibly important and...read more

The book predominantly focuses on Marx, Durkheim, and Weber. For a long time, those have been "the big three" when teaching sociology. However, attempts at trying to decolonize sociology, more emphasis is needed on other incredibly important and foundational contributors to sociology. The section on "early american sociology" does highlight others of central importance, such as Charlotte Perkins Gilman and DuBois, I think more work from them would be beneficial.

The book does provide excerpts from important works by each theorist, which is excellent for teaching so that everything is in one place, as opposed to having students buy multiple books. The biographical sketches were good.

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