Read the summary and the most important questions on Sociology | 9781509539239 | Anthony Giddens; Philip W. Sutton

• 1 What is Sociology

• 1.2 The sociological imagination

• What do we mean with sociological imagination?

  • Famous phrase by American sociologist C. Wright Mills in 1970.
    
  • Step outside of the immediacy of your own personal circumstances to see (or imagine) things in a wider social context.

• 1.3 Studying people and societies

• When sociologists speak of a society, what do they mean?

  A group of people living in a bounded territory who share common cultural features such as language, values and basic norms of behaviour.

• When we "think sociologically," we think about social life through 3 concepts.Which 3 concepts?

  • Through the concept of society.
    
  • Through the concept of institutions.
  • Through the concept of social structures. 

• American sociologist C. Wright Mills distinguishes issues into 'personal trouble' and 'public issues.'What do they mean and what is the difference?

  • Personal trouble is an issue that may be emotionally traumatic for individuals who go through it.
    
  • A public issue arrises when a problem expresses broad economic and social trends.
  • The difference is that although a problem can be a personal trouble in its core, the repercussions of that problem could affect many people, making it a public issue.

• "For sociologists there is no such thing as the 'isolated individual.' What is an isolated individual?

  • Someone who makes choices without reference to anyone else.
  • I.e., everyone is influenced by social contexts.

• "Human societies are always in the process of structuration" (Giddens, 1984).What does this mean?

  • Human societies are reconstructed at every moment by the human beings that compose them. 
  • I.e., Society is shaped by the combined individual choices of every person that lives in that society. 

• 1.4 The development of sociological thinking

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• Before the rise of modern sciences, folkways held sway in most communities.What does 'folkways' mean?

  Traditional knowledge and practices passed down through generations.

• What did the founding sociologists mean with the word modernity?

  • The societies of primarily Europe and North America.
  • I.e., their focus was on this region, what they called the "modern world."

• What can you tell about postcolonialism, in regards to sociology?

  • A movement of the last 25 years that challenged the accepted account of modernity and the origins of sociology.
  • 2 main elements in this challenge:
  • Sociology has generally not taken enough account of the devastating impact of colonialism on countries in the Global South.
  • Sociology adopted a fundamentally Eurocentric position, primarily focused on the industrialized countries of the Global North, because of the lack of Global South perspectives.

• 1.4.1 Auguste Comte

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• Auguste Comte (1798-1857) wanted a positivist approach in sociology.What does this mean?

  • Aiming to produce knowledge about society based on evidence drawn from:
    
  • Observation.
  • Comparison.
  • Experimentation.