SOCI 210: Sociological Perspectives Sept. 15 1. Administrative 2. Methods of inquiry 3. Three theoretical lenses 1
Administrative Groups ⦙ If you have a group or partial group organized , you may pick a group on MyCourses to join ⦙ Otherwise, I will randomly assign students to groups on Thursday morning Classes ⦙ Starting Thursday (Sept 17), all lectures will be pre-recorded ⦙ Class period will be used strictly to facilitate group work (Zoom breakout rooms) ⦙ If you will be using class for group work, you must log in to Zoom with your McGill email 2
Citation Data Methods of Inquiry 3
Methods of inquiry Most sociological research incorporates at least one of: Surveys Experiments Field research Secondary analysis Images from https://thenounproject.com users 4 Rockicon, Adnen Kadri, Blake Thompson, and Symbolon
Methods of inquiry Surveys A survey is a list of questions • Targeted Specific population, usually with some form of sampling • Uniform Typically same survey is sent to every participant Format • Various forms of dissemination Mail; telephone; in-person; online; … • Various forms of questions Yes/no; scale; multiple choice; free response; interview; … 5
Methods of inquiry Surveys Advantages Challenges • Can have large • Often time consuming samples and expensive • Generalizable • Non-response • Structured for charts • Format can yield and statistical analysis unreliable artifacts ( results that reflect the survey structure rather than respondents’ beliefs ) 6
Methods of inquiry Experiments Experiments for causal analysis • Isolate one potential factor that might be causing an outcome • As much as possible, let nothing else vary • Assume that the remaining factors vary unpredictably Common laboratory setup • Treatment and control group • Double-blind Researchers do not know group assignment • Compare outcomes 7
Methods of inquiry Experiments Non-laboratory experiments • Vary potential causal factor “in the wild” Intervetion or “natural experiment” • Less reliable than controlled experiment Outside factors can confound results Ethical concerns of experiments • Consequences of treatment • Consequences of withholding treatment 8
Methods of inquiry Experiments Advantages Challenges • Causal inference • Narrow scope • Clear analysis • Artificial context • Again: • Ethical concerns causal inference • “Hawthorne e ff ect” 9
Methods of inquiry Field research Interact with research subjects directly • Unstructured or minimally structured • Observe behavior • Participate in activities Aims • Gather in-depth information about community, institution, or place • Understand how the people that participate in the case make sense of their own experience • Employ flexible theories and hypotheses, subject to change as researchers learn more about the people involved 10
Methods of inquiry Field research Ethnography • Systematic observation of an entire community • “Thick description” (Geertz) • Often extend over months, years, or even decades Participant observation • Participate in the community under study • Take on roles and responsibilities, form relationships • Sometimes “under cover” Case study • Single organization, event, or person • May use ethnography and secondary data 11
Methods of inquiry Field research Advantages Challenges • Detailed, accurate, • Very time consuming real-life information • Often not generalizable • Brings individual • Especially sensitive to accounts to foreground researcher expectation • Prioritizes adaptive • Messy data (?) research frames 12
Methods of inquiry Secondary data analysis Use data that already exists • “Found data” • Not designed to answer the researcher’s question Characteristics • Often (but not always!) easy to obtain • Rarely well structured for the research question— often requires extensive coding/processing • Ubiquitous 13
Methods of inquiry Secondary data analysis Repurposed research data • Re-use data from another research project to answer a new question • Meta-analysis of existing published research • General-purpose data (e.g. Statistics Canada) Data “in the wild” • Anything recorded without scholarly intent � Literature � Meeting minutes � Recorded conversations / correspondence � Social media posts and interactions • Very unstructured—variety of methods used to transform into usable data (e.g. content analysis, coding) 14
Methods of inquiry Secondary data analysis Advantages Challenges • Often inexpensive and • Data not focussed on fast to obtain current research question • No threat of researcher taint • Must take into account the social processes • Often the only option that created data for historical cases • Context may be unavailable • Processing may introduce hidden biases 15
Methods of inquiry Field research Experiments Surveys Secondary analysis Research rarely falls cleanly into one methodological bin 16
Methods of inquiry (summary) Surveys Field research Questionnaire Within community Random sample Participant perspective Quantitative Deep description Secondary Experiments analysis Controlled intervention Found data Causal analysis Repurposed Narrow scope Extensively processed 17
Citation Data Overview of Sociological Theory 18
Sociological theory What do we mean by “theory”? • Unifying framework • Allows di ff erent topics to be seen as examples of a larger pattern • Gives us tools to think about new situations and events • Can o ff er a new perspective on topics we already understand Generalization • Lend weight to a specific case by framing it as an illustration of a broader social reality 19
Sociological theory Scope • General theory aims to explain society as a whole • Narrow theory limits itself to explaining a tightly bounded domain of social reality � Theory of organizational influence � Theory of occupational mobility • Narrow theories often utilize framework of general theory Micro- vs macro-level • Micro-level theories start from the behavior and interactions of individuals, explaining larger structures in terms of these small-scale subjects • Macro-level theories start from a view of society as a whole, explaining individual experiences through the broad, society-wide forces 20
Sociological theory Social theory Today’s lecture 21
Citation Data Structural Functionalism 22
Structural functionalism Society Industry Government Labor Religion Education Media 23
Structural functionalism Society Skin Skeleton Intestine Brain Liver Blood Stomach 24
Structural functionalism Some major themes from structural functionalism: Social cohesion ⦙ Mutually dependent components of society foster a sense of unity that holds society together ⦙ Émile Durkheim theorized a historical shift from mechanical (pre-modern) to organic (modern) forms of solidarity Social roles ⦙ The roles that people occupy (mother, banker, leader) are built socially ⦙ Talcott Parsons theorized that roles are necessary for society to function, and become institutionalized over time Function and dysfunction ⦙ If an institution exists, it exists to fulfill a purpose for society ⦙ Robert Merton : manifest vs implicit function 25
Citation Data Conflict Theory 26
Conflict theory Society 27
Conflict theory 28
Conflict theory Society Capital Capital Capital Capital Capital Labor Labor Labor Labor Labor 29
Conflict theory Some major themes from conflict theory: Alienation (Karl Marx) ⦙ Humans relate to the products of their work in a very real way ⦙ Capitalism disconnects workers from the goods they produce ⦙ This necessarily yields feelings of alienation, dehumanizing workers Ideology (Karl Marx) ⦙ The ideology of the oppressors is adopted by oppressed ⦙ Ownership of means of production yields material and ideological power ⦙ Unified ideology of a culture is not due to a sense of collective belonging (as in Durkheim) but the imposition of that ideology by those in power 30
Conflict theory Some major themes from conflict theory: Authority (Max Weber) ⦙ Domination does not always come from a direct use of force ⦙ Government authority based on monopoly on “legitimate” means of force ⦙ Authority is given as much as taken Rational-legal, traditional, and charismatic authority Multi-faceted (Weber, Du Bois, …) ⦙ Conflict is not just about capital versus labor ⦙ Many dimensions of society are defined by conflict within and between them Class, status, party stratification (Weber) Race, “Double consciousness” (Du Bois) ⦙ Many contemporary theoretical approaches can be thought of in the tradition of conflict theory (or critical theory) 31
Citation Data Symbolic Interactionism 32
Symbolic interactionism Society 33
Symbolic interactionism Micro-level explanation of society Focus on symbolic meaning Focus on interaction ⦙ Explains institutions, behavior, ⦙ Interactions (rather than social structure through the classes, roles, or institutions) meanings people ascribe to are basic building block objects in the social world ⦙ Examines behavior—social psychology 34
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