Figure 1.6 Estimated Percentage of Adults Who Think Climate Change Is Happening, 2018
Source: Howe, Peter D., Matto Mildenberger, Jennifer R. Marlon, and Anthony Leiserowitz (2015). “Geographic Variation in Opinions on Climate Change at State and Local Scales in the USA.” Nature Climate Change, doi:10.1038/nclimate2583, via Yale Climate Opinion Maps–U.S. 2018 (http://climatecommunication.yale.edu/visualizations-data/ycom-us-2018/).
While common sense is important, even to sociologists, there is no substitute for the systematic study of the social world in both its minutest detail and its broadest manifestations. ●
Summary
Sociology is the systematic examination of the ways in which people are affected by and affect the social structures and social processes associated with the groups, organizations, cultures, societies, and world in which they exist. Social changes in the last few centuries, including the Industrial Revolution, the growth of the service sector, and the arrival of the information age, have strongly influenced the field of sociology. This book deals with innumerable social issues, but it focuses especially on three powerful structural forces in the social world that have drawn the attention of contemporary sociologists: globalization, consumption, and digital technology.
As the world has become more globalized, it has become more fluid as people, products, and information flow more quickly and easily across national borders. The role of consumption in our daily lives over the past few decades has resulted in the increasing use of credit cards and the growing popularity of online shopping. Digital technology is changing how and when we interact with others, including the near ubiquitous use of smartphones and social media. The process of McDonaldization, or an emphasis on efficiency, calculability, predictability, and technological control, characterizes many aspects of globalization, consumption, and digital technology.
Social changes such as globalization, consumption, and digital technology can be understood using C. Wright Mills’s “sociological imagination,” which calls on us to look at social phenomena not just from a personal perspective but also from the outside, from a distinctively sociological perspective. In addition, recognizing that much of our reality is socially constructed can help us comprehend how the agency of individuals can bring about social change; at the same time, these changes become structures that both enable and constrain social action. These social structures become enduring and slow to change, while social processes represent the more dynamic aspects of society.
Sociologists study many issues, sometimes to understand them through scientific research and sometimes to help generate change and reform. The goal of sociology as a pure science is to collect large quantities of data about the social world to build knowledge, while the goal of sociology as a means of social reform aims to use this knowledge for social change.
Sociology, like other social sciences, distinguishes itself from commonsense opinions about the social world by developing rigorous theories and engaging in systematic research to study social phenomena. Sociology, the least specialized of the social sciences, encompasses aspects of anthropology, political science, psychology, economics, and communications.
Key Terms
butterfly effect, 3
consumption, 8
dangerous giants, 20
globalization, 7
macro, 19
McDonaldization, 10
mediated interaction, 14
micro, 19
social construction of reality, 20
social processes, 21
social structures, 21
society, 5
sociological imagination, 17
sociology, 3
technology, 13
Review Questions
1 How is the projected impact of the driverless car an example of the butterfly effect? Use your sociological imagination to think of ways in which your individual choices and actions will be influenced by this development.
2 Your social world is continually changing. What are some examples of new technologies that have been developed during your lifetime? How have they changed the way you interact with and relate to others?
3 How do shopping malls reflect increasing globalization? Do you think shopping malls lead to a sameness of culture around the world, or do they allow local areas to retain their differences?
4 What items are you most likely to buy using the internet? How do social networking sites (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, Instagram) influence what you consume?
5 What social structures have impeded the flow of information in the past? How have the internet and social networking sites made it easier to get around these structural barriers?
6 According to C. Wright Mills, how are private troubles different from public issues? How can we use the micro/macro distinction to show how private troubles are related to public issues?
7 What is the difference between structure and agency? Within your classroom, could you be a “dangerous giant”? In what ways does your school prevent you from becoming a dangerous giant?
8 What do sociologists mean by the social construction of reality? How can you apply this perspective to better understand trends in the fashion industry?
9 Can you think of ways in which we can use “pure science” to better understand the process of McDonaldization? What do you believe should be the goal of research?
10 How is sociology’s approach to globalization different from that of other social sciences? What are the advantages of using a sociological approach to understand globalization?
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Descriptions of Images and Figures
Back to Figure
In the graph, the data has been sourced from Migration Policy Institute (MPI) tabulation of data from U.S. Census Bureau, 2010–2016 American Community Surveys (ACS), and 1970, 1990, and 2000 Decennial Census.
The X axis denotes the years from 1850 to 2020, rising in increments of 20 years. There are two Y axes; the Y axis on the left denotes the number of immigrants in millions and ranges from 0 to 45, increasing in increments of 5. The Y axis on the right represents the immigrants as a percentage of the U.S. population and ranges from 0 to 14. There are two curves on the graph; while one shows the number of immigrants as a percentage of the population, the other shows their total number over time.
The first curve represents the population of immigrants as a percentage of the total U.S. population. This curve begins at a level of 3 percent in 1850. The level stays around 5 percent for the next 70 years, rising or falling a couple of percentage points