Mary McKenzie

UNC Charlotte
Emile Durkheim said that
solidarity in the modern world
was helped along by a
specialized division of labor.
True

False
Charles Darwin was the
first British sociologist

True

False
Jane Addams was the first
sociologist to win the Nobel
Prize.

True

False
The Sociological Eye
 Two important qualities stressed by early
sociologists
 (1) the focus on the social and
 (2) skepticism.
The Focus
 Allows on the
the sociologist Social
to see much that
escapes the notice of other observers
 Most people taught to view the world in ways
that are distinctly nonsociological
◦ People in modern Western societies have been taught
to embrace the principle of individualism (the idea
that in life people pursue their own ends, that people
follow their own ideas.
 Sociologists have taught themselves not to be
satisfied with explanations that focus on
individuals, but to look at the social
environment and the ways in which it affects
people.
Sociologists understand that individuals make choices about
how they will act, that they do have “free will,” but
sociologists know that it is the social environment that makes
some choices easier and others harder.
 Nothing we do or experience takes place in a vacuum;

everything is always related to a [social] context of some

kind.
 Sociological imagination – the ability to look beyond what

he called the personal troubles of individuals to see the

public issues of social structure – the forces operating in
the larger society.
 The individualistic bias leads people to think that their own

situations are wholly a result of their own behavior. They

don’t notice that there are larger entities, including social
institutions, that shape their behaviors.
 The individualistic bias prevents us from discovering that

some of our worst problems are the result of social forces.

The advantage of the sociological imagination is that it opens

up new resources for problem solving.

Skepticism
 Sociologists are skeptical of commonly
accepted explanations of things.
 Sociologists are especially skeptical about
the impact of social things.
 Merton provided us with an important
research technique in which to really
understand social things we need to
identify both their manifest and latent
functions.
◦ Not all latent functions have a negative impact
on society’s usual functioning or are, as
sociologists would put it, dysfunctional.
◦ The unintended consequence of an action can be
positive, or functional.
A latent function of higher
education is to help men and
women find potential spouses
from appropriate social class
backgrounds.
True
False
 
Latent functions are hidden or

True

False
Manifest functions have
unintended consequences for
True
False
Which of the following is an
A. the focus on the individual
B. skepticism
True
False
According to Emile Durkheim,
suicide rates vary according to
True

False