•Do the pictures

qualify as a form
of social
engagement? Why
or Why not?
 Critical Thinker!

Me and My Social Map

Starting with your present situation as a student, list down
five important factors that you think are responsible for the kind
of person you are right now. Start with what is unique in you as
a social person (not necessarily focusing on your biophysical
traits.) Link each feature with a societal, cultural, or political
force. Then evaluate each in terms of opportunities and
constraints it provides in pursuing your present and future
plans. Use the table below as a template.
My Unique Features Types of Social Forces Assessment of effects
as a social person responsible for these (Does it provide
(May include but are features opportunities or serve as
not limited to sex (Is it constraints?)
religion, residence) societal/cultural/political
?)
Sociology and the Study of Society
Sociology
•is the “scientific study of society, including
patterns of social relationships, social
interaction, and culture.” (Calhoune, 2002)
•It refers to a scientific inquiry that covers
human social activities. (Auguste Compte,
1830)
Scientific
Sociological Imagination
 Sociological Concepts

Society can be defined as a product of

human interactions as human subscribe to
the rules of their culture. It is an
organization that caters to a human’s need
for belongingness in a group.
 Comparison of Theories on Society
Sociologist Perspective on Society
August Comte Society as a social organism possessing a harmony of structure and function.

Society as a reality in its own right. Collective consciousness is of key importance

Emile Durkheim
to society, which society cannot survive without.
Talcott Parsons
Society is a total complex of human relationships in so far as they grow out of the
action in terms of means-end relationship.
George Herbert Society is an exchange of gestures that involves the use of symbols.
Society as a collective of individuals united by certain relations or mode of behavior
Morris Ginsberg that marks individuals off from others who do not enter into these relations or who
differ from them in behavior.
George Douglas Society as the complex of organized associations and institution with a community.
Robert Maclaver and Society as a system of usages and procedures of authority and mutual aid of many
Charles Page groupings and divisions, of controls of human behavior and liberties.
Social Interaction this is a
compilation of ways and
means by which humans
interact with each other within
the confines of a society.
Interaction is not merely defined by an
actual physical contact, as it covers
every human interchange that is within
a mutually subjective orientation, it
implies as long as the parties involved
are aware of each other, interaction is
possible.
Social Organization this refers
to the interrelationships part of
society, it is structurally divided
into layers of contexts and
positions that help perpetuate its
existence.
Roles each status prescribes a set of
accepted behaviors that define the
individual’s responses and inclinations.
The role of government official is to
ensure that the people’s need are
addressed through government projects
and policies.
Group is a basic unit of an
organization. It involves at
least two individuals who are
in constant interaction based
on their statuses and roles.
Institution are established when roles,
statuses, and groups are perpetuated within
the context of a society. Institutions are the
building blocks of a society, as it is through
these that norms are produced from the
consistent exchanges of individuals and
groups.
Social Structure and Agency
•This is the foundation of every society
from which emanates the possible roles,
statuses, institutions, and organizations. It
can be said that social structure is the
determining factor by which every other
part of a society gains its context.
•The concept of culture can be equated to the
concept of social structures as it functions in the
same capacity.
•Note that this perspective renders individuals to
be incapable of asserting themselves in a society,
as they are bound by the rules of its structure or, in
this context, their culture. A divergent perspective
to this accommodates the concept of agency.
•Individuals are capable of creating
new systems and patterns of
interaction. In the exercise of
agency, humans can be either the
catalyst of change or the instruments
by which such change is played.
 Sub-disciplines of Sociology
•Social Psychology the study of the impact of group life top a person’s nature and
personality.
•Social change and disorganization is the branch of sociology that inquires on the
shift in social and cultural interactions and the interruption of its process through
delinquency, deviance and conflicts.
•Human Ecology pursues studies that relate human behavior to existing social
institutions.
•Population or demography inquires on the interrelationship between population
characteristics and dynamics with that of a political, economic, and social system.
•Applied Sociology uses sociological research and methods to solve contemporary
problem
 Methods in Sociology
Two primary methodological perspective in
Sociology:

Positivist Orientation
Anti-Positivist Orientation
Positivist Orientation
•Perceives society as a quantifiable subject from which
objective conclusions can be made.
•It uses methods employed by the natural sciences to
understand social phenomenon
•It is predisposed to statistical analysis, quantitative
methods such as surveys are employed by sociologist to
map a social phenomenon.
•The relationships of the variables of the topics are tested
through formulas of correlation, regression, and the like.
Anti-positivist Orientation
•Promotes a subjective approach wherein social phenomena
are understood through individual experiences. With this, it
encounters positivist assumption that general laws can be
made to understand human behavior
•It requires qualitative methods in gathering data such as
interviews, participant-observations, and other tools of
ethnography.
Value of Sociology for the 21st Century
•It provides us with conceptual tool in
understanding the plight of human as they
adapt to their varying environments and social
conditions.
•Sociology provides policy makers with
concrete bases for decisions that affect human
population and alter their social landscape.
Remember: Sociology has the
capacity of informing a society’s
trajectory through researched
based policy making.