Page 38 - Sociology and You

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Unit 1 Sociological Perspectives
Joining a gang provides some young men—and women— with a sense of security and belonging they haven’t found elsewhere.
Sociologists do not focus on the behavior of individuals but on the pat- terns of behavior shared by members of a group or society. The person on the street might explain human behavior in individualistic or personal terms—a young man joins a gang to prove his toughness; a woman divorces her husband to develop her potential; a teen commits suicide to escape
depression.
Sociologists attempt to explain these same events with-
out relying on personal factors. They look for social rather than personal explanations when they examine delinquency, divorce, or suicide. Sociologists might explain the events
in the following ways:
❖ Young men join gangs because they have been taught by their society to be “masculine.”
❖ More women divorce because of the social trend
toward sexual equality.
❖ Teens commit suicide because of peer group expectations of performance, material possessions, and
physical appearance.
Sociologists do not speak of a young man, a married woman, or a teenager. They concentrate on categories of
people—young men, married women, and teenagers.
Industrial Revolution
Americ
an Revolution
George Washington is president
French Revolution
Louisiana
1803
Purchase
Francis Lowell’s company opens
1814
Herbert Spencer publishes
Social Statics
1850
Charles Darwin publishes
On the Origin of Species
1859
Harriet Martineau publishes
Society in America
1837
Auguste Comte begins publishing Positive Philosophy, which identifies science of sociology
1830
Karl Marx publishes
The Communist Manifesto,
promoting a classless society
1848
Indian Removal Act
1830
Time Line of Early Sociologists
1770 1780 1790 1800 1810 1820 1830 1840 1850 1860