Sociology For Dummies

Jay Gabler, PhD is a writer and editor living in Minneapolis. He has authored or coauthored several books and sociological research studies, including Reconstructing the University. He works as a digital producer at The Current (a service of Minnesota Public Radio) and holds three graduate degrees from Harvard University.

• Introduction 1About This Book 2Foolish Assumptions 4Icons Used In This Book 5Beyond the Book 6Where To Go From Here 6Part 1: Getting the Basic Basics 7Chapter 1: Getting Your Head around Sociology 9Focusing Your Sociological Lens 10Defining sociology 10Knowing the history of sociology 10Doing sociology 11The Nuts and Bolts of Society 12Understanding culture 13Microsociology 13Understanding Differences Among People and Groups 14Social stratification 14Race and ethnicity 15Sex and gender 15Religion 16Crime, deviance, and social control 16How People Get Organized (Or At Least Try To) 17Organizations and networks 17Social movements and political sociology 17Urban and rural sociology 18Changes In Your Life, Changes In Your Society 18The life course 19Social change 19Sociology For Dummies, for Dummies 20Chapter 2: Knowing Why Sociology Matters 21Figuring Out What Sociology is 22Defining sociology 22Studying society scientifically 22Asking and answering sociological questions 25Discovering Where Sociology is “Done” 27Colleges and universities 27Think tanks and research institutes 27Nonprofit organizations 28Government 29Journalism and reporting 29Business and consulting 30Everyday life 31Recognizing How Sociology Affects Your Life and Your World 31Thinking about the social world in an objective, value-free way 32Visualizing connections across times and places 33Uncovering what really matters and what doesn’t 34Informing social policy 35Keeping a unique perspective for everyday problems 36Chapter 3: Conflict and Cooperation: The History of Sociology 37So Who Cares about History? 38Thinking about Society before There Was Sociology 39People are the same everywhere you go except when they aren’t 39Pre-sociologists: People with ideas about society 40Political and industrial revolution: Ready or not, here it comes 41The Development of “Sociology” 43Figuring out life with positivism 43Common themes of early sociologists 43Sociology: The most ambitious science 44Sociology’s Power Trio 46Karl Marx 47Emile Durkheim 49Max Weber 51Sociology in the 20th Century 53Sociology in America: W.E.B Du Bois and the Chicago School 53Mass society: Are we, or are we not, sheep? 54The Power Elite: Marx’s revenge 56Sociology Today 58Chapter 4: Understanding the Research Methods: You Can’t Put Society in a Test Tube 59Performing Sociological Research 60Asking your question 60Checking the literature 62Operationalizing your question and find your data 63Analyzing your data 65Step 5: Interpreting your results 65Getting to Know the Research Methods 67Getting quantitative data 68Gathering qualitative data 72Choosing hybrid methods 73Preparing For Potential Pitfalls 75Using inappropriate data 75Getting overzealous 75Overlooking relevant information 78Misusing statistics 79Making mistakes just plain oops! 80Part 2: Seeing Society Like a Sociologist 83Chapter 5: Getting Some Culture: How Socialization Works 85Understanding What Culture is — and Isn’t 86Defining “culture” 86Breaking down structure 87Does culture matter? 89Studying Culture: Makin’ It and Takin’ It 91Other angles on culture 91The production and reception of culture 93Culture, information, and the news 94Paddling the “Mainstream” 95Subculture 96Microcultures 97Socialization: Where You Connect in Culture 99Nature vs nurture: Social psychology 100You are who other people think you are 101Culture Paradox: Pulling Us Together and Pushing Us Apart 103Uniting through culture 103Dividing because of culture 104Chapter 6: Studying Sociology at Its Smallest: Microsociology 105Grasping the Paradox of Society 106Social facts: What your society says about you 106Adaptation and frustration 109Understanding Why People Make Rational — and Irrational — Choices 110Making rational choices — or, at least, trying 111Making bad decisions (we’ve all been there) 114Getting How Symbolic Interactionism Works 119Play ball! The rules of the game 120Stop frontin’: Switching roles, changing frames 122Part 3: Equality and Inequality in Our Diverse World 125Chapter 7: Social Stratification: We’re All Equal, But Some of Us Are More Equal Than Others 127Excavating the Social Strata 128Understanding social inequality 128Grappling with the perennial debate: Is inequality necessary? 131Recognizing the Many Means of Inequality 134Income and wealth: Making money (or inheriting it) 134Occupation: Landing in the labor force 135Innate ability: Capitalizing on your skills 137Motivation: Getting out of bed in the morning 137Social connections: Knowing the right people 139Credentials: Carrying the right cards 140Education: Learning the ropes 141Specialized knowledge: Knowing what others don’t 142Bias and discrimination: Being limited by others’ lack of imagination 143Considering Global Inequality 144Chapter 8: Race and Ethnicity: What Others See, Who We Are 147Race: Real in Its Consequences 148Knowing the difference between race and ethnicity 148Grasping the complexities of life in color 152Debunking the myth of the “model minority” 154Putting whiteness in the spotlight 155Considering Individuals and Institutions 158Racial discrimination: Conscious and unconscious 158How racism becomes institutionalized 160Understanding Immigration in a Changing World 161Crossing borders, keeping ties 162Immigration today 163Chapter 9: Sex and Gender: Beyond the Binary 167Biology is Not Destiny 168Distinguishing between sex and gender 168Understanding the sex and gender spectrum 169Changing Ideas of Femininity and Masculinity 171The history of feminism 172Rethinking masculinity 175#MeToo and a new reckoning 177Intersectionality: Race and Gender 180Chapter 10: Getting Religion: Faith in the Modern World 183Understanding Religion in History 184Karl Marx on religion: Opium of the people 184Émile Durkheim on religion: Progressing from specific rules to common principles 185Weber on religion: A switchman on the tracks 188Religion in Theory and in Practice 189Religious ideas, ideology, and values 189The important role of religious organizations 191Faith and Freedom in the World Today 194Shopping for God 194Belief, action, and everything in between 197Chapter 11: Crime and Deviance: Who’s in Control? 201Knowing the Difference between Deviance and Crime 202Understanding Why People Commit Crimes 204Theory one: Are criminals bad people? 204Theory two: Are criminals driven to it? 205Accepting crime as normal 206Breaking Down the Social Construction of Crime 208Writing laws that make sense to a society 208Enforcing the law 210Looking Beyond Crime and Punishment 212Rethinking policing 213Examining the effects of America’s high incarceration rate 216Considering whether punishment works 216Tallying the high costs of incarceration 217Part 4: All Together Now: The Ins and Outs of Social Organization 219Chapter 12: Knowing What Works (and Doesn’t): Sociology and Organizations 221Recognizing the Corporate Conundrum 222Understanding Weber’s Big Idea About Organizations 224Getting That People Are More Than Cogs in a Machine 226Rational systems: Bureaucracy at its purest 227Natural systems: We’re only human 229Open systems: The whole wide world of work 231Seeing Society as a Network 234Connecting individuals to their society 234The strength of weak ties 235Gathering insights from network analysis 237Exploring the New World of Work 238Chapter 13: Getting into It: Political Sociology 241Government: Governing and Being Governed 242Understanding government as a social institution 242Knowing what causes political revolution 244Sharing (or Not Sharing) Power in Society 247Conflict models: Everyone for themselves 247Pluralist models: Fair is fair 250Social Movements: Working for Change 253Getting off the ground 253Mobilizing supporters 256Understanding why social movements succeed — or fizzle 259Going Viral: How Social Media Transforms Social Movements 261Chapter 14: Recognizing Why Density and Demographics Matter 263Studying Sociology in the City 264Feeling lonely in a crowd: The paradox of social life 264Observing street corner society 267Changing Neighborhoods Through History 269Recognizing the relevance of neighborhoods 269Understanding how and why neighborhoods change 271Studying the rise of the suburbs 274The upper class, the lower class, and the underclass 276Considering City and Country 279Who are cities for? 279Small towns, high hopes 281Part 5: Sociology and Your Life 285Chapter 15: Exploring Family and the Life Course as Social Constructs 287The Social Construction of Age 288The “invention” of childhood 288The new senior citizens — and the new young adults 290Running the Course of Life 292Demographics and life transitions 292The changing role of education 294Taking Care: Health Care and Society 296Deciding what counts as “healthy” 296Organizing and distributing health care 299Families Past and Present 301The way we never were 301The family today 304Chapter 16: Understanding Social Change 307Understanding How and Why Societies Change 308Marx: If it’s not one revolution, it’s another 308Durkheim: Increasing diversity 310Weber: Into the iron cage 312Forecasting the Future of Society 314Globalization: Does the future hold cooperation or conflict? 314Digital communication: Protecting privacy and freedom in an always-online era 316Climate change: The unequal effects of a warming world 318Exploring Sociology of the Future! 320Social science will be more important than ever 320Too much information? A good problem to have if you’re a sociologist 322Will sociology continue to exist? 323Part 6: The Part of Tens 325Chapter 17: Ten Sociology Books That Don’t Feel Like Homework 327W.E.B Du Bois: The Souls of Black Folk (1903) 328Erving Goffman: The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life (1959) 328Randall Collins: Sociological Insight (1982) 329Arlie Hochschild: The Second Shift (1989) 329Patricia Hill Collins: Black Feminist Thought (1990) 330Evelyn Nakano Glenn (editor): Shades of Difference (2009) 330Annette Lareau: Unequal Childhoods (2003) 331Lorena Garcia: Respect Yourself, Protect Yourself: Latina Girls and Sexual Identity (2012) 332Matthew Desmond: Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City (2016) 332Suk-Young Kim: K-pop Live (2018) 333Chapter 18: Ten Ways to Use Sociological Insight in Everyday Life 335Thinking Critically About Claims That “Research Proves” One Thing or Another 336Being Aware of Unprovable Assertions About Society 336Understanding Barriers to Effective Communication 337Knowing the Difference Between the Identity You Choose and the Identities Others Choose For You 338Understanding Art: If It Seems Confusing, That’s Exactly the Point 339Being Smart About Relationship-Building 340Staying Safer in a Pandemic 341Learning How to Mobilize a Social Movement 342Running Your Company Effectively 342Thinking Critically About What You Read and Hear 343Chapter 19: Ten Myths About Society Busted by Sociology 345With Hard Work and Determination, Anyone Can Get What They Deserve 346Our Actions Reflect Our Values 347We’re Being Brainwashed by the Media 348Understanding Society is Just a Matter of “Common Sense” 348Race Doesn’t Matter Any More 349Immigration Equals Invasion 350Bureaucracy is Dehumanizing 351People Who Make Bad Choices Are Just Getting the Wrong Messages 351Society Prevents Us From Being Our “True Selves” 352There is Such a Thing as a Perfect Society 353Index 355