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Margin Notes covering basic sociological concepts are on the
Concepts page linked above
and listed below.
The brief items on the other four pages are examples to add to your knowledge of the basic concepts. While the
items are in the order of the concepts covered in your course, many items could apply to more than one concept. As you read through the
brief items, try to make as many connections to course concepts as you can.
Under almost every brief item you'll find an Optional
Resources section with links to sites, videos and etc that are relevant to
that item. Those links are not required but I encourage you to explore at least
those links relevant to items you found interesting. They'll add to both your
understanding and your enjoyment ... and that will make the material easier to
learn.
You should also check out the resources listed at the bottom of this page.
Introductory
Sociology Margin Notes
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Page #1
Sociological Concepts
PERSPECTIVES AND METHODS CONCEPTS
What Is Sociology?
The
Discipline of Sociology
Occupational and Personal Uses of Sociology
Academic Sociologists
The
Development of Sociology in Europe
Theoretical Sociology in the 20th Century
The
Development of Sociology in America
The
Major Theoretical Perspectives in Sociology
Sociological Theory
Spencer's General
Model of Evolution
Functionalism
Symbolic
Interactionism
Comparing Theoretical Perspectives
Applying Theories
Methodology
Is
Sociology a Science?
The
Components of Scientific Theory
The Research Process
Standards of Scientific Inquiry
Types
of Sociological Research
Sociological Research Methods
The
Research Process
INDIVIDUALS IN
SOCIETY CONCEPTS
Culture
Elements of Culture
Interpreting Culture: Our Own and Others
The World Values Survey
Cultural Complexity and Diversity
10 Ideas That Are Changing Your Life
Structure
and Groups
Social
Status
Status Set
Diagram
Social
Roles
Role Strain and
Role Conflict Diagram
Role Strain and
Role Conflict Video
Social
Groups
Types
of Social Groups
In Groups and Out
Groups
Formal
Organizations
Bureaucracy
Voluntary Associations
Role Conflict
Socialization
and Interaction
What
Is Socialization?
Is
Human Interaction Necessary?
Symbolic Interaction
Maintaining the
Self
Symbolic
Interactionism
Agents
of Socialization
Agents of
Socialization (2)
Socialization of Gender Roles
Gender Role
Socialization
Socialization in Adulthood
Socialization at Work
Deviance
and Control
What
Is Deviance?
Traditional Views of Deviance and Deviants
The
Relative Nature of Deviance
Theories Explaining Deviance
Sociological Theories Explaining Deviance
Anomie
Merton’s Deviance
Typology
The
Social Consequences of Deviance
World Incarceration
Rates
Deviance and Social
Control
Merton's Adaptations (2)
SOCIAL INEQUALITY
CONCEPTS
Differentiation
and Stratification
Social
Stratification
Social Inequality
in the US
Types
of Societies and Social Differentiation
Types
of Stratification
US Social Class Characteristics
Sources of Power
Theories of Social Stratification
Inequality in the United States
Gini
Index by County, 2006-2010
Distribution of the Income of Americans
Inequality and Life Chances
Social
Mobility in the United States
Race
and Ethnicity
Racial, Ethnic and Minority Groups
Attitudes and Their Influence
Racism
Patterns of Group Interaction
Historic Shift in US Demographics
Major
Racial, Ethnic and Other Minority Groups in the United States
Racial and Ethnic
Populations in the US
The
Future
Changing Face of America
Gender
Sex
and Gender Differentiation
Theories of Gender Differentiation
Gender
Differentiation and the Workplace
The
Women’s Movement
The
Consequences of Inequality
The
Future of Gender Inequality
SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS
CONCEPTS
10 Social Institutions
Family
What
is a Family?
Variations in Kinship and Family Organization
A
Functionalist Perspective on the Family
Parson's
Structural-Functional Model of Society-Institutional Interaction
A
Conflict Perspective on the Family
Other
Perspectives on the Family
The
American Family System
Nontraditional Marital and Family Lifestyles
Change in
Cohabitation in the US
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Page #1
Sociological Concepts (con't)
Religion
A
Sociological Approach to Religion
World Religions Ranked by Number of Adherents
Theories of Religion
Religions of the World
Religion in the United States
Religious
Affiliation in the US
Education
Structural-Functional Theory of Education
Educational
Attainment in the US
Conflict Theory of Education
Historical Perspectives on Education
Who Rules the Schools?
Stratification in the School System
American Private Schools
The Failure of American Schools
Why Students Do Not Learn
Improving the Schools
Contest and Sponsored Mobility
The British System
Is
All This Education Necessary?
Politics
and Economics
Types of Power
The Development of Political Systems
Political Structures in Modern Societies
The Political System in the United States
The Role of the Individual
Types of Economic Systems
Theories of Economic Development
The American Economic System
The Changing Nature of Work
Politics and the Distribution of Wealth
Variations in
Unemployment
The Graying of the
World Population
The Chinese System: An Example of Socialism
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Page #2
Brief Items Relevant to Perspectives and Methods
Sociological Imagination: Night as Frontier
WEB Du Bois: The Sociologist
Sociologists and Their Theoretical Preferences
Useful Statistics
Unobtrusive Measures: Monitoring CB Prostitutes
Content Analysis of Coverage of the Rodney King Beating
Interactionist View
of Sidewalk Behavior
Interactionist Approach to Reducing Social Conflict: Robber’s Cave Experiment
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Page #3 Brief Items Relevant to
Individuals in
Society
Cultural Diffusion: Baseball in Japan
India's Sacred Cow:
A Functionalist View
Conflicting Cultures
Value Conflicts
The Skinhead Counterculture
Social Networks in the US
China and People with Disabilities
Nature versus Nurture
Pathology of Imprisonment
Deviance or Sport
Being a Hit Man
The Gentleman
Bandit
George Murdock's 70 Cultural Universals
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Page #4 Brief Items Relevant to
Social
Inequality
Little People of America
Status Inconsistency — Janitors
and Tenants
Comparison of Perspectives on Stratification
Cultural Bubbles Quiz
Is There a Culture of Poverty?
The
Hunger Crisis in American Universities
US Poverty Stats
If
US Land Was Divided Like US Wealth
10 Things Everyone Should Know About Race
Multicultural Groups
Opinions on Welfare Linked to Racial Views
The Complexity of Racial and Ethnic Identity
(and ancestry.com)
The New Immigrants
What Part of Legal Immigration Don't You Understand?
Sexism in Languages - English
and Japanese
Reverse Socialization
and Gender Roles
Gendered Spaces
The Wage Gap, By Gender
and Race
Mommy Track
Feminization of the Banking Industry
The New American Pocketbook
An Aging World
10
Hotspots for Human Longevity
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Page #5 Brief Items Relevant to
Social
Institutions
Hutterites Coming of Age
Tibetan Family Life
Marital Power
The Tradition of the Bride Price
Child Brides
Single Mothers and Society
Stages of Divorce
Inheriting Divorce
Housework within Lesbian
and Gay Households
Market Exchange — The Wedding Reception
Goal Multiplication
and Religious Organizations
The Halévy Thesis: Religion as a Stabilizer
The Ghost Dance of the Sioux
School Desegregation and the Hmong Community
Inequality in Education
Both Boys and Girls Have Reason to Feel Disadvantaged in School
Online Education
Work and Alienation: Marx’s View
In the First
Majority-Muslim US City, Residents Tense about its Future |
Need Help with Your Course? Try These Resources!
Sociological Images
website is designed to encourage all kinds of people to exercise and develop
their sociological imagination by presenting brief sociological discussions of
compelling and timely imagery that spans the breadth of sociological inquiry.
How Biased Are You: Hidden Prejudices (06:14)
Poverty in America (03:03)
Stereotyping
and Discrimination (03:24)
Culture (03:13)
Doing Sociological Research: Subjective
and Objective Knowledge (02:32)
Understanding Theories (01:34)
Making Sense of Social Life (01:20)
Weber
on Protestantism and Capitalism (online video, 51 min)
Weber
on Traditional Authority (online video, 50 min)
Weber on Charismatic Authority (online video, 49 min)
Weber on Legal-Rational Authority (online video, 48 min)
Weber's Theory
of Class (online video, 45 min)
Durkheim's Theory
of Anomie (online video, 46 min)
The Southern Culture
of Honor (online video, 1 hour) ... Please ignore the occasional curse word.
The Society Pages
Graphic Sociology
Institutions, Geography
and Growth (online video, 57 min)
Three billion people on earth live on less than two dollars a day. A relative handful of us fare astronomically better. How do economists account for global “haves”
and “have-nots”?
Poverty
and Population (audio podcasts, varying lengths)
Globally one million more births than deaths occur every 112 hours, 90% in the poorest countries. Between 1960
and 1980, considerable attention was focused on rapid population growth. Afterwards, the attention has faded
and investment in family planning evaporated. Family size among some of the poorest women is increasing. This course seeks to provide an understanding of the relationships between population growth, poverty, women's autonomy
and health. It explores the political "fashions" underlying changing paradigms among demographers, economists
and development specialists.
China: Traditions
and Transformations (online videos, varying lengths)
Modern China presents a dual image: a society transforming itself through economic development
and social revolution; and the world’s largest and oldest bureaucratic state, coping with longstanding problems of economic
and political management. Both images bear the indelible imprint of China’s historical experience, of its patterns of philosophy
and religion, and of its social and political thought. Harvard's China Studies video lectures cover these themes in order to understand China in the modern world
and as a great world civilization that developed along lines different from those of the Mediterranean.
Economics, Politics
and International Change (MP3 audio downloads, varying lengths)
This UCSD course examines the domestic
and international sources of economic and political change. Topics include the rise of the nation-state, comparative economic development, authoritarian
and democratic regimes, international and civil conflict, globalization and its domestic
and international implications.
Global Politics
of Food (MP3 audio downloads, varying lengths)
The global economy is changing the way we think about food, from the kinds of things we eat, to the way food is grown
and harvested. This special report from American RadioWorks includes three stories – Engineering Crops in a Needy World, A Bean of a Different Color
and The Campaign to Humanize the Coffee Trade.
How Much Will Trade Liberalization
in Rich Countries Help Africa? (MP3 audio download, 83 min)
As trade liberalization talks get under way in Hong Kong, many of the world's media outlets continue to focus on protectionism in the developed world
and its negative effect on poor countries. But trade liberalization in rich countries as a cure for world poverty is often overemphasized. Based on his new study, Marian Tupy will demonstrate that the main causes of African impoverishment are internal; namely, political instability, high trade tariffs
and a general lack of economic freedom.
Introduction
to Development (MP3 audio downloads, varying lengths)
This Berkeley YouTube course provides an introduction to comparative development. The course assumes that students know little about life in Third World countries
and are unfamiliar with the relevant theory in political economy of development
and underdevelopment. The first part of the course covers the historical patterns of incorporation into an expanding world system
and the different theories associated with these processes. The second part deals with a variety of micro
and macro phenomena organized around land, labor and work.
Islam
and
the State (online video, 59 min)
UC Political Scientist Vali Nasr joins host Harry Kreisler for a discussion of the role of Islam in politics.
New Insights
on Poverty and Life Around the World (online video, 19 min)
Researcher Hans Rosling uses his cool data tools to show how countries are pulling themselves out of poverty. He demos Dollar Street, comparing households of varying income levels worldwide. Then he does something really amazing.
Charlie Rose: An Hour on Race and Society: Conversations with Ta-Nehisi
Coates and Bryan Stevenson (09/03/15) (online video, 54 min)
Global Sociology (online
videos, varying lengths)
Berkeley's YouTube Global Sociology course seeks to transcend national boundaries, studying the world as a unit unto itself, populated by organizations, networks
and movements. Global sociology cannot be constructed by sociologists from a single country, but must be a collaborative effort from different parts of the planet. The course looks at globalization through a sociological lens by asking distinguished sociologists from around the world to discuss such contemporary issues as immigration, terrorism, disasters, etc.
Tribal Leadership (online
video, 16 min)
USC Professor David Logan talks about the five kinds of tribes that humans naturally form – in schools, workplaces, even the driver's license bureau. By understanding our shared tribal tendencies, we can help lead each other to become better individuals.
East vs. West: The Myths That Mystify (online
video, 18 min)
Devdutt Pattanaik takes an eye-opening look at the myths of India
and of the West ... and shows how these two fundamentally different sets of beliefs about God, death
and heaven help us consistently misunderstand one another.
Global Problems
of Population Growth (MP3 audio downloads, varying lengths)
This Yale survey course introduces students to the important
and basic material on human fertility, population growth, the demographic transition
and population policy. Topics include: the human and environmental dimensions of population pressure, demographic history, economic
and cultural causes of demographic change, environmental carrying capacity
and sustainability. Political, religious and ethical issues surrounding fertility are also addressed. The lectures
and readings attempt to balance theoretical and demographic scale analyzes with studies of individual humans
and communities. The perspective is global with both developed and developing countries included.
The Tribes We Lead (online
video, 18 min)
Seth Godin argues the Internet has ended mass marketing
and revived a human social unit from the distant past: tribes. Founded on shared ideas
and values, tribes give ordinary people the power to lead and make big change.
Downtown: Its Rise
and Fall, 1880-1950 (online video, 67 min)
"Downtown" is the first history of what was once viewed as the heart of the American city. It tells the fascinating story of how downtown – and the way Americans thought about downtown – changed over time. By showing how business
and property owners worked to promote the well-being of downtown, even at the expense of other parts of the city, this book gives a riveting account of spatial politics in urban America.
Foundations
of Modern Social Theory (MP3 audio downloads, varying lengths)
This Yale course provides an overview of major works of social thought from the beginning of the modern era through the 1920s. Attention is paid to social
and intellectual contexts, conceptual frameworks and methods, and contributions to contemporary social analysis. Writers include Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Montesquieu, Adam Smith, Marx, Weber
and Durkheim.
How Our Social Networks Shape Our Lives (online
video, 55 min)
Harvard professor of sociology
and health care policy Nicholas Christakis and fellow scientist James Fowler discuss the power of social networks, the role social networks play in our lives, how they form, how they are maintained
and how far-reaching their effects can be. They theorize that our world is governed by the three degrees rule – we influence
and are influenced by people up to three degrees removed from us, most of whom we do not even know. For example, your friend's friend's friend has more impact on your happiness than $5,000 in your pocket. Our social networks underlie financial scams, eating disorders, substance abuse
and suicide clusters, but also voter turnout, innovation, altruism and random acts of kindness.
Why We Drive
the Way We Do (online video, 54 min)
After exhaustive research
and interviews with driving experts and traffic officials around the globe, Tom Vanderbilt uncovers the surprisingly complex web of physical, psychological
and technical factors that explain how traffic works, why we drive the way we do
and what our driving says about us. Vanderbilt examines the perceptual limits
and cognitive underpinnings that make us worse drivers than we think we are. He demonstrates why plans to protect pedestrians from cars often lead to more accidents. He shows how roundabouts, which can feel dangerous
and chaotic, actually make roads safer — and reduce traffic in the bargain. He uncovers who is more likely to honk at whom
and why. He explains why traffic jams form, outlines the unintended consequences of our quest for safety
and even identifies the most common mistake drivers make in parking lots.
Population Geography: World Population Distribution, Growth
and Change (online PPT, 49 slides)
An excellent slide presentation covering some of the major topics in demography. Scroll down below the comments section to see the presentation transcript that accompanies the slides.
Median US Household Income by State
Check out Kiri Davis’ 7-minute You Tube video,
A Girl Like Me, about young African American women
and racial identity. It’s an excellent video and includes a "re-do" of the famous Clark doll study.
More Americans Expect
to Retire in Their 80s
Nickel
and Dimed: On Not Getting By in America (13:58)
What it’s like to live on $2 a day in the United States (PDF)
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