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So what are these people so happy about? From the perspective of Sociology, one would have to focus on the group and not on the individual. We call this the sociological perspective. The view from a sociologist is always at the group level. Sociologists focus on the patterns of behavior shared by members of society.

Sociology is the scientific study of social structure. Social structure is the patterned interaction of people in social relationships. Sociologists attempt to understand the forces that operate throughout society-forces that mold individuals, shape behavior, and determine social events.

You will all have an advantage coming into sociology, because you have a substantial amount of information, which you have gained simply by being a member of society. However, if you rely solely on your experiences you will be unable to describe all of society. Our attempt in class is to do two things: broaden your knowledge of the world and to think about the world a little bit differently.

The two most important terms this semester will be verstehen and sociological imagination.

Auguste Comte is the founder of sociology. He believed sociology should focus on social statics and social dynamics. Social statics studies how various institutions of society are interrelated, focusing on order and stability. Social dynamics is the study of complete societies and how they develop and change over time. He believed all societies moved throug fixed stages of development, eventually reaching perfection. This idea of a perfect society is no longer accepted by sociologists.

Harriet Martineau is best known for translating Comte's text. She believed sociologist should use research to bring about social reform for the benefit of society. She also wrote about life in prisons, mental hospitals, factories, family gatherings, and even at slave auctions.

Herbert Spencer wrote the first sociology textbook called Principles of Sociology. He believed society is similar to a living organism. Society is made up of individual parts that make up the whole. Each of these parts has a specific function. He became a proponent of Social Darwinism. People could not successfully compete in society if they were inferior. Whites accepted Social Darwinism because it served to justify their control over institutions.

Emile Durkheim produced the first sociological study (suicide). He believed we are exclusively the products of our social environment. The different types of suicide are egoistic (underinvolvement with others), altruistic (very high solidarity), and anomic(a feeling of disconnectedness from society).

Max Weber stated that ideologies sometimes influence the economic systems. He tried to demonstrate this through his ideology that the Protestant work ethic led to capitalism. He also did extensive research with bureaucracies. He feared the domination ofindividuals by large bureaucratic structures. "We are all but a cog in the machine, looking to become a larger cog."

Karl Marx was angry about the conditions of the urban poor during the early period of the industrial revolution. The wealthy get their power from controlling the economy, politics, education and religious institutions. He believed that the continued polarization of the upper and under class would cause the under class to organize and then start a revolution.

Functionalism views society as a system of highly inter-related structures or parts that function or operate together harmoniously. Manifest functions are the intended and recognized consequences of those processes. Latent functions are the unintended or not readilyrecognized consequences of such processes. It sees society as relatively stable and self supporting.

Conflict theory sees society as constantly changing in response to social inequality and social conflict. The dominant groups will use coercion, constraint and force to control people who are not voluntarily loyal to the laws and rules they have made.

Interactionist is the focus on how individuals make sense of-or interpret- the social world in which they participate. They believe that institutions do not have a life of their own. That it is maintained by people interacting with one another.