Welcome to this course!
I,Three Goals of this Course
II,This Course’s Online Syllabus
and Requirements
III,Three Visions of Sociology,
Improving Society,Science,
Interpretation
Three Goals of this Course
1) Introduce you to sociology as a
way of better understanding yourself
and others
2) Prepare you to be better consumers
of sociological information so as to be
better citizens
3) Teach you specific observational
and data analysis skills
This Course’s Online Syllabus,
http://www.camden.rutgers.edu/~wood/207syl.htm
Please check it regularly for updates and
announcements
Improving Society
Science Interpretation
Three Early Visions of Sociology
A Shared Early Vision,
Sociology in the Service
of Improving Society
? Helping rulers manage society more
efficiently?
? Helping to bring about social change?
? Whose values?
? Or should sociology be value-free,not tied to
any activist agenda?
? These remain enduring controversies
Another Early Vision,
Sociology as Science
? The study of society can and should be scientific
?same kinds of observational methods as natural
sciences
? same goal of discovering universal laws
? Auguste Comte,positivism
? But enduring controversies here too,
? Is the model of the natural sciences appropriate for the
social sciences?
? Can science tell us how to act?
Another Vision,Sociology as
Interpretation
? Describe and interpret social life
(rather than explain it)
? Skepticism about the possibility of a
science of society
? Focus on understanding the particular
rather than searching for the universal
? A way of looking at the world
Improving Society
Science Interpretation
Sociology contains diverse perspectives
Many intermediate positions are possible