General Introduction to the Study of Minorities:
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Most of you know of Senator Bill Bradley, a Rhodes
Scholar and former professional basketball player for the "I understand the meaning
of certain looks and certain codes. I understand what it is to be in racial
situations for which you have no frame of reference. I understand the tension
of always being on guard, of never totally relaxing. I understand the pain of
racial arrogance directed my way. I understand the loneliness of being white
in a black world. And I understand how much I will never know about what it
is to be black in What is your opinion? Do you think that it is not
possible for white sociologists to study the experience of being a minority
in the |
I. Sociology and the study of
Minority Relations.
A. My preferred definition of
Sociology
1. The study of the most important things that human beings build—the groups they create.
B. Psychology—the study of human behavior—is much more closely oriented to the individual.
C. Social Psychology—examines the effect of the group on the individual personality and even how individuals influence the behavior of others in small groups
II. Here’s an
example—Jeffrey Dahmer, the serial killer.
A. A psychologist might ask...
B. A social psychologist would examine ...
C. A SOCIOLOGIST would accept both the above as
important, but the focus would change—what factors in the social
environment permitted the killing of 17 victims? (SOCIOLOGICAL IMAGINATION)
1. victims were minorities—marginal status in society; poor
2. victims were gay men—larger society insensitive, discriminates against gays
3. probation officer—caseload too heavy due to budgetary cutbacks
4. Dahmer lived in dangerous part of town, police themselves try to avoid it.
5. Serial Killers—why do they appear in some societies and not others? Why do they tend to be white males? What underlying norms and values do they reflect in society?
III. Modern American Sociology
is characterized by three major theoretical perspectives or
"PARADIGMS"—
A. Functionalism—MACRO PERSPECTIVE
B. Conflict Theory—MACRO PERSPECTIVE
C. Symbolic Interaction—MICRO PERSPECTIVE
1. Dramaturgy—stage analogy; actors; props; etc. front stage behavior; back stage behavior
2. Ethnomethodology—breaking the
rules—Ex. next time you visit parents act as a guest in their house- Mr.
Mrs., etc. Study their reaction to learn how "family" is supposed to
behave.
D. Exchange Theory—highly influenced by economics. Focus is on interaction between individuals or groups and the "give and take" between individuals in the course of everyday life—notion of justice.
IV. SOCIOLOGICAL
METHODOLOGY—
A. Observation—
B. Archival Research-- (also called existing sources)--
C. Secondary analysis of existing data—
D. Content analysis—
E. Questionnaires-- (Bogardus social Distance Scale is one example).
F. Interviews—
G. Sociological Experiments—
H. What is best technique? The better research usually combines several.
V. Our
Text’s discourse about the Stranger—
A. Strangers are inherently dangerous—
B. We feel uncomfortable in crowds unless some norms of behavior are defined.
C. As a result we have developed some rules of thumb to help us in situations where we confront strangers—The more like us they are the better we feel toward them—the less threatening they appear--- But on another level, if they are TOO similar to us we may feel threatened-- (they might take our job!)
D. Social Psychologist, Robert Cialdini, says that our lives in modern society are so cluttered with data and information that we seek shortcuts— He develops rules of influence that people follow--(I’ve starred three that seem especially suited to the study of minority relations).
1. Reciprocity—someone does something for you, you feel obliged to return the favor.
2. Commitment—once you commit to something, you are less likely to change your mind (don’t want to appear vacillating)
3. ***Social Proof—If others who are like you think something is a good idea—they like the product—you will tend to agree, after all 1000 people can’t be wrong.
4. ***Liking-- If you like someone or some group you will probably go along with them.
5. ***Authority—we rely on them all the time to make difficult decisions for us.
6. Scarcity—if there’s not much of it, it must be good.
VI. ETHNOCENTRISM
A. Our fear of strangers and
reliance on our own groups for needs of security, recognition, and love results
in Ethnocentrism—we try to understand other groups (out-groups) in terms
of our own group. It can lead to erroneous views about "strangers).
1. Max Weber advised
sociologists to avoid this by employing what he called VERSTEHEN. This is akin
to what we call today, "cultural relativism".
