Subject 1. Sociology as science

Occupation purpose: to formulate fundamental questions of sociology and to consider their statement and the decision different theoretical traditions in sociology; to discuss features of sociological knowledge in comparison with other types humanitarian knowledge; to define value of sociological imagination for personal and social development of the person.

Basic concepts: social society, social fact, scientific method, theory, fundamental questions of sociology, sociological imagination.

Plan:

1. Sociology as branch of scientific knowledge. Object and subject of sociology.

2. Structure and functions of science. Levels of sociological knowledge.

3. Communication of sociology with related subjects.

Questions for reflection, self-examination, repetition:

1. For what the sociology is necessary?

2. What gives knowledge of sociology to the modern person, in particular the engineer?

3. Than the sociology as science differs from sociology as subject?

4. What pulls together sociology with ordinary knowledge?

5. What initial categories of sociology and how they are connected between themselves?

6. Than fundamental and applied researches differ among themselves?

7. Than informative and social roles of the academic and applied sociologists differ among themselves?

8. In what the main differences of sociology from other sciences studying human society consist?

9. What is object of sociology as sciences and its subject?

Tasks and exercises:

1. Whether any interaction between people is social? give examples.

2. Using an interdisciplinary matrix of sociology, consider the following social fact from a position of psychology, economy and sociology: carrying out election campaign by the candidate; way of life of the resident of the megalopolis; unemployment).

3. Make a social portrait of the female businessman (worker) from a position of sociology, psychology, economy.

4. Call object and a subject of studying in the offered subject: Health as social value. Mass media as instrument of formation of valuable structure of the Russian population.

5. It is known that any social phenomenon has both positive, and negative sides. Reveal positive and negative sides of the following social facts: insurance of a motor vehicle liability cancellation of privileges to some categories of the population, "brain drain" to the west, Stalin repressions, resettlement from the village to the city in the second half of the XX century, collectivization of the 30th, cloning of the person, etc. (The social phenomena are offered by the teacher or get out students independently. The priority is given to actual modern problems).

6. Carry out differentiations between school of sciences, branch of sociology, the special sociological theory, scientific discipline.

7. How the sociologist in the research uses an ordinary picture of the world? How life experience and a personal picture of the world are connected among themselves? Explain the answer.

8. Than to be guided to the sociologist if the purpose of the customer contradicts his political and moral convictions? What makes the defining impact on a moral position of the sociologist - a situation in the most sociological science or a condition of society in which he acts?

Definitions:

1) the level of the sociological analysis focused on studying of direct interaction between people in daily social circumstances;

2) system of social interactions;

3) the level of the sociological analysis focused on studying of steady social structures and lengthy temporary processes;

4) scientific research of society, social institutes and social groups, interactions in them and between them;

5) the way of knowledge acquisition assuming careful selection of data and forming of certain theoretical systems on the basis of proofs and logical arguments which check is available to researchers;

6) any image of action capable to put upon the individual external pressure and having at the same time own existence independent of individual manifestations;

7) action which on the sense is focused on behavior of others;

8) a suspense from power groups of the questions concerning various parties of social life of people;

9) identification of how the social system in general, what initial prerequisites of its existence predetermining nature of social interactions works;

10) intepretativnost, convention of forecasts and conclusions.

Creative task:

1. Write the small composition on a subject: "What your expectations from a training course "Sociology"? (In this work try to answer a question: as it is possible to use sociological knowledge: a) to each citizen, b) to the expert of your profession?).

2. Read the book of the famous sociologist P. Monson "The boat on park avenues" which is widely used in teaching an introduction course of "Sociology" in Goeteborg University (Sweden). Pay attention to original approach of the author to science. Write on the basis of the read essay about mission of sociology.

Literature:

1. Асп Э. К. Введение в социологию. СПб., 1998.

2. Монсон П. Лодка на аллеях парка: Введение в социологию. М., 1994. 3. Кравченко А.И. Социология: Учебник для вузов. М., 2008.

4. Комаров М.С. Введение в социологию: Учебник для вузов. М., 1994.

Дата добавления: 2015-11-14