SOC 101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Norbert Elias
Document Summary
Sociology as a discipline is highly diverse, many approaches to what it is. It"s too diverse, but also has its advantages. Definition: commonly defined as the scientific study of social relations. (one of the least controversial ones) Textbook: the systematic study of society and social interaction . What we are observing somehow connects to previous studies of a similar nature. Empirical study of something: based on some kind of observation of reality, senses, experiences, you studying a certain result. You engaging with the world, in a broad sense, observations of the world. Society: a group of people who live in a defined geographical area who interact with one another and who share a commone culture. Usually used to designate country level groups (u. s. , canada) Disagreemenet about groupness: how do we define groupness, messy term, widely used. Most sociologists use the term for simplicity"s sake but don"t like it.
