Part II Texts for summarizing

Text 1.

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Sociology

The name sociology was first suggested in the 1830s by the French philosopher Auguste Comte, but for many years it remained only a suggestion. Comte urged others to study sociology.

It was not until late in the 19th century that we can identify people who called themselves sociologists and whose work contributed to the development of the field.

Among these were Herbert Spencer in England who published the first of his three-volume <<Principles of Sociology>> in 1876 and Ferdinand Tonnies in Germany.

A decade later, Emile Durkheim published <<Suicide.>>

The first sociologists studied moral statistics. Their work proved so popular that it led to the rapid expansion of census questions. However, sociology as an academic speciality was imported from Germany. The progressive uncovering of social causes of individual behavior-in response to the questions raised by moral statistics-produced the field called sociology.

Sociology is one of the related fields known as the social sciences. They share the same subject matter: human behavior. But sociology is the study of social relations, and its primary subject matter is the group, not the individual.

There is a close connection between sociology and other disciplines such as psychology, economy, anthropology, criminology, political science, and history. But sociologists differ from psychologists because they are not concerned exclusively with the individual, they are interested in what goes on between people. They differ from economists by being less interested in commercial exchanges; they are interested in the exchange of intangibles such as love and affection. Sociologists differ from anthropologists primarily because the latter specialize in the study of preliterate and primitive human groups, while sociologists are interested in modern industrial societies.

Criminologists specialize in illegal behavior, while sociologists are concerned with the whole range of human behavior. Similarly, political scientists focus on political social organizations. Finally, sociologists share with historians an interest in the past but are equally interested in the present and the future.

Sociology is a broader discipline than the other social sciences. IN a sense, the purpose of sociologists is, in general, to find the connections that unite various social sciences into a comprehensive, integrated science of society.

Sociology consists of two major fields of knowledge: micro sociology and macro sociology. Micro sociologists study the patterns and processes of face-to-face interaction between humans. Macro sociologists attempt to explain the fundamental patterns and processes of large-scale social relations. They concentrate on larger groups, even on whole societies.

Sociologists attempt to use research to discover if certain statements about social life are correct. The basic tools of their research are tests, questionnaires, interviews, surveys, and public opinion polls.

 

2. Answer the following questions:

1. Who was the first to suggest the name sociology?

2. Who were the first sociologists?

3. What were they mainly interested in?

4. What country was sociology as an academic discipline imported from?

5. What is the subject matter of sociology?

6. What other disciplines is sociology closely connected with?

7. What differs sociology from psychology and anthropolody?

8. What is the goal of sociologists?

9. What fields of knowledge does sociology consist of?

10. What are the basic tools of sociological research?

 

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Text 2.

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Sociological theory

The discipline of sociology involvesmore than adistinctive point of view. The sociological perspective illuminates new facts in countless familiar situations; but linking specific observations together in a meaningful way involves another element of the discipline, theory. In the simplest terms, a theory is an explanation of the relationship between two or more specific facts. To illustrate the use of theory in sociology, recall Emile Durkheim's study of suicide. Durkheim attempted to explain why some categories of people (males, Protestants, the wealthy, and the unmarried) have higher suicide rates that do others (females, Catholics, the poor, and the married). To do so, he linked one set of facts — suicide rates — to another set of facts — the level of social integration characteristic of these various categories of people. Through systematic comparisons, Durkheim was able to develop a theory of suicide, namely, that people with low social integration are more prone to take their own lives.

To provide another illustration, how might we explain the sociological observation that college science courses in the United States typically contain more men than women? One theoretical approach would suggest that the sciences are more attractive to males than to females; perhaps males simply have a greater inborn interest in science. Another possibility is that American society encourages males to develop an interest in science while simultaneously discouraging this interest in females. A third theoretical approach might suggest that the educational system has some formal or informal policy that limits the enrollment of women in science courses.

As this example suggests, there may be more than one theoretical explanation for any particular issue. Therefore, the ability to link facts together into a meaningful theory does not in itself mean that theory is correct. In order to evaluate contrasting theories, sociologists make use of various methods of scientific research.

As sociologists use these scientific methods to gather more and more information, they are able to confirm some theories while rejecting or modifying others. In the early decades of this century, several sociologists interested in the rapid growth of cities developed theories that linked city living to distinctive patterns of human behaviour such as pronounced impersonality and even mental illness. However, research completed during subsequent decades has found that living in a large city does not necessarily result in social isolation, nor does it diminish mental health. Within any discipline therefore, theory is never static, because sociologists are continually carrying out research, sociological theory is always being refined.

 

 

2. Answer the following questions:

1. What is meant by theory?

2. What did E. Durkheim base his research on?

3. What is the essence of his suicide theory?

4. What sociological observation was made among college science students?

5. What do sociologists make use of to evaluate contrasting theories?

6. Is a theory static or changeable within any discipline?

7. Do you agree with the point that men are more prone to science study?

Text 3.

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Social Barometer

A great part of sociological research consists of quantitative experimenting. The system of techniques used for that purpose is that of statistical methods. These methods are necessary to examine the data, analyse them and draw certain conclusions. The results of the socio­logical survey are published then.

Sociological research is usually conducted by a working group under the supervision of the leading sociologists of the All-Ukrainian Centre for the Study of Public Opinion. The public opinion poll is a criterion of the current social life within the society. It is the so-called social barometer of the country. In fact our fast-moving life makes it necessary to analyse things. So it is useful to examine the results of sociological surveys.

The public opinion poll is carried out nationwide or in some definite regions, cities, institutions. It may be verbal in the form of an interview. But more often the opinion poll is conducted by means of tests or ques­tionnaires. The questionnaires contain some items to be chosen by the subjects. In other cases the questionnaires present a set of questions to be answered by the res­pondents in their individual way. The respondents may express their own opinions verbally or in writing. The assessments may be optimistic, pessimistic, dramatic, positive, negative. They expose and reassess our ideals and values.

The polls are very popular nowadays throughout the country. In general, they are directed to assess current social and political situation, political figures, the most important events, economic perspectives, our lossesandgains and so on. All data are given in percentages.

2. Answer the following questions:

1. What methods are the basic tools in everysociological research?

2. Who conducts sociological research?

3. What is considered to be a social barometer?

4. Where is the public opinion poll carriedout?

5. In what form may it be conducted?

6. What are the questionnaires like?

7. How do the respondents express theiropinions?

8. What do assessments expose?

9. What is the aim of the polls?

10. How are all data given?