Exploring the Fundamentals of Sociological Research and Cultural Dynamics
Research Process
Step 1: Defining the Problem
The researcher selects a topic for a study and develops operational definitions of key concepts.
Step 2: Reviewing the Literature
The researcher reviews existing literature on the topic.
Step 3: Forming a Hypothesis
The researcher develops a testable hypothesis on the research topic.
Step 4: Choosing a Research Design
The researcher develops a plan for collecting, analyzing, and evaluating data.
Step 5: Collecting the Data
The researcher gathers and carefully records data.
Step 6: Analyzing the Data
The researcher objectively analyzes the data to determine whether it supports the research hypothesis.
Step 7: Presenting Conclusions
The researcher presents the research findings to other sociologists.
Variables
A variable is a characteristic that can differ from one individual, group, or situation to another in a measurable way.
Basic Research Methods
Surveys
Surveys allow sociologists to collect data on attitudes and opinions from large numbers of people. They use questionnaires and interviews to gather survey data. A sample is a small group of people drawn from a larger population, but it must be representative of that population.
Analysis of Existing Resources
The historical method involves examining materials from the past that contain information of sociological interest. Content analysis is another technique used to analyze existing sources. This process involves counting the number of times a particular word, phrase, idea, event, symbol, or other element appears in a given context.
Observational Studies
In observational studies, researchers observe the behavior of individuals and groups in actual social settings. Data can be collected in two ways: detached observation, where the researcher does not participate, and participant observation, where the researcher becomes directly involved.
Experiments
In an experiment, data is gathered under controlled conditions set by researchers.
Statistical Analysis
Statistical analysis involves using mathematical data to determine the strength of the relationship that may exist between two or more variables. Key concepts include the three measures of central tendency: the mode, the mean, and the median.
Ethical Issues in Research
Sociologists are guided by ethics when conducting research. They protect confidential information provided by participants, unless it involves criminal behavior. They may also deal with legal questions and the use of deception. To protect research subjects from deceptive practices, sociologists usually obtain informed consent.
The Meaning of Culture
Culture consists of all the shared products of human groups. This includes not only physical objects but also beliefs, values, and behaviors. The physical objects that people create and use form a group’s material culture (e.g., books, buildings, clothing, computers). Abstract human creations form a group’s nonmaterial culture (e.g., beliefs, ideas, language, rules, skills). A society is a group of interdependent people who have organized in such a way that they share a common culture and a feeling of unity.
Components of Culture
Technology
Technology refers not only to physical objects but also to the rules established for using those objects. (Technology involves understanding how a silicon chip works as well as the chip itself).
Symbols
Symbols are anything that represents something else; they have a shared meaning attached to them (e.g., gestures, images, sounds, physical objects).
Language
Language is the organization of written or spoken symbols into a standardized system.
Norms
Norms are shared rules of conduct that tell people how to act in specific situations. They are expectations for behavior (e.g., financial responsibility, respect for the American flag). There are two types of norms: folkways, which are norms that describe socially acceptable behavior but do not have great moral significance attached to them, and mores, which have great moral significance and are often formalized as laws (written rules of conduct enforced and enacted by the government) (e.g., dishonesty, fraud, murder).
Cultural Variation
Cultural Universals
Every culture is different because humans have the ability to meet their needs in a vast number of ways. Features common to all cultures are called cultural universals. Examples include arts and leisure, basic needs, beliefs, communication and education, family, government and economy, and technology.
Subcultures and Countercultures
Some values, norms, and behaviors are not shared by the entire population. Subcultures are groups within a society that have unique cultural practices. Modern society is dependent on various subcultures, such as the military, police, lawyers, and physicians. A counterculture is a subculture that rejects the major values, norms, and practices of the larger society and replaces them with a new set of cultural patterns (e.g., the Mafia, the hippie movement of the 1960s).
Responses to Variation
There are two main reactions to cultural differences: ethnocentrism, which involves judging other cultures by one’s own standards, and cultural relativism, which promotes understanding cultures on their own terms.
Cultural Change
Cultural change occurs through cultural diffusion, the spread of ideas and objects between societies. This process is often accelerated by modern communication. Some changes happen quickly, while others take time (cultural lag). Discovery and invention also drive change. Globalization has led to cultural leveling, making cultures more alike worldwide.
The American Value System
Core American Values
- Personal Achievement: Success in school, work, wealth, and prestige.
- Progress and Material Comfort: Belief that progress improves lives.
- Work: Valuing hard work, discipline, and dedication.
- Individualism: Emphasis on personal effort and initiative.
- Efficiency and Practicality: Focus on quick, effective solutions.
- Morality and Humanitarianism: Judging based on right and wrong, helping others.
- Equality and Democracy: Equal opportunity and the right to participate in government.
- Freedom: Cherishing fundamental freedoms.
Changing Values
Values are dynamic. Self-fulfillment, a commitment to personal development, has become increasingly important. Christopher Lasch argued that this emphasis on self-fulfillment could lead to narcissism. The rise of environmentalism demonstrates how values change. For a long time, progress led to altering the natural world, but now there’s a growing emphasis on protecting the environment.