1. Week 2

2. Society is a group of people living and
interacting together. Societies can be described
by:
 Geographical boundaries
 Patterns of common behavior
 Relationships between people
 Accepted rules and laws by which people live
 Ways in which resources needed for survival
are distributed

3. In Australian society our SOCIETY is:
 An island
 English is the most common language spoken
 We have a variety of Australian, State and Local
laws that cover most areas of our lives
 We have systems like taxation and social security
as a means of distributing resources
Every society organizes rules and patterns of
behavior differently. This is where sociology
comes in.

4.  Sociology is the study of society. It is an
attempt to analyze the social world which
includes the way people relate to each other
and the way society is organized.
 Sociology is a study of social conditions
(influences), social positions and social
organizations.
 Sociology is not simple and straightforward. It
involves a range of competing theories and
ideas. No theory is perfect and no theory
completely explains any social phenomena.

5.  Social conditions: influences which affect the
behavior of people in society. They include
politics, economy, religion, family, gender, age,
sexual preferences etc.
 Social positions: relate to life changes or the
probability of you attaining a particular position
in society. These chances are increased or
decreased by the social influences.
 Social organizations: the way people in society
organize themselves and how organizations
make people act in a similar way.

6. 1. What resources (personal, financial, social)
allow you to study in this course?
2. If you are currently working in the
Community services industry, are there
more males or females where you work?
How may this be explained?
3. How different might it have been for
someone of your age, gender and culture
50 years ago? What might have you been
doing instead?

7. Firstly – Sociologist’s don’t agree on HOW we
should study society – what methods to use.
Secondly - Sociologists don’t agree what
Society is like – how it works and changes
and where it is going.

8. Consensus:
 Society is defined by co-operation
 Society is fair
 Society works well
Conflict:
 Society is defined by conflict between groups –
class, gender, ethnic and religious.
 Society is unfair
 Society works well…for some

9. A. To understand the difference between
Macro and Micro Sociology.
B. To know the basics of Marxism, Feminism,
Interactionism and Functionalism.

10. MACRO means….
Explaining issues in terms of society as a
whole, or large institutions and groups.
micro means…
Explaining issues in terms of individuals
decisions – they ‘make’ society and they can
remake it too!

11. Belief that society is divided between men and
women.
Men have most of the power.
This is called Patriarchy – the ‘rule of the fathers’.
Women are held-back by sexist men, but also by
sexist institutions – e.g. employers

12. Society is like an efficient machine, or a body.
It has lots of different parts, but generally they
work well together and everyone benefits.
Individuals are brought up to fulfil roles by society
and generally do what they are told.

13. Society is like a conversation.
Some people are better at talking, but everyone
can take part if they want.
Like a conversation everything is changing and we
can’t predict what will happen.
Things change a lot and this is okay.

14. Society is like a broken machine, or a mentally ill
person.
It is ruled over by the Rich and Powerful who use,
exploit and influence the Workers to keep control.
Individuals have little freedom and if they do rebel
they are punished severely.

15.  Whatdo you think it means? Talk to your
neighbour.

16.  Using all your senses: observation, smell, hearing, and touch
 Deciding what's important and what's not
 Puzzle solving by looking for patterns and relationships
 Identifying problems
 Transferring your knowledge from one situation to another
 Applying your knowledge
 Making choices and educated decisions
 Evaluating intervention based on established criteria
Read more: http://www.dummies.com/how-
to/content/developing-criticalthinking-strategies-for-the-
ncl.html#ixzz0vWOSvspY