Overview

“Let’er buck!”

If you’ve ever attended the Pendleton Round-Up in Pendleton, Oregon (figure 1.1), or participated in other rodeos, you’ve heard this catchphrase, first used in 1910 to kick off “a frontier exhibition of picturesque pastimes, Indian and military spectacles, cowboy racing and bronco busting” (Pendleton Round-Up N.d.). For many people living in the West, Oregonians in particular, rodeos are part of their history and hold a vital role in their communities.

You might wonder why a sociologist would be interested in studying rodeos. Rodeos, like many other activities, provide an opportunity to learn more about human behavior. Sociologists see events like the Round-Up as a way to learn more about history, culture, interactions between groups, and interactions between people within social structures. To study the sport of rodeo, we look past some of the physical activity to focus on the patterns of participation and exclusion, as well as to explore the connections between the event and other social phenomena.

On the surface level, we see that the Pendleton Round-Up provides entertainment, displays athleticism, and builds community. However, if we step back to examine the layers and levels of social interactions that occur there, we can uncover more about how and why groups of people behave as they do in particular situations. The Pendleton Round-up was founded in 1910 by the town’s professionals and businessmen to provide entertainment centered on the community’s roots in the Wild West (Willingham 2021). The Round-Up includes Native Americans by inviting the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR) and tribal members throughout the Northwest to participate in the event (figure 1.2, figure 1.3). This event may appear to serve as entertainment that centers around the history and culture of the Wild West but it also serves additional functions. The week of Round-Up and the days leading up to it are important for the community’s economy. The event brings in tourism that supports local artisans, restaurants, and other businesses. For some, that week’s worth of commerce helps cover less lucrative periods. By examining the Pendleton Round-Up through a sociological perspective, we can start to see how an activity such as a rodeo has implications for race, economic systems, and public health. We will revisit this analysis in greater depth later in this chapter.

At times it may seem as though sociologists (and your professor) are speaking in some sort of code: Structure? Agency? Social institutions? Our specialized language reflects key concepts and ideas commonly used in the discipline of sociology. This chapter will help introduce you to these concepts and ignite your sociological imagination, a topic we’ll discuss in the next section. Sociologists seek opportunities to learn more about social life by using social scientific approaches to study everyday interactions and broader patterns in society. In this chapter, you will explore what sociology is and how the sociological perspective can be applied in everyday life. We will return to the Round-Up example as a tool to examine representations of diversity and understand more about the interconnections between social institutions. Finally, you will explore why it’s useful to study sociology and the discipline’s real-world applications.