3.1.1 Learning Objectives

After reading this chapter, you will be able to:

1. Summarize how sociological theory helps us to understand and explain our world.
2. Describe key theories of sociologists, particularly the scholars and scientists who are traditionally ignored.
3. Explain how the social location of a sociologist might impact what they see.

3.1.2 Chapter Overview

With gratitude to my teachers, my students, Open Oregon, and my co-author for support in this attempt to re-craft the standard narrative of sociological theory.
– Kelly Szott

Figure 3.1. Texas state rep. gives powerful testimony on the history of bathroom laws [YouTube Video]. Who Can Use The Bathroom? Texas State Representative Senfronia Thompson testifies. As you watch, you might consider how using the bathroom becomes a social problem. Social scientists try to figure out why this might be true. Transcript

In the video that opens this chapter, we see that something as simple as where to go to the bathroom can be very complicated (Figure 3.1). Writing in 1892, Black feminist scholar Anna Julia Cooper noted a dilemma she encountered while traveling by train in the South. When her train stopped at a station, Cooper wrote, “I see two dingy little rooms with ‘FOR LADIES’ swinging over one and ‘FOR COLORED PEOPLE’ over the other; while wondering under which head I come” (1892:96). It is this precise dilemma that Black feminist theorists of intersectionality dealt with 100 years later when they pointed out the law’s inability to address the intersection of racial and gender discrimination.

Bathrooms have also emerged as a controversial space more recently with attacks on policies that allow gender-expansive individuals to use restrooms that align with their gender identity (Schilt and Westbrook 2015). We can see that then and now something that seems so mundane—bathrooms—can produce rich theoretical insights about society, a group of people who live in a defined geographic area, who interact with one another, and who share a common culture.

The study of social problems is based in the wider field of sociology, the systematic study of society and social interactions to understand individuals, groups, and institutions through data collection and analysis. Sociologists study human interactions from the level of two people talking to systems that span the globe. In this chapter, we explore how sociological theories help to understand why our world works the way it does.

3.1.4 Licenses and Attributions for Chapter Overview and Learning Objectives

Open Content, Original

“Chapter Overview” by Kelly Szott and Kimberly Puttman is licensed under CC BY 4.0.

Open Content, Shared Previously

“Society” definition from Introduction to Sociology 3e by Tonja R. Conerly, Kathleen Holmes, Asha Lal Tamang, Introduction to Sociology 3e, Openstax is licensed under CC BY 4.0.

“Sociology” definition adapted from the Open Education Sociological Dictionary edited by Kenton Bell is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

All Rights Reserved Content

Figure 3.1. “Texas State Rep. Gives Powerful Testimony on the History of Bathroom Laws” © Washington Post is licensed under the Standard YouTube License.