Sociology Lectures

NYU Professor Harvey Molotch--Introduction to Sociology; This course provides a sampling of problems and methods used by sociologists, with concrete examples from everyday life, history, and contemporary events.

I applied for a PGCE course and I had to make a video explaining to 16 year olds, What is sociology? It would have been better if I'd used a BBC-circa-1948 voice, but I didn't have the guts.

How can an academic discipline like Sociology be life changing? This talk suggests one way by exploring how sociologists teach us to re-imagine our personal problems and ourselves. In the end, we learn that even in our most private and seemingly isolated moments, we may be more connected to others than we realize.

His unique ability to connect with students along with his innovative use of technology in the classroom makes Sam Richards a very popular Sociology professor in the United States. Every semester over 750 students at Penn State University take his class on race and ethnic relations, the largest course on this subject in the world. He creates an active learning space where he addresses with humor and courage the very questions that most of us choose to avoid. Sam is also a co-founder of Penn State's World in Conversation Center. Every year, thousands of students from around the world participate in the Center's mission to bring conflict into collaboration through peer-facilitated dialogue.

About TEDx, x = independently organized event

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)

Basic definitions of Sociology and the Sociological Imagination

NYU Professor Harvey Molotch--Introduction to Sociology; This course provides a sampling of problems and methods used by sociologists, with concrete examples from everyday life, history, and contemporary events.

This video provides a brief introduction to Structural Functionalism. It was created by students in a sociological theory class at the University of Tampa to accompany a presentation on Structural Functionalism. The video describes the theory and gives some examples of Structural Functionalist theorizing.

Introductory Sociology by Prof. A.K. Sharma, Department of Humanities and
Social Sciences,IIT Kanpur.For more details on NPTEL visit

NYU Professor Harvey Molotch--Introduction to Sociology; This course provides a sampling of problems and methods used by sociologists, with concrete examples from everyday life, history, and contemporary events.

This video is for Sociology

Link to guided notes

(March 29, 2010) Stanford professor Robert Sapolsky gave the opening lecture of the course entitled Human Behavioral Biology and explains the basic premise of the course and how he aims to avoid categorical thinking.

Stanford University


Stanford Department of Biology


Stanford University Channel on YouTube

Mills explores why theory is important to our understanding of society. He explains the concept of the Sociological Imagination-- his idea that sociologists needed to be critical and skeptical of the bureaucratization of sociological research. He sets forth a sense of what it means to be an intellectual scientist.

Harvey Molotch Introduction to Sociology

NYU Professor Harvey Molotch--Introduction to Sociology; This course provides a sampling of problems and methods used by sociologists, with concrete examples from everyday life, history, and contemporary events.

Harvey Molotch Introduction to Sociology

CRASSH 'Understanding Society' lectures supported by the Thriplow Charitable Trust

NYU Professor Harvey Molotch--Introduction to Sociology; This course provides a sampling of problems and methods used by sociologists, with concrete examples from everyday life, history, and contemporary events.

Max Weber explained that modern capitalism was born not because of new technology or new financial instruments. What started it all off was religion. SUBSCRIBE to our channel for new films every week:
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This video lecture examines the idea of the sociological imagination being about seeing the relationship between private troubles and public issues, as argued by the famous American sociologist, C. Wright Mills.

NYU Professor Harvey Molotch--Introduction to Sociology; This course provides a sampling of problems and methods used by sociologists, with concrete examples from everyday life, history, and contemporary events.

NYU Professor Harvey Molotch--Introduction to Sociology; This course provides a sampling of problems and methods used by sociologists, with concrete examples from everyday life, history, and contemporary events.

If You're So Free, Why Do You Follow Others? The Sociological Science Behind Social Networks and Social Influence.

Nicholas Christakis, Professor of Medical Sociology, Medicine, and Sociology at Harvard University

If you think you're in complete control of your destiny or even your own actions, you're wrong. Every choice you make, every behavior you exhibit, and even every desire you have finds its roots in the social universe. Nicholas Christakis explains why individual actions are inextricably linked to sociological pressures; whether you're absorbing altruism performed by someone you'll never meet or deciding to jump off the Golden Gate Bridge, collective phenomena affect every aspect of your life. By the end of the lecture Christakis has revealed a startling new way to understand the world that ranks sociology as one of the most vitally important social sciences.

The Floating University
Originally released September 2011.

Additional Lectures:
Michio Kaku: The Universe in a Nutshell


Joel Cohen: An Introduction to Demography (Malthus Miffed: Are People the Problem?)


Steven Pinker: Linguistics as a Window to Understanding the Brain

Leon Botstein: Art Now (Aesthetics Across Music, Painting, Architecture, Movies, and More.)


Tamar Gendler: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Politics and Economics

Harvey Molotch - Introduction to Sociology

A brief introduction to the three most classic sociological theories: Conflict Theory, Structural Functionalism, and Symbolic Interactionism.

This video is for Sociology

Link for guided notes

Harvey Molotch - Introduction to Sociology

The Sociological Imagination enables us to grasp history and biography and the relations between the two within society. That is it's task and it's promise. -C Wright Mills, _The Sociological Imagination_ , page 6

The Warner brother's Wile E. Coyote and Roadrunner demonstrate for us one interpretation of a sociologist's quest to fulfill that promise.

Warner Brothers Looney Tunes music and video episode segments incorporated include To Beep or Not To Beep and Soup or Sonic.

This short film was compiled from quotes and short clips of the above named sources for educational purposes, as described by Fair Use, for nonprofit educational purposes. No copyright infringement is supposed or intended by the author.

Fair Use Statement

According to the Fair Use clause of International Copyright Law, the author declares that the use of the photos/images/information in this academic/reference/scholarly work is for purposes of criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, or research according to Section 107. - Limitations on exclusive rights: Fair use, U.S. Copyright Code. The resulting work on Famous Plagiarists is a creative endeavor with value added through unique and original selection/arrangement of factual material and information, critique, expression, and classification of information.

Conceptual art and historical imagery vivifies a discussion of Emile Durkhiem's Division of Labour in Society. The video focuses upon differences between traditional mechanical solidarity and modern organic solidarity.

Filmed as part of a second year course in social anthropology at Cambridge University in November 2001. For further writings on the social theorists and the background, please see alanmacfarlane.com
NB.
For the chart referred to here, please see:


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NYU Professor Harvey Molotch--Introduction to Sociology; This course provides a sampling of problems and methods used by sociologists, with concrete examples from everyday life, history, and contemporary events.

Moral Foundations of Politics (PLSC 118)

Today, Professor Shapiro continues his discussion of Enlightenment theory of Karl Marx, focusing on the foundations of his theory of capitalism. The central question is, how is wealth created under capitalism at the micro level? For Marx, Adam Smith's invisible hand is not entirely benevolent. His labor theory of value stipulates that living human labor-power is the only way to create new value, and therefore capitalists who shift toward capital-intensive production cannot actually create new value. Marx also assumes wages are at the level of subsistence, and that capitalists turn a profit by exploiting the surplus labor time of workers. Professor Shapiro also explores some corollary concepts to Marx's mode of production--the class-for-itself/class-in-itself distinction, socially necessary labor time and surplus labor time, and the extent to which workers are other-referential.

00:00 - Chapter 1. Introduction: Class Agenda and Marx's Characterization of Freedom
07:12 - Chapter 2. Marx's Theory of Science
16:37 - Chapter 3. The Labor Theory of Value; Exploitation and Injustice
22:37 - Chapter 4. The Labor Theory of Surplus Value
35:37 - Chapter 5. Relative & Absolute Surplus Value & Rate of Exploitation

Complete course materials are available at the Open Yale Courses website:

This course was recorded in Spring 2010.

From the Introducing Sociology DVD
onlineclassroom.tv

This video is intended for Mr. Sinn's sociology class, to help better understand the sociological imagination according to C. Wright Mills.

In this Paradox Animation, Dalton Conley defines the sociological imagination and explains how to think like a sociologist.

Wednesday, May 17, 2017, NYU President Andrew Hamilton and Trustees Chair William Berkley presided over the University’s 185th Commencement ceremony at Yankee Stadium.

Pharrell Williams—the musician, songwriter, and producer who has earned 11 Grammy Awards and is a two-time Academy Award nominee-- addresses the graduates and guests on behalf of all the honorary degree recipients.

NYU OpenED: Introduction to Sociology

Foundations of Modern Social Thought (SOCY 151)

Along with the macro-level shift from traditional forms of authority to legal-rational authority, Weber's theory of class identifies a macro-level shift from status to class determining life chances. In feudal times, under traditional forms of authority, monarchs or others in power conferred high status upon individuals and material wealth followed; first a man would be named a nobleman, and then he would get his estate. In the modern capitalist era, individuals obtain their monetary or material wealth and their class position vis-à-vis the market determines their life chances. Weber, in contrast to Marx, argues that class is a modern phenomenon. However, this does not mean that our modern and contemporary world does not have versions of status. Like remnants of traditional and charismatic authority co-mingled with legal-rational authority in the state and other institutions, status still determines life chances to a certain extent. The influence of status is somewhat subsumed under Weber's category of social class.

00:00 - Chapter 1. Remarks for Final Exam
04:06 - Chapter 2. Introduction to Weber's Theory on Class
19:57 - Chapter 3. Definition of Class
29:59 - Chapter 4. Definition of Status Group
38:19 - Chapter 5. Class and Status Compared; Types of Classes

Complete course materials are available at the Open Yale Courses website:

This course was recorded in Fall 2009.

Samajshashtra Ka Parichaye Part 1
Dr. Deepti Shrivastava
For Student of Madhya Pradesh Bhoj Open University ,Bhopal
B.A. 1st year , Sociology , 1st Paper, Published By -EMPRC, MPBOU

A brief presentation on The Sociological Imagination as well as the Mills' views on the writing craft. This video presentation is from Macro Social Theory, by Frank W. Elwell. This book focuses on the macro social theory of Marx, Durkheim, Weber, Malthus, and Spencer as well as contemporary expressions of these classics. The contemporary theorists covered include Harry Braverman, John Bellamy Foster, Robert K. Merton, Robert Nisbet, Neil Postman, Norbert Elias, George Ritzer, Gerhard Lenski, Stephen Sanderson, Stjepan Mestrovic, C. Wright Mills, Ester Boserup, and Immanuel Wallerstein.

A short documentary on C. Wright Mills life, theories, accomplishments, and impacts on society.

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I DO NOT OWN THE MUSIC TO THIS FILM.

Foundations of Modern Social Thought (SOCY 151)

Durkheim's Suicide is a foundational text for the discipline of sociology, and, over a hundred years later, it remains influential in the study of suicide. Durkheim's study demonstrates that what is thought to be a highly individual act is actually socially patterned and has social, not only psychological, causes. Durkheim's study uses the logic of multivariate statistical analysis, which is now widely used in the discipline of sociology. Durkheim considered factors including country, marital status, religion, and education level to explain variations in suicide rates. Durkheim found that Protestants, who tended to be more highly educated, had a higher rate of suicide than Catholics, who tended to have lower levels of education. Jewish people fell outside of this pattern; highly educated, they had a very low rate of suicide. Durkheim explained that the education of Protestants led them to individual consciousness whereas the education of Jewish people meant to make them more integrated into their religious community. Durkheim arrives at a typology of suicide ranging between high and low regulation and high and low integration: egoistic, altruistic, anomic, and fatalistic suicide.

00:00 - Chapter 1. Suicide Defined
23:45 - Chapter 2. Egoistic Suicide
46:43 - Chapter 3. Altruistic Suicide
48:47 - Chapter 4. Anomic Suicide; Fatalistic Suicide

Complete course materials are available at the Open Yale Courses website:

This course was recorded in Fall 2009.

Functionalism is a theory of society that focuses on the structures that create the society and on how the society is able to remain stable.

Also check out the Khan Academy MCAT test prep section ( for more sociology videos.

Let's learn about how society is divided up into layers, and what kinds of mobility and traits there are within those layers!

Table of Contents:

00:00 - Stratification
00:36 - Social Stratification
01:39 - Types of Stratification
03:14 - Systems of Stratification
04:38 - Systems of Stratification
06:35 - Systems of Stratification
07:31 - Status Consistency
10:46 - Upper Class!
10:50 - Status Consistency
12:12 - Upper Class!
13:57 - Middle Class
16:41 - Lower Class
18:00 - Social Mobility
21:02 - Class Traits

Lecture to second year undergraduate students at Cambridge University in 2001 by Alan Macfarlane on some aspects of the work of Karl Marx. For the background, downloadble version, readings etc. please see alanmacfarlane.com

I have disabled the feed-back button because of a number of abusive and unpleasant comments (amongst much positive feed-back) I have received. Apologies to those who have constructive (whether positive or negative) comments to make.

All revenue is donated to:

NYU Professor Harvey Molotch--Introduction to Sociology; This course provides a sampling of problems and methods used by sociologists, with concrete examples from everyday life, history, and contemporary events.

Harvey Molotch Introduction to Sociology

A brief presentation on The Sociological Imagination as well as the Mills' views on the writing craft. This video presentation is from Macro Social Theory, by Frank W. Elwell. This book focuses on the macro social theory of Marx, Durkheim, Weber, Malthus, and Spencer as well as contemporary expressions of these classics. The contemporary theorists covered include Harry Braverman, John Bellamy Foster, Robert K. Merton, Robert Nisbet, Neil Postman, Norbert Elias, George Ritzer, Gerhard Lenski, Stephen Sanderson, Stjepan Mestrovic, C. Wright Mills, Ester Boserup, and Immanuel Wallerstein.

Originally published on Nov 16, 2014, the presentation had 5,298 views when revised and updated.

UCSB emeritus professor of sociology Thomas Scheff explores the place that emotion holds in cognition. [8/2009] [Humanities] [Show ID: 16938]

Wednesday, May 17, 2017, NYU President Andrew Hamilton and Trustees Chair William Berkley presided over the University’s 185th Commencement ceremony at Yankee Stadium.

The student speaker at the Commencement Exercises was Roxanne A. Roman, who graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from NYU Shanghai.