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Sociological Perspective

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stresses that people's social experiences - the groups to which they belong and their experiences within these groups - underlie their behavior.

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Society

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A group of people who share a culture and a territory.

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Social Location

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The corners in life that people occupy because of where they are located in a society.

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Scientific Method

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The use of objective, systematic observations to test theories.

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Positivism

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Applying the scientific method to the social world is called

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Auguste Comte

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He suggested we apply the scientific method to the social world. Founder of sociology. Believed people should interfere with society.

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Sociology

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The study of society.

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Herbert Spencer

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He said societies are evolving and we should not interfere. 2nd founder of sociology. Coined "survival of the fittest" and his ideas are called social darwinism.

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Karl Marx

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Believed people should interfere with society, as did Comte. Believed in class conflict as the engine of human history.

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Class Conflict

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A belief that society is made up of the bourgeoisie and the proletariat who are constantly at odds with one another. One of the theoretical perspectives of sociology

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Bourgeosie

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Capitalists who own the capital, land, factories, and machines in class conflict theory.

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Proletariat

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The exploited workers in class conflict theory.

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Emile Durkheim

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First academic appointment in sociology - goal to recognize sociology as a separate discipline.

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Social Integration

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Emile Durkheim's idea, the degree to which people are tied to their social group: he found that people who have weaker social ties are more likely to commit suicide.

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Max Weber

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One of the three major sociologists. Believed religious change brought about capitalism. Protestant work ethic.

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Jane Addams

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Combined the role of sociologist with that of social reformer. Was wealthy, but worked with the poor.

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W.E.B. Du Bois

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First African American to earn a doctorate at Harvard. Studied relationship between African Americans and whites.

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Applied Sociology

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Applying sociology to the real world.

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Public Sociology

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Harnessing the sociological perspective for the benefit of the public.

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Symbolic Interactionism

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One of the three major sociological theoretical perspectives. Symbols, things to which we attach meaning, are the key to understanding how we view the world and communicate with one another.

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Functional Analysis

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One of the three major sociological theoretical perspectives. The central idea is that society is a whole unit, made up of interrelated parts that work together. How units function within a broader spectrum of society.

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Conflict Theory

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One of the three major sociological theoretical perspectives. This theory stresses that society is composed of groups that are competing with one another for scare resources. The surface might show cooperation, but scratch that surface and you will find a struggle for power.

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Macro level

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Functionalists and conflict theorists focus on this level. That is, they examine large-scale patterns in society.

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Micro level

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Social interaction as well as nonverbal interaction - what people do when they are in one anothers' presences. Symbolic interactionists focus on this level.

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Hypothesis

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A statement of what you expect to find according to predictions that are based on a theory.

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Variables

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Factors that vary or change.

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Operational definitions

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Clear, precise ways to measure variables.

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Research method

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The means by which you collect your data.

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Reliability

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Means that if other researchers were to use your operational definitions, their findings will be consistant with yours.

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Validity

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Your operational definitions must measure what they are intended to measure in order to have...

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Stratified random sample

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A random sample from a certain subgroup.

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Respondents

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People who answer your questions.

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Rapport

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A feeling of trust between a participant and a researcher.

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Case Study

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Focuses on a single event, situation or even individual.

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Secondary Analysis

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Researchers analyze data that others have collected.

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Experiments

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Used for determining cause and effect.

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Experimental group

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The group that receives the variable.

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Control Group

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Group that does not receive the variable.

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Independent Variable

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X, something that causes the change in something else.

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Dependent Variable

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Y, the variable that receives the effect caused by X.

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Values

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Beliefs about what is good or desirable or good in life and the way the world ought to be.

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Value free

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Sociology should be this (with regards to beliefs)

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Objectivity

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Value neutrality

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Culture

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The language, beliefs, values, norms, and behaviors, and even material objects that are passed from one generation to the next.

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Material Culture

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Such things as jewelry, buildings, weapons, machines, and even eating utensils, hairstyles, and clothing.

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Nonmaterial Culture

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A group's way of thinking - beliefs, values, and other assumptions about the world and it's common patterns of behaviors.

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Ethnocentrism

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A tendency to use our own group's ways of doing things as a yardstick for judging others.

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Cultural Relativism

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We can try to understand a culture in it's own terms.

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Symbolic Culture

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Another name for nonmaterial culture since it's central component is the set of symbols that people use.

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Symbol

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Something to which people attach meaning.

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Gestures

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Movements of the body to communicate with others.

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Language

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Symbols can be confined in an infinite way for the purpose of communicating abstract thought is.

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Sapir-Whorf hypothesis

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Our language directs our consciousness, and hence our perception of objects and events. (you perceive people how you classify them.)

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Norms

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Those expectations or rules of behavior that develop out of a group's value.

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Sanctions

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People's reactions when someone follows or breaks a rule.

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Positive Sanction

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Approval for following a norm.

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Negative Sanction

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Disapproval for breaking a norm.

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Folkways

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Norms that are not strictly enforced.

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Mores

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Core values that, if broken, are taken vary seriously. (Stealing, Rape, Murder)

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Taboo

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Norm so strongly ingrained that even the thought of its violation is greeted with revulsion. (Cannibalism and incest) Have severe sanctions.

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Counterculture

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When the values and norms of a subculture do not blend in with mainstream society.

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Pluralistic Society

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A society made up of many groups.

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Value Cluster

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Not all values are independent units. Some cluster together to form a larger whole. (success = hard work, education, material conform, etc)

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Value Contradictions

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When the ideal values do not match the realistic values of a society.

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Technology

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Another name for tools

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Cultural lag

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When one part of a culture lags behind the other. Coined by William Ogburn. Usually Material culture changes first and Nonmaterial culture lags behind. (Laws change before values)

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Cultural diffusion

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Groups who adopt things they find desirable.

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Cultural leveling

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A process in which cultures become more and more similar to one another.

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Social Environment

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How much of our characteristics come from "nuture," or our...

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Feral Children

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Wild children.

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Society Makes us Human

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Babies do not naturally develop into social adults...

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Socialization

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What sociologists have in mind when they say "Society makes us human"

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Charles Horton Cooley

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He came up with the looking-glass self. Our sense of self develops from interaction with others. Although the self concept begins in childhood, its development is an ongoing, lifelong process. (We imagine how owe appear to others' around us, we interpret others' reactions, and we develop a self concept.)

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George Herbert Mead

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He came up with role taking. As we play with others, we learn to take the role of the other. (Play is important to development of self.) Happens through Imitation (3-), Play (3-6), Team Games (6). I and the me. We are not like robots. Our I is active and creative.

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Significant others

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Mead. Individuals who significantly influence our lives.

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Generalized Other

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Mead. Our perception of how others in general think of us.

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Sensorimotor Stage

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Piaget (From birth to about age 2) Understanding is limited to direct contact. We aren't able to "think." We do not know our bodies are separate from the environment. (We haven't discovered we have toes)

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Preoperational stage

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Piaget (From age 2 to 7) We develop the ability to use symbols. However, we do not understand concepts such as sized, speed, or causation. We don't really understand what numbers mean, although we are learning to count. We don't have the ability to take the role of the other.

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Concrete operational stage

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Piaget (From age 7 to 12) Our reasoning abilities remain conrete. We can understand numbers, size, causation, and speed, and we can take the role of the other. We cannot talk about truth, honesty, etc in abstract ways. We need concrete examples.

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Formal Operational Stage.

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Piaget (From age 12+) Not everyone reaches this stage. We are now capable of abstract thinking. We can talk about concepts, come to conclusions based on general principles, and use rules to solve abstract problems. Critical thinking skills.

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Ego

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Balancing force between the id and society which suppresses it. (Freud)

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Id

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Inborn drives that cause us to seek self-gratification (Freud).

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Superego

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Conscience. (Freud) Demands of society/culture within us. Morality.

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Paul Ekman

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He concluded that everyone experiences six basic emotions around the globe. Anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness, and surprise.

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Gender socialization

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Learning the gender map. We are nudged in different directions in life based on our gender. By adulthood, we think and act like our gender.

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Peer Group

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Individuals of roughly the same age who are linked by common interests.

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Gender roles

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the behaviors and attitudes considered appropriate for our sex.

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Agents of socialization

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Individuals and groups that influence our orientations to life- our self-concept, emotions, attitudes, and behavior.

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Anticipatory Socialization

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Learning to play a role before entering it. Mental rehearsal for some future activity.

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Resocialization

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Learning new norms, values, attitudes, and behaviors to match a new situation in life.

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Degradation ceremony

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A person entering a total institution is greeted with this. It's an attempt to remake the self by stripping away the individual's current identity and stamping a new one in its place.

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Life course

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The stages throughout life. Childhood (to age 12), Adolescences (13-17), Transitional adulthood (18-29), Middle years (age 30-65), Early middle years (ages 30-49), Later Middle years (age 50-65), The older years (65+), Transitional and later older years.

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Social Class

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Large numbers of people who have similar amounts of income and education and who work at jobs that are roughly comparable in prestige make up a social class.

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Status

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A position someone occupies. This may have much or little prestige. You can occupy multiple statuses.

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Status set

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All the statuses or positions that a person occupies.

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Ascribed Status

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Involuntary. You do not ask for it or choose it. It is given to you at birth - race, sex, and social class of your parents.

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Achieved status

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Voluntary. You become a student, friend, spouse, lawyer, as a result of your effort. Or a lack of effort you drop out of school, etc.

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Status Symbols

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Signs that identify a status. A wedding ring is an example.

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Master Status

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This cuts across all other statuses. Whatever you do, people will perceive you as this. An example is gender or a convict.

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Status inconsistency

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Contradicting or mismatched statuses. For example, a 14 year old college student.

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Roles

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Behaviors, obligations, and privileges attached to a status. What is expected.

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Groups

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Consists of people who interact with one another and who feel that the values, interests, and norms they have i common are important. The _ to which we belong are powerful forces in our lives.

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Social Institutions

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The standard or usual ways that a society meets its basic needs. (Family, religion, education, the economy, medicine, politics, law, science, and the military.)

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Hunting and gathering societies

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These societies have few social divisions and little inequality. Usually have a shaman, who is thought to influence spiritual forces.

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Pastoral societies

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These societies are based on pasturing of animals. Nomadic and developed in society with little rainfall (couldn't do agriculture)

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Horticulural societies

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These societies are based on cultivation of plants by the use of hand tools. Could develop permanent settlements since they didn't have to move around for food.

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Agricultural societies

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In these societies, people developed cities and what is popularly known as culture. Activities such as philosophy, art, music, literature, and architecture.

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Industrial revolution

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Began in great Britain in 1765. Surplus of everything in this new industrial society, also a surplus of inequality.

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Postindustrial society

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In his type of society, technology centering around the microchip is transforming our lives. The main components are information and service. Few people produce anything.

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Biotech society

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Futuristic society in which the economy will center on applying and altering genetic structures to produce everything. (may be an essay Q on societies so review)

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Mechanical solidarity

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People who perform similar tasks develop a shared consciousness. (Durkheim)

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Division of labor

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As societies get larger, they develop different kinds of work, a specialized...

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Organic solidarity

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When people depend on one another for the specific work that each person contributes to the whole group. (Durkheim)

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Gemeinschaft

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Describes village life where everyone knows everyone else. (Ferdinand Tonnies)

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Gesellschaft

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"impersonal association" Few jobs in family business. People no longer have an intimate connection to family and friends. (Ferdinand tTonnies)

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Intimate distance

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18 inches from our body. (Hall, north americans)

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Personal distance

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18 inches to 4 feed. Friends/acquaintance. (Hall, north americans)

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Social distance

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4 to 12 feet. Impersonal or formal relationships. I.e. Job interviews. (Hall, north americans)

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Public distance

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12 feet. Seperates dignitaries and public speakers from generall public. (Hall, north americans)

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Body Language

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The ways people use their bodies to give messages to others.

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Dramaturgy

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Social life is like a drama or a stage play: Birth ushers us onto the stage of everyday life, and our socialization consists of learning to perform on that stage. Coined by Erving Goffman.

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Microsociology

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Examines narrower slices of social life. Focuses on face-to-face interaction. Symbolic interactions use this type of sociology.

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Impression management

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Goffman called the efforts to maintain the impressions other receive of us as...

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Role Performance

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The particular emphasos or interpretation that we give a role, our "style," is known as...

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Role conflict

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When what is expected of us in one role conflicts with what is expected of us in another. Confluct between roles.

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Role Strain

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Conflict within a role. The same status contains imcompatible roles.

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Ethnomethodology

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The study of how people use commonsense understandings to make sense of life and their surroundings (based on how they were raised).

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Background assumptions

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Your ideas about the way life is supposed to be and the way things out to work. (doctor giving you a haircut breaks these)

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Thomas Theorem

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The definition of the situation. (germs exist in america, may not "exist" elsewhere in other people's minds). "If people define situations as real, they are real in their consequences."

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Social construction of reality

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It is not the reality of something that impresses itself on us, but society that impresses the reality of something on us. (germs for example)

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Groups

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People who think of themselves as belonging together and who interact with one another, are the essence of life in society.

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Aggregate

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Consists of people who temporarily share the same physical space but do not see themselves as belonging together.

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