Sociology Midterm Hunter College
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Sociology
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seeing and understanding the connection between individual and society
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The Sociological Perspective
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the perspective from which one sees and understands the connections between the individuals and the broader social contexts in which they live
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The Sociological Imagination
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C. Wright Mills felt that the central task for sociology and sociologists was to find the connections between individuals and society. This approach challenges a structural functionalist approach to sociology.
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modernity
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era characterized by the growth of democracy and personal freedom, increased reliance on reason and science to explain the natural and social worlds, and a shift toward an urban economy.
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science
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use of logic and the systematic collection of evidence to support knowledge claims.
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industrialization
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the use of large-scale machinery for the mass manufacture of consumer goods
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urbanization
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the growth of cities
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Karl Marx
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-we are alienated from ourselves through alienation from work -capitalism creates conflict -class struggle between proletariat and bourgeoisie
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Emile Durkheim
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-social solidarity/organic solidarity -the collective bonds that connect individuals (\"living organism\")
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collective conscience (Durkheim)
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shared values of a society
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division of labor (Durkheim)
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people specializing in different tasks each requiring special skills
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anomie (Durkheim)
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a state of normlessness, without moral guidance
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Max Weber
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-The Protestant Ethic & The Rationalization of Modern Life -The \"iron cage\" traps individuals in systems based purely on teleological efficiency, rational calculation and control
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rationalization of society (Weber)
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the long-term historical process by which rationality replaced tradition as the basis for organizing social and economic life
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Harriet Martineau
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gender discrimination
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WEB DuBois
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Racial inequality
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Jane Addams
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Urban social problems
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structural-functionalist theory
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focus on how different elements that make up a society's structure contribute to its overall operation
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manifest and latent functions
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manifest = intended consequences latent = unintended consequences
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conflict theory
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focus on issues of contention, power and inequality, highlighting the competition for scarce resources
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Symbolic Interactionist theory
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focuses on how people use shared symbols and construct society as a result of their everyday interactions
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feminist theory
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aims to understand the nature of gender inequality
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theory
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a set of principles and propositions that explains the relationships among social phenomena
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Auguste comte
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doctrine of positivism and invented the word sociology
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Durkheim's suicide
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altruistic, egoistic, anomic, and fatalistic
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quantitative data
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summarized numerically
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transparency
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the requirement for others to see what actions are performed
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Hawthorne effect
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human beings will react differently because they know they are in a study
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provisional knowledge
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The idea that all truth claims are tentative and open to revision if new evidence is discovered
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hypothesis
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a statement about the relationship between variables that is to be investigated
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validity vs reliability
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Validity is the degree to measure what it is supposed to measure. Reliability is the extent to which a measurement gives result that are very consistent.
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Types of research: positivist, interpretive and critical research
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positivist - gaining knowledge using scientific methods, experiments and surveys interpretive - focuses on an understanding of the meaning people ascribe to their social world critical - Research carried out explicitly to create knowledge that can be used to bring about social change
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survey
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a data collection technique that involves asking someone a series of questions
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field research
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data collection technique in which the researcher systematically observes some aspect of social life in its natural setting
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non material culture
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the ideas of a culture, including values and beliefs
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material culture
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the physical objects produced by people in a particular culture, including tools, clothing, art, etc.
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norms
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a culture's rules and expectations for appropriate behavior
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culture lag
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the ways that new technological developments often outpace the norms that govern our collective experiences with these new technologes
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ideology
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a system of meaning that helps define and explain the world and that makes value judgments about the world
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dominant ideology
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a widely held and regularly reinforced set of assumptions that generally support the current social system and sense the interests of authorities (ex: democracy)
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dominant culture
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a culture that permeates the society and that represents the ideas and practices of those in positions of power
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subcultures
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cultures associated with smaller groups of in the society that have distinct norms, values, and lifestyles that set them apart
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counter culture
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culture which champions values and lifestyles distinctly opposed to those of the dominant culture
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high culture
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cultural forms associated with elites that are widely recognized as valuable and legitimate
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popular culture
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cultural forms that are widespread and commonly embraced with a society
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multiculturalism
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the recognition, valuing and protection of the distinct cultures that make up a society
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xenophobia
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fear and hatred of foreigners or people from other cultures
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ethnocentrism
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the judgement of other cultures by the standards of one's own on the assumption that one's own is superior
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cultural relativism
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the practice of understanding a culture by its own standards
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cultural globalization
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refers to the transmission of ideas, meanings and values around the world in such a way as to extend and intensify social relations
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status
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a position in a social system that can be occupied by an individual
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role
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a set of expected behaviors associated with a particular status
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ethnomethodology
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- an approach that emphasizes the methods people use to make sense of their daily activities - emphasizes the ways in which we collectively create social structure in our everyday activities
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functionalists
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focus on how parts of a society work together and what role different structures play
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social integration
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the process by which values and social structures bind people together within a society
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globalization and the structure of work
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work has been moved, has become lower wage and has strained communities
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traditional action
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motivated by custom
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affective action
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guided by emotions and feelings
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rational action
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motivated by calculations of efficiency
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Rational action: McDonaldization
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Ritzer's 4 dimensions: efficiency, calculability, predictability and control
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power
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the ability to bring about an intended outcome, even when opposed by others (Weber) (Latin: \"to be able\")
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empowerment
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process by which one increases one's capacity to bring about an intended outcome
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domination
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Robert Dahl: \" A has power over B to the extent that he can get B to do something that B would not otherwise do\"
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Strategies of Empowerment
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1. Education 2. Organization 3. Networking
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French & Raven's 6 bases of power in small groups & orgs
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1. reward power 2. coercive power 3. legitimate power 4. referent power 5. expert power 6. informational power
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hegemony
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the imposition and wide acceptance of the perspectives and interests of those in power as universal and true and the marginalization of alternative viewpoints
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types of authority
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traditional - authority through compliance with cultural practices rational-legal - legitimate because it is based on laws, rules and procedures charismatic - extraordinary personal characteristics of an individual leader who inspires loyalty and devotion
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privilege
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a special advantage or benefit that not everyone enjoys
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stratification systems
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social system made up of social structures and cultural norms that create and maintain inequality by ranking people into a hierarchy of groups that receive unequal resources
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inequality
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the unequal distribution of resources among groups of people
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caste system
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social system featuring stratification based on various ascribed characteristics determined at birth
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India's caste system
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Brahmins kshatryas vaisyas sudras
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Feudal Estate cast system
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the nobility the Christian clergy commoners
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Patriarchy
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male domination through social institutions and cultural practices
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socialization
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the process through which people learn their culture's basic norms, values, beliefs and appropriate behaviors
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agents of sociolization
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- family: Melvin Kohn: working class parents vs. middle class parents - school: conveys a hidden curriculum of implicit lessons on appropriate behavior - peers: ages 17-21, they become the dominant social agent. - Media: \"generation M\" - the workplace
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anticipatory socialization
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the process by which individuals practice for a future social role by adopting the norms or behaviors associated with a position they have not yet achieved
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Foucault's Regimes of power
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- Power and knowledge connected activate power from institutions and we internalize their gaze - A bottom up form of power - We socialize ourselves into what is good and normal - There is no \"self\"; it is a conduit of external forces embodied
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life-course perspective
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perspective on socialization that looks at how age, time, and place shape social identities and experiences over a lifetime
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Life course
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childhood adolescence extended post-adolescence adulthood
