Essay on Intro to Sociology Chapter 1 Review
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antipositivism
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the view that social researchers should strive for subjectivity as they worked to represent social processes, cultural norms, and societal values
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conflict theory
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a theory that looks at society as a competition for limited resources
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dramaturgical analysis
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a technique sociologists use in which they view society through the metaphor of theatrical performance
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dynamic equilibrium
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a stable state in which all parts of a healthy society are working together properly
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dysfunctions
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social patterns that have undesirable consequences for the operation of society
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figuration
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the process of simultaneously analyzing the behavior of an individual and the society that shapes that behavior
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functionalism
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a theoretical approach that sees society as a structure with interrelated parts designed to meet the biological and social needs of individuals that make up that society
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function
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the part a recurrent activity plays in the social life as a whole and the contribution it makes to structural continuity
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grand theories
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attempts to explain large-scale relationships and answer fundamental questions such as why societies form and why they change
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latent functions
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the unrecognized or unintended consequences of a social process
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macro-level
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a wide-scale view of the role of social structures within a society
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manifest functions
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sought consequences of a social process
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micro-level theories
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the study of specific relationships between individuals or small groups
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paradigms
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philosophical and theoretical frameworks used within a discipline to formulate theories, generalizations, and the experiments performed in support of them
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positivism
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the scientific study of social patterns
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qualitative sociology
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in-depth interviews, focus groups, and/or analysis of content sources as the source of its data
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quantitative sociology
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statistical methods such as s urveys with large numbers of participants
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social facts
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the laws, morals, values, religious beliefs, customs, fashions, rituals, and all of the cultural rules that govern social life
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social solidarity
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the social ties that bind a group of people together such as kinship, shared location, and religion
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sociological imagination
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the ability to understand how your own past relates to that of other people, as well as to history in general and societal structures in particular
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sociology
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is the systematic study of society and social interaction
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symbolic interactionism:
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a theoretical perspective through which scholars examine the relationship of individuals within their society by studying their communication (language and symbols)
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theory
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a proposed explanation about social interactions or society
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verstehen
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a German word that means to understand in a deep way
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1.1 What Is Sociology?
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Sociology is the systematic study of society and social interaction. In order to carry out their studies, sociologists identify cultural patterns and social forces and determine how they affect individuals and groups. They also develop ways to apply their findings to the real world.
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Which of the following best describes sociology as a subject?
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The study of society and social interaction
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C. Wright Mills once said that sociologists need to develop a sociological __________ to study how society affects individuals.
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imagination
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A sociologist defines society as a group of people who reside in a defined area, share a culture, and who:
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interact
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Seeing patterns means that a sociologist needs to be able to:
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identify similarities in how social groups respond to social pressure
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1.2 The History of Sociology
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Sociology was developed as a way to study and try to understand the changes to society brought on by the Industrial Revolution in the 18th and 19th centuries. Some of the earliest sociologists thought that societies and individuals' roles in society could be studied using the same scientific methodologies that were used in the natural sciences, while others believed that is was impossible to predict human behavior scientifically, and still others debated the value of such predictions. Those perspectives continue to be represented within sociology today.
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Which of the following was a topic of study in early sociology?
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Economics
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Which founder of sociology believed societies changed due to class struggle?
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Karl Marx
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The difference between positivism and antipositivism relates to:
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whether sociological studies can predict or improve society
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Which would a quantitative sociologists use to gather data?
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A large survey
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Weber believed humans could not be studied purely objectively because they were influenced by:
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their culture
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1.3 Theoretical Perspectives
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Sociologists develop theories to explain social events, interactions, and patterns. A theory is a proposed explanation of those patterns. Theories have different scales. Macro-level theories, such as structural functionalism and conflict theory, attempt to explain how societies operate as a whole. Micro-level theories, such as symbolic interactionism, focus on interactions between individuals.
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Which of these theories is most likely to look at the social world on a micro level?
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Symbolic interactionism
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Who believed that the history of society was one of class struggle?
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Karl Marx
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Who coined the phrase symbolic interactionism?
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Herbert Blumer
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A symbolic interactionist may compare social interactions to:
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theatrical roles
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Which research technique would most likely be used by a symbolic interactionist?
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Participant observation
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1.4 Why Study Sociology?
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Studying sociology is beneficial both for the individual and for society. By studying sociology people learn how to think critically about social issues and problems that confront our society. The study of sociology enriches students' lives and prepares them for careers in an increasingly diverse world. Society benefits because people with sociological training are better prepared
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Kenneth and Mamie Clark used sociological research to show that segregation was:
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harmful
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Studying Sociology helps people analyze data because they learn:
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interview techniques, to apply statistics, to generate theories
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Berger describes sociologists as concerned with:
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monumental moments in people's lives & common everyday life events
