Soc2001 Ch 1-4 – Flashcards
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What is sociology?
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The study of human society and its social structures and dynamics
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What was coined by C. Wright Mills?
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The sociological imagination
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What does the sociological imagination do?
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This tool helps us to: -Connect our personal experiences to society at large and greater historical forces -"Make the familiar strange" --or to question habits or customs that seem "natural" to us
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What is a social institution?
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Social institutions are networks of structures in society that work to socialize the groups of people within them
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What are some examples of social institutions?
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The legal system The labor market The educational system The military The family
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We generally think of institutions as stable entities that "just are" but the reality is what?
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The reality is that these institutions are purposefully structured
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When we think of institutions, we tend to think that they "have always been this way," but what is in fact not true about this?
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This is not true because, in fact, institutions change over time, reflecting the values of a society
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What is sociology a cross section of?
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Biography and history
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What "enables us to grasp history and biography and the relations between the two within society?"
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The sociological imagination
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What does sociology do?
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Posing the question is what sociology does/is
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Do social institutions change? Give an example if so.
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Yes, ex: The Supreme Court recognizing marriage equality
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What is social identity? Give an example
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Social identity is the way individuals define themselves in relationship to groups they are a part of (or in relationship to groups they choose not to be a part of) Example: You might say that you are a daughter or a son (your family is one of your groups) or you may say you are a student (school being one of your groups) or you may say you are not a college drop-out (identifying with a group you are not in)
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Sociology is a relatively new field of academic study; much of the early work in sociology was done as recently as when?
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The nineteenth century
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Who is Auguste Comte?
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He was a sociologist who said society is better understood by determining the logic or scientific laws governing human behavior called social physics or positivism.
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Who said society is better understood by determining the logic?
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Auguste Comte
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Who came up with social physics (or positivism)?
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Auguste Comte
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Who was Harriet Martineau?
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She was the first to translate Comte's written works into English. She was one of the earliest feminist social scientists. She was the author of the first methods book.
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Who was the first to translate Comte's written works into English?
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Harriet Martineau
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Who was one of the earliest feminist social scientists?
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Harriet Martineau
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Who was the author of the first methods book?
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Harriet Martineau
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Who were considered the "founding fathers" of sociology?
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Karl Marx Max Weber Émile Durkheim Georg Simmel
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Who was Karl Marx?
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He had a theory of historical materialism which identifies class conflict as the primary cause of social change. His writings provided the theoretical foundation of communism He was one of the "founding fathers" of sociology
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Who had a theory of historical materialism which identified class conflict as the primary cause of social change?
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Karl Marx
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Who's writings provided the theoretical foundation of communism?
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Karl Marx
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Who was Max Weber?
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He was one of the "founding fathers" of sociology He coined the term Verstehen (which translates to understanding) He had an emphasis on subjectivity which became a foundation of interpretive sociology
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Who coined the term Verstehen and what does it mean?
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Max Weber It means understanding
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Who's emphasis on subjectivity became a foundation of interpretive sociology?
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Max Weber
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Who was Émile Durkheim?
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He was one of the "founding fathers" of sociology He was the founder of positivist sociology He developed the theory that division of labor helps to determine how social cohesion is maintained or not maintained in that society
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Comte came up with positivism, but who went through with it?
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Émile Durkheim
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Who was the founder of positivist sociology?
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Émile Durkheim
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Who developed the theory that division of labor helps to determine how social cohesion is maintained or not maintained in that society?
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Émile Durkheim
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Who was Georg Simmel?
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Founded formal sociology, or a sociology of pure numbers (for instance, how a group of two is different than a group of three)
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Who was the founder of formal sociology?
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Georg Simmel
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What is formal sociology?
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The sociology of pure numbers
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The sociology behind a group of two being different than a group of three is what kind of sociology?
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Formal sociology
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Describe Verstehen
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Verstehen is the basis of interpretive sociology in which researchers imagine themselves experiencing the life positions of the social actors they want to understand rather than treating those people as objects to be examined
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What is the basis of interpretive sociology?
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Verstehen
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What is the term when researchers imagine themselves experiencing the life positions of the social actors they want to understand rather than treating those people as objects to be examined?
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Verstehen
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What is anomie?
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A sense of aimlessness or despair that arises when we can no longer reasonably expect life to be predictable; too little social regulation, normalness
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What is a sense of aimlessness or despair that arises when we can no longer reasonably expect life to be predictable?
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Anomie
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What term means too little social regulation, normalness?
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Anomie
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Who discussed anomie during his time alive?
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Émile Durkheim
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What is positivist sociology?
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A strain within sociology that believes the social world can be described and predicted by certain describable relationships (akin to social physics)
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What strain within sociology believes the social world can be described and predicted by certain describable relationships?
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Positivist sociology
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Who came up with double consciousness?
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W.E.B. Dubois
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What is double consciousness?
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A concept, conceived by W.E.B. Dubois, that describes the two behavioral scripts, one for moving through the world, and the other incorporating the external opinions of prejudiced onlookers, which are constantly maintained by African Americans
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What concept describes the two behavioral scripts (one moving thru the world & the other incorporating the external opinions of prejudiced onlookers) constantly maintained by African Americans?
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Double consciousness
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What are all of these examples of? Functionalism Conflict theory Feminist theory Symbolic interactionism Postmodernism Midrange theory
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Modern sociological themes
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What are some modern sociological themes?
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Functionalism Conflict theory Feminist theory Symbolic interactionism Postmodernism Midrange theory
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What is functionalism?
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The theory that various social institutions and processes in society exist to serve some important (or necessary) function to keep society running
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What is the theory that various social institutions and processes in society exist to serve some important (or necessary) function to keep society running?
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Functionalism
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What is the conflict theory?
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The idea that conflict between competing interests is the basic, animating force of social change and society in general
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What is the idea that conflict between competing interests is the basic, animating force of social change and society in general?
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It is the conflict theory
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What is the feminist theory?
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A theory with emphasis on women's experience and a belief that sociology and society in general subordinate women
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What theory places emphasis on women's experience and believes sociology and society in general subordinate women?
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The feminist theory
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What is symbolic interactionism?
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A microlevel theory in which shared meanings, orientations, and assumptions form the basic motivations behind people's actions
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What microlevel theory says shared meanings, orientations, and assumptions form the basic motivations behind people's actions
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Symbolic interactionism
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What is post modernism?
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A condition characterized by a question of the notion of progress and history, the replacement of narrative within pastiche, and multiple perhaps even conflicting identities resulting from disjointed affiliations
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What is a condition characterized by a question of the notion of progress and history, the replacement of narrative within pastiche, and multiple perhaps even conflicting identities resulting from disjointed affiliations?
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Post modernism
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What is social construction?
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An entity that exists bc people behave as if it exists and whose existance is perpetuated as people and social institutions act in accordance with the widely agreed-upon formal rules or informal norms of behavior associated with that entity
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What entity exists bc people behave as if it exists?
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Social construction
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What entity's existence is perpetuated as people and social institutions act in accordance with that entity?
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Social constructiom
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What is the midrange theory?
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A theory that attempts to predict how certain social institutions tend to function
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What theory attempts to predict how certain social institutions tend to function?
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Midrange theory
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What are all of these examples of: functionalism conflict theory feminist theory symbolic interactionism post modernism midrange theory
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Modern sociological themes
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What is the "Chicago school" ??
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Early American sociology became prominent at the University of Chicago thus the perspective that emerged became known as the "Chicago School"
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What early American sociology emerged at the University of Chicago?
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The Chicago School perspective
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Who were Chicago thinkers?
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Charles Horton Cooley George Herbert May W.I. Thomas W.E.B. Du Bois Jane Addams
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Who are these people examples of: Charles Horton Cooley George Herbert May W.I. Thomas W.E.B. Du Bois Jane Addams
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Chicago thinkers
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What did the Chicago school focus on?
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The Chicago school focused on empirical research, with the belief that people's behaviors and personalities are shaped by their social and physical environment
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What focused on empirical research (with the belief that people's behaviors and personalities are shaped by their social and physical environment)?
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The Chicago School
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What focuses on making comparisons across cases to find patterns and create hypotheses about how societies work now or how they worked in the past?
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Sociology
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What looks at how individuals interact with one another as well as at how groups, small and large, interact with one another?
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Sociology
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What does sociology overlap with? Distinctions are important, but a lot of overlap does exist between work done in different academic disciplines. Describe.
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History ; anthropology, Psychology ; biology, Political Science History and anthropology--cultural anthropology in particular--tend to focus more on particular circumstances. Psychology and biology examine things on a more microlevel than sociology does and economics is an entirely quantitative discipline. Political science focuses on one aspect of social relations--power
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What is microsociology?
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A branch of sociology that seeks to understand local interactional contexts; its methods of choice are ethnographic, generally including participant observation and in depth interviews
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What is macrosociology?
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A branch of sociology generally concerned with social dynamics at a higher level of analysis--that is, across the breadth of society
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What is a branch of sociology that seeks to understand local interactional contexts; its methods of choice are ethnographic, generally including participation observation and in depth interviews?
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Microsociology
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What is a branch of sociology generally concerned with social dynamics at a higher level of analysis--that is, across the breadth of society
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Macrosociology
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What is the sociological imagination?
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The ability to connect the most basic, intimate aspects of an individual's life to seemingly impersonal and remote historical forces
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What is a social institution?
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A complex group of interdependent positions that perform a social role and reproduce themselves over time; also defined in narrow sense as any institution in a society that works to shape the behaviors of the groups or people within it
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What forms the object of inquiry for interpretive sociology?
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Verstehen
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What is the opposite of symbolic interactionism?
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Post modernism
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What is post modernism?
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Different meanings in different places/no longer shared meanings
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What are social relations?
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Relationship between two or more people
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4 ways to explain human behavior
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Religious Psychologically Biologically Sociologically
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What is the sociological theory?
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The statements of how and why particular facts about the social world are related
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What is functionalism (macro)?
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"To identify roles that different aspects of phenomena play in keeping society working" Functions may be manifest (explicit) or latent (hidden)
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Describe Emile Durkheim's focus/etc.
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-Functionalism (macro) -Suicide and anomie -Rituals -Understands how society holds together the ways that modern capitalism and industrialization have transformed how people relate to one another -The Division of Labor within Society
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What do conflict/structural theory identify and examine?
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They identify and examine the power relationships that create different aspects of society
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What did Karl Marx discuss? Using terms
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Karl Marx discussed a small number of capitalists (the bourgeoiseie) and the large number of workers (the proletariat) having opposing interests
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Midrange theory
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Neither macro nor micro attempts to predict how certain social institutions tend to function
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Who came up with the Midrange theory?
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Robert Merton
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Post modernism vs Symbolic interactionism
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-Macro and micro (post mod) whereas symbolic interactionists emphasize meanings, postmodernists see these meanings as eroding and becoming less relevant
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Who brought ideas back into history?
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Max Weber
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What is historical materialism?
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A methodological approach that looks for causes of developments and changes in human societies in the way in which humans collectively earn a living thus emphasizing thru economic analysis, everything that coexists within the economic base of society
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Verstehen
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Understanding the social world thru experiences
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What is interpretive sociology?
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The study of social meaning
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What is deconstruction?
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The process of showing how certain social phenomena are arbitrary and devised by social actors with varying degrees of power
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The Chicago School of American Sociology emphasizes the importance of:
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The environment in shaping people's behaviors and personalities
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Sociology is different from other academic disciplines in its attempt to do what?
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Detect patterns in how different societies handle or respond to similar phenomena
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What can social identity be thought of as?
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A grand narrative constructed of many individual stories
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Max Weber felt what were important influences on society?
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Culture Economics Politics
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Who was considered the founding practitioner of positivist sociology?
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Emile Durkheim
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Divisions within sociology (describe as well)
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-Macrosociology -Microsociology -Interpretive--focuses on meanings people attach to social phenomena, prioritizing specific situations over a search for social fats that transcends time and place -Positivist--also called "normal science" model of sociology, attempts to reveal the social facts that affect social life by developing and testing hypotheses based on theories about how the social world works
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Which of the following contributors to the development of sociology argued for the importance of identifying scientific laws that govern human behavior? Jane Addams Emile Durkheim August Comte Talcott Parsons
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Auguste Comte
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The examination of everyday human social interactions on a small scale describes _____.
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Microsociology
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Which of the founding fathers of sociology put forth the idea that sociologists should examine social behavior from the perspective of those engaging in the behavior? Emile Durkheim Georg Simmel Karl Marx Max Weber
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Max Weber
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Post modernist theorists argue that ____ a) All phenomena have natural meanings and no one meaning can be more valid than another b) People cannot agree on how to define basic terms c) Deconstruction is the path for/to true meaning
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A
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W.E.B. DuBois applied what to explain African American crime rates
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Durkheim's theory of anomie
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Questioning the reasons why people choose to attend college and the importance of a college degree is an example of: -the sociological imagination -interpretive sociology -exploring one's social identity Which one?
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Using the sociological imagination
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Which of the following is an example of an application of midrange theory? a) analyzing how a shopkeeper interacts with customers b) exploring the role of churches in rural areas c) examining the origins of WWII in terms of class conflict
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B
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What does midrange theory try to do?
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Midrange theory attempts to predict how certain social institutions tend to function
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Examining the interactions between people with a focus on how the people talk, dress, and use body language is an example of which theory? a) post modernism b) symbolic interactionism c) midrange theory
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B
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According to Karl Marx, throughout history social change has been sparked by ____.
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Class conflict
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What are research methods?
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Research methods are standard rules that social scientists follow when trying to establish a casual relationship between social elements; research methods are approaches that social scientists use for investigating the answers to questions; research methods are tools used to describe various social phenomena in an ethical fashion
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What are standard rules that social scientists follow when trying to establish a casual relationship between social elements?
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Research methods
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What are approaches that social scientists use for investigating the answers to questions
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Research methods
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What are tools used to describe various social phenomena in an ethical fashion
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Research methods
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What are quantitative methods?
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Quantitative methods seek to obtain information about the social world that is in, or can be converted to, numeric form
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What two genres of research methods are there?
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Quantitative and qualitative
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What are qualitative methods?
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Qualitative methods attempt to collect information about the social world that cannot be readily converted to numeric form
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Describe the deductive approach
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1) starts with a theory 2) forms a hypothesis 3) makes empirical observations 4) analyzes the data to confirm, reject, or modify the original theory
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Describe the inductive approach
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1) starts with empirical observations 2) then works to form a theory 3) determines if a correlation exists by noticing if a change is observed in two things simultaneously
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What four steps make up the research cycle?
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Theory Hypotheses Empirical Research Analysis
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What is correlation?
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Association Correlation tends to vary but is the simultaneous variation in two variables
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What is causality?
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The idea that a change in one factor results in a corresponding change in another factor
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What do you need to prove causation?
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Time order Correlation Alternative explanations need to be ruled out
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Which is harder to assert? Causation or correlation
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Causation
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What is reverse causality?
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A situation in which the researcher believes that A results in a change in B, but B, in fact, is causing A
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Why is time order not a garuntee by itself?
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People may alter their current behaviors based on future expectations
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WHat is time order?
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Chronology or sequence of events
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What is the dependent variable?
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The outcome that the researcher is trying to explain
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What is the independent variable?
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A measured factor that the researcher believes has a casual impact on the dependent variable
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What is the hypothesis?
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A proposed relationship between two variables (dependent and independent)
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What is the hypothesis represented by?
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Either a null or alternative hypothesis
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What is operationalization?
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The process of assigning a precise method for measuring a term being examined for use in a particular study
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For each hypothesis, what?
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An equal and opposite alternative hypothesis exists
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What are moderating variables?
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Variables that affect the relationship between IV & DV -do not interact with each other
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What makes good research?
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Validity Reliability Generalizability
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What is validity?
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The extent to which an instrument measures what is is intended to measure Does the study measure what it is intended to measure?
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What is reliability?
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The liklihood of obtaining consistent results using the same measure If you consider the experiment again, will you get the same results?
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Best if the study is both what?
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Valid and reliable
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What is generalizability?
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The extent to which we can claim our findings inform us about a group larger than the one we studied Will the findings of this study apply to some other population or group of people?
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What is the extent to which an instrument measures what is is intended to measure?
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Validity
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What is the liklihood of obtaining consistent results using the same measure?
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Reliability
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What is the extent to which we can claim our findings inform us about a group larger than the one we studied
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Generalizability
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Experimenter Effects are what?
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Social researchers dont have placebos (a simulated treatment given to a control group in a study to factor out the effect of merely being in an experiment from the effect of the actual treatment under consideration)
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What is reflexivity?
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Reflexivity is analyzing and critically considering our own role in, and effect on, our research
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What is it called when we analyze and critically consider our own role in, and effect on, our own research
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Reflexivity
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What is feminist methodology?
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Feminist methodology is a set of systems or methods that treat women's experiences as legitimate empirical and theoretical resources, that promote social science for women (think public sociology but for a specific half of the public), and that take into account the researcher as much as the overt subject matter
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What -treats women's experiences as legitimate empirical and theoretical resources -promotes social sciences that may bring about policy change to help women -is as conscious of the role of the researchers as that of the subject being studied?
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Feminist methodology
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What is population?
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An entire group of individual persons, objects, or items from which samples may be drawn
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What is a sample?
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The subset of the population from which you are actually collecting data
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What is a case study?
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An intensive investigation of one particular unit of analysis in order to describe it or uncover it
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Describe positivists
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Positivists: -Concerned with the factors that influence social life -Heavy reliance on quantitative measures
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Describe interpretivists
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Interpretivists: -Concerned with the meaning actors attach to their behavior -Heavy reliance on qualitative measures
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Who are concerned with the factors that influence social life?
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Positivists
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Who heavily rely on quantitative measures?
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Positivists
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Who are concerned with the meaning actors attach to their behavior
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Interpretivists
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Who heavily rely on qualitative measures?
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Interpretivists
