SOCY-100 Chapter 1 – Flashcards
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Sociology
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is a discipline of and for curious minds. It is an academic discipline that takes a scientific approach to answering the kinds of questions our curious minds propose. Sociologists seek to answer the question "Why?"
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Sociology is
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the scientific study of human social relationships, groups and societies.
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Scientific
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a way of learning about the world that combines logically constructed theory and systematic observation.
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Social Embeddedness
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the idea that economic, political, and other forms of human behavior are fundamentally shaped by social relations.
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Sociological imagination
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the ability to grasp the relationship between our individual lives and the larger social forces that help to shape them.
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Critical thinking
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the ability to evaluate claims about truth by using reason and evidence.
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Six rules of Critical Thinking
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Be willing to ask any question, no matter how difficult. Think logically and be clear. Back up your arguments with evidence. Think about the assumptions and biases---including your own---that underlie all studies. Avoid anecdotal evidence. Be willing to admit when you are wrong or uncertain about your results.
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Sociology roots can be traced to the
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Scientific Revolution. The Enlightenment. Industrialization and the birth of modern capitalism. The urbanization of populations. Sociology emerged in part as a tool to enable people to understand dramatic changes taking place in modern societies.
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Norms
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Accepted social behaviors and beliefs.
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Anomie
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A social condition of normlessness; a state of normative uncertainty that occurs when people lose touch with the shared rules and values that give order and meaning to their lives.
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Social Statics
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The way society is held together.
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Social Dynamics
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The laws that govern social change.
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Positivist
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Science that is based on facts alone.
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Social Facts
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Qualities of groups that are external individual members yet constrain their thinking and behavior.
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Social Solidarity
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The bonds that unite the members of a social group.
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Collective Conscience
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Encompasses the common beliefs and values that bind a society together.
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Class Conflict
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The product of competition between social classes over the distribution of wealth and power in society.
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Proletariat
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The working class; wage workers.
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Bourgeoisie
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The capitalist (or property-owning) class.
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Means of Production
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The sites and technology that produce the goods we need and use.
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Verstehen
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The German word for interpretive understanding.
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Formal rationality
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A characteristic of modern societies which means that people's pursuit of goals is shaped by rules regulations and larger social structures.
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Bureaucracies
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Formal organizations characterized by written rules hierarchical authority, and a paid staff, intended to promote organizational efficiency.
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Double Consciousness
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an awareness of oneself both as American and as Black, never free of racial stigma.
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Sociological Theories
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Logical rigorous frameworks for the interpretation of social life that make particular assumptions and ask particular questions about the social world.
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Macro-level Paradigm
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Theories of the social world that are concerned with large-scale patterns and institutions.
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Micro-level Paradigm
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Models or images of the world that are concerned with social relations and interactions in specific, individual situations.
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Structural Functionalism (Functionalist Perspective)
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A theory that seeks to explain social organization and change in terms of the roles performed by different social structures and institutions.
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Manifest Functions
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Functions of an object an institution or a phenomenon that are obvious and intended.
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Latent Functions
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Functions of an object an institution or a phenomenon that are not recognized or expected.
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Social Conflict Paradigm (Conflict Perspective)
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A theory that seeks to explain social organization and change in terms of the conflict that is built into social relations.
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Symbolic Interactionism
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A microsociological perspective that posits that both the individual and self society as a whole are the result of social interactions based on language and other symbols.
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Symbols
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Representations of things that are not immediately present to our senses.
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Power
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The ability to mobilize resources and achieve goals despite the resistance of others.
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Inequality
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Differences in wealth: power and other valued resources.
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Globalization
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The process by which people all around the planet become increasingly interconnected economically, politically, culturally, and environmentally.
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Social Diversity
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The social and cultural mixture of different groups in society and the recognition of difference as significant.
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Ethnocentric
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Judging other cultures by the standards of one's own culture, and regarding one's own way of life as "normal" ---and better.
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Technology
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The practical application of knowledge to transform natural resources for human use.
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The central idea of __________ is that the meaning of objects or people may influence our perception of and communication with them.
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symbolic interactionism
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The ability to understand the relationship between what is happening in people's personal lives and their social environment is called __________, a term coined by __________.
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sociological imagination; C. Wright Mills
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__________ conducted a famous study on suicide in which he found that __________.
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Emile Durkheim; social bonds have a large influence on the decision to commit suicide
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Which sociologist believed that human exploitation is rooted in class conflict?
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Karl Marx
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Sociology is best defined as the study of __________.
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human relationships and social environments
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Critical thinking is defined as the __________.
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ability to evaluate claims about trust by using reason and evidence
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Sociology adheres to the principle of __________, which is the idea that economic, political, and other forms of human behavior are shaped by social relationships.
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Social Embeddedness
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Karl Marx believed that society was made up of two natural enemies: the __________ who owned the means of production and the __________ who were being exploited in the labor market.
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bourgeoisies; proletariats
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Max Weber suggested that in order to understand human behavior, we should use __________, which is defined as the ability to place oneself in other people's situations.
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Verstehen
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The ability to understand the relationship between what is happening in people's personal lives and their social environment is called __________, a term coined by __________.
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sociological imagination; C. Wright Mills
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The __________ suggests that the social world strongly influences people's lives.
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Structural Imagination
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Which of the following is not a characteristic of structural functionalism?
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analysis is on the competition between groups of people.
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Which of the following is not a characteristic of conflict theory?
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focus is on social interaction and meanings of objects and people.
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__________ is defined as the process by which people all around the world become increasingly connected economically, politically, culturally, and environmentally
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Globalization.
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Jane Addams was best known for __________.
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being the founder of the Hull House.
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As you are driving to Montgomery College, you notice a panhandler on a street corner. Instead of immediately assuming this person is lazy, you think that perhaps this person was struck with bad luck during the economic recession, became unemployed, and eventually lost everything. Your ability to understand the social context of this panhandler's situation is referred to as __________.
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sociological imagination.
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The framework of __________ is that society is composed of groups of people competing for scarce resources.
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Social Conflict Theory.
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While doing his research, __________ was critical of successful African Americans who turned their backs on those who were less successful.
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W.E.B. DuBois
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Which of the following is not a characteristic of symbolic interactionism?
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ideas originated with Emile Durkheim
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The sociological imagination stresses the
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influence of the social world on people's lives.
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Despite extreme sexism in the sociology discipline during the 19th century, Harriet Martineau contributed to the field by __________.
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translating Auguste Comte's work into English
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The presence of McDonald's all over the world is a result of __________.
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Globalization
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When college students are asked why they are in college, many would say it is because they want to learn. However, a deeper analysis of their situation would reveal that the real reasons why they are in college is because they want to get a high paying job and be able to support their family. The influence that society has on these college students' personal decision is called __________.
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Sociological Imagination.
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Which of the following sociological theories best explains this statement: "Many of the world's dominant religions teach traditional ideologies, which often go against the modern views of society."
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Social Conflict Theory.
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Which of the following sociological theories best explains this statement: "Crime can serve a purpose in society, one of which is to create jobs such as law enforcement and politics."
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Structural Functionalism.
