SOC 101 Final Exam (Part 1)

Sociology

• The scientific study of human groups and their interactions over time, among themselves and within society’s social structure

• The scientific study of human behavior in society

C. Wright Mills

• Founded Sociological Imagination (seeing the relationship between individual experiences and larger social influences; helps us understand how larger social forces impact our everyday lives)

• Social factors (religion, ethnicity, politics) affect people’s behavior

Functionalism (Emile Durkheim): macroanalysis

• Unified whole that functions because of the contributions of its separate structures (Emile Durkheim). The maintaining of equilibrium is essential for the survival of any society; when the social structures work together, the society will flourish

• Maintains that society is a complex system of interdependent parts that work together to ensure a society’s survival; dysfunctional activities are controlled or eliminated

Conflict Theory (Karl Marx): macroanalysis

• Society is characterized by inequality and conflict that create and generate social change; process of change is necessary to create a balance in this historically unfair system and fight against all social inequality

• Examines how and why groups disagree, struggle over power, and compete for scarce resources

Symbolic Interactionism (George Herbert Mead): microanalysis

• Society is the sum total of the symbolic social relations its member have with one another; symbols become significant when they have similar meaning for the receiver as they do for the maker

• Examines people’s everyday behavior through the communication of knowledge, ideas, beliefs, and attitudes

Comte’s 3 Stage Theory

1. Theological Stage (inability to understand the natural world)

• Origins of religion

2. Metaphysical Stage (ability to understand the world, creating stable societies and abstract thought)

• Ex: human and civil rights, weather

3. Positivistic Stage (natural world is understood by applied science)

• Ex: human anatomy, natural resources for medication

Social Statics

• Critical study and evaluation of a society’s social structure

• Investigates how principles of social order explain a particular society, as well as the interconnections between institutions

Social Dynamics

• Measuring the changes that occur in the social structure over time (ex. The social institution of marriage and family was different 50 years ago than it is today)

• Explores how individuals and societies change over time

What did Karl Marx and Max Weber believed created social change?

Karl Marx: the development of capitalism (ownership of production is private) led to class struggle and revolutions

1. Capitalists - ruling elite who own the means of producing wealth (such as factories)

2. Petit bourgeoisie - small business owners and workers who still have their own means of production

3. Proletariat - the masses of workers who depend on wages to survive; make up the working class

Max Weber: religious values, ideologies, and charismatic leaders (specifically Protestants); self-denial from Calvinism supported the rise of capitalism and many current values about working hard

• Verstehen - Understanding or “grasping by insight” based on someone who has “been there”; sociologists need to incorporate social facts as well as emotions, behaviors and human nature to fully understand the dynamics of what makes a society; knowing how people perceive the world

August Comte

• “Father of sociology”; introduced the idea of applying the scientific method to the social world (AKA positivism)

• Maintained that the study of society must be empirical (information should be based on observations or experiments rather than ideology, religion, or intuition)

Emile Durkheim

• Founded Functionalism (unified whole that functions because of the contributions of its separate structures)

• Social harmony is maintained by a division of labor (“level of specialization” found within a social structure; interdependence of different tasks and occupations that produces social unity and facilitates change)

• One of the first sociologists to test a theory using data

Herbert Spencer

2nd founder of sociology

• Founded Social Darwinism (coined the term “survival of the fittest,” not Charles Darwin)

• Argued that society was like a “living organism” in which all parts must work together for the organism to survive

Manifest & Latent Functions

Manifest function: “intended outcomes” of a social structure

• Ex: people going to a restaurant to eat

Latent function: “unintended outcomes” of a social structure

• Ex: people seeing loved ones at a grocery store

7 steps of the Research Method

1. Select a topic

2. Review the literature

3. Formulate a hypothesis

4. Create a research design

5. Collect data

6. Analyze data

7. Draw a conclusion

Independent & Dependent Variable

Independent: variable that is manipulated by researchers to determine its influence on the outcome of the second set of variables (AKA cause variable)

• A characteristic that has an effect on the dependent variable

Dependent: outcome of manipulated variables, which is then measured by researchers to determine its overall significance

• The outcome that may be affected by the independent variable

Hypothesis

• A prediction about the outcome of manipulated variables

• A statement of the expected relationship between two or more variables

Experiment

• The process of scientific analysis in which independent variables are introduced to determine their effect on other variables

• A controlled artificial situation that allows researchers to manipulate variables and measure the effects

Qualitative & Quantitative Analysis

Qualitative: gathering more SPECIFIC and detailed information (no numbers)

• Examines and interprets nonnumerical material

Quantitative: reducing GENERAL research data into numbers

• Focuses on a numerical analysis of people’s responses or specific characteristics

Reliability vs. Validity

Reliability: the process of ensuring that research findings are consistent

• The consistency with which the same measure produces similar results time after time

Validity: the researcher must make sure that their operational definitions (describes the variable) measure what they were intended to measure

• The degree to which a measure is accurate and really measures what it claims to measure

Causation

• One variable influences the outcome of a second variable

• One variable is the direct consequence of another

Correlation

• A statistical measure showing how two variables move together indicating if they tend to increase or decrease together (positive), if one goes up as the other goes down (negative), or if there's no pattern (zero)

• The relationship between two or more variables

Spurious: both variables appear to be statistically related, but not logically acceptable

Hawthorne Effect

Subject’s behavior changes when they are observed in fear of retaliation

Naturalistic & Participant Observation

Naturalistic (Nonparticipant): researcher observes the subject at a distance without revealing their identity

Participant: researcher becomes personally involved in the activities of their subjects

Temporal Priority

Organizing variables to ensure cause happens before the effect

Culture

• A design for living; includes material and non-material elements to make sense of the world, & must be re-created with each generation through socialization

• The learned and shared behaviors, beliefs, attitudes, values, and material objects that characterize a particular group or society

Material & Non-Material Culture

Material Culture: physical elements that are often identified with all cultures

• The physical objects that people make, use, and share

Non-Material Culture: customs and traditions of a people that provides for them an emotional interpretation of the world

• The ideas that people create to interpret and understand the world

Norms & Values

Norms: unwritten rules or conventional behaviors one is expected to follow (how things are done based on values)

• Specific rules of right and wrong behavior

Values: concepts that are considered desirable, good, and correct (explains why it is good)

• The standards by which people define what is good or bad, moral or immoral, etc.

Folkways, Mores, & Taboos (Types of Norms)

Folkways: everyday habits that people are expected to obey without much thought

Mores: norms that people consider very important because they maintain moral and ethical behavior (disapproval if violated)

Taboos: extreme violations of norms; “unspeakable and inhumane” (stronger than mores, triggers repulse and disgust)

Subculture

• A part of society that shares a distinctive pattern of customs, rules, and traditions that differs from the pattern of the larger society (can be thought of as a small culture that exists within a larger, dominant culture)

• A group within society that has distinctive norms, values, beliefs, lifestyle, or language

Ideal & Real Culture

Ideal Culture: values, norms, and behaviors many people profess to embrace; the beliefs, values, and norms that people say they hold or follow

• Ex: being physically attractive, graduate from a desirable college

Real Culture: values, norms, and behaviors most people actually embrace or exhibit; people’s actual everyday behavior

• Ex: being average looking, finishing college and having a mediocre job

Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis

• Language influences what a person should think, act, or talk about; one must measure their words carefully to avoid making “insensitive or offensive” comments

• Language provides people with a framework for interpreting social reality and the world around them; thus, as languages vary, so do interpretations of social reality

Culture-Wars & Culture Shock

Culture War: a metaphor used to claim that a political conflict is based on a set of conflicting cultural values

• Traditional/conservative vs. progressive/liberal

• Ex: abortion, LGBTQ+ rights

Culture Shock: the feeling of disorientation as a result of contact with a different culture; confusion, disorientation, or anxiety that accompanies exposure to an unfamiliar way of life

Ethnocentrism & Cultural Relativism

Ethnocentrism: belief that one’s culture or values are “better or superior” than others

Cultural Relativism: belief that all culture must be understood on “their own terms”

Sanction

• A reward one receives for following the appropriate norms and disapproval for breaking a norm

• Rewards for good or appropriate behavior and/or penalties for bad or inappropriate behavior

Socialization

• The lifelong process in which people internalize their culture and become participants in a society

• The lifelong process through which people learn culture and become functioning members of society

Nature vs. Nurture Debate

• Nature: role of heredity in human development; biology shapes behavior

• Nurture: the importance of learning, socialization, and culture; socialization and culture shape human behavior

Jean Piaget’s 4 Stages

1. Sensorimotor stage: birth-2 y.o.; develops through sensory contact

2. Pre-operational stage: 2-7 y.o.; develops through language and other symbols. Children still perceive POV from their own perspective without realizing there are other POVs

3. Concrete operational stage: 7-11 y.o.; logical understanding of their surroundings

4. Formal operational stage: 12+ y.o.; identify abstract thought and imagine alternatives to reality

What do sociologists feel “makes us human?”

Looking-Glass Self

3 stages in George Herbert Mead’s model of “taking the role of the other?”

Gemanshaft & Gesselshaft

Status & Role

What did Emile Durkheim have to say about Mechanical and Organic solidarity?

Primary, Secondary, & Reference Group

Ascribed, Achieved, & Master Status