SOC101 Quiz Study Guide: Sociology and Culture

Essential vocabulary covering introductory sociological concepts, key historical figures, theoretical frameworks, and cultural definitions based on Modules 1–4 study materials.

Sociology

The scientific study of social behaviour and human groups, focusing on social relationships and how they form patterns through group membership.

Sociological Imagination

The ability to 'think yourself away from the familiar routines of everyday life' and view society like an outsider, coined by C. Wright Mills in 1959.

Socius

The Latin root word meaning 'companion'.

-logie

The Greek suffix meaning 'the study of'.

Emmanuel-Joseph Sieyès

The French essayist who first coined the term 'sociology' in 1780 in an unpublished manuscript.

Auguste Comte

French thinker (1798–1857) known as the founder of sociology and positivism who independently defined sociology in 1838 and studied social statics and social dynamics.

Social Statics

Forces for order and stability in society, as identified by Auguste Comte.

Social Dynamics

Forces for social change, as identified by Auguste Comte.

Positivism

A philosophical approach based on direct observation and law-like generalisations, believed by Comte to be the final era of human understanding.

Harriet Martineau

British author and thinker (1802–1876) often called the first female sociologist, who translated Comte's works and wrote Society in America and How to Observe Morals and Manners.

Herbert Spencer

English thinker (1820–1903) and claimed author of Principles of Sociology who applied evolutionary ideas to society through Social Darwinism.

Social Darwinism

An evolutionary theory proposed by Herbert Spencer and summed up by the phrase 'survival of the fittest'.

Bourgeoisie

In Karl Marx's conflict theory, the ruling class who own the means of production.

Proletariat

In Karl Marx's conflict theory, the working class who sell their labour for wages.

Emile Durkheim

French sociologist (1858–1917) known as the 'Father of sociology' who formally established it as an academic discipline and advocated structural functionalism.

Methodological Antipositivism

The study of social action through interpretation based on the meaning people attach to their actions, advocated by Max Weber.

Monocausality

The belief that one outcome has only a single cause; a perspective rejected by Max Weber.

Macro-level Analysis

The scope of sociological analysis that studies social structures, institutions, and large-scale systems.

Micro-level Analysis

The scope of sociological analysis that studies individual social interaction and the symbolic meanings people give to situations.

Structural Functionalism

A macro sociological perspective viewing society as a stable system of interdependent parts working together for equilibrium, order, and consensus.

Status

A recognized position or standing that an individual occupies within a group or society.

Role

The behaviour, rights, and responsibilities expected of an individual occupying a particular status.

Norms

Agreed-upon, shared rules that specify acceptable behaviour and set limits within a culture or society.

Values

Abstract notions or collective ideas about what is good or bad, desirable or undesirable in a society.

Social Facts

Ways of acting, thinking, and feeling that are external to the individual and endowed with a coercive power, as defined by Emile Durkheim.

Collective Conscience

The set of common beliefs and sentiments that transcend individual members and shape their consciousness, conceptualized by Emile Durkheim.

Mechanical Solidarity

Social cohesion found in simple societies where members share similar activities and values, enforced by repressive, punitive laws.

Organic Solidarity

Social cohesion found in modern societies based on mutual interdependence and division of labour, characterized by restitutive laws.

Conflict Theory

A macro perspective grounded in Karl Marx that sees society as unstable and driven by continuous competition between interest groups over scarce resources and power.

Power

The ability to impose one's will on another, even when the other objects.

Authority

Legitimate power that is exercised with the consent of the ruled.

Symbolic Interactionism

A micro-level interactionist framework associated with George Herbert Mead that focuses on the symbolic meanings people attach to actions and interactions.

Ethnomethodology

A branch of interactionism developed by Harold Garfinkel studying how people make sense of their daily world.

Dramaturgy

A sociological perspective within interactionism developed by Erving Goffman that views social interaction as a theatrical performance.

Material Culture

Physical artifacts and tangible man-made items created as by-products of human behaviour, such as tools, buildings, and technology.

Non-material Culture

Intangible and abstract human creations categorized into symbols, language, norms, values, and beliefs.

Symbol

Anything that represents something else to more than one person.

Language

A set of symbols used to assign and communicate meaning, serving as a social product that signals identity and cultural rank.

Beliefs

A person's ideas about what is real and not real, built through interaction as collective agreements.

Ideologies

Integrated sets of beliefs that are organized around and connected by a common theme.

Ascribed Status

A social status or position that is assigned to an individual involuntarily, rather than earned.

Achieved Status

A social position that is earned or chosen based on individual merits, actions, or achievements.

Cultural Integration

The growing integration of diverse world cultures and the spreading of a dominant global culture.

Civilization

Material man-made achievements and outward behaviours that can be measured and are continually advancing.

Cultural Relativism

The principle that an act or trait can only be understood and evaluated within the context of its own cultural setting, linked to Franz Boas.

Culture Shock

Feelings of disbelief, disorganisation, and frustration experienced when encountering unfamiliar cultural practices.

Ethnocentrism

Viewing one's own group's ways as the only right way and judging other cultures by one's own cultural standards.

Xenocentrism

The belief that foreign products, ideas, and cultures are superior to one's own.

Noble Savage Mentality

The romanticized concept that 'primitive' or simpler cultures are superior, better, and more orderly than modern ones.

Subculture

A smaller cultural group within a larger society that maintains its own distinct norms, values, beliefs, and language.

Counter-culture

A subgroup whose standards, beliefs, and values actively oppose those of the dominant culture.

Culture Lag

The period of maladjustment or gap when non-material culture struggles to adapt to changes in material culture.