UCSB Soc 1 Tober Midterm

Sociology

The study of human behavior in society; how societies are organized and how that organization influences the behavior of people living within it.

Sociological imagination

The ability to see the connection between individual personal experiences and larger social forces and contexts (e.g., family, friends, institutions).

intersectionality

the way that our different identities meet to shape our social identity and our experience of inequality

Social groups

Two or more individuals bound by a common social identity, shared goal, or expectations who interact with one another on a regular basis.

Social institutions

Patterned sets of interactions and central domains of social life that work to guide behavior and meet collective needs not easily met by individuals alone (e.g., families, schools, markets, prisons).

social inequality

the social process by which valued goods, opportunities, and experiences are unequally distributed throughout a population

identity

the unique combination of group affiliations and social characteristics that each individual develops

"modernization theory" of name trends

stanley lieberson's explanation for the reduction in pressures associated with social institutions like extended family rituals or religious rituals associated with the naming of children - trends that lead to more name diversity

Industrial Revolution

The rapid development of manufacturing and industry in the late 1700s and 1800s, driven by factory production and technological changes that reorganized the production and distribution of goods.

latent functions

the unintended consequences of an action or event

manifest functions

the intended consequences of an action or event

paradigm

a model; an example

Generalized other (Mead)

An internalized sense of the total expectations, values, and norms of others/larger culture in a variety of settings, guiding individual action.

social self (Mead)

the identity conferred upon an individual by the reactions of others

rationality (Weber)

the foundation of modern society- an escalating process of order and organization with dire consequences - can free us from the theoretic past

iron cage (Weber)

while weber contended that rationality can free us from the theocratic past, he also argued that rationality can imprison us in an utterly dehumanized and mechanized world he termed "the iron cage."

dramaturgical model (Goffman)

conception of social interaction as an actor preparing to perform a part in a play

symbolic interactionism

examines how individuals and groups interact, focusing on the creation of personal identity through interaction with others. Of particular interest is the relationship between individual action and group pressures.

mechanical solidarity (Durkheim)

traditional society where life is uniform and people are similar, they share a common culture and sense of morality that bonds them

organic solidarity (Durkheim)

modern society where people are interdependent because of the high division of labor - they disagree on what is right/wrong, but share solidarity because the division of labor makes them dependent on each other

social fact (Durkheim)

the term for values, norms, and structures that transcend individuals, exercising control over them, and amendable to scientific study

social solidarity (Durkheim)

term for the moral bonds that connect us to the social collectivity

Total institution (Goffman)

An institution that exerts near-total control over members' lives, cutting them off from previous life and seeking to regulate behavior and engage in resocialization.

social darwinism

a model of social change that saw each succeeding society as developing through evolution and "survival of the fittest"

american revolution / french revolution

between the 18th/ 19th centuries, european society underwent a dramatic change, replaced absolutist monarchs with republics, where power rested not on the divine right of kings and queens but on the consent of the people. —politically, economically, and intellectually —in part inspired by the work of enlightenment thinkers.

the enlightenement

"age of reason" during the 17th/ 18th centuries when theorists challenged the established social order - the idea of the "individual" took shape

double consciousness (DuBois)

meant that black americans have the sense of "two-ness," of being american and being african-american - knowing two worlds at once

conflict theory

theoretical approach that stresses the competition for scarce resources and unequal distribution of those resources based on social status

social forms (Simmel)

to study the forms of social interaction apart from their content. assumed that the same social forms—competition, exchange, secrecy, domination—could contain quite different content and that the same social content could be embodied in different forms. each social form, would have distinctive properties

conspicuous consumption (Veblen)

gaining prestige by exhibiting valuable cultural goods

structural functionalism

sociological paradigm that contends that all social life consists of several distinct, integrated levels that enable society—and individuals who are within it—to find stability, order, and meaning.

cultural relativism

a position that all cultures are equally valid in the experience of their own members

cultural universal

one of the rituals, customs, and symbols that are evident in all societies (language, kinship systems, religious rituals)

mass media

any means of communication, such as books, newspapers, magazines, comic books, films and DVDs, radio, television, CDs and MP3s, and a range of digital and social media platforms, that reach large numbers of people.

nonmaterial culture

often just called "culture," the ideas and beliefs that people develop about their lives and their world.

subculture

group within a society that creates its own norms and values distinct from the mainstream and usually its own separate social institutions too

cultural diversity

vast differences between the cultures of the world as well as the differences in belief and behavior that exist within cultures

counterculture

subculture that identifies itself through its difference and opposition to the dominant culture

culture shock

feeling of disorientation when the cultural markers that we rely on to help us know where we are and how to act have suddenly changed

culture

both the material basis for social life and the sets of values and ideals that we understand to define morality, good and evil, appropriate and inappropriate

cultural capital

any piece of culture that is used as a symbolic resource to exchange with others

symbol

anything—an idea, a marking, a thing—that carries additional meanings beyond itself to others who share in the culture. symbols come to mean what they do only in a culture; they would have no meaning to someone outside

value

tell us why we must behave accordingly, they constitute what a society thinks about itself and are among the most basic lessons that a culture can transmit to its young

folkway

relatively weak and informal norms that is the result of patterns of action, many of the behaviors we call "manners" are folkways

sapir-whorf hypothesis

a theory that language shapes our reality because it gives us a way to talk about the categories of life that we experience

Norms

The rules and expectations a culture develops that define how people should act, specifying appropriate and inappropriate behavior and the consequences of violating them.

ritual

enactment by which members of a culture engage in a routine behavior to express their sense of belonging to the culture

law

norm that has been organized and written down. breaking these norms involves the disapproval not only of immediate community members but also of the agents of the state, who are charged with punishing such norm-breaking behavior

language

organized set of symbols by which we are able to think and communicate with others; the chief vehicle by which human beings create a sense of self

mores

informally enforced norms based on strong moral values, which are viewed as essential to the proper functioning of a group

taboos

norms that a society holds so strongly that violating them results in extreme disgust (and sometimes expulsion from society)

culture wars

often symbolic clashes of ideas, symbols, values between groups who support certain changes and those who resist certain changes

culture lag

the gap between technology and material culture and its social beliefs and institutions - gradual process by which nonmaterial elements of culture catch up with material culture

cultural diffusion

the spreading of new ideas through a society, independent of population movement - can also bring forth tension by a society imposing its values on others - culture spreads unevenly and unequally often is accompanied by significant opposition and conflict

media

plural form of "medium," it is the term for the ways that we communicate with each other, from voice to gestures to methods of mass communication like publishing, broadcasting and the internet

Looking-glass self (Cooley)

The process of identity formation where we imagine how we appear to others and develop our sense of self based on our perception of their reactions.

ethnocentrism

the belief that one's own culture is not only different from others, but superior to others

cultural tool kit

a repertoire of habits, skills, and styles from which people construct their identities

cultural imperialism

deliberate imposition of one country's culture on another country

interaction

traditions and rituals are handed down from generation to generation as "this is how our culture works" which makes you feel more firmly rooted in place

inductive reasoning

analysis and observations

research methods

processes used to systematically collect and analyze information from the social world for the purposes of sociological study and understanding

survey

research method in which one asks a sample of people closed-ended questions and tabulates the results

Operationalization

The process of defining abstract research concepts or topics into concrete, measurable variables or items.

Social desirability bias

A form of response bias occurring when research subjects give answers they believe are socially acceptable or will be perceived favorably.

bias

systematic prejudice in favor of or against one thing, person, or group compared with another

triangulation

research technique that uses cross-verification to ensure the validity of conclusions, when several research methods are used to the study of the same phenomenon, researchers can be more confident with a result

qualitative methods

inductive and inferential means to drawing sociological understanding, usually about less tangible aspects of social life, such as the actual felt experience of social interaction

deductive reasoning

theory and hypothesis

subjectivity

complex of individual perceptions, motivations, ideas, and emotions that give each of us a point of view

quantitative methods

numerical means to drawing sociological conclusions using powerful statistical tools to help understand patterns in which the behaviors, attitudes, or traits under study can be translated into numerical values

compositional fallacy

an error in logic that results when comparing two groups that are different, assuming they are the same, and drawing an inference based on that false assumption

confirmation bias

the tendency to interpret new evidence as confirmation of our existing beliefs

content analysis

research method in which one analyzes artifacts instead of people

detached observation

perspective that constrains the researcher from becoming in any way involved in the event he or she is observing. This reduces the amount that the researchers' observations will change the dynamic that they are watching

discourse analysis

is more interested in patterns of portrayal evident in a collection of "texts" that might be difficult to quantify

ethnography

researcher inserts him- or herself into the daily world of the people he or she is trying to study to understand the events from the point of view of the actors themselves

field

any site where the interactions or processes you want to study are taking place, such as an institution like a school or a specific community

interview

researcher asks a small group of people open-ended questions

observer effect

direct effect that observation can be shown to have on the phenomenon being observed

participant observation

sociological research method in which one observes people in their natural habitat

interval variables

variables capable of taking on any value between a stated minimum and maximum value

categorical variables

contain integer values that indicate membership in one of several possible categories. The range of possible values for such variables is usually limited (religious affiliation, sexual orientation, marital status,