test 1

Social fact

product of human interactions, exist external to individual

Social structure

framework in which we live

Macrolevel

institutions, cultural beliefs, big patterns

Mesolevel

groups

Microlevel

interactions, the self

Agency

freewill

Sociological imagination

capacity to consider how people’s lives are shaped by social facts that surround us

Personal troubles and public issues

Personal issues are the result of public issues

Falsifiable

can be tested and shown to be false

theoretical

makes general explanations

Empirical

based on data

Objective

attempts to be free from bias

communal

shared and challenged in the scientific community

Research circle

General explanation/theory, making predictions/hypotheses, observations/data, identify patterns

Deductive research

theory, hypothesis, test

Inductive research

observations, hypothesis, theory

Quantitative methods

numerical, answers who and what, used for deductive research

Qualitative data

non-numerical, answers why, used for inductive research

Experiments

compares experimental group to control group to determine effect

Pro and con of experiments

Pro: can establish causality, con: might not be applicable outside the lab

Surveys

collects data through questionnaire

Pros and cons of surveys

Pro: generalizable, con: cannot establish causality

Network analysis

Maps social ties and exchanges

Pros and cons of network analysis

Pro: birds-eye view on social interactions, con: doesn’t tell nature of interaction

Interviews

conversation

Pros and cons interviews

Pro: info about thinking and experience, con: may not be accurate

Ethnography

careful observation of social interaction

Pro and con of ethnography

pro: look at how social life happens, con: only sheds light on the field site studied

Content analysis

analyzes media for themes

Pro and con of content analysis

Pro: in-depth look at cultural portrayal, con: sheds light on what we have access to, can’t ask follow-up questions

Informed consent

ensures research participants can voluntarily agree to take part in a study after being fully informed

Confidentiality

keeping things disclosed

Field notes

ethnographers take notes about what they observe

Independent variable

cause

Dependent variable

effect

Acquiescence bias

tendency to agree

Social desirability bias

people choose answers that are deemed socially correct

Ordering bias

the way questions are ordered

Culture

differences in groups shared

Cultural objects

items we give meaning to

Cultural cognitions

shared ideas and values

Cultural practices

habits, routines, and rituals that people perform

Social construct

influential and shared interpretations of reality that vary across time and space

Signifers

things that stand for other things

Categories

subset of things similar

Binaries

categories that are opposite

Associations

ideas that are different, but they are connected by the third idea

Sequences

ideas arranged into a specific chronological order

Hierarchies

ideas placed into rankings

Social construction

process through social constructs emerge

Culturally competent

ability to interact with diverse cultures

Socialization

lifelong process we become members of our culture

Interpersonal socialization

active efforts by others

Self-socialization

active efforts we make

Media-socialization

efforts by media

Agents of socialization

Families, schools, peers, religion, media, work, military

Cross-cultural comparison

compare how cultures vary and change

Subculture

distinct cultures within a culture

Institutions

collective solutions to personal problems

Formal practices

requirements apart of institutions

Informal practices

norms, but not required

Hierarchy

grants certain power over others

roles

job or function

Division of labor

break tasks down into smaller parts and distribute them to individuals

Rationalization

process of embracing reason and using it to increase efficiency and effectiveness of human activities

Organizations

formal entities that coordinate collections of people to achieve a purpose

McDonaldization

process where life is made efficient, predicable, calculable, and controlled by nonhuman technologies

What are the three categories of McDonaldization?

efficiency, predictability, calculability

Ideology

shared ideas of how human life should be organized

Social identities

socially constructed categories we place ourselves and are placed by others

Primary culture frame

categorize others and use to simplified knowledge about those categories to anticipate their actions

Stereotypes

cluster of ideas attached by social convention to people with specific identities

Controlling images

subset of stereotypes to justify or uphold inequality

Status beliefs

associate stereotypes with high or low status

Rewards of social identities

Belonging and self-esteem

Social rules

culturally specific norms, policies, and laws that guide our behavior

Folkways

loosely enforced norms

Mores

lightly enforced norms that carry moral significance

Taboos

prohibitions the thought of violating them is sickening

Policies

rules by organization

Laws

rules by governments

Social sanctions

reactions by others aimed at promoting conformity

Symbolic interactionism

theory that social interaction depends on the social construction of reality

Dramaturgy

practice of looking at social life as a series of performances

Impression management

efforts to control how we’re perceived by others

Face

version of ourselves we show

Face-work

establish and maintain our face

Front stage

public stage

Back stage

private or semi-private

Ethnomethodology

culturally specific background assumption we use to make sense of everyday life

Ethnomethods

culturally specific background assumptions we use to make sense of everyday life

Looking-glass self

self that emerges as a consequence of seeing ourselves as we think other people see us

Bodies

way we shape them or pose/carry them

Costume

clothes, makeup

Scripts

what we say

roles

how we act