Intro to Sociology (Ch.1)

Sociology

The systematic or scientific study of human society and social behavior, from large-scale institutions and mass culture to small groups and individual interactions.

Society

A group of people who shape their lives in aggregated and patterned ways that distinguish their group from others.

Social sciences

The disciplines that use the scientific method to examine the social world. The social sciences include fields such as anthropology, psychology, economics, political science, and sometimes history, geography, and communication studies.

Sociological perspective

A way of looking at the world through a sociological lens.

Beginner's mind

Approaching the world without preconceptions in order to see things a new way.

Culture shock

A sense of disorientation that occurs when entering a radically new social or cultural environment.

Sociological imagination

A quality of the mind that allows us to understand the relationship between our individual circumstances and larger social forces.

Microsociology

The level of analysis that studies face-to-face and small-group interactions in order to understand how they affect the larger patterns and structures of society.

Macrosociology

The level of analysis that studies large-scale social structures in order to determine how they affect the lives of groups and individuals.

Theories

Abstract propositions that explain the social world and make predictions about the future.

Paradigm

A set of assumptions, theories, and perspectives that makes up a way of understanding social reality.

Positivism

The theory that sense perceptions are the only valid source of knowledge.

Social Darwinism

The application of the theory of evolution and the notion of “survival of the fittest” to the study of society.

Structural functionalism

Paradigm based on the assumption that society is a unified whole that functions because of the contributions of its separate structures.

Solidarity

The degree of integration or unity within a particular society; the extent to which individuals feel connected to other members of their group.

Mechanical solidarity

The type of social bonds present in premodern, agrarian societies, in which shared traditions and beliefs created a sense of social cohesion.

Organic solidarity

The type of social bonds present in modern societies, based on difference, interdependence, and individual rights.

Anomie

“Normlessness”; term used to describe the alienation and loss of purpose that result from weaker social bonds and an increased pace of change.

Sacred

The holy, divine, or supernatural.

Profane

The ordinary, mundane, or everyday.

Empirical

Based on scientific experimentation or observation.

Structure

A social institution that is relatively stable over time and that meets the needs of a society by performing functions necessary to maintain social order and stability.

Dysfunction

A disturbance to or undesirable consequence of some aspect of the social system.

Manifest functions

The obvious, intended functions of a social structure for the social system.

Latent functions

The less obvious, perhaps unintended functions of a social structure.

Conflict theory

A paradigm that sees social conflict as the basis of society and social change and that emphasizes a materialist view of society, a critical view of the status quo, and a dynamic model of historical change.

Social inequality

The unequal distribution of wealth, power, or prestige among members of a society.

Means of production

Anything that can create wealth

Proletariat

Workers; those who have no means of production of their own and so are reduced to selling their labor power in order to live.

Bourgeoisie

Owners; the class of modern capitalists who own the means of production and employ wage laborers.

Alienation

The sense of dissatisfaction the modern worker feels as a result of producing goods that are owned and controlled by someone else.

False consciousness

A denial of the truth on the part of the oppressed when they fail to recognize that the interests of the ruling class are embedded in the dominant ideology.

Class consciousness

The recognition of social inequality on the part of the oppressed, leading to revolutionary action.

Critical theory

A contemporary form of conflict theory that criticizes many different systems and ideologies of domination and oppression.

Critical race theory

The study of the relationship among race, racism, and power.

Feminist theory

A theoretical approach that looks at gender inequities in society and the way that gender structures the social world.

Queer theory

Social theory about gender and sexual identity; emphasizes the importance of difference and rejects ideas of innate identities or restrictive categories.

Praxis

The application of theory to practical action in an effort to improve aspects of society.

Rationalization

The application of economic logic to human activity; the use of formal rules and regulations in order to maximize efficiency without consideration of subjective or individual concerns.

Bureaucracy

A type of secondary group designed to perform tasks efficiently, characterized by specialization, technical competence, hierarchy, written rules, impersonality, and formal written communication.

Iron cage

Max Weber’s pessimistic description of modern life, in which we are caught in bureaucratic structures that control our lives through rigid rules and rationalization.

Verstehen

“Empathic understanding”; Weber’s term to describe good social research, which tries to understand the meanings that individuals attach to various aspects of social reality.

Symbolic interactionism

A paradigm that sees interaction and meaning as central to society and assumes that meanings are not inherent but are created through interaction.

Chicago School

A type of sociology practiced at the University of Chicago in the 1920s and ’30s that centered on urban settings and field research methods.

Pragmatism

A perspective that assumes organisms (including humans) make practical adaptations to their environments; humans do this through cognition, interpretation, and interaction.

Dramaturgy

An approach pioneered by Erving Goffman in which social life is analyzed in terms of its similarities to theatrical performance.

Ethnomethodology

The study of “folk methods” and background knowledge that sustain a shared sense of reality in everyday interactions.

Conversation analysis

A sociological approach that looks at how we create meaning in naturally occurring conversation, often by taping conversations and examining their transcripts.

Postmodernism

A paradigm that suggests that social reality is diverse, pluralistic, and constantly in flux.

Modernism

A paradigm that places trust in the power of science and technology to create progress, solve problems, and improve life.

Midrange theory

An approach that integrates empiricism and grand theory.