Studied by 1 person
Chapters 1-5 + 11-12
The Sociological Imagination
Figuration
The ability to see the relationship between the individual and their culture which shapes their choices and perceptions
look at macro level to understand micro level
Use of sociological imagination
Intersectionality
How race, class, gender, and other characteristics overlap.
Society
Groups of people who live in defined geographical areas and share a common culture.
Social Factors
Each society has laws, morals, and values that govern social life.
Social Institution
Complex group of interdependent positions that, together, perform a social norm and reproduce over time
any institution which shapes the behavior of the groups/people in it
Sociology term coined when?
1780
Auguste Comte “Father of Sociology”
Positivism
A General View of Positivism (1848)
Scientific study of social patterns with an emphasis on objectivity.
could make the world better
Harriet Martineau
Science in America (1837)
one of few women in the field
translated french work to reach english sociologists
Karl Marx
Conflict Theory (hint: reject positivism)
Communist Manifesto (1848)
Social change comes through conflict.
Emile Durkheim
Body Analogy
anomie
Supports Positivism
If one function of society doesn’t work then society as a whole cannot function
Health of society
Aimlessness or despair
Georg Simmel
Formal Sociology
Anti-positivist
Pure numbers.
Addresses social conflict.
observe small groups
individual cultures for creative capacity
George Herbert Meade
Identity through interaction.
Significant Others
General Others
Symbolic Interactionism
Specific individuals impact a persons life.
Organized/general attitude of a social group.
People interact with things they subscribe to. e.g. you love to read books because of positive association or positive reinforcement
Max Weber
Verstehen
Anti-positivism
The Nature of Social Action
Understanding in a deep way; deeply understanding the world around them.
Embracing subjectivity to understand social processes, cultural norms, and societal values.
W.E.B Du Bois
Double Consciousness
Paradigm; struggle African Americans face in remaining true to Black culture while simultaneously conforming to/navigating white society/supremacy.
Addressing race in social research
Highly detailed empirical research, replicable to increase validity
Founded NAACP
Refute race science
Paradigms
Dominant perspectives, theories to make sense of social facts.
Feminist Theory
Gender is a site of inequality.
Post Modernism
Shared meanings have eroded in our culture, multiple meanings attached to one thing based off different groups.
Social Constructionism
Something created and reinforced as an entity because it is widely agreed upon in society.
Quantitative vs. Qualitative Sociology
Quantitative: stats and large populations (positivist)
Qualitative: seek to understand behavior
Empirical Evidence
Evidence comes from experience, scientifically gathered data, or experimentation.
use of the scientific method
questions should be narrow enough to study, yet broad enough to have value for outside people, and can inform the outside environment.
Primary source collection
Collect data from direct source.
Secondary data analysis
Using data collected by others but applying new interpretations.
Literrature Review
Research thats already been done in the broader field.
formulate hypothesis
Correlation vs Causation
Correlation: measure that describes the relationship between two variables
Causation: one event is the result of another, causal relationship
Operational Definition
Define the concept in terms of concrete steps it takes to measure it.
Reliability
Validity
Participant Observations
How likely results are to be replicated.
How well the study measures what it was designed to measure.
draw conclusions
Researcher immerses themselves in a group or social setting in order to make observations from an “insider” perspective.
Culture
Society
Shared beliefs, values, and practices.
People who live in a community and share a culture.
Material Culture vs. Nonmaterial Culture
Material Culture: Objects or belongings
e.g. tools, weapons, utensils, machines, arts, buildings, monuments, written records, religious images, clothing, etc.
Nonmaterial Culture: Ideas, attitudes, and beliefs of a society
e.g. individualism, success, hard work, money, etc.
Cultural Universals
Patterns or traits that are globally common to all societies.
Values and Beliefs
Values: ideals or principals and standards held in high regard, deeply embedded, “what is good? what is bad?”
potray an ideal culture
not static, change over time, vary from culture to culture
Beliefs: convictions that people hold to be true, personal and collective
Socialization
How we are taught to be good citizens, how to be aware or societal values.
rewarded
deviance leads to sanctions (social control)
Preindustrial Societies include:
Hunter-gatherer
dependency on land
Pastoral
pastures
Horticultural
cultivation of plants
Agricultural
mills, processing factories
Feudal
hierarchy of power based on land ownership
Industrial Revolution include:
Steam power
Manufacturing reduced production time’
Rise of urban centers
Change in wealth distribution
Postindustrial Societies
Production of information and services.
Emile Durkheim and Functionalism
Collective Conscious
Mechanical Solidarity vs Organic Solidarity
Common beliefs, values, morals, and attitudes towards society.
Mechanical Solidarity: social order maintained by collective conscious of a culture, have always been done that way
preindustrial societies
Organic Solidarity: social order based around acceptance of social differences
industrial societies
Karl Marx and Conflict Theory
Capitalism
alienation
False consciousness
Class consciousness
Economic Structure
Individuals own companies and corporations
Bourgeoisie and Proletariat
creates conflict from exploitation and arrogance
From the product of one’s labor, process of one’s labor, takes away any decision-making on the part of the laborer, from others (because of competition), from yourself (final outcome)
no control over your own life
The beliefs, ideas, ideologies, of a person are not in the person’s best interest.
Awareness of one’s rank in society.
Social Group Agents
Family
Peer Group
Immediate and extended
family history impacts how a child is raised
socioeconomic status
race, religion, gender, class, national origin, ethnicity
People in similar age who share same interests.
Moral Development
3 Stages are:
Degredation ceremony
The way we learn how to be “good” or “bad” people within our society.
Preconventional (children experience through senses), conventional (teens and young adults become aware of others’ feelings and take them into account), postconventional (believe in morality and abstract concepts or universal terms outside one-to-one relationships; might have moments of this final stage, but not consistently)
One is torn down in order to get built back up as a different person.
Nature vs Nurture
Nature: genetics, biological makeup
Nurture: environment and societal influence
Sociology is interested in the nurture aspect
The Thomas Theorem
//self-fulfilling prophecy//
If people define situations as real, they are real in their consequences.
Self-fulfilling prophecy: an idea that becomes true when acted upon
Roles
role-set
role-strain
role-conflict
Status
ascribed vs achieved
Presentation of self
Patterns of behaviors that represent a person’s status.
Role-set: array of roles attached to a particular status
Role-strain: too much is required of a single role
Role-conflict: one or more of an individuals roles clash
Responsibilities and benefits that a person experiences according to their rank and role in soctiey.
Ascribed: born with
Achieved: something you earn
Presentation of Self
Role Performing
Looking-glass Self
How a person expresses their role.
We base our image on what we think other people see. We imagine how we must appear to others, then react to this speculation.
Sex
Three broad categories:
Intersex
Physical/biological characteristics which people are determined to be assigned at birth.
social institutions maintain dyadic sex system
an action rather than inherently determined; performative
Female, male, intersex
Sex characteristics neither male or female exclusively, biological variation not medical disorder.
Gender
*Gender is a kaleidoscope
Socially constructed binary, correlate to identity
should be a spectrum
shaped by culture practices, norms, roles, identities - determine whats “allowed”
binary is the assumption of solely 2 sexes, genders, and sexualities
Cisgender, transgender, nonbinary and queer
Cisgender: identify with assigned gender
Transgender: identify with gender not assigned at birth
Nonbinary and queer: dont identify within binary
Gender Socialization
Gender Roles
Process which people learn cultural norms, attitude, behaviors appropriate to their gender
proper behavior is reinforced and improper behavior is sanctioned
Commonly assigned tasks or expected behaviors linked to an individuals sex-determined statuses
happens through socialization
Glass Escalator
The Pay Gap
Structural advantage that men possess in women-dominated occupations, tends to enhance men’s careers.
sexism is a prejudiced belief
Men hold higher positions and are paid more than women.
second shift, women come home and continue household labor after their paid labor
keeps women subordinate
it takes the calendar year plus the next years month to reach the dollar that men make within the previous fiscal year
U.C.A.M.
U-unistable: gender identities and roales change over time due to influence of economic, political, and global social systems
C-contingent: on societal beliefs and expectations
e.g. women were once considered mens property
A-arbitrary: does not inherently decide or dictate what people are capable of or who they are
M-multiple: there are multiple genders, but people do gender in many different ways throughout their lives
Sexuality
Heteronormative society
Heterosexism
Sexual orientation
Social construction of sexuality
The broad grouping of identities and behaviors that define our sexual selves, including whether we have (or desire) sex, and with whom.
….assume sexual orientation is biologically determined and unambiguous
….ideology and set of institutional practices that privilege heterosexuals and heterosexuality over other sexual orientations
….pattern of romantic or sexual attraction to others in relation to one’s own gender identity, can manifest itself differently throughout time
you can have behaviors that don’t align with your orientation
Queer Theory
Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick
Interdisciplinary field sharing common goal that questions the manner in which we have been taught to think about sexual orientation.
Race
Racialization
A social construct; categories based on real or perceived biological differences between groups of people.
historically, the concept has changed across eras
New racial identity by drawing ideological boundaries of difference around a formerly unnoticed group of people.
Early Modern World
modern racial thinking traced back to mid 17th century
explosion of colonization
tried to explain people who looked different, first using religion then “science”
development of racial hierarchy
Scientific Racism
Francis Bernier 1684
Ethnocentrism
Ethnicity *pan-ethnicity
New geography based on the body, devising 4/5 races:
Europe
Africa proper
Asia proper
Lapps (northern regions of Finland and Russia)
using features and skin color, everyone below Europeans
Belief that your culture and way of life are better and the only ‘right’ way.
Culture, socialization, historical experience, stemming from common national or regional backgrounds that make subgroups of a population different from one another.
pan-ethnicity are closely associated ethnic groups, which may share some cultural, linguistic, shared history, or other backgrounds, and are sometimes considered as a group
grouping can depend on context
Racism
3 key beliefs:
color-blind racism
Socially produced, unjust outcome for some racial or ethnic groups.
idea that different races have unequal traits
more than prejudice or discrimination
institutionalized
divided by bloodlines and/or physical types
bloodlines linked to distinct cultures, behaviors, personalities, and intellect
certain groups are superior to others
Ideology that removes race as an explanation for any form of unequal treatment
avoidance of racial language
Discrimination
Institutional
Actions, policies, withholdings, or barriers against a group of people.
stem from internal biases and are outcomes
Wide-spread and enduring practices that persistently disadvantage some kinds of people while advantaging others.
Privilege
Unearned advantage accorded to people of dominant social groups.
living in a stratified society
often invisible to the privileged themselves
Critical Race Theory
*legal theory
Race is a social construct and is used within institutions and laws.
Implicit Bias
Attitudes or stereotypes that are embedded at an unconscious level and may influence our perceptions, decisions, and actions.
Note 
Flashcard (78)