Sociology Exam 1

Sociology

The systematic study of the relationship between individuals and society.

Sociological Perspective

To see and understand the connections between individuals and the broader social contenxts in which they live.

Looking at individuals and who they are(class, race, ethnicity, etc)

The Sociological Imagination(C. Wright Mills)

The idea that our individual condition(“biography”) that depends, in part, upon larger forces of society(“history)

Groups of people, immigration waves, all have our own experience and imagine experiences of other people

Collective Conscience

The shared norms, beliefs, and values in a community

Culture plays a big part

Referring to people that share norms, beliefs, and values

Examples of Collective Conscience

Rural vs Urban

Diverse vs Non Diverse communities

Different beliefs in states

Sociology as a Social Science

The social sciences are research-based disciples that gather and evaluate evidence in order to study human society

The Social Sciences

Sociology

Psychology

Political Science

Anthropology

Economics

Criminology

Law

History

Maybe Religion and Philosophy

Middle Ages

(Fall of the Roman Empire into the 1400’s and 1500’s)

Dictated by church and clergy(leaders of the religion)

Structured and dictated by religious norms

Holding society together

Age of Enlightenment

(1650’s to 1700’s)

Incorporated science, logic, and reasoning to allow for individual freedoms and rights

Started to have outside the box thinkers

Thinking outside of the religious code

One of the biggest pioneering social movements

Need outside the box thinkers for social movement

Modern Era

(1700’s) (scientists vary 1500’s to 1800’s)

The Industrial Revolution

Industrialization- The use of large-scale machinery for the mass manufacturing of consumer goods

• Industry started to grow

• Have more money moving around, more banks, don’t just have farmers, have workers in factories

• Different way of life from a work and social standpoint

Urbanization- The growth of cities

• Religious communities and scientific groups

• Rural communities and Urban communities

1800’s

When the discipline of sociology emerged

Inequality and growing social problems such as disease, underpaid or overpaid workers, crime, inadequate transportation arose

Applying reason and scientific techniques to study social life systematically and to suggest ways that society might be improved

Auguste Comte 

Social statics and social change

Coined the term “sociology”

See the static and then surge of social change

Herbert Spencer

Social organism perspective

We are social organisms

Karl Marx

Capitalism

Focused on bad aspects of society

Thought the fight to change society was going to be so severe that we were going to become a socialist society very quickly

This fight still exists and the arguments continue

Paying a lot of attention to economics

Emile Durkheim

Solidarity and suicide

More on belonging and solidarity

Groups in society that we feel like we belong to

Paying attention to psychology

If we don’t belong to something, then it leads to isolation that is not good for us as social beings

Max Weber

Protestant ethic

Predicted that people will still be rooted in a moral code and not fight the system, but instead fight hard in the system we have

Think people will just work hard and try to make the capitalist society work

Put forward their work ethic and get the fruits of their labor and try to make it work in that economic system

W.E.B. DuBois

Race relations(NAACP Founder)

Do we have a problem in society with different racial groups interacting with one another

Conflicts between different racial groups

Harriet Martineau

1st female sociologist focused on gender discrimination and slavery

Different types of rights between men and women, power dynamics, sex slaves, etc

Jane Addams

Social reformer focused on urban problems(Hull House Founder, very first homeless shelter)

Focused on intercities and homelessness issues, why they are homeless and didn’t have any resources

People’s needs in the Urban communities that were not being met

Key Dimensions of Social Theory

Consensus vs conflict

Objective vs subjective reality

Micro/meso/macro levels of analysis(what size lens to look through)

Consensus vs Conflict

People who agree and who don’t

Where is there consensus and where is there conflict

Objective vs Subjective reality

People who have lived experience(subjective, may have biases around a topic because of experiences)

Objective is looking at all sides and looking outside of experiences

Micro/Meso/Macro lens of analysis

Micro- Interview a family, one-on-one interaction, small groups

Meso- 200 families, companies, organizations

Macro- Years of research of very large amounts of people, countries, major institutions, politics

Structural-Functionalist Theories

Focus on consensus and cooperative interaction in social life, emphasizing how the different parts of a society contribute to its overall operation

Manifest Functions

Latent Functions

Social phenomena because it requires human interaction

Manifest Functions

The recognized and intended consequences of social phenomena

Want to happen, serve what you think is a positive purpose

Manifest functions of phones are entertainment, knowledge, safety

Latent Functions 

The largely unrecognized and unintended consequences of social phenomena

Think about it later

Happens because we have something but not intended

Latent functions of phones are predators, cyber-bullying scams addiction, comparison, death

“Dysfunctional”

Things are not working according to the system

Functional turns to dysfunctional

Conflict Theory

Focus on issues of contention, power, and inequality, highlighting the competition for scare resources

Looking at conflict between things

See power at the core of social life

Symbolic-Interactionist Theory

Focus on how society emerges from people’s use of shared symbols in the course of their everyday interactions

Strongly associated with the subjective and micro-level dimensions of social life

Religious symbols

Wrong jersey at a game

Feminist Theories and Theoretical Diversity

Approach is looking at equality and inequality between men and women

Feminism- equality between men and women

Sociology’s Common Ground

Culture

Structure

Power

Culture

Collection of values, beliefs, knowledge, norms, language, behaviors, material objects, and symbols shared by a people and socially transmitted from generation to generation

Everyone’s culture is very specific to them

Structure

Recurring patterns of behavior in our social world

Structure in place so systems can be set up

Power

The ability to bring about an intended outcome even when opposed by others

2 Main Types of Sociological Research

Basic research

Applied research

Basic Research

The primary goal of which is to describe some aspect of society and advance an understanding of it

Gathering data and doing research to better understand the topic you’re researching

Applied Research

The primary goal of which is to directly address some problem or need

Take another step and get deeper understanding

Apply it to a community

Public Sociology

Refers to efforts to reach beyond an academic audience to make the results of sociological research, both basic and applied, known to the broader public

Internet, social media, books, the news

The 4 Elements of Social Science Research

1) Patterns in social life

2) Transparency methods

3) Provisional knowledge

4) Empirical evidence

Patterns in Social Life

Recurring patterns

Recurring things that we do everyday

Transparency Methods

Transparency- the requirement that researchers explain how they collected and analyzed data, and how they reaches their conclusions

Clear transparency in research

Provisional Knowledge

The idea that researched results, conclusions and truth claims are tentative and open to revision in the face of new evidence

Things are constantly changing

Empirical Evidence

Evidence that can be observed or documented using the human senses

Broadly categorized as qualitative or quantitative

Qualitative Data

Are any kind of evidence that are not numerical in nature, including evidence gathered from interviews, direct observation and written or visual documents

Go deeper, extra questions with lines to get information, deeper research techniques

Quantitative Data

Are data that can be summarized numerically

Surveys are most likely the best way

Are present in the form of variables

Variables

Measures that can change or vary and thus have different values

Independent variable

Associated with or causes change in the dependent variable

Dependent variable

Changes in response to the independent variable

Correlation

A relationship in which change in one variable is connected to change in another

Hypothesis

A statement about the relationship between variables that is to be investigated

Question but in statement form

The Hawthorne Effect

The tendency of humans to react differently than they otherwise would when they know they are being observed

Research Methods

Intensive Interviews and Focus Groups

Field Research(including Observations)

Analysis of Existing Sources

Experiments

Surveys

Interviews and Focus Groups

Open-ended questions and improvised follow-up questions are asked in relatively lengthy face-to-face interviews that are typically recorded for later analysis

Field Research

Researchers work in natural settings observing social interactions an ongoing nature of social life

Analysis of Existing of Sources

Quantitative data are reanalyzed or existing materials, such as media content or historical records, are used

Experiments

Researchers use controlled manipulation of social conditions to test hypotheses

Surveys

A data collection technique that involves asking someone a series of questions

Types of Surveys

Open-ended questions

Closed-ended questions

Loaded language

Double-barreled questions

Samples

Sample

Part of the population that represents the whole

3 Types of Samples

Convenience

Random

Quota

Convenience Sample

Data are not representative, in a statistical sense, of a broader target population

Random Sample 

Every element of the population has a known and equal chance of being

Quota Sample

Specific groups in the broader target population are included in representative proportions 

Basic Research Process

1) Choose a topic(theoretical approach)

2) Identify a specific research questions(hypothesis, the thing you want to prove or disprove)

3) Design a research study(choose a method or methods, interviews, surveys)

4) Consider the ethical dimensions of the research(transparency)

5) Collect and analyze data(from subjects)

6) Report the results/finding/conclusions

Research Ethics

Informed Consent 

Value-neutrality

Informed Consent

Subjects in any study must know about the nature of the research project, any potential benefits or risks they may face, and that they have the right to stop participating at any time

Most important ethical standard in research

Lawsuits can happen if consent is not given

Value-neutrality

Removing any personal views, beliefs, prejudices etc from the research process

Removing any bias or experiences

Peer-Review Process

Process in which scholars evaluate research manuscripts before they are published in order to ensure their quality 

1) What is the research question?

2) What is the theory informing the research?

3) How are variables operationalized?

4) What is the sample?

5) What are the data?

6) Are the conclusions justifiable?

Family

2 or more people, related by birth or through social commitment, who share resources, care for any dependents, and often maintain close emotional relationships

Social commitment- marriage, close friend, roommate, fostering, adoption

Share resources- home, food, utilities

Dependents- children, elderly, grandparents, pets, disability

Often- manifest function of family, families aren’t always close

Kinship

Refers to family bonds

Social Functions of Family(Manifest Functions)

Social Stability

Material Aid

Descent and Inheritance(typically linked to kin)

Care and Socialization of Dependents

Sexual Regulation

Emotional Support

Nuclear Family

Consists of a parent or parents and children

Extended Family

Consists of the nuclear family plus other family members including grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc

Marriage

A social relationship that creates family ties, typically involves sexual intimacy, and is formalized by legal contract, religion, or both

Cohabitation

A social relationship that can create family ties and typically involves sexual intimacy, in which people live together as unmarried partners

Endogamy

The restriction of marriage either by law or custom to people within the same social category(race, ethnicity, social class, age, religion)

Exogamy

Marriage between people from different social categories

Arranged Marriage

Marriages in which the partners do not choose one another, and the partnership is arranged by family members; exchange of money or property may or may not be involved

Open-Mate Selection

Marriage that involves the individual freedoms of the partners to choose their own mate

Monogamy

The practice of restricting sexual relations to one partner

Polygamy

A marriage system in which one individual is allowed multiple spouses

Polygny

Form of polygamy in which a man has multiple wives

Polyandry

Form of polygamy in which a woman has multiple husbands

Religion

A unified beliefs and ritual practices relating to the sacred that bond people into a moral community; religion is typically experienced through faith

Rituals

Symbolic actions, typically performed at specified times, that help evoke an emotional bond among participants

Sacred

Something extraordinary, to be treated respectfully, with reverence and awe

Profane

Of the ordinary world of everyday life

Opposite of sacred, might be negative and disrespectful

Faith

Belief grounded in personal conviction or divine revelation rather than scientific evidence

Theism

A belief in the existence of a god or gods

Church

A formal religious organization with broad mainstream acceptance; many have denominations

Denomination

Well-organized sub-groups with varying interpretations of their faith(mormons, catholics, protestant, etc)

Sect

A small dissenting faction of a church that promotes new beliefs or practices

Cult

A small religious community whose beliefs and practices are at odds with the dominant culture

Social Functions of Religion(Manifest Functions)

Promotes solidarity

Operates as a form of social control

Provides believers with deep social-psychological benefits

Motivates social action

Ethic of Reciprocity

Is another term for the “golden rule” that encourages people to treat others as they should like to be treated

Incorporated in most major religions

Secularization

The decline in the social significance of religious beliefs, practices, and institutions

Fundamentalism

A religious movement that advocates strict adherence to traditional principles in all aspects of social life, usually based on literal interpretation of a religion’s infallible sacred texts

Civil Religion

A set of common beliefs & ritual practices that bind people in a predominantly secular society(or environment)

Spirituality

An inner sense of meaning or purpose, especially as it involves a person’s relationship to something greater than the self

Society

A group of people who live together in a specific territory and share a culture