SOCIO 120 Midterm

Sociology

The study of groups and group interactions, society, and social interactions from small, personal groups to very large groups

Sociological imagination

Being able to turn personal problems into public issues - connecting sociological principles to personal situations in order to mitigate change

Ma Tuan Lin and Ibn Khaldun

Early sociologists that talked about power and society

What caused people to start thinking about different dynamics in society in the 18th and 19th century?

Rise of industrialization, new ideas about politics and individualism, and Enlightenment thinking

Auguste Compte

Coined the term “sociology” in 1838

Positivism

Using the scientific method to learn about social ills

Theory

Statement of how and why specific facts are related

Structural-functional approach

Looks at how things are put together in society, key elements are social structure and social function

Manifest function

Main function

Latent function

The unintended function

Structural-Functional Theorists

Comte, Durkheim, Spencer

Social-Conflict Approach

Sees society as arena of inequality that generates conflict and change

Social conflict theorists

Marx (class conflict) and DuBois (race and gender)

Gender-Conflict Theory

focuses on inequality and conflict between women and men

Race-conflict theory

Focuses on inequality and conflict between people of different racial and ethnic categories

Thesis

Status quo

Antithesis

Wants to change the thesis

Synthesis

Result of thesis and antithesis colliding, creating new thesis

Evaluation

Social conflict approach used to understand society and bring about societal change that would reduce inequality - deemed too negative

Feminism

Advocacy of social equality for women and men linked to gender-conflict theory

Feminist theorists

Harriet Martineau and Jane Addams

Race-conflict theorists

Ida B. Wells and WEB DuBois

Symbolic Interaction Theory/Paradigm (Weber, Mead)

Focuses on social interactions in a specific situation and how symbols play a role in how things are interpreted - shows that society is shared and dynamic and reality is constructed by interaction

Descriptive statistics

State what is average for a large population

Validity

Measuring exactly what you intend to measure

Value-relevant research

Topics the researcher cares about

Value-free research

Dedication to finding truth rather than what we think it should be

Interpretive sociology

Focuses on meaning, favors qualitative data

Scientific sociology

Focuses on action, sees objective reality, favors quantitative data

Weber’s concept of Verstehen

Emphasizes empathetic understanding rather than just observation of behavior

Hawthorne Effect

You act different when you know you’re being observed

Critical sociology

Focuses on need for societal change

Internal Review Board

decides whether research is suitable for people

American Sociological Association

Established formal guidelines for conducting research

Research methods

Experiments, surveys, existing sources, participant observations

Population

Any set of the people or events from which the sample is selected and to which the study selection will generalize

Sample

Group of people or events drawn from a population- need an accurate representation of the population in order to generalize

Culture

Ways of thinking, acting, and material objects that form a person’s way of life

Culture shock

Involves personal disorientation when experiencing an unfamiliar way of life

Society

People who interact in a defined territory and share a culture

Symbols

anything that carries a particular meaning recognized by people who share a culture

Language

System of symbols that allows people to communicate with one another

Cultural Transmission

process by which one generation passes culture to the next

Values

culturally defined standards that people use to decide what is good, desirable, and beautiful and that serve as broad guidelines for social living

Beliefs

specific ideas that people hold to be true

Norms

Rules and expectations by which society guides member behaviors - can be laws or general code of conduct

Mores

Norms that are widely observed and have great moral significance (holidays, traditions)

Folkways

Norms for routine or casual interaction

High culture

cultural patterns that distinguish a society’s elite

Popular culture

Cultural patterns that are widespread among a society’s population

Subculture

culture patterns that set apart some segment of a society’s population

Multiculturalism

perspective recognizing the cultural diversity of the US and promoting equal standing for all cultural traditions

Afrocentrism

trying to retrace African roots and look for what’s been lost/rediscover

Eurocentrism

Placing european values/culture/history above everything else

Counterculture

cultural patterns that strongly oppose those widely accepted within a society

Achieved status

Includes voluntary position that a person holds

Ascribed status

Includes involuntary positions that a person holds

Role strain

Involves roles connected to one status

Role conflict

Involves roles connected to two or more statuses

Nonverbal communication

Words, voice, body language, facial expressions, demeanor, personal space

Id

Basic drives - only cares about own needs

Ego

Efforts to achieve balance - “I need to take care of myself but also consider others”

Superego

culture within → only taking others’ needs into consideration until it is detrimental to you

Nature vs nurture?

Nature= biological

Nurture= Sociological

Both play a role but from a sociological perspective nurture matters more

4 agents of socialization

Family, school, peer group, mass media

Group

Interact regularly, share a common identity and norms

Crowd

Random assortment of people

Aggregate

People in the same place at same time but do not share an identity or meaningfully interact

Primary group

Small, personal orientation, enduring

Secondary group

large membership, goal or activity orientation, formal and polite

Dyad

two member group, least stable

Triad

three member group

Authoritarian

leader makes decisions, compliance from members

Democratic

member involvement

Laissez-faire

lets group function on its own

Asch Line Experiment (Conformity)

Line experiment: ask questions, everyone would agree even if it was wrong - shows that people will compromise on judgement in order to not be perceived as different

Milgram’s experiment (authority)

Authority figures and groups of ordinary individuals influence willingness to harm another person

Utilitarian organizations

Material rewards for members

Normative organizations

Voluntary organizations, ties to personal morality

Coercive organizations

punishment or treatment, total institutions

Problems of bureaucracies

Bureaucratic alienation: Potential of dehumanization

Bureaucratic inefficiency and ritualism: preoccupation with rules, interferes with meeting goals

Bureaucratic inertia: Perpetuation of the organization

Sanctions

means of enforcing rules (could be positive or negative)

Informal sanctions

enforcing mores, norms, folkways, in a person-to-person interaction

Formal sanctions

Established or officially recognized enforced norm violations

Robert Merton’s Strain Theory

Access to acceptable goals plays a role in whether a person conforms or deviates

Social Disorganization Theory

Crimes occur in communities with weak ties and absence of social control

Cultural Deviance Theory

Prevailing culture of lower class society causes crime

Labeling Theory

When a person is labeled deviant, they gradually come to believe it themselves

Differential Association Theory

Individuals learn deviant behavior from those close to them who model and provide opportunities for deviance

Spurious causation

2 variables appear causally related but are not actually due to a hidden third variable