UCI Intro to Sociology/Sociol 1 Midterm Study Guide Fall 2023

Sociology

The systematic study of human society and social behavior. This includes any level within society from large institutions and mass culture to small groups and relationships between individuals.

Sociological Imagination

"The application of imaginative thought to the asking and answering of sociological question. Someone using the sociological imagination"

Social Structure

The underlying regularities or patterns in how people behave in their relationships with one another

Ethnography(Participant Observation)

Qualitative research• Fieldwork: research takes place in naturally occurring social environments. Immersion can be over months or even years Data: Field notes: "thick description"• Use inductive approach: specific observations ->broader theoretical generalizations

Ethnography: Advantages

Helps us understand social processes occurring among people (in organizations for e.g.)• Study those whose stories might not otherwise be told• e.g. gangs, elite prep schools, undocumented immigrants• Challenges what we thought we knew

Ethnography: Limitations

Generalizability: does this apply in anothercontext?• Resource-intensive: time, effort, money• Difficult to replicate: people, timing, setting

Interviews

Face-to-face, information-seeking conversations• Target population -> sample• Composing good questions: open-ended Qualitative

Interviews: Advantages

Respondents speak in their own words and reveal internal states that are otherwise inaccessible• Discover issues that may have been overlooked

Interviews: Limitations

Respondents may be selective (social desirability)• People say one thing and do another• Representativeness: can we generalized from a carefully selected sample?

Surveys

Constructed questionnaires administered to a strategic sample of respondents• Macro and quantitative: looks at large-scale social patterns and employs statistics• Usually probability sampling—random choice Quantitative (Textbook Answer) // Qualitative

Surveys: Advantages

Can be widely distributed and gather data on a population too large to study by other means• Can be done online, by phone, in person, by mail• Quick and economical• Strong on reliability

Surveys: Limitations

Levels of nonresponse are something high• Lacks qualitative data that might better capture social reality (less detail than ethnography)• Doesn't offer full range of expression• Not all respondents are honest

Experiments

Develop precise tools for observation and measurement• Happen both inside and outside the lab (e.g.audit)• Isolate a variable: control for all possible variables except the one under investigation• Experimental group and control group Quantitative (Textbook Answer)

Experiments: Advantages

A good way to manipulate the social environment without intrusions from the real world• Best for establishing causality• Can be repeated

Experiments: Limitations

Labs are artificial environments: it's a leap to the real world• Often rely on some level of deception (effects can be intense)

Historical and Content Analysis

Seeks to understand relationships among elements of society in various regions and time periods• Analyze cultural artifacts: literature, newspapers, documents, etc Quantitative (Textbook Answer)

Historical and Content Analysis: Advantages

Can work with information for which an individual researcher has neither time nor funds to obtain alone• Learn about social worlds we can't enter• Can replicate projects conducted before

Historical and Content Analysis: Limitations

Can only study records that exist (usually those with power determine what information survives)• Often seeking an answer to a question that original authors didn't have in mind

Social Institutions

Collection of organized and patterned social practices that help societies meet their basic needs. The building blocks of society

Fatalistic Suicide

when people see no way out of oppression

Anomic Suicide

when lives are disrupted by major social events; left with sense of despair

Egoistic Suicide

when family or community ties are weak, people feel disconnected and alone

Homogamy

Tendency to marry within a group

Micro Sociology

The study of human behavior in the context of face-to-face interaction.

Macro Sociology

The study of large-scale groups, organizations, or social systems.

Quantitative Methods

Approaches to sociological research that draw on objective and statistical data and often focus on documenting trends, comparing subgroups, or exploring correlations

Qualitative Methods

Approaches to sociological research often rely on personal and/or collective interviews, accounts, or observations of a person or situation.

Inference

the ability to generalize

Replication

ability to repeat a study

Validity

through acknowledging uncertainty

Reflexivity

the investigator is part of the world they are studying

Sampling

a small part or quantity intended to show what the whole is like

Culture

The values, norms, and material goods characteristic of a given group. Like the concept of society, the notion of culture is widely used in sociology and other social sciences (particularly anthropology). Culture is one of the most distinctive properties of human social association.

Cultural Universals

Values or modes of behavior shared by all human cultures.

Material culture

The physical objects that a society creates that influence the ways in which people live.

Nonmaterial culture

Cultural ideas that are not themselves physical objects.

Values

Ideas held by individuals or groups about what is desirable, proper, good, and bad. What individuals value is strongly influenced by the specific culture in which they happen to live.

Norms

Rules of conduct that specify appropriate behavior in a given range of social situations. A norm either prescribes a given type of behavior or forbids it. All human groups follow definite norms, which are always backed by sanctions of one kind or another, varying from informal disapproval to physical punishment

Folkways

ordinary conventions of everyday life. Violators are seen as weird, but not dangerous

Mores

norms with greater moral significance. Breaches are serious

Taboos

most powerful of all norms. They evoke feelings of disgust and horror

Sanctions

a direct social response to behavior, a way of enforcing norms. Positive or negative, expressing approval or disapproval• Can come from government, police, your parents, your boss• Formal sanctions: expulsion from school• Informal sanctions: gossip

Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis

Language influences our perception of the world

Cultural Appropriation

When members of one cultural group borrow elements of another group's culture.

Subculture

Values and norms distinct from those of the majority, held by a group within a wider society.

Counterculture

Cultural groups within a wider society largely reject the values and norms of the majority.

Ethnocentrism

The tendency to look at other cultures through the eyes of one's own culture, and thereby misrepresent them

Cultural Relativism

The practice of judging a society by its own standards.

Culture Wars

Conflict can emerge from within the mainstream. Not always agreement about norms and values• Unfolds in media and online e.g. far-right and left-groups. Physically clashed in 2017 in Virginia

Cultural diffusion

geographical and social spread of aspects of one culture to another Transnational media, global transportation, centuries of migration• We sell entertainment and also sell Western ideas

Cultural imperialism

the imposition of aspects of one community's culture on another

Socialization

The social processes through which children develop an awareness of social norms and values and achieve a distinct sense of self. Although socialization processes are particularly significant in infancy and childhood, they continue to some degree throughout life. No individuals are immune from the reactions of others around them, which influence and modify their behavior at all phases of the life course.

Social Reproduction

The process of perpetuating values, norms, and social practices through socialization, which leads to structural continuity over time.

Agents of Socialization

Groups or social contexts within which processes of socialization take place.

Four Major Agents of Socialization

family, schools, peers, media

Resocialization

The process whereby people learn new rules and norms upon entering a new social world.

Total Institutions

physical settings in which groups of individuals are separated from the broader society and forced to lead an enclosed formally administered life

Identity

The distinctive characteristics of a person's or group's character that relate to who he is and what is meaningful to him. Some of the main sources of identity include gender, sexual orientation, nationality or ethnicity, and social class.

Social Roles

Socially defined expectations of an individual in a given status or social position.

Master Status

A single identity or status that overpowers all the other identities one holds

Race Socialization

The specific verbal and nonverbal messages that older generations transmit to younger generations regarding the meaning and significance of race.

Looking-Glass Self

According to Cooley's theory, the reactions we elicit in social situations create a mirror in which we see ourselves.

Preparatory Stage

Can't distinguish themselves from others.• Interact through imitation and mimicry• Children under age 3

Play Stage

Role-taking and pretend play• Pretend to be "mommy", "doctor","cops and bad guys"• Children age 3

Game Stage

Organized games• Understand meaning of roles• Sense of generalized other

Generalized Other

A concept described by G. H. Mead according to which the individual takes over the general values and moral rules of a given group or society during the socialization process

Social Status

a position in a social hierarchy that comes with a set of expectations• Each person may have many statuses• We interact with others, in part, based on statuses we hold• May include power and deference

Ascribed status

assigned at birth and does not change over a lifetime• e.g. race/ethnicity

Embodied status

located in our physicalselves• e.g. beauty or disability

achieved status

chosen or earned by decisions made, interest or effort put into an activity.• e.g. guitarist in a band, college graduate

Impression Management

Preparing for the presentation of one's social role.

Dramaturgy

Micro-level, face-to-face interactions are the building blocks of society Analyzes social interaction as a series of theatrical performances• Small gestures are meaningful

Back Stage

where we relax, prepare, or rehearse for performances

Front stage

we play a particular role and perform for an audience

Audience Segregation

The ability to present different performances (in relation to presentation of self) to different audiences in order to maintain different relationships

Personal Front

appearance, manner, style of dress, gender, race, age, etc

Compulsion of Proximity

People's need to interact with others in their presence.

Primary Groups

Groups that are characterized by intense emotional ties, face-to-face interaction, intimacy, and a strong, enduring sense of commitment.

Secondary Groups

Groups characterized by large size and by impersonal, fleeting relationships.

In-Groups

groups toward which one feels particular loyalty and respect — the groups to which "we" belong.

Out-Groups

groups towards which one feels antagonism and contempt — "those people"

Reference Groups

A group that provides a standard for judging one's attitudeas or behaviors.

Groupthink

High group cohesion can lead to poor decision-making• A process in which members of a group ignore those ideas, suggestions, and plans of action that go against the group consensus to avoid groupthink, must ensure the full and open expression of all opinions, even strong dissent

Networks

all the direct and indirect connections that link on individual with other people or groups

Tie

the connection between two people in a relationship

Six degrees theory

all people are six or fewer social connections away from each other

Embeddedness

the degree to which ties are reinforced through paths within the social network. The more embedded a tie is, the stronger it is

Strength of Weak Ties

(Granovetter) useful in job searches• In embedded networks, all individuals know the same people and job openings• Paradox is the weak tie provides most opportunities• Most beneficial for those looking for high-status jobs

Social capital

the information, knowledge of people, and connections that help others enter networks or gain power in them

Nuremberg Codes

Nazi experiments without consent• Research became a critical concern after WWII• First international code of ethics for research on people A. Avoid unnecessary suffering B. Risks must be justified by benefits C. Informed consent

Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment

Study of black men in Alabama from 1932-1972• Interested in effects of syphilis over time (untreated)• Penicillin became available in1947; no one offered treatment• Reverberating issues:preventable deaths, spread to wives, transferred to children

Facebook Study

Is an individual's mood affected by the content in their Facebook feed?• Testing theory of "emotional contagion"• Manipulated feeds for more than half a million users(changing positive and negative posts)

The Tearoom Trade

Investigated public restrooms where men had sex with other men; posed as a "lookout"• Took license plate numbers, connected to addresses, and investigated• Most men were married to a woman Didn't reveal his identity or tell consequences Deeper understanding of gay lifestyle and consequences of social stigma

On the Run Study

focuses mostly on participants Mike, Anthony, Chuck, Reggie, and Tim in their late adolescence and early adulthood. Chapter by chapter, Goffman details their legal entanglements, drug dealing involvement, arrests (some of which occurred at an early age), and negotiations with the penal system

Asch Experiment

experiments consisted of a group "vision test", where study participants were found to be more likely to conform to obviously wrong answers if first given by other "participants", who were actually working for the experimenter.

Milgram Experiment

an authority figure ordered participants to deliver what they believed were dangerous electrical shocks to another person. These results suggested that people are highly influenced by authority, and highly obedient

Stanford Prison Experiment

situational factors and power dynamics played a significant role in shaping participants' behavior. The guards became abusive and authoritarian, while the prisoners became submissive and emotionally distressed