SYG2000 Chapter 1 Study Guide

Sociology

The systematic study of society and social interaction.

Sociological Imagination

The ability to see the relationship between individual experiences and larger social influences.

Social Facts

The laws, morals, values, religious beliefs, customs, fashions, rituals, and all of the cultural rules that govern social life.

Figurational Sociology

The study of the networks of interdependent human beings.

Positivism

The scientific study of social patterns.

Antipositivism

The view that social researchers should strive for subjectivity as they work to represent social processes, cultural norms, and societal values.

Quantitative Sociology

Uses statistical methods such as surveys with large numbers of participants.

Qualitative Sociology

Seeks to understand human behavior by learning about it through in-depth interviews, focus groups, and analysis of content sources.

Micro-level Theories

The study of specific relationships between individuals or small groups.

Macro-level Theories

The study of large-scale social structures and how they affect groups and individuals.

Functionalism

A theoretical approach that sees society as a structure with interrelated parts designed to meet the biological and social needs of individuals.

Conflict Theory

A theory that looks at society as a competition for limited resources.

Symbolic Interactionism

A micro-level theory that focuses on the relationships among individuals within a society.

Constructivism

An extension of symbolic interaction theory which proposes that reality is what humans cognitively construct it to be.

Dramaturgical analysis

Views society through the metaphor of theatrical performance

Dynamic Equilibrium

A stable state in which all parts of a healthy society work together properly

Dysfunctions

Social Patterns that have undesirable consequences for the operation of society

Figuration

The process of simultaneously analyzing the behavior of an individual and the society that shapes that behavior

Function

The part a recurrent activity plays in the social life as a whole and the contribution it makes to structural continuity

Generalized others

The organized and generalized attitude of a social group

Grand theories

An attempt to explain large-scale relationships and answer fundamental questions such as why societies form and why they change

Latent functions

Th unrecognized or unintended consequences of a social process

Manifest functions

Sought consequences of a social process

Paradigms

Philosophical and theoretical frameworks used within a discipline to formulate theories, generalizations, and the experiments performed in support of them

Reification

An error of treating an abstract concept as though it has real, material exisistance

Significant others

Specific individuals that impact a person’s life

Social solidarity

The social ties that bind a group of people together such as kinship, shared location, and religion

Theory

A proposed explanation about social interactions or society

Verstehen

A German term meaning to understand in a deep way.