Sociology Exam 1 Review

Sociology

The systematic study of human society, social behavior, relationships, and institutions.

Sociological Perspective

Looking at individual choices and actions through the broader lens of social context, structures, and historical forces.

What Led to the Emergence of Sociology?

• Industrialization

• Urbanization

• Modernity

Industrialization

Transition from agrarian to industrial economies changed how people worked and lived.

Urbanization

Rapid growth of cities led to overcrowding, crime, and new social dynamics.

Modernity

A shift toward secularism, scientific reasoning, and bureaucratic organization over tradition and religion.

C. Wright Mills

Coined the Sociological Imagination (connecting individual personal troubles to public structural issues). Defined the Power Elite.

Karl Marx

Historical materialism; society is driven by class struggle between the Bourgeoisie (owners) and Proletariat (workers).

Max Weber

Multi-dimensional view of social class (Class, Status, Party/Power); emphasized Verstehen (empathetic understanding), rationalization, and bureaucracy.

Emile Durkheim

Functionalism; focused on social cohesion, social facts, collective conscience, and anomie (normlessness).

Herbert Spencer

Applied biological evolution to societies (Social Darwinism; "survival of the fittest" in human society).

Erving Goffman

Dramaturgical Analysis (social life as a theater performance) and defined Total Institutions.

Melvin Kohn

Explored how parent social class influences socialization practices (e.g., working-class parents value conformity; middle-class parents value self-direction).

Functionalist Theory (Macro)

• Core Idea: Society is a complex system whose parts work together to promote solidarity and stability.

• Key Focus: Functions (manifest vs. latent) and dysfunctions of social institutions.

Conflict Theory (Macro)

• Core Idea: Society is characterized by pervasive inequality and power struggles over scarce resources.

• Key Focus: Domination, exploitation, and how existing structures benefit the powerful at the expense of others.

Symbolic Interactionism (Micro)

• Core Idea: Society is created and maintained through daily face-to-face interactions and shared symbols/meanings.

• Key Focus: Social construction of reality, personal identity, and language.

Feminist Theories (Macro & Micro)

• Core Idea: Examines gender inequality and patriarchal structures across social institutions.

• Key Focus: Intersectionality, power dynamics, and reforming gender-based oppression.

Types of Research

• Basic Research

• Applied Research

• Public Research

Basic Research

Driven by curiosity to expand theoretical understanding.

Applied Research

Designed to solve specific, real-world problems.

Public Research

Communicating sociological findings to non-academic audiences to inform civic debate or policy.

Data & Sampling

• Quantitative

• Qualitative

• Population vs. Sample

• Random Sampling

• Quota Sampling

Quantitative

Numerical data analyzed statistically (e.g., surveys, official statistics).

Qualitative

Non-numerical descriptive data focused on meaning (e.g., field notes, interviews).

Population vs. Sample

The population is the entire group being studied; a sample is the smaller subset selected to represent them.

Random Sampling

Every member of the population has an equal chance of selection (ensures generalizability).

Quota Sampling

Selecting non-random samples to match specific demographic percentages of a population.

Data Collection Techniques

• Intensive Interviewing

• Content Analysis

Intensive Interviewing

In-depth, open-ended qualitative conversations to explore complex perspectives.

Content Analysis

Systematic analysis of communication media (text, images, video) to find patterns or themes.

How to Evaluate Research

• Validity

• Reliability

• Generalizability

Does the measure accurately reflect the concept it intends to measure?

Validity

Are the measurements consistent and reproducible over time?

Reliability

Can findings from the sample be applied to the broader population?

Generalizability

Culture

The shared values, beliefs, behaviors, material objects, and language of a group.

Society

A group of people interacting within a defined territory and sharing a culture.

Ideology

A set of cultural beliefs and values that justify and legitimize existing social arrangements or power structures.

Counterculture

A subculture that actively rejects and opposes the dominant cultural values and norms.

Ethnocentrism

Judging another culture strictly by the standards of one's own culture.

Xenophobia

Irrational fear, hatred, or prejudice against foreigners or strangers.

Socialization

The lifelong social experience by which individuals develop human potential and learn culture.

Agents of Socialization

Family, schools, peers, mass media, workplace, and religion.

Total Institution

An isolated environment (e.g., prison, military boot camp, asylum) where people are cut off from broader society and resocialized under strict regulation (Goffman).

Social Structure

The patterned social arrangements that shape and constrain individual behavior.

How Social Structures Change?

Through macro-forces like technological innovation, economic shifts, collective action/social movements, or demographic changes.

Social Action

Action taken with awareness of how others will react or respond (Weber).

Social Status

A recognized social position that an individual occupies.

Ascribed Status

Involuntary position assigned at birth or later in life (e.g., race, age, sex).

Achieved Status

Voluntary position earned or chosen through effort/action (e.g., college graduate, physician).

Status Hierarchy

Ranking of statuses based on prestige, honor, and power.

Social Roles

Behaviors, rights, and obligations expected of someone holding a specific status.

Conversational Analysis

Micro-level study of structural patterns in everyday verbal exchanges (turn-taking, pauses).

Social Construction

The process by which reality and social categories are created, sustained, and altered through human interaction.

Power

The ability to carry out one's will despite resistance from others (Weber).

Power Over

Coercive or dominant control over individuals or resources.

Power To

Capacity, agency, or collective empowerment to accomplish a goal.

Strategies of Empowerment

Increasing resources, building collective organization, and developing critical consciousness.

Caste vs. Class System

ways to rank people in society, but they differ primarily in social mobility, basis of status, and rigidity

Caste System

Closed stratification based strictly on ascribed status; no social mobility.

Class System

Open stratification based on both ascribed and achieved status; social mobility is possible.

Racial Stratification System in America

Institutionalized patterns of social inequality based on racial classification, impacting access to wealth, housing, education, and justice.

Norms

Established rules of behavior or standards of conduct expected within a society (folkways, mores, laws).

Deviance

Recognized violation of social norms. It is socially constructed—behavior is not inherently deviant; society defines it as such through social reaction and labeling.