Introduction to Sociology 3e (OpenStax) Midterm

Sociology

The scientific and systematic study of groups and group interactions, societies and social interactions, from small and personal groups to very large groups.

Society

A group of people who live in a defined geographic area, who interact with one another, and who share a common culture is what sociologists call a

Micro-level

Study small groups and individual interactions. Ex: Might look at the accepted rules of conversation in various groups such as among teenagers or business professionals.

Macro-level

Looks at trends among and between large groups and societies. Ex: Might research the ways that language use has changed over time or in social media outlets

Culture

Refers to the group's shared practices, values, and beliefs. Encompasses a group's way of life, from routine, everyday interactions to the most important parts of group members' lives. It includes everything produced by a society, including all the social rules.

A product of the people in a society

Sociological Imagination

Sociologists often study culture using the --------- which pioneer sociologist C. Wright Mills described as an awareness of the relationship between a person's behavior and experience and the wider culture that shaped the person's choices and perceptions.

Reification

The error of treating an abstract concept as though it has a real, material existence is known as

Social Facts (Durkheim)

The laws, morals, values, religious beliefs, customs, fashions, rituals, and cultural rules that govern social life—that may contribute to these changes in the family

Figuration

What German sociologist Norbert Elias called the process of simultaneously analyzing the behavior of individuals and the society that shapes that behavior -----. A key component of the sociological perspective is the idea that the individual and society are inseparable. It is impossible to study one without the other. ----- means that as one analyzes the social institutions in a society, the individuals using that institution in any fashion need to be 'figured' in to the analysis.

social institutions

systems and structures within society that shape the activities of groups and individuals. Ex: religion

Auguste Comte

The term sociology was first coined in 1780 by the French essayist Emmanuel-Joseph Sieyès (1748-1836) in an unpublished manuscript (Fauré et al. 1999). In 1838, the term was reintroduced by the father of sociology ------.

Positivism

Comte named this scientific study of social patterns -----. Comte also believed in the potential of social scientists to work toward the betterment of society. He held that once scholars identified the laws that governed society, sociologists could address problems such as poor education and poverty

Harriet Martineau (1802 - 1876)

- Introduced sociology to English speaking scholars through her translation of Comte's writing from French to English.

- Career began with Illustrations of Political Economy, a work educating ordinary people about the principles of economics

- Later developed the first systematic methodological international comparisons of social institutions in two of their most famous sociological works: Society in America (1837) and Retrospect of Western Travel (1838

Harriet Martineau

Found the workings of capitalism at odds with the professed moral principles of people in the United States. She pointed out the faults with the free enterprise system in which workers were exploited and impoverished while business owners became wealthy. She further noted that the belief that all are created equal was inconsistent with the lack of women's rights.

Karl Marx (1818-1883)

Rejected Comte's positivism. He believed that societies grew and changed as a result of the struggles of different social classes over the means of production. At the time he was developing his theories, the Industrial Revolution and the rise of capitalism led to great disparities in wealth between the owners of the factories and workers. Capitalism, an economic system characterized by private or corporate ownership of goods and the means to produce them, had developed in many nations.

- Marx predicted that inequalities of capitalism would become so extreme that workers would eventually revolt. This would lead to the collapse of capitalism, which would be replaced by communism. Communism is an economic system under which there is no private or corporate ownership: everything is owned communally and distributed as needed.

- Marx believed that communism was a more equitable system than capitalism. While his economic predictions did not materialize in the time frame he predicted, Marx's idea that social conflict leads to change in society is still one of the major theories used in modern sociology

Herbert Spencer (1820-1903)

- Rejected much of Comte's philosophy as well as Marx's theory of class struggle and his support of communism. Instead, he favored a form of government that allowed market forces to control capitalism.

- Using Charles Darwin's work as a comparison said, "This survival of the fittest, which I have here sought to express in mechanical terms, is that which Mr. Darwin has called 'natural selection,' or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life."

- Structural functionalism grew out of this person's writings

Georg Simmel (1858-1918)

- German art critic who wrote widely on social and political issues as well.

- took an anti-positivism stance and addressed topics such as social conflict, the function of money, individual identity in city life, and the European fear of outsiders. Much of his work focused on micro-level theories and analyzed the dynamics of two-person and three-person groups. His work also emphasized individual culture as the creative capacities of individuals

Émile Durkheim (1858-1917)

- Helped establish sociology as a formal academic discipline by establishing the first European department of sociology at the University of Bordeaux in 1895 and by publishing his Rules of the Sociological Method in 1895. In Division of Labour in Society (1893), he further laid out his theory on how societies transformed from a primitive state into a capitalist, industrial society. People rise to their proper levels in society based on merit.

- believed that sociologists could study objective social facts. He also believed that through such studies it would be possible to determine if a society was "healthy" or "pathological." Healthy societies were stable while pathological societies experienced a breakdown in social norms.

- Attempted to demonstrate the effectiveness of his rules of social research when he published a work titled Suicide. Examined suicide statistics in different police districts to research differences between Catholic and Protestant communities. He attributed the differences to socio-religious forces rather than to individual or psychological causes.

Max Weber (1864-1920)

- Believed that it was difficult, if not impossible, to use standard scientific methods to accurately predict the behavior of groups as some sociologists hoped to do. Argued that the influence of culture on human behavior had to be taken into account. This even applied to the researchers themselves, who should be aware of how their own cultural biases could influence their research. To deal with this problem, this person and Wilhelm Dilthey introduced the concept of verstehen, a German word that means to understand in a deep way. In seeking verstehen, outside observers of a social world—an entire culture or a small setting—attempt to understand it from an insider's point of view.

- Described sociology as striving to "... interpret the meaning of social action and thereby give a causal explanation of the way in which action proceeds and the effects it produces." He and other like-minded sociologists proposed a philosophy of anti-positivism whereby social researchers would strive for subjectivity as they worked to represent social processes, cultural norms, and societal values. This approach led to some research methods whose aim was not to generalize or predict (traditional in science), but to systematically gain an in-depth understanding of social worlds.

Quantitative sociology

uses statistical methods such as surveys with large numbers of participants. Researchers analyze data using statistical techniques to see if they can uncover patterns of human behavior.

Qualitative sociology

seeks to understand human behavior by learning about it through in-depth interviews, focus groups, and analysis of content sources (like books, magazines, journals, and popular media).

W.E.B. Du Bois (1868-1963)

- Pioneered the use of rigorous empirical methodology into sociology. His groundbreaking 1896-1897 study of the African American community in Philadelphia incorporated hundreds of interviews conducted in order to document the familial and employment structures and assess the chief challenges of the community.

Thorstein Veblen (1857 - 1929)

- Began to study the economy through a social lens, writing about the leisure class, the business class, and other areas that touched on the idea of 'working' itself. He researched the chronically unemployed, the currently unemployed, the working classes, and the working classes.

Jane Addams (1860-1935)

- Founded Hull House, a center that served needy immigrants through social and educational programs while providing extensive opportunities for sociological research. - Worked closely with University of Chicago's Chicago School of Sociology. This school of thought places much importance on environment in which relationships and behaviors develop. Research conducted at Hull House informed child labor, immigration, health care, and other areas of public policy

Charles Herbert Cooley (1864-1929)

Posited that individuals compare themselves to others in order to check themselves against social standards and remain part of the group. Calling this idea 'the looking-glass self,' this person argued that we 'see' ourselves by the reactions of others with whom we interact. If someone reacts positively to our behavior, theoretically we will continue that behavior.

George Herbert Mead (1863-1931)

Work focused on the ways in which the mind and the self were developed as a result of social processes . He argued that how an individual comes to view himself or herself is based to a very large extent on interactions with others. Adopting Cooley's concept of 'looking-glasses,' this person felt that an individual's reaction to a positive or negative reflection depended on who the 'other' was. Individuals that had the greatest impact on a person's life were significant others while generalized others were the organized and generalized attitude of a social group. This person often shares the title of father of symbolic interactionism with Cooley and Erving Goffman.

Robert E. Park (1864-1944)

best known as the founder of social ecology. Attached to the Chicago School, this person focused on how individuals lived within their environment. One of the first sociologists to focus on ethnic minorities, he wrote on the Belgian oppression of the Congolese. When he returned to the US, he and Ernest Burgess researched the inner city to show that no matter who lived there, social chaos was prevalent. As such, it was not the residents who caused the chaos but the environment

Social ecology

the study of how individuals interact with and respond to the environment around them, and how these interactions affect society and the environment as a whole.

Hypothesis

. In sociology, a theory is a way to explain different aspects of social interactions and to create a testable proposition, called a ---- about society

social solidarity

Studied by Durkheim, ---- is the social ties within a group

Grand theories

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

Paradigms

In sociology, a few theories provide broad perspectives that help explain many different aspects of social life, and these are called ---

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

Structural Functionalism (Functionalism)

Sees society as a structure with interrelated parts designed to meet the biological and social needs of the individuals in that society

Criticisms: Can't adequately explain social change even though the functions are processes. Also problematic is the somewhat circular nature of this theory: repetitive behavior patterns are assumed to have a function, yet we profess to know that they have a function only because they are repeated. Furthermore, dysfunctions may continue, even though they don't serve a function, which seemingly contradicts the basic premise of the theory.

dynamic equilibrium

In a healthy society, all parts work together to maintain stability, a state called

Manifest functions

consequences of a social process that are sought or anticipated.

Ex: a ---- of a college education includes gaining knowledge, preparing for a career, and finding a good job that utilizes that education.

latent functions

the unsought consequences of a social process. Ex: In college, include meeting new people, participating in extracurricular activities, or even finding a spouse or partner.

- can be beneficial, neutral, or harmful

Dysfunctions

Social processes that have undesirable consequences for the operation of society. Ex: in education, include getting bad grades, truancy, dropping out, not graduating, and not finding suitable employment.

Conflict Theory

Looks at society as a competition for limited resources. This perspective is a macro-level approach most identified with the writings of German philosopher and sociologist Karl Marx, who saw society as being made up of individuals in different social classes who must compete for social, material, and political resources such as food and housing, employment, education, and leisure time. Social institutions like government, education, and religion reflect this competition in their inherent inequalities and help maintain the unequal social structure. Some individuals and organizations are able to obtain and keep more resources than others, and these "winners" use their power and influence to maintain social institutions. The perpetuation of power results in the perpetuation of oppression.

critical theory

an elaboration on Marxist principles, of conflict theory and is broader than just sociology, incorporating other social sciences and philosophy. ---- a holistic theory and attempts to address structural issues causing inequality. It must explain what's wrong in current social reality, identify the people who can make changes, and provide practical goals for social transformation.

Symbolic Interactionist Theory

micro-level theory that focuses on the relationships among individuals within a society. Communication—the exchange of meaning through language and symbols—is believed to be the way in which people make sense of their social worlds. Theorists Herman and Reynolds (1994) note that this perspective sees people as being active in shaping the social world rather than simply being acted upon

dramaturgical analysis

The focus on the importance of symbols in building a society led sociologists like Erving Goffman (1922-1982) to develop a technique called ---.

- Goffman used theater as an analogy for social interaction and recognized that people's interactions showed patterns of cultural "scripts." He argued that individuals were actors in a play. We switched roles, sometimes minute to minute—for example, from student or daughter to dog walker. Because it can be unclear what part a person may play in a given situation, he or she has to improvise his or her role as the situation unfolds

Constructivism

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

- We develop social constructs based on interactions with others, and those constructs that last over time are those that have meanings which are widely agreed-upon or generally accepted by most within the society. This approach is often used to examine what's defined as deviant within a society. There is no absolute definition of deviance, and different societies have constructed different meanings for deviance, as well as associating different behaviors with deviance.

Hawthorne effect

the tendency for people to behave differently when they know they are being studied

value neutrality

Max Weber's term for objectivity of sociologists in the interpretation of data

code of ethics

formal guidelines for conducting sociological research—consisting of principles and ethical standards to be used in the discipline. These formal guidelines were established by practitioners in 1905 at John Hopkins University, and revised in 1997. When working with human subjects, these codes of ethics require researchers' to do the following:

1. Maintain objectivity and integrity in research

2. Respect subjects' rights to privacy and dignity

3. Protect subject from personal harm

4. Preserve confidentially 5. Seek informed consent 6. Acknowledge collaboration and assistance

7. Disclose sources of financial support

Nonmaterial culture

consists of the ideas, attitudes, and beliefs of a society. These are things you cannot touch. They are intangible. You may believe that a line should be formed to enter the subway car or that other passengers should not stand so close to you. Those beliefs are intangible because they do not have physical properties and can be touched

Cultural universals

Patterns or traits that are globally common to all societies. Ex: the family unit: every human society recognizes a family structure that regulates sexual reproduction and the care of children.

Ethnocentrism

Which means to evaluate and judge another culture based on one's own cultural norms. believing your group is the correct measuring standard and if other cultures do not measure up to it, they are wrong. As sociologist William Graham Sumner (1906) described the term, it is a belief or attitude that one's own culture is better than all others.

Cultural imperialism

deliberate imposition of one's own cultural values on another culture. Modern examples may include the work of international aid agencies who introduce agricultural methods and plant species from developed countries into areas that are better served by indigenous varieties and agricultural approaches to the particular region. Another example would be the deforestation of the Amazon Basin as indigenous cultures lose land to timber corporations

cultural relativism

the practice of assessing a culture by its own standards rather than viewing it through the lens of one's own culture.

Xenocentrism

the opposite of ethnocentrism, and refers to the belief that another culture is superior to one's own.

Mores

norms that embody the moral views and principles of a group. They often have a religious foundation. Violating them can have serious consequences. T

folkways

norms without any moral underpinnings

- direct appropriate SOCIOLOGICAL RESEARCH 3.2 • Elements of Culture 75 behavior in the day-to-day practices and expressions of a culture. We can think of them as 'traditions'—things we do because we 'always have.' They indicate whether to shake hands or kiss on the cheek when greeting another person

Sapir-Whorf hypothesis or linguistic relativity

It is based on the idea that people experience their world through their 3.2 • Elements of Culture 77 language, and therefore understand their world through the cultural meanings embedded in their language. The hypothesis suggests that language shapes thought and thus behavior

high culture

describe the pattern of cultural experiences and attitudes that exist in the highest or elite class segments of a society.

low culture

is associated with the pattern of cultural experiences and attitudes that exist in the lowest class segments of a society

popular culture

refers to the pattern of cultural experiences and attitudes that exist in mainstream society

subculture

a smaller cultural group within a larger culture. People of a ------- are part of the larger culture but also share a specific identity within a smaller group

countercultures

reject some of the larger culture's norms and values. In contrast to subcultures, which operate relatively smoothly within the larger society, ------ might actively defy larger society by developing their own set of rules and norms to live by, sometimes even creating communities that operate outside of greater society. -----members are 'against' the dominant ruling culture and want to install their own values.

culture lag

refers to the time that passes between the introduction of a new item of material culture and its social acceptance. ---- can also cause tangible problems. The infrastructure of the U.S., built a hundred years ago or more, is having trouble supporting today's more heavily populated and fast-paced life. Yet there is a lag in conceptualizing solutions to infrastructure problems. Municipalities struggle with traffic control, increased air pollution, and limited parking, which are all symptoms of----

diffusion

Another way material and nonmaterial culture crosses borders is through ---

Socialization

the process through which people are taught to be proficient members of a society. It describes the ways that people come to understand societal norms and expectations, to accept society's beliefs, and to be aware of societal values. ------- is not the same as socializing (interacting with others, like family and friends); to be precise, it is a sociological process that occurs through socializing.

self

George Herbert Mead (1863-1931) studied the ---, a person's distinct identity that is developed through social interaction. In order to engage in this process of -----, an individual has to be able to view him or herself through the eyes of others. That's not an ability that we are born with. Through socialization we learn to put ourselves in someone else's shoes and look at the world through their perspective. This assists us in becoming self-aware, as we look at ourselves from the perspective of the "other

generalized other

the common behavioral expectations of general society. By this stage of development, an individual is able to imagine how he or she is viewed by one or many others—and thus, from a sociological perspective, to have a "self"

Mead's believed path for development

1. During the preparatory stage, children are only capable of imitation: they have no ability to imagine how others see things.

2. the play stage, during which children begin to take on the role that one other person might have.

3. the game stage, children learn to consider several roles at the same time and how those roles interact with each other. They learn to understand interactions involving different people with a variety of purposes

4. children develop, understand, and learn the idea of the generalized other - y. By this stage of development, an individual is able to imagine how he or she is viewed by one or many others—and thus, from a sociological perspective, to have a "self"

Kohlberg's Theory of Moral Development

The term refers to the way people learn what society considered to be "good" and "bad," which is important for a smoothly functioning society. Moral development prevents people from acting on unchecked urges, instead considering what is right for society and good for others. Lawrence Kohlberg (1927-1987) was interested in how people learn to decide what is right and what is wrong. To understand this topic, he developed a theory of moral development that includes three levels: preconventional, conventional, and postconventional.

Preconventional stage of moral development

In this stage, young children, who lack a higher level of cognitive ability, experience the world around them only through their senses.

Conventional stage of moral development

It isn't until the teen years that the conventional theory develops, when youngsters become increasingly aware of others' feelings and take those into consideration when determining what's "good" and "bad."

Postconventional stage of moral development

when people begin to think of morality in abstract terms, such as Americans believing that everyone has the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. At this stage, people also recognize that legality and morality do not always match up evenly

Gilligan's Theory of Moral Development and Gender

Carol Gilligan (1936-), recognized that Kohlberg's theory might show gender bias since his research was only conducted on male subjects. illigan's research suggested that boys and girls do have different understandings of morality. Boys appeared to have a justice perspective, by placing emphasis on rules and laws. Girls, on the other hand, seem to have a care and responsibility perspective; they consider people's reasons behind behavior that seems morally wrong. While Gilligan is correct that Kohlberg's research should have included both male and female subjects, her study has been scientifically discredited due to its small sample size. The results Gilligan noted in this study also have not been replicated by subsequent researchers. The differences Gilligan observed were not an issue of the development of morality, but an issue of socialization

resocialization

old behaviors that were helpful in a previous role are removed because they are no longer of use

Sociologist William Sumner (1840-1910) developed the concepts of in-group and out-group

n short, an in-group is the group that an individual feels she belongs to, and she believes it to be an integral part of who she is. An out-group, conversely, is a group someone doesn't belong to; often we may feel disdain or competition in relationship to an out-group. Sports teams, unions, and sororities are examples of in-groups and out-groups. Primary groups consist of both in-groups and out-groups, as do secondary groups.

reference group

A group that people compare themselves to—it provides a standard of measurement.

Leadership function

refers to the main goal of the leader, which may be instrumental or expressive

instrumental leader

is one who is goal-oriented and largely concerned with accomplishing set tasks

expressive leaders

more concerned with promoting emotional strength and health, and ensuring that people feel supported

deviance

According to sociologist William Graham Sumner, ------ is a violation of established contextual, cultural, or social norms, whether folkways, mores, or codified law.

- Dependent on social context whether a behavior or action is considered ----.

social control

the regulation and enforcement of norms

social order

The underlying goal of social control is to maintain ----, an arrangement of practices and behaviors on which society's members base their daily lives.

sanctions

The means of enforcing rules

Positive sanctions

rewards given for conforming to norms. Ex: A promotion at work is a ------ for working hard.

Negative sanctions

punishments for violating norms. Ex: Being arrested is a punishment for shoplifting.

informal sanctions

emerge in face-to-face social interactions. For example, wearing flip-flops to an opera or swearing loudly in church may draw disapproving looks or even verbal reprimands, whereas behavior that is seen as positive—such as helping an elderly person carry grocery bags across the street—may receive positive informal reactions, such as a smile or pat on the back.

Formal sanctions

ways to officially recognize and enforce norm violations. If a student violates a college's code of conduct, for example, the student might be expelled. Someone who speaks inappropriately to the boss could be fired. Someone who commits a crime may be arrested or imprisoned. On the positive side, a soldier who saves a life may receive an official commendation.