SOCA03 midterm

Agency

peoples ability to make decision for themselves and to take control of their own life

“the general in the particular”

finding general patterns and trend in particular specific things that maybe everyone experiences and goes through

Micro, macro, global

micro small scale, macro bigger skills more generalised, global shared between all

Nacirema

American, it was a research of finding the strange in the familiar, looking at things from everyday life from a lens of someone who has not be socialised to this and what they would think about it.His point was that you can take any society and if you pretend to look at it for the first time, you would see something strange

Reification

Reification is the way where abstract concept become to thought of as things, t is reunification when we say that society caused someone to do something

Social structures

general patterns persist through time and become habitual or routinised at micro-levels of interaction, or institutionalised at macro or global levels of interaction

Society

a group of people who interact and has a shared culture in a particular area

Sociological imagination

Shifting your viewpoints from only seeing something as a personal trouble towards seeing it as a public issue looking at it from a broader social factor which led to the situation.

Sociology

study of social interactions and the relationship between different social groups

“the strange in the familiar”

Nacirema, looking at everyday things as oil you are someone new and has never seen it before and find what you would think is strange

Structure

Structure is in a rigid structure, it influences someone where to do and limits the choices and the opportunity which is available to the individual

The three transformations leading to sociology’s emergence and what they were addressing

as an extension to new world Seine, enlightenment project and historical change, social injustice and possibility of social reform and also crucial response to the new unprecedented types of social problems in industrial revolution

Positivism

has a emphasis on empirical observation and measurement and neutrality and objectivity. It looked at human phenomena in quantifiable units

Structural functionalism and critiques of it

Society is like an organism and is interdependent and interrelated. Everything relies on everything else doing its job and maintaining it. Keeping it inherently stable. It also resists change. Durkheim’s idea of social fact: Institution, norms and values that contain individuals and serve societal needs. They would believe that inequality is necessary and keeps the society going. Part of positivism. The main criticism is that if social phenomenons can really be studies the way natural phenomenas can be studied

Quantitative sociology

typically macro, more involving numbers and statistics collected quantitative statistics, typically larger and bigger scale

Manifest/latent functions

manifest functions are the consequences of a social process that are sought or anticipated, and latent functions are unsought consequences of social processes

Interpretive sociology

social researchers strive to find systematic means to interpret and describe the subjective meanings behind social processes, cultural norms, and societal values

Symbolic interactionism, its three premises, and critiques of it

symbolic interactionism uses qualitative research mainly like in depth interviews, it focus on micro level interactions that is hard to generalise. Society is the result of interactions among people and through the interaction we create shared meanings. Through shared meanings we construct our social world. It is not something everyone does but when most does it it becomes a symbol. Uses qualitative information and is typically micro. Socialisation is experiences and interactions with others shape society and our understanding of it. It is criticised as it is difficult to generalise , how can social interactions be determined by this

Labelling

individuals come to be characterised or labelled as deviants by authorities

Critical sociology and critiques of it

It has its origins in social activism, the key elements is critique of power relations and understanding of society and historical and it is subject to change

Historical materialism

This is developed by Karl Marx and it concentrates on the study how how our everyday lives is structured by the connection between relations of power and economic processes

Dialectics

proposes that social contradiction, opposition and struggle in society drive processes of social change and transformations

Feminism

focus on power relationship and inequalities between men and women

Patriarchy

os a set of institutional structures ( property rights, access to position of power and relationship to source of income), which are based on the belief that men and women are dichotomous and unequal categories

Dominant gender ideology

assumption that physiological sex differences between male and females are related to differences in their character, behaviour and ability

Standpoint theory 

examines how society is organised and coordinated form the perspective of a particular social location or perspective in society

Dual consciousness

Dual consciousness is that sometimes we hold different identities in society so that out experiences in society is different based on those roles, like you have many different selves and your experiences of society is different based on which one you are using it though

Alienation

It is the isolating, dehumanising nature of capitalist production. It is hard for people to come together after being alienated

False consciousness

False consciousness are when the working class people accept and internalise the ideology of the capitalist ruling class, and they do not challenge it and realise that its not for the best for them

Class consciousness

class consciousness is realising that there are others in the same situation and the working class getting together to try to overpower the ruling class

Western Marxism 

It differs as it does not focus only on economic class but it also focuses on other aspect like differences based on gender, race and more. Powers is also maintained through ruling ideas. The ruling class spreads its own values and beliefs and is taken as common sense. It focuses that power is maintained through ideas and not force. Knowledge is power

hegemony 

domination through ideological control and consent, a dominant idea in a political or social context

4 waves of feminism

focused on the fluidity of sexuality and gender and fought that it is not a binary concept

post-structuralism

it also critique’s Marxism, it says that it over talks class and disregards gender, race and more. It says that do not forget that people have agency. Power is not always there and static and changes as people resist to it. Knowledge is a big idea as it looks at whos idea counts and whos matter more than others. Surveillance and the conducting of surveillance. When everyone does something it becomes normalised. Surveillance is everywhere, it can include when someone give you a dirty look

discourse

written or spoken communication about something

discipline/surveillance

Surveillance and the conducting of surveillance. When everyone does something it becomes normalised. Surveillance is everywhere, it can include when someone give you a dirty look. Surveillance is the act of observing and discipline is a form of power maintained through surveillance

normalisation

a social process by which some practices and ways of living is marked as normal and other as abnormal

queer theory

It focuses on critiques heteronormative. It tries to point out that desire exists in all kinds of ways among different genders, between different ones and that there is various ways to experiences it that isn't the typical norm. Language is very important in queer theory. They believe that their identities are fluid and that you can have multiple identities at once

post-colonial theory

Colonialism is not over and that the impact is still being felt and some places is still living under colonialism. It looks at the political and cultural effect of colonialism. It can look art relationship between the colonisers and those who were colonised

Said – Orientalism

looks at how the western described them as superior and those form the middle east as inferior and thinks that the women is oppressed and needs saving

Fanon - Black Skin, White Masks

looks at the effects of racism, colonialism on the experiences nail ives of black people of colour, Fanon theorised that domination whose necessary goal for success was the recording of the world indigenous people

critical race theory

It is not accurately presented in the United States. It came form legal scholars in the US and points out that racism is institutionalised in the US and that power structures is based on white privilege and white supremacy. It looks at what would the laws and policy look like if it was made by people of colour. It also looks at how districts are divided in the US and how distinct which is more white prominent gets more funding and resources and district which is more prominent with people of colour gets less funding and resources

intersectionality

the idea where different people may experiences different types of discrimination and other treatments due to being part of various minority groups such as being both black and a gay man

Theorising whiteness

white is not of a particular race and just the human rice, they are often visible and race is often sought of as a colour, whiteness is deconstructed and carries privilege with it

empirical evidence

evidence which is backed up by direct experience / observation

scientific method

a systematic research method that involves asking a question, researching existing sources, forming hypothesis, designing and conducting a study and drawing on conclusions

steps in the research process

1.Decide on an area of interest , it can be general such as law and society
2. Literature review: Have to discover what we already know and look at words of those who came before us. Interested in scholarly peer reviewed journal articles as well as scholarly books.
3. Create a specific research question
4. Choose method such as micro or macro or global, qualitative or quantitative and sometimes it uses both
5. Choose data source. E.g government census, government surveys, some is public and some requires you to apply to requires for it. Often, people would need to collect original data. Need to look at how many participant is needed, the demographic, how they will be recruited and more.
6. Submit ethics application and wait for human approval as e are doing experiment with human subjects
7. Gather data once the ethics application has been approve
8. Analyze data. For quantitative, using software look at your data. 9. Using qualitative methods requires transcribing interviews, thematic coding, memos and might use qualitative analysis software
Reporting your findings, such as writing up your paper, presenting it as an academic conference, write it as an article/ book

reliability

measure of a study’s consistency that considers how likely realists are to be replicated if it is reproduced

validity

the degree to which ha sociological measure accurately reflects the topic of study

operational definition

specific explanations of abstract concepts that a researcher plants to study

Variable

a characteristic / measure of a social phenomenon that can take different values

literature review

a scholarly research step that entails identifying and studying all existing sties on a topic to create a basis for new reach

hypothesis

an educated guess with predicted outcomes about the relationship of 2 variables

quantitative methods

results in numbers, statistical, it is numerical and can be counted

correlation vs causation 

correlation does not mean causation, just because it shows a correlation does not mean there is causation, there may be other factor

independent and dependent variables

independent is on its own and the dependent changes as the independent changes

interpretive/qualitative methods

typically smaller scale, not numbers more in-depth, QUALITATIVE DATA, uses methods like case study, interviews

Hawthorne effect

effect observed at Hawthorne factory that peoples actions tend to change as they learn that they are being observed

survey

data collections from subjects who respond to a series of question about behaviours and opinions, typically like a questionnaire

sample

part of a population

experiment

Testing of a hypothesis under controlled settings

field research

gathering data from a natural environment without doing a lab experiment / survey

participant observation

observing participants without their knowledge that they are being observed, researcher typically immerse themselves in the situation

ethnography

observing an entire social setting and all it entails

case study

an in depth study of a particular case, typically rare and cannot be generalised

secondary/textual/content analysis

data collected by others but applying new interpretations

Indigenous ways of knowing

People are all related to each other, the natural world and the spiritual world. Knowledge is embedded in relationship with land culture and commodity. The spiritual cannot be separated. It takes a holistic view and looks at the whole picture. Knowledge is typically spoken and oral

culture

shared beliefs, values and practices

value

a culture’s standard for discerning desirable state in society

beliefs

tenets / convictions that people hold to be true

sanctions

a way to authorise or firmly disapprove of certain behaviours

norms

the visible and invisible rules of conduct through which societies are structures

Folkways

norms based on social preferences that direct appropriate behaviour in the day to day practices and expression of a culture

mores

norms based on social requirements which are based on the moral views and principles of a group

taboos

strong prohibitions based on deeply held sacred / moral beliefs

breaching experiment

when you try to internationally break social norm and see how people respond to it

Sapir-Whorf hypothesis

people understands the world based on their form of language

material culture

objects / belongings of a group of people

non-material culture

the ideas, attitudes, and beliefs of a society

high culture

forms of cultural experiences characterised by formal complexity, eternal values or intrinsic authenticity

popular culture

mainstream, widespread patters among a society’s population

cultural capital 

the knowledge, skills, test, mannerisms, speaking style, posture, material possessions, credentials that a person acquires form his or her family background

postmodern culture

the form of culture that comes after modern culture characterised by the playful midterm of forms

subculture

a group that shares a specific identity apart from a society’s majority, even as the numbers exist within a larger society

counterculture

a group that rejects and opposes society’s widely accepted cultural patterns

globalisation

integration of international trade and finance markets

Diffusion

the spread of material and nonmaterial culture form one culture to another

diaspora

the dispersion of a people from their original homeland

hybridity

new forms of culture that arose from cross-cultural exchange in the aftermath of the colonial era

functionalist approach to culture

in a functional perspective, they believe that societies need culture, and cultural norms function to support the operation of society and culture values guide people in making choices

symbolic interactionist approach to culture

they see culture as being created and maintained by the ways people interact and how individuals interpret each other’s actions

critical sociological approach to culture

the view social structures a inherently unequal and based on power differentials related to issues like class, gender, race and age

reification

something which has been socially created, and we treat it like it is a real thing and it is natural such as gender, 7 day week

Cultural appropriation

inappropriate unacknowledged adoption of elements form one culture by those form another

Restricted symbols

not everyone can uses restricted symbols and there are rules about how you can earn them and there is meanings associated with having it

Stigma

mark of disgrace associated with a particular circumstance, quality or person

triangulated research design

using multiple datasets, methods, theories to address a research question

identity ambivalence

extent to which an individual / group of people perceive, recognise and are able to distinguish and label conflicting feelings about an issue

ideology of meritocracy

a social system in which advancement in society is based on an individual’s capabilities and merits rather than based family wealth and back grounds

The cultural diamond

Cultural diamond is when anytime you have a cultural object and someone created it, someone receives it, and the thing creates within a specific social context