Sociology 1000

What is sociology?

The scientific study of society, including patterns of behavior, structures, institutions, and inequalities.

What is the sociological imagination (C. Wright Mills)?

the ability to connect personal biography with larger historical and social forces

What are social facts (Durkheim)?

patterns, norms, and institutions created by humans that exist outside individuals but shape behavior and thought

difference between qualitative and quantitative methods?

qualitative = non-numerical (interviews, observations) explores meaning

quantitative= numerical (statistics, surveys) looks at patterns

what is sociological sympathy?

trying to understand others by seeing the world through their eyes

what are standpoints?

perspectives shaped by one’s social location and lived experience

why is sociology called “terrible and magnificent”?

terrible= reveals inequality and constraint;

magnificent= shows connection, possibility, and hope for change

what does it mean that the self is social?

our identity develops through interaction with others, not in isolation

who distinguished between the “I” and the “Me”?

George Herbert Mead

Whats the difference between “I” and “Me”?

“I” = spontaneous, unpredictable self; “Me” = socialized, reflective self shaped by others

what is the looking- glass self (Cooley)?

we imagine how others see us, and those imagined judgments shape our self-concept

what is the generalized other?

the internalized sense of society’s expectations and norms

what is theory of mind

the ability to recognize that other people have thoughts and feelings different from our own

what are mirror neurons and why do they matter?

brain cells that activate when we act or watch others act; they support empathy and social connection

what is a self-fulfilling prophecy?

when an expectation influences behavior so strongly that the expectation becomes true

what is a self-narrative?

the personal story we tell about who we are (past, present, future), shaped by memory and others’ feedback

what is culture?

the shared beliefs, values, norms, symbols, and practices that shape how people live and understand the world

what is social construction

the process by which people collectively create categories, meanings, and realities that feel natural but are socially produced

what is socialization

the lifelong process of learning and internalizing cultural norms, values, and expectations

difference between values and norms?

values= ideals of what is right/ important; norms= rules of behavior based on those values

what is a symbol in sociology

anything (object, word, gesture) that carries meaning agreed upon by a culture

what is ethnocentrism?

judging other cultures by the standards of one’s own, often assuming superiority

what is cultural relativism

evaluating cultural practices in the context of that culture, rather than through outside standards

what are subcultures and countercultures?

subcultures= groups with distinct cultural traits inside a larger culture; counterculture= groups that actively resist dominant norms.

how does culture both enable and constrain people?

it provides meaning, identity, and order (enabling) but also limits what people can imagine or accept as possible (constraining)