The Sociologist's Eye - Key Vocabulary & Concepts

Vocabulary flashcards covering core sociological concepts, key figures, and terms introduced in Kai Erikson's text 'The Sociologist's Eye: Reflections on Social Life'.

Sociological Perspective

An approach or way of looking at the social world that focuses on patternings, configurations, and social forces governing human interaction rather than a specific subject matter or individual details.

View from the Fourteenth Floor

A metaphorical point of vantage in sociology where individual idiosyncrasies become less distinct, allowing observers to see the broader patterns, rules, and forces governing collective human movement and social life.

Social Forces

The invisible tides, currents, pulls, and tendencies within social life that induce people to behave in predictable ways and give direction and shape to everyday human existence.

Everett Cherrington Hughes

A University of Chicago sociology professor who advised Kai Erikson to "forget the classroom" and "get a feel for the streets," prompting Erikson's early fieldwork in a Polish-American section of South Chicago.

Erving Goffman

A gifted sociologist who observed human behavior at close distances (three or four feet) in settings like elevators and gaming tables, focusing on the choreography and patterning of social interaction.

Sir Ernest Gowers

The editor of Fowler's Modern English Usage who criticized sociology for dealing with the ordinary affairs of ordinary people while using abstruseness and jargon to make what is simple appear complicated.

Murray Kempton

An American commentator who critically characterized sociological papers presented at a convention as "the remorseless pursuit of proof for what everybody knew all along … the perfectly obvious."

Envelope of Circumstances

A phrase coined by Henry James referring to the immediate social context and daily surroundings in which human beings live out their lives.

Domination

A form of social conflict in which individuals who acquire a disproportionate share of wealth and power acquire the ability to coerce other people into acting as they want.

Imprinting (Marxian concept)

The process wherein the outlooks and ideology of the powerful are imposed upon and absorbed into the moral reflexes of the powerless, leading them to internalize views that work to their own disadvantage.

Autonomy

In sociology, a quality gained not by simply asserting free will, but by becoming aware of and learning to cope with the social forces that make up the world.

Sociological Imagination

A concept formulated by C. Wright Mills describing the ability of an individual to understand their own experiences and gauge their fate by locating themselves within their historical period and social circumstances.

Buffalo Creek

A West Virginia coal mining community devastated by a catastrophic flood of coal waste and water, the study of which shifted Kai Erikson's research focus toward community trauma and human disasters.