Sociology Midterm Deck 1

Sociological Imagination

The ability to connect to personal, individual experiences with broader societal forces and historical context to understand how larger social structures impact our lives.

Example of sociological imagination

Viewing unemployment not as a personal failure but as a public issue linked to broader economic like recessions or lack of job opportunities.

Society

The aggregate of people living together in an ordered community.

Example of society

Hunter- gatherer societies and agricultural communities to modern nations like the United States and the Maasai people of East Africa.

Personal troubles versus public issues

Personal troubles are private issues affecting an individuals, biography and immediate circle while public issues are societal problems affecting many people and requiring collective systemic solutions.

Examples of personal troubles versus public issues

One person losing their job versus widespread employment due to economic downturns.

Application of sociological imagination to different level levels of social life, individual groups, and organizational

Connecting personal experiences to broader social patterns, and historical forces

Example of applying sociological imagination to individual, groups, and organizational.

Individuals linking their personal troubles to public issues to groups by examining how social structure and cultural norms influence, collective behavior and organizations by revealing how bureaucratic forms and power dynamic shape their functioning and impact members.

Social facts

A thing or originating in the institutions or culture of a society which affects the behavior or attitudes of an individual member of that society

Examples of social facts

Language laws, morality, currency marriage, customs, holidays, suicide rates, and fashions.

Positivism

A perspective that assert social phenomenon can and should be studied using the same scientific methods used for the natural world, relying on observable, measurable and objective data to discover patterns and natural laws that governance society.

Examples of positivism

Emile Durkheim‘s study of suicide