Sociology 1101 Exam 1 review

Structural Functionalism

Societies are systems of necessary synchronized parts that work together to create social stability

Conflict theory

Societies are characterized by competing interests and defined by fights over control of valuable resources, like wealth, power, and prestige

Symbolic Interactionism

Social interaction depends on the social construction of reality and respond to some symbolic meaning produced in the process of human interaction

Emile Durkheim

French sociologist Developed a theory of social stability called the structural functionalism argued that stability in society is rooted in social solidarity

Harriet Martineau

Advocate for democracy justice, the partial slavery in women rights who wrote how to observe, morals, and manners

Karl Marx

Described as a founder of conflict theory, critiqued capitalism arguing that the competing interest between the capitalist and workers would cause capitalism to implode

Max Weber

Argued that Marx focused too much on material concerns and cultural ideas have powerful effects on society as well

Marianne Weber

Saw marriage as a form of gender oppression arguing the domestic workmen required to perform reflected an undervaluing of women

Quantitative research

research that collects and reports data primarily in numerical form

Qualitative research

informal research methods, including observation, following social media sites, in-depth interviews, focus groups, and projective techniques

Empirical inquiry

Look to the world for evidence which scientists call data

Sociological inquiry

Primarily intended to find answers to questions on the observable social world and social actions. (Scholars pose research questions that can be answered empirically, apply scientific strategies for collecting data about social facts, engage in both qualitative and quantitative methods to investigate social facts)

Sociological theory

empirically based explanations and predictions about relationships between social facts(theories provide predictions, theories look for social patterns in society)

Jane Addams

the founder of Hull House, which provided English lessons for immigrants, daycares, and child care classes

W.E.B. DuBois

Published sociological analysis of black American life in Philadelphia first black Americans to earn a PhD

Ida Wells-Barnett

Wrote first evidence based account of the terrorism, known as lynching in her book, titled Southern horrors

Charlotte Perkins Gilman

Wrote The Yellow Wallpaper which criticized marriage that was dominated by men

Anna Julia Cooper

Wrote a voice from the south, first book about intersectionality

Herbert Blumer

coined the term "symbolic interactionism"

Standpoint theory

Seeing the world depends on who we are

Social facts

Products of human interaction include the laws, customs and fashions of a society

Research questions

Questions about the world that can be answered through scientific observation

Sociological sympathy

The skill of understanding others, as they understand themselves

Social patterns

explainable and foreseeable similarities and differences among people influenced by the social conditions in which they live

Standpoints

points of view grounded in lived reality

Sociological imagination

Capacity to consider help peoples lives, including our own are shaped by the social facts. That's surround us

Symbolic interaction

See society as a social construction argued that humans respond to symbolic meaning produced in the process of human interaction

Sociological theory

Empirically based explanations and predictions about relationships between social facts

Research ethics

Standards of conduct that investigators are ethically bound to honor to protect their research participants from physical or psychological harm.

Positive correlation

A correlation where as one variable increases, the other also increases, or as one decreases so does the other. Both variables move in the same direction.

Negative correlation

as one variable increases, the other decreases

Correalation and causation

Correalation doesn't not equal causation

Generalizability

Extent to which research results apply to a range of individuals not included in the study.(allows researchers to make inferences for a large group of people)

academic literature

the existing body of empirical and theoretical publications written by scholars

Ten Steps in Sociological Research

1 - What is your topic?

2 - What have others already learned?

3 - What, exactly, are your questions?

4 - design a way of research

5 - put in the variables

6 - ensure research is ethical

7 - collect data

8 - What do the data tell you?

9 - What are your conclusions?

10 - Write a report for publication

Peer review process

a way in which scholars evaluate research manuscripts before they are published in order to ensure their quality

Operationalization

defining variables in practical terms

Informed consent

an ethical principle that research participants be told enough to enable them to choose whether they wish to participate

Confidentiality

guarantees that any information a subject provides will not be reported in any manner that identifies the subject and will not be accessible to people outside the research team

Institutional Review boards

groups of people responsible for reviewing proposed research to ensure that it meets the accepted standards of science and provides for the physical and emotional well-being of research participants

Spurious

not genuine, not true, not valid

Human subjects research

both experimental and observational studies

The "I" and "me"

Me is our social fact and the I is our response to them

Theory of mind

ability to reason about what other people know or believe

Mirror neurons

Cells in our brain that fire identical ways. Link one brain to another

Looking glass self

an image of yourself based on what you believe others think of you

In depth research

Close conversations between researcher and research subject about personal experiences

Coding

Produce numerical patterns to confirm or disconfirm theory

Self fulfilling Prophecy

A phenomenon in which what people believe is true becomes true, even if it was originally not.

Control group

the group that does not receive the experimental treatment.

Experimental group

In an experiment, the group that is exposed to the treatment, that is, to one version of the independent variable.

Causal claims

argues that one of the variables is responsible for changing the other

Correlational Claims

assertions that changes in an independent variable correspond to changes in a dependent variable but not in a way that can be proven directly

self-narrative

the story we tell about ourselves

independent variable

The experimental factor that is manipulated; the variable whose effect is being studied.

dependent variable

a variable (often denoted by y ) whose value depends on that of another.

Social construct

A concept or practice that is construct of a group. Everybody in society agrees to treat a certain aspect a certain way regardless of its inherent value in nature.

Social construction

the process by which we layer objects with ideas, fold concepts into one another, and build connections between them.

Social learning

Transmission of knowledge and practices from one individual to another through observation, instruction, or reward and punishment

Social network analysis

Research method that involves the mapping of social ties and exchanges between them. Ties between people, like those of friends.

Social networks

Webs of ties that link is to each other and through other peoples ties, to people whom were not directly linked

Social ties

Connections between us and other people

Self socialization

Active efforts we make to ensure we’re culturally competent members of our cultures

Subcultures

Subgroups within societies that have distinct cultural ideas, objects, practices, and bodies

Symbolic structure

Group of social constructs connected and opposed to one another in overlapping networks of meanings. Ideas fall into categories, connecting across other ideas, linked in ranked hierarchies.

Norms

Shared expectations for behavior

Media socialization

Process of learning how to be culturally competent through our exposure to media

Homophily

Our tendency to connect with others who are similar to us

Mass media

Mediated communication intended to reach not just one or a handful of people but many

Interpersonal socialization

Active efforts by others by others to help us become culturally competent members of our cultures

Ethnocentrism

Practice of assuming that one’s own culture is superior to the cultures of others

Embodied

Physically present and detectable in the body itself

Cultural relativism

Practice of noting the differences between cultures without passing judgement

Culture-as-rationale thesis

The idea that we are socialized to know a set of culturally specific arguments with which we can justify why we feel something is right or wrong

Culture as value thesis

The idea that were socialized into culturally specific moralities that guide our feelings about right and wrong

Bio social research methods

Tools of sociological inquiry that investigate relationships between sociological variables and biological ones

Culture shock

Reminded we aren’t born knowing how to get along as a member of human group

Cultured capacities

Our cultures Influence use to acquire culturally specific skills(hunting, knitting)

Culturally conditioned

Our bodies taught ti respond physiologically to a socially constructed reality

Cultured physiques

Bodies formed by what we do and with them. (Strength of our skeletons —> weight bearing activities)

Dual inheritance theory

Notion that humans are products of the interactions of genetic and cultural evolution

Cultural objects

Natural items given symbolic meaning(stop sign)

Cultural bodies

Culturally influenced shapes and sizes and physiological procedures.(our foot moves to the brake when see stop sign)

Cultural practices

Practices are habits, routines, and rituals that people frequently perform

Cultural cognition

Shared ideas and values(red means stop)

Blood quantum rule

Law limiting legal recognition of a American Indians to those who have at least a certain level of documented indigenous ancestry

Ethnicity

An identity based on collective memories of a shared history and distinctive culture

One drop rule

The idea that anyone with any trace of Black ancestry should be considered black

Psychological wage

Non economic good given to one group as a measure of superiority over other groups

Race

A socially meaningful set of artificial distinctions falsely based on superficial and imagined biological differences

Gender

Refers to the signifiers of masculinity and femininity

Sex

Reference to physical traits related to sexual reproduction.

Gender binary

The idea that people come in two and only two types

Intersex

Those with physical characteristics typical of both people assigned male and people assigned female at birth

Cisgender

People assigned male at birth who identify as male same with other

Transgender

People assigned male at birth who don’t identify as men same with other

Non-binary

Identify as both man and woman or neither

Content analysis

Research method that involves counting and describing patterns of themes in media

Doing identity

Active performances of social identities

Consumption

Use of wages to purchase goods and services