Soc S3 Core - Constructing Identity

What is sociology?

The systematic, evidence-based study of society, social relationships and human behaviour.

How does a sociological explanation differ from an individualistic explanation?

It examines social relationships, institutions and conditions alongside individual choices and characteristics.

What makes evidence empirical?

It is based on systematically collected observations or data, rather than unsupported opinion.

Why is an anecdote insufficient evidence of a social pattern?

One experience may be unusual and cannot establish how common something is in a wider population.

What is a social pattern?

A recurring relationship or tendency in social behaviour that can be investigated using evidence.

What is C. Wright Mills' sociological imagination?

Connecting personal experiences and biography with wider social structures, historical conditions and public issues.

How do personal troubles and public issues differ?

Troubles are experienced within immediate personal life; public issues concern wider social organisation. They can be connected.

Can a single person's difficulty have structural causes?

Yes. Its structural influences do not disappear because the example concerns only one person.

What is social structure?

Patterned social relationships, rules and distributions of resources that shape opportunities and behaviour.

What is agency?

People's capacity to act, make choices and influence their circumstances within social conditions.

How do structure and agency interact?

Structures constrain and enable action, while people's actions reproduce or change structures.

What is Giddens' structuration?

The ongoing process through which social practices both draw on and reproduce or transform social structures.

What are social institutions?

Established arrangements organising major areas of social life, such as family, education, religion and government.

How does an institution differ from an organisation?

An institution is a broader established system of roles and practices; an organisation is a particular organised body within it.

How do institutions influence identity?

They shape roles, expectations, categories and opportunities through which people understand themselves and are recognised by others.

What is micro-level analysis?

Analysis of everyday interaction between individuals, such as a teacher responding to a student.

What is meso-level analysis?

Analysis of groups, organisations and communities, such as a college's practices and rules.

What is macro-level analysis?

Analysis of wider social systems and patterns, such as national policy or class inequality.

Can one study connect micro, meso and macro levels?

Yes. Identify its main focus, then explain how interactions, organisations and wider systems influence each other.

What is a research design?

A plan linking the research question to concepts, methods, sampling, ethics and analysis.

What is the purpose of a literature review?

To evaluate existing knowledge, identify gaps and refine the question, theory and research design.

What is a hypothesis?

A testable prediction about a relationship between clearly defined variables.

What is operationalisation?

Defining how an abstract concept will be observed or measured using specific indicators.

Why can one indicator have weak validity?

It may capture only one dimension of a complex concept and miss other relevant features.

What is quantitative research?

Research using numerical measurements to investigate distributions, comparisons and relationships.

What is qualitative research?

Research exploring meanings, experiences and social processes through detailed non-numerical evidence.

What is mixed-method research?

Research combining quantitative and qualitative approaches within a study.

What is triangulation?

Comparing evidence from different methods, sources or researchers to strengthen interpretation and examine inconsistencies.

What is a survey's main strength and limitation?

It efficiently compares many responses, but wording, self-report and non-response can distort findings.

How do closed and open questions differ?

Closed questions provide fixed response options; open questions let participants answer in their own words.

What is an interview's main strength and limitation?

It can provide depth and clarification, but takes time and can be affected by interviewer influence.

How do structured, semi-structured and unstructured interviews differ?

Structured interviews use fixed questions; semi-structured interviews allow guided follow-up; unstructured interviews are flexible and participant-led.

What is observation's main strength and limitation?

It examines behaviour in context, but being observed may change behaviour and researchers may interpret selectively.

What is participant observation?

Studying a social setting while participating in its activities; it provides context but can reduce critical distance.

What is an experiment's main strength and limitation?

Manipulation and control support causal testing, but settings may be artificial and ethical constraints may limit the design.

What are an experiment's independent and dependent variables?

The independent variable is manipulated; the dependent variable is the measured outcome.

Why use a control or comparison condition?

It provides a baseline for judging whether outcomes differ with the manipulated variable.

What is secondary data?

Existing data collected by others; it saves resources but may not match the present research question or definitions.

What is a population and a sample?

The population is the target group of interest; the sample is the subset actually studied.

What is simple random sampling?

Selecting participants so every member of the defined population has an equal chance of selection.

What is stratified sampling?

Dividing the population into relevant subgroups and sampling within them, often randomly and proportionally.

What is convenience sampling?

Recruiting accessible participants; it is practical but can exclude important sections of the population.

What is voluntary sampling?

Participants opt in; those with strong experiences or interests may be overrepresented.

What is purposive sampling?

Selecting people because their experiences or characteristics are relevant to the research question.

What is snowball sampling?

Participants refer other potential participants; it can reach less accessible groups but overrepresent connected networks.

What makes a sample representative?

It adequately reflects relevant characteristics of the target population; size alone does not ensure this.

How do random sampling and random allocation differ?

Sampling selects people from a population; allocation assigns recruited participants to research conditions.

What is generalisability?

The extent to which findings can reasonably apply beyond the sample and setting studied.

What is reliability?

Consistency of measurement or procedure under comparable conditions.

What is validity?

The extent to which a measure or study supports the intended interpretation or measures the intended concept.

Can research be reliable without being valid?

Yes. It can produce consistent responses while repeatedly measuring the wrong concept.

What is researcher bias?

Researchers' expectations or assumptions systematically influence collection, interpretation or reporting.

What is response bias?

Participants systematically give distorted answers because of question wording, memory, expectations or other influences.

What is social desirability bias?

Giving socially acceptable answers rather than fully accurate responses.

How can research quality be improved?

Use clear operational definitions, neutral questions, piloting, appropriate sampling, consistent procedures and transparent analysis.

What is correlation?

An association between variables; it does not by itself establish that one causes the other.

What are reverse causation and a third-variable explanation?

The apparent outcome may influence the apparent cause, or another factor may influence both variables.

What is needed for a stronger causal conclusion?

Evidence of temporal order and a relationship, with plausible alternative explanations controlled or convincingly ruled out.

What does informed voluntary consent require?

Participants understand relevant procedures and risks and can freely choose whether to take part.

What does the right to withdraw involve?

Participants can stop without penalty and should know any practical limits on removing already anonymised data.

How do confidentiality and anonymity differ?

Confidentiality protects identifiable information; anonymity means responses cannot be linked to an individual's identity.

What ethical protections matter in sensitive interviews?

Consent, privacy, secure data, freedom to skip questions or stop, minimising distress and appropriate support information.

What is qualitative coding?

Labelling relevant passages of data to organise meanings, experiences or processes systematically.

How does a theme differ from a code?

A code labels a specific feature; a theme develops a broader meaningful pattern across codes and evidence.

How can researchers strengthen thematic analysis?

Explain coding decisions, use supporting extracts, compare cases and consider evidence that challenges the proposed themes.

How should you evaluate a study's limitation?

Identify a specific weakness and explain how it limits measurement, interpretation, causal inference or generalisation.

What is socialisation?

The lifelong process of learning and negotiating norms, values, roles and social meanings.

How do primary and secondary socialisation differ?

Primary socialisation involves early close relationships; secondary socialisation occurs through wider settings and new roles.

What are the major agents of socialisation?

Family, peers, education, media and religion; their expectations can overlap or conflict.

How can family and peers shape identity differently?

Family often introduces early values and belonging; peers reinforce group expectations and provide comparisons and feedback.

How can education, media and religion shape identity?

Education communicates institutional expectations, media provide identity models, and religion conveys moral meanings and belonging.

What is the hidden curriculum?

Unwritten lessons conveyed through school routines and relationships, such as punctuality, competition and obedience.

What is identity?

How people understand and define themselves and how others recognise or categorise them.

What does it mean that identity is socially constructed?

Its meanings and categories develop through social interaction and institutions and can change; their effects are still real.

What are Cooley's three looking-glass self processes?

Imagine how we appear to others, imagine their judgement, then develop self-feelings and self-image.

Does Cooley's looking-glass self require accurate judgements?

No. Our interpretation of others' views can shape self-image even when it is mistaken.

What is Mead's role-taking?

Learning to see a situation and oneself from another person's perspective.

What is Mead's preparatory stage?

Children imitate actions without fully understanding their social roles or meanings.

What is Mead's play stage?

Children adopt the role of one significant person and begin understanding its expectations.

What is Mead's game stage?

Children coordinate multiple roles and shared rules and understand broader social expectations.

How do significant others and the generalised other differ?

Significant others are important particular people; the generalised other is the internalised perspective of the wider community.

What are Mead's I and me?

The I is the spontaneous response; the me is the internalised social perspective and expectations.

How do Cooley and Mead differ?

Cooley emphasises imagined judgements shaping self-image; Mead explains the self's development through role-taking and internalised expectations.

What is symbolic interactionism?

A perspective examining how people create, interpret and change meanings through social interaction and shared symbols.

Why do symbols matter in social interaction?

Language, gestures and objects carry interpreted meanings that guide behaviour; meanings vary by context.

What is a limitation of an exclusively interactionist explanation?

It may explain local meanings well while giving insufficient attention to wider institutions and unequal power.

How do social status and social role differ?

A status is a social position; a role is the behaviour expected of someone in that position.

How do role conflict and role strain differ?

Conflict involves incompatible demands between roles; strain involves competing demands within one role.

What is Goffman's dramaturgical approach?

Understanding social interaction as performance shaped by audiences, settings and expectations.

What is impression management?

Shaping how others perceive us through appearance, speech, actions and information.

How do front stage and back stage differ?

Front stage is presentation before a relevant audience; back stage is preparation or relaxation away from that audience.

What is audience segregation?

Keeping audiences apart to maintain different presentations of self.

How can social media complicate impression management?

Different audiences can encounter the same post, making separate presentations harder to maintain.

How can Cooley, Mead and Goffman be compared?

Cooley explains reflected self-image, Mead explains self-development and internalised expectations, and Goffman explains situated self-presentation.

What is culture?

Shared learned meanings and practices, including values, beliefs, norms, language and symbols.

How do material and non-material culture differ?

Material culture consists of physical objects; non-material culture consists of meanings, values, beliefs and rules.

How do values, beliefs and norms differ?

Values concern what is desirable, beliefs concern what is true, and norms concern expected behaviour.

How do folkways, mores and laws differ?

Folkways are everyday conventions, mores have strong moral importance, and laws are formally codified rules.

What are sanctions?

Responses that encourage conformity by rewarding or punishing behaviour.

How do formal and informal sanctions differ?

Formal sanctions come from authorised bodies; informal sanctions arise through everyday social interaction.