Harry's Sociology To Study

Auguste Comte

Founder of sociology and associated with positivism, which is knowledge that comes from scientific methods applied to observations.

Emile Durkheim

Established sociology as a formal academic discipline. Known for functionalism in shaping individual behavior.

Anomie

A state of normlessness or social instability resulting from the breakdown of standards.

Karl Marx

Argued that economic production and class relationships shape society. Class conflict between those who own production and those who sell their labor. Conflict theory.

Max Weber

Developed verstehen

looked at multiple approaches to social stratification

Protestant ethic

Also known for bureaucracy as a rational organization.

Iron Cage

Developed by Max Weber; represents how rational systems eventually limit human freedom.

Georg Simmel

Focused on small-scale interactions and how they form the basis of larger social structures. Dyads/Triads

George Herbert Mead

Contributed to symbolic interactionism.

How individuals develop a sense of self through the ‘i” (spontaneous/unpredictable) and “me” (social self shaped by expectations of others).

Three stages (preparatory, play, and game)

Erving Goffman

Viewed social life as a theatrical performance where individuals are engaged in performing different roles depending on social setting (dramaturgy).

Impression Management

A conscious or subconscious social process where individuals control how others perceive them by regulating their behavior, appearance, and communication.

C. Wright Mills

Known for sociological imagination (connecting personal experiences with larger structural forces) and identifying a power elite (military, corporate world, political sphere).

Robert Merton

Functionalist who came up with manifest and latent functions plus strain theory.

Strain Theory

Social structures create pressure on individuals to commit crimes when they cannot achieve culturally valued goals.

W. E. B. Du Bois

Focused on race and double consciousness (looking at yourself through the eyes of others).

Jane Addams

Co-founded Hull House and Chicago School of Sociology.

Used applied sociology or insights to address social problems directly.

Charles Cooley

Known for looking-glass self. (A person creates their self-image based on the responses of others)

Created primary and secondary groups.

Ferdinand Tonnies

Created Gemeinschaft (social relations based on community) and Gesellschaft (impersonal associations).

Herbert Spencer

natural selection applies to human societies and social classes

Structural Functionalism

A sociological perspective that views society as a complex system whose parts work together to promote stability and social order.

Conflict Theory

A perspective that emphasizes the role of power and coercion in producing social order, focusing on the conflicts between different social classes.

Symbolic Interactionism

A micro-level theory that focuses on the meanings individuals attach to their social interactions and the symbols they use.

Ecclesia

A religious organization that is considered the state religion and is integrated into the political system.

Denomination

A recognized autonomous branch of the Christian Church.

Sect

A relatively small group that has broken away from a larger established religion.

Cult

A religious group that is seen as unorthodox or outside mainstream beliefs.

Thomas Malthus Theory

Proposed that human population grows exponentially while food production grows linearly, leading to potential famines if population growth is not controlled.

Wallerstein’s World-Systems Theory

A global capitalist economy creates a core, semi-periphery, and periphery that causes international inequality. Wealth flows from poor, raw-material-producing peripheral nations to wealthy, industrialized core nations.

SMSA

Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Ethnocentrism

The belief in the superiority of one's own culture and the tendency to view other cultures through that lens.

Cultural Relativism

The practice of assessing a culture by its own standards rather than viewing it through the lens of another culture.

Assimilation

The process by which a minority group adopts the customs and attitudes of the prevailing culture.

Accomodation

A process of adjustment between groups that allows them to coexist peacefully.

Labeling Theory

Negative labels can cause individuals to internalize bad identities, leading to further deviant behavior.

Kinship Systems

Matrilineal systems trace lineage through the mother, while patriarchal systems emphasize male control over power and resources.

Role Conflict

Occurs when an individual faces competing demands from different roles, such as being a parent and a professional.

Social Disorganization Theory

Crime rates are linked to the breakdown of social institutions in neighborhoods, particularly in immigrant communities.

Postindustrial societies

Characterized by a shift from manufacturing to service-oriented economies, impacting social structures and relationships.

Social Stratification

Hierarchical ranking of people into tiers based on Wealth, Power, Prestige.

Concentric Zone Model

Urban land use where cities grow out by rings radiating from a central business district.

Sigmund Freud

Developed the concept of the Id, Ego, and Superego

Metropolis

A large city that acts as the central hub and includes the suburbs.

Megacity

A very large city of more than 10 million people (NYC, Tokyo)

Megalopolis

Two or more large cities have sprawled outward to meet (Boston/WashingtonD.C.)

Exurb

Residential communities near suburbs with more space.

William J Goode

How families change when countries become more industrial.

Convergence Theory

People who already think alike come together.

Parkinson’s Law

Organizations tend to grow even when they don’t need to.

Structural Mobility

Big changes that affect groups of people in society

Gustave Le Bon

Studied how people change when they are part of a crowd.

Master Status

A trait that stands out so much that it overshadows everything else about a person.

Reform Movements

Aim to change specific aspects of social structure, often working within the existing system to improve it.

ex: environmental movements

Revolutionary Movements

Seek to completely replace existing values and fundamentally overhaul every aspect of society, often using radical or rapid changes.

Mechanical Solidarity

Traditional societies with low division of labor, where cohesion comes from similarity, shared beliefs, and strong collective consciousness.

Organic Solidarity

Modern, industrial societies, where high specialization makes individuals interdependent, holding society together.

Amalgamation

The process where distinct racial, ethnic, or social groups combine through intermarriage or cultural blending to form a new, hybrid group.

Thomas Hobbes

Believed that social order developed out of the desire to escape a state of continuous social conflict.

Low Status Consistency

An individual’s social positions between income, education, and occupation are unequal.

High Status Consistency

An individual’s social position is uniform across wealth, education, power, and occupation.

Tokenism

The phenomenon in which individuals from underrepresented groups are brought into organizations to give the appearance of diversity without significantly changing its existing power structures.

Who came up with structural functionalism and the sick role?

Talcott Parsons