sociology week 1+2

3 major social changes important to development of sociology

1) Rise of a factory-based industrial economy

2) Emergence of great cities in Europe

3) Political changes

August Comte

1) coined "sociology"

2) French philosopher

3) Positivism: belief that world can be best understood through scientific inquiry

Harriet Martineau

1) translated Comte's works

2) advocate of racial and gender equality

Emile Durkheim

1) French, regarded as Father of Sociology

2) people are the product of their social environment

3) Social facts: patterns of action thinking feeling that exist outside of any one person

4) coined "anomie"- means without shared values

5) tried to understand connections people had in rural and new urban societies

Karl Marx

1) German socialist

2) history is a continuous clash btwn conflicting ideas and forces

3) class conflict- bourgeoisie versus proletariat

Max Weber

1) The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism

2) sociology of religion was his main focus

3) studied move into industrialization- before industrialization, people had a traditional way of life

4) wrote a lot about rationalization

Jane Adams

1) founded Hull House- put sociology into action

2) Nobel Prize

W.E.B. Du Bois

1) African American- co-founded NAACP

2) coined term "double consciousness"- his take on race is you have to live two lives as a black, life acceptable to whites and then to blacks

C. Wright Mills

Sociological Imagination: the ability to see the relationship between the individual experience and the larger society

Sociology

scientific study of human behavior in society- all human behavior occurs in a societal context

sociological perspective

seeing the general in the particular- trying to see patterns in society

3 major theoretical perspectives

1) Functionalist

2) Conflict

3) Symbolic- Interactionist

The Functionalist Perspective

Macro level- sees society as a stable, orderly system

- Durkheim, Spencer, Comte

-2 types of functions: manifest (consequences of a social process that are sought or anticipated) and latent (unsought consequences of a social process)

The Conflict Perspective

Macro level- groups in society are engaged in a continuous power struggle for control of scarce resources

- struggles are necessary progress of society

- Marx, Weber, Mills

The Symbolic- Interactionist Perspective

Micro level- sees society as the product of the everyday interactions of individuals and groups

-George Herbert Mead

Hawthorn effect

Deductive research cycle

begins with a theory and uses research to test the theory

Inductive research cycle

starts with data collection and generates a theory based on the analysis of the data

Qualitative research

uses interpretive description rather than statistics to analyze meaning and patters of social relationships

quantitative research

goal is scientific objectivity; can be measured numerically

independent variable

is presumed to cause or determine a dependent variable

dependent variable

depends upon a cause

reliability

consistency in a measurement- process must yield same result when repeated

validity

measuring exactly what you intend to measure

Sapir-Whorf hypothesis

language shapes the view of reality of its speakers

-ex. cars are status symbols in America, so many diff words for cars

Non-material culture

Can't touch (ideas, beliefs, philosophies)

Material culture

touchable, available to senses

characteristics of culture

dynamic (always changing i.e. fashion), patterned (groups of people following together), learned (socialization), shared (group phenomenon), transmitted (passed from one to another)

components of culture

1) Symbols- anything that meaningfully represents something else

2) Language- system of symbols that allows ppl to communicate with one another

-Sapir-whorf hhypothesis

3) Values- collective ideas about what is right or wrong, good or bad, and desirable or undesirable in a particular culture

4) Norms- rules or guidelines for behavior

Norms- mores

formal norms (moral significance)

-taboos ex. rape, incest, abuse

Norms- folkways

informal norms

-ex. greetings, elevators

positive sanctions

rewards for good behavior

negative sanctions

penalties for inappropriate behavior

subculture

cultural patterns that set apart some segment of society's population

-almost everyone participates in many subcultures w/o having much commitment to any of them

countercultures

groups that strongly reject dominant societal values and norms and seeks alternative lifestyles

-ex. cults

cultural integration

the close relationships among various elements of a cultural system- when one thing changes in society, it changes other cultural elements

Ethnocentrism

the practice of judging another culture by the standards of one's own culture

-an inability to understand or accept cultural practices different from one's own

socialization

process by which ppl come to understand societal norms and expectations accept society's beliefs, and be aware of societal values

Cultural lag

time that elapses between the introduction of a new item of material culture and its acceptance as part of nonmaterial culture

Freud and the Psychoanalytic Perspective (theory of human development)

- biology plays a major role in human development

- the ID is the component of personality that includes all of the individuals basic biological drives and needs that demand immediate gratification

-the EGO is the rational, reality-oriented component of personality that imposes restrictions on the innate pleasure seeking drives of the ID

- the SUPEREGO or conscience consists of the moral and ethical aspects of personality

Piaget and Cognitive Development (theory of human development)

- Stages of Cognitive Development

1) Sensorimotor stage

2) Pre-operational stage

3) Concrete operational stage

4) Formal operational stage

Kohlberg and the Stages of Moral Development

1) Pre-conventional level

2) Conventional level- ppl make decisions on how they thought they would be perceived

3) Post conventional

Charles Horton Cooley and the Looking Glass Self

-self-image based on how we think others see us

-others represent a mirror

-what we think of ourselves depends on what we think others think of us

George Herbert Mead's Theory of the Social Self

Self is the dimension of personality composed of self-awareness and self image. It emerges from social experience

Agents of Socialization

persons, groups, or institutions that teach us what we need to know in order to participate in society

- FAMILY IS THE MOST IMPORTANT AGENT

-school, peers, mass media

social status

social position a person holds. Holds specific expectations, rights, and duties

Social role

pattern of expected behavior for a particular status

1) role performance- the expression of a role

2) role expectations

3) role strain- stress that occurs when too much is required of a single role

4) role conflict- a situation when one or more of an individual's roles clash

Erving Goffman

Dramaturgical Analysis: front stage and back stage, impression management (how we present ourselves to one another)

Aggregate group

collection of people in the same place at the same time but share little else in common

category group

number of people who may never have met but share a similar characteristic

primary group

small, less specialized group in which members engage in face-to-face, emotion-based interactions over an extended period of time

secondary group

larger, more specialized group in which members engage in more impersonal, goal-oriented relationships for a limited period of time

an ingroup

person belongs and feels a sense of identity

an outgroup

person does not belong and towards which the person may feel a sense of competitiveness or hostility

reference group

serve as point of reference in making evaluations and decisions

Durkheim and solidarity

-mechanical solidarity is a type of social order maintained by the collective consciousness of a culture

-organic solidarity is a social order based around an acceptance of economic and social differences

instrumental leadership

goal or task oriented

expressive leadership

provides emotional support for members

authoritarian leaders

make all major group decisions and assign tasks to members

democratic leaders

encourage group discussion and decision making through consensus building

laissez-faire leaders

only minimally involved in decision making and encourage group members to make their own decisions

Group Conformity- Asch's Research

-experiment showed the power of groups in generating conformity

-arranging students around a table, showed them a line and asked to match the line to one of three shown on a card. 1/3 of all subjects conformed to the others by answering incorrectly. If group is smaller, you are more likely to answer what you think

Group Conformity- Milgram Experiment

studied obedience, assigned subjects as student and teacher and asked teachers to apply false shocks to learners in response to wrong answers. Found that people are likely to follow directions even when inflicting harm to another person

Group Conformity- Janis's Research

contends that a number of US foreign policy errors were the result of group conformity

- Groupthink- tendency of group members to contour, resulting in a narrow view of some issue

utilitarian organization

join in pursuit of good

normative organization

voluntary

coercive organization

forced to join (prison)

formal organization

highly structured secondary groups formed for the purpose of achieving specific goals

bureaucracy

organizational model rationally designed to perform tasks efficiently

-traits that promote efficiency: specialization, hierarchy of offices, rules and regulations, technical competence, impersonality, formal/written communication

Problems with bureaucracy

-has the ability to dehumanize the people it is supposed to serve

-creates bureaucratic alienation

-ritualism: a preoccupation with rules and regulations to the point of thwarting an organization's goals

-inertia: tendency of the organizations to perpetuate themselves

the "McDonaldization" of Society- Ritzer

McDonalds has enjoyed enormous success around the world, organization principles underlie it are coming to dominate our entire society

Still learning (9)

You've started learning these terms. Keep it up!