The Sociological Perspective

Social Institutions

The organized means each society develops to meet its basic needs

Positivism

The application of the scientific approach to the social world

Manifest Functions

Intended and recognized

Macro sociology

Examination of large-scale patterns of society

Sociology

The scientific study of human behavior in groups

Sociological perspective

The special point of view of sociology that sees general patterns of society in the lives of particular people

Social Integration

The degree to which people feel a part of social groups

Verstehen

Understanding social behavior putting yourself in the place of others

Empirical Statement

describe what is in the social world without evaluating it; based on facts, not opinion

Applied sociology

using sociology to solve problems

Symbolic Interactionism

A micro level theory in which shared meanings, orientations, and assumptions form the basic motivations behind people’s actions

Latent Functions

unintended consequences

Conflict Theory

Society is composed of groups competing for scarce resources

Micro Sociology

Examination of small-scale patterns of society

Society

A group of people who share a culture and territory

Ethnomethodology

The study of how people use background assumptions to make sense out of life

Social Reality

Theory for explaining how cultures construct and maintain their realities using signs and symbols; argues that people learn to Behave in their social world through interaction with it.

Normative Statements

Expresses a values judgement about whether a situation is desirable or undesirable; expresses a judgement about what ought to be

Social Facts

Durkheim’s term for a group’s patterns of behavior

Functional Analysis

A theoretical framework in which society is viewed as composed of various parts, each with a function that, when fulfilled, contributes to society’s equilibrium

Phenomenology

Social Reality is constructed in the minds of social actors

Basic Sociology

Research whose purpose is to make discoveries about life in human groups, not to make changes in those groups