BSU unit 1 exam

Sociological Imagination 👓

Seeing the strange in the familiar & the general in the particular; connects personal troubles ↔ public issues. Example: Losing your job may be linked to an economic recession affecting your city.

Macro vs. Micro Sociology 🔭🔬

Macro = BIG structures (economy, institutions). Micro = SMALL daily interactions (face-to-face). Example: Macro = studying unemployment rates nationwide. Micro = watching how coworkers interact in the break room.

⚙️ Structural Functionalism (Durkheim, Merton)

Collective Conscience → common beliefs, morals, & attitudes of a society

Social Integration → strength of ties people have to their groups

Mechanical → Organic Societies 🏭 → shift from likeness → dependence with industrialization

Society = machine 🛠️ with interdependent parts

Functions 📚

Manifest ✅ = intended (ex: education teaches skills)

Latent 🎭 = unintended (ex: education forms social networks)

💥 Conflict Theory (Marx)

Society = arena of inequality & power struggles. Example: Wealthy corporations influence politics to maintain power, leaving workers with fewer rights.

o Bourgeoisie: The owners of the means of production

o Proletariat: The laborers

o Alienation and False Consciousness: Industrialization changed work conditions to include alienation, (disconnection from work) and false consciousness (false belief that one's work helps all social groups, not only owners)

🗣 Symbolic Interactionism

Society is built from everyday symbols & interactions; meanings created in social life. Example: A handshake means agreement because we collectively agree it does.

Survey 📊

Quick, broad, numerical responses. Example: Asking 1,000 students their favorite social media app.

Interview 🎤

Deep, in-depth, personal responses. Example: One-on-one interview with a teacher about classroom behavior trends.

Field/Observation 👀

Watching social behavior in natural settings. Example: Observing interactions in a public park.

Participant Observation 👣

Researcher joins the group being studied. Example: Joining a church group for 6 months to understand rituals.

Ethnography 🌍

Long-term immersion in a culture/community. Example: Living in a remote village for a year to study daily life.

Quantitative vs. Qualitative 🔢✏️

Quant = numbers/data. Qual = meaning/stories. Example: Counting how many students wear masks (quant) vs. asking why (qual).

📐 Positivist Sociology

Scientific/objective; asks "What?" Example: Measuring crime rates with official statistics.

Interpretive Sociology

Meaning-focused; asks "Why?" Example: Asking why people commit crimes and what it means to them.

✊ Critical Sociology

Looks for problems & power; goal = social change. Example: Studying wage gaps and advocating for labor reform.

Independent vs. Dependent Variable 🎯

IV = cause, DV = effect. Example: IV = hours studied, DV = test score.

Spurious Correlation 🚨

Fake link. Example: Ice cream sales 🍦 and shark attacks both rise in summer.

Stanford Prison Experiment 🚨

Showed power can corrupt quickly. Example: Students assigned as guards became abusive within days.

Culture 🌍

Shared beliefs, values, practices. Example: Belief that tipping in the U.S. is polite.

Society 👥

People in a community sharing culture. Example: A small town in Nebraska sharing local traditions.

Nation 📍

Political entity with borders. Example: The United States.

Material vs. Nonmaterial Culture 📦💡

Material = tangible objects. Nonmaterial = ideas/beliefs. Example: Smartphone 📱 vs. freedom of speech 🗣.

Cultural Universals 🌎

Patterns common to all societies. Example: Marriage, storytelling, funerals.

Ethnocentrism 👀

Judging another culture by your own standards. Example: Thinking sushi is "weird" because it's not common in your culture.

Cultural Relativism 🔄

Evaluating a culture by its own standards. Example: Understanding that eating insects is normal in some countries.

Cultural Imperialism 💣

Forcing your culture's values on another. Example: Western media dominating local traditions.

Culture Shock 😵

Disorientation when entering a new culture. Example: First time in Tokyo overwhelmed by subway etiquette and signage.

Symbols 🚦

Anything carrying shared meaning. Example: Red traffic light = stop.

Language 🗣 (Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis)

Language shapes thought; culture is transmitted across generations. Example: People without future-tense verbs may perceive time differently.

Values 🌟

Standards of desirability, goodness, beauty. Example: U.S. value of individualism → personal freedom is important.

Beliefs ✅

Statements held as true. Example: Believing honesty is morally right.

Ideal vs. Real Culture 🌈🕰

Ideal = what society says it values. Real = what actually happens. Example: Ideal parent spends 2 hours/day with kids, real = 30 minutes/day.

Norms 📏

Rules/expectations. Informal = casual. Formal = laws. Sanctions = 👍/👎. Example: Raising hand in class (informal) vs. speeding tickets (formal).

Subculture 🎸

Distinct cultural patterns but still fits in society. Example: Skateboarders with unique clothing/slang.

Counterculture 🏴

Strongly opposes dominant culture. Example: 1960s hippies rejecting mainstream consumer culture.

Cultural Change 💡🔎⚒️🕰🌐

Innovation, Discovery, Invention, Culture Lag, Diffusion. Example: TikTok spreading globally (diffusion); slow school adoption of online learning (lag).

Global Culture 🌍🙅

Yes = goods/ideas flow more. No = uneven access, resistance. Example: McDonald's in Japan with local menu items.

Types of Societies 🍃🐑🌾⚙️💻

Hunter-Gatherer → Pastoral/Horticultural → Agricultural → Industrial → Post-Industrial. Example: Hunter-Gatherer = small tribes; Industrial = factory workers; Post-Industrial = tech workers.

Industrial Revolution ⚙️🚂

Steam power, factories, urbanization, new class system, child/women labor, unions, snowball tech effect. Example: Steam engine speeds textile production; children and women work long hours in factories.

Functionalist Theory of Society

Society = stable system with interdependent parts. Example: Police maintain order → keeps society stable.

Conflict Theory of Society

Society = inequality & power struggles. Example: Rich business owners vs. low-wage workers.

Symbolic Interactionism in Society

Society = constructed through shared meanings in daily interactions. Example: Students interpreting teacher's frown 😠 as disapproval.

Status 🎲🏆⭐

Ascribed = born into. Achieved = earned. Master = primary identity. Example: Ascribed = royal family, Achieved = college graduate, Master = being a doctor.

Role Conflict 🎭

Clash between roles across different statuses. Example: Parent needing to attend work and child's school event at same time.

Role Strain 🎭

Too many demands within one role. Example: Student juggling multiple exam deadlines.

Thomas Theorem 📝

"If people define situations as real, they are real in consequences." Example: Rumor a bank is failing → people withdraw money → bank fails.

Self-Fulfilling Prophecy 🔮

Expectations lead to behaviors that make the expectation come true. Example: Teacher expects student to succeed → gives extra attention → student improves.

Breaching Experiments ⚡

Breaking norms to reveal social rules. Example: Standing very close to strangers on an elevator.

Looking-Glass Self 👓 (Cooley)

We see ourselves through others' perceptions. Example: You think you're funny because friends laugh at your jokes.

Front Stage 🎤 (Goffman)

Public performance of self. Example: Giving a polished presentation in class.

Back Stage 🎭 (Goffman)

Private self, no performance. Example: Practicing your speech at home.

Impression Management 💼 (Goffman)

Controlling how others perceive us. Example: Dressing professionally for a job interview.

Social Interaction

Process by which people act and react in relation to others

o Interaction is impacted by someone's:

Social categories

Social roles

Past experiences (or lack of)

Expectations or norms of society