Sociology Chapter 1 Vocabulary

Vocabulary flashcards covering core concepts, disciplines, and foundational theorists introduced in Chapter 1 of Sociology.

Sociology

The scientific study of society, including how individuals both shape and are shaped by society.

Sociological Imagination

Also known as the sociological perspective, a concept coined by C. Wright Mills that enables us to grasp history and biography and the relations between the two within society.

History (Sociological Context)

In the context of the sociological imagination, the broad stream of events in which each society is located.

Biography (Sociological Context)

In the context of the sociological imagination, the specific experiences that give individuals their orientations in life.

Personal Troubles

Occurrences that take place within the character of the individual and within the immediate range of their relations with others, concerning self and private matters.

Public Issues

Matters that transcend the local environments of the individual and the range of their inner life, representing public matters such as war or unemployment.

C. Wright Mills

A modern conflict theorist and American social critic (1916–1962) who coined the term sociological imagination and analyzed the role of the power elite in U.S. society.

Social Location

The corners of life that people occupy because of where they are located in a society, including jobs, income, education, gender, age, and race/ethnicity.

Science

The application of systematic methods to obtain knowledge and the knowledge obtained by those methods.

Natural Sciences

Academic disciplines designed to explain and predict events in the natural environment.

Social Sciences

Academic disciplines designed to examine human relationships.

Anthropology

The social science discipline that studies culture.

Economics

The social science discipline that studies the production and distribution of goods and services.

Political Science

The social science discipline that studies how people govern themselves.

Psychology

The discipline focused on the study of processes within individuals.

Positivism

The application of the scientific approach to the social world, developed by Auguste Comte.

Auguste Comte

Known as the Father of Sociology, he coined the term sociology and advocated for positivism to reform society using the scientific method.

Herbert Spencer

Early sociologist (1820–1903) referred to as the second founder of sociology who coined the phrase 'survival of the fittest' and advocated social Darwinism.

Social Darwinism

Herbert Spencer's theory that societies naturally evolve from lower (barbarian) to higher (civilized) forms.

Émile Durkheim

Early theorist (1858–1917) who established sociology as a science focused on studying social facts, organic solidarity, social constraint, anomie, and suicide.

Social Facts

The aspects of social life that shape our actions as individuals.

Organic Solidarity

The social cohesion that results from the various institutions of a society functioning as an integrated whole.

Social Constraint

The conditioning influence on behavior exerted by the groups and societies of which individuals are members.

Division of Labor

The specialization of tasks, by means of which different occupations are combined within a production system.

Anomie

A concept brought into wide usage by Émile Durkheim referring to a situation in which social norms lose their hold over individual behavior, leading to aimlessness or despair.

Class Conflict

Karl Marx's concept that the engine of human history consists of the conflict between the Bourgeoisie (capitalists) and the Proletariat (mass of workers).

Bourgeoisie

In Karl Marx's analysis of class conflict, the capitalists who own the wealth and means of production.

Proletariat

In Karl Marx's analysis of class conflict, the mass of workers.

Capitalism

An economic system based on the private ownership of wealth, which is invested and reinvested to produce profit.

Karl Marx

Early theorist (1818–1883) who argued that class conflict drives human history and predicted that capitalism would be replaced by a classless society under communal ownership.

Max Weber

Early theorist (1864–1920) who emphasized the importance of culture, ideas, and religion in societal shifts and noted that bureaucracy provides efficiency while posing challenges for democracy.

Harriet Martineau

Early scholar and activist (1802–1876) who published 'Society in America', translated Auguste Comte's work into English, and advocated for women's rights and the abolition of slavery.

W.E.B. Du Bois

African American sociologist who earned the first Harvard Ph.D. for an African American, published annual scholarly works from 1896 to 1914, fought racism, and co-founded the NAACP.

Jane Addams

Sociologist and social reformer who co-founded Hull House, the ACLU, and the NAACP, using sociological tools to create social goods.