Social Theory- Exam 1 terms + defs. ch 3

association

Simmel

• the relationships among people or interaction

forms

simmel

• patterns imposed on the bewildering array of events, actions, and interactions in the social world, both by people in their everyday lives and by social theorists

types

simmel

• patterns imposed on a wide range of actors by both laypeople and social scientists in order to combine the actors into a limited number of categories

secrecy

simmel

• the condition in which one person has the intention of hiding something while the other is seeking ot reveal what is being hidden

lie

simmel

• a form of interaction in which a person intentionally hides the truth from others

reify

simmel

• to endow social structures, which are created by people, with a separate and real existance

dyad

simmel

• a two person group

triad

simmel

• a three person group

stranger

simmel

• one of simmels social types defined by distance

  • one who is neither too close to the group nor too far from it

objective culture

simmel

• the objects that people produce- art, science, philosophy, and so on- that become part of culture

individual culture

simmel

• the capacity of the individual to produce, absorb, and control the elements of objective culture

tragedy of culture

simmel

• stems from the fact that over time objective culture grows exponentially, while individual culture and the ability to produce it grow only marginally

• individual capacities cannot keep pace with out cultural products

• doomed to have a decreasing understanding of the world we have created and to be increasingly controlled by that world

act

mead

• the basic concept in mead’s theory, involving an impulse, perception of stimuli, taking action involving the object perceived, and using the object to satisfy the initial impulse

impulse

mead

• first stage of the act

• the actor reacts to some external stimuli and feels the need to do something about it

perception

mead

• second stage of the act

• the actor consciously searches for and reacts to stimuli that relate to the impulse and ways of dealing with it

manipulation

mead

• the third stage of the act

• the actor _______ the object once it has been perceived

consummation

mead

• the final stage in the act

• the actor takes action that satisfies the original impulse

gestures

mead

• moments by one party that serve as a stimuli to another party

conversation of gestures

mead

• an interaction in which gestures by one party elicit mindless responding gestures from the other party

significant gestures

mead

• gestures that require though before responses are made

• only humans are capable of these gestures

significant symbols

mead

• symbols that arouse in the person expressing them the same kind of response they are designed to elicit from those to whom they are addressed

mind

mead

• the conversations people have with themselves using language

self

mead

• the ability to take oneself as an object

reflexivity

mead

• the ability to put ourselves in others’ places— think as they think, act as they act

play stage

mead

• the first stage in the genesis of the self, in which the child plays at being someone else

definition of the situation

mead

• the idea that is a person defines a situation as real, then that definition is real in its consequences

game stage

mead

• the second stage in the genesis of the self in which instead of taking the role of a discrete other, the child takes the role of everyone involved in the game

• each of these others plays a specific role in the overall game

generalized other

mead

• the attitude of the entire community or of any collectivity in which the actor is involved

I

mead

• the immediate response of the self to others

• the incalculable, unpredictable, and creative aspect of the self

me

mead

• the individuals adoption and perception of the generalized other

• the conformist aspect of the self

color line

du bois

• the division of black society and white society into two different unequal worlds

racialism

du bois

• an approach to race widespread in the 19th century that held that there are distinct races with unique defining features

• unlike racism, ______ does not necessarily assume that some races are superior to others

romanticism

du bois

• an intellectual, artistic, and literary movement that affected European societies in the 19th century

• rejecting the enlightenment values of objectivity and rationality, romantics believed that humans are deep feeling, emotional beings who express the self in culture and language

veil

du bios

• a metaphor for the separation between blacks and whites

• the imagery is not one of a wall, but rather of thin, porous material through which each race can see the other

double-consciousness

du bois

• the feeling that a black person has of being split in two of having two forms of self-consciousness