Sociology Comprehensive Review Flashcards

A set of 100 vocabulary flashcards covering key sociological concepts, theories, methods, structure, agency, interaction, power, and inequality across all 5 source documents.

positivism

Auguste Comte's intellectual tradition originating from natural sciences that prioritizes the use of observable, empirical evidence for revealing how society works.

causality

The cause-and-effect relationship established between two or more things, characteristic of scientific laws.

resource mobilization

A theory asserting that the success of a social movement depends on the ability of actors to gather and effectively deploy resources to accomplish goals.

conventional wisdom

Knowledge and beliefs derived from personal, anecdotal experiences rather than careful analysis of systematically gathered evidence.

methodology

The set of rules and procedures for systematically gathering and considering observations or evidence.

quantitative methods

Research methods that attempt to measure patterns or conditions by converting information into numeric form.

qualitative methods

Research methods that attempt to describe patterns by attending to how people interpret or make meaning of conditions.

surveys

A research method consisting of asking a large, representative number of people a predetermined set of questions to estimate population characteristics.

participant observation

A field-based method where a researcher goes into a setting to observe how people behave and interact in real time.

generalizability

The extent to which findings observed in one setting or among one studied group apply to different settings and groups.

secondary data analysis

The analysis of data that the researcher themselves did not directly collect.

scientific method flowchart

An iterative six-step research process moving from observation and question to hypothesis, experiment, data analysis, and communication.

Veil of Ignorance

A thought experiment designed to minimize personal biases by considering social conditions without knowing one's own position in society.

sociological eye

A critical mindset allowing individuals to look at the social world in an unbiased way and understand how culture shapes human behavior.

agency

The capacity for voluntary action, including acting independently of structural constraints.

sociology

The academic discipline centered on the systematic study of the interrelationship between individuals and society.

social inequality

The unequal distribution of valued resources—such as income, wealth, occupation, education, power, and prestige—and opportunities.

society

A group of people who interact persistently, share a common culture, live in a territory, and think of themselves as a distinct entity.

sociological imagination

C. Wright Mills' concept describing the ability to connect individual personal troubles to broader historical and structural forces.

cultural relativism

Harriet Martineau's principle that attitudes and behaviors of people must be assessed from the perspective of their own culture.

historical materialism

Karl Marx's perspective maintaining that changes in how humans produce their material existence determine how society is organized.

anti-positivism

Max Weber's view that the social world cannot be studied with natural science methods because human actions are subjective interpretations.

social construction of race

W.E.B. Du Bois's theory that race is not biologically determined, but actively created and given meaning by human beings.

double consciousness

W.E.B. Du Bois's concept describing Black Americans' experience of reconciling American citizenship with subordination in a white supremacist society.

social structure

Recurrent patterns of social behavior that form ordered interrelationships between different elements of society.

social facts

Émile Durkheim's term for aspects of social life external to individuals that shape their behavior and exercise external coercion over them.

functionalism

The perspective that society is a system of interdependent parts serving vital functions to maintain social stability.

social institutions

Enduring clusters of norms, values, and roles that govern people's actions and fulfill important social functions.

role

A set of social expectations (rights and obligations) that accompany a social position.

collective representations

Durkheim's term for shared meanings (such as language) existing outside individuals that cognitively organize the world.

structural determinism

The theoretical perspective that social structures completely determine people's thoughts and actions.

interpretivism

Theories that privilege meaningful social action over social structure.

social action

Max Weber's term for acts in which the actor considers the actions and reactions of other individuals.

verstehen

Max Weber's concept of interpretative understanding, achieving explanation by seeing the world through the actor's eyes.

methodological individualism

The premise that social phenomena must be explained as resulting from individual intentional actions.

methodological holism

Émile Durkheim's premise that social facts must be explained by other social facts rather than individual consciousness.

structuration theory

Anthony Giddens's theory explaining social action as a combination of agency and structure through the duality of structure.

duality of structure diagram

Anthony Giddens's model showing that structural properties enable and constrain human agency, while human agency produces and reproduces social structures.

reification

The error of attributing concrete, physical form to an abstract concept.

relational sociology

Nick Crossley's approach depicting the social world as a network of interactions and social relations between social actors.

dyad

Georg Simmel's term for a social group of two members, characterized by intense interaction but structural instability.

triad

A social group of three members, which forms a cohesive structure distinct from any individual and introduces third-party dynamics.

the "I"

George Herbert Mead's concept of the acting, spontaneous self that initiates action.

the "Me"

George Herbert Mead's concept of the social self, consisting of internalized attitudes and expectations of others.

generalized other

The broader norms and values of a society that people internalize to guide their behavior.

atomism

The view that inequality can be explained entirely by processes internal to individuals, denying the explanatory power of social relations.

categorical inequality

Charles Tilly's term for inequality between groups formed by drawing boundaries into categorical pairs.

Tilly's durable inequality model

A model showing how legislation, rules, and repression foster exploitation and opportunity hoarding, producing durable categorical inequality.

durable inequality

Inequality that lasts across social interactions, individual careers, lifetimes, and organizational histories.

exploitation

A situation where the welfare of a dominant group comes at the expense of a non-dominant group whose effort is harnessed without full value returned.

means of production

Karl Marx's term for resources such as land, factories, and machinery used to produce goods, ownership of which defines class position.

opportunity hoarding

The process where a social group uses its bounded network to monopolize access to valuable resources and opportunities.

social closure

Max Weber's concept where people maximize rewards by restricting access to resources and opportunities exclusively to their in-group.

emulation

The copying of established, categorically based organizational models or relations from one setting into another.

adaptation

Working around categorical inequality by adjusting daily life to it rather than challenging it.

apartheid

A system of racial segregation and exploitation of Black Africans by the white population in South Africa (1948–1991).

symbolic interactionism

Herbert Blumer's perspective holding that society is created and maintained through face-to-face, repeated, meaningful interactions.

looking-glass self

Charles Horton Cooley's concept describing the process by which people base their sense of self on how they believe others see them.

definition of the situation

The idea that people's actions are shaped more by how they subjectively define a situation than by its objective aspects.

Thomas theorem

The sociological dictum: "If men define situations as real, they are real in their consequences."

role strain

Tension occurring when a single social role demands more of a person than they can meet.

role conflict

Conflict between the roles and expectations of two or more social positions held by the same person.

dramaturgy

Erving Goffman's framework analyzing social interaction through the metaphor of a theater performance.

intersectionality

Kimberlé Crenshaw's framework analyzing how intersecting group memberships create specific advantages, disadvantages, discrimination, and privilege.

mechanical solidarity

Émile Durkheim's term for social cohesion in premodern societies based on similarity, shared traditions, and a strong collective conscience.

organic solidarity

Émile Durkheim's term for social cohesion in modern societies based on differentiation, specialization, and mutual interdependence.

collective conscience

The totality of beliefs and sentiments common to the average member of a society.

manifest functions

Robert Merton's term for the intended and recognized consequences of a social phenomenon.

latent functions

Robert Merton's term for the unrecognized and unintended consequences of a social phenomenon.

middle-range theory

Robert Merton's approach using explanations built on empirical data about specific social phenomena, integrating theory and research.

revolution

Social changes initiated by popular movements from below that involve the rapid and radical transformation of state power.

power

At its most general level, the capacity for action in the social world.

domination

A power imbalance in which the more powerful make the less powerful do what they otherwise would not do.

empowerment

The process by which those whose capacity to act has been limited acquire such capacity.

first dimension of power (1-D)

Steven Lukes' concept of power exercised in overt, observable conflict over decision-making (Dahl).

second dimension of power (2-D)

Bachrach and Baratz's concept of power to prevent issues from being raised; non-decision making and agenda control.

third dimension of power (3-D)

Steven Lukes' concept of ideological power to shape others' views, preferences, and desires.

coercion

The practice of threatening violence or material deprivation to ensure compliance.

the state

A set of formal political institutions that govern a territory and monopolize the legitimate use of violence.

authority

A form of power tied to an office, position, or person that is believed to be legitimate by those who consent to it.

rational-legal authority

Max Weber's type of authority resting on belief in the legality of formal rules and laws.

traditional authority

Max Weber's type of authority based on belief in the sanctity of immemorial traditions and customs.

charismatic authority

Max Weber's type of authority based on devotion to the exceptional sanctity, heroism, or character of an individual leader.

agenda setting

The ability to influence the importance of issues on the public agenda, deciding which issues are discussed and which are excluded.

counterpower

Manuel Castells' term for processes aimed at reversing or renegotiating rules favoring structurally dominant actors.

cultural hegemony

Antonio Gramsci's term for the process that manufactures consent to ruling-class dominance through ideological domination.

the subaltern

Antonio Gramsci's term for all classes, except the ruling class, that lack access to power.

repressive state apparatuses

Louis Althusser's term for institutions (like courts and police) that ensure conformity through coercion and violence.

ideological state apparatuses

Louis Althusser's term for institutions (like media and schools) that legitimate the state by manufacturing consent to a dominant ideology.

soft power

Joseph Nye's term for power based on attraction and persuasion, associated with ideological state apparatuses.

culture industry

Frankfurt School concept describing organizations producing popular culture that depoliticize workers and entrench capitalist rule.

dominant ideology

A set of ideas that presents the interests of the ruling capitalist class as universal.

false consciousness

Internalized beliefs of subordinate classes that prevent them from grasping their true class interests.

hidden scripts

James Scott's term for what subordinates say and do off-stage, contrary to their public compliance.

plutocracy

A society ruled by the wealthy.

relative power theory

Theory holding that money equals power; as the rich get richer, their power grows relative to the poor.

power resources theory

Walter Korpi's theory that political inequality generates economic inequality and the balance of class power determines redistribution.

relational power

Michel Foucault's concept that power is dynamic, multidirectional, and shared across all parties in a relation.

disciplinary power

Michel Foucault's modern form of power that normatively shapes subjectivities and bodies through surveillance, correction, and training.

Panopticon

Jeremy Bentham's prison design where inmates can always be seen but never know when they are watched, inducing permanent self-discipline.