Soc 1

Sociology

Scientific/systemic study of people in the context of culture/society

Sociological Perspective

Understanding people within context of groups/social interaction

Micro

Personal troubles, Man, biography, self, tree

Macro

Public issues, society, history, world, forest

Sociological Imagination

Ability to see connection between individual/society

Jobless man=35% unemployment rate

How/why sociology became a field of study

August Comte coined sociology in 1838 to describe a new way of looking at the world

Early Sociologists

Harriet Martinueau, W.E.B Du Bois, Anna Julia Coooer, Franklin Frasier, Margaret Schnitger, Charles Johnson, Ida B. Wells-Barnet, Oliver Cox, Beatrice Porter Webb, Jane Addams

Founder of Sociology

August Comte

Positivism

Approach that argues that society can be studied using experiments and statistics

Anti-positivism

Stance that rejects positivism to study human behavior (interpretivism). Argues

Durkheim’s Study of Suicide

Suicide is social phenomenon

Egoistic Suicide

Occurs when ppl have weak social bonds, sense of meaninglessness

Altruistic Suicide

Occurs when consumed by group beliefs/values leading them to value that over their life

Anomic Suicide

Occurs when stress and frustration come to a head (economy)

Fatalistic Suicide

Occurs when tight regulation and extreme order comes to a head (North Korea)

Sociological theory

Statement of how and why specifically facts are related, used to understand, explain, and predict social behavior

Sociological Integration

Process where individuals are incorporated into the social, economic, and political structures

Social Solidarity

Unity between individuals that ensures social order and stability

Structural-Functional Approach

sees society as complex system whose parts work together to promote solidarity and stability, E.G Gov’t, a part of the 3P

Manifest Functions; Latent Functions

Recognized and intended consequences of any social pattern; unrecognized and unintended consequences of any social pattern

Social Conflict

Sees society as an arena of inequality that generates conflict and change, a part of the 3P’s e.g. wealth gap, racial inequality

Symbolic-Interaction (Micro)

Sees society as product of the everyday interactions of individuals, part of the 3P’s e.g. symbolic gestures, handshakes, language

Macro-level orientation

Broad focus on social structures that shape society as a whole, abstract

Micro-level orientation

How individuals construct and experience society, can be specific

Dramaturgical Analysis

sociological perspective that views daily interactions as performances

Science

Logical system that bases knowledge on observation, use of scientific methods

Scientific method

Question, research, formulate hypothesis, design/conduct a study, draw conclusions, results

Empirical Evidence

Info gained from observation, experience and experiment

Folk wisdom

Oral stories passed on through tradition, difficult to trace origins, unreliable

Correlation

2+ variables changing together

Causation

Change in one variable causes change in another

Spurious Correlation

When 2 variables change together but neither cause the other

How to achieve cause and effect correlations

Variables must correlate, IV happens DV, no evidence of 3rd variable

Variables

Factors that can be manipulated/measured

Independent Variables

Variable that is being manipulated, cause of change

Dependent variable

Variable that is being measured, changed by IV

Hyoothesis

Educated guess about how variables are linked, if-then statements

Operationalization

The scale of measurement being used to measure variable

Experiment

Research method for investigating cause/effect w/ controlled conditions

Survey

Method where subjects respond to questions/statements

Field Research

Investigator observe people while present in routine

Hawthorne Effect

Observation changes behavior

Quantitative research

Using #’s and stats to gather and test theories

Qualitative Research

Analyzes numerical data for concepts, answers how and why

Population

The larger group where sample is taken from (college kids)

Sample

Smaller group taken from population (50 College students)

Convenience Sampling

Sampling method where researchers choose participants

Random Sampling

Each member of population has equal chance to be selected

Reliability

Consistency of results

Validity

Accuracy of how a study measures what it’s supposed too

Institutional Review Board

Approves research studies

Principles of Ethics in research

Role of objectivity, voluntary, reduce deception, protection of privacy/participants