Key Concepts in Sociology and Social Theory

These flashcards cover essential concepts and theories discussed in the lecture on sociology and social theory.

Modernity

The period characterized by industrialization, urbanization, secularization, and rationalization, considered a precondition for the emergence of sociology.

Printing Press

Invented by Johannes Gutenberg, it transformed society by making written knowledge widely accessible and contributing to literacy, science, and democratic thought.

Indifferent Kinds

Categories of objects or concepts whose nature remains unaffected by human interactions, such as quarks.

Interactive Kinds

Categories such as autism, which are shaped by societal definitions and individual experiences, demonstrating fluidity in social categories.

Ethnomethodology

A sociological approach focused on how individuals understand and maintain social order through everyday interactions.

Breaching Experiments

Deliberate violations of social norms conducted to reveal the unspoken rules of social interaction.

Structural Argument about Race

William Julius Wilson's thesis that racial inequality is primarily influenced by structural changes, not solely individual prejudice.

Structural Theory of Gender Inequality

Janet Saltzman Chafetz's framework describing how gender inequality operates on macro, meso, micro, and intrapsychic levels.

Forms of Capital

Pierre Bourdieu's classification of capital into four types: economic, cultural, social, and symbolic, each impacting social standing.

Habitus

Internalized dispositions and tastes shaped during primary and secondary socialization that influence behavior and reinforce social class differences.

Power and Knowledge

Foucault's idea that truth is constructed through power relations, focusing on how institutions shape regimes of truth over time.

Kondratieff Waves

Long-term economic cycles identified by Nikolai Kondratieff, illustrating patterns of boom and bust within capitalism.

World-Systems Theory

Immanuel Wallerstein's framework categorizing nations into core, periphery, and semi-periphery, explaining global economic dynamics.

Network Society

A social structure centered around digital information networks, challenging traditional hierarchies and affecting democratic governance.