Sociology Chapter 1

Sociology

The systematic study of human society and social interaction.

Sociological imagination

The ability to see the link between personal troubles and public issues, placing individual biography into social and historical context.

Social fact

Patterned ways of acting, thinking, and feeling that exist outside individuals and exert constraint.

Anomie

A breakdown of social norms and values during rapid social change.

Positivism

The view that social life can be studied by scientific methods.

Consumerism

The social and economic order that encourages the acquisition of goods and services in ever-increasing amounts.

Credit-card debt

Money owed on credit cards, often leading to financial stress and instability.

Functionalism

A theoretical perspective that sees society as a complex system whose parts work together to promote stability.

Conflict theory

A theoretical framework that emphasizes the role of power and inequality in social structures and relationships.

Symbolic interactionism

A sociological perspective that focuses on the meanings that individuals assign to their experiences and interactions.

Postmodernism

A theoretical approach that questions existing narratives and emphasizes the subjective nature of reality, often focusing on individual experience.

Manifest functions

Intended and recognized outcomes of an activity or social structure.

Latent functions

Unintended and unrecognized consequences of an activity or social structure.

Social Darwinism

The belief that societies evolve through a process of natural selection, favoring those that are most fit to survive.

Commodification

The process of turning goods, services, and even human experiences into commodities to be bought and sold.

Rationalization

The process by which traditional modes of thinking are replaced by a focus on efficiency and logic.

Globalization

The increasing interconnectedness of economies, societies, and cultures through international trade, communication, and technology.

Enlightenment

An intellectual movement in the 17th and 18th centuries that emphasized reason and scientific evidence as the primary sources of authority.

Industrialization

The development of industrial production and the decline of agrarian economies.

Urbanization

The process by which cities grow or attract more people, often leading to social changes.

Policymaking

The process by which governments create laws or regulations to address societal issues.

Ethnography

A qualitative research method used to study cultures through direct observation and participation.