soc 100 module 1

Sociology

empirical discipline; examines objective facts

Positivism

theory that only empirically verifiable facts count as knowledge; don’t try to moralize or claim that one version of society is better

Statistical Analysis

allows objective study of society

Social Theory and Types

Explanation of empirical evidence; Critical, Symbolic Interactionism, and Structural Functionalism

Critical Theory

Social theory that assumes struggle for power and control like hierarchies and status and criticizes power imbalances.

August Comte

was for the study of positivistic in society

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

critical theorist; suggested social inequality as unfair and should be fixed

Karl Marx

critical theorist; goal was to explain inequality and exploitation within a social system; believes it is bad because it causes social instability

Conflict theory

type of critical theory focused on the struggles for position between groups; sees disunity as the norm and think any unity is just imposed by dominant groups)

Elite Theory

type of critical theory where it is focused on levels of power and a group of minority ‘elites’ who have control in economy, politics, and military

Achieved status

status that you earn through actions; anyone can gain or lose this status

Ascribed status

status that you were born into because of unchangeable characteristics you may have; difficult and rare to alter

Max Weber

argues that sociology looks at rationality of people’s actions (reasons behind their actions)

Methodological Individualism

method of explaining broad features of society by looking at individuals’ actions (i.e. Protestant Ethic and The Spirit of Capitalism)

Social Action

conscious action based on norms and in relation to how others act or would act (i.e. someone waving at you and you waving back)

George Herbert Mead

explains our motivations through what we learn early childhood

Symbolic Interactionism

focused on micro sociological interactions between individuals that is created through shared symbolic meanings (i.e. thumbs up having a different symbolic meaning to someone)

Herbert Blumer

named symbolic interactionism

Dramaturgical Method

method of understanding individuals as actors playing roles in interactions (i.e. how someone acts towards their prof compared to friends)

Erving Goffman

explores the pre-existing social roles in individuals

Social Constructionism

interprets society as the product of many normalized interactions of individuals (i.e. lining up in a line — people constructed this by doing numerously)

Peter Berger and Thomas Luckmann

explores social constructionism where repeated interactions create a belief or role

Situation

regular interaction between people with unspoken rules

Athony Giddens

develops idea of structuration

Structuration

creation of social structures and its persistence through individual actions; can change (i.e. impossible to think money is worthless)

Emile Durkheim’s Collective Consciousness

shared moral beliefs that bind people together and gives social stability (i.e. crimes like murder or stealing are bad)

Solidarity

Durkheim’s term for the social force that keeps people united

Two Types of Solidarity

Mechanical and Organic

Mechanical Solidarity

United by similarities

Organic Solidarity

United by differences because we rely on others for what we may lack

Social Facts

values and customs that exist independently of individuals and seem “real” to them (i.e. religious belief)

Anomie

state of normlessness; society fails to provide guidance and people feel lost (i.e. during an economic crash, the norm of working hard = stable life may no longer exist because social expectations are broken)

Function

Durkheim’s term for the role any social relations has for maintaining a stable society (i.e. religion which can give people peace and unite them)

Two types of Function

Manifest and Latent

Manifest Function

an “obvious” purpose — what a social institution is explicitly for

Latent Function

“hidden” purpose — an often useful side effect of the institution

Robert Merton

coined types of functions (i.e. education obviously prepares for employment but hidden function is to transmit social values)

Structural Functionalism

sees society as an entire system that works together to keep it functioning through structural institutions; claims that society has gone from simple to more complex as there are now interdependent parts

Basic Kinds of Function a Society Must Meet

(AGIL)e; Adaptation, Goal Attainment, Integration, Latency

Adaptation

Can this society adapt to its material environment and maintain this for everyone?

Goal Attainment

Is this society able to identify goals for the future and figure out how to achieve them?

Integration

Does this society successfully integrate all its members into a coherent, relatively-similar whole?

Latency

Can this society sustain certain patterns or values over time?

Feminist Theory

type of critical theory; focused on society-wide advantages of males over females (i.e. wage gaps)

Critical Race Theory

type of critical theory; focused on structural advantages of an ethnic group (i.e. poverty rates)