sociology exam 1

achieved status

earned status

Agency

the ability to do what you want

Alienation

the concept where we all become robots in work life

Ascribed status

Assigned status

Authority

The ability to get other people to do what you want

Charismatic authority

people we follow because of who they are

Class

economic notions of power

Conflict theory

structure of society is set up to put groups in conflict with each other

Karl Marx developed

the conflict theory

Culture

meanings that we apply to the world (unwritten rules we follow)

Dramaturgy

“performace” what we are in certain settings

Emile Durkheim created

functionalism

false conciousness

Believe a system is fair and works

Folkways

seen as rude when violated

Functionalism

structure creates stability

Institutional Review Boards

makes sure that research being done is ethical

Language

part of culture and shapes our reality of our world

Latent consequences

unintended consequences

Laws

consequences embedded in structure

Macro theories

explain large scale issues/problems

Micro theories

focus on individual level issues/problems

Manifest consequences

intended consequences

material culture

can be tangible (becomes symbolic)

Max Weber

Created the 3 dimensions of power and authority

Mores

seen as immoral/unethical when viollated

Non-material culture

Beliefs and Ideas

Pluralist notion of power

everyone holds the same power

Power

the ability to get what you want 

Rational-Legal Authority

carries structural consequences ex) getting an F

Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis

the words we use shape the way people interact with you

Social Theory

frameworks to interpret the world. There are 2 types

2 types of social theory

macro and micro theories

Social Structure

collection of individuals in an organized manner

Sociology

scientific study of individuals in social structure

Symbolic Interactionism 

Interpreting the world through symbols

Traditional Authority

people we listen to because we always have. They have social consequences if we don’t listen

Beliefs

an acceptance that a statement is true or that something exists.

Causation

the action of causing something

Correlation

a mutual relationship or connection between two or more things

Dependent variables

a variable whose value depends on that of another.

Ethics

moral principles that govern a person's behavior or the conducting of an activity

Experimental research

a scientific method for determining cause-and-effect relationships by systematically manipulating one or more independent variables and observing their impact on dependent variables

George Herbert Mead

one of the founders of symbolic interactionism

Focus groups

a qualitative research method that gathers information and insights from a small, moderated group of people who share similar characteristics, to understand their perspectives

Identity

a person's organized constellation of traits, characteristics, beliefs, affiliations, and social roles that define who they are and how they interact with the social world

interviews

a qualitative research method where a researcher asks a series of oral questions to a respondent to gather in-depth information about their experiences

literature review

a critical and analytical examination of existing published research on a topic

Norms

the shared, unwritten rules and expectations

Observation Research

a method for collecting data by systematically watching and recording social phenomena

Operationalization

the process of transforming abstract, theoretical concepts into concrete, measurable variables for research

Party

political affiliation

Population

a specific group of individuals or entities that share common characteristics

sample

a representative subset of a larger target population

power elite

a small, interconnected group of leaders who hold significant influence over a nation's most critical institutions

Qualitative research

non-numerical data such as interviews and observations

Quantitative Research

the systematic collection and analysis of numerical data to study theories

Reflected Appraisals

evaluating others, evaluating oneself

Role

expected behaviors associated with a particular social position

Scientific Method

a systematic and objective process for studying social phenomena by developing and testing theories

Socialization

the lifelong process of learning and internalizing the norms of a particular society

Sociological Imagination

linking personal struggles to larger social structures

What did C. Wright Mills develop

the Sociological Imagination concept

Status

social honor

Survey Research

a systematic method for collecting data about the opinions by asking questions to samples of populations.