Sociology 101: Exam 1 Study Guide Flashcards

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards generated from the Sociology 101 Exam 1 study guide transcript.

Sociology

The systematic study of human society, social interactions, and the social structures that shape human behavior.

Society

A group of people residing in a defined geographical area who interact with one another and share a common culture and institutions.

Micro-level Analysis

An approach to sociological analysis that focuses on small-scale interpersonal interactions, face-to-face dynamics, and individual agency.

Meso-level Analysis

An approach to sociological analysis that focuses on intermediate social structures, such as organizations, communities, institutions, and networks.

Macro-level Analysis

An approach to sociological analysis that focuses on large-scale social processes, overall social structures, institutions, and whole societies.

Structuration

The two-way process by which social structure is continually created, maintained, and modified by individual human agency.

Atomization

A social condition in modern society characterized by the isolation of individuals from community and broader social ties.

Alienation

A state of feeling estrangement, isolation, or disconnection from society, work, or one's own sense of humanity.

Anomie

A social state of normlessness or lack of clear moral guidelines and social standards, arising during periods of rapid social change.

Secularization

The historical process in modern society where religious beliefs, practices, and institutions lose their societal and political influence.

Class Conflict

The ongoing tension and opposition between different economic classes competing for social, political, and material resources.

The Sociological Imagination

The capacity to connect personal individual troubles with broader historical and structural social issues.

Personal Troubles

Problems experienced by an individual that occur within the character of the individual and within their immediate range of personal relations.

Social Issues

Matters that transcend local environments and individual inner lives, dealing with the broader organization and institutions of society as a whole.

Social Theory

Abstract propositions that describe, explain, and predict social life

Manifest Functions

The recognized and intended consequences of a social pattern, structure, or institution.

Latent Functions

The unrecognized and unintended consequences of a social pattern, structure, or institution.

Social Stratification

The arrangement of classification something into different groups/ the requirement faced by any society of placing and motivating to perform the duties of the positons

Praxis

The practical application of theoretical knowledge or ideas to bring about social change and practical action.

Ideology

A system of concepts, beliefs, and values that legitimizes and maintains existing social structures and power inequalities.

Materialism

The theoretical position that physical, economic, and material conditions form the foundation of historical development and social organization.

Critical Theories

Sociological perspectives focused on critiquing social structures, addressing systems of inequality, and promoting social justice and liberation.

Intersectionality

An analytical concept describing how multiple social categories (such as race, class, and gender) overlap to create distinct systems of discrimination or advantage.

Experiential Knowledge

Knowledge gained through direct, lived personal experience, emphasized in Black Feminist Thought as a valid source of understanding.

G.H. Mead's 'I'

The spontaneous, creative, active, and unsocialized aspect of the self in George Herbert Mead's theory of self-development.

G.H. Mead's 'Me'

The socialized component of the self that internalizes the attitudes, values, and expectations of the broader social group.

Symbolic Interactionism

A micro-level theoretical framework asserting that society is built upon human interactions driven by shared symbols, meanings, and interpretations.

Focused Interaction

Social interaction where individuals directly attend to one another's words, actions, or presence, such as in conversation.

Unfocused Interaction

Interaction that occurs among people who share a common setting but are not directly communicating or engaged with one another.

Nonverbal Communication

The exchange of information and meaning through body language, gestures, posture, facial expressions, and eye contact without spoken words.

Thomas Theorem

The sociological principle stating that if individuals define situations as real, those situations are real in their consequences.

Definition of the Situation

An agreed-upon social reality framed and understood by individuals in an interaction that dictates appropriate behavior.

Impression Management

The strategic effort by individuals to control, shape, or influence how others perceive and interpret them during social interaction.

Dramaturgy

Erving Goffman's sociological perspective analyzing social life as if it were a theatrical performance on a stage.

Front Region

In dramaturgical analysis, the area where individuals perform before an audience and adhere to social roles and expectations.

Back Region

In dramaturgical analysis, the private area where individuals can step out of character, relax their performance, and prepare for front stage interaction.

Social Roles

The sets of behaviors, rights, duties, and expectations attached to a particular social status or position in society.

Empiricism

The approach to knowledge acquisition asserting that valid knowledge comes from direct sensory observation, experience, and evidence.

Cross-sectional Design

A research design in which data is collected from a study population at a single specific point in time.

Longitudinal Design

A research design involving repeated observations or data collection from the same subjects over an extended duration.

Conceptualization

The step in research design where abstract ideas and concepts are defined and clarified.

Operationalization

The process of translating an abstract theoretical concept into concrete, measurable procedures or variables for research.

Reliability

The consistency and repeatability of a research measure across repeated applications or tests.

Validity

The accuracy of a research measure in measuring precisely what it intends to measure.

Ethnography

A qualitative research method involving direct, long-term observation and immersion within a group, community, or social setting.

Triangulation

The practice of combining multiple research methods, data sources, or theoretical perspectives to study a single research question.

Institutional Review Board

An administrative committee established to review and approve research proposals involving human subjects to ensure ethical standards are maintained.

Belmont Report

A foundational document establishing core ethical principles (respect for persons, beneficence, and justice) in human subjects research.

Assumptions of Functionalism

Society is comprised of social structures and institutions, structures develops to meet societies needs, structures are interdependent, and society’s member have broadly shared valued and characteristics

Limits of Functionalism

circular logic, what comes first structure or function, inattention of individuals, and cant explain dysfunctional structures

Characterics of Functionalism

Assumptions (society is comprised of social structures and develop to meet societies needs, structures are interdependent, members have broadly shared values, emphasizes social stability, etc etc

Assumptions of Conflict Theory

conflict underlies all social relationships, social change is desirable, social order results when one group imposes their system of beliefs over other groups, serve elite interests, optimistic perspective

Key features of Conflict Theory

social structures serve elite interests, emphasizes social change, optimistic perspective.

Praxis

A call to Action

Historical Materialism

Competition of economic resources in the basis of society

“I” phase of the self

subject of action, spontaneous, impulsive (?)

“Me” phase of the self

Object of action, thoughtful

Agency

Individuals free will and ability to choose

Focused

Focused interaction is purposeful and structured: participants actively coordinate their behavior, speech, and gestures to achieve a shared communicative goal. Examples include a conversation between two friends, a teacher–student dialogue, or colleagues collaborating on a task

Cross Sectional

In sociology, a cross‑sectional study collects data from a representative sample of a population at a single moment.

Longitudinal Data

Data recorded over time

Unfocused interaction

It contrasts with unfocused interaction, which involves non‑verbal signals (e.g., body language, posture, facial expressions) that arise automatically from co‑presence, without deliberate coordination