Essentials of Sociology Chapter 1 outline copy

Sociological perspective

stresses the social contexts in which people live. it examines how these contexts influence people's lives

how do groups influence people?

society

a group of people who share a culture and a territory

what affects people's behavior and ideas?

social location:

- jobs

- income

- education

- gender

- race-ethnicity

- age

auguste comte

founder of sociology. suggested we apply the scientific method to the social world called POSITIVISM

Wondered what hold society together? why do we have social order instead of anarchy or chaos? what causes society to change after being on a set course for some time?

wanted to discover social principles and even make social reforms with this new social science, making it impact society in hopes of bettering the people

sociology

Greek: logos- "study of"

Latin: socius "companion" or "being with others

herbert spencer

second founder of sociology. disagreed with Comte about social reform; Spencer believed sociologists should NOT guide social reform.

SOCIAL DARWINISM ACTIVIST. thought that the people who were unintelligent should let natural selection take its course so weaker humans will cease to exist one day, social reform would be in the way.

karl marx

agreed w/ Comte that social reform was necessary.got thrown out of Germany and settled in England

believed in two social classes- bourgeoisie (capitalists) and proletariat (workers). eventually the proletariats will call for (bloody) revolution and the war will result in a classless society where people will work according to their abilities and receive goods and services according to their needs.

class conflict

Marx's term for the struggle between capitalists and workers

bourgeoisie

Marx's term for capitalists; those who won the means of production

proletariat

Marx's term for the exploited class, the mass of worker who do not own the means of production

emile durkheim

French sociologist. SOCIAL INTEGRATION.

compared suicide rates of several countries to find the underlying factor; people are more likely to commit suicide if their ties to other in their communities are weak.

human behavior cannot be understood only in terms of the individual; we must always examine the social forces that affect people's lives.

believed that modern societies produced feelings of isolation, mostly coming from the division of labor.

social integration

the degree in which people are tired to their social groups

max weber

PROTESTANT ETHNIC.German sociologist. disagreed with Marx's claim that economics is the central force in social change; he believed it was RELIGION.

Theory: the roman catholic belief system encouraged followers to hold onto their traditional values and as long as they belonged to the religion they had a spot in heaven, whereas the protestants believed they should embrace change and wouldn't know if they can go to heaven until judgement day.

the calvinists then found a "sign" in financial success and began to save their money to invest, thus birthing capitalism.

the four C's

women were to devote themselves to church, cooking, children, and clothes as roles in society to a point where they had no other options

William Edward Burghardt (W.E.B.) Du Bois

first African-American to earn a doctorate at Harvard. Max weber's student at university of Berlin.

studied relations between African-Americans and whites. contributed the role of academic sociologist with that of a social reformer

one of the founders of the NAACP

jane addams

received the Nobel Peace Prize, worked on behalf of poor immigrants. Co-founded Hull-house with Ellen Starr, a center to help immigrants in Chicago.

also co-founded the American Civil Liberties Union and campaigned for the 8 hour work day and laws against child labor. wrote books on poverty, democracy, and peace.

leader in women's rights (women's suffrage) and peace movement of World War I.

C. Wright Mills

controversial figure in sociology because of his analysis on the role of power in the elite US society. he was a social reform activist and warned that the nation faced an imminent threat to freedom

basic (or pure) Sociology

sociological research for the purpose of making discoveries about life in human groups, not for making changes in those groups

applied sociology

the use of sociology to solve problems—from the micro level of classroom interaction and family relationships to the macro level of crime and pollution

public sociology

applying sociology for the public good; especially the use of the sociological perspective (how things are related to one another) to guide politicians and policy makers

theory

a general statement about how some parts of the world fit together and how they work; an explanation of how two or more facts are related to one another

symbolic interactionism

a theoretical perspective in which society is views as composed of symbols that people use to establish meaning, develop their views of the world, and communicate with one another

George Herbert Mead

one of the founders of symbolic interactionism, taught a university of Chicago, after his death his students wrote a book comprised of his lectures and words.

functional analysis

a theoretical framework in which society is viewed as composed of various parts, each with a function that, when fulfilled, contributes to society's equilibrium; also known as functionalism and structural functionalism

Robert K. Merton

one of the main theoretical perspectives in sociology. dismissed the comparison of society to a living organism but rather the image of society as a whole unit composed of parts.

used FUNCTIONS to refer to the beneficial consequences of people's actions. dysfunctions are harmful consequences of peoples actions that undermine a system's equilibrium

manifest function

an action intended to help some part of a system

latent function

unintended consequence that helps a system adjust

latent dysfunction

unintended, hurtful consequences

conflict theory

a theoretical framework in which society is viewed as composed of groups that are competing for scarce resources (stereotype)

what focuses on the macro level?

conflict theorists and functionalists

macro level-analysis

an examination of large scale patterns of society; such as how Wall Street and the political establishment are interrelated.

micro-level analysis

an examination of small-scale patterns of society; such as how the members of a group interact

social interaction

one person's actions influencing someone else; usually refers to what people do when they are in one another's presence, but also includes communications at a distance

nonverbal interaction

communication without words through gestures, use of space, silence, and so on

scientific method in sociology

1. selecting your topic

2. defining the problem

3. reviewing the literature

4. forming a hypothesis

5. choosing a research method

6. collecting the data

7. analyzing the results

8. sharing the results

hypothesis

a statement of how variables are expected ti be related to one another, often according to predictions from a theory

variable

a factor thought to be significant for human behavior, which can vary (or change) from one case to another

operational definition

the way in which a researcher measures a variable

research method (or research design)

one of seven procedures that sociologists use to collect data, surveys, participant observation, case studies, secondary analysis, analysis of documents, experiments, and unobtrusive measures

reliability

the extent to which research produces consistent or dependable results

validity

the extent to which an operational definition measures what it is intended to measure

survey

the collection of data be having people answer a series of questions

population

the largest group studied

sample

the individual intended to represent the population to be studied

random sample

a sample in which everyone in the target population has the same chance of being included in the study

stratified random sample

a sample from selected subgroups of the target population in which everyone in those subgroups has an equal chance of being included in the research

respondents

people who respond to a survey either in interviews or by self-administered questions

closed ended question

question that is followed by a list of possible answers to be selected by the respondent

open ended question

questions that respondents answer in their own words

rapport

a feeling of trust between researchers and the people they are studying

participant observation (or fieldwork)

research in which the researcher participates in . research setting while observing what is happening in that setting

case study

an intensive analysis of a single event, situation, or individual

secondary analysis

the analysis of data that have been collected by other researchers

documents

in its narrow sense, written sources that provide data; in its extended sense, archival material of any sort, including photographs, movies, CDs, DVDs, and so on

experiment

the use of control and experimental groups and dependent and independent variables to test causation

experimental group

the group of subjects in an experiment who are exposed t the independent variable

control group

the subjects in an experiment who are not exposed to the independent variable

independent variable

a factor that causes change in another variable, called the dependent variable

dependent variable

a factor in an experiment that is changed by an independent variable

unobtrusive measures

ways of observing people so they do not know they are being studied

globalization of capitaism

capitalism (investing to make profits within a rational system) becoming the globe's dominant economic system

first period of sociology (1920s)

primary purpose of sociological research was to improve society

second period of sociology (1920s-WWII)

the concern switched to developing abstract knowledge

third phase of psychology (end of WWII-ongoing)

sociologist seeks ways to apply their findings