QU - SOCY 122 Fall Midterm

Prof. Golriz

Sociology

The systematic study of social behaviour and phenomena in human societies

Auguste Comte

Founder of sociology

Harriet Martineau

Foremother of sociology

Who coined “The Sociological Imagination”

C. Wright Mills

Sociological Imagination

Use sociological awareness to deduce the relationship between an individual and wider society (view society as an outsider rather than relying on bias)

Private troubles

Issues that affect individuals and are seen as personal problems, rather than larger social issues.

Public Issues

Problems that transcend individual experiences and are recognized as societal challenges affecting large groups or the entire society

Who coined Functionalism

Durkheim

Who coined Symbolic Interactionism?

Weber

Functionalism

Society is made up of several independent parts, which function exactly as they should to maintain social order

Who coined Conflict Theory?

Marx

Conflict Theory

Society is made up of unequal groups, the privileged exploit the underprivileged. The struggle for money, resources, and power creates conflict which leads to social change

Symbolic Interactionism

Society is made up of everyday social interactions, and this shapes individual identity and shared meanings of the social world

What are Mead’s 2 core components of self?

The I - walking, talking, smiling

The Me - plan actions, judge performances, how others expect us to behave

What are Mead’s 3 stages of self development?

1. Prepratory Stage (gestures, objects, words)

2. Play Stage (realize that relationships involve roles)

3. Game stage (understand people may obtain many roles)

What are Piaget’s four stages of child development?

1. Sensorimotor - using senses to discover

2. Preoperational - using words and symbols

3. Concrete operational - using logical thinking

4. Formal operational - thinking about complex things

Explain Cooley’s “looking glass self”

We can learn about self by interacting with others

3 Phases:

1. We imagine how we present ourselves

2. We imagine how others evaluate us

3. We define ourselves as a result of these impressions

Who has the idea of front vs back stage?

Erving Goffman

Front Stage

Our “best selves”, who we want others to see us as

Back Stage

our true selves, who we are alone or with people close to us

Mechanical solidarity

a society of sameness (minimal division of labour, everyone produces what they need for their own benefit)

Organic solidarity

society is a system of different organs, all which work together

Empiricism

the philosophy that all knowledge comes from experience and observation

Dogmas

a generally held belief that lies in bias

Causal Logic

relationship between a variable and a particular outcome, with one event leading to another

Sunshine Sociology

criticism of Functionalism, as it is thought to ignore inequality, and believe that everything serves a purpose

Macrosociology

Focuses on large-scale phenomena/entire civilizations

Microsociology

focuses on small groups, and everyday interactions

Which religion is capitalism related to?

The Protestant Ethic

Iron Cage

constraints imposed on individuals by the rigidity of bureaucratic structures, leading to a loss of personal freedoms and creativity.

What creates domination?

Power + Legitimacy

Traditional Authority

authority that is derived from established customs, traditions, and accepted practices

Legal Rational Authority

authority based on legal rules and regulations, where power is legitimized through established laws and procedures.

Charismatic Authority

Authority that is derived from the personal appeal and extraordinary qualities of an individual leader

Aldon Morris

Critiques the trinity for being racist in discourse, and not using intersectionality to analyze society

What are the 3 Feminist Waves?

Liberal - sufragettes earning the right to vote

Radical - 1960s, bra burning

Intersectional/Postmodern - women of colour starting invention

What is the difference between methods and methodologies?

method - techniques used to gather evidence

methodolgies - theories about how methods and research should be conducted

Joan Alway

Feminist theorist - argues to challenge categories that create the patriarchy

Standpoint Theory

Advocates that marginalized people have an epistemologically privileged standpoint

Who coined “the colour line”

Dubois

Explain the colour line

refers to the division between races, particularly the separation and inequality faced by African Americans in society.

The veil

Dubois - refers to black people being hidden from society

Double consciousness

black people having conflicting ideas of seeing themselves how they are, but also how white people see them through the veil

Who coined Black Feminist Thought

Collins

Black Feminist Thought

Black women scholars have a unique position of being both in and outside of academia - knowledge is “for them, by them”

The Outsider Within

A term used to describe individuals who exist on the margins of society, providing a unique perspective due to their outsider status.

The Souls of Black Folk

emphasizes the importance of black standpoints

Pan-Africanism

all Africans from around the world have a shared identity

Critical Race Theory

The idea that racism is always present and will continue to always be present

Intersectionality

Kimberle Crenshaw - emphasizes that systems of oppression are interlocking

What is panoptical time?

looking at history in a very linear way

Anachronistic space

prehistoric space and inherently out of place in the historical time of modernity

What are power, violence, and control aiming to produce?

Fear and entitlement

Agency

the freedom of individuals to choose and act (everyone has a will, and that matters more than social structure)

Social structure

the underlying framework of society which is made up of a group/society

Labelling theory

a group is viewed as problematic is they are labeled as such

Deviance

behaviour that violates the standards of conduct or expectations of a group/society

Gemeinschaft

a close knit community that is united by close personal bonds

Gesellschaft

a community that is large and impersonal

Manifest functions

consequences that are intended and often organized

Latent functions

consequences that are unintended and often hidden

Positivism

idea that society must be objectively analyzed

Interpretivism

analyze society through empathetic understanding of subjective experiences, morals, and values

Ideal type

to create a perfect version of any given phenomenon and compare it to reality

Bureaucracy

a formal organization thatuses rules and hierarchical ranking to achieve efficiency

Anti-essentialism

the idea that we should not think of everybody’s experience as a single experience (women of dif. races, sexual identities, and classes all have different experiences)