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?
Prepratory Stage (gestures, objects, words)
Play Stage (realize that relationships involve roles)
Game stage (understand people may obtain many roles)
What are Piaget’s four stages of child development?
Sensorimotor - using senses to discover
Preoperational - using words and symbols
Concrete operational - using logical thinking
Formal operational - thinking about complex things
Explain Cooley’s “looking glass self”
We can learn about self by interacting with others
3 Phases:
We imagine how we present ourselves
We imagine how others evaluate us
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)