Intro to Sociology Midterm Review

What is sociology

What is sociology

Study of social LCC on human behavior

What does LCC acronym mean

Sociology studies social Life, Change, and Causes

What does it mean to study institutions?

Study networks of structures in society that works to socialize groups of people, where we are socialized

Examples of institutions

Family, peer, school, media, religion, government, work

What is socialization

How you learn societal expectations and behaviors

Sociology vs other subjects

Anthro: past and present culture vs OUR CULTURE

Economics: choices vs choices made as result of society

Polisci: govt implementation vs how policies shape experience

Psych: individual behavior and mental processes, how social env affects individual vs how society impacts people

What are the BIG 3 Perspectives?

1. Structural functionalism

2. Conflict Theory

3. Symbolic Interactionism

What is structural functionalism?

Problems are connected and need to all be addressed to see equilibrium (part t

What is conflict theory?

Those in power fuel inequalities by ensuring they stay in power

What is symbolic interactionism?

We interpret things b

Metaphors for BIG 3

Conflict Theory: kid win toy and change rule to keep winning toy

Structural Functionalism: like a body, organs need to work together

Symbolic Interactionism: identity

How does $2 a book relate to BIG 3

1. Structural Functionalism: big problem is poverty but factors include TANF (change welfare), housing (unaffordable, not enough, bad landlords), unemployment (bad work conditions, lose hours and thus income, racist employers), bad home life (subject to abuse, mental illness) = chronic stress

2. Conflict Theory: rich are dominant and control the playing field for poor by enacting laws such as TANF, white are dominant and control hiring by more likely to choose white sounding workers

3. Symbolic Interactionism: story of Jennifer: her child was assaulted, had to keep moving around and depending on others because can’t afford own housing => powerlessness, story of Rae who was rejected from a bunch of jobs just because she was black

4 Types of Research

1. Survey (quantitative)

2. Ethnography (qualitative)

3. Interview (qualitative)

4. Content Analysis (qualitative)

Different types of surveys

Mail. Online, in person, phone

Problem with survey research

Self report = bias, some people might not be available to respond at certain time (demographic difference)

What is ethnography

Study people in their natural state

What is the problem of ethnography

Behavior might change when they are being observed (Hawthorne effect)

What is the problem with interview?

Social desirability bias: people tend to choose socially acceptable answer

What is content analysis

Existing document to derive meaning

Breach vs Audit Experiment

Breach: investigates when people violate social norms in natural settings

Audit: experiment used to test for discriminatory behavior

What is the sociological imagination?

Connects personal troubles with public issues

Interaction between biography and history (personal and social change)

Make choices limited by social, historical, cultural, political, and economic factors

4 relationships between society and self in sociological imagination

1. Wellbeing: cherish values without threat

2. Crisis: Cherished values are threatened

3. Indifference: no values no threat

4. Unease: no values but threat

When does indifference usually happen?

After a time of great turmoil (ex after WWII) => normlessness

Cultural socialization in black middle class family

Middle class black family train kids to enjoy fine art, which is a form of cultural capital that can be exchanged for high class

Socialization of straightedge subculture

Lasting impact of living substance free= made people more open minded

What sociological concept does “Well Chris in Undies” and “CV/N and WOT/WT” stand for

1. Wellbeing (CVWOT)

2. Crisis (CVWT)

3. Indifference (NVWOT)

4. Unease (NVWT)

In sociological imagination relationships

What do sociologists study vs don’t study

Study = ideas that can be studied objectively, including common sense assumptions

don’t study= philosophy and morals

What are sociological theories

Propositions that seek to explain social world and predict future events

Other names for sociological theory

Approaches, schools of thought, paradigms, perspectives

What are the two recurrent themes in sociological theories?

Consensus and conflict

Consensus vs conflict

Consensus: what people bond over

Conflict: inequality and power

How and when did sociology emerge?

19th century after French and Industrial Revolution

• founded by Auguste Comte => study science of man using scientific approaches, work for betterment of society

How do functionalists describe society

Using functional or dysfunctional

Functional vs dysfunctional

Functional: contribute to group stability

Dysfunctional: disrupt social stability

Two types of functions

Manifest: intended, commonly recognized

Latent: unintended and often hidden m

How would you apply manifest and latent functions in institutions such as school?

Manifest: teach kids

Latent: socialize kids

Anomie

Concept of normlessness

How do you counteract anomie

Build social solidarity society agrees upon and works together to achieve

Mechanical solidarity

When people in society maintain similar values and engage in similar work (soup)

Organic solidarity

People in society are interdependent but have varying values and beliefs (salad bowl)

Spurious correlation

Relationship that seems to exist but is actually caused by external variable

Population vs sample

Population: people are the focus of rhe study

Sample: manageable number of subjects who represent a larger population

What does ASA do

American sociological association

Develops code of ethics to avoid bias and adhere to professional standards

Institutional review board

Meet regularly to review research proposals and make recommendations for how to protect human subjects at uni