Sociology Chapter1

The sociological imagination

The ability to connect the most basic, intimate aspects of an individual's life to seemingly impersonal and remote historical forces.

Social institution

A complex, large-scale system of interrelated roles that, accepted by a group of people, regulates behavior and social expectations.

Auguste Comte

Created the positivist Philosophy which is the belief that if one makes assertions about society, it should be based on a collection of facts, systematic observation and experimentation.

Military stage

A state of war between nation states.

Legalistic Stage

A state of war between depots (Absolute rulers).

Scientific/Industrial Stage

A stage in which scientists would play a large role in governing.

Hierarchy of sciences

Comte's conclusion that in society there would be a hierarchy of sciences, with math at the bottom and sociology at the top.

Verstehen

German for 'understanding'; conveys the need to understand research subjects from their point of view.

Anomie

A sense of aimlessness or despair that arises when we can no longer reasonably expect life to be predictable.

Positivist sociology

The approach to sociology that emphasizes the scientific method as an approach to studying the objectively observable behavior of individuals.

Functionalism

The theory that various social institutions and processes in society exist to serve some important (or necessary) function to keep society running.

Conflict theory

The idea that conflict between competing interests is the basic, animating force of social change and society in general.

Symbolic interactionism

A micro-level theory in which shared meanings, orientations, and assumptions form the basic motivations behind people's actions.

Microsociology

A branch of sociology that seeks to understand local interactional contexts; its methods of choice are usually ethnographic, generally including participant observation and in-depth interviews.

Macrosociology

A branch of sociology generally concerned with social dynamics at a higher level of analysis - that is, across the breadth of society.