Sociology Exam 1

Sociological Imagination

C. Wright Mills

– our ability to break ourselves free from our particular circumstances and see our

social world in a new light.

ex. Why are people poor? ( look at both micro [ personal ] + Macro [ structural/institutional ] factors )

Macrosociology

large-scale approach to sociology tat analyzes BROAD societal trends, structures and entire systems

Microsociology

Small-scale , everyday , face-to-face interactions between individuals and small groups!

Independent variable

The thing the researcher changes or controls to see what effects it has on the dependent —- THE CAUSE

Dependent variable

Researcher measures and records in an experiments to see how it responded to changes made by INdepedent variable —- THE EFFECT

Sample

A subset of cases from the population chosen to represent it

Population

The total group of people which meet certain criteria

Inference

Process of generalizing results from a sample to population

sociological perspective

1 .Social Location - Ones position in the social hierarchy
2. Cultural relativism - try to understand a culture by its own unique standards
3. Globalization - Interconnected process by which the world is growing crossing borders blah blah blah you know it

sociology

the study of people’s behavior and society

Anthropology

the study of preindustrial cultures

Psychology

the study of mind on behavior

Economics

the study of production,distribution, and consumption of goods and services

Political science

the study of power,government, and political behavior

Auguste Comte

Father of sociology←— ( coined term )
Suggested use of positivism ←( applying the scientific approach to the social world )

Herbert Spencer

Viewed societies as evolutionary
coined term survival of the fittest ( social Darwinism )

Karl Marx

Worked on the basis for conflict perspective
believed that class conflict was key to human history

Emile Durkheim

did work that formed basis of functionist perspective
SUICIDE STUDY ( TYPES OF SUICIDE ( ANOMIE EGOIST ALTRUISTIC )

Max Weber

Contributed to many areas in sociology ( verstehen )

protestant ethic and capitalism

Suicide types

Anomie - Low social regulation ( great depression )
egoist - low social integration ( lonely )

Atruistic -excessive socail integration ( self sacrifice )

Social facts

patterns of behavior that characterize a group, reflecting

underlying conditions of society.

The Protestant Ethnic and the Spirit of Capitalism

eassy that links rise of modern capitalims to values of prtestant reform

verstehen

zum verstehen behavior by looking at the subjective meanings that people attach to their own behavior

conflict theory

Posits that society is comprised of groups and individuals competing for scarce resources , ex wealth power prestige and privilege

Social location ( for fun again )

The place you have in the hierarchy of society

factors combined to lead to the development of sociology

Social upheaval in Europe caused by industrial revolution
imperialism - conquering nations led to exposed to different cultures
the success of natural sciences, creating desire for answers about social world ( Auguste Comte )

Functionalism

1. Society is a system composed of interrelated parts

2. each element contruubutes to society’s eqilibrium

3. functions can be either manifest ( intended ) or latent ( unintended )

Manifest - Functionalism

function is Intended ( recognized goals )

Latent - Functionalism

Function is unintended ( unrecognized consequences )

dysfunction - Functionalism

any social pattern, institution, process that disrupts the equilibirum of society

Symbolic interactionist theory

1. society is composed of culturally defined symbols ( words )

2. people use symbols to

   1. establish meaning and relationships

   2. coordinate actions

   3. develop a view of the world and self

High divorce rate - functionalism

Declining functions of families

High divorce rate - conflict theory

Shift in power between men and women

High divorce rates - Symbolic interactionsinm

new definitions for love , marriage and children

culture shock

Exposure to a culture that is so far removed from ones own ( challenges basic assumptions )

hypothesis

come on you know what this is
A relationship between two or more variables ( can be positive negative or no relation )

Norms

Expected ways to behave that develop out of values

Sanctions

Positive or negative reactions to how people follow norms
ex. A man talking on the phone on a Japanese train and THE people dont like it

Taboos

Are norms so strongly ingrained that even the thought of breaking them is greeted with disgust— An absolute no no
ex. Incest or cannibalism

Values

Standards that define what is desirable or undesirable , good or bad, beautiful or ugly

Folkway

norms that are not strictly enforced
ex. jaywalking

Mores

Norms that are believed to be essential to core values ( STRONGLY ENFORCED )
ex. Cheating on spouse

subculture

groups whose values and behaviors are so distinct that they distinguish their members from general culture

Counter-Culture

groups whose values set their members in opposition to the dominant culture

Sub vs counter ( cultures )

Sub distinguishes them from the general culture
counter sets them in opposition to general culture

Ideal culture

Involve the values , norms and goals people hold out for themselves

Real culture

Involved the norms and values that people actually follow

Ideal vs Real ( culture )

Ideal - How people want society to function ( norms and values )
real - How people actually behave in society ( everyday norms and values )

cultural universals

The word is self explanatory, things that every culture generally has

ex.Murdock courtship , cooking , family , funerals, games and etc…

Cultural lag!

Changes in a groups non-material culture usually trail ( lag ) behind changes in materical culture
ex. people still wanting to use face-to-face banking compared to online banking

Sapir-whorf hypothesis

Basically Our reality and our consquent behaviors are influenced by how our language is formulated

Our perceptions of reality and consquent behaviors are significantly influenced by the grammatical forms , labels and categories provided by our language

Types of research

Exploratory , descriptive, hypothesis-testing , evaluational

Exploratory

open-ended methodological approach used to investigate unstudied new or poorly understood social phenomena ( exploring !!!)

Descriptive research

non-experimental research, that looks at documents , profiles and measures characteristics behaviors or trends within a population or social phenomenon WITHOUT MANIPULATING VARIABLES

hypothesis testing - research ( common among )

Basically a testing a hypothesis formed from patterns in social data and seeing it actually reflects in society MOST popular for sociologists

def Formal quantitative research method used to evaluated an observed pattern or relationship in social data reflets a true population trend or merely the result of random chance

evaluation study

basically research designed to test if social programs policy or intervention is actually working

def systematic research design used to assess the effectiveness impact and value of a social program, policy or intervention

Data collection methods

Experiment, survey , observation , content analysis

Survey ( data collection ) ( common among ? )

Most popular, gives ability to sample large pops in short time, fairly cheap and efficient ; common among sociologists

experiments- study ( common among ? )

common among psychologists, Random assignment, control / experimental groups, treatement , well controlled setting

Content analysis

What JU DID! ( non-reactive study )

analyze content of printed material, books, love songs, magazines , newspapers ( common among historians )

observations - research ( common among ) ?

Field research - usually small studies, expensive way to obtain research , not used very often among sociologists , ( common among anthropologists )

Reliability

the degree to which the measure generates similar responses

over time and across situations. ( avg should stay consistent )

validitity

The extent to which the measure accurately reflects what it purports to measure

cultural relativism ( for fun again ) ( sociological prespective )

Understanding a culture by its own unqiue standards

ethnocentrism

Using our culture to judge that of others

Symbolic culture

a culture based on symbols like gestures, language, values , norms, sanctions , folkways and mores

material culture

consists of the material objects that distinguish a group of people

ex. jewish yamika

non-material culture

consists of language, beliefs , values , norms and common patterns of behaviors

temporocentrism

the belief that one’s own time is more important than the past or the future

xenocentrism

the belief that what is foreign is best, that one’s own lifestyle, products , or ideas are inferior to those of others

culture leveling

the process in which cultures become similar to one another in both technology and culture
increases speed with advances in communication and other technology

Significant level for p value ( chi square )

0.05 or less

Causality

a change in one social variable directly produces a change in another

One change CAUSES another**

Correlation

measure that describes the strength and direction of a relationship between two or more social variables

division of labor in hunting and gathering societies

women were assigned to gathering due to the need to bear and breastfeed children.