Sociology: Founders, Foundations, and Key Concepts

Vocabulary flashcards covering key people, ideas, and concepts from the sociology lecture. Each card pairs a term with a concise definition.

Sociological imagination

The ability to connect personal biography with larger historical and social forces; seeing the intersection of private troubles and public issues.

Industrial Revolution

The shift from rural, farm-based life to urban, industrial living, prompting new social patterns and the birth of sociology as a discipline.

Democratic revolutions

The American Revolution (1776) and the French Revolution (1789) that popularized democratic ideas and influenced social thought.

Rise of science

Science as a knowledge system that explains the natural world through observation; contrasted with religious/metaphysical explanations.

Francis Bacon

Father of science; developed the scientific method as a systematic, empirical approach to knowledge.

Scientific method

The use of objective, systematic procedures to acquire knowledge about the natural world.

Science

A logical system that develops knowledge from direct and systematic observation of the natural world.

Auguste Comte

Founder of sociology; coined the term sociology; called the discipline the study of society; roots: socius (companion) and logos (study of).

Socius

Latin for companion or being with others.

Logos

Greek for the study of; a root in the word sociology.

Herbert Spencer

British thinker who popularized sociology and coined ‘survival of the fittest,’ associated with social Darwinism and imperial views.

Survival of the fittest

Phrase introduced by Spencer to rank societies by fitness to survive; later misattributed to Darwin.

Karl Marx

German thinker who argued there are two classes (rich and poor) and that they are in a constant struggle over resources.

Two core Marx ideas

(1) There are rich and poor (haves and have-nots); (2) They are in ongoing conflict over wealth, power, and status.

Emile Durkheim

French sociologist who helped found European sociology, pioneered quantitative methods, studied religion and suicide, and introduced the concept of anomie.

Anomie

Social normlessness; a state where norms are unclear or eroded, leading to social disintegration.

Max Weber

German sociologist who argued that understanding people requires interpretation (Verstehen) and who emphasized bureaucracy and the Protestant work ethic.

Verstehen

German for understanding; the goal of grasping social action by putting oneself in others’ shoes.

Bureaucracy

A rational, rule-guided system of organization that governs large-scale social operations; a key Weberian concept.

Protestant work ethic

Idea that hard work and frugality are expressions of religious duty and can drive economic success; linked to Calvinism.

Jane Addams

Social activist and Hull House founder; helped found the NAACP (1909) and the ACLU (1920); campaigned for child labor laws and the eight-hour workday; Nobel Peace Prize co-winner (1931).

Hull House

Settlement house in Chicago founded by Jane Addams; provided social services and advocacy.

NAACP

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People; premier civil rights organization in the United States.

ACLU

American Civil Liberties Union; defender of constitutional rights and civil liberties.

W. E. B. Du Bois

First African American to earn a PhD from Harvard; founder of the NAACP; introduced the concept of double consciousness and authored Souls of Black Folk.

Double consciousness

Du Bois’s idea that Black Americans must navigate two identities—one within the Black community and one within a society that devalues them.

Harriet Martineau

Early female sociologist who traveled the U.S., wrote Society in America (1837), translated Comte into English, and is considered a foundational figure in sociology.

Macrosociology

Study of large-scale social processes and institutions (e.g., nations, social systems).

Microsociology

Study of small-scale, face-to-face interactions and daily social behavior; emphasizes symbolic interaction.

Functionalism

Macro theory that views society as a system whose parts work together to maintain stability and balance.

Conflict perspective

Macro theory that views society as composed of groups in ongoing competition for resources and power.

Symbolic interactionism

Micro theory that focuses on how people create and interpret symbols through social interaction; emphasizes meaning-making.

DWEMS

Acroynm for Dead White European Males—the traditional core group of early sociology’s founders.

Niagara Movement

Early civil rights movement that preceded the NAACP and influenced its formation.