intro to sociology

Sociological imagination

Recognition of how social forces shape individual behavior

Sociological perspective

The way sociologists look at and try to find meaning in the world around them

Positivism

The application of the scientific approach to the social world to understand it

Who coined the term sociological imagination?

C. Wright Mills

Sociology

The academic study of social behavior using empirical investigation and analysis to draw conclusions about social order, disorder and change.

Social facts

Aspects of culture that have an effect on the way individuals behave

Augustus Comte

The founder of sociology

__ applied scientific observations to the study of sociology in hopes of improving it.

Augustus Comte

Harriet Martineau

Brought sociology to England and focused on the domestic sphere

Karl Marx

Founded the conflict perspective; studied the bourgeoisie and the proletariat

Herbert Spencer

Applied the theories of Darwin to societies; survival of the fittest

Emile Durkheim

Described social bonds that connect societies as either mechanical or organic solidarity; wrote about social facts as external influences on behavior; founder of Functionalist Perspective

Jane Addams

Improved issues on child labor, women’s rights; helped found the ACLU

Max Weber

Bureaucracies and rationalization of society; wrote The Protestant Ethic and Spirit of Capitalism. Studied modernization in society, the movement from traditional to capitalist societies

W.E.B. DuBois

Double consciousness, wrote about African American social identities and experiences; first African American to earn a doctorate from Harvard

What are the four sociological perspectives

Symbolic Interactionist (micro), Functionalist, Conflict and Feminist

What is the focus of the symbolic interactionist perspective

To understand how we create meaning in society in day to day social interactions using symbols (words, objects and actions)

What does the conflict perspective allow us to understand?

The divisions between class (the haves and the have nots)

What is the idea of the functionalist perspective?

Every single piece of the system has a job to do to maintain societal order

What are manifest functions?

The intended consequence of our actions

What are latent functions?

The unintended consequences of our actions

Keywords of the functionalist perspective

Stability, social order, equilibrium, cohesion, consensus, shared value system

The feminist perspective

Observes inequality between men and women. Aims to fix problem of inequality through action steps (protest, changes in legislation and policies)

Key components of the feminist perspective

Gender wage gap, glass ceiling, feminism

Stratification

Division that makes distribution of resources uneven

What are the three classic perspectives?

Functionalism, the conflict perspective, and symbolic interactionism

Academic sociology

Foundational and focuses on theory and research

Clinical sociology

Focuses on changing social relationships through therapy or restructuring a social institution to better serve the needs of the people using it.

What are the two types of research?

Descriptive and explanatory

Research methods can be ___ or ___.

Qualitative or quantitative

__ research offers characterizations and descriptions of the studied phenomena

Qualitative

What are the steps of the research method?

1. Ask a question

2. Background research

3. Construct hypothesis

4. Collect data

5. Analyze data

6. Report results

Operational Definition

Used to define each concept or variable in terms of physical steps it takes to objectively measure it. This is done to produce reliable and valid results.

What are the five types of research methods (designs)?

1. Survey

2. Experiment

3. Field research

4. Secondary analysis

5. Content analysis

This type of research can offer a lot of detail about a subject.

Field research

What are the two types of variables in quantitative studies?

Dependent: expected to change

Independent: possible cause of change

Reliable data is __.

Consistent

Valid data is ___.

True

Correlation

A measure of the extent that a change in one variable is associated with the change in another variable

Who is charged with ensuring research is ethical?

Institutional Review Board (IRB)

The components of research integrity

Accurately reporting results, having expertise, attributing others’ contributions, reporting conflicts of interest

The components of participant care

Informed consent, non-accrual of benefit outside research (exploitation), confidentiality

For results to be statistically significant, it probably means they did not ___.

Happen by chance

Bureaucracy

A formal organization with defined terms of membership, written governance, written communication, division of labor, responsibility and accountability.

Organic Solidarity

Emile Durkheim’s explanation that different parts of society function as a whole, much like an organism.

Mechanical solidarity

Social bonds in small traditional societies which are based on common values

Ethnography

A systematic study of people and cultures where the researcher observes from the viewpoint of the subject being studied

Holism

Culture should be thought of as a whole, a change in one aspect of culture can have wide reaching effects

Counterculture

A culture or subculture with values and customs that are usually opposed to those accepted by most of society (“off the grid” movement)

Subculture

A group within a larger culture with distinctive attitudes and behaviors that sets it apart from dominant culture

Ethnocentrism

The belief that one’s ethnic culture is superior

Cultural relativism

The idea that since norms and values are culturally determined, the practices of one society should not be judged using the values of a different society

Folkways

Informal norms or everyday customs that don’t come with serious consequences when violated.

Mores

A moral or ethical social norm (a more serious social norm)

Governs a society’s understanding of right and wrong

Constructions

Perceptions and practices that come out of interactions of a group

Argot

A language unique to a subculture

Diffusion

The transfer of cultural ideas from one group to another. Usually the cultural idea is transformed somehow

Cultural change

Globalization, modernization, a cataclysmic event, maybe because of a deliberate effort of a subgroup to change culture

__ is useful as it gives people a sense of belonging but it can prevent them from learning about other cultures

Ethnocentrism

Gender non-conforming

Tomboys, drag queens, intersex people

The stages of development of self

1. Preparatory

2. Play (role-taking)

3. Game (play with rules)

Generalized other

A broad community of people who behave in a certain way due to agreed upon structure and organization

Particular other

A person that is personally important to a child from whom they learn the role

Who introduced the idea of tolerance taking and when?

George Herbert Mead in 1934

What are the stages to the looking glass self?

1. Imagine how we appear to others

2. Imagine how they would judge us

3. React to those judgments with pride or shame

Why is the play stage important for a child’s socialization?

It allows the child to practice another role.

Self concept

A fixed understanding of oneself regardless of social context

Social self

Constitutes the full development of the individual; involves the generalized other

Preparatory

The initial stage of development where infants mimic simple actions and facial expressions they see others do

A study that considers whether people entering college during the Vietnam era are more politically active than those who were younger or older during the Vietnam war would be following ___

The life course approach

Deviance

Actions, behaviors, traits or characteristics that violate socially acceptable standards or norms

Aggregates

People that come together in proximity for a short period of time, without regularity and without knowing one another

Category

In sociology, people who share a trait or characteristic, such as redheads, people born in the same city

Primary group

A group of people maintaining a close, personal relationship (friends and family)

Secondary group

People who share a functional relationship; length of interaction is usually shorter and oriented around a common task

Factors that lead to formation of groups

Geography, traits, beliefs, skills, class, family, age, social networks

Functions of out-groups:

They show the boundaries of in-groups, they helps people define what they are and what they are not.

Prejudice

An unjustified attitude toward a group

Discrimination

An act which adversely affects a person or group’s opportunities bc of race, color, religion, sex, disability, national origin, etc.

Status

Individuals position in a group or society defined by responsibilities and benefits (nurse, father, voter, dancer)

The set of attitudes and behaviors appropriate for a status is role.

Role strain

Multiple conflicts within a particular status

Utilitarian organization

An organization that maintains membership by payment

Instrumental leader

Focused on completing task at hand, reaching goals, and ensuring everyone is completing work

Expressive leader

One that puts the relationships, morale and emotions of the team first

Social dilemma

A situation in which your gain is the groups loss

__ social influence is motivated by a desire to be accepted by the group

Normative

__ is the term sociologists use for large groups breaking into smaller groups

Factions

“Rationalization of society”

Charting the growth of the modern organization - the need to accomplish objectives efficiently rather than establishing traditions

__ said leveraging ___ relationships could create efficient, task oriented groups, led to the rationalization of society.

Marx; Secondary

__ pegged religion in the shift toward rationality.

Weber

What are the three types of formal organizations?

1. Voluntary (normative)

2. Utilitarian

3. Coercive

Coercive organizations

Are involuntary, wants to resocialize the individual (prisons, mental hospitals)

Bureaucracy is a type of formal organization that has what 4 characteristics?

1. Interchangeability

2. Written governance & communication

3. Division of labor

4. Hierarchy

Goal displacement

The tendency of bureaucracies to continue operating after the initial goal is achieved

Labeling theory

How people are labeled will influence how they behave

Stigma

Negative label attached to person, behavior or circumstance to distinguish them from the rest of society

Three theoretical traditions to explain deviant behavior

1. Functionalist

2. Conflict

3. Symbolic interactionism

Functionalist perspective explains deviance

Society needs deviance because it creates cohesion

Conflict perspective explains deviance

Deviance is linked to social inequality