Test 1 Prep(Ch 1)-Sociology

These are notes from chapters 1,3,5 and 6 in the tex as well as notes from lecture

What is sociological imagination?

idea that our destiny = combination of personal choices + larger concept of personal experiences

What is an example of sociological imagination?

unemployment→ doesn’t have to be just a you problem, could be economic or company problems

• not cus you didn’t work hard enough

What is social structure?

regularities and patterns in how people behave in relationships

What is social construction?

idea/practice that a group of people agree exists

• maintained over time→ take it for granted

What is an example of social construction?

• education in person

• sex+gender→ influence behavior

What is one purpose of sociology?

what is biological/socially constructed?

What are some explanations of social order?

• existence of norms

• beliefs and values

What is socialization?

social processes where children get awareness of social norms, values + sense of self

What is the time span of socialization?

infancy + childhood→ most important

LIFETIME

What is an example of social order?

students quiet, sitting, and “taking notes” in lecture

• good behavior = letter of rec?

How are beliefs and values an explanation for social order?

student places value on classroom as an investment for the future→ pays attention, doesn’t disrupt, etc

What is an example of the disruption of social order in terms of covid?

no longer necessary to directly look at lecturer→ camera off→ actively in class or doing yoga?

What is something sociologists have noticed with colleges, deterministic framework, and incomes later on?

those with sat scores of same range make similar amts of income whether ivy league or not

however, racial + economic disparities can influence

• black + hispanic with less-educated parents mattered

What does Tocquieville describe nineteenth-century Americans?

Nation of joiners

What is the scenario with a girl from a working-class family with active sociological imaginations + very deterministic understanding of child’s life chances?

want daughter to go work right after high school→ she wants to be lawyer

• they advise for her to not go to college

• she applies

  • she will still be similar to any other college student

What is one thing sociology teachers us?

we are freer than we think

never would have thought in-person education→ more aspects to education can be done remotely

Who is Alexis De Tocqueville?

• French aristocrat

• visited US

• goal: understand democracy and equality(how they did it on their own?)-what’s the shit?

  • nation of joiners

Who is Max Weber

looked at how world changed bc of massive large-scale organization

how organizational society + bureaucratic orgs changed social life

Who is Karl Marx

how industrialization changed structure of entire society

• transform ind. relationships to work

  • feudalism→capitalism

Who is Emily Durkheim

• wrote The Division of Labor in Society

• historical changes from industrialization + urbanization→ increased niche roles ind. filled

  • how this benefits society as a whole

What did august comte believe about sociology?

• human behavior study using scientific method

• scientific study of social life

What did august comte think the study of sociology should be used for?

contribute to welfare of humanity

predict + control human behavior

What did august comte originally call sociology?

social physics

What were the origins of august comte ideas about social planning?

society + social order not natural, not preordained by divine power

• contructed by ind.

What were august comte’s ambitious plans?

reconstruction of French society based on scientific knowledge

What did Emile Durkheim thing about August Comte’s work?

too speculative + vague

• comte not successful with scientific sociology approach

What did Emile Durkheim add to Comte’s approach of sociology on a scientific basis?

to use methodological principles to guide research

social facts→ studied scientifically

What are social facts?

Durkheim

aspects of social life that shape our actions as individuals

ex: social constraint

What is organic solidarity?

Durkheim

social cohesion from various parts of society functioning as an integrated whole

What is social constraint?

The conditioning influences on behavior of groups/societies in which we are members

What is division of labor?

individual occupations→ production system

industrialism→ more complex than before

Now: international

What is anomie?

Durkheim

social norms lose hold over individual behavior

feeling of aimlessness/despair

What is the materialist conception of history?

Marx

material/economic factors= important in determining historical change

What is capitalism?

economic system→ private ownership of wealth→ invested + reinvested→ profit

What is bureaucracy?

type of organization→ clear hierarchy of authority→ written rules of procedure

• full-time, salaried officials

Ex: the military, large corps, gov agencies

What is rationalization?

Weber

organization of social, economic + cultural life based on principles of efficiency using basis of technical knowledge

What is Emile Durkheim’s famous first principle of sociology?

Study social facts as things!

• analyze social life like objects/events of nature

Like biologists studying the human body, Emile Durkheim saw society…

as independent parts

studied separately

What is the significance of Herbert Spencer?

society= biological organism

each part=essential to life of organism

basis of Emile Durkheim’s ideas→ organic solidarity

Society is more than just the sum of ind. acts…

social structures are studied by firmness/solidity

like a physical room→ external

What was Emile Durkheim’s analysis of social change?

development of division of change

• replacing religion as social cohesion

• organic solidarity to societies

• ppl=more dependent on each other

Although suicide seems like a personal act…

the outcome is from extreme personal unhappiness

Durkheim

Social change in modern world so rapid + intense

major social difficulties→ anomie→ suicides

traditional social factors break down under modern social development→ hopelessness

Emile Durkheim book + what it explored

The Elementary Forms of Religious Life

religion importance in maintaining moral order in society

What did Karl Marx sought to explain?

social changes from Industrial Revolution

Much of Karl Marx’s works is…

economic, but also connects economic problems to social institutions

How was Marx’s viewpoint founded?

Materialist conception of history

“All human history thus far is the history of class struggles”

Why is capitalism a system where conflict is inevitable?

ruling class(rich) exploit working class

working class wants to overcome such exploitation

What does Karl Marx think about capitalism in the future?

no division between rich and poor

no longer split into small class monopolizing + large mass with little benefit→ communal ownership→ more equal

Communism

Max Weber writes about…

economics, law, philosophy, comparative history + sociology

Max Weber was influenced by who?

Karl Marx

What does Max Weber think about Karl Marx?

rejected materialist conception of history, class conflict less sig

Karl Marx vs. Max Weber beliefs?

economic factors important, but ideas + values as well → social change

Max Weber influential writings about

Western Society vs. other major civs

→ lots of religion study→ major contributions to sociology of religion

Christian beliefs influenced

rise of capitalism

Max Weber view on what caused individual actions

cultural ideas and values shape society + _____________-

What were Max Weber’s concerns about bureauracracy

inevitable→ posed problems for effective democratic participation

rule of experts making decisions without consultation of those whose lives will be affected

Max Weber on scientific basis for sociology

misleading, we think nonmaterially

summarize durkeim, marx and weber’s interpretations on modern development

Durkheim: division labor = basis for social cohesion + organic solidarity

• social facts= things

• social factors + qualities of society external to find.

• social constraint

Marx: capitalism, society divided by class, must study divisions from economic inequalities from c.

Weber: why western societies developed diff, cultural i + v on social change

relationship Harriet Martineau had with other sociologists

beyond sociology

• translated Comte’s founding treatise: “positive philosophy”

  • sociologists→ find ways to benefit society

What has Harriet Martineau done in the sociology field?

translated Comte’s founding treatise: PP

brought sociology to england

systematic study of americans: Society in America

How must one study a society based on Harriet Martineau?

all its aspects: political, religious + social institutions

all members must be studied→ including women

sociology on ignored issues: marriage, children, dometstic + religious life, race relations

what did W.E.B. Du Bois coin?

double consciousness

what is the concept of double consciousness?

staying true to one’s true self while also conforming to an oppressive society

what was a persuasive claim made by W.E.B. Du Bois in terms of self identity?

greatly influenced by historical experiences + social circumstances

Ex: african americans→ slavery + emancipation(segregation + prejudice)

W.E.B. Du Bois connected what with what?

social analysis with social reform

african american problems→ social + economic underpinnings

The stimulus for social changein the modern era…

is from pressure in economic transformation FROM capitalist production

How does marx explain global spread of western industry?

capitalism is always expanding to the rest of the world for new ventures, cheaper materials and labor

According to Emile Durkheim, what makes sociology a social science? Why?

You cannot just use science as a basis for explaining the processes of humans

But you can use methodology principles to guide research, and use social facts to explore social life as objects

According to Karl Marx, what are the differences between the two classes that make up a capitalist society?

2 groups: ruling class(bourgausie) and working class(proletariate)

In what key ways did Weber’s interpretation of modern development differ from that of Marx?

classes= less important, not just economic but also beliefs and values → modern development

What is Symbolic Interactionism?

theoretical approach in sociology → George Herbert Mead→ symbols + language→ human interaction

What is a symbol?

item used to represent another

flag=nation/country/sexuality

what is functionalism?

theoretical perspective that social events explained in role→ continuity of a society

What is manifest functions?

recognized consequences of a social activity

What are latent functions?

unintended/unrecognized consequences of a social activity

What is conflict theory?

perspective emphasizing role of political + economic power + oppression in existing order

What is marxism?

body of thought deriving from ideas of Karl Marx

What is power?

the ability for ind. or members of group→ achieve further interests they hold

What are ideologies?

shared ideas/beliefs→ justify interests of dominant groups

• ingrained inequalities

power connected, ideological systems→ legitimize power

Ex: feminism, racism, etc

What is the feminist theory?

focues on gender when analyzing social world

• uniqueness of experience of women

explain gender inequality, work to overcome them

What is feminism?

rights of women to be equal with men

what is the rational choice approach?

theory: individual’s behavior is a rational response in terms of self interest to a social situation

what is postmodernism?

belief: society no longer governed by history/progress→ that history has a shape-going somewhere

What is microsociology?

study of human behavior in context of face-to-face interaction

what is macrosociology?

study of large-scale groups, organizations or social systems

What did George Herbert Mead place importance on in anlyzing the social world?

language→ allows for self-consciousness, and individuality

What does symbolic thought allow us to do?

frees us from being limited to our own experiences(senses)

How does a child exhibit self-consciousness?

the use of I(pronoun) to refer to an object people call “you”

Symbolic interacitonism example

on a date, looking for small things to pick up on→ potential relationship?

don’t want to be too obvious, both know they’re doing it

wants to be viewed in favorable light→ both looking for true nature of each other

shapes their interaction→ all of these

Example on how to study functionalism

Heart→ what is its role in the body?

pumps blood→ oh very important for life sustaining processes

When does moral consensus exist?

when people share same values

functionalism: importance in maintaining order in societyW

How did functionalism become prominent?

Talcott Parson + Robert K. Merton

Example of Manifest and Latent functions with Merton?

The Hopi performing rain dances

Manifest: dances will give them rain for crops

Latent: promotes cohesion of the Hopi society

What else did Rober K. Merton do?

dysfunction vs. function

What does it mean to look for dysfunctional aspects of social behavior?

focus on features of social life that challenges existing order

Why is it wrong to assume religion is functional?

when two differing religions/2 versions of same religion→ major social conflict

ex: protestant vs catholics(european history)

What are the three modern theortical traditions?

functionalism, symbolic interactionism, and conflict theory

who usually has power?

those with greatest political, economic and social resources

how is marxism different from non-marxist traditions?

adherents→ sociology= combination of sociological analysis + politcal reform

• more emphasis on conflict, class divisions + power + ideology