Sociology After Midterms

social stratification

how valuable goods and resources are unequally distributed in society

social mobility

how easily individuals can move up or down the social hierarchy

three quality of life aspects

well-being, health, living standards

between-country stratification

inequality between different countries

within-country stratification

inequality between individuals or groups within the same country

social class

a group of people who hold similar occupational positions

limitation of social class

people in same social class can still have very different incomes or quality of life

social status

the subjective ranking of individuals or groups according to honour, esteem, and respect

income

money received through employment

wealth

the total value of someone’s assets, including savings, property and financial investments

closed/rigid society

very little opportunity to change social position

open society

greater opportunities to move between social positions

intergenerational mobility

change in social position between parents and children

intragenerational mobility

change in social position during an individuals lifetime

absolute mobility

the total number of people whose social position differs from their parents, including upward and downward mobility

upward mobility

number of people moving into a higher social position

downward mobility

moving into a lower social position than your parents

structural mobility

caused by changes in the number of available positions within society

relative mobility

measures inequality in people’s opportunities to access different social positions depending on their family backround

ascription

characteristics that are determined at birth or inherited through your background e.g parents’ income/education

achievements

characteristic developed through personal effort, skills and performance

what is the modernisation and mobility theory?

as societies become more modernised, personal achievement becomes increasingly important, while family background is less important

Explain Durkheim’s study of suicide (1897)

• at the time, many believed that suicide was mainly caused by individual factors such as mental illness, alcoholism, heredity

• his argument was that social conditions such as family relationships, religion, social integration can influence suicide rates

What are the three aims of sociology?

• describe

• explain

• apply

What are the three types of scientific question?

• descriptive

• theoretical

• application

Explain the correlation between birth month and success in sports

• lots of successful sports players were born at the same time of the year

• age cut offs for sports groups mean that older children are bigger, stronger and more confident

• this can create cumulative advantage

What does a theory schema consist of?

• Observation: the social phenomenon you want to explain

• Proposition: a general statement about how concepts are related

• Condition: specific circumstances under which the proposition applies

• Hypothesis: a testable prediction derived from a theory

What makes a sociological theory useful?

• empirical success; does the theory fit the evidence?

• information content; does the theory actually tell us something useful and specific?

Strengths of case study research

• show relationships between people, how relationships develop, how social context affects behaviour

• shows processes overtime

strengths of administrative research

• very large

• useful for historical research

• studies long-term trends

• less dependent on self reports

weaknesses of administrative data

• aren’t necessarily collected for sociological research

• missing information

• differences between countries

• how institutions record information

strengths of survey research

• includes things not always included in admin data

weaknesses of survey research

• sampling, not always representative

strengths of big data research

• large scale

• continuous

• behavioural

weaknesses of big data research

• representativeness; not everyone uses the same websites

• privacy; data must be ethically used

• access; companies may restrict researchers’ access to their data

• measurement; digital behaviour isn’t necessarily a perfect measure of the underlying social concept