SOCI 101 Exam 1

sociological imagination

the ability to connect the most basic intimate aspects of an individuals life to seemingly impersonal and remote historical forces

• c wright mills

ideology

• a system of concepts and relationships

• an underlying explanation of phenomena in society

• a framework of causes and effects

ideology of individualism

• americans especially struggle to think sociology

• dominant perspective in american culture

private troubles

something beyond me causing issues

• asking why dont i have enough time

• why does my boyfriend suck

• whats going on with me

sociology

social science . the study of human society

social construction

• gender, race , etc

• entity that exists because people behave as though it exists

• emerges and sustained through social action and institutions (family, schools, etc)

credentialism

social capital

social imagination venn diagram

biography

• family bg, individual choice + experience

social structure

• class, race, culture, gender hierarchy, laws, markets

history

• colonialism, african diaspora, slavery, segregation

micro level of analysis

includes small scale interactions between individuals and groups

• ex: the minute individual experiences and interactions of everyday life

macro level of analysis

large scale social processes that are often more abstract

• economy, culture

meso level of analysis

institutional level that mediates micro and macro

• family, organizations/firms, college

social institution

• complex large scale system of interrelated roles that accepted by a group of people , regulates behavior and social expectations

  • ex: government, families, universities, organized religion

conley social inst. example

princeton example

• a physical place: buildings land etc

• more sociologically an idea: brand/status, ritual meaning, ivy league, liberal arts, chalkboards, freshman run at the gate

age of enlightenment

• sought to study/explain the world using rational scientific rather than supernatural methods

positivism

• emphasizes the scientific method and objectively observable behavior of individuals

• ontology: that which is true/real is only what can be observed

august comte

• french philosopher often cited as the founder of sociology and doctrine of positivism

• influenced by french utopian socialist henri saint simone

• declining religious authority and belief=necessity of secular basis for morality

  • sociology as the science of morality

  • organismic society

• sought scientific laws that govern human behavior (social physics)

structured laws and interactions being uncovered is the purpose of sociology

karl marx

• karl marx , max weber , emilio durkham

karl marx

max weber

• worried abt disenchanment

emilie durkham

• french sociologist and father of functionalist school

• sought to understand what holds society together

  • ex: why dont we harm people to get ahead

• key works: the division of labor in society and suicide

  • found that suicide was predictable based on someone whether someone was integrated into group life and lived according to routine

    • indicative of positivist sociology which holds that social world cna be described and predicted by certain relationships

  • anomine: french rootlessness

    • taking life due to rapid social change

web du bois

• social construct of race

jane adams

• associated w foundation of social work in US

• settlement movements : opens and operates chicago hull hours

• american problems : immigration/resettlement, urbanization, assimilation

sociological perspectives (aka grand theory)

• perspectives akin to lenses through which we can view social world

• central perspectives

  • functionalism

  • conflict theory

  • symbolic interactionism

symbolic interactionism

micro level perspective in which shared meanings, orientations, and assumptions form the basic motivations behind people’s actions

looking glass self

self perception is based on how we think others are seeing us

functionalism

• macro in focus

• perspective that assumes various social institutions and processes in society exist to serve important or necessary function to keep society running

conflict theory

conflict between competing interests as the basic, animating force of society

social structure

enduring and regular social arrangements that emerge from persistent patterns of human interactions and relationships

• ex: family, the state, law, markets/capitalism

agency

individual social power and the capacity for action

• ex: what we do as individuals within social constraints

scientific method

procedures involving the formulation, testing, modification of hypotheses based on systematic observation, measurement , and /or experiment

how do students perceive student debt* potential pop quiz

how many strong ties do CWRU students have on average? potential pop quiz

• population thats been oversampled

• qualitative paradigm

• deductive approach

• academic achievement

• quantitative

• survey method to capture this info

theory

an abstracted, systematic model of how some aspects of the world work

very abstract: marxism, less abstract: matthew effect; rich getting richer (cumulative advantage)

deductive approach

starts w a theory, forms a hypothesis, makes empirical observations, and then analyzes data to confirm, reject, or modify the original theory

inductive approach

starts with empirical observations and then works to form theory

quantitative methods

methods that seek to obtain information about the social world that is already in or can be converted to numeric form

qualitative methods

methods that attempt to collect information about the social world that cannot be readily converted to numeric form

correlation

• association

• simultaneous variations in the two variables

causality

change in one variable results in a corresponding and sequential change in another

• extremely difficult to prove in sociology

reverse causality

situation in which a researcher believes that A results in a change in B, but B, in fact, is causing A

spurious correlation

correlation between two variables that DOES NOT result from any relation between them but from their relation to other variables (ie intervening variables)

dependent variable

outcome that researcher is trying to explain

independent variable

measured factor that the researcher believes has a causal impact on the dependent variable

hypothesis

proposed relationship between two variables

operationalization

process of assigning a precise method for measuring a term for being examined for use in a particular study

• in order to test hypothesis, you must operationalize and provide definitions for variables and concepts

validity

the extent to which an isntrument measures what it is intented to measure

reliability

likelihood of obtaining consistent results using the same measure

generalizability

the extent to which we can claim our findings inform us about a group larger than the one we studied

qualitative example

comparative case study

survey

ordered series of questions intended to elicit information from respondents

• include statistical analysis

experimental methods

• seek to alter the social landscape in a specific way for a given sample

• involve comparisons to control group that does not experience the intervention

case study (qualitative)

intensive investigation of one particular unit of analysis in order to describe it or uncover its mechanisms

comparative methods (qualitative)

two or more entities(countries, universities), which are similar in many dimensions but dinner on the one in question, are compared to learn about why they differ/vary

content analysis (qualitative)

systematic analysis of the content rather than the structure of a communication, such as a written work, speech or film

ethnography (qualitative)

studying people or a social setting using observation, interaction, and sometimes formal interviewing to document behaviors, customs, experiences, social ties, etc

reflexivity

analyzing and critically considering our own role in, and effect on, our research

experimenter effects

• social researchers often affect things subconsciously

• researcher and researched inhabit the same social space

the milgram experiment

• man thinks he’s harming other man

• keeps going even tho hears yelling bc researcher says its fine

• white coat effect: a researcher’s presence affect the subject’s behavior or responses

hawethorne effect

when a researcher subject’s awareness of their participation in an experiment affects their behavior and therefore affects the results of the experiment

• factory workers know they’re part of efficiency study

john henry effect

when a research subject in a control group changes his/her behavior given then knowledge that he/she is in the control group

american revolution being taught

focuses on

• anti monarcy

• no taxation without representation

• resistance

• movement leaders

taught as a greater population, but only men with property could

economic interest drove history

ideas are secondary to class conflict ; material conditions : marx ideas

German idealism (hegel)

• material of world is shaped in form of ideas

• admired by marx

• 
  

the communist manifesto

lays out a scathing critique of the socially disruptive nature of industrial capitalism

• sees capitalism as necessary for social progress

• capitalism : revolution of bourgeoises

according to communist manifesto: bourgeoises are the ones progressing . individual private property , they are the ones in revolution

putting out system

small families spinning yarn for factories to use

• employing children in this chain

• capitalism made families an economic chain

discovering new territory and developing global markets (communist manifesto)

• need to expand market everywhere

• connect everything all over the globe

• involved in wars in other countries for example to ensure that the global market continues to operate

develops and harness technology to help man dominate nature (communist manifest)

alberquerque

• explodes in pop in 1900s, canals dug w heavy machinery, many infrastructure projects

• massive surplus

marx’s historical materialism

the socio econmic revolution of capitalism

weber’s disenchantment

the scientific revolution and rationalization

• rationalization: a never ending process of ordering and organzing the world

weber’s the protestant ethic and the spirit of capitalism

the values - orientation of protestantism and puritanical calvanism procidd an ideological framework especially suited to capitalism

protestant values that help capitalism flourish

• glorifying god through hard work

• thrift (saving)

• individualism (free will)

• rationalization (scientific inquiry, profit maximization, bureaucratization)

key concepts

• ascetism

• vocation

weber on modernity

critique modernity and the scientization of everyday life =

functionalism

a perspective that examines broad social structures and society as a whole system that is composed of interdependent and interrelated parts

• fond of the biological metaphor

• argue that nearly all social phenomena engender stability

• a macro level or structural perspective

• highly criticized and largely abandoned perspective in modern sociology

what is functional about social inequality ?

• 
  

integration/solidarity

especially concerned with the question of what holds society together

the science of social facts

• how durkheim viewed the discipline of sociology

• saw social facts as things

  • used this language because its external to us

  • 
    

durkheim’s study of suicide

• men commited at higher rat e

• single people

• childless adults

• protestants; work related to worth ideology

• military

• rate higher than peacetime