Sociology

Race

Used to specify groups of people distinguished by physical characteristics such as skin color. Race can be considered by most sociologists to be a social construction people use towards social inequalities.

Ethnicity

refers to the cultural heritage or identity of a group and is based on factors such as language or country of origin.

Class

The relative location of a person or group within the larger society, based on wealth, power, prestige, or other valued resources.

Industrialization

The process by which societies are transformed from dependence on agriculture and handmade products to an emphasis on manufacturing and related industries. 

Urbanization

The process by which an increasing proportion of a population lives in cities rather than in rural areas.

Social Facts

Believed the limits of human potential are socially, not biologically based.

Social facts are patterned ways of acting, thinking, and feeling that exist outside any one individual but that exert social control over each person.

Anomie

Observed that rapid social change and a more specialized division of labor produces a strain in society.

These strains lead to a breakdown in traditional organization, values, and authority.

i.e describes a state of normlessness or instability in a society or social group.

Functionalist Perspective

Composed of interrelated parts that work together to maintain stability. Opposite of the conflict perspective (every man for themselves).

Conflict Perspective

Society is characterized by social inequality; social life is a struggle for scarce resources. Opposite of the functionalist perspective (working together).

Symbolic
Interactionist Perspective

Behavior is learned in interaction with other people.

Postmodernist Perspective

Postindustrialization, consumerism, and global communications bring into question assumptions about social life and the nature of reality.

Sociology

seeks to understand contemporary social organization, relations, and change.

Symbols

represents something else i.e. signs, written language, gestures.

Theory

a set of logically interrelated statements that attempts to describe, explain, and (occasionally) predict social events.

Deductive Approach/Reasoning

Deductive approach is the researcher begins with a theory and uses research to test the theory.

Start with a theory about our topic of interest.

Narrow theory down into a specific, testable hypotheses.

Narrow down even further by collecting observations to address the hypotheses.

Theory - Hypothesis - Observation - Confirmation

Inductive Approach

Researcher collects information or data (facts or evidence) and then generates theories from the analysis of that data.

1. Specific observations suggest generalizations. - Observations lead to theory development.

2. Generalizations produce a tentative theory.

3. The theory is tested through the formation of hypotheses.

4. Hypotheses may provide suggestions for additional observations.

Inductive reasoning works the other way, moving from specific observations to broader generalizations and theories. Informally, we sometimes call this a "bottom up" approach.

Observation - Pattern - Tentative Hypothesis - Theory

Research

the process of systematically collecting information for the purpose of testing an existing theory or generating a new one.

Quantitative Research

Quantitative Research - focuses on data that can be measured numerically. Quantify social wonders. Focus on links among smaller number of aspects across many cases.

• Surveys

• Questionnaires

• Secondary Analysis of statistical data

i.e censuses are social attitude surveys

Questionaires

surveys, questionnaires, and secondary analysis of statistical data that has been gathered for other purposes (for example, censuses or the results of social attitudes surveys).

Qualitative Research

Qualitative Research - nterpretive description rather than statistics to analyze underlying meanings and patterns of social relationships. emphasize personal experiences and interpretation over quantification. Focuses on a larger number of aspects across fewer cases.

Independent Variable

is presumed to cause or determine a dependent variable.

Dependent Variable

assumed to depend on or be caused by the independent variable(s).

Random Sampling

every member of an entire population being studied has the same chance of being selected.

Probability Sampling

participants are deliberately chosen because they have specific characteristics, possibly including such factors as age, sex, race/ethnicity, and educational attainment.

Validity

the extent to which a study or research instrument accurately measures what it is supposed to measure.

Reliability

the extent to which a study or research instrument yields consistent results when applied to different individuals at one time or to the same individuals over time.

Inductive Approaches

qualitative research

Deductive approaches

quantitative research

Survey Research

• Describes a population without interviewing each individual.

• Standardized questions force respondents into categories.

• Relies on self-reported information, and some people may not be truthful.

Analysis of Existing Data

• Materials studied may include:  

  • books, diaries, poems, and graffiti

  • movies, television shows, advertisements, greeting cards

  • music, art, and even garbage

Field Research