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113 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Sociology
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Sociology is the study of human society
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Sociological Imagination
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To connect the most basic intimate aspects of an individuals life to seemingly impersonal and remote historical forces
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Social institution
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A complex group of interdependent positions that perform a social role and reproduce themselves over time and works to shape the behavior of the groups or people within it
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Verstehen
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German; understanding. Emphasized by Max Weber, forms the object of inquiry for interpretive sociology - to study how social actors understand their actions and the social world through experience.
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Anomie
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Emile Durkheim. A sense of aimlessness or despair that arises when we can no longer reasonably expect life to be predictable; too little social regulations, normlessness.
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Positivist Sociology
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Conceptualized by Comte, founding practinioner Durkheim. A strain within sociology that believes the social world can be described and predicted by certain describable relationships (akin to a social physics).
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Double consciousness
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Conceived by W.E.B. Duboise to describe the two behavioral scripts, one for moving through the world and the other incorporating the external opinions of prejudiced onlookers, which are constantly maintained by African Americans
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Functionalism
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The theory that various social institutions and processes in society exist to serve some important (or necessary) function to keep society running.
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Conflict Theory
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The idea that conflict between competing interest is the basic, animating force of social change and of society in general
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Symbolic interactionism
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A micro-level theory in which shared meanings, orientations, and assumptions form the basic motivations behind people actions.
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Postmodernism
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A condition characterized by a questioning of the notion of progress and history, the replacement of narrative within pastiche, and multiple, perhaps even conflicting, identities resulting from disjointed affiliations.
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Social Construction
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An entity that exists because people behave as if it exists and whose existence is perpetuated as people and social institutions act in accordance with the widely agreed upon formal rules or informal norms of behavior associated with that entity.
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Midrange Theory
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A theory that attempts to predict ho certain social institutions tend to function.
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Microsociology
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Seeks to understand local interactional contexts, its methods of choice are ethnographic; generally including participant observation and in depth interviews.
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Macrosociology
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Generally concerned with social dynamics at a higher level of analysis - that is, across the breadth of society
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Quantitative Methods
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Methods that seek to obtain information about the social world that is already in or can be converted to numeric form. Typically uses statistical analysis to describe the social world that those date represent.
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Qualitative Methods
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Methods that attempt to collect information about the social world that cannot be readily converted to numeric form. The information gathering with this approach is often used to document the meanings that actions engender in social participants or to describe the mechanics by which social processes occurs.
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Deductive Approach
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Starts with a theory, forms a hypothesis, makes empirical observations, and then analyzes the data to confirm, reject, or modify the original theory.
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Inductive Approach
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Starts with empirical observations and then works to form a theory.
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Correlation (Association)
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Simultaneous variation in two variables
Ex/ poorer health --> lower income Ex/ poorer health <-- lower income |
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Causality
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The notion that a change in one factor results in a corresponding change in another. Three factors needed: correlation, time order, and ruling out alternative explanations.
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Reverse Causality
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A situation in which the researcher believes that (A) results in a change in (B), but (B), in fact, is causing (A).
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Dependent Variable
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The outcome that the researcher is trying to explain.
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Independent Variable
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A measured factor that the researcher believes has a causal impact on the dependent variable.
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Hypothesis
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A proposed relationship between two variables, usually with a stated direction. The direction of the relationship refers to whether your variables move together (positive) or in opposite directions (negative).
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Operationalize
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The process of assigning a precise method for measuring a term being examined for use in a particular study.
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Validity
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The extent to which an instrumental measures what it is intended to measure.
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Reliability
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Likelihood of obtaining consistent results using the same measure.
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Generalizability
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The extent to which we can claim our findings inform us about a group larger than the one we studied.
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Reflexivity
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Analyzing and critically considering our own role in, and affect on, our research.
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Feminist Methodology
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A set of systems or methods that treat women's experiences a legitimate empirical and theoretical resources, that promote social science for women and takes into account the researcher as much as the overt subject matter.
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Participant Observation
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A qualitative research method that seeks to observe social actions in practice.
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Comparative Research
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A methodology by which two or more entitites which are similar in many dimensions but differ on one in question, are compared to learn about the dimension that differs between them.
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Experimental Methods
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Methods that seek to alter the social landscape in a very specific way for a given sample of individuals and then track what results that change yields; often involves comparisons to a control group that did not experience such an intervention.
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Content Analysis
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A systematic analysis of the content rather than the structure of a communication , such as a written work, speech, or firm.
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Public Sociology
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The practice of sociological research, teaching, an service that seeks to engage a non-academic audience for normative productive end.
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Culture
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A set of beliefs, traditions, and practices; the sum total of social categories and concepts we embrace in addition to beliefs, behaviors (except instinctual ones), and practices; that which is not the natural environment around us.
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Ethnocentrism
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The belief that one's own culture or group is superior to others and the tendency to view all other cultures from the perspective of one's own.
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Non-material Culture
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Values, beliefs, behaviors, and social norms.
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Material Culture
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Everything that is part of our constructed physical environment, including technology.
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Ideology
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A system of concepts and relationships, an understanding of cause and effect.
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Cultural Relativism
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Talking into account the differences across cultures without passing judgement or assigning value.
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Cultural Scripts
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Modes of behavior and understanding that are not universal or natural.
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Subculture
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The distinct cultural values and behavioral patterns of a particular group in society; a group united by sets of concepts, values, symbols, and shared meaning specific to the members of that group distinctive enough to distinguish it from others within the same culture or society.
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Values
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Moral beliefs/abstract cultural beliefs
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Norms
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How values tell us to behave. How values are put into play or values applied to living.
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Socialization
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The process by which individuals internalize the values, beliefs, and norms of a given society and learn to function as members of that society.
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Reflection Theory
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The idea that culture is a projection of social structures and relationships into the public sphere, a screen onto which the film of the underlying reality or social structures of our society is projected.
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Media
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Any formats or vehicles that carry, present, or communicate information.
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Hegemony
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A condition by which a dominant group uses its power to elicit the voluntary "consent" of the masses.
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Consumerism
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The steady acquisition of material possessions, often with the belief that happiness and fulfillment can thus be achieved.
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Culture Jamming
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The act of turning media against themselves.
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Socialization
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The process by which individuals internalize the values, beliefs, and norms of a given society and learn to function as members of that society.
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Self
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The individual identity of a person as perceived by that same person.
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I
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One's sense of agency, action, or power.
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Me
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The self as perceived as an object by the " I "; as the self as one imagines others perceive one.
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Other
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Someone or something outside of oneself.
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Generalized Other
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An interalized sense of the total expectations of others in a variety of settings - regardless of whether we've encountered those people or places before.
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Agents of Socialization
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Families
School Peers Media Adult Socialization Total Institutions |
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Resocialization
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The process by which one's sense of social values, beleifs, and norms are re-engineered, often deliberately through an intense social process that may take place in a total institution.
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Total Institution
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An institution in which one is totally immersed and that controls all the basics of day-to-day life; no barriers exist between the usual spheres of daily life, and all activity occurs in the same place and under the same single authority.
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Status
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a recognizable social position that an individual occupies.
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Role
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The duties and behaviors expected of someone who holds a particular status.
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Role Strain
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The incompatibility among roles corresponding to a single status.
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Role Conflict
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The tension caused by competing demands between two or more roles pertaining to different statuses.
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Status Set
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All the statuses one holds simultaneously.
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Ascribed Status
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A status into which one is born; involuntary status
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Achieved Status
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A status into which one enters; voluntary status.
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Master Status
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one status within a set that stands out or overrides all others.
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Gender Roles
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Sets of behavioral norms assumed to accompany one's status as male or female.
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Symbolic Interactionism
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A micro-level theory in which shared meanings, orientations, and assumptions form the basic motivations behind people's actions.
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Dramaturgical Theory
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The view (advanced by Erving Goffman) of social life as essentially a theatrical performance, in which we are all actors on metaphorical stages, with roles, scripts, costumes, and sets.
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Face
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The esteem in which an individual is held by others.
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Ethnomethodology
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Literally "the methods of the people," this approach to studying human interaction focuses on the ways in which we make sense of our world, convey this understanding to others, and produce a mutually shared social order.
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Dyad
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A group of two
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Triad
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A group of three or more
Political Relations within a Triad: Mediator, Teretius Gaudens, Divide et impera |
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Mediator
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Members of a triad who attempts to resolve conflict between the two other actors in the group
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Tertius Gaudens
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Latin for "the third that rejoices"
the new third member of a triad who benefits from conflict between the other two members of the group |
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Divide et Impera
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Latin for "divide and conquer"
The role of a member of a triad who intentionally drives a wedge between the other two actors in the group |
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Small Group
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A group of characterized by face-to-face interaction, a unifocal perspective, lack of formal arrangements, and a certain level of equality
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Party
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A group similar to small group but multifocal
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Large group
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a group characterized by the presence of a formal structure that meditates interaction and, consequently, status differentiation
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Primary groups
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Social groups, such as family or friends, composed of intimate face-to-face relationships that strongly influence the attitudes and ideals of those involved
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Secondary groups
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groups marked by impersonal, instrumental relationships (those existing as a means to an end).
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in-group
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another term fro the powerful group, most often the majority
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out-group
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another term for the stigmatized or less powerful group, the minority
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reference group
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a group that helps us understand or make sense of our position in society relative to other groups
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social network
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a set of relations - essentially, a set of dyads-held together by ties between individuals
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tie
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a set of stories that explains our relationship to the other members of our network
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narrative
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the sum of stories contained in a set of ties
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embeddedness
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the degree to which ties are reinforced through indirect paths within a social network
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strength of weak ties
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the notion that often relatively weak ties turn out to be quite valuable because they yield new information
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structural hole
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a gap between network clusters, or even two individuals, if those individuals (or clusters) have complementary resources
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social capital
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the information, knowledge of people, and connections that help individuals enter, gain power in, or otherwise leverage social networks
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Organization
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Any social network that is defined by a common purpose and has boundary between its membership and the rest of the social world
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Organizational culture
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the shared beliefs and behaviors within a social group; often used interchangeably with corporate culture
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Organizational structure
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the ways in which power and authority are distributed within an organization
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Isomorphism
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A constraining process that forces one organization to resemble others that face the same set of environmental conditions
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Endogamy
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marriage to someone within one's social group
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Exogamy
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marriage to someone outside one's social group
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Monogamy
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the practice of having only one sexual partner or spouse
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Polygamy
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the practice of having more than one sexual partner or spouse at a time
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Polyandry
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The practice of having multiple husbands simultaneously
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Polygyny
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the practice of having multiple wives simultaneously
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Nuclear family
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familial form consisting of a father, mother, and their children
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Extended family
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kin networks that extend outside or beyond the nuclear family
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Cohabitation
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living other in an intimate relationship without formal legal or religious sanctioning
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Kinship networks
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Strings of relationships between people related by blood and co-residence (that is, marriage)
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Cult of Domesticity
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The notion that true womanhood centers on domestic responsibility and child rearing
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Second Shift
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Women's responsibility for housework and childcare - everything from cooking dinner, doing laundry, bathing children, reading bedtimes stories, and sewing Halloween costumes
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Civil Unions
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Legally recognized unions explicitly intended to offer similar state-provided legal rights and benefits as marriage
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Domestic Partnerships
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Legally recognized unions that guarantee only select rights to same-sex couples
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Miscegnation
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The technical term for multiracial marriage. literally meaning "a mixing of kinds", it is politically and historically. charged. Multiracial marriage was illegal
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