Sociology Exam 1

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Sociology

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The study of human behavior in society

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C. Wright Mills

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One of the first to write about the sociological perspective in his book "The Sociological Imagination"

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Sociological Imagination

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the ability to see the societal patterns that influence the individual as well as groups of individuals

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Troubles

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privately felt problems that spring from events or feelings in a person's life.

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Issues

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problems that affect large numbers of people and have their origins in the institutional arrangements and history of a society

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Social Structure

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the organized pattern of social relationships and social institutions that together constitute society

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Empirical

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conclusions are based on careful and systematic observations

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Debunking

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looking behind the facades of everyday life

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Georg Simmel

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early sociologist especially interested in the role of strangers in social groups

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Diversity

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broad concept that includes studying group differences in society's opportunities, the shaping of social institutions by different social factors, the formation of group and individual identity, and the process of social change.

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Enlightenment

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characterized by faith in the ability of human reason to solve society's problems

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Auguste Comte

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French philosopher who coined the term "sociology"

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positivism

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a system of thought in which scientific observation and description is considered the highest form of knowledge

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social facts

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social patterns that are external to individuals

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Verstehen

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German word that refers to understanding social behavior from the point of view of those engaged in it

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organic metaphor

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comparing society to an organism whose parts work together to form a whole

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Social Darwinism

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The application of Darwinian thought to society

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Functionalism

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interprets each part of society in terms of how it contributes to the stability of the whole

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Conflict Theory

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emphasizes the role of coercion and power in producing social order

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Symbolic Interaction Theory

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considers immediate social interactions to be where "society" exists

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feminist theory

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analyzes the status of women and men in society with the purpose of using that knowledge to better women's lives

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Postmodernism

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based on the idea that society is not an objective thing. Instead, it is found in the words and images people use to represent behavior and ideas.

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culture

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complex system of meaning and behavior that defines the way of life for a given group or society

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material culture

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consists of the objects created in a given society

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Nonmaterial culture

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norms, laws, customs, ideas, and beliefs of a group of people

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What are the five characteristics of culture?

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1. Culture is shared
2. Culture is learned
3. Culture is taken for granted
4. Culture is symbolic
5. Culture varies across time and place

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Symbols

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things or behaviors to which people give meaning

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Language

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a set of symbols and rules that, combined in a meaningful way, provides a complex communication system

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Sapir-Whorf hypothesis

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asserts that language determines other aspects of culture because language provides the categories through which social reality is defined

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Norms

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specific cultural expectations for how to behave in a given situation

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William Graham Sumner

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identified two types of norms - folkways and mores

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Folkways

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general standards adhered to by a group

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Mores

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strict norms that control moral and ethical behavior

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laws

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written set of guidelines that define right and wrong in society

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social sanctions

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mechanisms of social control that enforce norms

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taboos

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behaviors that bring the most serious sanctions

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ethnomethodology

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theoretical approach in sociology based on the idea that you can discover the normal social order through disrupting it

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Beliefs

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shared ideas held collectively by people within a given culture about what is true

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Values

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abstract standards in a society or group that define ideal principles

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dominant culture

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the culture of the most powerful group in a society

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Subcultures

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cultures of groups whose values and norms of behavior differ to some degree from those of the dominant culture

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countercultures

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subcultures created as a reaction against the values of the dominant culture

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ethnocentrism

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seeing things from the viewpoint of one's own group

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cultural relativism

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the idea that something can be understood and judged only in relation to the cultural context in which it appears

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global culture

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the diffusion of a single culture throughout the world

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mass media

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the channels of communication that are available to wide segments of the population

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cultural hegemony

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the pervasive and excessive influence of one culture throughout society

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popular culture

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beliefs, practices, and objects that are part of everyday traditions

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reflection hypothesis

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contends that mass media reflect the values of the general population

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cultural capital

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the cultural resources that are deemed worthy and that give advantages to groups possessing such capital

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culture lag

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cultures adjust slowly to changing cultural conditions

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culture shock

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the feeling of disorientation when one encounters a new or rapidly changed cultural situation

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cultural diffusion

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transmission of cultural elements from one society or cultural group to another

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participant observation

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a sociological research technique in which the researcher actually becomes simultaneously both participant in and observer of that which he studies

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scientific method

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involves several steps in the research process including observation, hypothesis, testing, analysis of data, and generalization

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deductive reasoning

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create specific research question about a focused point that is based on a more general or universal principle

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inductive reasoning

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arrives at general conclusions from specific observations

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replication study

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research that is repeated exactly, but on a different group or studying the phenomenon at a different time

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research design

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overall logic and strategy underlying a research project

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quantitative research

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uses numerical analysis

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qualitative research

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less structured yet focuses on a central research question

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hypothesis

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prediction or hunch, tentative assumption

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data

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information to be studied

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variable

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characteristic that can have more than one value or score

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independent variable

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one that the researcher wants to test as the presumed cause of something else

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dependent variable

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one on which there is a presumed effect

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concept

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any abstract characteristic or attribute that can potentially be measured

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indicators

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something that points to or reflects an abstract concept

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validity

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the degree to which it accurately measures or reflects a concept

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reliability

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repeating under same circumstances gives same result

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sample

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any subset of people of a population

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population

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relatively large collection of people that a researcher studies and about which generalizations are made

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random sample

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everyone in sample has equal chance of being selected

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data analysis

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process by which sociologists organize collected data to discover the patterns and uniformities that the data reveal

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serendipity

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unexpected finding

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generalization

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ability to draw conclusions from specific data and to apply them to a broader population

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controlled experiment

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highly focused ways of collecting data and are especially useful for determining a pattern of cause and effect

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content analysis

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a way of measuring by examining the cultural artifacts of what people write, say, see, and hear

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evaluation research

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assesses the effect of policies and programs on people in society

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debriefing

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when researchers reveal the true meaning behind study after completion

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informed consent

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getting agreement beforehand to participate from the respondents or subjects after the purposes of the study are explained to them