Sociology Midterm

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Focuses on how society creates order and stability.

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functionalism

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focuses on power relations and inequalities

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Conflict theories

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focuses on how people communicate in small groups and behave in everyday situations

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symbolic interactionism

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Three main theoretical perspectives:

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functionalism, conflict theories, symbolic interactionism

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Three main levels of analysis:

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Macro, Meso, Micro

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Large scale phenomena

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Macro

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medium scale

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Meso

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small scale levels

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micro

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_______ and ______ theories work at the macro level

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functionalism and conflict theories.

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works at the micro level

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symbolic interactionism

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Two main types of research

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Basic(pure) and applied

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seeking knowledge for its own sake

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Basic (pure) research

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trying to understand and solve specific problems

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applied research

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the process by which the modern world has come to be increasingly dominated by structures devoted to efficiency, calculability, predicatability, and technological control

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Rationalization

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Four characteristics of rationalization

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efficiency, calculability, predictability, and technological control

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the credit card industry has contributed to the rationalization process by the ________ with which it makes loans and deals with consumers

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efficiency

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_______ is demonstrated by scorecards that allow lenders to score people's performance in paying their bills.

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Calculability

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The _______ on credit cards is easy to see. if the cardholder is current on paying bills and the merchant accepts that particular type of card, the person knows the he or she will not be turned down.

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Predictability

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_______ of ________ refers to how the various tasks of a society are divided up and performed.

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Division of labor

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Bureaucratic organizations are characterized by specialization, and each member has highly specialized tasks to fulfill.

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Division of labor

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the practice of judging all other cultures by one's own culture

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ethnocentrism

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the knowledge, language, values, customs, and material objects that are passed from person to person and from one generation to the next in a human group or society.

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Culture

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a component of culture that consist of the abstract or intangible human creations of society (such as attitudes,beliefs,values) that influence peoples behavior.

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non material culture

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a component of culture that consists of the physical or tangible creations (such as clothing, shelter, and art) that members of a society make, use, and share.

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material culture

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a group of people who share a distinctive set of cultural beliefs and behaviors that differs in some significant way from that of the larder society

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subculture

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a group that strongly rejects dominant societal values and norms and seeks alternative lifestyles

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countercultures

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Some nations such as sweden are referred to as _______ _______ meaning that they include people who share a common culture and who are typically from similar social, religious, political and economic backgrounds

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homogeneous societies

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By contrast, other nations---- including the United States are referred to as _______ _______ meaning that they include people who are dissimilar in regard to social characteristics such as religion, income, or race/ethnicity

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heterogeneous societies

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collective ideas about what is right or wrong, good or bad, and desirable or understandable in a particular culture.

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Values

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est. rules of behavior or standards of conduct

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norms

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the complex framework of societal institutions ( such as the economy, politics, and religion) and the social practices (such as rules and social rules) that make up a society and that organize and establish limits on people's behavior,

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social structure

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a socially defined position in a group or society characterized by certain expectations, rights, and duties.

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status

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a social position that a person assumes voluntarily as a result of a personal choice, merit, or direct effort.

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achieved status

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a social position conferred at birth or received involuntarily later in life based on attributes over which the individual has little or no control, such as race/ethnicity, age and gender.

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ascribed status

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the most important status that a person occupies

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master status

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a material sign that informs others of a persons specific status

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status symbol

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a set of behavioral expectations associated with a given status

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role

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a groups or society's definition of the way that a specific role ought to be played

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role expectation

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how a person actually plays a role

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role performance

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a situation in which incompatible role demands are placed on a person by two or more statuses held at the same time

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role conflict

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a condition that occurs when incompatible demands are built into a single status that a person occupies.

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role strain

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a highly structured group formed for the purpose of completing certain task or achieving specific goals.
examples: colleges, corporations, or the government

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formal organizations

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we voluntarily join _______ organizations when we want to pursue some common interest or gain personal satisfaction or prestige from being a member.

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normative organizations

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Examples of normative organizations are

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political parties, ecological activist groups, religious organizations, parent-teacher associations, sororities and fraternities

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Association that people are forced to join. People do not voluntarily become members of _________ organizations

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Coercive

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Examples of Coercive organizations are

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Boot camps, prison, and some mental hospitals.

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we voluntarily join _______ organizations when they can provide us with a material reward we seek.

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Utilitarian organizations

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an organizational model characterized by a hierarchy of authority, a clear division of labor, explicit rules and procedures, and impersonality in personal matters.

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bureaucracy

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a small less specialized group in which members engage face to face, emotion based interactions over an extended period of time.

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primary group

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a larger, more specialized group in which members engage in more impersonal, goal-oriented relationships for a limited period of time

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secondary group

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a collection of people who happen to be in the same time but share little else in common

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aggregate

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a number of people who may never have met one another but share similar characteristics, such as education level, age, race, or gender.

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category

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a group to which a person belongs and with which the person feels a sense if identity.

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in-group

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a group to which a person does not belong and toward which the person may feel a sense of competitiveness or hostility

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out-group

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a group that strongly influences a person's behavior and social attitudes, regardless of whether that individual is an actual member

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reference group

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a web of social relationships that links one person with other people and through them with other people they know

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network

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the process of maintaining or changing behavior to comply with the norms established by a society, subculture, or other group.

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conformity

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is the extent to which people say or do things so that they may gain the approval of other people.

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compliance

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is a form of compliance in which people follow direct orders from someone in a position of authority

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obedience

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the process by which members of a cohesive group arrive at a decision that many individual privately believe is unwise

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groupthink

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Emily Durkheim's term fro the social cohesion found in industrial societies, in which people perform very specialized task and feel united by their mutual dependence

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organic solidarity

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Emily Durkheim's term for the social cohesion of preindustrial societies, in which there is minimal division of labor and people feel united by shared values and common social bonds

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mechanical solidarity

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a traditional society in which social relationships are based in personal bonds of friendship and kinship and on intergenerational stability

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Gemeinsschaft

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a large urban society in which social bonds are based on impersonal and specialized relationships, with little long-term commitment to the group or consensus on values

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Gesellschaft

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the ways in which an individual shows an awareness that another is present without making this person the object of particular attention.

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civil inattention

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the process by which our perception of reality is shaped largely by the subjective meaning that we give to an experience

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social construction of reality

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the situation in which a false belief or prediction produces behavior that makes the originally false belief come true.

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self-fulfilling prophecy

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the study of the commonsense knowledge that people use to understand the situations in which they find themselves

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ethnomethodology

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the study of social interaction that compares everyday life to a theatrical presentation

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dramaturgical analysis

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the practice of providing free, public schooling for wide segments of a nation's population.

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mass (universal) education

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open, stated, and intended goals or consequences of activities within an organization or institution.

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Manifest functions

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hidden, unstated, and sometimes unintended consequences of activities within an organization.

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latent function

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What are the the five major manifest functions education serves in a society?

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Socialization, transmission of culture, social control, social placement, and change and innovation.

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What are the three latent functions education serves?

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restricting some activities, matchmaking and production of social networks, creation of a generation gap

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the assignment of students to specific curriculum groups and courses on the basis of their test scores, previous grades, or other criteria.

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tracking

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Pierre Bourdieu's term for people's social assets, including values, beliefs, attitudes, and competencies in language and culture

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cultural capital

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the transmission of cultural values and attitudes, such as conformity and obedience to authority, through implied demands found in rules, routines, and regulations of schools

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hidden curriculum

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the inability to read and/or write at the skill level necessary for carrying out everyday tasks

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functional illiteracy