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82 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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What does sociology offer?
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a perspective, a view of the world
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Sociological perspective
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stresses the social contexts in which people live
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Society
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a group of people who share a culture and a territory
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Social location
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the corners in life that people occupy because of where they are located in a society
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What makes us do what we do?
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The society in which we grow up and our particular location in that society lie at the center of what we do and what we think
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Science
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requires the development of theories that can be tested by systematic research
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Measured by science, when did sociology appear on the human scene?
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about the middle of the 1800s, when social observers began to use scientific methods to test their ideas
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What resulted in the birth of sociology?
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The scientific method was being tried out in chemistry and physics about the time that the Industrial Revolution ended. With tradition no longer providing the answers to questions about social life, the logical step was to apply the scientific method to these questions.
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Positivism
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the idea of applying the scientific method to the social world - first proposed by Auguste Comte
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What is sociology defined as?
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the study of society
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Who is often credited with being the founder of sociology? Why?
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Auguste Comte because he developed this idea and coined the term sociology (even though his conclusions have been abandoned)
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Who is sometimes called the second founder of sociology?
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Herbert Spencer
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What phrase did Herbert Spencer coin?
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the survival of the fittest (social Darwinism) - only the most capable and intelligent members of the society survive, while the less capable die out
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What did Karl Marx propose?
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Class Conflict - workers unite in revolution and throw off their chains of bondage resulting in a classless society - people will work according to their capabilities and receive according to their needs
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What did Emile Durkheim identify?
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Social integration, the degree to which people are tied to thier social group, as a key social factor in suicide - people who have weaker social ties are more likely to commit suicide
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From Drukheim's study of suicide, we see what principle as being central in his research?
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Human behavior cannot be understood simply in individualistic terms; we must always examine the social forces that affect people's lives
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What idea of Max Weber's is still controversial today?
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Religion was the key factor in the rise of capitalism
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Functionalist perspective
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Society is made up of interdependent parts that perform functions for society as a whole
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Under the functionalist perspective, it is believed that society is held together by social consensus. What is it?
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The majority agree on what would be good for everybody
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What are sociological theories based on?
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are based on certain basic core assumptions, or basic metaphysical, epistemological and moral premises, about the nature of the social world.
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Conflict perspective
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Portrays society as always changing and marked by conflict
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What are some major sociological research methods used?
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Surveys, observation, experiment, and analysis of existing data
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Symbolic interactionist perspective
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A micro view of society - people assign meanings to each other's words and actions - our response to a person's actions is determined by our subjective interpretation of that action
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What is participant observation?
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The researcher takes part in the group they are studying
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scientific method
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uses obcective, systematic observations to test theories
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What is symbolic interactionism?
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concentrates on the meanings that underlie people's lives (usually focuses on the micro level)
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What is functional analysis?
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stresses that society is made up of various parts that, when working properly, contribute to the stability of society (focuses on the macro level)
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What is conflict theory?
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stresses inequalities and sees the basis of social life as a competitive struggle to gain control over scarce resources (also focuses on the macro level)
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What is applied sociology?
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sociology that is used to solve social problems
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What is an independent variable?
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A factor that causes a change in another variable
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What is a dependent variable?
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a factor that is changed by an independent variable
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What is a rapport?
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a feeling of trust between researchers and subjects
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What are samples?
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individuals among a target population
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What is social interaction?
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what people do when they are in one another's presence
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What is sociology?
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the scientific study of society and human behaviour
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The ___________ stresses the social contexts in which people are immersed and that influence their lives.
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sociological perspective
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W.E.B. Du Bois
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the first African American to earn a doctrate at Harvard - for most of his career he taught sociology at Atlanta University - was concerned about social injustice, wrote about race relations, and was one of the founders of the National Assocation for the Advancement of Colored People
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Jane Addams
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founder of Hull House - a settlement house in the immigrant community of Chicago - in 1931, was a winner of the Nobel Peace Prize
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Harriet Martineau
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an Englishwoman who published Society in America decades before either Durkheim or Weber was born
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Laud Humphreys
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carried out doctoral research on homosexual activity - to obtain information, he misrepresented himself to his research subjects, when this became known he was questioned on his ethics
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Herbert Spencer
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believed that societies evolve from barbarian to civilized forms - first to use the expression "survival of the fittest"
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Robert Merton
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contributed the terms "manifest and latent functions" and "latent dysfunctions" to the functionalist perspective
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Scientific research follows eight basic steps, what are they?
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Selecting a topic, defining the problem, reviewing the literature, formulating a hypothesis, choosing a research method, collecting the data, analyzing the results, and sharing the results
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What do surveys involve?
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collecting data by having people answer a series of questions
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What is a random sample?
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everyone in the target population has the same chance of being included in the study
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Who are the respondents?
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people who respond to a survey
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What are close-ended questions?
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the respondent selects one answer from a list of possible answers
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What are open-ended questions?
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respondents answer the questions in their own words
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What are unobtrusive measures?
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observing social behaviour of people who do not know they are being studied
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Symbolic interactionists study what?
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How people use symbols to develop their views of the world and to communicate with one another
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What is the central idea of functional analysis?
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Society is a whole unit; it is made up of interrelated parts that work together
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What do functionalists say we need to look at to understand society?
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Structure (how the parts of a society fit together to make the whole) and function (what each part does, how it contributes to society)
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What is a manifest function?
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An action that is intended to help come part of a system
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What is a latent function?
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Unintended consequences that help a system adjust
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What do conflict theorists stress?
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Society is composed of groups that engage in fierce competition for scarce resources
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What is the macro-level?
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large-scale patterns of society
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What is a hypothesis?
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a statemenet of what you expect to find according to predictions that are based on a theory
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What are operational definitions?
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precise ways to measure the variables
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Who are the burgeoise?
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those who own the means to produce wealth - capital, land, factories, machines (capitalists)
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Who are the proletariat?
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the exploited class, the mass of workers who do not own the means of production
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What is class conflict?
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Karl Marx's term for the struggle between the burgeoise and the proletariat
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What was the posion of women in early sociology?
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Sociology appeared during a historical period of deep sexism. The few women who achieved the education to become sociologists were ignored.
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What is applied sociology?
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uses sociology to solve problems
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manifest functions
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action that is intended to help some part of the system
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latent functions
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unitended consequences that help a system adjust
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dysfuntions
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consequences tht harm society
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Functionalists and conflict theorists focus on the _______ level
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macro level - examination of large-scale patterns in society
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symbolic theorists focus on the _______ level
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micro level or social interaction
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social interaction
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what people do when they are in one another's presence.
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nonverbal interaction
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gestures, silence, use of space
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hypothesis
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statement of what you expect to find according to predictions that are based on theory
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variables
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factors that can vary or change
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operational definition
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precise ways to measure the variables
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research methods
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means by which you collect data
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validity
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operational definitions must measure what they are inteded to measure
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reliability
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if other researchers use your operational definitions, their findings will be consistent with yours
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population
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target group that you are going to study
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closed-ended questions
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questions followed by a list of possible answers
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open-ended questions
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allow people to answer in their own words
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unobtrusive measures
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observing the behavior of people who do not know they are being studied
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Mario Brajuha
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graduate student at the State University of New York who refused to give up his field notes because he promised to keep his information confidential - he was threatened with jail time and threatened by others who feared what his notes contained
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value free
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Max Weber declaired that a sociologist's values should not affect research - objectivity and neutrality were needed to keep findings from being biased
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