Sociology 101 Exam 1

Front 1

What is Sociology?

Back 1

The systematic study of human social life, groups, societies and the social context in which behavior occurs

Front 2

The “sociological imagination” (Mills)

Back 2

The application of imaginative thought to the asking and answering of sociological questions. Someone using the sociological imagination “thinks himself away” from the familiar routines of daily life

Front 3

Personal troubles (Mills)

Back 3

“Personal troubles of the milieu: occur within the character of the individual and within the range of his immediate relations with others”

Front 4

Public issues (Mills)

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“Public issues of social structure: have to do with matters that transcend these local environments…and have do with the organization of…the institutions of a society as a whole.”

Front 5

Social structure

Back 5

The distinctive, stable arrangement of institutions whereby human beings in a society interact and live together. Social structure is often treated together with the concept of social change, which deals with the forces that change the social structure and the organization of society.

Front 6

Social norms

Back 6

principles or rules of social life that everyone is expected to observe. A norm either prescribes a given type of behavior or forbids it

Front 7

Socialization

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The social processes through which children develop an awareness of social norms. Socialization starts in childhood, but continues all throughout life.

Front 8

Theory

Back 8

A set of ideas that provides explanations for a broad range of phenomena.

Front 9

Sociological theory

Back 9

a set of ideas that explains a wide range of human behaviors.

Front 10

Globalization

Back 10

The development of social and economic relationships stretching worldwide. Key part of the study of globalization is the emergence of a world system.

Front 11

Social Construction of Reality

Back 11

an idea or practice that a group of people agree exist

Front 12

Social facts

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the aspect of social life that shape our actions as individuals. Durkheim believed that social fact could be studied scientifically.

Front 13

Division of labor

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The specialization of work tasks by means which different occupations are combined within a production system.

Front 14

Capitalism

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an economic system based on the private ownership of wealth, which is invested and reinvested in order to produce a profit

Front 15

Bureaucracy

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A type of organization marked by a clear hierarchy of authority and the existence of written rules of procedure and staffed by full-time, salaried officials

Front 16

Rationalization

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A concept used by Max Weber to refer to the process by which modes of precise calculation and organization, involving abstract rules and procedures, increasingly come to dominate the social world

Front 17

Functionalism: its core assumptions and limitations

Back 17

a theoretical perspective based on the notion that social events can best be explained in terms of the functions they perform—that is, the contributions they make to society

Front 18

Manifest Functions

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the functions of a type of social activity that are known to and intended by the individual involved in the activity

Front 19

Latent Functions

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functional consequences that are not intended or recognized by three members of a social system in which they occur

Front 20

Symbolic interactionism: its core assumptions and limitations

Back 20

a theoretical approach in sociology developed by Mead that emphasizes the role of symbols and language as core elements of all human interactions

Front 21

Rational choice theory

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the theory that an individual’s behavior is purposive.

Front 22

civil inattention

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the process whereby individuals in the same physical setting demonstrate to one another that they are aware of each other’s presences