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153 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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sociology
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the scientific study of social interaction and social organization
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sociological imagination
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the ability to see our private experiences and personal difficulties as entwined with the structural arrangements of our society and the times in which we live
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microsociology
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the detailed study of what people say do and think moment by moment as they go about their daily lives
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macrosociology
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large-scale and long-term social processes of organizations, institutions, and broad social patterns
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August Comte
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founder of sociology, study of sociology must be scientific utilizing systematic observation, experimentation, and comparative historical analysis, divided study of society into social statics and social dynamics
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Harriet Martineau
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first book on social research methods, comparative analysis of slavery and the position of women in the western world
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Herbert Spencer
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depicted society as a system, created evolutionary theory social darwinism
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Social Darwinism
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application of evolutionary notions and the concept of survival of the fittest to the social world
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Karl Marx
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believed that basic principles of history on the economic environment in which societies develop, those who own the means of producing wealth and those that do not, class conflict, created dialectical materialsim
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Dialectical Materialism
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development depends on the clash of contradictions and the creation of new, more advanced structures out of these clashes
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Emile Durkheim
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believed in social solidarity, distinguishing between mechanical and organic solidarity, study of social facts
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Max Weber
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believed in the study of intentions, values, beliefs, and attitudes that underlie peoples behavior, Verstehen, value-free sociology
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American Sociology
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University of Chicago 1893, survey techniques, models of society, refined Marxism
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Contemporary Sociology
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critical theory, feminism, and postmodern social theory
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The Functionalist Perspective
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society as a system, structural characteristics as functions and dysfunctions or institutions, and distinguish between manifest functions and latent functions
members of a society share a consensus regarding their core beliefs and values |
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The Conflict Perspective
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structure of society and the nature of social relationships are the result of past and ongoing conflicts
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The Interactionist Perspective
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humans have the ability to communicate with one another by means of symbols, experience world as constructed reality
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Logic of Science
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look for correlations among variables
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Methods of Data Collection
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experiments, surveys, observation, and archival research
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Archival Research
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the use of existing records that have been produced or maintained by persons or organizations other than the researcher
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Class Conflict
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society is divided into those who own the means of producing wealth and those who do not, giving rise to struggles between classes
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Constructed Reality
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our experience of the world, meaning arises out of the interaction that takes place among people in the course of their daily lives
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Control Group
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the group that affords a neutral standard against which the changes in an experimental group can be measured
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Correlation
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a change in one variable associated with a change in another variable
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Dependent Variable
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the variable that is affected in an experimental setting
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Dialectical Materialism
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development depends on the clash of contradictions and the creation of new, more advanced structures out of these clashes
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Dysfunctions
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observed consequences that lessen the adaptation or adjustment of a system
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Economic Determinist
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a believer in the doctrine that economic factors are the primary determinants of the structure of societies and social change
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Experiment
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a technique in which researchers work with two groups that are identical, they introduce a change in one group but not the other, test the effects of an independent variable on a dependent variable
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Experimental Group
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the group in which researchers introduce a change in an experimental setting
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Functions
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observed consequences that permit the adaptation or adjustment of a system
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Hypothesis
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a proposition that can be tested to determine its validity
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Independent Variable
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the variable that causes an effect in an experimental setting
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Latent Functions
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consequences that are neither intended nor recognized by the participants in a system
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Manifest Functions
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consequences that are intended and recognized by the participants in a system
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Operational Definition
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a definition developed by taking abstract concepts and putting them in a form that permits their measurement
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Participant Observation
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a technique in which researchers engage in activities with the people that they are observing
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Power
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the ability to control the behavior of others, even against their will
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Random Sample
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a sampling procedure in which researches select subjects on the basis of chance
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Secondary Data Analysis
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analysis of data collected by others
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Social Dynamics
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aspects of social life that pattern institutional development and have to do with social change
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Social Facts
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aspects of social life that cannot be explained in terms of the biological or mental characteristics of the individual, people experiences this as external to themselves
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Social Statics
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aspects of social life that have to do with order and stability and that allow societies to hold together and endure
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Spurious Correlation
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apparent relationship between two variables produced by a third variable that influences the original variables
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Stratified Random Sample
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sampling procedure in which researchers divide a population into relevant categories and draw a random sample from each of the categories
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Survey
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method for gathering data on peoples beliefs, values, attitudes, perceptions, motivations, and feelings, data derived from interviews or questionnaires
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Unobtrusive Observation
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a technique in which researchers observe the activities of people without intruding or participating in the activities
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Value-Free Sociology
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sociologists must not allow their personal biases to affect the conduct of their scientific research
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Variable
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a concept that can take on different values, the term scientists apply to something they think influences (or is influenced by) something else
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Verstehen
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an approach to the study of social life in which sociologists mentally attempt to place themselves in the shoes of other people and identify what they think and how they feel, translates roughly as understanding
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Achieved Status
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a status that individuals secure on the basis of choice and competition
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Aggregate
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a collection of anonymous individuals who are in one place at the same time
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Ascribed Status
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a status assigned to an individual buy a group or society
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Category
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a collection of people who share a characteristic that is deemed to be of social significance
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Counterculture
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a subculture whose norms and values are substantially at odds with those of the larger society
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Cultural Relativism
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a value-free or neutral approach that views the behavior of a people from the perspective of their own culture
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Cultural Universals
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patterned and recurrent aspects of life that appear in all known societies
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Culture
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the social heritage of a people, those learned patterns for thinking, feeling, and acting that are transmitted from one generation to the next, including the embodiment of these patterns in material items
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Duties
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the actions that others can legitimately insist that we perform
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Ethnocentrism
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the tendency to judge the behavior of other groups by the standards of ones own culture
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Folkways
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Norms people do not deem to be of great importance and to which they exact less stringent conformity
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Group
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two or more people who share a feeling of unity and who are bound together in relatively stable patterns of social interaction
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Institutions
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the principal instruments whereby the essential tasks of living are organized, directed, and executed
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Language
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a socially structured system of sound patterns (words and sentences) with specific and arbitrary meanings
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Laws
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rules that are enforced by a special political organization composed of individuals who enjoy the right to use force
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Master Status
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a key or core status that carries primary weight in a persons interactions and relationships with others
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Mores
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norms to which people attach a good deal of importance and exact strict conformity
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Norms
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social rules that specify appropriate and inappropriate behavior in given situations
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Rights
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actions that we can legitimately insist that others perform
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Role
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a set of expectations (rights and duties) that define the behavior people view as appropriate and inappropriate for the occupant of a status
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Role Conflict
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the situation in which individuals are confronted with conflicting expectations stemming from their simultaneous occupancy of two or more statuses
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Role Exit
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occurs when people stop playing roles that have been central to their social identities
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Role Performance
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the actual behavior of the person who occupies a status
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Role Set
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the multiple roles associated with a single status
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Role Strain
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the situation in which individuals find the expectations of a single role incompatible so that they have difficulty performing the role
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Social Structure
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the interweaving of peoples interactions and relationships in more or less recurrent and stable patterns
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Society
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a group of people who live within the same territory and share a common culture
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Status
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a position within a group or society a location in a social structure
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Subculture
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a group whose members participate in the main culture of a society while simultaneously sharing a number of unique values, norms, traditions, and lifestyles
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Symbols
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acts or objects that have come to be socially accepted as standing for something else
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Values
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broad ideas regarding what is desirable, correct, and good that most members of a society share
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Age Norms
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Rules that define what is appropriate for people to be and to do at various ages
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Anticipatory Socialization
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the process in which people think about, experiment with, and try on the behaviors associated with a new role
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Body Language
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physical motions and gestures that provide social signals
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Communication
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the process by which people transmit information, ideas, attitudes, and mental states to one another
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Conditioning
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a form of learning in which the consequences of behavior determine the probability of its future occurrence
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Definition of the Situation
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a concept which refers to the interpretation or meaning people give to their immediate circumstances
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Dramaturgical Approach
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the sociological perspective that views the performances staged in a theater as an analytical analogy and tool for depicting social life
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Egocentric Bias
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the tendency to place ourselves at the center of events so that we overperceive ourselves as the victim or target of an action or event that in reality is not directed at us
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Euthanasia
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the painless putting to death of an individual who suffers from an incurable and painful disease
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Generalized Other
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the term applied to the social unit that gives individuals their unity of self, the attitude of the generalized other is the attitude of the larger community
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Hospice
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a program or mode of care that attempts to make the dying experience less painful and emotionally traumatic for patients and their families
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Impressions Management
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the term applied to the process whereby we present ourselves to others in ways that will lead them to view us in a favorable light
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Language Acquisition Device
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the view that human beings possess an inborn language-generating mechanism, a prefabricated filing system to order the words and phrases that make up human languages
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Life Course
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the interweave of age-graded trajectories with the vicissitudes of changing social conditions and future options that characterize the life span from conception through old age and death
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Life Events
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turning points at which people change some direction in the course of their lives
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Looking-Glass Self
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the term that applies to the process by which we imaginatively assume the stance of other people and view ourselves as we believe they see us
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Observational Learning
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learning that occurs when people reproduce the responses they observe in other people, either real or fictional, also referred to as modeling or imitation
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Paralanguage
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nonverbal cues, surrounding speech - voice, pitch, volume, pacing of speech, silent pauses, and sighs - that provide a rich source of communicative information
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Personal Efficacy
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the belief that one can overcome obstacles and achieve goals
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Proxemics
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the way we employ social and personal space to transmit messages
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Puberty Rites
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initiation ceremonies that symbolize the transition from childhood to adulthood
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Reflected Appraisals
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appraisals of ourselves that we see reflected in the behavior of others
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Reflexive Behavior
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actions through which people observe, interpret, evaluate, communicate with, and attempt to control themselves
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Self
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the set concepts we use in defining who we are
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Self-Conception
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an overriding view of ourselves, a sense of self through time
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Self-Esteem
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the belief that one is a good and valuable person
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Self-Image
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a mental conception or picture we have of ourselves that is relatively temporary; it changes as we move from one context to another
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Significant Other
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the term applied to a social model, usually an important person in an individuals life
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Social Clock
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a cultural timetable based on age norms and used by individuals to pace the major events of their lives
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Social Comparisons
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comparing ones performance, ability, or characteristics with those of others and rating oneself as positive, neutral, or negative
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Socialization
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a process of social interaction by which people acquire the knowledge, attitudes, values, and behaviors essential for effective participation in society
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Thomas Theorem
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the notion that our definitions influence our construction of reality, as stated by William I. Thomas and Dorothy S. Thomas, "If people define situations as real, they are real in their consequences."
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Social Learning Theory
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theory that emphasizes conditioning and observational learning
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Cognitive Development Theory
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theory that argues that socialization proceeds differently in sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operations stages
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Symbolic Interactionists
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reflexive behavior facilitates the development of the self
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Charles Horton Cooley
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founder of the looking-glass self
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George Herbert Mead
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believed that we gain a sense of self-hood by acting toward ourselves in the same fashion we act toward others, generalized other
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Erving Goffman
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founder of the dramaturgical approach, impression management
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Bureaucracy
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a social structure made up a hierarchy of statuses and roles that is prescribed by explicit rules and procedures and based on a division of function and authority
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Coercive Organization
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a formal organization that people become members of against their will
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Dyad
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a two-member group
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Ethnomethodology
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procedures - the rules and activities - that people employ in making social life and society intelligible to themselves and others
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Expressive Leader
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a leader who focuses on overcoming interpersonal problems in a group, defusing tension, and promoting solidarity
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Expressive Ties
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social links formed when we emotionally invest ourselves in and commit ourselves to other people
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Formal Organization
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a group formed deliberately for the achievement of specific objectives
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Group
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two or more people who share a feeling of unity and who are bound together in relatively stable patterns of social interaction
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Groupthink
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a decision-making process found in highly cohesive groups in which the members become so preoccupied with maintaining group consensus that their critical faculties are impaired
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Informal Organization
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interpersonal networks and ties that arise in a formal organization but that are not defined or prescribed by it
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In-Group
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a group with which we identify and to which we belong
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Instrumental Leader
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a leader who focuses on appraising the problem at hand and organizing peoples activity to deal with it
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Instrumental Ties
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social links formed when we cooperate with other people to achieve some goal
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Iron Law of Oligarchy
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the principle stating that bureaucracies invariably lead to the concentration of power in the hands of a few individuals who use their offices to advance their own fortunes and self-interest
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Mortification
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a procedure in which rituals employed by coercive organizations render individuals vulnerable to institutional control, discipline, and resocialization
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Negotiated Order
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the fluid, ongoing understanding and agreements people reach as they go about their daily activities
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Out-Group
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a group with which we do not identify and to which we do not belong
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Parkinson's Law
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the principle that states that work expands so as to fill the time available for it completion
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Primary Group
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two or more people who enjoy a direct, intimate, cohesive relationship with one another
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Reference Group
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a social unit we use for appraising and shaping our attitudes, feelings, and, actions
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Relationship
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an association that lasts long enough for two people to become linked together by a relatively stable set of expectations
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Relative Deprivation
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discontent associated with the gap between what we have and what we believe we should have
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Resocialization
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a process by which a person's old roles and identities are stripped away and new ones are created
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Secondary Group
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two or more people who are involved in an impersonal relationship and have come together for a specific practical purpose
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Social Dilemma
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a situation in which members of a group are faced with a conflict between maximizing their personal interests and maximizing the collective welfare
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Social Loafing
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the process in which individuals work less hard when working in groups than they do when working individually
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Total Institutions
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places of residence where individuals are isolated from the rest of society
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Trained Incapacity
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the term applied to the tendency within bureaucracies for members to rely on established rules and regulations and to apply them in an unimaginative and mechanical fashion
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Triad
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a three-member group
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Utilitarian Organization
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a formal organization set up to achieve practical ends
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Voluntary Organization
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a formal organization that people enter and leave freely
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Leadership Styles
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authoritarian style, democratic style, or laissez-faire style
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Amitai Etzioni
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believed in classified organizations on the basis of people's reasoning for entering them: voluntary, coercive, and utilitarian
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Max Weber
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believed that bureaucracy is a career with which you are not guaranteed
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