Sociology Key Words Chapter 1

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Sociology

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The scientific study of human activity in society. It includes the study of social forces that affect human behavior and thought.

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Social Forces

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Anything human or otherwise created that influence, pressure, or push people to interact, behave, or think in special ways.
ex: Globalization, racial classification, technology, symbolic meanings, and institutions

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Social Facts

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Collectively imporsed ways of thinking, feeling, or behaving that have "the remarkable property of existing outside the consciousness of the individual"
-they aren't the creations of the

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Egoistic suicidal state

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A state in which the ties attaching the individual to the group are weak. Because the ties are weak, they encounter less resistance to suicide

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Altruistic suicidal state

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A state in which the ties attaching the individual to the group are such that a person's sense of self cannot be separated from the group. ex: soldiers willing to die for their unit

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Anomic suicidal state

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A state in which the ties attaching the individual to the group are disrupted due to dramatic changes in circumstances (ex: economic situations)

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Fatalistic suicidal state

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A state in which the ties attaching the individual to the group are so oppressive there is no hope of release. individuals see their futures as permanently blocked.

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Sociological Imagination

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A perspective that allows us to consider how outside forces, especially our time in history and the place we live shape our life stories or biographies

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Biography

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Consists of all the events and day-to-day interactions from birth to death that make up a person's life.

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Troubles

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individual problems, or difficulties that are caused by personal shortcomings related to motivation, attitude, ability, character, or judgment. to resolve a trouble relies on changing the person in some way

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Issue

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A societal matter that affects many people and can only be explained by larger social forces that transcend the individuals affected. it isn't caused by a character flaw

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What two events in history caused the start of sociology?

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The Industrial Revolution and The Enlightenment

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industrial revolution

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the changes in manufacturing, agriculture, transportation, and mining that transformed virtually every aspect of society from the 1300s on

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What was the defining feature of the industrial revolution?

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Mechanization

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Mechanization

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The process of replacing human and animal muscle as a source of power with external sources of power derived from burning wood, coal, oil, and natural gas. this led to power tools, freight ships, and trains. It changed how goods were produces and how people worked.

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The Enlightenment

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A revolutionary intellectual and social movement that took place in europe and the US between 1680 and 1789.

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Positivism

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-Holds a valid notion that knowledge about the world can be derived only from using the scientific method.

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Law of three stages (positivism)

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-maintains that societies develop according to three stages: theocratic, metaphysical, and conceptually superior

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Theocratic stage (positivism)

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people explain the events going on in the world as the work of personified dieties with supernatural qualities that allow them to exert their will upon the world

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Metaphysical stage (positivism)

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people draw upon abstract and broad concepts to define features of reality that cannot be observed or known through observation (deals with "big" questions like meaning of life and good versus evil

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Conceptually Superior stage (positivism)

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people use scientific explanations to understand the world.

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social statics

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The forces that hold societies together and give them endurance overtime

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social dynamics

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forces that cause societies to change

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Karl Marx

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German. 1818-1853. studied capitalism as an institution and focused on conflict and social change

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conflict

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the major force driving social change

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class conflict

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an antagonism growing out of the opposing interests held by exploiting and exploited classes. shaped by means of production

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means of production

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the resources such as land, tools, equipment, factories, transportation, and labor that are essential to the production and distribution of goods and services

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Bourgeoisie

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the owners of the means of production. their interest lies with making a profit. to maximize profit they try to find labor saving techniques, the lowest-cost workers, and the cheapest materials

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Proletariat

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the individuals who must sell their labor to the bourgeoisie. their interest is increasing wages

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Emile Durkheim

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French. 1858-1918. focused on solidarity

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solidarity

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the system of social ties that acts as a cement connecting people to one another and to the wider society. believed we went as a society from mechanical to organic solidarity

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Mechanic Solidarity

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a system of social ties based on uniform thinking and behavior

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organic solidarity

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a system of social ties founded on interdependence, specialization, and cooperation. people mostly relate to others in terms of their specialized rol in the division of labor

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Max Weber

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German. 1864-1920. focused on meanings attached to social actions. questioned what motivated people to act in certain ways

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social actions

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actions people take in response to others- there are 4 types of social actions: traditional, affectional, value-rational, instrumental rational

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traditional (social actions)

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A goal is pursued because it was pursued in the past ("that's the way it's always been)

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affectional (social actions)

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A goal is pursued in response to an emotion such as revenge, love, or loyalty (soldiers)

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value rational (social actions)

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A desired foal is pursued with a deep and abiding awareness that the ways in which people go about pursuing a goal are valued as much more than achieving the desired goal. no compromising/cost cutting. follow a code of conduct. (get to what you want by doing it the right way)

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Instrumental rational (social actions)

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A valued goal is pursued by the most efficient means at any cost an irrespective of the consequences. there is no code of conduct governing the pursuit of goals. (do whatever it takes to get to what you want)

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disenchantment

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a great spiritual void accompanied by a crisis of meaning. (ex. ignoring that animals are living creatures in relation to factories)

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W.E.B DuBois

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American. 1868-1963. offered the concept of the color line when describing the industrial revolution and its effects on society

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color line (DuBois)

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a barrier supported by customs and laws separating nonwhites from whites especially with regards to their roles in the D.O.L. he trace its origins to the scramble for african in the early 1900s

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Jane Addams

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1860-1935. founded one of the first settlement houses in the united states. a forrunner of "public sociology"

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settlement houses

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community centers that served the poor and other marginalized populations. originated in London

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sympathetic knowledge

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firsthand knowledge gained by living and working among those being studied. knowing others increases the "potential for caring and empathetic moral actions"

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Sociological theory

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a framework for thinking about and explaining how societies are organized and how people in them relate to one another

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macrosociology

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focuses on large-scale conditions and processes like industrialization, globalization, and urbanization (functionalist/conflict)

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microsociology

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focuses on small scale interpersonal processes like relationships and individual interactions (symbolic interaction)

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what are the three major broad theoretical perspectives of sociology?

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Functionalst, conflict, and symbolic interaction

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Functionalist

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"how is social order in society maintained?. functionalists see sociology as a system of independent parts

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function

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the contribution a part makes to maintain the stability of an existing social order

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manifest functions

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a part's intended, anticipated, or recognized effects on maintaining
order

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latent functions

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a part's unanticipated, unrecognized or unintended effects of existing social order

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manifest dysfunction

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an part's anticipated disruption to an existing social order

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latent dysfunction

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unanticipated disruptions to an existing social order

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strength of functionalist perspective

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it offers a balanced overview of a part's anticipated/unanticipated effects on existing order

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weakness of functionalist perspective

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it provides no formula for evaluating whether functions outweigh dysfunctions

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Conflict Perspective

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asks "who benefits and who loses from the ways in which society is organized?"
-advantage groups benefit at the expense of disadvantage groups

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ideologies

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seemingly commonplace views justifying the existing state of affairs. (but really ideologies reflect the viewpoints of the dominant groups to disguise their advantages
-fallacy of legitimation

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strength of conflict perspect.

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it forces us to consider the ways dominant groups control scarce and valued resources.

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weakness of conflict perspect.

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it portrays the advantaged group as all-powerful and the disadvantaged as victims incapable of changing their circumstances

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symbolic interactionist perspective

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focuses on social interaction.
asks " how do people involved in interaction 'take account of what each other is doing or is about to do' and then direct their own actions accordingly. process depends on self-awareness, shared symbols, and negotiated order.

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self-awareness

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occurs when a person is able to observe and evaluate the self from another's viewpoint.
-people become objects to themselves and recognize what others see in them

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social interaction

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everyday encounters in which people communicate, interpret, and respond to each other's words and actions

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shared symbols

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-any kind of object to which people assign a name, meaning, or value. objects can be physical, social, or abstract. objects take on different meanings to different groups of people depending on audience and context

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negotiated order

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the sum of existing expectations and newly negotiated ones
-emphasizes that established meanings and ways of behaving can be reinforced and affirmed during interaction, but that they can also be ignored.