. Flashcards
- broad viewpoint, perspective, or lens that permit social scientists to have a wide range of tools to describe society, and then to build hypotheses and theories
- guiding principles or belief systems
- philosophical and theoretical frameworks used within a discipline to formulate theories, generalizations, and the experiments performed in support of them.
Paradigm
Three main paradigms
- Functionalist paradigm
- Conflict paradigm
- Symbolic interactionist paradigm
Study social events, interactions, and patterns, and they develop a theory in an attempt to explain why things work as they do
Sociologists
Seeks to explain social phenomena
constantly evolving and should never be considered complete
Sociological theory
These are also called testable propositions about society as these are created with the use of theories
Hypothesis
attempt to explain large-scale relationships and answer fundamental questions such as why societies form and why they change
Grand theories
Level of Analysis: Macro or mid
Focus: The way each part of society functions together to contribute to the whole
Sturctural Functionalism
Level of Analysis: Macro
Focus: The way inequalities contribute to social differences and perpetuate differences in power
Conflict Theory
Level of Analysis: Micro
Focus: One-to-one interactions and communications
Symbolic Interactionism
English philosopher and biologist who saw similarities between society and the human body
He argued that just as the various organs of the body work together to keep the body functioning, the various parts of society work together to keep society functioning
Hebert Spencer (1820 - 1903)
The parts of society that Herbert Spencer referred to were the __________, or patterns of beliefs and behaviors focused on meeting social needs
- such as government, education, family, healthcare, religion, and the economy.
Social Institutions
believed that society is a complex system of interrelated and interdependent parts that work together to maintain stability, and that society is held together by shared values, languages, and symbols
believed that individuals may make up society, but in order to study society, sociologists have to look beyond individuals to social facts
Emile Durkheim
the laws, morals, values, religious beliefs, customs, fashions, rituals, and all of the cultural rules that govern social life
Social Facts
Social ties within a group
Social solidarity
pointed out that social processes often have many functions
Manifest functions vs latent functions
Robert Merton (1910-2003)
consequences of a social process that are sought or anticipated
Manifest Functions
the unsought consequences of a social process
can be beneficial, neutral, or harmful
Latent Functions
Social processes that have undesirable consequences for the operation of society
Dysfunctions
Conflict theory
> bourgeoisie (capitalist)
> proletariat (workers)
Karl Marx
looks at society as a competition for limited resources
Conflict theory
Marx’s term for the proletarian’s inability to see her real position within the class system, a mis-recognition that is complicated by the control that the bourgeoisie often exerts over the media outlets that disseminate and normalize information
False consciousness
structural constrains that prevent workers from joining together
Class consciousness
German sociologist that agreed with some of Marx’s main ideas, but also believed that in addition to economic inequalities, there were inequalities of political power and social structure that caused conflict. (Different backgrounds)
Max Weber
articulated the conflict perspective when she theorized a connection between an increase in lynching and an increase in black socio-economic mobility in the United States from the late 1800s into the mid-20th century
examined competition within the feminist movement as women fought for the right to vote, yet the presumably egalitarian mainstream suffragist movements were headed by white women who excluded black women from suffrage
Ida B. Wells
