1.1 Basic Concepts Flashcards
Social Construction
An idea or practice that a group of people agree exists. It is maintained overtime by people taking its existence for granted.
Ex. Race, social class, family roles, marriage.
Social Imagination
The application of imaginative thought to the asking and answering of sociological questions. “ Take your normative practices and put them to the side and ask. How something different could occur.”
Social Structure
The underlying regularities or patterns in how people behave in their relationships with one another.
Social Order
What makes a society run smoothly.
Ex. Students sitting quietly in a classroom during a lecture
Explanations from sociologists for social order
- It is the most rational choice
- It is the result of norms internalized through socialization
- It is the product of beliefs and values
Socialization
The social processes through which childern develop and awareness of social norms and values. And achieve a distinct sense of self.
No individual are immune from the reactions of others around them, with influence and modify their behaviour at all phases of the life course.
Alexis de Tocqueville
He wanted to understand how the conditions of democracy and equality were possible.
His study, (Democracy in America) famously portrayed the US as a nation. Of joiners, leading sociologists today as whether current Americans are less involved in public spirited activities than their ancestors.
