Ch. 1-2 Textbook, Lecture 1-2

Question 1

Define sociology

Answer 1

Scientific study of human action and interactions

Question 2

Xenocentrism:

Answer 2

strong preference for own’s own culture

Question 3

Macrosociology

Answer 3

Sociological study on a very large scale
Study of large institutions, religious institutions, marriages, sports, minorities, or specific groups of individuals
Study of whole societies
Study of social arrangements and their patterns in society (such as marriage)

Question 4

Microsociology

Answer 4

Sociological study on a small scale
Small groups
Specific individuals within groups

Question 5

Sociological Imagination

Answer 5

Charles Wright Mills
Vivid awareness of the relationship between personal experience and a wider society
Outlook of society that tries to steer us away from thinking routinely in everyday lives so we can look at our lives in fresh ways

Question 6

How is the individual extricably linked with society?

Answer 6

we are not able to fully understand one of these without ht either

Question 7

Define the difference between personal troubles and public issues; as well as how they relate.

Answer 7

Personal troubles: result from individual challenges
Public issues: caused by larger social factors
-Always links between personal troubles and public issues (for example, an obese person struggling with weight is influenced both by society and their personal struggles)

Question 8

Define and explain Peter Berger and the Sociological Perspective.

Answer 8

Defined the sociological perspective: the ability to view the world from two distinct perspectives: seeing the general in particular and seeing the strange in familiar
-General in particular is similar to sociological imagination; having the ability to look at seemingly unique circumstances and recognize the common features involved
-Seeing the strange in the familiar: recognize the peculiar and strange elements in behaviors and situations that we have accepted as “normal”

Question 9

DEFINE Agency and give an example.

Answer 9

: the capacity to make choices that can alter our life paths as well as the paths of those around us (capacity for choice and free will while still being affected by social and physical environment)/ constrained by social structure

Question 10

Define Social Structure and give an example.

Answer 10

organized pattern of social relationships and social institutions that compose society

Question 11

Illustrate the difference between objectivity and subjectivity.

Answer 11

Objectivity: use of reason and best evidence to interpret an event (scientific)
Subjectivity: tendency to interpret reality through our own experiences, opinions, values, and beliefs (personal)

Question 12

Define the father of sociology and his primary beliefs.

Answer 12

Coined by Auguste Comte, 1838 (father of sociology)
Comte believed in systematic investigation of human behavior to improve society

Question 13

Define Harriet Martineau’s beliefs.

Answer 13

, studied social customs and practices in Europe and north America (argued for women’s rights, religious tolerance, and slave freedom); argued that scholars should act on their beliefs and knowledge in a way that benefits society

Question 14

Herbert Spencer and his beliefs:

Answer 14

did not want to change society, merely wanted to understand it

Question 15

Define the concept of Political economy:

Answer 15

studies the relationships between individuals and society, and between markets and the state

Question 16

Describe the Canadian Vertical Mosaic.

Answer 16

inequality among ethnic groups within Canada

Question 17

Define Functionalism; list its related theorists and illustrate its primary beliefs.

Answer 17

Theorists: Emile Durkheim, Robert Merton, Talcott Parsons.
Beliefs: Society is a set of interconnected parts that work together to preserve stability and the efficiency of social life
-(Human organs to compose a system example)
-To understand society, examine how parts of the society fit together to make a whole and how each part contributes to survival
-Social institutions that persist for a long term likely serve a purpose and help the society to survive
-We must all play our role for society to function properly and maintain our societal stability
Emphasizes consensus and stability

Question 18

Define the concept of Moral Order.

Answer 18

what is proper to do and reasonable to expect in society

Question 19

Describe the difference between manifest and latent functions.

Answer 19

Manifest functions: functions of society that are obvious to all and clearly stated
Latent Functions: unintended and less visible

Question 20

Define the Conflict Theory and its main theorists; explain its ideas.

Answer 20

Karl Marx, Max Weber, WEB de buis
-Inequality is pervasive and persistent: but it can be changed
Those with wealth and power work hard to maintain their positions by exploiting others beneath them; their position comes at the detriment of others (self-interest)

Question 21

Describe Marx’s ideas in greater depth.

Answer 21

Marx: mode of production, way of producing the material things we need to survive/ power of the worker
There are more disadvantaged people to overthrow the minority of the advantaged
Burgeoisie: who own the means of industrial production
Proletariat: people who work for capitalist wages
We are in struggle over scarce resources

Question 22

Describe Symbolic Interactionism and its main theorists; as well as its key ideas.

Answer 22

-Herbert Blummer, George Herbert Mead, Charles Horton Cooley, Erving Goffman; founded by Mead.
Society is nothing more than the creations of people interacting with one another
Shared meanings, definitions, and interpretations that hold people together in social relationships
Highlights the important ways in which meaning is created, constructed, mediated and changed by members of the societ
Views human beings as living in a world of meaning which is constantly changing

Question 23

Describe in greater depth Mead’s ideas.

Answer 23

Mead’s Concept of “I” and “Me”: “I” is our unsocialized self that is impulsive, creative, and craves spontaneity/ “Me” is socialized by significant others, reflects the values and attitudes of society that people have acquired through social interaction

Question 24

Describe the difference between backstage and front stage interactions proposed by Evering Goffman.

Answer 24

(Evering Goffman) Backstage interactions: when an individual is relaxed, uninhibited, and your real self shows through
Front-stage interactions: perform the way others expect us to behave

Question 25

Describe early feminism and its main theorists; describe its ideas historically and currently.

Answer 25

-Mary Wolstolencraft, Dorothy Smith, Kimberele Crenshaw, Bell Hooks, Dorothy Smith
-Three waves of feminism
Initial waves attempted to unify women against oppression and create freedom.
More modern waves utilize intersectionality to understand that there is not a singular approach or voice to dismantle oppressive structures.

Question 26

Describe Dorothy Smith’s standpoint theory.

Answer 26

Standpoint theory: even when arguing that a fact is a fact, facts are not always objective because they are subjective to a specific point of view

Question 27

Define scientific Unobtrusive Measures.

Answer 27

measures unaffected by respondent participation (observation of physical things on a person, the way a person clusters themselves about a room)

Question 28

Describe the difference between quantitative and qualitative approaches to research.

Answer 28

Quantitative, numerical, questions about behavior and statistical trends over time
Qualitative, non-numerical, individual experiences, motivations, and understanding the social world

Question 29

Describe the difference between the independent and dependent variable.

Answer 29

Dependent variable is the (effect)
Independent variable (cause), cause a change in dependent

Question 30

Define population, sample, and systematic random sampling.

Answer 30

Population: set of people who share specific characteristics of interest to the researcher
Sample is the studied part of that population
Systematic Random Sampling: sample is drawn randomly and systematically

Question 31

Identify two inaccurate ways to gather a sample.

Answer 31

Convenience sampling: INACCURATE studies people who happen to pass by the researcher when data is collected
Snowball Sampling: samples in which people selected for the study suggest other people to be in the study INACCURATE

Question 32

Explain the difference between validity and reliability.

Answer 32

Validity: accuracy of the measurement
Reliability: extent to which study produces consistent results

Question 33

Describe the pros and cons of participant observation research.

Answer 33

Sociologist takes part in the social unit being studied
Can distort research and confuse the researcher; they risk taking on the world view of the group they are participating in and losing their objective sense of what that group is doing
By observing the group while participating in it, researcher risks changing the processes they study

Question 34

Describe the primary ethics of research.

Answer 34

Research participants should not be harmed physically, psychologically, or emotionally
Research participants should have informed consent and the ability to withdraw consent
Cannot falsify research results
Cannot steal the work of others research

Question 35

Describe Zimbardo’s Prison Study, Milgram’s Obedience Study, and Humphrey’s Tearoom Trade and the ethical violations of each.

Answer 35

Humphrey’s Tearoom Trade: wanted to study male homosexual relationships, took down their license plates and found their home addresses, disguised himself to conduct non-consensual surveys

Question 36

Illustrate the theories of Alfred Schutz.

Answer 36

We navigate the world with common sense, which provides us a recipe-book to survive (taught a specific language, acquire skills through socialization) (strangers have the wrong recipes and are not able to navigate our society; questioning what others take for granted); seeing the strange in the familiar

Question 37

Explain professional sociology, critical sociology, policy sociology, and public sociology.

Answer 37

Professional Sociology: highly specialized research, academic world
Critical Sociology: conscience of pro sociology, with the aim that professionals do not become lost in irreverent debates (Michel Foucalt) how knowledge is derived and its history
Standpoint theory: even when arguing that a fact is a fact, facts are not always objective because they are subjective to a specific point of view
Policy Sociology: health, education, social welfare; using sociology to develop policies in these fields
Public Sociology: brings together sociology and the public outside the academic work, making it accessible with jargon-free language and making it applicable for those who are not in the severe academic world

Question 38

Define a social fact.

Answer 38

patterned way of acting, thinking and feeling: social groups and activities, institutions, and law, religious customs; exist prior to particular individuals, characteristic of a particular society that varies across culture, form of social control that involves constraining

Question 39

How do macro level approaches understand social structures? (Structural Functionalism and Critical Sociology)

Answer 39

Prexisting social arrangements that shape individual behavior. Social structures determine individual action; society acts upon on the individual. Constrains agency and shapes the individual. Society exerts force on its members.

Question 40

How do micro approaches view social structures? (Symbolic Interactionism)

Answer 40

Individuals exert on society through agency; society can still shape the individual but the individual is s till in charge.

Question 41

Describe the difference between positive and negative correlation.

Answer 41

Positive Correlation: both variables increase or decrease together
Negative Correlation: one variable goes up as the other goes down, vice versa

Question 42

Define Spuriousness.

Answer 42

A relationship between variables that appears causal but is not; there could be a third variable at work.

Question 43

Define the limitations of quantitative research.

Answer 43

Top Down Approach: researcher makes all the important choices
Value Neutrality: all research decisions are subjective choices.
Empiricism: not all social phenomena can be easily observed and measured empirically.
Law-Like Statements: complexity of human behavior and experience gets lost in simplified categories or statements
Context: ignores social context in which the research participants exist

Question 44

Define positivism.

Answer 44

a philosophical system that holds that every rationally justifiable assertion can be scientifically verified or is capable of logical or mathematical proof.

Question 45

Define double consciousness.

Answer 45

the experience of looking at one’s self through the eyes of a racist white society

Question 46

Define the response bias.

Answer 46

tendency of a responder on a survey to be deceptive in their information in order to make themselves look better.