ch 1 flip Flashcards
a German word that means to understand in a deep way
verstehen
a proposed explanation about social interactions or society
theory
a theoretical perspective through which scholars examine the relationship of individuals within their society by studying their communication (language and symbols)
symbolic interactionism
the systematic study of society and social interaction
sociology
the ability to understand how your own past relates to that of other people, as well as to history in general and societal structures in particular
sociological imagination
a group of people who live in a defined geographical area who interact with one another and who share a common culture
society
the social ties that bind a group of people together such as kinship, shared location, and religion
social solidarity
patterns of beliefs and behaviors focused on meeting social needs
social institutions
the laws, morals, values, religious beliefs, customs, fashions, rituals, and all of the cultural rules that govern social life
social facts
specific individuals that impact a person’s life
significant others
an error of treating an abstract concept as though it has a real, material existence
reification
statistical methods such as surveys with large numbers of participants
quantitative sociology
in-depth interviews, focus groups, and/or analysis of content sources as the source of its data
qualitative sociology
the scientific study of social patterns
positivism
philosophical and theoretical frameworks used within a discipline to formulate theories, generalizations, and the experiments performed in support of them
paradigms
the study of specific relationships between individuals or small groups
micro-level theories
sought consequences of a social process
manifest functions
a wide-scale view of the role of social structures within a society
macro-level
the unrecognized or unintended consequences of a social process
latent functions
a testable proposition
hypothesis
an attempt to explain large-scale relationships and answer fundamental questions such as why societies form and why they change
grand theories
the organized and generalized attitude of a social group
generalized others
a theoretical approach that sees society as a structure with interrelated parts designed to meet the biological and social needs of individuals that make up that society
functionalism
the part a recurrent activity plays in the social life as a whole and the contribution it makes to structural continuity
function
