Ch. 1 Sociological Perspective Flashcards
Socio
Group that shares, unites, or aligns
Culture
Language, traditions, habits
Social Location
Job, income, education, gender, age, ethnicity, race
What did C. Wright Mills theorize
- urged sociologists to consider social reform because there was a threat of freedom from business leaders
External influences
Our experiences become part of our thinking and motivation
Sociological imagination
Theorized that our minds allow us to grasp the connection between history and biography
History
Location in broad streams of events
Biography
Individuals specific experiences
What was the way of thinking before sociology?
Traditional perspective, which was religion, over science
When did tradition start becoming hard to answer lifes questions
During the industrial revolution because workers were treated poorly
Who is the first founder of sociology
August comte
What did August Comte do?
- analyzed how societies change due to the French Revolution
- stressed scientific method but did not apply it in his research
What were Herbert Spencer’s main ideas?
- helping the poor was wrong because they were less fit
- did not believe sociologists should guide social reform
- essential a lower-higher class system
What were Karl Marx’s ideas?
- root of human misery lay in class conflict
- exploitation of workers by capitalists
- workers overthrowing capitalists was inevitable
What were Emile Durkheim’s ideas?
- he compared suicide rates in multiple different countries and uncovered that people are more likely to commit suicide when community ties are weak
- Social integration -
Social Integration
The degree to which people are tied to their social group
What were Max Weber’s ideas?
- society was dependent upon religion
- all underlying thoughts were influenced by religion
- spirit of capitalism
Spirit of Capitalism
Salvation through hard work
Why did Weber disagree with Marx?
Marx believed economics came from social change but Weber believed it was due to religion
Which author published books about race?
W.E.B Du Bois
Who founded Hull House?
Jane Addams
What is Hull House?
Helped immigrants
Basic sociology
Analyzing sociology only to gain knowledge
Applied sociology
Using sociology to solve society’s problems
Public sociology
Using socio perspective for public benefit
Symbolic Interactionism
- how people use symbols in every day life
- changing meaning effects expectations
Who founded the idea of symbolic interactionism?
George mead
Functional analysis
- society is made up of interrelated parts that work together
- one institution fails, society struggles
Conflict theory
- struggle between groups for power
- rooted in economics
When did conflict theory begin to gain popularity and why?
The 1960’s because of the civil rights movement
Micro or Macro?: functional + conflict theory
Macro
Mean
Average of all numbers
Median
Middle numbers
Mode
Number that occurs the most
Participation observation
Researcher participates in the way of life they are studying
Case study
researcher focuses on a single topic
Secondary Analysis
Analyze data collected by others
Correlation
Two variables exist together
Temporal priority
One thing happens before something else
independent variable must precede the dependent variable
Spurious correlation
Cause may be a third variable
Perfect positive correlation
The variables are always present together
Perfect negative correlation
One variable is present, the other is absent
Tearoom Trade
Controversial sociological study that is criticized because the participants did not know they were being studied and were misrepresented
Sociological perspective
Understanding human behavior bt placing it within its broader social context
Society
People who share a culture and territory
Bourgeoisie
Capitalists
Proletariat
Exploited class of workers
Patterns of behavior
Recurring behaviors or events
Theory
A general statement about how some parts of the world fit together and how they work
Macro-level analysis
Large-scale examination of patterns in society
Micro-level analysis
Small-scale analysis of patterns in society
Nonverbal Interaction
Communication without words through gestures, use of space, silence, etc.
Operational definition
The way in which researcher measures a variable
Population
A target group to be studied
Sample
The individuals that represent the population to be studied
Random sample
A sample in which everyone in targeted population has the same chance of being included in the study
Stratified random sample
A sample from selected subgroups of the target population in which those subgroups has an equal chance of being included
Rapport
A feeling of trust between researchers and the people they are studying
Unobtrusive measures
Ways of observing people so they do not know they are being studied
When did sociology first appear as a separate discipline?
- emerged mid-1800’s in western Europe during the industrial revolution
What was the position of women and minorities in early sociology?
- tended to focus on social reform
Why are the positions of Parsons and mills important?
Mills criticized Parsons’ abstract analysis of components of society and said that it does nothing for social reform which should be the goal. The significance of this debate is that is still continued today.
What is the relationship between theory and research?
- theory and research depend on each other
- theory generates questions to be answered by research
Explain why common sense is unreliable
common sense ideas are often limited or false
What are the eight basic steps of sociological research?
- selecting a topic
- defining the problem
- reviewing the literature
- hypothesis
- choosing a research method
- collecting data
- analyzing the results
- sharing results
How do sociologists gather data?
- surveys
- participant observation
- case studies
- secondary analysis
- documents
- experiments
- unobtrusive methods
How can gender affect research?
gender can lead to interviewer bias with participants shaping their responses based on the gender of the researcher
How important are ethics in sociological research?
ethics are of fundamental concern.
