Ch. 1: The Sociological Perspective

Question 1

What is sociology?

Answer 1

A scientific way of thinking about society and its influence on human groups; study of human behavior in society

Question 2

What is debunking?

Answer 2

The ability to look behind things taken for granted; looking behind facades of everyday life

Question 3

Why is diversity central to the study of sociology?

Answer 3

Because it is necessary to analyze social institutions; diversity shapes most of our social and cultural institutions.

Question 4

When and how did sociology emerge as a field of study?

Answer 4

It emerged during the Enlightenment in western Europe, in which reason became valued. Early sociologists begin insightful analyses of American culture.

Question 5

What are some of the basic insights of classical sociological theory?

Answer 5

Society is something that has essence in itself outside the individual. Society also has cultural, political, and economic factors.

Question 6

What are the major theoretical frameworks in sociology?

Answer 6

Functionalism, conflict theory, symbolic interaction theory, and feminist theory

Question 7

Define the Sociological Perspective (or societal imagiation)

Answer 7

The ability to see the societal patterns that influence the individual as well as groups of individuals

Question 8

What is a social structure?

Answer 8

The organized pattern of social relationships and social institutions that together contribute to society.

Question 9

What are social institutions?

Answer 9

The established and organized systems of social behavior with a particular and recognized purpose. (Ex. family)

Question 10

Define troubles

Answer 10

Privately felt problems that spring from events or feelings in a person’s life

Question 11

Define issues

Answer 11

Problems that effect large numbers of people and have their origins in the instiutional arrangements and history of a society

Question 12

What’s the difference between troubles and issues?

Answer 12

Troubles are privately felt for an individual, while issues effect larger groups of people

Question 13

In which big way is the world of sociology different from the past?

Answer 13

The world is no longer separated by geographic boundaries due to modern technology

Question 14

Describe functionalism.

Answer 14

It interprets each part of society in terms of how it contributes to the stability of the whole.

Question 15

Describe conflict theory.

Answer 15

Society is organized around the unequal distribution of resources and held together through power and coercion.

Question 16

Describe symbolic interaction theory.

Answer 16

Emphasizes the role of individuals in giving meaning to social behavior, thereby creating society

Question 17

What did Alexis de Touqueville believe?

Answer 17

They believed that Americans had little independence of mind

Question 18

What did Auguste Comte believe?

Answer 18

He believed that society could be studied scientifically; created positivism

Question 19

What did Harriet Martineau write about?

Answer 19

How to observe behavior as a participant

Question 20

What did Emile Durkheim focus on?

Answer 20

He focuses on the forces that held society together in moral cohesion

Question 21

What did Karl Marx believe?

Answer 21

He saw social class as a fundamental dimension of society that shapes social behavior

Question 22

What was Max Weber concerned about?

Answer 22

How ideas shaped society

Question 23

What was Jane Addams known for?

Answer 23

For developing housing projects for immigrants, slum dwellers, and other dispossessed groups

Question 24

What was W.E.B. Dubois troubled by?

Answer 24

The racial divisiveness in society

Question 25

Describe feminist theory.

Answer 25

It is the analyses of women and men in society intended to improve women’s lives.

Question 26

How does sociology differ from psychology?

Answer 26

Psychology focuses more on the individual, while sociology focuses on the broad social forces.

Question 26

Define social change.

Answer 26

The alteration of society over time.

Question 26

Define social interaction.

Answer 26

Behavior between two or more people that is given meaning.

Question 27

Who first coined the term “sociological imagination?”

Answer 27

C. Wright Mills

Question 28

What is Verstehen?

Answer 28

The process of understanding social behavior from the point of view of those engaged in it

Question 29

Define social facts.

Answer 29

A social pattern that is external to individuals.

Question 30

Define Positivism.

Answer 30

A system of thought that regards scientific observation to be the highest form of knowledge.