ch.1 introduction to sociology

Question 1

What is sociology?

Answer 1

Its a scientific study of social behavior and human groups

Question 2

What does sociology focus on?

Answer 2

• How relationships/ groups/ communities influence peoples attitudes and behaviors
• How people influence other people/ groups
• How people are placed in groups that have unequal soci-political and economic opportunities
• How societies develop and change

Question 3

What’s Sociological imagination?

Answer 3

Its an awareness of the relationship between an individual and the wider society

Question 4

What’s the ability of the sociological imagination?

Answer 4

Its the ability to view society as an outsider would

Question 5

The sociological imagination looks beyond what?

Answer 5

It looks beyond limited understanding of human behavior

Question 6

What does the sociological imagination allow us to do?

Answer 6

It allows us to understand broader public issues beyond personal experiences

Question 7

What is science?

Answer 7

Its a body of knowledge obtained by methods based on systematic observation

Question 8

What is natural science?

Answer 8

Its the study of physical features of nature and the ways they interact and change

Question 9

What is social science?

Answer 9

Its the study of social features of humans and the ways they interact and change

Question 10

What is a theory?

Answer 10

Its a set of statements that seek to explain problems, actions, or behaviors

Question 11

What does Durkheims suicide study suggest?

Answer 11

It suggested that suicide is related to societal reasons, society’s cohesiveness or lack of cohesiveness

Question 12

Are theories final statements about behavior?

Answer 12

No they are not final statements of behavior

Question 13

Who were the early thinkers?

Answer 13

• Auguste Comte
• Harriet Martineau
• Herbert Spencer

Question 14

How did Auguste Comte contribute to society?

Answer 14

• He made a systematic observation of behavior
• Improved society
• Coined the term “sociology”
• Sociology- queen of all sciences

Question 15

How did Harriet Martineau contribute to society?

Answer 15

• Studied social behavior
• Emphasized the impact of economy, law, trade, health, and population on social problems
• First book on sociological methods
• Spoke out on rights of women, emancipation of slaves and religious tolerance

Question 16

How did Herbert Spencer contribute to sociology?

Answer 16

• Understood society instead of improving it or changing it
• Applied Darwins evolutionary theory to human societies
• Studied evolutionary change in society
• No need to change the society because society is evolving or gradually changing on its own

Question 17

Who are modern contributors to society?

Answer 17

• Emile durkheim
• Max weber
• Karl marx

Question 18

What did Emil Durkheim suggest?

Answer 18

That behavior must be understood within larger social context and not in individualistic terms

Question 19

What did Emil Durkheim develop?

Answer 19

Developed a fundamental thesis to help explain all forms of society

Question 20

What is anomie?

Answer 20

Its the loss of direction felt in a society when social control of individual behavior becomes ineffective

Question 21

What did Max Weber suggest?

Answer 21

That to comprehend behavior one must learn subjective meaning people attach to actions

Question 22

What is Verstehen?

Answer 22

Understanding, insight

Question 23

What is Ideal Type?

Answer 23

Its a construct (an important conceptual tool) for evaluating specific cases (Bureaucracy is an ideal type)

Question 24

What did Max Weber value?

Answer 24

He values free sociology in opposition to Marx

Question 25

What did Karl Marx suggest?

Answer 25

- That society is divided between two classes that clash in pursuit of interests - Emphasized group identification and associations that influences ones place in society (one membership of an economic class affects her attitudes)

Question 26

What were the two classes that clashed in Karl Marxs theory?

Answer 26

The exploiters and the exploited

Question 27

Who are the exploiters?

Answer 27

They are factory owners/ owners of means of production

Question 28

Who are the exploited?

Answer 28

Factory workers

Question 29

What did W.E.B Du Bois focus on?

Answer 29

He focused on religion at community level

Question 30

What did W.E.B Bois suggest?

Answer 30

He suggested that knowledge (and not opinion) is essential in combating prejudice

Question 31

What did W.E.B Bois found?

Answer 31

He founded the National Association for the Advancement of Colored people

Question 32

What term did DuBois coin?

Answer 32

Dubois coined the term "double consciousness"

Question 33

What is double consciousness?

Answer 33

Its the division of an individuals identity into two or more social realities like the experience of being black in white america

Question 34

What did Charles Horton Cooley examine?

Answer 34

He examined face-to-face groups (families, gangs, friendship networks)

Question 35

For Cooley what did these face-to-face groups shape?

Answer 35

They shaped peoples values, beliefs and ideals

Question 36

How did Jane Addams see herself?

Answer 36

She saw herself as a social reformer

Question 37

What did Jane Addams study?

Answer 37

She studied the society to improve it

Question 38

What type of work did Jane Addams combine?

Answer 38

She combined intellectual inquiry, social service work, and political activism a quest for creating a more egalitarian society

Question 39

What was Jane Addams concerned about?

Answer 39

She was concerned about the lives of immigrants, the poor, blacks, women and other underprivileged groups

Question 40

What kind of work did Robert Merton combine?

Answer 40

Combined theory and research

Question 41

What did Robert Merton develop?

Answer 41

He developed an explanation of deviant behavior where sociology should bring together macro and micro level approaches

Question 42

What is macrosociology?

Answer 42

It concentrates on a large-scale a phenomena or entire civilizations

Question 43

What is microsociology?

Answer 43

It stresses the study of small groups, often through experimental means

Question 44

What did Pierre Bourdieu suggest?

Answer 44

That capital sustains individuals and families from one generation to the next

Question 45

Two types of capital?

Answer 45

- Cultural capital | - Social capital

Question 46

What is cultural capital?

Answer 46

They are noneconomic goods reflected in knowledge of language and arts

Question 47

What is social capital?

Answer 47

They are collective benefits of social networks (family and friendship networks)

Question 48

What are major theoretical approaches?

Answer 48

- Functionalist perspective - Conflict perspective - The Marxist View - Feminist perspective - Interactionist perspective

Question 49

What is the Functionalist perspective?

Answer 49

It emphasizes the way parts of a society are structured to maintain its stability

Question 50

What was Talcott Parsons view?

Answer 50

He viewed society as a vast network of connected parts where each helps maintain the system as a whole

Question 51

What are the type of functions that maintain the stability of society?

Answer 51

- Manifest function - Latent function - Dysfunction

Question 52

What are the manifest functions?

Answer 52

They are open, stated, conscious functions intended and recognized consequences of an aspect of society

Question 53

What are the latent functions?

Answer 53

They are unconscious or unintended functions that may reflect hidden purposes

Question 54

What are dysfunctions?

Answer 54

They are elements or processes of society that may disrupt a social system or reduce its stability

Question 55

What is the conflict perspective?

Answer 55

It assumes that social behavior is best understood in terms of conflict or tension between competing groups

Question 56

What is The Marxist View?

Answer 56

Where conflict is part of everyday life in all societies

Question 57

What are conflict theorists interested in?

Answer 57

They are interested in how institutions may help maintain privileges of some groups and keep others subservient

Question 58

What is the feminist view?

Answer 58

It sees inequality in gender as central to all behavior and organization

Question 59

The feminist view is often allied with which theory?

Answer 59

Its often allied with the conflict theory

Question 60

The proponents of the feminist view tend to focus on

Answer 60

Proponents tend to focus on macro level

Question 61

How did the feminist view broaden social behavior?

Answer 61

By extending analysis beyond male point of view

Question 62

What is the interactionist perspective?

Answer 62

It generalizes about everyday forms of social interaction to explain society as a whole

Question 63

What is nonverbal communication?

Answer 63

Includes gestures, facial expressions, and postures

Question 64

Who was the founder of the interactionist approach?

Answer 64

George Herbert Mead

Question 65

Erving goffman suggested which approach?

Answer 65

The dramaturgical approach

Question 66

Whats the dramaturgical approach?

Answer 66

Where people are seen as theatrical performers

Question 67

Whats the sociological approach?

Answer 67

Where you gain broadest understanding of society by drawing on all major perspectives, noting where they overlap or diverge