CH2: Sociological Theory (Terms) Flashcards
1
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Social Theory
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A set of ideas that tries to explain how and why human societies are formed, change, and function
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Praxis
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(Theory + Practice) The cynical process to which humans use knowledge to act in the world, and then using practical experience to upgrade our knowledge
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Theory
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The activity of using concepts to organize the complexity of our experience into relatively simple patterns
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Concept
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Any idea that represents some group of phenomena
- A way of thinking that organizes things into categories
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Phenomenon
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Any thing, process, relationship, or quality that we can experience
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Object
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A phenomenon we act toward in some way (a person, an inanimate object, process, situation, idea, etc.)
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Social Relations
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The object of sociological inquiries. Any interaction or relationship between two or more individuals
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Emergent properties
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Combining individual elements to make a greater whole
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Levels of Emergence
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- Macro — Systems (e.g., capitalism, the nation-state, colonialism, hetero-patriarchy)
- Meso — Organizations (e.g., specific businesses, government bodies, nonprofit groups)
- Micro — Individual actions (e.g., individual actions, person-to-person interactions, subjective beliefs, values, perceptions, and motivations)
9
Q
Subjective Meanings
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The meaning that a person attaches to an action or experience of theirs, regardless of whether that meaning is shared by others or whether it is objectively correct
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Ontology
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The study of being; A body of claims about what kinds of objects do and do not exist and what makes them real
11
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Holism/Grand Theories
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Proposes that the actions of all members of society combine to form a totality or system—which has its own dynamics independently of its constituent parts; the dynamics of the system actively constrain or determine what individual people do
- Broad, abstract, comprehensive frameworks that propose general principles to explain how societies develop, function, and change. They aim to offer a universal understanding of the vast social dynamics and structures that shape human experiences.
12
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Middle Range
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Propose that individual action is constrained by middle-level emergent formations like institutions, discourses, or networks (i.e., education systems, justice systems, etc.), without attributing any determining influence to the organization of society as a totality
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Methodological Individualism
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The view that all social phenomena should be explained in terms of individual social actions and the subjective meanings that motivate those actions
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Epistemology
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What counts as valid or true knowledge
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Positivism
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Seeks an objective scientific understanding of the social world; seeks universal laws
- Opposite of interpretivism
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Empiricism
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(Positivism) The view that all valid knowledge must be based on empirical observations
16
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Objectivity
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(Positivism)
- Epistemologically: When a rational, informed, and honest observer agrees a statement is valid
- Ontologically: When the statement exists independently of the human mind (i.e, it exists regardless of people’s beliefs and whether they are aware of its existence
17
Q
Fact-Value Distinction
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(Positivism) The claim that moral or ethical values are subjective and cannot be proven factually true or false
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Interpretivism
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Seeks intersubjectively shared meanings that enable all humans to understand each other’s experiences, perceptions, and motivations
- Opposite of Positivism
19
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Hermeneutics
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(Interpretivism) The theory and methodology of the interpretation of subjective meanings
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Subjectivity
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(Interpretivism) The domain of human consciousness, including a person’s inner experience of the world and their sense of their own identity
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Intersubjective Validity
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(Interpretivism)
Validity based on mutually shared and accepted subjective meanings
- Something becomes valid only when its shared amongst several people
22
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Critical theories
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Seeks the transformation of social relations toward greater human freedom and equality
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Perspectivism
(Critical Theories) The claim that all knowledge is produced from particular perspectives and that there are more than one plausible conceptual schemes for making sense of the world
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Universalism
(Critical Theories) Combines the goal of constructing knowledge that will be valid for all human beings with the goal of changing society to achieve social justice for all.
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Praxis
(Critical Theories) The cynical process to which humans use knowledge to act in the world, and then using practical experience to upgrade our knowledge
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Paradigms
A set of assumptions that defines an ontology and an epistemology for a field, and provides some examples of specific models, while remaining open to further investigation
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Rational Choice Theory
(Micro theory) Explores how individuals make choices in the context of costs and benefits of different opinions
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Social Network Analysis
(Middle range theory) Studies the relationship between people in social groups
- **Main Inquiry**: *What are the effects of connections between people?*
(Does not observe individual experiences or society as a whole)
e for them
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Functionalism
(Holistic, Macro theory) A structural theory that examines how social institutions and processes work together to maintain a stable and functional society
- Assumes society is a bounded, integrated system of functionally interdependent parts (e.g., government, education, and economical systems work together to maintain a beneficial order)
**Main inquiry**:
- How are people’s actions driven by their relation to the functional need of society?
- How do people try to integrate the social forces in their lives?
- If their actions are dysfunctional, what is preventing them from achieving functional integration?
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Social Fact
Beliefs, moral codes, basic norms, and values that are passed from one generation to the next and shared by individuals who make up society
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Durkheim's Theory on Suicide
- Emilie Durkheim
Proposed that there are social influences that play into the act of Suicide
- The suicide rate is a *social fact*, influenced by other social facts
Suicide is a breakdown of societal order; it is the result of a lack of social integration or social solidarity
Established a *Suicidal Typology* chart
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Suicidal Typology chart (4)
1. **Too much integration**: People may be too willing to die
2. **Lack of integration**: No social bonds, lack of community
3. **Lack of regulation**: People may feel a lack of purpose; feel confused and disconnected (religion, legal system)
4. **Too much regulation**: oppressive society, prison system; lack of autonomy/freedom
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Parsons' theory of Social Systems
- Talcott Parson
Parson’s proposed that human social action is simultaneously organized by three action systems:
1. Personality System — Comprises the psychological needs and motivations of each individual
2. Social System — Comprising social norms and roles
3. Cultural System — Comprising cultural symbols and shared values
- As each system possesses its own internal dynamics, the three are never perfectly integrated
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Strain
when one social role puts a person under pressure because it involves conflicting expectations, and the surrounding environment doesn’t help make those expectations easier to manage
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Conflict Theory
- Draws heavily from the work of Max Weber
Explains social order as being the product of conflict among social actors
- Denied that society or social institutions exist as emergent phenomena
- Interested in the *inequalities* of society
- **Methodologically Individualistic Ontology**: The social world is made up of individuals, their actions, and subjective meanings that inform action
—Therefore, in Weber’s sociological theory, unlike Durkheim, there is no such thing as “functional integration,” only the various ways in which people cooperate or conflict with one another
- Developed the idea of *Social Stratification*
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Social Stratification
A society's categorization of its people into rankings based on factors like **Class** (Economic), **Status** (Social Respect), and **Power** (Representation/Acknowledgment in society)
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Class
(Economic) The forms of property income, valuable skills, social connections, and market opportunities that comprise a person’s economically determined life-chances
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Status
(Social Respect) The degree of respect or esteem a person enjoys within a group; or conversely—the disrespect, prejudice, or exclusion they suffer
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Power
(Representation/Acknowledgement) Ability to achieve intentions despite resistance from others.
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Capitalism
An economic system based on market competition and the pursuit of profit, in which the means of production or capital are privately owned by individuals or corporations
- Goods are produces on a mass scale for profit not individual consumption and sustainability
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Symbolic Interactionism (SI)
The self is an abstraction of the mind made out of symbols—therefore it is a social structure. It does not exist independently apart from society, but is actually made out of social stuff
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Symbol
(SI) Anything that can stand for, or represent, something else (ex. the word “cat” is a representative symbol of the physical animal, cat)
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Social Structure
(SI) A formation of social practices, organized in relatively stable patterns in which people create and become a part of (families, schools, religious organizations, social clubs, etc.)
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SI: The Looking-Glass Self
- Developed by **Charles Cooley**
The process by which individuals base their sense of self on how they believe others view them
- Example of symbols (shared meanings) affect our self-perception and self-esteem
- Views social interaction as a type of mirror
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SI: The Sociological Imagination
The unique traits that make up an individual are shaped and continuously redefined through their interactions with societal events, cultural symbols, and the expectations of broader social structures.
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SI: Dramaturgy
- Erving Goffman
Individuals perform actions in everyday life as if they were performers on a stage
**Front stage** and **Back stage** behaviours
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Impression Management
(Dramaturgy) Expressing certain information in order to impress certain ideas upon an audience during social interaction
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Cultural Hegemony
- Antonio Gramsci
The way the dominant group produces a worldview that makes its dominance seem natural, normal, and inevitable
- Main inquiry:
- Why do inequalities persist in society?
- Why are people so complicit to how society operates even when it doesn’t benefit them?
- Countered by **Counter-Hegemony**
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Counter-Hegemony
Writing, music, art, and activism that challenges Cultural Hegemony and shows how taken-for-granted ideas about social reality are produced by, and serve the interest of, dominant groups
- Critiques and dismantles the status quo
- Empowers marginalized voices and creates new spaces for dialogue and action
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The Coin Model of Privilege
A metaphorical tool used to illustrate how systems of inequality create unearned privilege for some individuals (heads of the coin) while simultaneously causing oppression for others (tails of the coin).
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Feminism
Enormously diverse, but generally holds the ideas that:
1. Social forces make women collectively subordinate to men
2. Social subordination of women is unnecessary, pernicious, and can be abolished through collection action
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Liberal feminism
Focuses on women having equal, legal, and political rights with men
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Radical feminism
More contemporary; Observes the affect of personal values, identifies that other factors relate to the oppression of women other than legal laws
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Socialist Feminism
Addresses the economic exploitation of women and connects feminism to working-class struggles
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Matrix of Oppression
Refers to how multiple forms of inequality (gender, race, class, etc.) overlap and intersect to produce different experiences (***intersectionality***)
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Intersectionality
- Patricia Collins
Particular forms of intersecting oppressions intersections (gender, race, class, etc.)
- Multiple factors produce our identities(race, class, gender, etc.), which intersect and therefore affect our individual experiences
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Marxism
- Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels
- Holism
Proposes that the foundations of every society are material social relations through which people produce the means of their existence
Defines class not in terms of income, but as a social relation that divides people’s access to the means of production
Opposes the capitalist class, where a small minority own the means of production (factories, raw materials, etc.)
**Key concepts**
- The proletariat / working class (which makes up the majority of a population) sell their labour power in exchange for a wage
- All value comes from labour; the bourgeoisie **exploit** workers by paying them less than the value they produce.
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Commodity
- Marxism
A good that can be bought and sold or exchanged for products of similar value.
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Alienation
- Marxism
By selling a part of themselves, workers are separated from their own humanity and from other people.
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Indigenism
A cultural movement and political ideology that advocates for the rights of Indigenous peoples
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Eurocentrism
The process of treating specifically European worldviews, historical experiences, and social institutions as if they are all universal to all human societies. It also refers to perspectives centred on or favourably biased toward European/western civilization
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Ethnocentrism
Judging other cultures based on the preconceptions originating in the standards and customs of one’s own culture
Involves looking at another culture form the perspective of one’s own culture
An ethnocentric individual will believe that his culture is better, “correct,” and “normal
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Cultural Relativism
Notion that a culture should be understood on its own terms, not using standards of another culture
Involves looking at another culture by its own perspective instead of one’s own culture
A person who believes in cultural relativism understands that one culture is not better than the other
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Non-Binary Integrative
The assumption is that categories based on descriptive opposites (him/her; man/woman; good/evil; human/nature) are useful in limited contexts, but when broadly applied without appropriate context they tend to oversimplify things.
