chapter 1 Flashcards
thinking like a sociologist
How did C. Wright Mills define sociological imagination?
A vivid awareness of the relationship between personal experience and the wider society.
What purpose does the sociological imagination serve?
It makes us aware of the relationship between individuals and the wider society.
C. Wright Mills believed that a lack of sociological imagination could lead to what?
It could make people apathetic.
According to Peter Berger, what does it mean to see to the general in the particular?
Looking at seemingly unique individual events and finding patterns that might point to broader forces at work.
According to Peter Berger, how can one practice seeing the strange in the familiar?
Looking at things that appear ordinary but instead of accepting it, questioning it.
When did the modern study of sociology begin?
During the Enlightenment (1650-1850).
Who are considered to be the “founding fathers” of modern sociology?
- Emile Durkheim
- Karl Marx
- Max Weber
What is Emile Durkheim most notable for?
He is most notable for his research regarding suicide; he argued that suicide revealed certain social patterns.
What did Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels believe would come from the collapse of capitalism?
An end to social inequality and social strike.
According to Marx and Engel, who would be the cause of capitalism’s collapse?
The proletariat would rise up against the bourgeoisie.
What is Max Weber’s most famous book called? What did it argue?
The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism.
It argued that religion was one reason the economies developed differently in the West and East.
-He examined the many ways social groups gain power in modern and historical society.
What notable work did Harriet Martineau write? What was the topic?
She wrote Society in America.
It criticized the social injustices that women, enslaved people, and the working poor often experienced.
What did the era of Enlightenment stand for?
A time for secularism as well as support for scientific exploration with an overall opposition to the aristocracy.
What are some important factors that led to the development of sociology?
1.Understanding the implications of religion
2. The development of scientific methods.
3. Technology having a similar objective to sociology; they both sought to improve or better understand the everyday lives or the average people.
Why is social structure important?
It constrains and shapes people’s behavior.
How is culture best defined?
The lens of values and beliefs through which we view reality.
What is the driving force behind every choice made by an individual?
Social Structure
What is a social institution?
A social structure made from several social relationships.
Statuses are?
Socially defined positions that describe how an individual should behave toward others.
Roles are?
Patterns of interaction with other’s.
When understanding sociology, what is the main goal for quantitative sociologists? Qualitative sociologists?
Quantitative - propose and test theories regarding social events.
Qualitative - propose and examine explanations of reality.
What was the focus of the Whitehall studies (1967-1977)?
How an individual’s position within social structure will affect their health and longevity.
What is Conflict theory mainly concerned with?
The unequal distribution of wealth and power in society.
Karl Marx proposed that social conflict comes from where?
The power difference between social classes.
Describe Marx’s dialectical materialism approach.
A conflict of classes, caused by material needs, gives rise to political and historical upheavals.
- this is seen in a series of contradictions and their solutions throughout history.
How do Marx and Weber differ in the importance given to cultural ideas in social conflict?
Marx - Changes in economic relations can change societies.
Weber - Ideas, including religious beliefs and economic views, can change societies.
What is a non-Marxist example of conflict theory?
John Porter - wrote the Vertical Mosaic.
It examines the unequal opportunities that different ethnic groups face in Canadian society.
Why is the Vertical Mosaic, by John Porter, still so popular?
It put to rest the misconception that Canada is a classless society.
What is one example of Marxist and Weberian ideas being combined?
The Frankfurt School.
- those who attended focused on the analysis of:
- capitalist ideology,
- mass consumerism,
- and popular culture.
The analysis performed at the Frankfurt School observed what?
- capitalist ideology,
- mass consumerism,
- and popular culture
all work to distract the masses from feeling exploited and alienated.
Ralf Dahrendorf’s (conflict theorist) most influential work was called what? What was the focus?
Class and Class Conflict in Industrial Society (1959).
- Coercion is what holds society together, not shared norms and values.
According to Lewis Coser, conflict is universal and never ending because?
It serves a social function.
- it can promote communication and cooperation.
What are two examples of modern conflict theories?
- Queer Theory
- Critical Race Theory
In its original form, how do functionalist’s view society?
A set of parts that work together to preserve the overall:
- stability and
- efficiency
of the whole.
In basic terms, conflict theory explores what?
The ways in which society clashes.
In basic terms, functionalism explores what?
Each aspect of society plays an essential and complementary role.
What is the “hallmark” of functional theory?
A concern with integration and social cohesion.
In relation to religion, what did Durkheim claim to be true?
Objects and beliefs that are venerated survive regardless of whether it’s logical because they increase social cohesion.
What were the three main concepts explored by Durkheim?
- Integration and social cohesion.
- Universality of certain activities; i.e. crime
- How religion/veneration increase social
cohesion.
How did Robert Merton contribute to the functionalist approach?
Recognized that social practices can survive through their latent functions, not only through their manifest objectives.
Why did Durkheim introduce the term “anomie” (normlessness)?
He sought to describe how social norms weaken in periods of rapid social change.
According to functionalists, what is a good solution to social problems?
- Strengthen social norms
- Increase social integration
Control theories are based on what theory? What does it believe?
- Based on functionalism.
- Strong social ties to institutions reduce the likelihood of crime.
What are social learning theories based on? What does it believe?
- functionalism; differential association theory.
- Some learn values and behaviors associated with deviancy through socialization and positive sanctions.
Who is seen as a progenitor of symbolic interactionism?
- Max Weber
- Georg Simmel
Verstehen
Coined by Weber; the notion that we must understand social action as a product of someone’s interpretation of the situation within which they are acting.
Dr. Susumu Higuchi researched what?
The effects of being too much of an epic gamer.
Social Constructionism.
What is it? Who was an early thinker?
- Examining how people interact to create a shared social reality.
- Alfred Schutz
Peter Berger was influenced by? Most notable for?
- Alfred Schutz
- Social Construction theory.
What is the social construction theory (Peter Berger)?
It explains how the processes of externalization, objectification, and internalization contribute to the social construction of reality.
Symbolic Violence
Nonphysical violence/harm perpetrated by the powerful against the powerless.
Feminist theory focuses on what?
Gender inequality and the domination of women by men.
Present day feminists focus on what?
Intersectionality
Sociologies main concerns are? Why is that the case?
- Culture
- Social Structure
Key in understanding how societies work.
