Chapter 1 Flashcards
The capacity of individuals to act and make decisions independently
agency
A social condition or normlessness in which a lack of clear norms fails to give direction and purpose to individual actions
anomie
An economic system characterized by private or corporate ownership, production, and sale of goods in a competitive market
capitalism
The shared meanings, symbols, concepts, categories and images of a social collectivity
collective representations
The specific reasons or drives that motivate individuals to interact
content
A theoretical perspective that focuses on inequality and power relations in society in order to achieve social justice and emancipation through their transformation
critical sociology
A group’s whole way of life including shared practices, values, beliefs, norms and artifacts
culture
The mutual understanding of the tasks or situation at hand shared among co-participants
definition of the situation
A type of analysis that proposes that social contradiction, opposition, and struggle in society drive processes of social change and transformation
dialectics
The replacement of magical thinking by science, technological rationality, and calculation
disenchantment of the world
The belief that physiological sex differences between males and females are related to differences in their character, behaviour, and ability
dominant gender ideology
The experience of a fissure or division in consciousness when one crosses a line between the abstractions of institutional knowledge and the direct, lived experiences of everyday/every night life
dual consciousness
A stable state in which all parts of a functioning society are working together properly
dynamic equilibrium
Social patterns that have undesirable consequences for the operation of society
dysfunctions
The philosophical tradition that seeks to discover the laws of the operation of the world through careful, methodical, and detailed observation
empiricism
Suicide which results from the absence of strong social bonds tying the individual to a community
egoistic suicide
The idea that the characteristics of persons or groups are significantly influenced by biological factors or human nature, and are therefore largely similar in all human cultures and historical periods
essentialism
The critical analysis of the way gender differences in society structure social inequality
feminism
The process of simultaneously analyzing the behaviour of an individual and the society that shapes that behaviour
figuration
The study of structures and processes that extend beyond the boundaries of states or specific societies
global-level sociology
An approach to understanding society that explains social change, human ideas, and social organization in terms of underlying changes in the economic (or material) structure of society
historical materialism
A perspective that explains human behaviour in terms of the meanings individuals attribute to it
interpretive sociology
A social process in which an individual’s social identity is established through the imposition of a definition by authorities
labelling
The unrecognized or unintended consequences of a social process
latent functions
The study of society-wide social structures and processes
macro-level sociology
Sought consequences of a social process
manifest functions
The study of specific, local relationships between individuals or small groups
micro-level sociology
The way a human society acts upon its environment and its resources in order to process and distribute them to meet their needs
mode of production
Philosophical and theoretical frameworks used within a discipline to formulate theories, generalizations, and the experiments performed in support of them
paradigms
Institutions of male power in society
patriarchy
The study of social structures and processes on the basis of a systematic description of the contents of subjective experience
phenomenology
The scientific study of social patterns using the methodological principles of the natural sciences
positivist sociology
A sociological approach which transforms aspects of social life into numerical variables, such as statistical methods and surveys with large numbers of participants
quantitative sociology
The general tendency of modern institutions and most areas of life to be transformed by the application of instrumental reason
rationalization
The philosophical tradition that seeks to determine the underlying laws that govern the truth of reason and ideas
rationalism
Referring to abstract concepts, complex processes, or mutable social relationships as “things.”
reification
Actions to which individuals attach subjective meanings
social action
A theoretical perspective that focuses on the socially created nature of social life
social constructivism
The external laws, morals, values, religious beliefs, customs, fashions, rituals, and cultural rules that govern social life
social facts
The role a social phenomenon performs in satisfying a social or biological need and ensuring the continuity of society
social function
An approach to social change that advocates slow, incremental improvements in social institutions rather than rapid, revolutionary change of society as a whole
social reform
Pre-established patterns of behaviour that people are expected to follow in specific social situations
social script
The degree to which a group of people cohere or are bound together through shared consciousness, qualities or social ties
social solidarity
General patterns of social behaviour and social coordination that persist through time and become habitual or routinized at micro-levels of interaction or institutionalized at macro or global levels of interaction
social structure
A group of people whose members interact, reside in a definable area, and share a culture
society
The ability to understand how personal problems of milieu relate to public issues of social structure
sociological imagination
The systematic study of society and social interaction
sociology
The examination of how society is organized and coordinated from the perspective of a particular social location, group or perspective in society
standpoint theory
A theoretical approach that sees society as a structure with interrelated parts designed to meet the biological and social needs of individuals that make up that society
structural functionalism
A theoretical perspective that focuses on the relationship of individuals within society by studying their communication (language, gestures and symbols)
symbolic interactionism
An explanation about why something occurs
theory
