Chapter 1 Flashcards
Global Perspective
The study of the larger world in our society’s place in it.
High-Income Countries
The nations with the highest overall standards of living
Middle income countries
Nations with a standard of living above average of the world as a whole
Low income countries
Nations with a low standard of living in which people are poor
Positivism
Scientific approach to knowledge based on positive facts as opposed to mere speculation
Theory
The statement of how and why specific facts are related
Theoretical approach
The basic image of society that guides thinking and research
Social structure
Any relatively stable pattern of social behavior
Positivist sociology
The study of society based on scientific observation of social behavior
Science
A logical system that bases knowledge on direct systematic observation
Emperial evidence
Information we can verify with our senses
Concept
A mental construct that represents some aspect of the world in a simplified form
Variable
Concept whose value changes from case to case
Measurement
The procedure for determining the value of a variable in a specific case.
Reliability
Consistent in measurement
Validity
Actually measuring exactly what you intend to measure
Correlation
A relationship in which two or more variables change together
Independent variable
The variable that causes the change
dependent variable
The variable that changes
Spurious correlation
An apparent but false relationship between two or more variables that is caused by some other variable
Gender
The personal traits and social positions that members of a society attach to being female or male
Androcentricity
Approaching an issue from a male perspective
Research method
The systematic plan for doing research
Hypothesis
Statement of a possible relationship between two or more variables
Sociology
The study of human society
What is the sociological perspective and what does it mean to say “seeing the general in particular” Explain how the sociological perspective helps us to understand how society shapes our individual lives?
Sociology’s the special point of view that sees the general patterns of society in the lives of particular people; The sociological perspective helps us to see the opportunities and constraints in our lives empowers us to be active participants in society
Who was the pioneering sociologist who studied patterns of suicide in Europe? According to his findings, what was likely to influence whether someone took their life?
Durkheim; According to his findings, what was likely to influence whether the person took their life was social factors (such as men, wealthy individuals and unmarried adults were most likely to take their life
What two situations help people have more sociological thinking?
Structural Functional Approach
Social- Conflict Approach
What were the historical changes that stimulated the development of society as a discipline? In which country did sociology first appear? What century? Who was the person? What are the theological and scientific stages of history? What’s positivism based on? How is positivism based on? How is positivism related to sociology? When did sociology become an academic discipline in the U.S?
The spread of the Roman Catholic Church; Theological Stage, Metaphysical Stage, and Scientific Stage; Positivism is based on the assumption to observe social life and establish reliable valid knowledge about how it works; Positivism is related to sociology by the view of natural sciences; Sociology became established as a academic discipline in the U.S. in the 20th century
How do sociologists evaluate a theory? What are the three major theoretical approaches in society? How does the structural functional approach view society? What are social functions, manifest functions, latent functions, and social dysfunctions?
Sociologists evaluate a theory by they research to test and refine their theories;
Structural Functional Approach
Social Conflict Approach
Symbolic Interaction Approach
The structural functional approach views society as the need to keep society unified when many traditions are breaking down.;
Social Functions: The consequences of a social pattern for operation of society as a whole
Manifest Functions: The recognized and intended consequences of any social pattern
Latent Functions: The unrecognized and unintended consequences of any social pattern.
Social Dysfunction: Any social pattern that may disrupt the operation of society
How does the social-conflict approach view society? How would the social conflict approach analyze US schools? According to Karl Marx, what is the point of studying society? What is the gender conflict theory? What is the race conflict theory? Who is W.E.B Du Bios?-what did he study and what group was he part of?
The Social Conflict Approach views society highlights how factors such as race, ethnicity, gender, and age are linked to inequality in terms of money,power, education and social prestige; The social conflict approach shows how schooling reproduces class inequality from one generation to the next; Karl Marx’s point of studying society was to reduce inequality; The gender conflict theory is the study of society that focuses on inequality and conflict between men and women; it argues how our society places many positions over women in the home in the workplace and in the mass of the media; W.E.B Dubois Believe that scholarship not simply learn about societies problems but also try to solve them; he saw a sociology as a key to solving problems especially racial inequality; he studied the black communities around the United States and was a part of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People; he received his doctorate at Harvard University it was important because he was a person of color
Do social structures influence our life? In general can one individual change a social structure by themselves?
Social structure shape our lives and experience one individual can’t change a social structure by themselves
What are the macro level orientation and microlevel orientation and which theoretical perspective’s fall under which orientation?
Macro-level orientation: abroad focus on social structures that shape society; structural functionalist perspective and social conflict perspective
Micro-level orientation: A close-up focus on social interaction in specific situations; Symbolic Interactionist perspective
What is the symbolic interaction approach? What does it say about meaning? What is a criticism of symbolic interaction approach?
Symbolic-Interaction Approach: framework for building theory that see society as the product of the everyday interactions of individuals; it’s seeks to understand how humans make meaning in interactions and how behaviors influenced by those meanings; The criticism is society is nothing more than the reality that people can start for themselves as a interact with one another
What is descriptive statistics?
Given to the analysis of data that helps describe, show or summarize data in a meaningful way
What is the mean?
The average of the numbers
What is the median?
The number that is halfway into the set
What is the mode?
The value that occurs most often in a set of data
Why is it difficult to establish all the cause-and-effect relationships and social situation?
It is difficult to establish all the cause effect relationships and the Social Security should because most patterns of behavior have a single cause
What is the idea of objectivity
A researcher must not care personally but the topic being studied
What is interpretive sociology
The study of society that focuses on discovering the meanings people attached to the social world
What is critical sociology
The study of society that focuses on the need for social change
What is an experiment
A research method for investigating cause-and-effect under highly controlled conditions
What was the Stanford county prison experiment
The researchers experimented because they were interested in testing this is they wanted to find out if the prison setting is the cause of prison violence
What is a survey
A research method in which subjects responder a series of statements or questions on the questionnaire or in an interview
What is the difference between a population and a sample
A population is a collection of items about what you want to make inferences
A sample is a subject of people items are from a larger population that you collect and analyze to make inferences
What is participant observation
A research method in which an investigator systematically observe people are joining them in their routine activities
How is the study of homeless in Jackson Mississippi an example of participant observation
Ewoodzie did not have a specific hypothesis to test nor did he know at the outset exactly what the questions or issues which are not to be
How do sociologists at time make use of existing sources
Researchers must not avoid open-ended questions
What is sociological imagination
The vivid awareness of the relationship between personal experience and wider society
Who wrote about sociological imagination
C. Wright Mills
What are personal problems and public issues
Personal troubles occur at the individual level
Public issues is a public matter when some value desired public is felt to be threatened
How do social conflict theorists be a society and what do they emphasize
Sees social life as a competition and focuses on the distribution of resources power and inequality
According to H. Kay Trask what are the common images and ideas and beliefs about Hawaii and who benefits and who loses from them
The common ideas and believes about Hawaii is that Hawaii is theirs; The Hawaiians lose because daily life is neither soft nor kind… cultural reality for most Hawaiians is hard ugly and cruel; on the other hand the people who benefits are the tourists
