Chapter 1 Flashcards
Sociological Perspective
Understanding human behavior by placing it within the broader social context.
Society
People who share a culture and a territory.
Social Location
The group membership that people have because of their location in history and society.
Positivism
The application of the scientific approach to the social world.
Sociology
The scientific study of society and human behavior.
Class Conflict
Marx’s term for the struggle between capitalism and workers.
Bourgeois
Marx’s term for capitalism, those who own the means of production.
Proletariat
Marx’s term for the exploited class, the mass of workers who do not own the means of production.
Patterns of Behavior
Recurring behaviors or events.
Theory
A general statement about how some parts of the world fit together and how they work; an explanation of how two or more facts are related to one another.
Basic (or pure) Sociology
Sociology research for the purpose of making discoveries about life in human groups, not for making changes in those groups.
Applied Sociology
The use of sociology to solve problems - from the micro level of classroom interaction and family relationships to the macro level of crime and pollution.
Public Sociology
Applying sociology for the public good; especially the use of the sociological perspective (how things are relayed to one another) to guide politicians and policy makers.
Functional Analysis
A theoretical framework in which society is viewed as composed of various parts, each with a function a that, when fulfilled, contributes to society’s equilibrium; also know as functionalism and structural functionalism. (Structure as a whole.)
Symbolic Interactionism
A theoretical perspective in which society is viewed as composed of symbols that people use to establish meaning, develop their view of the world, and communicate with one another.
Macro-level Analysis
An examination of large-scale patterns of society; such as how Wall Street and the political establishment are interrelated.
Micro-level Analysis
An examination of small-scale patterns of society; such as how the members of a group interact.
Social Interaction
One person’s actions influencing some else; usually refers to what people do when they are in one another’s presence, but also includes communications at a distance.
Non Verbal Interaction
Communication without words through gestures, use of space, silence, and so on.
Conflict Theory
A theoretical framework in which society is viewed as composed of groups that are competing for scarce resources.
Hypothesis
A statement on how variables are expected to relate to one another, often according to predictions from a theory.
Variable
A factor thought to be significant to human behavior, which can vary (or change) from one case to another.
Operational Definition
The way in which a researcher measures a variable.
Research Method (or Research Design)
One of seven procedures that sociologist use to collect data: surveys, participant observation, case studies, secondary analysis, analysis of documents, experiments, and unobtrusive measures.
