Chapter 1

Question 1

The application of imaginative thought to the asking and answering of sociological questions. “Thinks himself away” from the familiar routines of daily life

Answer 1

Sociological imagination

Question 2

The underlying regularities or patterns in how people behave in their relationships with one another

Answer 2

Social structure

Question 3

An idea or practice that a group of people agree exists. It is maintained over time by people taking its existence for granted

Answer 3

Social construction

Question 4

The social processes through which children develop an awareness of social norms and values and achieve a distinct sense of self

Answer 4

Socialization

Question 5

According to Émile Durkheim, the aspects of social life that shape our actions as individuals. Believed these could be studied scientifically

Answer 5

Social facts

Question 6

According to Durkheim, the social cohesion that results from the various parts of a society functioning as an integrated whole

Answer 6

Organic solidarity

Question 7

The conditioning influence on our behavior of the groups and societies of which we are members

Answer 7

Social constraint

Question 8

The specialization of work tasks by means of which different occupations are combined within a production system. Became vastly more complex during industrialization

Answer 8

Division of labor

Question 9

Th concept first brought into wide usage in sociology by Durkheim to refer to a situation in which social norms lose their hold over individual behavior

Answer 9

Anomie

Question 10

The view developed by Marx according to which material, or economic, factors have a prime role in determining historical change

Answer 10

Materialistic conception of history

Question 11

An economic system based on the private ownership of wealth, which is invested and reinvested in order to produce profit

Answer 11

Capitalism

Question 12

A type of organization marked by a clear hierarchy of authority and the existence of written rules of procedure and staffed by full-time, salaried officials

Answer 12

Bureaucracy

Question 13

A concept used by Weber to refer to the process by which modes of precise calculation and organization, involving abstract rules and procedures, increasingly come to dominate the social world

Answer 13

Rationalization

Question 14

A theoretical approach developed by Mead that emphasizes the role of symbols and language as core elements of all human interaction

Answer 14

Symbolic interactionism

Question 15

One item used to stand for or represent another—as in the case of a flag

Answer 15

Symbol

Question 16

A theoretical perspective based on the notion that social events can best be explained in terms of the functions they perform—that is, the contributions they make to the continuity of a society

Answer 16

Functionalism

Question 17

The functions of a type of social activity that are known to and intended by the individuals involved in the activity

Answer 17

Manifest functions

Question 18

Functional consequences that are not intended or recognized by the members of a social system in which they occur

Answer 18

Latent functions

Question 19

A sociological perspective that emphasizes the role of political and economic power and oppression as contributing to the existing social order

Answer 19

Conflict theory

Question 20

The ability of individuals or the members of a group to achieve aims or further the interests they hold. Large source of conflict

Answer 20

Power

Question 21

Shared ideas of beliefs that serve to justify the interests of dominant groups

Answer 21

Ideologies

Question 22

A sociological perspective that emphasizes the centrality of gender in analyzing the social world and particularly the uniqueness of the experience of women

Answer 22

Feminist theory

Question 23

Advocacy of the rights of women to be equal with men in all spheres of life

Answer 23

Feminism

Question 24

The theory that an individual’s behavior is purposive

Answer 24

Rational choice approach

Question 25

The belief that society is no longer governed by history or progress. This society is highly pluralistic and diverse, with no grand narrative guiding its development

Answer 25

Postmodernism

Question 26

The study of human behavior in the context of face-to-face interaction

Answer 26

Microsociology

Question 27

The study of large-scale groups, organizations, or social systems

Answer 27

Macrosociology