Chapter 1

Question 1

archaeology of knowledge

Answer 1

Focault’s term for the process of “digging down” to find out how a piece of information was constructed, typically in order to discover or expose flaws in the way supposed facts or truths were established

Question 2

backstage

Answer 2

(as described by Goffman) the site of private, personal, or intimate encounters between individuals

Question 3

bourgeoisie

Answer 3

Marx’s term for the owners of the means of production (or capital, as it was known during the industrial area)

Question 4

capital

Answer 4

Marx’s term for the fund and properties necessary for the large-scale manufacture and trade of goods

Question 5

class

Answer 5

Marx’s term for a socioeconomic group defined either relationally (in relation to means of production - owner, worker), or absolutely (money, education, respect)

Question 6

conflict theory

Answer 6

a sociological perspective espousing the view that complex societies are made up of groups in conflict, with one or more groups dominating or oppressing others

Question 7

critical sociology

Answer 7

sociology that challenges both established sociological theories and the research that sociologists do

Question 8

cultural mosaic

Answer 8

a metaphor for any society in which individual ethnic groups are able to maintain specific distinctive identities

Question 9

discourse

Answer 9

a conceptual framework with its own internal logic and underlying assumptions. different disciplines, such as sociology and psychology each have their own discourses

Question 10

dramaturgical approach

Answer 10

(as described by Goffman) a way of approaching sociological research as if everyday life were taking place on the stage of a theatre

Question 11

disproportionate representation

Answer 11

a situation that occurs when an atypically high or low number of a particular social group is associated with a specific situation

Question 12

egalitarianism

Answer 12

the principle that all people are equal and deserve equal rights and opportunities

Question 13

ethnography

Answer 13

a research method in which communities or groups are studied through extensive fieldwork. ethnography requires the researcher to participate daily in the lives of the subjects, observing their actions and asking questions

Question 14

folk society

Answer 14

a rural, small-scale, homogenous society imbued with a strong sense of the sacred and the personal, usually in contrasts to urban societies

Question 15

front stage

Answer 15

the site of social interactions designed for public display

Question 16

ideology

Answer 16

a relatively coherent set of interrelated beliefs about society and the people in it

Question 17

impression management

Answer 17

the ways in which people present themselves publicly in specific roles and social circumstances

Question 18

intersectionality

Answer 18

the way different social factors combine to shape the negative experience of a minoritized group. the greater the number of negativity valued social locations you have, the greater the degree of discrimination you are likely to experience

Question 19

latent dysfunction

Answer 19

the unintended negative consequence of a social process or institution (eg. the way religion divides people)

Question 20

latent function

Answer 20

the largely unintended and unrecognized positive consequence of a social process or institution (eg. religion causes social opportunities to older people to wouldn’t otherwise have the chance)

Question 21

macrosociology

Answer 21

an approach to sociological inquiry that involves looking at the large-scale structure and dynamics as society as a whole

Question 22

manifest function

Answer 22

the intended and widely recognized function of a social process or institution

Question 23

melting pot

Answer 23

a metaphor for a country in which immigrants are believed or expected to lose their cultural distinctiveness and assimilate into the dominant society

Question 24

microsociology

Answer 24

an approach to sociology that focuses not on the grand scale of society but on the plans, motivations, and actions of the individual or a specific group

Question 25

narratives

Answer 25

stories that reflect the lives and views of the tellers

Question 26

objective/objectivity

Answer 26

a supposed quality of scientific research that is not influenced by emotions, personality, or particular life experiences the individual scientist. it better applies to the physical sciences than to social sciences

Question 27

policy sociology

Answer 27

the use of sociological research and data to produce social change, especially through government or corporate policy

Question 28

political economy

Answer 28

an interdisciplinary discipline that involves sociology, political science, economics, law, anthropology, and history. it looks primarily at the relationship between politics and the economics surrounding the production, distribution, and consumption of goods

Question 29

professional sociology

Answer 29

sociology that involves research typically designed to generate highly specific information, often with the aim of applying it to a particular problem or intellectual question. its usual audience is the academic world of sociology departments, academic journals, professional associations, and conferences

Question 30

proletariat

Answer 30

the people who work for wages and do not own capital, the means of production, in an industrial, capitalist society

Question 31

Protestant (work) ethic

Answer 31

a set of values embodied in early Protestantism, believed to have led to the development of modern capitalism (such as working all day, not indulging in anything)

Question 32

public sociology

Answer 32

sociology that addresses an audience outside of the academy. it is presented in a language that can be understood by the college-educated reader, without the dense style of the academic paper or journal, and express concern for a breadth of sociological subjects

Question 33

social fact

Answer 33

term for a patterned way of acting, thinking, and feeling that exists outside of the individual but that exerts control over all people

Question 34

social gospel

Answer 34

a movement in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in Canada, the US, and various European countries to apply the human welfare principles of Christianity to the social, medical, and psychological ills brought on by industrialization and uncontrolled capitalism

Question 35

social location

Answer 35

a unique vantage point influenced by the important social characteristics of an individual, including class, race, age, gender, sexual orientation, and degree of ability, that inform the individual’s perspective and shape their experience

Question 36

sociological imagination

Answer 36

the capacity to shift from the perspective of the personal experience to the grander, societal scale that has caused or influenced that personal experience

Question 37

sociology

Answer 37

the social science that studies the development, structure, and functioning of human society

Question 38

standpoint theory

Answer 38

the view that knowledge is developed from a particular lived position, making objectivity impossible

Question 39

structural functionalism

Answer 39

a sociological approach that examines the way social systems operate by viewing those systems in terms of the various parts or structures of which they were made. the structural-functionalist approach views society as being like a human body, made up of different structures each having its own function

Question 40

subjective

Answer 40

denoting theories, beliefs, and opinions, influenced by emotions, personality, and particular life experiences of the individual

Question 41

symbolic interactionism

Answer 41

a view of social behaviour that looks at the meaning of daily social interactions, including the words and gestures we use and how they are interpreted by others

Question 42

total institutions

Answer 42

institutions such as the military, hospitals, and asylums that regulate all aspects of an individual’s life

Question 43

totalitarian discourse

Answer 43

any discourse that makes a universal claim about how all knowledge and understanding can be achieved

Question 44

vertical mosaic

Answer 44

metaphor to describe a society or nation in which there is a hierarchy of higher and lower ethnic groups