Chapter 1 - An Introduction To Sociology Flashcards
Sociology
Scientific and systematic study of groups and group interactions, societies and social interactions from small and personal groups to very large groups.
Society
A group of people who live in a defined geographic area, who interact with one another, and who share a common culture.
Micro-level
Study of small groups and individuals interaction.
Macro-level
Study at trends among and between large groups and societies.
Culture
The group’s shared practices, values, and beliefs.
Sociological imagination
An awareness of the relationship between a person’s behavior and experience and the wider culture that shaped the person’s choices and perceptions.
Reification
An error of treating an abstract concept as though it has a real, material existence
Social facts
The laws, morals, values, religious beliefs, customs, fashions, rituals, and cultural rules that gou social lite - that may contribute to these changes in the family
Figuration
The process of simultaneously analyzing the behavior of individuals and the society that shapes that behavior
Quantitative sociology
An approach that uses stastical methods such as surveys large with numbers of participants where researchers uses statistical techniques to uncover patternsf human behavior
Qualitative sociology
Seeks to understand human behavior by learning through in-depth interviews, focus groups, and analysis of content sources (books, magazines, journals, and pop-media)
Hypothesis
A testable proposition
Paradigms
Philosophical and theoretical frameworks used within a discipline to formulate theories, generalizations, and the experiments performed in support of them.
The 3 Paradigms
- Structural Functionality/Functionalism (Macro/mid) - The way each part of society functions together to contribute to the functioning of the whole
- Conflict Theory (Macro) - The way inequities and inequalities contribute to social, political, and power differences and how they perpetuate power
3.Symbolic Interactionism (Micro) - The way 1-on-1 interactions and communications behave
Social solidarity
The social ties that bind a group of people together such as kinship, shared location, religion
Positivism
The scientific study of social patterns
Dynamic equilibrium
A stable state in which all parts of a healthy society work together properly
Social institutions
Patterns of beliefs and behaviors focused on meet social needs
Function
The part a recurrent activity plays in the social life as a whole and the contribution it makes to structural continuity
Theory
A proposed explanation about social interactions or society
Verstehen
A German word that means -to understand in a deep way
Manifest functions
Sought consequences a social process
Latent functions
The unrecognized or unintended consequences of a social process
Dysfunctional
Social patterns that have undesirable consequences for the operation of society
Antipositivism
The view that social researchers should strive for subjectivity as they worked to represent social processes,cultural norms, and societal values
Conflict theory
A theory that looks at societyas a competition for limited resources
Dramaturgical analysis
A technique sociologists use in which they view society through the metaphors of theatrical performance
Constructivism
An extension of symbolic interaction theory which proposes that reality is what humans cognitively construct it to be
Generalized others
The organized and generalized attitude of a social group
Grand theories
An attempt to explain large-scale relationships and answer fundamental questions such as why societies form and why they change
Significant others
Specific individuals that impact a person’s life
