Chapter 1(Intro To Sociology) Flashcards
Ice Breaker conversation makes use of what theory
Erving Goffman’s Dramaturgy
Erving Goffman’s Dramaturgy Theory
stresses the creative performance of roles(agency)
This theory suggests that small scale interaction are all about people trying to successfully perform roles so that people obtain desired impression.
What is the key take away from the Erving Goffman’s Dramaturgy
is that people actively construct who they are within the boundaries of stages- work,school,home etc. These performances are also structed by rules,scritpes and cues
Definition of Sociology
the systematic study of social interaction
Uses established theory and methods to systematically study social behavior
What is social action
Sociology is defined as a science concerning itself with the interpretive understanding of social action.
A behavior by an individual during an interaction to which the individual attaches meaning based on others’ interpretations or responses to the act.
Examples of social action?
Is the vast majority of human social behavior’s
Shaking hands to greet someone
What did Emily Durkheim argue?
She argued that sociology should focus on the study of social facts
Social facts?are values, cultural norms, and social structures that transcend the individual and can exercise social control.
What are social facts(Emily Durkheim)
What does Emily Durkhiem point too?
It consist of ways of acting, thinking and feeling
values, cultural norms, and social structures that make the individual and can exercise social control
This points to a tendency in sociology to focus on norm, values, beliefs, laws, customs social trends and etc. These guide our behaviors which is where we get the term social forces, social structure, social patterns.
Structural Functionalism Definition
Social Control
(what theory is it?)
Grand Theories
How various parts of society work together to create stability
-Durkheim stress on social control and integration for efficient function of society
Social Control: rules and restrictions that shape, supervise, and regulate the behaviors of individuals and societies
Max Weber’s Theory
Life chances is a theory in sociology which refers to the opportunities each individual has to improve their quality of life.
Weber’s idea that individual life chances are influenced by the unequal distribution of resource’s in society(like marx based on social class but also status/prestige and polilical power)
Symbolic Interactionism
(What theory is it)(Mirco Marco?)
Micro Theories
-Views society at the individual/small group
-is a theory that focuses on how individuals interact. It argues that people’s actions are based on the meanings they assign to things, which can differ depending on the person and can change over time.
Goffmans Dramaturgy
is the example people change to fit different situations
Like how actors perform many roles,
attempting to manage impressions, to varying degrees of success
Exchange Theory/Rational Choice Theory
Humans weigh the costs agaisnt benefits while forming relationships
emphasis on individual behavior as a
cost/benefit analysis with people trying to maximize their rewards while minimizing negative outcomes
Marco Structure
tend to stress large scale social forces that limit peoples choices and look for uniformity and clear patterns within society
Mirco Theories
perspectives on social action that tend to stress individual differences and creative adaption within various contexts
What happens if their is too much emphasis on structure and or agency
will produce an unrealistic view of society the determines(!!!) individual behavior on the one hand or denies social constraints on the other
they directly contradict one another
The Sociological Imagination
Who made it?
C. Wight Mills
argued that sociology should enable individuals to see the profound connection between personal problems and the wider historical and sociocultural context.
Mirco Level
Interactions including those with your self as well as family and close friend relatinships
Marco Level
dominant cultural norms and large scale patterns in terms of major economics, social, political , the environments, and technology
Structures(mirco or marco)
established patterns in terms of our daily routine(mirco) and wider (marco) social and economic relations
Agency
Individual Choice
Free Will
Understands Ones Life Chances
Use sociological imagination to understand your personal experience: How has your family background and resources influenced your biography and future life chances
What privileges/challenges that best explain your past/present/future( race/ethnicity/immigration/class/gender)
Agency
refers to the idea that people make their own decisions and are responsible for their own actions
Conflict Theory
first developed by Karl Marx
Grand Theory
is a theory that society is in a state of perpetual conflict because of competition for limited resources.
(sees society as divided along lines of economic class)
