Chapter 1- Introduction

Question 1

Antipositivism

Answer 1

view that social researchers should strive for subjectivity as they worked to represent social processes, cultural norms, and values

Question 2

Conflict theory

Answer 2

society= competition for resources

Question 3

constructivism

Answer 3

reality is what humans perceive it to be

Question 4

culture

Answer 4

a groups shared values, practices, and beliefs

Question 5

Dramaturgical analysis

Answer 5

technique used by sociologists in which they view society through metaphor of theatrical performance

Question 6

dynamic equilibrium

Answer 6

stable state in which all parts of a healthy society work together properly

Question 7

dysfunctions

Answer 7

social patterns that have undesirable consequences for the operation of society

Question 8

figuration

Answer 8

process of simultaneously analyzing the behavior of an individual and the society that shapes that behavior

Question 9

function

Answer 9

the part that a recurrent activity plays in social life as a whole and the contribution it makes to structural continuity

Question 10

functionalism

Answer 10

theoretical approach that sees society as a structure designed to meet the biological and social needs of the people in it

Question 11

generalized others

Answer 11

general attitude of a social group

Question 12

grand theories

Answer 12

an attempt to explain the large-scale relationships and answer fundamental questions such as why societies form and change

Question 13

hypothesis

Answer 13

testable propsition

Question 14

latent function

Answer 14

unrecognized and unintended consequences of a social process

Question 15

macro-level

Answer 15

wide scale view of the roles of a social structure within society

Question 16

manifest function

Answer 16

sought consequences of a social function

Question 17

micro-level theories

Answer 17

relationships between small groups and individuals

Question 18

paradigms

Answer 18

philosophical and theoretical framework used within a discipline to formulate theories, generalizations, and experiments performed in support of them

Question 19

positivism

Answer 19

scientific study of social patterns

Question 20

qualitative sociology

Answer 20

in-depth, interviews, focus groups, analysis of content source for data

Question 21

quantitative sociology

Answer 21

statistical methods such as surveys (w/ large numbers of participants to calculate and look at trends and such)

Question 22

reification

Answer 22

error of treating an abstract concept as though it had real material existence

Question 23

significant other

Answer 23

person who has an impact on an individuals life

Question 24

social facts

Answer 24

laws, morals, values, religions, customs, fashions, culture etc that govern a society

Question 25

social institutions

Answer 25

patterns of beliefs and behaviors focused on meeting social needs

Question 26

social solidarity

Answer 26

social ties binding a group of people together like kinship, shared location, and religion

Question 27

society

Answer 27

a group of people in a defined geographical region

Question 28

social imagination

Answer 28

ability to understand how your own past relates to that of others and history in general, society in general

Question 29

sociology

Answer 29

systematic study of society and social interaction

Question 30

symbolic interaction

Answer 30

theoretical perspective through which scholars examine relationship of individual with a society by examining their communication through language and symbols

Question 31

theory

Answer 31

proposed explanation about social interactions

Question 32

Origins of sociology

Answer 32

emerged from philosophy

Question 33

difference between sociology and philosophy?

Answer 33

S= looking at how the world is
P= looking at how the world should be

Question 34

3 sociological perspectives

Answer 34

functional analysis, conflict theory, symbolic interaction

Question 35

What is functional analysis?

Answer 35

likens society to a machine, where social patterns contribute to orderly society.

Macro sociology

3 major assumptions:

• social patterns provide stability
• society is characterized by harmony
• change and adaption through EVOLUTION

Question 36

What is the conflict theory?

Answer 36

society is a competition for scarce resources
macrosociology

3 major assumptions:

• competition for resources is central
• inequality in power and reward build into the system
• derived from Karl Marx

Question 37

Symbolic Interaction

Answer 37

looks at the role the individual takes to cope, adjust, and adapt to society. Social rules come from people interacting.

MICROsociology

3 major assumptions

• symbols are important, language behaviors gestures etc
• meanings of things change as relationships change
• society=people coming to terms with one another

Question 38

What is the Human system

Answer 38

Environment in which people probe, define, assess, evaluate, and construct lives of joint conduct

weber and mead derived