Chapter 1 - Seeing and Acting Through the Lens of Sociology

Question 1

What is the definition of Agency? And what is an example of agency?

Answer 1

People’s ability to make choices, which then have an impact on the people around you. When enough people make choices, the macro level is affected.

Question 2

What is Anomie? And who coined it? What is an example?

Answer 2

Coined by Emile Durkheim, anomie is a state wherein traditional norms deteriorate, and social norms decline.

Question 3

Coined by Erving Goffman, what does it mean to ensure our appearances, words, and actions correspond to the specific roles we are playing?

Answer 3

Impression Management

Question 4

What three key factors led to the beginning of sociology as a discipline? Why were they significant?

Answer 4

1. Industrial Revolution - more social and extensional problems arose with more people moving into cities
2. Imperialism - The colonization of other nations brought forth questions on social factors and influences
3. Natural Sciences - disproved religious superstitions

Question 5

Why were the Enlightenment (1700’s) and the French Revolution crucial time periods for sociology?

Answer 5

• Sociology was influenced by the economic and social change of these two periods
• Prominent philosophers from these periods thought more about external elements of social interactions like culture.

Question 6

What are the two eras of scholarly sociology called regarding their participation with other disciplines?

Answer 6

1. Post-disciplinary - boundaries blurred between disciplines
2. Interdisciplinary - working together to understand a social phenomenon

Question 7

What is the definition of a theory?

Answer 7

A set of propositions intended to explain a fact or phenomenon

Question 8

What are the three types of theorists, and what is their purpose?

Answer 8

1. Positivist - approaches stem from the natural sciences and have an interest in an objective explanation and prediction
2. Interpretive - approaches focus on understanding - the ways that people come to understand themselves and others
3. Critical - approaches explore the role that power plays in social processes, power and emancipation (emancipation is the empowerment of the lower class)

Question 9

What are the five major Sociological Perspectives?

Answer 9

1. Functionalist
2. Conflict Perspective
3. Feminist Perspectives
4. Post-Modern Perspective
5. Symbolic Interactionist

Question 10

What are the three steps to a critical assessment?

Answer 10

1. Summarize
2. Evaluate
3. Respond

Question 11

What are the four forms of sociology?

Answer 11

1. Political Sociology
2. Academic Sociology
3. Policy Sociology
4. Private Sociology

Question 12

What is the Sociological Imagination, and who coined it?

Answer 12

The term coined by C. Wright Mills, Sociological imagination calls upon people to look at events and situations through different lenses and see how external factors could influence them.

Question 15

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