chapter 1 terms Flashcards
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 society as a competition for limited resources
constructivism
an extension of symbolic interaction theory which proposes that reality is what humans cognitively construct it to be
culture
a groups shared practices, values, and beliefs
dramaturgical analysis
a technique sociologists use in which they view society through the metaphor of theatrical performance
dynamic equilibrium
a stable state in which all parts of a healthy society work together properly
dysfunctions
social patterns that have a undesirable consequences for the operation of society
figuration
the process of simultaneously analyzing the behavior of an individual and the society that shapes the behavior
function
the part of a recurrent activity plays in the social life as a whole and the contribution it makes to structural continuity
functionalism
a theoretical approach that sees society as a structure with interrelated parts designed to meet the biological and social needs of individuals that make up society
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
hypothesis
a testable proposition
latent functions
the unrecognized or unintended consequences of a social process
macro-level
a wide-scale view of the role of social structures within a society
