Chapter 1 - Terms Flashcards
Sociological perspective
understanding human behavior by placing it within its broader social context
society
people who share a culture and a territory
Social location
the group memberships that people have because of their location in history and society.
Science
The application of systematic methods to obtain knowledge and the knowledge obtain by those methods.
Natural sciences
the intellectual and academic discipliens designed to understand, explain, and predict events in our natural enviornment.
Social sciences
the intellectual and academic disciplines designed to understand the social world objectively by means of controlled and repeated observations.
Generalizations
a statement that goes beyond the individual case and is applied to a broader group or situation
Common sense
those things that “everyone knows” are true.
Scientific method
the use of objective, systematic observations to test theories
Positivism
the application of the scientific approach to the social world.
Sociology
the scientific study of society and human behavior.
Class conflict
Marx’s term for the struggle between capitalists and workers
Bourgeoisie
Marx’s term for capitalists, those who own the means of production
Proletariat
Marx’s term for the exploited class, the mass of workers who do nto own the means of production
Social integration
the degree to which memebers of a group or a soceity are united by shared values and other social bonds; also known as social cohesison.
patters of behavior
recurring behaviors or events
value free
the view that a sociologist’s personal values or beleifs should not influence social research.
values
the standard by which people define what is deseriable or undesirable, good or bad, beautiful or ugly.
Objectivity
value neutrality in research
Replication
the repetition of a study in order to test its findings.
Verstehen
a German word used by Weber that is perhaps best understood as “to have insight into someone’s situation”
subjective meanings
the meanings that people give their own behavior
social facts
Durkheim’s term for a group’s pattersn of behavior
basic (or pure) sociology
sociology in everday life logical research for the purpose of making discoveries about life in human groups, not for making changes in those groups
applied sociology
the use of sociology to solve problems- from the micro level of classroom interaction and family relationships to the macro level of crime and pollution.
public sociology
applying sociology for the public good; especially the use of the sociological perspective (how things are related to one another) to guide politicians and policy makers
theory
a general statement about how some parts of the world fit together adnd how they work; an explanation of how two or mote facts are related to one another.
Symbolic interactionism
a theoretical perspective in which society is viewed as composed of symbols that people use to establish meaning, develop their views of the world, and communicate with one another.
Functional analysis
a theoretical framework in which society is viewed as composed of various parts, each with a function that, when fulfilled, contributes to society’s equilibrium; also known as functionalism and structural functionalism
Conflict theory
a theortical framework in which society is viewed as composed of groups that are competing for scarce resources.
Macro-level analysis
an examination of large-scale patters of society; such as how Wall Street and the political establishment are interrelated.
Micro-level analysis
an examination of small-scale patters of soceity; such as how the members of a group interact.
social interaction
one person’s action influencing someone else; usually refers to what people do when they are in one another’s presence, but also includes communications at a distance.
Nonverbal interaction
communication without words through gestures, use of space, silence, and so on.
Globalization
the growing interconnections among nations due to the expansion of capitalism
Globalization of capitalism
capitalism (investing to make profits within a rational system) becoming the globe’s dominant economic system.
