Chapter 1- Textbook Flashcards
What did CW Mills suggest?
that people who do not recognize the social origins and character of they problems may be unable to respond to them effectively.
Who termed personal and social troubles?
C.W. Mills
What is quality of mind?
Mill’s term for the ability to view personal circumstances within a social context.
What is the sociological imagination? Who came up with the idea?
- CW Mills
- Mill’s term for the ability to perceive how dynamic social forces influence individual lives
What is a cheerful robot? Who came up with the term?
-Mill’s term for people who are unable to see the social world as it truly exists.
What two terms did Peter Perger come up with?
Seeing the general in the particular, and seeing the strange in the familiar.
What is seeing the general in the particular? Example?
Seeing the general in the particular is the ability to look at seemingly unique events or circumstances and recognize the larger (or general) feature.
-When you see a street person asking for spare change it is a specific and particular incident. But the see the general you recognize that while you saw one street person, there are may more you do not see.
What is seeing the strange in the familiar? Example?
To see the strange in the familiar is to look at something that seems normal and familiar and to see it as peculiar and strange.
-As you read this text everything seems as it should be, however while this all seems normal, it truly is strange.
What is agency?
the assumption that individuals have the ability to alter their socially constructed lives.
What is structure?
the network of relatively stable opportunities and constraints influencing individual behaviours
What are the 5 social factors that define you?
Minority status- face various forms of discrimination.
Gender- Canada is a patriarchy –> system whiner men control the political and economic resources of society.
Family structure- influences a child’s development. Loving families with adequate incomes raise productive children.
Urban-rural differences- where you grow up influences you and your worldview.
How did Confucius and the ancient Greeks influence sociology?
elaborate discussions and writings about society and the role of the individual
Who were the Sophists?
first paid teachers (ancient greece) travelled to teach the rich to live well and be happy; focused on the human being.
How did Socrates and Plato influence sociology?
deep reflection of the social condition
How did roman emperor Marcus Aurelius, Muslim philosopher Al Farabi, Italian St. Thomas Aquinas, William Shakespeare, and John Locke influence sociology?
explored the individual
When did Auguste Comte coin the term sociology?
1838
Auguste Comte ___Revolution
Scientific
What did Auguste Comte believe?
techniques used in the hard sciences would be applied to the social world.
What is Auguste Comte know for?
The Law of Three Stages
What are the three parts to the Law of Three Stages?
The Theological stage (earliest human ancestors-middle ages, 1300)- religious outlook.
The Metaphysical stage- science, not religion, was used to explain the world. Questioning of the church.
Positive stage- believed the world would be interpreted through a scientific sense. Observation, experimentation, and logic.
Why are Comte’s ideas not granted much credit?
1) 3 stages assumes human thinking is as good as it will get.
2) The idea that the third stage was emerging during Comte’s lifetime is self-serving.
What is positivism?
A theoretical approach that considered all understandings to be based on science.
A positivist approaches the world through 3 primary assumptions:
1) There exists an objective and knowable reality- assert that the physical and social worlds can be understood through observation,experimentation, and logic.
2) Since all science explores the same, singular reality, overtime all science will become more alike- since there is only one correct explanation for the physical world, scientific boundaries will fall away as we progress.
3) There is no room in science for value judgements- there is no good or bad science because all science is explaining the same reality.
What is an anti-positivism?
A theoretical approach that considers knowledge and understanding to be the result of human subjectivity.
An anti-positivist approaches the world through 3 primary assumptions:
1) While hard science may be useful for exploring the physical world, the social world cannot be understood solely through numbers and formulas- assert that formulas positivists use only have meaning when we collectedly assign social value to them–that is numbers only have relative importance.
2) All sciences will not merge over time and no single methodological approach (i.e. science) can reach a complete understanding of our world- anti-positivists suggest that to truly understand the human condition we need to appreciate and validate emotions, values, and human subjectivity.
3) Science cannot be separated from our values- positivists argue that all sciences are equal and should not be tainted by value judgements whereas anti-positivists suggest that what we choose to study is also a social expression.
What are values?
cultural assessments that identify something as right, desirable, and moral
What is quantitative sociology?
the study of behaviours that can be measure (ex. income levels).
