Chapter 1 Vocab

Question 1

sociological imagination

Answer 1

The application of imaginative thought to the asking and answering of sociological questions.

“Thinking away from the usual routines of daily life.

Question 2

social structure

Answer 2

The underlying regularities or patterns in how people behave in their relationships with one another.

Question 3

social construction

Answer 3

An idea or practice that a group of people agree exists. It is maintained over time by people taking its existence for granted.

Question 4

socialization

Answer 4

The social process through which children develop an awareness of social norms and values and achieve a distinct sense of self.

Particularly significant during infancy and childhood, but it continues into life. No one is immune to outside influences, so behavior is constantly modified.

Question 5

social facts

Answer 5

The aspects of social life that shape our actions as individuals.

Durkheim believed that they could be studied scientifically.

Question 6

organic solidarity

Answer 6

The social cohesion that results form the various parts of a society functioning as an integrated whole.

Durkheim

Question 7

social constraint

Answer 7

The conditioning influence on our behavior of the groups and societies of which we are members.

Durkheim regarded as on of the distinctive properties of social facts.

Question 8

division of labor

Answer 8

The specialization of work tasks by means of which different occupations are combined within a production system.

All societies have this to some degree (tasks for men/women). Industrialization made this more complex.

Question 9

anomie

Answer 9

A situation in which social norms lose their hold over individual behavior.

Concept brought into wide usage in sociology by Durkheim.

Question 10

materialist conception of history

Answer 10

View that material (economic) factors have a prime role in determining historical change.

Marx

Question 11

capitalism

Answer 11

An economic system based on the private ownership of wealth, which is invested and reinvested in order to produce profit.

Question 12

bureaucracy

Answer 12

A type of organization marked by a clear hierarchy of authority and the existence of written rules of procedure and staffed by full-time, salaried officials.

Question 13

rationalization

Answer 13

The process by which modes of precise calculation and organization involving abstract rules and procedures increasingly come to dominate the social world.

Max Weber

Question 14

symbolic interactionism

Answer 14

A theoretical approach that emphasizes the role of symbols and language as core elements of all human interaction.

George Herbert Mead

Question 15

symbol

Answer 15

One item used to stand for or represent another (i.e. a flag represents a nation)

Question 16

functionalism

Answer 16

A theoretical perspective based on the notion that social events can best be explained in terms of the functions they perform (the contributions they make to society).

Question 17

manifest functions

Answer 17

The functions of a type of social activity that are known to and intended by the individuals involved.

Question 18

latent functions

Answer 18

Functional consequences that are not intended or recognized by the members of a social system in which they occur.

Question 19

postmodernism

Answer 19

The belief that society is no longer governed by history or progress.

No “grand narrative” guiding its development. Highly pluralistic and diverse

Question 20

microsociology

Answer 20

The study of human behavior in the context of face-to-face interaction.

Question 21

macrosociology

Answer 21

The study of large-scale groups, organizations, or social systems.