Chapter 1: What Is Sociology Flashcards
Scientific knowledge
Comprehensive, clear, consistent
Sociology
The study of society; groups with patterned ways
Large insititutions, mass culture, small groups, relationships
Howard Becker
Believed as the study”doing things together”
No one lives in isolation; we’re all human beings
Disciplines that use the scientific method to examine the social world but also mixes with natural science (history, geography, psychology, political science
Social science
Looks at the individual in the relationship to external social forces
Sociological Perspective
Beginners Mind
Approaching the world in a new way w/o facts, projections, assumptions, opinions, and explanations
Model for understanding self and society
Paradigm shift
Person making a choice, and dealing with consequences as well as rewards
Individualism
Culture shock
Feeling of disorientation/ out of place when your in a new environment
(Ex. Going to a new country)
Someone may find your life just as foreign
Sociological imagination
Things not happening by chance,, circumstances, or matter of character. But from specifics from cultural & historical context
(Ex. Outsourcing, migration patterns, downsizing)
Diversity
Variety of people that make of gender, race, age, social class, disability status, ethnicity, religions etc.
Social system
Taking the positions, ideas, and other elements thinking what the results will be as a whole.
Individuals = social systems
The initial small difference in the beginning of success or opportunity and gets bigger
Accumulative advantage
Microsociology
Level of analysis that studies face to face and small group interactions in order to understand how they affect larger patterns
Macrosociology
Level analysis that studies large scale social structures in order to determine how they affect lives of groups/individuals
Abstract propositions that explain the social world and make predictions
Theories
Structural Functionalism (functionalist theory)
Emile Durkheim
- society is a unified whole that functions b/c of the contributions of its separate functions
- most dominant theoretical perspective into 20th century
Mechanical Solidarity
Emile Durkheim
- Bond together by shared traditions, beliefs, and experiences
Organic Solidarity
Emile Durkheim
- people’s bonds were based on the tasks they performed, interdependence & individual rights
- more in industrial societies at the time
Sense of disconnection brought about by changing conditions of modern life
Anomie
Solidarity
Integration/unity within a particular society. Individuals feel connected to other members of the group
(Ex. Religion- power source, reinforces collective bonds and shared moral values)
The holy, divine, or supernatural
Sacred
The ordinary, mundane, or everyday
Profane
Collective Effervescence
An intense energy on shared events where people feel swept up in something larger than themselves
(Ex. Live concert, sporting event)
Collective conscience
Shared morals/ beliefs that are common to a group and which foster social solidarity
- group must be frequently renewed thru the ritual( common religious tradition)
Empirical Method
Based on scientific experimentation or observation
Structures ( 1 of 2 main principles of functionalism)
Society is conceived as a stable over time & meets the needs of society by performing functions necessary to maintain order & stability
(Ex. Family, educational system, politics, economy)
- If structure is transformed, the others must adjust
Dysfunction ( 1 of 2 principles of functionalism)
A disturbance to or undesirable consequence of some aspect of the social system
( ex. Families don’t discipline kids, schools, church)
Social cohesion
Shared religion and moral values
Manifest function
Robert Merton
- the obvious, intended, functions of social structure for the social system
Latent function
Robert Merton
- less obvious, unintended functions
Advantages of functionalism
Attempts to provide universal social theory
Ability to bring order to a potentially disorderly world
Cons of Functionalism
Provides little insight to social processes b/c it’s model of society is static then dynamic
Focus on macro level
Conflict theory
Sees social conflict as basis of society & social change, & emphasizes a materialist view of the status quo
- dynamic model of historical change
- 2nd major thought in sociology
Unequal distribution of wealth, power, or prestige among members of society
Social inequality
Karl Marx
Conflict theory
“Marxism”
Political system based on the collective ownership of the means of production; opposed to capitalism
Communism
Conflict
Generated by competition Mong different class groups for scarce resources and the source of all social change
Emerging economic system based on the private for-profit operation of industry
Capitalism
Means of production
Anything that can create more wealth
money, property, factories
Proletariat
Workers; have no means of production
Bourgeoisie
Owners, modern capitalist
Alienation
Sense of dissatisfaction the modern worker feels as a result of producing goods that are owned and controlled by someone else
Every person contributes too and benefits from the public good
Socialism
Ideology
System of beliefs, attitudes, and values that direct a society & reproduces the status quo of the bourgeoisie
False consciousness
Denial of the truth on the part of the oppressed when they fail to recognize the interests of the ruling class
Class Consciousness
Recognition of the social inequality of the part of the oppressed, leading to revolutionary action
Dialectical Model (Marx)
Historical/ Social change, whereby 2 extreme positions would eventually create some kind of compromise b/w them resulting in a “middle ground”
Existing social arrangements in a dialectical model
Thesis
Opposition to the existing arrangements in a dialectical model
Antithesis
New social system created out of the conflict b/w thesis and antithesis in a dialectical model
Synthesis
Critical theory( Marxism)
Contemporary form of conflict theory that criticizes many different systems & ideologies of domination and oppression
Feminist theory
(20th century)
Looks at gender inequalities in society, and the way that gender structures the social world
Queer theory
Proposes that categories of sexual identity. No sexual category is fundamentally either deviant or normal
Practical action that is taken on the basis of intellectual or theoretical understanding
Praxis
Conflict theory
Useful in understanding macro and micro level. Analyzes social arrangements existence doesn’t mean beneficial, it may merely represent the interest of those in power
Practical knowledge
Can’t explain in technical way
Rationalization
Application of economic logic to all spheres of human activity
Bureaucracies
Groups designed to perform tasks efficiently; characterized by specialization, hierarchy, and written rules
Max Weber’s description of modern life. We’re all caught in bureaucracies structures that control our lives through rigid rules
Iron Cage
Disenchantment
Rationalization of modern society, inevitable result of dehumanizing features of bureaucracies
Versthen
“Empathic understanding”
Symbolic interactionism
Focuses on how people make sense of the world through day to day decisions
Life is a stage play
Assumes organisms (including humans) make practical adaptions to their environments; humans do this through cognition, interpretation, and interaction
Progmatism
Dramaturgy
Describe the ways in which we engage in a strategic presentation of ourselves to others
(Study of folk methods) maintains that members of society must acquire the necessary knowledge and skills to act practically in out every day lives
( make meaning out of troublesome or ambiguous events)
Ethnomethdology
Conversation analysis
Looks at how we create meaning in naturally occurring conversation, often by taping and examining conversations
Suggests that social reality is diverse, pluralistic, and constantly in flux
Postmodernism
Places trust in the power of science and technology to create progress, solve problems, and improve life
Modernism
Deconstruction
Type of critical post modern analysis that involves taking apart or disassembling old ways of thinking
Mid-range theory
Integrates empiricism and grand theory, provides ands overarching, comprehensive explanation of society as a whole
Contest/ Battlefield
Conflict theory
“Clock”
Structural functionalist
“Stage play”
Symbolic interaction and
