Chapter 4 - Perspectives Flashcards
The origin of sociological perspectives
Where is the word Sociology derived from?
Sociology is derived from socius, meaning ‘together’ and logos, meaning ‘knowledge’.
The origin of sociological perspectives
One of the core ideas of Marx and Engels was___?
That inequalities between the capitalists (owners) and the laborers (proletariat) were becoming larger over time, because the capitalists had more power and could accumulate their wealth.
They predicted that competition among the capitalists would result in the centralization of capital and wealth in the hand of the super-rich. Eventually, the poor would not accept the suppression and poverty any longer and the proletariat would join forces to revolt against the ruling capitalists and, after a revolution, communism would bring social equality.
The origin of sociological perspectives
Durkheim wrote the study Suicide in an attempt to prove___?
The need for sociology as a new social science discipline, as he argued that a purely individualistic perspective on suicide falls short of understanding that social conditions are strongly correlated to suicide rates.
The origin of sociological perspectives
Weber argued that___?
People’s religious beliefs and values affect their work behaviour, efficiency and rationality.
He outlined the long-term process of rationalization and what this means for politics, organizations, science and other societal domains.
The origin of sociological perspectives
What is a Perspective /framework/paradigm?
Certain way of looking at things. Perspectives are tools to help you to focus on certain things, to orientate your thinking. When studying social phenomena, it is advisable to use different perspectives.
Sociological themes and topics
Sociological Topic
A specific subject matter in sociology, related to specific social problems.
Examples: crime, ethnicity, globalization, gender.
Sociological themes and topics
Sociological Theme
Complex concept which helps to relate diverse, specific topics to each other in a more abstract way.
They look at phenomena from a general perspective.
Sociological themes and topics
Sociological Subtheme
Subdimension of a sociological theme.
Sociological themes and topics
Three main themes in sociology___?
Hint: CSI
-
Culture: sociological theme on opinions, norms and corresponding behaviour.
Opinion: cognitive beliefs (objective), preferences, attitudes and values (subjective).
Norm: rules of the game in society, which regulate and constrain human behaviour. -
Social relations: sociological theme on social networks and groups.
Social network: a set of actors and the ties between them, the connectivity of
people.
Groups: social category with which people can affiliate. -
Inequality: sociological theme on social stratification, social mobility and resources.
Social stratification: unequal distribution of valued goods.
Social mobility: movement of people form one position to another in the stratification system.
Resources: capital, opportunities and power one can use to realize one’s goals
Causal explaining or subjective understanding?
Two models of sociological explanation___?
- Focus on causal explanations, relating variables to each other and typically focusing on collective outcomes (meso and macro level) (Durkheim).
- Focus on subjective understanding, paying attention to human actions and focusing on individual outcomes (micro level) (Weber).
Causal explaining or subjective understanding?
What is Ecological explanation?
Type of explanation in which both the dependent and independent variable(s) are at the collective level (meso or macro).
Variable sociology: focus on causal relationships between variables.
Black box explanations: type of explanation in which Y is explained by X, but the theoretical mechanism linking X to Y is missing.
Causal explaining or subjective understanding?
What is Verstehen?
Type of explanation in which the human behaviour is interpreted from people’s subjective understanding of the world. It pays attention to their beliefs, values and behaviour.
Multilevel framework
What is a Multilevel framework?
A framework which considers the interplay between Individuals and their social environment.
- Arrow 1 Social context effects: In Protestant countries, people are more inclined to develop a strong work ethic, an attitude towards hard working.
- Arrow 2 Individual-level effects: The more people have a strong work ethic, the harder they work and the more they save.
- Arrow 3 Aggregation mechanism: The harder people work, and the more they save, the more likely that a capitalistic economy emerges.
- Arrow 4 Social dynamics: In countries that shift towards Protestantism, capitalism will emerge.
Multilevel framework
Social context effects
Influence of social conditions on individual outcomes.
Multilevel framework
Individual-level effects
Type of propositions which refer to processes at the micro level.
Individual Conditions –> Individual-level effects –> Individual outcomes
