Exam 1 Flashcards
What is Durkheim’s normative theory of suicide?
How social integration (interaction) and social regulation (norms) are causes of suicide.
What is social integration?
Interaction- how well one is integrated into their social group/community.
What is social regulation?
Norms- the number of rules guiding one’s daily life.
What are the four types of suicide?
Altruistic suicide, egoistic suicide, anomic suicide, fatalistic suicide
What is altruistic suicide?
Occurs when one experiences too much social integration
What is egoistic suicide?
Occurs when one is not integrated enough into a social group
What is anomic suicide?
Occurs as a result of too little social regulation
What is fatalistic suicide?
Occurs when there is too much social regulation
What is sociology?
The study of human society
Who coined the term “sociology?”
Auguste Comte
What are the main characteristics of sociology?
Study of members of a group, systematic patterns, individual outcomes as consequences of greater social forces, macro-structures and micro-level interactions
What is social imagination?
The ability to connect between personal issues and social forces
Who coined the term “social imagination?”
C. Wright Mills
What is social structure?
Stable patterns of social relations
What are the different levels of social structures?
Microstructures (intimate social relation), macrostructures (social relations outside your circle of intimates), global structures (international organizations)
What are the 4 major theoretical traditions of sociology?
Functionalism, conflict theory, symbolic interactionism, and feminist theory (including patriarchy)
What is functionalism?
Theory suggests all social institutions have a function/serve a purpose for society, shared values
What is conflict theory?
Theory that suggests groups in society are in a constant state of conflict as they vie for access to limited resources, inequality and change
What is symbolic interactionism?
Interpreting symbols encountered in interactions, symbols carry meanings
What is feminism?
Focus on the patriarchy, how society is stratified by gender and how gender shapes a person’s social experience
What are the main criticisms of functionalism?
It’s hard to explain social change, disregarding historical process
What are the main criticisms of conflict theory?
The driving force also involves politics and religion
What are the main criticisms of symbolic interactionism?
It neglects larger social institutions and social processes, neglects powerful issues of stability and change
Who are the major proponents in functionalism?
Emile Durkheim and Robert Merton
Who are the major proponents in conflict theory?
Karl Marx, W.E.B. Dubois, and Max Weber
Who are the major proponents in symbolic interactionism?
George Herbert Mead and Erving Goffman
Who is the major proponent in feminism?
Harriet Martineau
What is manifest function?
Intended and easily observed
What is latent function?
Unintended and less obvious
What is dysfunction?
Disruptive consequences
What are research methods?
Approaches that social scientists use for investigating the answers to questions
What is a deductive approach to research?
Starts with a theory, then developing a hypothesis, making empirical observations, then analyzing the data
What is an inductive approach to research?
Starting with an empirical observation, then working to form a theory
What is a hypothesis?
Proposed relationship between two variables
What is the independent variable?
The cause
What is the dependent variable?
The effect/outcome
What is participant observation?
A qualitative method that seeks to observe social actions in practice
What is an interview?
A qualitative data gathering technique through asking questions
What is a survey?
An ordered series of questions intended to elicit info from respondents
What is experimentation?
Seeks to alter the social world in a very specific way , often involves comparisons to a control group that did not experience such an intervention
What are historical methods?
Collecting existing documents from written reports, newspapers, etc. that date back to the period under study
What is content analysis?
A systematic analysis of the content rather than the structure of a communication (a subtype of historical methods)
What is comparative research?
Two or more entities are compared to learn about the dimension that differs
What are the main ethical issues for sociological research?
Researchers have to respect their subject’s rights to safety, privacy, confidentiality, and informed consent
