Exam 1 Flashcards
Sociology
The systematic or scientific study of human society and social behavior, from large-scale institutions and mass culture to small groups and individual interactions.
Society
A group of people who shape their lives in aggregated and patterned ways that distinguish their group from others.
Social sciences
The disciplines that use the scientific method to examine the social world.
Sociological perspective
A way of looking at the world through a sociological lens.
Beginner’s mind
Approaching the world without preconceptions in order to see things in a new way.
Culture shock
A sense of disorientation that occurs when entering a radically new social or cultural environment.
Sociological imagination
A quality of the mind that allows us to understand the relationship between our individual circumstances and larger social forces.
Microsociology
The level of analysis that studies face-to-face and small-group interactions in order to understand how they affect the larger patterns and structures of society.
Macrosociology
The level of analysis that studies large-scale social structures in order to determine how they affect the lives of groups and individuals.
Theories
Abstract propositions that explain the social world and make predictions about the future.
Paradigm
A set of assumptions, theories, and perspectives that makes up a way of understanding social reality.
Positivism
The theory that sense perceptions are the only valid source of knowledge.
Social Darwinism
The application of the theory of evolution and the notion of “survival of the fittest” to the study of society.
Structural functionalism
A paradigm based on the assumption that society is a unified whole that functions because of the contributions of its separate structures.
Solidarity
The degree of integration or unity within a particular society; the extent to which individuals feel connected to other members of their group.
Mechanical solidarity
The type of social bonds present in premodern, agrarian societies, in which shared traditions and beliefs create a sense of social cohesion.
Organic solidarity
The type of social bonds present in modern societies, based on difference, interdependence, and individual rights.
Anomie
“Normalessness;” term used to describe the alienation and loss of purpose that result from weaker social bonds and an increased pace of change.
Sacred
The holy, divine, or supernatural.
Profane
The ordinary, mundane, or everyday.
Empirical
Based on scientific experimentation or observation.
Structure
A social institution that is relatively stable over time and that meets the needs of a society by performing functions necessary to maintain social order and stability.
Dysfunction
A disturbance to or undesirable consequence of some aspect of the social system.
Manifest functions
The obvious, intended functions of a social structure for the social system.
Latent functions
The less obvious, perhaps in intended functions of a social structure.
Conflict theory
A paradigm that sees social conflict as the basis of society and social change and that emphasizes a materialist view of society, a critical view of the status quo, and a dynamic model of historical change.
Social inequality
The unequal distribution of wealth, power, or prestige among members of a society.
Means of production
Anything that can create wealth: money, property, factories, and other types of businesses, and the infrastructure necessary to run them.
Proletariat
Workers; those who have no means of production of their own and so are reduced to selling their labor power in order to live.
Bourgeoisie
Owners; the class of modern capitalists who one the means of production and employ wage laborers.
Alienation
The sense of dissatisfaction the modern worker feels as a result of producing goods that are owned and controlled by someone else.
False consciousness
A denial of the truth on the part of the oppressed when they fail to recognize that the interests of the ruling class are embedded in the dominant ideology.
Class consciousness
The recognition of social inequality on the part of the oppressed, leading to revolutionary action.
Critical theory
A contemporary form of conflict theory that criticizes many different systems and ideologies of domination and oppression.
Critical race theory
The study of the relationship among race, racism, and power.
Feminist theory
A theoretical approach that looks at gender inequalities in society and the way that gender structures the social world.
Queer theory
Social theory about gender and sexual identity; emphasizes the importance of difference and rejects ideas of innate identities or restrictive categories.
Praxis
The application of the theory to practical action in an effort to improve aspects of society l.
Rationalization
The application of economic logic to human activity; the use of formal rules and regulations in order to maximize efficiency without consideration of subjective or individual concerns.
Bureaucracies
Secondary groups designed to perform tasks efficiently, characterized by specialization, technical competence, hierarchy, written rules, and formal written communication.
Iron cage
Max Weber’s pessimistic description of modern life, in which we are caught in bureaucratic structures that control our lives through rigid rules and rationalization.
Verstehen
“Emphatic understanding;” Weber’s term to describe good social research, which tries to understand the meanings that individuals attach to various aspects of social reality.
Symbolic interaction
A paradigm that sees interaction and meaning as central to society and assumes that meanings are not inherent but are created through interaction.
Chicago school
A type of sociology practiced at the University of Chicago in the 1920s and 1930s that centered on urban settings and field research methods.
Pragmatism
A perspective that assumes organisms (including humans) make practical adaptations to their environments; humans do this through cognition, interpretation, and interaction.
Dramaturgy
An approach pioneered by Erving Goffman in which social life is analyzed in terms of its similarities to theatrical performance.
Ethnomethodology
The study of “folk methods” and background knowledge that sustain a shared sense of reality in everyday interactions.
Conversation analysis
A sociological approach that looks at how we create meaning in naturally occurring conversation, often by taping conversations and examining their transcripts.
Postmodernism
A paradigm that suggests that social reality is diverse, pluralistic, and constantly in flux.
Modernism
A paradigm that places trust in the power of science and technology to create progress, solve problems, and improve life.
Midrange theory
An approach that integrates empiricism and grand theory.
Quantitative research
Research that translates the social world into numbers that can be treated mathematically; this type of research often tries to find cause-and-effect relationships.
Qualitative research
Research that works with nonnumerical data such as texts, field notes, interview transcripts, photographs, and tape recordings; this type of research more often tries to understand how people make sense of their world.
Scientific method
A procedure for acquiring knowledge that emphasizes collecting concrete data through observation and experimentation.
Literature review
A thorough search through previously published studies relevant to a particular topic.
Hypothesis
A theoretical statement explaining the relationship between two or more phenomena.
Variables
Two or more phenomena that a researcher believes are related; these will be examined in the experiment.
Operational definition
A clear and precise definition of a variable that facilitates its measurement.
Replicability
The ability of research to be repeated and, thus, later verified by other researchers.
Correlation
A relationship between variables in which they change together and may or may not be causal.
Causation
A relationship between variables in which a change in one directly produces a change in the other.
Intervening variable
A third variable, sometimes overlooked, that explains the relationship between two other variables.
Spurious correlation
The appearance of causation produced by an intervening variable.
Ethnography
A naturalistic method on studying people in their own environment in order to understand the meanings they attribute to their activities; also, the written work that results from the study.
Participant observation
A methodology associated with ethnography whereby the researcher both observes and becomes a member on a social setting.
Rapport
A positive relationship often characterized by mutual trust or sympathy.
Field notes
Detailed notes taken by an ethnographer describing their activities and interactions, which later become the basis of the analysis.
Autoethnography
A form of participant observation where the feelings and actions of the researcher become a focal point of the ethnographic study.
Thick description
The presentation of detailed data on interactions and meaning within a cultural context, from the perspective of its members.
Reflexivity
How the identity and activities of the researcher influence what is going on in the field setting.
Deductive approach
An approach whereby the researcher formulates a hypothesis first and then gathers data to test that hypothesis.
Indicative approach
An approach whereby the researcher gathers data first, then formulates a theory to fit the data.
Grounded theory
An inductive method of generating theory from data by creating categories in which to place data and then looking for relationships among categories.
Validity
The accuracy of a question or measurement tool; the degree to which a researcher is measuring what they think they are measuring.
Representativeness
The degree to which a particular studied group is similar to, or represents, any part of the larger society.
Bias
An opinion held by the researcher that might affect the research or analysis.
Interviews
Person-to-person conversations for the purpose of gathering information by means of questions posed to respondents.
Respondent
A participant in a study from whom the researcher seeks to gather information.
Target population
The entire group about which a researcher would like to be able to generalize.
Sample
The members of the target population who will actually be studied.
Focus group
A process for interviewing a number of participants together that also allows for interaction among group members.
Informed consent
A safeguard through which the researcher makes sure that respondents are freely participating and understand the nature of the research.
Close-ended question
A question asked of a respondent that imposes a limit on the possible responses.
Open-ended question
A question asked of a respondent that allows the answer to take whatever form the respondent chooses.
Leading questions
Questions that predispose a respondent to answer a certain way.
Double-barreled questions
Questions that attempt to get at multiple issues at once, and so tend to receive incomplete or confusing answers.
Life history
An approach to interviewing that asks for a chronological account of the respondent’s entire life or some portion of it.
Surveys
Research method based on questionnaires that are administered to a sample of respondents selected from a target population.
Likert scale
A way of formatting a survey questionnaire so that the respondent can choose an answer along a continuum.
Negative questions
Survey questions that ask respondents what they don’t think instead of what they do think.
Pilot study
A small-scale study carried out to test the feasibility of conducting a study on a larger scale.
Probability sampling
Any sampling procedure that uses randomization.
Simple random sample
A particular type of probability sample in which every member of the population has an equal chance of being selected.
Response rate
The number or percentage of surveys completed by respondents and returned to researchers.
Reliability
The consistency of a question or measurement tool; the degree to which the same questions will produce similar answers.
Culture
The entire way of life of a group of people (including both material and symbolic elements) that acts as a lens through which one views the world and that is passed from one generation to the next.
Culture shock
A sense of disorientation that occurs when entering a radically new social or cultural environment.
Ethnocentrism
The principle of using one’s own culture as a means or standard by which to evaluate another group or individual, leading to the view that cultures other than one’s own are abnormal or inferior.
Cultural relativism
The principle of understanding other cultures in their own terms, rather than judging or evaluating according to one’s own culture.
Material culture
The objects associated with a cultural group, such as tools, machines, utensils, buildings, and artwork; any physical object to which we give social meaning.
Symbolic culture
The ideas associated with a cultural group, including ways of thinking (beliefs, values, and assumptions) and ways of behaving (norms, interactions, and communication).
Signs
Symbols that stand for or convey an idea.
Gestures
The ways in which people use their bodies to communicate without words; actions that have symbolic meaning.
Language
A system of communication using vocal sounds, gestures, or written symbols; the basis of symbolic culture and the primary means through which we communicate with one another and perpetuate our culture.
Sapir-Whorf hypothesis
The idea that language structures thought and that ways of looking at the world are embedded in language.
Values
Ideas about what is right or wrong, good or bad, desirable or worthy in a particular group; they express what the group cherishes and honors.
Norms
Rules or guidelines regarding what kinds of behavior are acceptable and appropriate within a particular culture; these typically emanate from the group’s values.
Laws
Types of norms that are formally codified to provide an explicit statement about what is permissible or forbidden, legal or illegal in a given society.
Folkways
Loosely enforced norms involving common customs, practices, or procedures that ensure smooth social interaction and acceptance.
Mores
Norms that carry great moral significance, are closely related to the core values of a cultural group, and often involve severe repercussions for violators.
Taboo
A norm ingrained so deeply that even thinking about violating it evokes strong feelings of disgust, horror, or revulsion.
Moral holiday
A specified time period during which some norm violations are allowed.
Sanctions
Positive or negative reactions to the ways that people follow or disobey norms, including rewards for conformity and punishments for violations.
Social control
The formal and informal mechanisms used to elicit conformity to values and norms and thus promote social cohesion.
Multiculturalism
A policy that values diverse racial, ethnic, national, and linguistic backgrounds and so encourages the retention of cultural differences within the larger society.
Dominant culture
The values, norms, and practices of the group within society that is most powerful (in terms of wealth, prestige, status, influence, etc.)
Hegemony
Term developed by Antonio Gramsoi to describe the cultural aspects of social control, whereby the ideas of the dominant group are accepted by all.
Subculture
A group within society that is differentiated by its distinctive values, norms, and lifestyle.
Counterculture
A group within society that openly rejects or actively opposes society’s values and norms.
Culture wars
Clashes within mainstream society over the values and norms that should be upheld.
Ideal culture
The norms, values, and patterns of behavior that members of a society believe should be observed in principle.
Real culture
The norms, values, and patterns of behavior that actually exist within a society (which may or may not correspond to the society’s ideals).
Nature vs. nurture debate
The ongoing discussion of the respective roles of genetics and socialization in determining behaviors and traits.
Socialization
The process of learning and internalizing the values, beliefs, and norms of our social group, by which we become functioning members of society.
Feral children
In myths and rare real-world cases, children who have had little human contact and may have lived in social isolation from a young age.
Agents of socialization
Social groups, institutions, and individuals (especially in the family, schools, peers, and the mass media) that provide structured situations in which socialization takes place.
Hidden curriculum
Values or behaviors that students learn indirectly over the course of their schooling.
Resocialization
The process of replacing previously learned norms and values with new ones as a part of a transition in life.
Total institutions
Institutions in which individuals are cut off from the rest of society so that they can be controlled and regulated for the purpose of systematically stripping away identities in order to create new ones.
Status
A position in a social hierarchy that carries a particular set of expectations.
Ascribed status
A status that is inborn; usually difficult or impossible to change.
Embodied status
A status generated by physical characteristics.
Achieved status
A status earned through individual effort or imposed by others.
Master status
A status that is always relevant and affects all other statuses we possess.
Stereotyping
Judging others based on preconceived generalizations about groups or categories of people.
Role
The set of behaviors expected of someone because of their status.
Id, ego, and superego
According to Freud, the three interrelated parts that make up the mind: the id consists of basic inborn drives that are the source of instinctive psychic energy; the ego is the realistic aspect of the mind that balances the forces of the id and the superego; the superego has two components (the conscience and the ego-ideal) and represents the internalized demands of society m.
Psychosexual stages of development
Four distinct stages of the development of the self between birth and adulthood, according to Freud; personality quirks are a result of being fixated, or stuck, at any stage.
Looking-glass self
The notion that the self develops through our perception of others’ evaluations and appraisals of us.
Preparatory stage
The first stage in Mead’s theory of the development of self wherein children mimic or imitate others.
Play stage
The second stage in Mead’s theory of the development of self wherein children pretend to play the role of the particular or significant other.
Particular or significant other
The perspectives and expectations of a particular role that a child learns and internalizes.
Game stage
The third stage in Mead’s theory of the development of self wherein children play organized games and take on the perspective of the generalized other.
Generalized other
The perspectives and expectations of a network of others (or of society in general) that a child learns and then takes into account when shaping their own behavior.
Dual nature of the self
The idea that we experience the self as both subject and object, the “I” and the “me.”
Thomas theorem
Classic formulation of the way individuals determine reality, whereby, “if people define situations as real, they are real in their consequences.”
Definition of the situation
An agreement with others about “what is going on” in a given circumstance; this consensus allows us to coordinate our actions with others and realize the goals.
Expressions of behavior
Small actions such as an eye roll or head nod that serve as an interactional tool to help project our definition of the situation to others.
Expressions given
Expressions that are intentional and usually verbal, such as utterances.
Expressions given off
Observable expressions that can be either intended or unintended and are usually nonverbal.
Impression management
The effort to control the impressions we make on others so that they form a desired view of us and the situation; the use of self-presentation and performance tactics.
Dramaturgy
An approach pioneered by Erving Goffman in which social life is analyzed in terms of its similarities to theatrical performance
Front
In the dramaturgical perspective, the setting or scene of performances that help establish the definition of the situation.
Region
The context in which the performance takes place, including location, decor, and props.
Personal front
The performance tactics we use to present ourselves to others, including appearance, costume and manner.
Backstage
The places where we rehearse and prepare for our performances.
Frontstage
The places where we deliver our performances to an audience of others.
Social construction
The process by which a concept or practice is created and maintained by participants who collectively agree that it exists.
Cooling the mark out
Behaviors that help others to save face or avoid embarrassment, often referred to as civility or tact.
Deviance
A behavior, trait, belief, or other characteristic that violates a norm and causes a negative reaction.
Social control theory
A theory of crime, proposed by Travis Hirschi, that posits that strong social bonds increase conformity and decrease deviance.
Innovators
Individuals who accept society’s approved goals but not society’s approved means to achieve them.
Ritualists
Individuals who have given up hope of achieving society’s approved goals but still operate according to society’s approved means.
Retreatists
Individuals who renounce society’s approved goals and means entirely and live outside conventional norms altogether.
Rebels
Individuals who reject society’s approved goals and means and instead create and work toward their own (sometimes revolutionary) goals using new means.
Social control
The formal and informal mechanisms used to elicit conformity to values and norms and thus promote social cohesion.
Differential association theory
Edwin Sutherland’s hypothesis that we learn to be deviant through our associations with deviant peers.
Labeling theory
Howard Becker’s idea that deviance is a consequence of external judgments, or labels, that modify the individual’s self-concept and change the way others respond to the labeled person.
Primary deviance
In labeling theory, the initial act or attitude that causes one to be labeled deviant.
Secondary deviance
In labeling theory, the subsequent deviant identity or career that develops as a result of being labeled deviant.
Tertiary deviance
Redefining the stigma associated with a deviant label as a positive phenomenon.
Self-fulfilling prophecy
An inaccurate statement or belief that, by altering the situation, becomes accurate; a prediction that causes itself to come true.
Stereotype threat
A kind of self-fulfilling prophecy in which the fear of performing poorly — and confirming stereotypes about their social groups — causes students to perform poorly.
Stereotype promise
A kind of self-fulfilling prophecy in which positive stereotypes, such as the “model minority” label applied to Asian American, lead to positive performance outcomes.
Stigma
Erving Goffman’s term for any physical or social attribute that devalues a person or group’s identity and that may exclude those who are devalued from normal social interaction.
Passing
Presenting yourself as a member of a different group than the stigmatized group to which you belong
In-group orientation
Among stigmatized individuals, the rejection of prevailing judgments or prejudice and the development of new standards that value their group identity.
Outsiders
According to Howard Becker, those labeled deviant and subsequently segregated from “normal” society.
Deviance avowal
Process by which an individual self-identifies as deviant and initiates their own labeling process.
