Exam 1 Flashcards
sociological imagination
the ability to see the connections between our personal experience and the larger forces of history. Theory formed by C Wright Mills
social institution
complex group of interdependent positions that, together, perform a social role and reproduce themselves over time
Sociology
the study of human society, and there is the sociology of sports, of religion, of music, of medicine, and sociologists
positivism or social physics
Created by Auguste Comte and arose out of the need to make moral sense of the social order in a time of declining religious authority. A secular basis for morality did exist and we could determine between right and wrong without reference to higher powers. There were three epistemological stages: 1. theological stage: society was the result of divine will. 2 the metaphysical stage:enlightenment thinkers saw humankind’s behavior as governed by natural, biological instincts. 3 the scientific stage: we would develop a social physics of sorts in order to identify the scientific laws that govern human behavior.
Harriet Martineau
The first to translate Comte into English and wrote “Theory and Practice of Society in America” in which she describes our nation’s physical and social aspects. She addressed how we educate children to the relationship between the state and federal government. Also wrote “How to observe morals and manners” which said that marriage is about women’s inferiority
founding fathers of sociology
karl marx, max weber, and emile durkheim, and perhaps georg simmel
Karl Marx
elaborated a theory called historical materialism. Believed that it was primarily the conflicts between classes that drove social change throughout history. Saw history as an account of man’s struggle to gain control of and later dominate his natural environment. In Marx’s theory of history, each economic system had its own fault lines of conflict that divided society not a small number of capitalists and a large number or workers. This political struggle would produce social change through a Communist revolution (private property abolished)
Max Weber
criticized Marx for his exclusive focus on the economy and social class, advocating sociological analysis that allowed for the multiple influences of culture, economics, and politics. Famous for “economy and Society”and “the protestant ethic and the spirit of capitalism” which he argued that the religious transformation that occurred during the protestant reformation laid the ground work for modern capitalism by upending the medieval ethic of virtuous poverty and replacing it with an ideology that saw riches as a sign of rationality, the state, and status and a host of there concepts. Most important contribution was concept of verstehen
verstehen
“understanding” sociologists approach social behavior from the eprspective of those engaging in it. So, sociologists must understand the meanings people attach to their actions. This is the foundation of interpretive sociology (study of social meaning)
Emile Durkheim
Wished to understand how society holds together and the ways that modern capitalism and industrialization have transformed how people relate to one another. Began with “the division of labor in society” that refers tot he degree to which jobs are specialized. He argued that the division of labor didn’t just affect work and productivity but had social and moral consequences as well. The division of labor in a society helps to determine its form of social solidarity (how cohesion is maintained). also wrote “suicide” that said it is conditioned by social forces to the degree to which we are integrated into group life and the degree to which our lives follow routines.
anomie
one of the main social forces that lead to suicide is the sense of formlessness resulting from drastic changes in living conditions or arrangements
positivist sociology
Durkheim founding practitioner, a strain within sociology that believes the social world can be described and predicted by certain describable relationships.
Georg Simmel
established formal sociology- a sociology of pure numbers. He addressed the fundamental differences between a group of two and a larger group. Influential in urban sociology and cultural sociology, and his small group work served as an intellectual precedent for later sociologists who came to study micro interactions.
looking-glass self
the self emerges from an interactive social process. we envision how others perceive us, then we gauge their responses of other individuals to our presentation of self. by refining our vision of how others perceive us, we develop a self-concept that is in constant interaction with the surrounding social world (Cooley)
Cooley and Mead found..
environment affects meaning
George Mead
described that the “self” develops over the course of childhood as the individual learns to take the point of view of specific others in specific contexts and eventually internalizes what he calls the :generalized other: our views of the views of society as a while that transcends individuals or particular situations. Through social interaction meaning emerges.
