Field of Sociology Flashcards
Functionalist Perspective
When analyzing an aspect of society, considers how it contributes to the bigger structure as a whole and stabilizes it. For an aspect of social life to last, it must contribute to society in some way. [Macro]
Conflict Perspective
Views social world as best understood as tension or conflict between different groups over power and resources. [Marxism, Feminisim, Queer Theory]. Macro level
Feminist Perspective
Sees inequity in gender as central to all behavior and organization. Macro level view
Interactionist Perspective
Generalize about everyday forms of social interaction in order to explain society as a whole [Micro —-> Macro]. Communication through symbols.
Functionalist Example
Public punishments reinforce the social order.
Conflict Example
Laws reinforce the positions of those in power.
Interactionist Example
People respect laws or disobey them based on their own past experiences.
Scientific Method
- Define the problem
- Review the Literature
- Formulate a testable hypothesis
- Select a Research Design, then collect and Analyze the Data
- Develop the conclusion
- Prepare a report with an Executive Summary.
- Ideas for Further Research
Research designs used to generate data
- Surveys
- Ethnography
- Experiments
- Existing Sources
Ethnography
Study of an entire social setting through extended systematic fieldwork. Done through observation or participation. Also includes collecting historical info and in-person interviews.
Hawthorne Effect
Unintended influence that observers of experiments can have on their subjects. Avoided when using secondary analysis.
Value Neutrality
The researcher must not let their values affect the interpretation of data.
Sociological Imagination
An awareness of the relationship between an individual and the wider society…both today and in the past.
Able to view one’s own society as an outsider would, rather than just personal experiences and cultural biases.
Sociological Theory
A set of statements that attempt to explain various sociological problems, actions, or behaviors.
Anomie
The loss of direction felt in a society when social control of individual behavior has become ineffective.
Often occurs during a time of profound change, when people have lost their sense of purpose or direction.
Cultural Universals
Certain common practices and beliefs developed by ALL societies that are actually adaptations to meet human needs.
Examples: athletic sports, cooking, dancing, marriage, personal names, religious rituals, sexual restrictions, trade
Cultural Relativism
Viewing people’s behavior from the perspective of their culture, instead of your own. Value neutrality when examining other cultures. Different social contexts give rise to different social norms, thus tend to fit within that cultures framework, though they may seem strange within our own frameworks.
Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis
People can conceptualize the world only through language, thus, language precedes thought.
Norms
Established standards of behavior in a society.
Can be formal (laws, rules of games) or informal (ways of dressing). Formal norms are sanctioned (punished).
Can also be classified by relative importance: Mores and Folkways
Mores
Norms that are deemed essential for welfare of society, because they often embody the most cherished principles of the people.
Example: Mores against murder, treason, child abuse.
Folkways
Norms governing everyday behavior.
Sanctions
Penalties AND rewards for conduct concerning a social norm.
Values
Collective conceptions of what is considered good or bad.
Law
“Government social control”. Formal norms enforced by the state through sanctions.
Culture
Totality of learned, socially transmitted customs, knowledge, material objects, and behavior. Includes ideas, values, and artifacts.
Culture war
Polarization of society over controversial cultural elements.
Argot
Specialized language that a subculture uses to distinguish it from the rest of society at large.
Counterculture
When a subculture conspicuously and deliberately opposes certain aspects of the larger culture.
Diffusion
The process by which a cultural item spreads from group to group or society to society. Technology increases speed of diffusion.
Occurs through things like exploration, military conquest, missionary work, mass media, tourism, internet, food
Material culture
Physical or technological aspects of p it daily lives. (Food, houses, factories)
Nonmaterial Culture
Ways of using material objects, customs, beliefs, philosophies, governments, and patterns of communication.
Socialization
Process through which people learn the attitudes, values, and behaviors appropriate for members of a particular culture, occurring through human interaction. Spans entire life course.
The Self
Our conception of who we are. A distinct identity that sets us apart from others, and emerges as we interact with others. Not static, but continually changes throughout our lives.
Interactionist approach useful here (Cooley and Meade)
Cognitive Theory of Development
(Piaget). 4 stages in the development of children’s thought processes:
1. Sensorimotor- use senses
2. Pre-operational- words and symbols
3. Concrete operational- logical think
4. Formal operational-abstract thinking
Dramaturgical approach
Perspective (Goffman) where people resemble performers in action. Involves Impression Management, or altering the presentation of the self depending on the circumstances.
Looking-Glass Self
Emphasizes that the self is the product of our social interactions. (Charles Horton Cooley)
3 Phases of Developing Self-Identity (Cooley)
- Imagine how we present ourselves to others
- Imagine how others evaluate us (smart, attractive)
- Develop some feelings about ourselves (respect, shame) as a result of these impressions.
Since the self results in an individual’s perceptions how what others think of him, we can develop self-identities based on INCORRECT perceptions of how others see us.
Stages of the Self (Meade)
- Preparatory- child imitates actions of others.
- Play- child pretends to be other people (Role-Taking)
- Game- considers roles and responsibilities of other people simultaneously. (Generalized Other)
Generalized Other
When an individual acts, he takes into account the viewpoint of an entire group of people (expectations of society)
Anticipatory Socialization
When a person rehearses for future positions, occupations, or relationships.
Example: when high school students look into what colleges they want to attend.
Resocialization
Discarding former behavior patterns and accepting new ones as a part of transition in one’s life.
Example: reform schools, therapy groups, prison, religious conversion camps.
Total institution
An institution that regulates all aspects of a persons life under a single authority. People often lose their individuality in such institutions.
Examples: prisons, military, mental hospitals, convents.
Verstehen (Insight)
Learn the subjective meanings that people attach to their own behaviors when analyzing them.
Ideal Type
Created by Max Weber; Used for evaluating specific cases
Double Consciousness
refers to the division of one’s identity into two or more social realities.
W.E.B DeBois
Theory of Self (Mead)
a child initially can only imagine the world from their own perspective, but gradually grows to understand the perspectives of others.
