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Sociology 100 > Foundations of Sociological Thought (lecture 2-4) > Flashcards

Foundations of Sociological Thought (lecture 2-4) Flashcards

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Sociology 101 flashcards
1
Q

Theory

A

conceptual explanation of empirical data; identifies underlying principle that governs real outcomes
(essentially tells us what to look for when we are looking for data)

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2
Q

Great Chains of Being

A

mediaeval theory: everything that exists could be ranked
• rocks and stones (bottom)–>plants—>animals—->humans—->god
• social inequality= justified by god (and god’s order)

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3
Q

State of Nature Arguments

A
  • thought-experiment of what human society would be like without any gov
  • suggests there are no natural hierarchies—> inequality is created (unnatural, and shouldn’t be taken for granted)
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4
Q

Karl Marx

A
  • founder of critical theory
  • goal to explain inequality and exploitation WITHIN a social system
  • the social system is bad because it leads to social instability (btwn classes) not bc it’s unfair
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5
Q

Critical Theory

(

A

assumes society contains unjust inequalities (imbalance) between groups engaged in constant struggle for power and control
(reasoning for inequality in terms of social structure or group strategies)
• aim to change society to reduce inequality and domination

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6
Q

Conflict Theory

A

type of critical theory–> analyzes ad explains social conflicts (there MUST be groups struggling for position against one another)
• defines certain opposed groups, why they come into conflict and who wins
• power relations between social groups

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7
Q

Marx’s conflict theory

•structural explanation

A
  • proletariat (workers) don’t have resources to make their own living, bourgeoisie (owners/boss) have these resources
  • bc workers don’t have the resources, they must obey the person who pays them
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8
Q

Class (Marx)

A
  • position is determined by whether you own the MEANS OF PRODUCTION required to live
  • is people own most of the means of production, everyone else must work for them
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9
Q

Power (Max Weber)

• control of sources of power

A

any social resource that allows you to get what you want regardless of the opposition of others

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10
Q

3 areas of conflict and struggle for position (defined by Weber)

A
  • Class- defined by raw wealth
  • Status- defined by honour or social esteem (struggle for the respect of others that allows for certain privileges)
  • Political Power- control of political or other resources for achieving you will, regardless of opposition of others
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11
Q 
Power Elite (Oligarchy)
(C. Wright Mills)
A

small, relatively homogenous dominant social groups that controls the important positions (levers of power); often hides its influence and restricts who can join
(ie: like a country club)

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12
Q

Vertical Mosaic (John Porter)

A

describes the power hierarchy in Canada; vertical hierarchy of racial or ethnic groups
• Canadians aren’t relatively equal as previously thought, but families of British origin continue to control most power

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13
Q

Ascribed Status

A

status or social rank based on unchangeable or inborn characteristics (ie: race, gender)

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14
Q

Achieved Status

A

status or social rank that you have ‘earned’ by your actions; in theory, anyone could gain or lose this rank or position

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15
Q

Closure (theory)

Frank Parkin

A

strategy used by dominant groups to prevent access to rewards by others (ie: ‘only white protestant males can join this private club’)
• protects monopolies or power and social connections (maintain position with restrictions)

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16
Q

Ideological Hegemony (Antonio Gramsci)

A 
ability of ruling class to set values, norms and cultural standards for their society
• comes from control of intellectuals, who help shape minds of dominated classes
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17
Q

Symbolic Insteractionism

A

explains society by the meanings that individuals in society attach to their actions, and the way interactions between individuals are governed by these meanings
• why are they doing what they are doing?

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18
Q

Social Actions (Weber)

A

action oriented towards shared meanings and actions of others

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19
Q

4 ways to understand the driving force behind social action (Weber)

*most actions will include more than one of these orientation

  • 1&2 involve explicit explanation by their action (effectiveness or belief)
  • 3&4 don’t involve much thought or reasoning by the individual
A

1) Instrumental rationality: individual calculates how to achieve a goal most efficiently (max. efficiency)
2) Value rationality: actions is determined by BELIEF in a moral or other value, regardless of practicality (doing what YOU think is good)
3) Affectual behaviour: action is determined by EMOTIONAL responses (instinctual)
4) Traditional behaviour: action is performed our of HABIT bc that’s what I/we have always done (learnt)

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20
Q

Methodological Individualism

A

explaining broad features of society by FIRST understanding what INDIVIDUALS do, and seeing how millions of such actions produce social consequences

21
Q

Iron Cage (Weber)

A

individual motivations have been transformed into an objective social system
• sum total of many actions creates the social world as a whole

22
Q

Symbolic Interactionism (Herbert Blumer)

A

theoretical paradigm focused on microsociological interactions between individuals
• symbolic meanings we attach to objects in the world and our actions

23
Q

Dramaturgical Method (Erving Goffman)

A

understanding individuals as ‘actors’ portraying specific ‘roles’ in interactions
• individuality is expressed in terms of certain pre-existing social roles (expected to behave in certain ways and to meet these expectations)

24
Q

Normal

A

general set of characteristics that society treats as the ‘default’ or things we are all presumably aspiring to be
• by acting ‘normally’ we can ensure a successful social interaction

25
Q

Stigma (Goffman)

A

social disapproval of features that deviate from the ‘norm’
• goffman suggests that even those who are stigmatized will accept the stand of stigma
- present themselves through socially-define symbols
- more the try to conform, the stronger such symbols are

26
Q

Stereotype Threat

A

internalization of socially prevalent negative stereotypes about one’s ethnic/racial/ gender group
• produces anxiety and self-doubt at the fear of ‘confirming’ those stereotypes

27
Q

Relativism (moral)

A

there is no single absolute morality or truth bc it varies from society to society, therefore, it’s always RELATIVE to particular social and historical circumstances

28
Q

Social Constructionism (Peter Berger and Thomas Luckmann)

• type of symbolic interactionism

A

interprets society as the product of numerous regularized interactions of individuals
• ways people interact to create shared social reality
• bc of HABITUAL standards, we are able to interact bc of shared expectations about one’s behaviour

29
Q

Situation

A

well-defined, regular interaction between people with unspoken expectations/rules about how each behaves
• constant interactions generate expectations about the other’s behaviour

30
Q

Symbolic Universe (Berger and Luckmann)

A
  • total, internally-consistent set of values and beliefs that members of a society draw on
  • explains and justifies order and habits of that society (how individuals ‘explain’ society to selves)
31
Q

Structuration (Anthony Giddens)

A

production and reproduction of social structures by individual acts
• social structures may limit individuals but they are NOT fixed and unchanging, they are constantly evolving bc they are reproduced by individual actions

32
Q

Lifeworld (Jurgen Habermas)

A

complete set of shared assumptions, values, morals, languages etc.. we all draw on when trying to come to agreement with others (btwn 2 ppl or more)
• ‘deliberate consensus’

33
Q

System

A

impersonal social mechanisms that DON”T rely on meaningful symbolic interaction (eg: money, power)
• necessary as society becomes more complex; speeds up social interaction by ‘automating’ it

34
Q

Collective Consciousness (Durkheim)

A

the shared ‘taken for granted’ moral beliefs or values that almost all members of a society agree on without really questioning them
(ex: how we dress, what we should eat, how we treat others)
• offences against collective consciousness makes us feel as if something sacred is attacked (horror)

35
Q

Sui Generis (Durkheim)

A

‘of its own kind’ (distinct, unique)

• we can’t explain it in terms of something else

36
Q

Social Fact

A
  • both a fact that is true about society as a WHOLE but not about individual (ex: suicide rates)
  • and things treated as ‘real’ in society by its member (ex: morality, religion)
37
Q

Positivism (August Comte)

A

assumption that only observable, measurable and empirically-verifiable facts count as knowledge
• rejection of metaphysical or ethical speculation

38
Q

Function

A

role in maintaining society as a whole that is played by any one particular part of it
• each social institution or form of social organization has a function

39
Q

Structural Functionalism

A

analyzes society as a complete system, in which every structure serves a function that keeps the whole together

40
Q

AGIL(e) (Talcott Parsons)

• describes the basic kinds of function any society must meet in order to continue existing

A

A-daptation: can society adapt to its material environment? ensure everyday subsistence for its members?
G-oal attainment: is society able to identify goals for the future and figure out how to achieve them?
I-ntegration: does society successfully integrate all its members into a coherent, relatively-similar whole?
L-atency: can society sustain certain patterns of values over time? (ie: watching or playing hockey)

41
Q

Totemism (Durkheim)

A

type of religion focused around the veneration of SACRED TOTEMS or symbols (eg: images of sacred animal)
• represents sacredness of society as a whole
• Robert Bellah says Durkheim is right about totems but in today’s society, it’s replaced by things like sports jerseys

42
Q

Solidarity (Durkheim)

•durkheim identifies two primary ways society can reinforce solidarity: organic and mechanical

A

social force that holds all members of society together, keeping us united with one another and distinct from other societies (keeps all individual parts together)

43
Q

Mechanical Solidarity

A
  • solidarity by SIMILARITIES- held together by things we have in common
  • reinforced by PUNISHMENT for crimes- historically, things like dressing differently or being different etc.. were harshly punished
44
Q

Organic Solidarity

A
  • solidarity by DIFFERENCES- held together by the fact we rely on other people for things we lack
  • reinforced by DIVISION of labour- we all specialize in different jobs so we can’t leave society and go off on our own
45
Q

What are the different forms of suicide? (Durkheim)

A

1) Egoistic: LACK of social integration; caused by being too isolated and not sufficiently bonded to society (the way they commit is MELANCHOLY- quiet death)
2) Altruistic: EXCESS fo social integration; caused by not being sufficiently individual
3) Anomic: LACK of social regulation of our impulses and desires; caused by dramatic change in circumstances that we’re not adjusted to (the way they commit is ANGRY- murder-suicide)
4) Fatalistic: EXCESS of social regulation of our impulses and desires; caused when we have no hope of a change in our situation

46
Q

Anomie

A

sense of lacking social regulation or structure, leaving us adrift in a world without meaning
social regulation of our impulses and desires
• Durkheim suggests that this is prevalent in the modern world

47
Q

Socialisation

A

social process by which individuals are ‘trained’ to be members of society- taught common values, ways of behaving etc..- so they fit in

48
Q

3 Foundations of Sociological Thought

A

1) Critical Theory (based on conflict): social structures are created to dominate the weak (society is unfair)
• macrosociology: power in whole of society
2) Symbolic Interactionism (based on habituation): social structures constructed by habits of individuals (meaning?)
• microsociology: (product of) analyses individual actions
3) Structural Functionalism (based on the group as a whole): social structure serve function for the whole (society is doing well!)
• macrosociology: examines society as a coherent whole

Sociology 100 (13 decks)

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