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Sociology 210 > Intro, History, and Theories > Flashcards

Intro, History, and Theories Flashcards

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Sociology 101 flashcards
1
Q

What is sociology?

A
  • study of society and social interaction
  • a multi-perspectival science (many perspectives/paradigms)
  • key insight: being in a group changes your behaviour
  • sociologists study all aspects and levels of society
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2
Q

social interaction

A

anything involving at least 2 people (even in the seclusion of one’s mind)

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3
Q

society

A
  • a group of people whose members interact, reside in a definable area, and share a culture
  • society is not an object, and is not independent of the individual
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4
Q

culture

A

group’s shared practices, values, beliefs, norms, and artifacts

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5
Q

micro-level analysis

A

focuses on social dynamics of intimate, face-to-face interactions (ex. between family, co-workers, etc.)

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6
Q

4 levels of analysis

A
  • micro (primary)
  • meso
  • macro (primary)
  • global
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7
Q

macro-level analysis

A

focuses on large-scale, society-wide interactions (ex. institutions, classes, societies)

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8
Q

Sociological imagination

A
  • Proposed by C. Wright Mills

- the ability to see your private troubles in the context of the broad social processes that contain them

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9
Q

early history of sociology

A
  • Ancient Greeks provided foundation
  • 13th century Chinese historians recognized the importance of social dynamics
  • Sociology established as a discipline in the 19th century (due in part to development of modern science)
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10
Q

Rationalism vs. empiricism

A
  • rationalism: using the truth of reasoning and ideas

- empiricism: making careful, methodical, detailed observations of the world

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11
Q

important people in the history of sociology

A
  • August Comte
  • Karl Marx
  • Harriet Martineau
  • Emile Durkheim
  • Max Weber
  • Georg Simmel
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12
Q

August Comte

A
  • “father of sociology”

- created positivism: scientific study of social patterns

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13
Q

Karl Marx

A
  • critically analyzed capitalism
  • saw material and economic basis of inequality as a cause of social instability and conflict
  • believed that sociology (or historical materialism) should be a “ruthless critique of everything existing”
  • created framework for critical sociology -> rigorously analyzing society in order to change it
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14
Q

capitalism

A
  • economic system characterized by private ownership of goods and the means to produce them
  • inherently unstable
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15
Q

why is capitalism unstable?

A
  • need to expand markets and create cheap products -> reduce cost of production -> downward pressure on wages -> failure of businesses, economic crises and recessions, etc.
  • yet the capitalists rely on worker’s labour to produce wealth -> injustice may eventually lead to its destruction
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16
Q

Harriet Martineau

A
  • first female sociologist
  • focused on social reform movements, added women’s perspective to sociology
  • recognized that researcher/subject relationship needed to be different in social sciences vs. hard sciences (ex. impartiality, critique, sympathy)
17
Q

Emile Durkheim

A
  • helped establish sociology as an academic discpline by establishing the first department of sociology at a university
  • represented the sociologist as a doctor -> healthy societies were stable, unhealthy ones experienced a breakdown and needed social remedy
  • saw religion as something that functioned to unify society
  • key figure in development of positivist sociology
18
Q

anomie

A

state of normlessness (no clear direction and purpose to individual action)

19
Q

Max Weber

A
  • noted that business leaders and owners of capital were Protestant
  • focused on development of the “Protestant work ethic”: duty to work hard
  • argued that Western society developed due to rationalism
  • introduced concept of “verstehen”: understanding in a deep way (ex. an outsider understanding another culture from an insider’s POV)
  • founded interpretive sociology
20
Q

interpretive sociology

A

finding systematic means to interpret and describe meanings behind social processes, cultural norms, and societal values

21
Q

Georg Simmel

A
  • wanted to know how society is possible
  • developed formal sociology (sociology of social forms)
  • proposed “tragedy of culture”: social forms like interactions, art, music, etc. tend to detach themselves from lived experiences, and humans have a limited ability to understand them
22
Q

theory

A

a way to explain different aspects of social interactions and create testable propositions about society

23
Q

paradigms

A

frameworks used to formulate theories, generalizations, and research performed in support of them

24
Q

3 types of sociological knowledge

A
  • positivist sociology
  • interpretive sociology
  • critical sociology
25
Q

4 paradigms of sociological thinking

A
  • structural functionalism
  • critical sociology
  • feminism
  • symbolic interaction
26
Q

positivist sociology

A
  • emphasizes empirical observation and measurement; values neutrality and objectivity
  • forms: quantitive sociology and functionalism
27
Q

quantitive sociology

A

uses statistical methods and surveys with large numbers of participants

28
Q

structural functionalism

A
  • describing sociology in terms of objective social facts -> how each party of society functions to create a whole
  • macro-level
29
Q

mechanical solidarity vs. organic solidarity vs. dynamic equilibrium

A
  • mech solidarity: shared collective consciousness with harsh punishment for deviation from norms
  • org solidarity: complex system of interrelated parts working together to maintain stability
  • dynamic equilibrium: stable state; combination of mech and org solidarity
30
Q

AGIL

A
  • Adaptation (adapting to environment)
  • Goal attainment
  • Integration (achieving social cohesion)
  • Latent pattern maintenance (maintaining cultural patterns and belief systems)
31
Q

manifest functions vs. latent functions

A
  • manifest: consequences of sought-after actions (ex. manifest function of going to college = getting degree)
  • latent: consequences that aren’t sought-after (ex. college = making friends)
32
Q

dysfunctions

A

social processes with undesirable consequences (ex. getting bad grades)

33
Q

symbolic interactionism

A
  • one-to-one interactions and communications -> exchange of meaning through language and symbols
  • micro-level
34
Q

critical sociology

A
  • how inequalities contribute to social differences of power and perpetuate them
  • using liberation and social change to achieve social justice
  • macro level
  • ex. feminism, historical materialism
35
Q

interpretive perspective

A

understanding or interpreting human activity in terms of the meanings that humans attribute to it

36
Q

historical materialism

A

how our everyday lives are structured by relations between power and economic processes

37
Q

mode of production

A

the way human societies use resources in order to meet their needs

38
Q

feminist sociology

A

focuses on power relationships and inequalities between women and men

39
Q

why study sociology?

A
  • learn how to think critically about social issues
  • prepares you for careers in a diverse society
  • helps make informed decisions about social issues

Sociology 210 (15 decks)

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