Introduction/Chapter 1 Flashcards
What is sociology?
The scientific study of society and social behavior; it is a scientific study because it is not common sense.
What does sociology focus on?
The study of group behavior of a society, social relationships, and how those relationships influence humans.
How does sociology differ from psychology?
Sociology studies societal influences on behavior, while psychology studies individual behavior and the mind.
What are the steps in sociological research?
Define the problem, conduct a literature review, make a hypothesis, research design, analyze data, results & conclusion.
What is a hypothesis?
A prediction showing the relationship between two or more variables.
What are variables in sociological research?
Factors that can vary, such as gender, race, social class, income, and marital class.
What is the difference between sex and gender?
Sex is biological (man or woman), while gender is learned from society (male or female).
What are the types of research design in sociology?
Experiment, survey, observational study, and secondary data.
What is quantitative data?
Numerical data that can be analyzed using statistics.
What is qualitative data?
Visual or descriptive data.
What is the ASA Code of Ethics?
You must inform people if you are researching them.
What are measures of central tendency?
Mean, mode, and median.
What is the mean?
The average obtained by adding numbers and dividing the sum by the amount of numbers.
What is the mode?
The most occurring sequence or number; if there is only one of each, there is no mode.
What is the median?
The middle number after putting them in order from least to greatest.
What is sociological imagination?
An awareness of the relationship between an individual and the wider society, both today and in the past.
Who is C. Wright Mills?
He wrote the theory of suicide and a book about sociological imagination.
What is natural science?
The study of the physical features of nature and how they interact and change (e.g., biology, physics).
What is social science?
The study of the social features of humans and how they interact and change (e.g., psychology, sociology).
Who is August Comte?
The father of sociology who coined the term and developed the three stages of human development.
What are the three stages of human development according to Comte?
Metaphysical, theological, and positivism (science).
Who is Harriet Martineau?
She wrote the first book on sociological methods and emphasized the impact of economy, law, trade, health, and population on social problems.
Who is Herbert Spencer?
A British sociologist who applied Darwin’s ‘Survival of the Fittest’ theory to societies.
Who is Emile Durkheim?
A German sociologist known for his theory of suicide and the concepts of mechanical and organic solidarity.
What is anomie?
The loss of direction or normalness felt in a society when social control of individual behavior has become ineffective.
Who is Karl Marx?
The father of communism who believed in controlling selfish human nature to prevent exploitation.
What is double consciousness according to W.E.B. DuBois?
The division of an individual’s identity into two or more social realities (e.g., being African and being American).
What is false consciousness?
Having no identity.
What are some major works of W.E.B. DuBois?
The Philadelphia Negro (1899), The Negro Church (1903), Souls of Black Folk (1903).
What is microsociology?
The study of society as little pieces.
What is macrosociology?
The study of society as a whole.
What are the major theoretical perspectives in sociology?
Functionalism, conflict, and symbolic interaction (interactionist).
