Introduction Vocabulary Flashcards
antipositivism
The view in sociology that social sciences need to create and use different scientific methods than those used in the field of natural sciences. Researchers should strive for subjectivity, not objectivity, in their research.
conflict theory
a theory that looks at society as a competition for limited resources
dynamic equilibrium
a stable state in which all parts of a healthy society are working together properly
dysfunctions
social patterns that have undesirable consequences for the operation of society
figuration
the process of simultaneously analyzing the behavior of an individual and the society that shapes that behavior
function
the part a recurrent activity plays in the social life as a whole and the contribution it makes to structural continuity
functionalism
a theoretical approach that sees society as a structure with interrelated parts designed to meet the biological and social needs of individuals that make up that society
grand theories
attempts to explain large-scale relationships and answer fundamental questions such as why societies form and why they change
latent functions
the unrecognized or unintended consequences of a social process
macro-level
a wide-scale view of the role of social structures within a society
manifest functions
sought consequences of a social process
micro-level theories
the study of specific relationships between individuals or small groups
paradigms
philosophical and theoretical frameworks used within a discipline to formulate theories, generalizations, and the experiments performed in support of them
positivism
the study of society that relies specifically on scientific evidence, such as experiments and statistics, to reveal a true nature of how society operates.
qualitative sociology
in-depth interviews, focus groups, and/or analysis of content sources as the source of its data
