Mid-term Flashcards
what is sociology (sociology + sociological perspective + society + culture)
SOCIOLOGY: systemic study of human groups and their interactions (study of society)
- SOCIUS: friend, ally
- LOGOS: logic, study
SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE: to view the social world through the dynamic relationships between individuals and the larger social network in which they live (seeing society is different)
SOCIETY: group of people whose members interact and reside in a definable area
CULTURE: the group’s shared practices (Dinner, Dancing, Dining), values, beliefs, norms, and artifacts
- ex. classroom
- ex. our clothes, laptops, watter bottles, etc.
sociological imagination
SOCIOLOGICAL IMAGINATION: the ability to perceive/understand the dynamic relationship between individual lives and the larger society (seeing the world from different perspectives)
- individual experience is a social construct
- every experience is a shared experience that stems from society
- a mix of biography, society, and history (understanding individual experience in relation so society and history)
c. wright mills (sociological imagination)
C. WRIGHT MILLS:
- claims sociological imagination is the ability to view yourself as the product of social forces
- through sociological imagination, you enrich your understanding of personal circumstances by seeing them within a wider social context
- The individual and the social are inextricably linked and we cannot fully understand one without the other
cheerful robots (sociological imagination)
CHEERFUL ROBOTS: people who are unable or unwilling to see the social world as it truly exists
- ex. judging people without understanding all of the issues involved
reification (sociological imagination)
REIFICATION: the way in which abstract concepts, complex processes, or mutable social relationships come to be thought of as objects
- giving society a definition/reifying that makes it feel tangible or as an object that you can feel through experience
- ex. society or inequality
social structures (sociological imagination)
SOCIAL STRUCTURES: when general patterns persist through time and become routinized at micro-levels, or institutionalized at macro level
- personal troubles of milieu = public issue of social structure
- ex. occupation, minority status, education level, gender, urban-rural differences, family structure, socieconomic status
- ex. being employed as a receptionist in a large multinational corporation influences that person’s life and their opportunities and challenges
- ex. We dont question the norm of education, getting a job
- ex. interracial or gay couples’ relationships are in part defined by the larger society’s views on race and the heteronormative ideal
seeing the general int he particular vs seeing the strange in the familiar (sociological imagination)
SEEING THE GENERAL IN THE PARTICULAR: the ability to look at seemingly unique events or circumstances and then recognize the larger (or general) features involved
- ex. Viewing a homeless person, and broadening your perspective to the larger social patterns that create and perpetuate homelessness in one of the richest nations in the world
SEEING THE STRANGE IN THE FAMILIAR: thinking about what is familiar and seeing it as strange
- ex. Questioning the process of studying for exams and getting evaluated
ancient philosophers (history)
SOCRATES:
- greek philosopher
PLATO:
- greek philosopher
ARISTOTLE:
- greek philosopher
MA TUAN-LI:
- “humanity isnt something created through nature, but through history”
IBN KHALDUN:
- first-ever social philosopher who introduced the idea that group solidarity can help a group to succeed
- social forces, social facts, and social laws
three revolutions that led to the construction of sociology (history)
I. SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION:
- interpreting the world through a scientific lens; counting and observing nature/the physical world after moving away from Greek view of nature/philosophy
- FRANCIS BACON (argued for the scientific method)
- POSITIVISM + August Comte ( a theoretical approach that considers all understanding to be based on science)
II. POLITICAL REVOLUTION:
- transition from modern social life to government
- the Enlightenment (ideas such as individual rights, social responsibility, equality of opportunity, democracy and challenging their oppressors) led to two revolutions
- American revolution (independence of US from British Empire)
- French revolution (overthrow monarchy in France) (liberty, equity, fraternity)
III. INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION:
- moving from an agricultural and rural economy to a capitalist and urban one
- steam engine (introduction to capitalism)
- creation of factories (people coming from rural areas to urban areas for work/factory jobs)
- introduction of governments
August Comte (sociological figures)
AUGUST COMTE:
- father of sociology & positivism
- reinvented sociology
- studied social patterns through the use of scientific method
- believed that “we need to look at society and study it like a science”
- was FOR the conservative and hierarchical social order
Emmanuel-Joseph Sieyes (sociological figures)
EMMANUEL-JOSEPH SIEYES:
- coined the term “sociology” in 1780
- conservative and hierarchal social order
Harriet Martineau (sociological figures)
HARRIET MARTINEAU:
- first woman sociologist
- introduced the missing women’s perspective in sociology
- introduced sociology as a methodologically rigorous discipline
- english translation of Comte’s writings
- social reform for women (right to vote, for education, pursue a job, equal legal rights)
Emile Durkheim (canons of sociology) (4 types of suicide + anomie + social facts + collective consciousness/solidarity)
EMILE DURKHEIM:
- sees every individual choice as a social product
- established sociology as a formal academic discipline
- believed that people wanted to work together for collective benefit
4 types of suicide:
- 1. ALTRUISTIC SUICIDE: too much integration (too integrated in the system; doing a societal act as a form of following)
2. EGOISTIC SUICIDE: not enough integration (ex. Mac workers overworking themselves and being alienated)
3. FATALISTIC SUICIDE: too much regulation (ex. High number of suicide in Korea)
4. ANOMIC SUICIDE: not enough regulations (opposite of function) (ex. During time of war, after revolution)
ANOMIE: a state of normlessness and loss of social authority over individual
SOCIAL FACTS: studies without referencing to individual experience (realities independent to the individual)
- shared expectations that influence individual actions
- the reflection of collective consciousness
- 1. Exist before an individual and continues living after they are gone (ex. language)
- 2. Include taken-for-granted details and expectation (ex. Taking for granted that children talk at a certain age)
- 3. Entails external power that constrains individuals (ex. Language; student not understanding english in a classroom)
- ex. marriage, currency, language, religion, political organization
COLLECTIVE CONSCIOUSNESS: totality of belief and sentiment experienced by an average member of society
- culture and society exist outside of the individual
- it drives your behaviour without even being aware of it
- Collectively agreeing on something is a norm/expectation of society
- ex. shared social norms, laws, values, beliefs, customs
- MECHANICAL SOLIDARITY: traditional societies built on independence and similarities (ex. Small community with every individual knowing where their food is, etc.)
- ORGANIC SOLIDARITY: interdependent societies with complex division of labor (where we live) (ex. depending on transportation)
Karl Marx (canons of sociology) (historical materialism + alienation + false consciousness + class conflict + superstructures/base)
KARL MARX:
- german philosopher & economist
- focused on how power permeates the way people interact as classes and individuals
- critical of the capitalist system (all relationships in capitalist economies have power imbalances)
HISTORICAL MATERIALISM: conception of history through material conditions rather than ideological foundations
- material elements that help us to evolve societies
- ex. planting food, creating machines
CLASS CONFLICT: when the interests of one class are in opposition to another
- class conflict between PROLETARIAT (working class) and BOURGEOISE (owners of the means of production)
- the base and superstructures maintain and shape each other
1) BASE: forces of production + relations of production
- FORCES OF PRODUCTION (the the physical and intellectual resources a society uses to make a living; eg. tools, machines, factories, buildings)
- RELATIONS OF PRODUCTION (relationships between workers and owners based on power and social classes)
2) SUPERSTRUCTURES: all of the things that society values and aspires to once its material needs are me
ALIENATION: lack of connection with produce of labour, others workers, and oneself
FALSE CONSCIOUSNESS: belief and support in the very system that oppresses you
- ensures the system of oppression continues
- avoids class consciousness
CLASS CONSCIOUSNESS: recognition of domination and subordination and seeking social action for change
- recognizing alienation is a problem
- The proletariat’s false consciousness would be destroyed—no longer would workers be alienated from themselves or each other
- ex. fighting for sick days, unions, etc.
how Karl Marx’s theories are relevant to society:
- historical materialism is seen today in the way material conditions like technology and machinery has evolved society
- false consciousness exists in this society through working-class people believing certain politicians will benefit the working class when they actually represent benefiting the bourgeoise
- it also exists in the perpetuated idea of “work hard and you’ll get to where you’re supposed to be” because it creates a false notion that individual efforts create success rather than the ideological systems theyre supporting (theyre tying to distract people from realizing systemic issues and avoid class consciousness so the system can continue to exist)
- class consciousness exists in the awareness that has grown around these economic injustices rooted in systems and things such as protests or news articles
- people started advocating their collective needs
- fighting for unions or sick days
- critiquing capitalism
Max Weber (canons of sociology) (Vetehende Soziologie + subjective discipline + father of qualitative research)
MAX WEBER:
- Verstehende Soziologie:
Interpretive sociology - An interpretive understanding of social action in order to arrive at a causal explanation of its course and effects
- sociology as a subjective discipline (concentrates on the meanings people associate to their social world) (strives to show that reality is constructed by people themselves in their daily lives)
- father of qualitative research (descriptive research)
Geroge Simmel (canons of sociology) (micro-sociologist + formal sociology)
GEORGE SIMMEL:
first MICRO-SOCIOLOGIST:
- viewed society as the summation of human experience and its patterned interactions
- showed how micro interactions contribute to macro interactions
- emergence of social form and micro-level interaction
FORMAL SOCIOLOGY: once analytically separated from their content, different human interactions can be similar in form
- studied society the common patterns that guide human behaviour/interactions
- Ex. social processes that seem very different (writing a term paper now vs over 50-years ago) are actually comparable (ain both times, students were able to get quality information from an overwhelming pool of resources)
W.E.B. Dubois (canons of sociology) (double consciousness)
W.E.B. DUBOIS:
- first black sociologist
- published “Soul of Black Folks”
- argued for race to be understood as a social issue
DOUBLE CONSCIOUSNESS: acknowledgement of
their views of themselves and imposed views
of others
- a way of seeing one’s self through the eyes of someone else, resulting in a sense of divided identity experienced by Black Americans
- “gift of second sight”: allows better understanding of social inequality
positivism (theoretical framework) (functionalism + Spencer/darwanism + Durkheim/structural functionalism + Parons/AGIL schema + Merton/latent manifest functions)
POSITIVISM: a scientific and objective view of the world
- Society is an organic entity that naturally resists change and is !homeostatic!
- FUNCTIONALISM: emphasizes how various social institutions work together to meet the needs of a society
STRUCTURE: regular patterns of behaviour and organized social arrangements that persist through time and different institutions (eg. family, economy, media, religion, political system)
FUNCTION: the function of these social structures for a healthy society
SPENCER:
- SOCIAL DARWANISM: applying principles of biological evolution to human societies
- coined the term SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST: societies evolve for a reason (i.e., they need to survive) (societies can be selected for by environmental pressures)
DURKHEIM:
- STRUCTURAL FUNCTIONALISM: society is a structure with interrelated parts designed to meet the biological and social needs of individuals that make up that society
- The two-part system of structures and their associated functions
- ex. universities are structures, but also functional because education will make it easier to get a well-paying job
PARSONS:
- DYNAMIC EQUILIBRIUM: when all parts of social structures work together to create a stable state
- AGIL SCHEMA: four keys to a functionalist system
- ADAPTATION: how the system adapts to its environment
- GOAL ATTAINMENT: how the system determines what its goals are and how it will attain them (how to use legitimate power to implement social decisions)
- INTEGRATION: how the system integrates its members into harmonious participation and social cohesion (ex. a university’s social system includes regulations on plagiarism that outline the expected standards with which all students must comply)
- LATENET PATTERN MAINTENANCE: how basic cultural patterns, values, belief systems, etc. are regulated and maintained (The system needs to motivate individuals to release their frustrations in socially appropriate ways to maintain the system)
MERTON:
- MANIFEST FUNCTION: the intended/anticipated consequences of a social process (ex. consequence of education is learning what sociology is or making a friend in a class discussion)
- LATENT FUNCTION: the unintended consequences of a social process (ex. getting bullied in school, finding the love of your life in school)
theories + types
THEORY: A proposed explanation about social interactions or society
Three types of sociological knowledge:
1. Positivism
2. Interpretive
3. Critical/conflict
interpretive (theoretical framework) (Mead/social interactionism + me and i + Blumer/symbolic interactionism)
INTERPRETIVE:
MEAD:
- founded SOCIAL INTERACTIONISM: looking at the relationship of individuals within society by examining how they associate things with language and symbols (examining their communication)
- macro
- introduced ME AND I: the creation of identity
BLUMER:
- coined SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONISM: people and societies are defined and created through the interactions of individuals
- the meanings people create are a result of their interactions with others
- micro
- 1) humans act toward things on the basis of the meanings they ascribe to those things (ex. Seeing a dog as either viscous or innocent)
- 2) the meaning of such things is derived from the social interaction that one has with others and society (ex. Reacting scared or not to a dog)
- 3) those meanings are handled in, and modified through, an interpretative process used by the person in dealing with the things they encounter
criticial/conflict (theoretical framework) (historical materialism + dialectal approach + hegemony + feminism)
CRITICAL THEORY: realizing society is grounded in inequality from competition over scarce resources, which often inspires social change
- society is characterized by how power defines and influences virtually all human interactions
- society is a system based on struggle, not homeostatic like functionalists claim
- 1) human life is worth living, or rather that it can be and ought to be made worth living
- 2) In a given society, specific possibilities exist for the amelioration of human life and the specific ways and means of realizing these possibilities.
- critique of power relations
- understanding society as historical
- society is about change, not interpretation
HISTORICAL MATERIALISM: Structure of everyday lives in the connection between relations of power and economic processes
DIALECTICAL APPROACH: Social struggles require/lead to social changes
- 1) everything is related (you sitting here is related to homelessness)
- 2) everything in society is dynamic (whatever change happens here causes a change outside)
- 3) Gradual accumulation may create transformation (tension is going to be added until it cant take it anymore)
- 4) Tension formed around the relationship of power is the key driver of social change (ex. unionization)
HEGEMONY: Political and social domination through ideological control and consent
we’ve been manipulated to consent to it
- ex. “Theres no other option but capitalism”
FEMINISM
- PATRIARCHY: a set of institutional structures that are based on the belief that men and women naturally belong to dichotomous (two separate) and unequal categories
- 1) Gender differences are the central focus or subject matter (celebrating gender differences)
- 2) Gender relations are viewed as a social problem: the site of social inequalities, strains, and contradictions
- 3) Gender relations are not immutable: they are sociological and historical in nature, subject to change and progress.
- 4) Feminism is about an emancipatory commitment to change: the conditions of life that are oppressive for women need to be transformed. “Personal is political!”
contemporary social theories
Post structural theories of knowledge, power, and discourse
Queer theories
Post-colonial theories and orientalism
Anti-racist theories
- critical race theory
- intersectionality and Matrix of domination
- Whiteness and fragility
