PRI. SOCIOLOGY Ch.1-3 Vocabulary Flashcards
Sociology
The study of society.
Positivism
Process known as applying the scientific method to the social world
Sociologist
Would reform society, making it a better place to live
The Survival of The Fittest
The fittest members produce a more advanced society- unless misguided do-gooders get in the way and help the less fit survive
Social Darwinism
That societies evolve over time as the fittest adapt to their environment, Darwin applied this to organisms
Class Conflict
The engine of human history; key to history; struggle between have and have nots
Bourgeoisie
One of the two social classes that are enemies. The capitalist.
Proletarians
The exploited workers.
Capitalist
- own and control means of production
- achieve wealth through capital
- keep the profit
Exploited Workers
- poor, could barley survive
- worked for wages
- vulnerable to displacement by machines or cheap labor
Social Integration
The degree to which people are tied to their social group
Sociological Perspective (imagination)
Stresses the social contexts in which people live, examines how these contexts influence people’s lives.
Social location
The corners in life that people occupy because of where they are located in a society
Society
A group of people who share a culture and a territory
Patterns of Behavior
Recurring characteristics or events
Protestant Ethic
Self-denying approach to life. Protestant being good to go to heaven; not wasting money
Spirit of capitalism
the desire to invest capital in order to make more money
Empiricism
Is the act of experiencing something with one’s senses
Methodology
Is a system of rules, principles, and procedures that guides scientific investigation
Variable
Is a characteristics that varies across space, across, time, or from one individual or group to another
Correlation
Is a relationship between two variables that occurs regularly
Controls
Are ways of excluding the possibility that some other variable might be influencing the relationship
Theory
Is a statement that organizes a set of concepts in a meaningful way by showing the relationships among them
Independent variable
Is one that influences another variable- it acts as a casual variable
Dependent variable
Is one that is influenced by another variable- it is affected by another variable
Spurious correlation
Is merely coincidental and does not imply any casual relationship whatever
Experiment
Is a method for studying the relationship between two variables under carefully controlled conditions
Experimental group
The subjects in an experiment who are exposed to the independent variable
Control group
The subjects in an experiment who are exposed to all the experimental conditions except the independent variable
Survey
Is a method for systematically obtaining standardized information about the attitudes, behavior, or other characteristics of a population
Sample
Is a small number of individuals drawn from larger population
A random sample
Is one chosen in such a way that every member of the population in a question has the same chance of being selected
Detached observation
Is a method in which the researcher remains as aloof as possible, and the subjects may not even know they are begin studied
Participant observation
Is a method in which the researcher becomes directly involved in the social behavior under study
Culture
Is the complex whole of all learned behavior and the products of behavior including material elements and non material elements shared by all members of society and handed down from generation to generation
Cultural Universals
Are practices found in every culture such as marriage, bodily adornment, cooking, dancing, dream interpretation, and funeral ceremonies
Ethnocentrism
Is the tendency to judge other cultures by the standards of ones own culture
Cultural relativism
Opposite of ethnocentrism.
Is the recognition that one culture cannot be arbitrarily judged by the standards of another -see everything in perspective
Subcultural
refers to the values, attitudes, behaviors, and lifestyles of a social group, which are distinct from, but related to those of the dominant culture of a society -china town
Counterculture
Is a subculture whose values, norms, and lifestyles are fundamentally at odds with those of the dominant culture.
Applies sociology
Using sociology to solve problems
Public sociology
used for the public good; to solve problems
Functional Analysis
Is that society is a whole unit, made of interrelated parts that work together; by Comte, Auguste, and Herbert Spencer
Values
Socially shared idea that is concise red goo or desirable to which people must strive
Norms
Socially shared rules or guidelines that prescribe the behavior that is appropriate in a given situation
The self
Is an individual’s conscious experience of experience of a distinct personal identity that is separate from all other people and things
The looking glass self
Is a self concept derived from a social mirror in which we can observe how other people react to us
