soc Flashcards
social disorganization
inability of community members to achieve shared values or solve jointly experienced problems
example of social disorganization
areas that see newly arriving poor (immigrants), high rate of residential instability, and mixes of people from different backgrounds
empirical rule
based on observation instead of logic
resiedential instability
strong networks of social relationships prevent crime and delinquency
etnic diversity
number of households occupied by white vs. nonwhite…..crimes aries between ethnic groups, not from some groups being more violence prone then others
family disruption
indexed by the number of female headed households…Single mothers hildren are usually in trouble more
youth delinquency
measured by rate of violent crimes by the youth
residential instability
when the pop. of an area continuously changes. fewer opportunites to get to know each other
concept
label that applies things with similar attributes
variable
concept that is of interest to us. Can influence/ be influenced by something (independent/dependent)
attribute
quality that describes something
theory
it is an explanation, so you must create a hypothesis to test it
3 qualities of a good hypothesis
- testable expectation
- uses 2 variables
- clearly states the direction of the relationship
content analysis
analyzing text to see what it reveals about its author, the times in which it was written, etc.
strength of surveys
obtain data from large numbers of ppl, useful in collecting demographic info, it can measure attitudes of people
weaknesses of surveys
not a good way to measure actual behavior, information can be very misleading
6 guidelines for surveys
- questions must be at appropiate level
- avoid double negative questions
- avoid marathon questions
- dont ask leading/loaded questions(quesyions that lead respondents to answer one way or another)
- Dont ask double barreled questions(one question at a time)
- dont ask questions respondents cant answer(inaccessible info)
experiment
manipulating the independent variable and observing the effect on the dependent variable
observation research in sociology
research that directly observes behavior of individuals in social environments
unobtrusive methods
studying things that have already occurred(artifacts, existing statistics, and texts)
triangulation
combining methods of research so that strengths of one method overcome weaknesses of another
selecting an appropriate sample
the more diverse a population is, the larger the sample needs to be
scientific survey - random sampling
nonscientific survey - nonrandom sampling
informed consent
consent that is obtained after the research participant has been told what they will be asked, what the benefits will be, and what possible harms there can be
nonmaterial culture
made up of intangible things (ideas, symbols, language
material culture
includes all things that humans make from raw materials
folkways
casual norms not taken seriously (eating cereal for dinner)
mores
important rules/laws (assalt, murder)
taboos
norms so deeply held that even the thought of violating them upsets people (incest)
cultural diffusion
adopting material cultural from other cultures (sushi bar from japan)
cultural leveling
as cultural diffusion increases, differences between cultural decreases (mcdonalds in London)
subculturals
groups of ppl within society that share the same beliefs, values, and norms (police officers)
counterculture
a group in society whose values, norms, and material culture sets them apart (KKK, Nazis)
idioculture
culture of the group mirrors the larger culture, but they develop their own distinct culture
culture as a product of action
culture systems are created by humans and in this sense are products of human action. Thats why there are different cultures
culture as conditioning element
when one problem has been satisfactorily solved by a society, and every other society fixes their same problem
primary group
family riends and loved ones
secondary group
less intimate groups (classmates, work friends)
master status
a social position that tend to be one of the most important positions a person occupies
status
a persons role in a group - president, vice president, worker bee
status inconsistency
when a person occupies multiple status’s that they weren’t meant to fulfill (a daughter becoming and mom and sister)
role conflict
when the demands of a persons roles clash ( when a principal has a son that gets in trouble in their own school. They have to deal with it from the administrative side and parental side)
attributes of institutions
- inherently conservative
- change slowly
- are interdependent
- frequently differ from one society to another
institutionalized norms
Statuses: mother, father, son, daughter
Role Expectations: wives and husbands must be faithful to each other
Values: “Blood is thicket then water”
Norms: Help one another, dont rat on family
self sufficiency
a group doesnt qualify as a society unless it can provide for the resources to answer all of its members basic needs
social institutions
family, religion, economy, law, politics
society
a group of ppl who share laws, organizations, customs, etc.
Societal Needs and Their Institutions
- institutions are generally unplanned, they develop gradually
- Institutions change slowly
- A particular society’s institutions are interdependent bc of this, change in one institution tends to being changes in another
- The statuses, roles, values, and norms associated with an institution in one society frequently bear little resemblance to those in another society
