SOC Ch 1, non-American Sociologists

Question 1

Thinking like a sociologist

Answer 1

Applying analytical tools to something you have always done without much conscious thought – or ʺmaking the familiar strange.ʺ

Question 2

Sociological imagination 1

Answer 2

The ability to connect the most basic, intimate aspects of an individual’s life to seemingly impersonal and remote historical forces. Sociologist C. Wright Mills coined this term.

Question 3

Sociological imagination 3

Answer 3

The ability to see the connections between our personal experience and the larger forces of history.

Question 4

Sociology

Answer 4

The study of human society; a recently developed field of study.

Question 5

Social institution 1

Answer 5

A complex group of interdependent positions that, together, perform a social role and reproduce themselves over time.

Question 6

Social institution 2

Answer 6

Any institution in a society that works to shape the behavior of the groups or people within it.

Question 7

Auguste Comte (1798–1857)

Answer 7

Said we can determine a ʺsecular morality,ʺ a sense of right and wrong without referring to religion. Invented what he called “social physics” or “positivism.”

Question 8

Harriet Martineau 1 (1802–1876)

Answer 8

The first to translate Comte’s works from French into English – Comte said they were better than his original words!

Question 9

Theory and Practice of Society in America (1937)

Answer 9

Written by Harriet Martineau. Described America’s physical and social aspects.

Question 10

Harriet Martineau 2 (1802-1876)

Answer 10

Wrote How to Observe Morals and Manners (1838) – the first methods book in the area of sociology.

Question 11

How to Observe Morals and Manners (1838)

Answer 11

Harriet Martineau’s book about how the institution of marriage was based on the assumption that women are inferior to men.

Because of her writings, she is basically one of the earliest feminist social scientists writing in English.

Question 12

Founding fathers of sociology (not Comte or Martineau)

Answer 12

Karl Marx; Max Weber; and Émile Durkheim

Question 13

Karl Marx 1 (1818–1883)

Answer 13

Probably the most famous of the three founding fathers of sociology (Karl Marx, Max Weber, Émile Durkheim).

Question 14

Marxism

Answer 14

An ideological alternative to capitalism. Communism is based on Karl Marx’s writings.
The term Marxism comes from Karl Marx’s last name.

Question 15

Karl Marx 2 (1818–1883)

Answer 15

Built on a theory, now called ʺhistorial materialism,ʺ that maintained that social change throughout history is driven by conflicts between classes.

Question 16

historial materialism

Answer 16

Social change throughout history is driven by conflicts between classes.

Question 17

Max Weber 1 (1864–1920)

Answer 17

Along with others, Weber believed that Marx was overly focused on the economy and on social class. Sociological analysis should consider MULTIPLE influences of culture, economics, and politics.

Question 18

Max Weber 2 (1864–1920)

Answer 18

Most famous for his two-volume book set called Economy and Society (1922) and an essay, “The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism” (1904).

Question 19

“The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalismʺ (1904)

Answer 19

Max Weber’s essay. Argued that Protestant Reformation (16th and 17th centuries) set the stage for capitalism by: changing the idea that poverty is noble. Riches became a sign of God’s gifts/approval.

Question 20

Economy and Society (1922)

Answer 20

Book set written by Max Weber. Defined concepts that sociologists use today, such as authority, rationality, and the government.

Question 21

verstehen

Answer 21

Means ʺunderstandingʺ in German; emphasized by Max Weber. Forms the basis of interpretive sociology – the study of social meaning.

Question 22

Max Weber 4 (1864–1920)

Answer 22

Emphasizing verstehen, Weber said sociologists must understand the social meanings that people attach to their actions based on their social experiences.

Question 23

interpretive sociology

Answer 23

Subjectivity, not objectivity, is the foundation of studying social meaning – Max Weber

Question 24

Émile Durkheim (1858–1917)

Answer 24

Studied how society holds together and how modern capitalism and industrialization transformed how people relate to each other.

Question 25

The Division of Labor in Society (1893)

Answer 25

Written by Émile Durkheim. Division of labor in society not only affects work productivity but also helps maintain the way individuals form societies.

Question 26

Suicide 1 (1897)

Answer 26

Written by Émile Durkheim. Even an individual act, like suicide, is conditioned by SOCIAL forces: the degree that we’re integrated or not into groups and the degree that our lives follow routines.

Question 27

Suicide 2 (1897)

Answer 27

By Émile Durkheim. One of the main social forces leading to suicide is… the sense of no norms, resulting from drastic changes in living conditions or arrangements – anomie.

Question 28

anomie

Answer 28

The sense of no norms, resulting from drastic changes in living conditions or arrangements.

Question 29

positivist sociology

Answer 29

A branch of sociology that maintains that the social world can be described, and even predicted, by certain describable relationships – like a kind of SOCIAL PHYSICS – Émile Durkheim

Question 30

Émile Durkheim 2 (1858–1917)

Answer 30

Considered the founding practitioner of positivist sociology (although the concept was started by Auguste Comte).

Question 31

Georg Simmel (1858–1918)

Answer 31

Established formal sociology – that is, the sociology of pure numbers. Addressed differences between a group of two vs three or more; influential in urban and cultural sociology.