sociology ch 1

Question 1

alienation

Answer 1

a feeling of powerlessness and estrangement from other people and oneself

Question 2

anomie

Answer 2

social control becomes ineffective as a result of the loss of shared values and a sense of purpose in society

Question 3

bourgeoisie

Answer 3

Karl Marx’s term for the class comprised of those who own and control the means of production

Question 4

class conflict

Answer 4

the struggle between the capitalist class and the working class.

Question 5

commonsense knowledge

Answer 5

a form of knowing that guides ordinary conduct in everyday life

Question 6

dysfunctions

Answer 6

a term referring to the undesirable consequences of any element of a society

Question 7

feminist perspectives

Answer 7

the sociological approach that focuses on the significance of gender in understanding and explaining inequalities that exist between men and women in the household, in the paid labour force and in the realms of politics, law and culture

Question 8

global interdependence

Answer 8

a relationship in which the lives of all people are intertwined closely and any one nations problems are part of a larger global problem

Question 9

high income countries

Answer 9

nations with highly industrialized economies; technologically advanced industrial, administrative and service occupations and relatively high levels of national and personal income

Question 10

industrialization

Answer 10

the process by which societies are transformed from dependence on agriculture and handmade products to an emphasis on manufacturing and related industries

Question 11

latent functions

Answer 11

unintended functions that are hidden and remain unacknowledged by participants

Question 12

low income countries

Answer 12

countries that are primarily agrarian, with little industrialization and low levels of national and personal income

Question 13

macrolevel analysis

Answer 13

sociological theory and research that focus on whole societies, large scale social structures and social systems

Question 14

manifest functions

Answer 14

open, stated, and intended goals or consequences of activities within an organization or institution

Question 15

means of production

Answer 15

tools, land, factories and money for investment that form the economic basis of a society

Question 16

microlevel analysis

Answer 16

sociological theory and research that focus on small groups rather than on large scale social structures

Question 17

middle income countries

Answer 17

nations with industrializing economies, particularly in urban areas, and moderate levels of national and personal income

Question 18

perspective

Answer 18

an overall approach to or viewpoint on some subject

Question 19

positivism

Answer 19

a belief that the world can best be understood by scientific inquiry

Question 20

postmodern perspectives

Answer 20

the sociological approach that attempts to explain social life in modern societies that are characterized by post industrialization, consumerism, and global communication

Question 21

proletariat

Answer 21

those who must sell their labour because they have no other means to earn a livelihood

Question 22

social Darwinism

Answer 22

the belief that those species of animals(including human beings) best adapted to their environment survive and prosper, whereas those poorly adapted die out

Question 23

social facts

Answer 23

patterned ways of acting, thinking and feeling that exist outside any one individual

Question 24

social solidarity

Answer 24

that state of having shared beliefs and values among members of a social group, along with intense and frequent interaction among group members

Question 25

societal consensus

Answer 25

a situation whereby the majority of members share a common set of values, beliefs and behavioural expectations

Question 26

society

Answer 26

a large social grouping that shares the same geographical territory and is subject to the same political authority and dominant culture expectation

Question 27

sociological imagination

Answer 27

the ability to see the relationship between individual experiences and the larger society

Question 28

sociology

Answer 28

the systematic study of human society and social interaction

Question 29

symbol

Answer 29

anything that meaningfully represents something else

Question 30

symbolic interactionist perspectives

Answer 30

the sociological approach that views society as the sum of the interactions of individuals and groups

Question 31

theory

Answer 31

a set of logically interrelated statements that attempts to describe, explain and predict social events

Question 32

urbanization

Answer 32

the process by which an increasing proportion of a population lives in cities rather than in rural areas