Sociology Chapter 1

Question 1

Sociology

Answer 1

The scientific study of interactions, human groups and whole societies. Sociology is one of a group of social sciences which also includes anthropology, economics, political science and human geography

Question 2

Sociological Imagination

Answer 2

The application of imaginative thought to the asking and answering of sociological questions. The sociological imagination involves ‘thinking oneself away’ from the familiar routines of day to day life

Question 3

Society

Answer 3

A system of structured social and institutional relationships within a bounded territory. Societies can be small, numbering a few dozen people, or very large, encompassing hundreds of millions

Question 4

Social Structure

Answer 4

Patterns of interaction between individuals, groups and institutions. Most of our activities are structured: they are organised in a regular and repetitive way

Question 5

Structuration

Answer 5

The two-way process by which we shape our social world through our individual actions but are ourselves reshaped by society

Question 6

Theory

Answer 6

An attempt to identify general properties that explain regularly observed events. While theories tend to be linked to broader theoretical approaches, they are also strongly influenced by the research results they help generate

Question 7

Industrial Revolution

Answer 7

The broad spectrum of social, economic and technological transformations that surrounded the development of modern forms of industry in the mid-eighteenth and early twentieth century

Question 8

Positivism

Answer 8

In sociology, the view that the study of the social world should be conducted according to the principles of natural science. A positivist approach to sociology holds that objective knowledge can be produced through careful observation, comparison and experimentation

Question 9

Social Fact

Answer 9

According to Durkheim, the aspects of social life that shape our actions as individuals. Durkheim believed that social facts could be studied scientifically.

Question 10

Division of Labour

Answer 10

The division of a production or economic system into specialised work tasks or occupations, creating economic interdependence

Question 11

Mechanical Solidarity

Answer 11

According to Durkheim, an early form of social solidarity characterised by similarities and the subsumptions of individualism within the collectivity

Question 12

Organic Solidarity

Answer 12

According to Durkheim, a form of social cohesion that results from the various parts of society functioning as an integrated whole, particularly through the extended division of labour

Question 13

Anomie

Answer 13

‘Normlesseness’ or lack of social norms. Used by Durkheim to describe desperate feelings of aimlessness and despair provoked by rapid social change, which loosens the hold of existing norms.

Question 14

Capitalism

Answer 14

An economic system based on profit-seeking and market exchange. ‘Capital’ refers to any asset, including money, property and machines, which can be used to produce commodities for sale or invested in a market with the hope of achieving a profit

Question 15

Proletariat

Answer 15

For Marx, the working class under capitalism

Question 16

Class

Answer 16

For Marx, a group of people standing in a common relationship to the means of production as owners or non-owners. Weber saw class as an economic category but stressed its interaction with social status and the affinities of ‘party’ affiliation. More recent definitions stress occupation, the ownership of property and wealth or lifestyles

Question 17

Communism

Answer 17

Theoretically, a society that is characterised by communal ownership of the means of the production and distribution. Usually associated with Marx and used to describe the former Soviet Union and much of Eastern Europe

Question 18

Social Action

Answer 18

Action that is subjectively meaningful and oriented towards other people

Question 19

Ideal Type

Answer 19

A ‘pure type’, constructed by emphasising certain traits of a given social phenomenon into an analytical model which does not necessarily exist anywhere in reality. An example would be Weber’s model of bureaucratic organisation