Sociology Exam 1 Review

Question 1

A basic image of society that guides thinking and research.

Answer 1

Theoretical Paradigm

Question 2

Comprised of people who must sell their labor because they have no other means to earn a livelihood.

Answer 2

Proletariat

Question 3

“If humans define situations as real, they are real in their consequences.”

Answer 3

Thomas Theorem

Question 4

According to Merton, institutional outcomes can be ________ (intended) or ________ (unintended)

Answer 4

Manifest and Latent

Question 5

Refers to the idea that people tend to see themselves as they think other people see them.

Answer 5

Looking Glass Self

Question 6

The theoretical paradigm that assumes that various social institutions and processes in society exist to serve some important (or necessary) function to keep society running.

Answer 6

Functionalism

Question 7

Research methods that attempt to collect information about the social world that cannot be readily converted to numeric form.

Answer 7

Qualitative Research

Question 8

A simultaneous change in two variables.

Answer 8

Correlation

Question 9

The ability to connect one’s personal experiences to the broader society and historical forces.

Answer 9

Sociological Imagination

Question 10

What are the 3 factors needed to establish Causality?

Answer 10

Correlation, Time Order, and Ruling out Alternative Explanations.

Question 11

An element of nonmaterial culture known as __________ is a system of concepts and relationships sometimes used to understand cause and effect.

Answer 11

Ideology

Question 12

A micro-level theoretical perspective in which shared meanings, orientations, and assumptions form the basic motivations behind people’s actions.

Answer 12

Symbolic Interactionism

Question 13

A University of Michigan professor best known for his concept of the “Looking Glass Self”

Answer 13

Charles Horton Cooley

Question 14

The idea that discord between competing interests is the basic, animating force of social change and society in general.

Answer 14

Conflict Theory

Question 15

Encompasses everything that is a part of our constructed environment, such as books, fashion, and monuments.

Answer 15

Material Culture

Question 16

The process by which a researcher transforms an abstract concept into a measurable variable.

Answer 16

Operationalization

Question 17

The belief that one’s own culture or group is superior to others, and the tendency to view all other cultures from the perspective of one’s own.

Answer 17

Ethnocentrism

Question 18

A research approach that starts with empirical observations and then works to form a theory.

Answer 18

Inductive Approach

Question 19

The _____ variable is the “change agent” or cause of an effect in the _____ variable

Answer 19

Independent and Dependent

Question 20

When a change in one variable is the direct result of a change in another variable, this (difficult to obtain) condition exists.

Answer 20

Causality

Question 21

_____ Companies own _____% of the Media in the US.

Answer 21

6, 90%

Question 22

A group of social positions, connected by social relations, that preform important social roles and exert significant influence on our behaviors. Examples include family, media, education, and economy.

Answer 22

Social Institution

Question 23

The idea that culture is a projection of social structures and relationships into the public sphere (via media, in particular).

Answer 23

Reflection Theory

Question 24

Gramsci’s concept for the historical process in which a dominant group exercises moral and intellectual leadership by receiving the approval and voluntary ‘consent’ of the masses.

Answer 24

Hegemony

Question 25

This concept suggests that getting a “piece of paper” is more important than actually having the knowledge to do a job.

Answer 25

Credentialism

Question 26

Any vehicle that carries, presents, or communicates information.

Answer 26

Mass Media