Sociology Midterm

Question 1

Sociological imagination

Answer 1

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

Question 2

Social institutions

Answer 2

the established patterns of beliefs, behaviors and relationships that organize social life. Social institutions exist to meet society’s fundamental needs, such as providing structure, guidance and order. Common examples of social institutions include family, religion, education and government

Question 3

Positivism

Answer 3

The idea that people do not need to base their ideals of human behavior without using a higher power

Question 4

Theological

Answer 4

Comte believed that in this stage, people needed to strip away the layers of society to better comprehend how our basic drives and natural instincts governed and established the foundation for the surrounding world.

Question 5

Metaphysical

Answer 5

People view the world and it’s events as natural reflections of human nature

Question 6

Scientific

Answer 6

When humans would develop as social beings to identify the scientific laws of human behavior

Question 7

Verstehen

Answer 7

this approach, when a researcher aims to understand another person’s experience, he can try to put himself in the other person’s shoes.

Question 8

Interpretive sociology

Answer 8

the study of society that concentrates on the meanings people associate to their social world. AKA, the immersion of the researcher in the day-to-day life of the research subjects

Question 9

Anomie

Answer 9

a state of normlessness, disorder, or confusion in a society when the standard norms and values are weak or unclear.

Question 10

Double consciousness

Answer 10

a process in which African Americans constantly maintain two behavioral scripts. The first is the script that any American would have for moving through the world; the second is the script that takes the external opinions of an often racially prejudiced onlooker into consideration

Question 11

Functionalism

Answer 11

Extended from orgaismism by Durke. Believes the idea that clearly defines positions within a complex society helps reduce strain and confusion by assigning complementary roles within households.

Question 12

Conflict theory

Answer 12

Would study the shift in gender expectations and roles in families resulting from the political struggles of women to challenge an inherently oppressive division of labor that leaves them dependent on male breadwinners and exploited for non wage household work

Question 13

Symbolic Interactionism

Answer 13

Is described through theater. Would take as a given that these roles are arbitrary and not dictated by any natural laws and thus would ask how social actors (i.e., people) play (or rather improvise/construct) the roles of “housewife,” “house husband,” “primary breadwinner,” and so on.

Question 14

Microsociology

Answer 14

small-scale sociological analysis that studies the behavior of people in face-to-face social interactions and small groups to understand what they do, say, and think.

Question 15

Macrosociology

Answer 15

the study of the outside influences on human societies on a wide scale. It focuses on the larger societies, communities, and organizations that individuals. They use qualitative methods such as historical comparison and in-depth interviewing.

Question 16

Scientific Method

Answer 16

A procedure involving the formulation, testing, and modification of hypotheses based on systematic observation, measurement, and/or experiments

Question 17

Theory

Answer 17

An abstracted, systematic model of how some aspect of the world works.

Question 18

Reverse causality

Answer 18

When instead of variable a causing variable b, variable b causes variable a. (ex: even though it was thought that eating junk food makes you fat, it’s actually that being fat makes you eat more junk food.)

Question 19

Hypothesis

Answer 19

Predicting the outcomes; an assumption, an idea that is proposed for the sake of argument so that it can be tested to see if it might be true.

Question 20

Operationalization

Answer 20

Measuring concepts: How do we define the broad term and how to measure the large term

Question 21

“White coat” effects

Answer 21

The effect where a researchers presence causes gte subjects behavior to change in a way that is not natural to how they would normally behavior

Question 22

Reflexivity

Answer 22

Analyzing and critically considering out own role and effect on our research

Question 23

Feminist methodology

Answer 23

A set system/methods that treat women’s experiences as legitimate empirical and theoretical resources. Promote social social science for women (think public sociology but for a specific half of the public

Question 24

Participant observation

Answer 24

a research method where the researcher immerses themself in a particular social setting or group, observing the behaviors, interactions, and practices of the participants.

Question 25

Surveys

Answer 25

a research method sociologists use to gather data from respondents by asking a series of questions about their opinions or human behavior.

Question 26

Culture

Answer 26

the languages, customs, beliefs, rules, arts, knowledge, and collective identities and memories developed by members of all social groups that make their social environments meaningful.

Question 27

Ethnocentrism

Answer 27

Concern for your own interests and well-being over all others; self-centeredness.

Question 28

Cultural lag

Answer 28

a sociological phenomenon or theory that takes place when changes or advancements in material culture occur at a faster rate than changes in non-material culture(normally technology)

Question 29

Code switch

Answer 29

is the ways in which a member of an underrepresented group (consciously or unconsciously) adjusts their language, syntax, grammatical structure, behavior, and appearance to fit into the dominant culture.

Question 30

Culture shock

Answer 30

Feelings of uncertainty, confusion, or anxiety that people may experience when moving to a new country or surroundings

Question 31

Ideology

Answer 31

‘a set of beliefs treated as distinctive to a particular group or category of person

Question 32

Cultural relativism

Answer 32

not judging a culture to our own standards of what is right or wrong, strange or normal

Question 33

Cultural scripts

Answer 33

modes of behavior and understanding that are not universal or natural, shape our notions of gender

Question 34

Subculture

Answer 34

groups united by sets of concepts, values, symbols, and shared meaning specific to the members of that group. Accordingly, they frequently are seen as vulgar or deviant and are often marginalized.

Question 35

Hegemony

Answer 35

a condition by which a dominant group uses its power to elicit the voluntary “consent” of the masses.

Question 35

Reflection theory

Answer 35

which states that culture is a projection of social structures and relationships into the public sphere

Question 35

Socialization

Answer 35

the process by which individual internalize the values, beliefs and norms of a given

Question 36

Consumerism

Answer 36

the steady acquisition of material possessions, often with the belief that happiness and fulfillment can thus be achieved

Question 37

Resocialization

Answer 37

the concept of adapting to new social/cultural norms or values. Can happen in small scales (being placed in a new classroom) or big scale (moving to a new country)

Question 37

Total institution

Answer 37

an institution that controls almost all aspects of its members’ lives. (Ect: Boarding schools, orphanages, military branches, juvenile detention, and prisons. )