Sociology Midterm Flashcards
Sociological imagination
the ability to see the connections between our personal experience and the larger forces of history
Social institutions
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
Positivism
The idea that people do not need to base their ideals of human behavior without using a higher power
Theological
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.
Metaphysical
People view the world and it’s events as natural reflections of human nature
Scientific
When humans would develop as social beings to identify the scientific laws of human behavior
Verstehen
this approach, when a researcher aims to understand another person’s experience, he can try to put himself in the other person’s shoes.
Interpretive sociology
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
Anomie
a state of normlessness, disorder, or confusion in a society when the standard norms and values are weak or unclear.
Double consciousness
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
Functionalism
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.
Conflict theory
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
Symbolic Interactionism
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.
Microsociology
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.
Macrosociology
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.
Scientific Method
A procedure involving the formulation, testing, and modification of hypotheses based on systematic observation, measurement, and/or experiments
Theory
An abstracted, systematic model of how some aspect of the world works.
Reverse causality
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.)
Hypothesis
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.
Operationalization
Measuring concepts: How do we define the broad term and how to measure the large term
“White coat” effects
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
Reflexivity
Analyzing and critically considering out own role and effect on our research
Feminist methodology
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
Participant observation
a research method where the researcher immerses themself in a particular social setting or group, observing the behaviors, interactions, and practices of the participants.
Surveys
a research method sociologists use to gather data from respondents by asking a series of questions about their opinions or human behavior.
Culture
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.
Ethnocentrism
Concern for your own interests and well-being over all others; self-centeredness.
Cultural lag
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)
Code switch
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.
Culture shock
Feelings of uncertainty, confusion, or anxiety that people may experience when moving to a new country or surroundings
Ideology
‘a set of beliefs treated as distinctive to a particular group or category of person
Cultural relativism
not judging a culture to our own standards of what is right or wrong, strange or normal
Cultural scripts
modes of behavior and understanding that are not universal or natural, shape our notions of gender
Subculture
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.
Hegemony
a condition by which a dominant group uses its power to elicit the voluntary “consent” of the masses.
Reflection theory
which states that culture is a projection of social structures and relationships into the public sphere
Socialization
the process by which individual internalize the values, beliefs and norms of a given
Consumerism
the steady acquisition of material possessions, often with the belief that happiness and fulfillment can thus be achieved
Resocialization
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)
Total institution
an institution that controls almost all aspects of its members’ lives. (Ect: Boarding schools, orphanages, military branches, juvenile detention, and prisons. )
