Terms Flashcards
Consistency in measurement; repeated measurements should yield the same result.
What is Reliability?
The belief that certain moral principles apply universally across all cultures.
What is Universalist Morality?
The extent to which a measurement accurately reflects the concept it is intended to measure.
What is Validity?
Those who own the means of production and seek profit.
Who are Capitalists (Bourgeoisie)?
A theory aimed at explaining social behavior in the real world.
What is Social Theory?
The unfair treatment of one social group by another for economic gain.
What is Oppression/Exploitation?
A procedure for determining the value of a variable in a specific case.
What is Measurement?
Specifying exactly what is to be measured before assigning a value to a variable.
What is Operationalization?
The theory that behaviors, attitudes, and beliefs are acquired through observing and imitating others.
What is Social Learning Theory?
The consequences of any social pattern for the operation of society as a whole
What is Social Function?
(e.g., manifest functions, latent functions).
A logical system that bases knowledge on direct, systematic observation (empirical evidence).
What is Science?
A research method for investigating cause and effect under controlled conditions.
What is an Experiment?
The variable that causes change (e.g., gender, age, income).
What is an Independent Variable?
A German term meaning “understanding”; the goal is to comprehend the meanings people attach to their actions.
What does Verstehen mean?
Any relatively stable pattern of social behavior
What is Social Structure?
(e.g., social hierarchies, institutions, and roles).
Questions about what is considered right or wrong, often central in critical sociology.
What is Moral Judgment?
The study of society that focuses on the need for social change.
What is Critical Sociology?
The variable that changes in response to the independent variable (e.g., traffic violations).
What is a Dependent Variable?
A theory rejecting patriarchy and sexism.
What is Feminist Theory?
A statement of how and why specific facts are related (explanatory).
What is a Theory?
The theory that the economic system determines all other aspects of society.
What is Historical Materialism?
Marx
A social position that a person holds.
What is Social Status?
Awareness of one’s social class and its associated interests.
What is Class Consciousness?
The idea that identity and behavior are influenced by the social labels assigned to individuals.
What is Social Labeling Theory?
The recognized and intended consequences of any social pattern.
What are Manifest Functions?
The study of society focusing on the meanings people attach to their social world.
What is Interpretive Sociology?
A concept whose value changes from case to case (e.g., “income” or “age”).
What is a Variable?
The study of society based on systematic observation of social behavior.
What is Positivist Sociology?
A research method in which subjects respond to questions via questionnaires or interviews.
What is a Survey?
The issue that the scientific method cannot validate itself, as it relies on unprovable assumptions.
What is the Bootstrap Problem?
A variable held constant to test the relationship between independent and dependent variables.
What is a Control Variable?
A perspective that views society as groups competing for limited resources and control, resulting in social inequality.
What is Social Conflict Theory?
The unrecognized and unintended consequences of a social pattern.
What are Latent Functions?
A logical combination of sentences that is always true, regardless of the truth or falsity of the constituent sentences.
What is the Tautological Argument?
A theory that sees society as the product of everyday interactions and interpretations of social messages.
What is Symbolic-Interactionism?
mead
Information that can be verified with our senses.
What is Empirical Evidence?
An apparent but false relationship between two variables caused by a third variable.
What is Spurious Correlation?
An exaggerated or oversimplified generalization used to describe or distinguish a social group.
What is a Stereotype?
The assumption that reality consists only of things observable by the senses.
What is the Natural vs. Supernatural assumption?
Misunderstanding of one’s social class and its interests.
What is False Consciousness?
Behavior expected of someone who holds a particular status.
What is a Social Role?
The belief that events are determined by external forces rather than free will.
What is Determinism?
The belief that moral principles are culturally dependent.
What is Relativist Morality?
A mental construct that represents some part of the world in a simplified form (e.g., “happiness,” “crime”).
What is a Concept?
A framework for building theory that sees society as a complex system whose parts work together to promote solidarity and stability.
What is Structural-Functionalism?
durkheim
A hypothetical system where resources and production are collectively owned, and all members are socially equal.
What is Communism?
The assumption that subjective experience can be separated from objective reality.
What is the Subject/Object Split?
A testable statement of a relationship between two or more variables, often using “if-then” format.
What is a Hypothesis?
A focus on inequality and conflict between racial and ethnic groups.
What is Race-Conflict Theory?
A prediction that becomes true because people act according to their belief that it will.
What is a Self-Fulfilling Prophecy?
Patterns of relationships between individuals and social groups.
What are Social Organizations/Groups?
Major spheres of social life organized to meet human needs (e.g., government, education).
What are Social Institutions?
An economic system in which natural resources and production means are collectively owned.
What is Socialism?
A focus on inequality and conflict between genders.
What is Gender-Conflict Theory?
Society cannot have needs.
What is the Ontological Argument?
A research method where researchers observe people while participating in their routine activities.
What is Participant Observation?
A research method that relies on analyzing pre-existing datasets.
What is Secondary Data Analysis?
A relationship where a change in one variable directly causes a change in another.
What is Cause and Effect?
Workers who do not own capital and seek higher wages.
Who are Non-Capitalists (Proletariat)?
A relationship in which two or more variables change together.
What is Correlation?
The assumption that events follow a temporal order (A precedes B in time).
What is Temporality?
