Test 1 Flashcards
Study Notes for Test 1
Sociology
- systematic study of human action in social context
- relations with other people create opportunites for us to think and act but also set limits on our thoughts and acton
Ontology vs. Epistemology
Ontology: What is real?
-Objectivist: objects have objective existence independent of herself or any other research
-process of finding things already there
-Constructivist: meanings social actors attach to social phenomena are constructed by actors
-dynamic meaning
Epistemology: How do we know what we know?
-Positivist: he can best know things through experiments + collection + analysis of data
-Interpretive: how ppl make sense of world around them
-understand subjective meaning of social action
Birth of Sociology
Scientific revolution (16th c.): encouraged the use of evidence. Democratic revolution (18th c.): human action can change society. Industrial revolution (19th c.): gave sociologists their subject matter
Sociological Perspectve
- identify general patterns in behaviour of particular individuals
- society acts differently on various categories of people
Sociological Explanation of Suicide
-Émile Durkheim
-varied as result of differences in degree of social solidarity
-Altruistic: group’s interest
-Egoistic: lack social ties
-Anomic: lack of shared morality/norms
Social Solidarity
- degree to which group members share beliefs and values
- the intensity and frequency of their interaction
Social Structures
- patterns of social relations affect our thoughts, feelings, actions, and identity
- 3 levels
- how are they maintained?
Microstructures:
-intimate social relations (friends, family)
Macrostructures:
-outside intimate relations (class relations)
Global Structures
-organizations, economic relations
Sociological Imagination
- see links between the personal problems and social issues/structures
- occupation, income, education, gender, age, ethnicity, family, mass media and others
The Social Effects
- Opinions • Values • Beliefs • Knowledge • Habits • Tastes • Desires • Dreams
Reality
-shaped by society
Origins of Sociology
- Auguste Compte 1838
- scientific method of research + vision of ideal society
Theory
explanation of aspect of social life
Sociological Research
observation of social reality to test theory
-objective:
- Describing
• Understanding
• Influencing or improving the social world
Values
- right/wrong, good/bad
- neutral: refrain from imposing own values on research
- relevance: research can never be value free
- how it impacts research, understand role it plays
Functionalism
- behaviour - patterns of social relations
- structures maintain stability
- based on shared values
- re-establish equilibrium
- Talcott Parsons - institutions must work together
- Robert Merton - manifest/latent functions
Conflict Theory
- focus on macro
- inequality produce stability/change
- ongoing power struggle between classes
- decrease privilege = decrease conflict
- Marx - communist
- rich get richer
- class consciousness - unions
- Weber: growth of service sector
Symbolic Interactionism
- understand meanings + motives
- George Herbert Mead
1. focus on face-face + micro social setting
2. understanding meanings we attach to social circumstance
3. ppl create social circumstance
4. increase understanding + tolerance of ppl different
Feminist Theory
Harriet Martineau - first female sociologist
- focus on patriarchy
- male domination - structures of power + social convention
- operation of patriarchy in macro/micro setting
- gender inequality - way brought up, barriers to equal opportunity, unequal domestic responsibilities
Attributes vs. Variables
Attributes: characteristics that describe people, cases or things (Man or woman)
Variables: logical groupings of attributes (Gender)
data and theory
Data: are empirical facts, meaningful when they are considered in relation to a theory
Theory: a tentative explanation of some observed regularity
Social Constructionism
- when people interact, they typically assume things are naturally
- sustained by social processes that vary historically and culturally