Test 1 Flashcards
Define Sociology
- Systematic study of human society
- Distinctive view guided by sociological perspective
Define Society
People who live in a defined territory and share a way of life
What are 5 ways the sociological perspective is defined?
- Seeing the general in the particular (Berger, 1963)
- Seeing how society shapes what we think and do in patterned ways
- Seeing society in our everyday lives
- Seeing sociologically, especially through marginality and crisis
- Seeing sociologically
Social Change and Sociology
- A new industrial economy
- During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries
- Explosive growth of cities
- Political change
- A new awareness of society
Who is Auguste Comte?
- Coined term “sociology” in 1838
- Saw sociology as product of a three-stage historical development
- Theoretical stage
- Metaphysical stage
- Scientific stage
- Used scientific approach to the study of society in positivism
- Believed that society operates according to its own laws, much as the physical world operates according to gravity and other laws of nature
What is Auguste Comte known as and what term did he coin?
He is the father of society. sociology
What happened in the Theoretical stage?
People looked at things as being tied to supernatural linked to God
What happened in the Metaphysical stage?
People looked at things as being tied to natural nature/ selfish reasons.
What happened in the Scientific stage?
People looked at things as being tied to physical, and biological chemistry.
What is the basics of the Structural-Functional Approach?
- Macro-level orientation is concerned with broad patterns that shape society as a whole.
- Society is viewed as a complex system; parts work together to promote solidarity and stability.
What is the Structural-Functional Approach?
- Social structure: Any relatively stable patterns of social behavior found in social institutions
- Social function: Consequences for the operation of society as a whole
- Manifest functions: Recognized and intended consequences of any social pattern
- Latent functions: Unrecognized and unintended consequences of any social pattern
What is a manifest functions?
Recognized and intended consequences of any social pattern - you go to school to learn
What is a Latent function?
Unrecognized and unintended consequences of any social pattern - school becomes childcare
Who are 3 sociological theorists views on the Structural-Functional Approach?
- Auguste Comte
- Importance of social integration during times of rapid change
- Emile Durkheim
- Helped establish sociology as a discipline
- Herbert Spencer
- Compare society to the human body
What is Robert K. Merton’s theory?
- Manifest functions are recognized and intended consequences
- Latent functions are unrecognized and unintended consequences
- Social dysfunctions are undesirable consequences
- Evaluation of structural-functional approach
- Favored approach in mid-1900s
- Focus on stability at expense of conflict makes this approach somewhat conservative
- Less utilized today