TEST #1 Flashcards
The systematic study of human society and social interaction.
Sociology.
A large social grouping that shares the same geographical territory and is subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations.
Society
The ability to see the relationship between individual experiences and the larger society.
Sociological imagination.
Nations with highly industrialized economies; technologically advanced industrial, administrative and service occupations; and relatively high levels of national and personal income.
High-income countries.
What are some examples of high-income countries?
United States Canada Australia New Zealand Japan Countries of Western Europe
Nations with industrializing economies particularly in urban areas, and moderate levels of national and personal income.
Middle-income countries.
What are some examples of middle-income countries?
China The nations of Eastern Europe Latin American countries such as Brazil and Mexico
Countries that are primarily agrarian nations with little industrialization and low levels of national and personal income; Where people typically work the land and are among the poorest in the world.
Low-income countries.
What are some examples of low-income countries?
Burkina Faso Central African Republic Democratic Republic of the Congo Liberia Niger Sierra Leone
The process by which societies are transformed from dependence on agriculture and handmade products to an emphasis on manufacturing and related industries.
Industrialization.
The process by which an increasing proportion of a population lives in cities rather than rural areas.
Urbanization.
- French philosopher.
- Coined term sociology from the Latin word socius (“social, being with others”) and the Greek word logos (“study of”) to describe a new science that would engage in the study of society.
- Considered by some the “founder of sociology.”
- Positivism
Auguste Comte (1798-1857)
A belief that the world can best be understood through scientific inquiry.
Positivism
Auguste Comte believed that positivism had two dimensions:
- Methodological—the application of scientific knowlege to both physical and social phenomena
- _Social and Political—_the use of such knowledge to predict the likely results of different policies so that the best one could be chosen.
- Received no recognition in the field of sociology because she was a woman in a male-dominated society.
- In Society in America (1962/1837), the examined religion, politics, child rearing, slavery, and immigration in the United States, paying speciial attention to social distinctions based on class, race and gender.
- Advocated racial and gender equality.
Harriet Martineau. (1802-1876)
- Believed that societies develop through a process of “struggle” (for existence) and “fitness” (for survival) which he referred to as the “survival of the fittest.”
- Social Darwinism.
Herbert Spencer (1820-1903)
The belief that those species of animals, including human beings, best adapted to their environment survive and prosper, whereas those poorly adapted die out.
Social Darwinism
- French sociologist
- Stressed that people are the product of their social environment and that behavior cannot be understood fully in terms of individual biological and psychological traits.
- The Rules of Sociological Method
- Social facts
- Anomie—most likely to occur during a perood of rapid change.
Emile Durkheim (1858-1917).
Patterned ways of acting, thinking, and feeling that exist outside any one individual but that exert social control over each person.
Social Facts.
A condition in which social control becomes ineffective as a result of the loss of shared values and of a sense of purpose in society; To feel disengaged or alienated from society.
Anomie.
- German economist and philosopher.
- Stressed that history is a continuous dash between conflicting ideas and forces.
- Believed the most important changes are economic.
- Class conflict.
- From his viewpoint, the capitalist class controls and exploits the masses of struggling workers by paying less than the value of their labor.
- Predicted that the working class would come aware of its exploitation, overthrow the capitalists, and establish a free and classless society.
- Regarded as one of the most profound sociological thinkers; However his social and economic analyses have also inspired heated debates among generations of social scientists.
Karl Marx (1818-1883)
Struggle between the capitalist class and the working class.
Class Conflict.
The capitalist class or ________, comprises of those who own and control the means of production—the tools, land, factories, and money for an investment that form the economic basis of a society.
Bourgeoisie.
The working class, or _______, is comprised of those who must sell their labor because they have no other means to earn a livelihood.
Proletariat.
A feeling of powerlessness and estrangement from other people and from oneself.
Alienation.
The existing state of society.
Status quo.
- German social scientist.
- Concerned about the changes brought about by the Industrial Revolution.
- Disagreed with Marx’s idea that economics is the central force in social change.
- Emphasized that sociology should be value free—research should be conducted in a scientific manner and should exclude the researchers personal values and economic interests.
- Stressed that sociologists should employ verstehen (German for “understanding” or “insight”) to gain the ability to see the world as others see it.
Max Weber (1864-1920)
- German sociologist.
- Theorizing about society as a web of patterned interactions among people.
- Analyzed how social interactions vary depending on the size of the social group.
- Developed formal sociology, an approach that focuses attention on the universal recurring social forms that underlie the varying content of social interaction.
- His contributions to sociology are significant. He wrote more than thirty books and numerous essays on diverse topics, leading some critics to state that his work is fragmentary and piecemeal.
Georg Simmel (1858-1918).
The first departments of sociology in the United States were located at the University of ________.
Chicago.
- One of the best-known early women sociologists in the United States because she founded Hull House, one of the most famous settlement houses in an impoverished area of Chicago.
- Awarded a Nobel Prize for her assistance to the underprivileged.
Jane Addams (1869-1935).
- Founded the second department of sociology in the United States at Atlanta University.
- One of the first scholars to note that a dual heritage creates conflict for people of color. He called this duality double consciousness.
W. E. B. Du Bois (1868-1963)
The identity conflict of being both a black and an American.
Double-consciousness.
A set of logically interrelated statements that attempts to describe, explain and (occasionally) predict social events.
Theory.
An overall approach to or viewpoint on some subject.
Perspective.
