The Sociological Perspective:

Question 1

The Consumer Society:

Answer 1

A Society in which discretionary (optional) consumption is a mass phenomenon among people across diverse income categories

Shopping & consumption is a process that extends beyond our individual choices & is rooted in larger structural conditions in the social, political, and economic order

Question 2

Global Interdependence:

Answer 2

the lives of all people are closely intertwined & only one nation’s problems are part of a larger global problem

Question 3

Common Sense Knowledge:

Answer 3

Guides ordinary conduct in everyday life, we rely on common sense to answer key questions about behaviour

Question 4

Sociological Imagination:

Answer 4

The ability to see the relationship between individual experiences & the larger society

Place seemingly personal troubles into a larger context, where we can distinguish how personal troubles may be related to public issues

Question 5

High-Income Countries:

Answer 5

Highly industrialized economies & relatively high levels of national & personal incomes

Question 6

Middle-Income Countries:

Answer 6

Industrializing economies & moderate levels of national & personal incomes

Question 7

Low-Income Countries:

Answer 7

Agrarian, with little industrialization, & low levels of personal and national income

Question 8

Race:

Answer 8

specifies groups of people distinguished by physical characteristics, the race is a social construct to justify social inequalities

Question 9

Ethnicity:

Answer 9

A group’s cultural heritage or identity, based on factors of language or country of origin

Question 10

Class:

Answer 10

Relative location of a person or group within the larger society, based on wealth, power, prestige, or other valued resources

Question 11

Sex:

Answer 11

Biological & anatomical differences between males & females

Question 12

Gender:

Answer 12

Meanings beliefs, & practices associated with differences between masculinity & femininity

Question 13

Industrialization:

Answer 13

Process by which societies are transformed from dependence on agriculture & handmade products to an emphasis on manufacturing & related industries

Question 14

Auguste Comte

Answer 14

Theory on society contains social statistics (forces for social order & stability) & social dynamics (forces for conflict & change)

Positivism: Comte’s philosophy & belief that the world can be best understood through scientific inquiry

The nature of human thinking & knowledge went through several stages (The Law of Three Stages):

Theological stage (supernatural, religion), Metaphysical stage (philosophy, speculation), Scientific/Positive stage (systemic observation, experimentation, comparison, historical analysis)

Question 15

Harriet Martineau:

Answer 15

Translated Comte’s work & also implemented her own sociological thoughts & ideas into the field

Focused on social distinctions based on class, race, gender, religion, & practices

Question 16

Emile Durkheim

Answer 16

Human potential is social, not biologically based

Societies were based on social facts (patterned ways of thinking, acting, & feeling that exist outside an individual, but that exert social control over each person)

These strains in society led to a breakdown of traditional values or organizations, & authority, leading to a greater increase in anomie

Anomie: A condition where social control becomes ineffective as a result of the loss of shared values & sense of purpose in a society

Question 17

Karl Marx:

Answer 17

Believed class conflict is necessary to produce social change & a better society

Class conflict: Struggle between the capitalist class & the working class

Capitalist class (bourgeoisie) is comprised of those who own & control the means of production

Working class (proletarian) is comprised of those who must sell their labour for a means of livelihood

Alienation: A feeling of powerlessness & estrangement from other people & oneself

Question 18

Max Weber:

Answer 18

Believed that sociology should be value-free, research is conducted in a scientific manner & exclude the researcher’s personal values & economic interests

He stressed sociologists should use the Verstehen (understanding) method, to gain the ability to see the world as others see it

Weber believed institutions were becoming heavily oriented towards routine administrations & divisions of labour, which he believed destructive to human vitality & freedom

Question 19

George Simmel:

Answer 19

Theorized society as a web of interactions among people

Developed formal sociology: focuses attention on the reoccurring social forms that underlie the content of social interactions

Question 20

Functionalist Perspectives:

Answer 20

The sociological approach that views society as s stable, orderly system

Question 21

Societal Consensus:

Answer 21

Majority of members share a common set of values, beliefs, & behavioural expectations

Question 22

Manifest Functions:

Answer 22

Stated and intended goals or consequences of activities within an organization or institution

Question 23

Latent Functions:

Answer 23

Unintended functions that are hidden & remain unacknowledged by participants

Question 24

Dysfunctions:

Answer 24

A term referring to the undesirable consequences of a society

Question 25

Conflict Perspectives:

Answer 25

Sociological approach that views groups in society as engaged in a continuous power struggle for control of scarce resources

Question 26

Feminist Perspective:

Answer 26

Focuses on the significance of gender in understanding & explaining inequalities that exist between men & women in the household, labour force, politics, law, & culture

Question 27

Macrolevel Analysis:

Answer 27

Theory & research that focuses on small groups rather than on large social structures

Question 28

Microlevel Analysis:

Answer 28

Theory & research that focuses on small groups rather than on large social structures

Question 29

Symbolic Interactionalist Perspective:

Answer 29

Views society as the sum of the interactions of individuals and groups

Question 30

Symbol:

Answer 30

Anything that meaningfully represents something else

Question 31

Post-Modern Perspective:

Answer 31

Approach that attempts to explain social life in contemporary societies that are characterized by post-industrialization, consumerism, & global communications