Week 1: intro to Soc

Question 1

What is Sociology?

Answer 1

Sociology studies social life and social relationships, ranging from small groups to broader societies.

Question 2

What does Sociology examine?

Answer 2

examines patterns, trends, and processes across society.

Question 3

what is key to sociology?

Answer 3

critical thinking, or analyzing and evaluating available information to form conclusions based on evidence.

Question 4

Why is Sociology an “uncomfortable trade”?

Answer 4

Because it disrupts existing power relations and pushes for social change toward greater social equality.

Question 5

What does “Committing Sociology” mean?

Answer 5

speaking truth to power: giving voice to vulnerable populations and working in and with communities to address social problems and push for change.

Question 6

what does “truth to power” mean?

Answer 6

the obligation to recognize and act in situations where we must stand up for justice and defend the powerless.

Question 7

Who was Auguste Comte?

Answer 7

the first to use the term “sociology”. Was the founder of Positivism.

Question 8

What is Positivism?

Answer 8

A philosophical theory and approach to social science that sees social reality as comprising objective facts and views the research process as value-free. the Ultimate standard for the validity of knowledge is scientific objectivity.

Question 9

What does “value-free” mean?

Answer 9

The ability of researchers to keep their own personal biases and opinions out of the research that they are conducting.

Question 10

What did early US-Canadian Sociology center around?

Answer 10

Empirical observation and methodological rigor

Question 11

what is empirical observation?

Answer 11

The view is that sociology should be based on data gathered from observation rather than abstract object theory.

Question 12

What is a methodology?

Answer 12

the study of research methods.

Question 13

what is consensus-focused sociology/structural-functionalism?

Answer 13

A theory that sees society as a complex system of interrelated parts that work together to promote stability and interdependence.

Question 14

how did C. Wright Mills challenge consensus Sociology?

Answer 14

His call to cultivate a sociological imagination

Question 15

what is Sociological imagination?

Answer 15

calls us to look at the connections between private troubles and public issues

Question 16

what is public sociology?

Answer 16

calls us to bring sociology into public discussion and debate.

Question 17

what is professional sociology?

Answer 17

the main activities that sociologists do in universities and colleges such as research, teaching, presenting, and publishing research.

Question 18

What is critical sociology?

Answer 18

debating social issues

Question 19

what is policy sociology:

Answer 19

putting sociological knowledge to use in planning courses of action followed by the government or other institutions.

Question 20

what is public sociology?

Answer 20

sharing knowledge and debates beyond academia

Question 21

what are the 4 domains of sociology?

Answer 21

professional, critical, policy, and public

Question 22

what do critical approaches to sociology acknowledge?

Answer 22

that values impact research at different stages

Question 23

who was Max Weber?

Answer 23

founder of sociology, recognized the challenge of having value-free sociology when the social world we study is filled with values, ideologies, meanings and ethical issues.

Question 24

what do many sociologists suggest?

Answer 24

because what we study is value-laden, we must acknowledge the values that underpin our research and influence how it is shared.

Question 25

what is value-laden?

Answer 25

moral evaluations, especially when these evaluations are implicit and unexamined.

Question 26

What is standpoint theory (Dorothy Smith)?

Answer 26

proposes that all researchers have a specific social location, and that we see the world and gain knowledge of it through this unique standpoint

Question 27

why is it important to openly acknowledge our social locations?

Answer 27

we can rigorously collect and interpret information from the social world

Question 28

what is reflexivity?

Answer 28

process of remaining aware of how one’s knowledge and prior experiences are influencing any assumptions about the social world and what one is studying

Question 29

what is bracketing?

Answer 29

a stance that involves consciously setting aside one’s assumptions to see the social world without undue influences from one’s social locations.

Question 30

sociology is the study of life from the _ to _ level

Answer 30

from the micro to macro level

Question 31

what idea does the concept of committing sociology underscore?

Answer 31

the idea that sociology is meant to be an uncomfortable trade: it disrupts existing power relations and calls us to invite previously marginalized voices into an ethical space