Week 2: The Sociological Imagination

Question 1

What is the ‘Natural Attitude’

Answer 1

• “Common sense” of experiencing the world
• people accept the world as it is given through experience and that people address the world realistically

Question 2

What is ‘Sociology’?

Answer 2

The study of Social Life and Social Relationships. Sociology’s core interest lies on actions and thoughts.

Question 3

How does Sociology study social life?

Answer 3

Through
- theories (explanations for observed realities)
- methods (techniques for collecting and making common sense of information)
- critical thinking (investigating)

Question 4

What is the Social Structure?

Answer 4

The “Macro Level of Society”: the connections between personal and social structures
- stable arrangements of institutions whereby human beings in a society interact and live together

Question 5

Microstructure

Answer 5

Relationships created in direct mutual interaction
(the job example: who is going to help you more in finding a job).

Question 6

Macrostructure

Answer 6

“Overall organization of society”, the lower, middle and high class.
A form of connection outside and bigger than your family, large scale level, featuring the social groups, organizations, institutions, nation states and their respective properties and relations
(who is going to be smarter example)

Question 7

Global Structure

Answer 7

“Macro-level phenomenon”, patterns of social relations that lie outside the nation level.
(for example: donating money to the poor, so it’ll help with famine and foreign aid (the process of giving money, food, or resources by one country)

Question 8

Who was the first scholar to use the term “Sociology”?

Answer 8

Auguste Comte

Question 9

What did Theory did Comte find?

Answer 9

Positivism

Question 10

What is Positivism?

Answer 10

Philosophical theory and approach to the study of human society and social relationships that sees a social reality as compromising objective facts and views and the research process as value free (that it should not be influenced by your own beliefs) scientific research based study.

Question 11

Value Free

Answer 11

Researchers keeping his or her values (personal, political, religious) from the research process.

Question 12

Social Organism

Answer 12

Sociological concept where in a social structure is regarded as “living organism”
- the organizations of society, such as law, family, crime, etc., are examined as they interact with other entities of the society to meet its needs

Question 13

Critical Sociology

Answer 13

An area of sociology that is focused on debating social issues

Question 14

Karl Marx

Answer 14

Founder of sociology’s conflict- focused theories

Question 15

Durkheim and Weber

Answer 15

Influenced by positivism and were more focused on understanding society and social change

Question 16

Structural Functionalism

Answer 16

Theoretical framework in sociology that sees society as a complex system, or organism whose parts are connected and work together to promote stability and interdependence

Question 17

Origins of the Sociological Perspectives:
Scientific, the Scientific Revolution

Answer 17

Series of events that marked the emergence of modern science during the early modern period
- began in 1550
- encouraged experiment conclusions about the working society must be based on evidence
(For example, Galileo pointed his telescope in the sky to gather evidence for a particular view)

Question 18

Heretic

Answer 18

A person believing in church practices

Question 19

What is the ‘Sociological Imagination’

Answer 19

A way of thinking and seeing the social world by noticing connections between individual experiences

Question 20

Origins of the Sociological Perspectives: The Democratic Observation

Answer 20

• began in 1750 with the American and French Revolution. It showed society can change in a short period of time without a rule.
• realization a,lang people that they can control themselves

Question 21

Origins of the sociological perspective: Industrial Revolution

Answer 21

• began in England 1780
• development of new technologies and factories
• formation of the working class

Question 22

Buroway: Professional Sociology

Answer 22

The main activities sociologists do in universities and colleges, teaching, conduction research

Question 23

Buroway: Critical Sociology

Answer 23

Debating on social issues of the professional sociology

Question 24

Buroway: Policy Sociology

Answer 24

Done outside university and college where putting Sociological knowledge to effect in planning courses if action followed by governments, institutions like school
- ‘ the service client ‘

Question 25

Buroway: Public Sociology

Answer 25

Sharing Sociological knowledge to the general public

Question 26

Micheal Buraway

Answer 26

Social Theorist

Question 27

What is a Social Theorist

Answer 27

How societies change and develop, about methods of explaining behaviour, about power and social structure, gender and ethnicity, modernity and civilization

Question 28

Milieu

Answer 28

A persons social environment
- a trouble is a private matter and can only be fixed by the individual

Question 29

Structure

Answer 29

The distinct places where human beings in society interact and live together

Question 30

Agency

Answer 30

The ability to make your own choices, you free will

Question 31

Tasks rely on - and -

Answer 31

Skills of reasoning and quality of mind

Question 32

The Power Elite

Answer 32

Small group of people who control an either large or small amount of power, wrath and privilege and access to decision makers in society

Question 33

Advocacy scholarship

Answer 33

Having the knowledge and articulate the stand point of some group in society in a way that is intelligible and instructive to the members of the group as well as to support the standpoint of social relation