What Is Sociology? Flashcards
Where did sociology originate?
Emerged in 19th century Europe
Sociological imagination
Seeing private troubles as public issues
What do sociologists do?
Sociologists study social structures and social institutions
Social structure
Pattern of group behaviour
Social institution
Patterns that define the “rules of the game”
Macro Sociology
How society makes us
Micro Sociology
How we interact to make society
Sociology is an empirical science…
Stems from rigorous scientific testing, non-discredited.
The unique difficulty of social science…
We must guard against our own biases.
Positivism
Adapting natural science methods to better human society
Anomie
Lack of the usual social or ethical standards on an individual or group
Functionalism
Interdependence between each institution and social health as a whole.
Conflict perspective
Power struggle between capitalists and working class/how groups divide themselves.
Rationalization process
Constructing a logical reason as an attempt to justify an unconscious act
Symbolic interactionalism
How experiences add subjective meanings to symbols and letters. (Words and colors)
Mechanic solidarity
Develops in societies where individuals take on many similar, non-specialized tasks.
Organic solidarity
Develops in societies where individuals take on highly specialized and differentiated tasks.
Auguste Comte
“We can adapt natural science methods to study human societies, to make them better (positivism).”
Emile Durkheim
“Anomie happens when society transitions from mechanic solidarity to organic soliderity.”
“We must pay attention to the interdependence between each institution and social health as a whole (functionalism).”
Karl Marx
“Society doesn’t have needs, people do… social changes occur through class struggles, especially between capitalists and the working class (conflict perspective).”
Max Weber
“It is the Protestant Ethic that brought about the rationalization process in our modern world. Ideas, when percieved as real, have real societal consequences (symbolic interactionalism).”
Double consciousness
Seeing the world through two different lenses. Often pertains to race.
