What is Sociology? (Ch. 1)

Question 1

Sociology

Answer 1

study of society, groups, and social relationships

Question 2

Context of people’s lives is aka

Answer 2

social locations

Question 3

Sociological perspective/imagination

Answer 3

• C. Wright Mills - looks beyond the individual to connect social structures and history to personal experiences (linking distal power to personal situations) - “self” = product of interactions w/others

Question 4

Biography is aka

Answer 4

social location

Question 5

social structures is aka

Answer 5

society (and the social positions within it)

Question 6

Examples of social locations

Answer 6

race, class, gender, ability, sexuality, etc.

Question 7

Society = ____ + ____ + ____

Answer 7

institutions + power + agency

Question 8

institutions

Answer 8

formal groupings and organizations that provide structure we live our lives within (ex. education, economy/work, government, sports/fitness, media, police/military, religion, etc.)

Question 9

power

Answer 9

ability of someone to carry out will when opposed by others (achieved through control of valuable resources)

Question 10

proximal power

Answer 10

visible power (ie. friends, family, teachers)

Question 11

distal power

Answer 11

non-visible power (ie. insitutions, statuses, norms, discriminatory hiring practices)

Question 12

agency

Answer 12

individual behaviour

Question 13

culture

Answer 13

CONTENT of our social world -> creates values

Question 14

Marx

Answer 14

• emphasized material/economic aspects of life (political economy approach) - change theorist - explained how societies/cultures work through mode of production - defined bourgeoisie, proletariat, etc.

Question 15

Enlightenment thinking

Answer 15

movement that started in 19th century and was root of sociology (UBC is still part of it today because it offers liberal arts subjects like sociology)

Question 16

Society

Answer 16

STRUCTURE of our social world (sum is more than individual parts)

Question 17

sociocultural system

Answer 17

• the ways humans live in social groups - combines society, social structure, and culture

Question 18

status

Answer 18

• position within a social structure (ie. parent, child, prof) - higher status = more power and privilege

Question 19

norms

Answer 19

• socially expected rules of behaviour (aren’t always negative -> it’s a norm to obey rules of road) - laws are norms with legal ramifications

Question 20

dialectics

Answer 20

help us understand social world by stating that change is a result of internal stress

Question 21

4 principles of dialectics

Answer 21

1. everything is related 2. change is constant 3. change proceeds from quantitive to qualitive (change is gradual (quantitive) but at a certain point things begin to take on new quality (qualitive) 4. change is result of unity & struggle of opposites (opposing tendancies in society create change)

Question 22

paradigm

Answer 22

broad theoretical framework

Question 23

social inequality

Answer 23

how we see things depends on our place in the world (big, med, little fish)

Question 24

order theories

Answer 24

support current order of things (big fish theory)

Question 25

change theories

Answer 25

seek to alter status quo (little fish theory)

Question 26

Engels

Answer 26

• change theorist

Question 27

Functionalism

Answer 27

• see function of elements within society (war could be functional because it fuels economy) and believe they create solidarity and stability - critique: marginalized people wouldn’t agree that solidary and stablility exist

Question 28

Macrosociology

Answer 28

focuses on how individual behaviour is inflenced by society

Question 29

Microsociology

Answer 29

focuses on how individual behaviours influence society

Question 30

theory

Answer 30

system of generalized statements about phenomena

Question 31

social functions

Answer 31

consequences/effects of social pattern or insitution on society