YMAY Chapter 1 - 3 Flashcards
Quiz Preparation
Social Institution
a complex group of interdependent positions that, together, perform a social role and reproduce themselves over time; also defined in a narrow sense as any institution in a society that works to shape the behavior of the groups or people within it.
Sociological Imagination
the ability to connect the most basic, intimate aspects of an individual’s life to seemingly impersonal and remote historical forces. -“make the familiar strange,” (challenge day to day assumptions)
Sociology
the study of human society, and there is the sociology of sports, religion, music, medicine, even sociologists.
Social Positions
a set of stories we tell ourselves
Social Institution examples
-legal system, -education system, -military, -family, -labor market
social relations
a network of ties.
grand narrative
constitutes social identity and is the sum of individual stories that are told between pairs of individuals.
epistemology
the study or a theory of the nature and grounds of knowledge especially with reference to its limits and validity
social identity
the way people identify themselves based the groups they identify with or don’t identify with.
August Comte
French (17th century) developed positivism(social physics). 3 stage development 1st Theological stage. 2nd Metaphysical Stage. 3rd Scientific stage - we can understand social interactions and society if we understand its “underlying logic”.
Harriet Martineau
English (17th century) Feminist - Men and women should be equal on all accounts in society. How to Observe Morals and Manners.
Karl Marx
(17th century) Historical Materialism - Considers class struggle between capitalist elites and proletariat. Argues that social inequality and unrest is the driver of significant social change.
Max Weber
German (17th&18th century) contributions -Verstehen, reformation from religious perspective to importance on riches. Theories on authority, rationality, that state etc…
Verstehen
A subjective basis for social behavior. Social behavior should be understood from the perspective of those engaging in it. The basis for interpretive sociology.
Emile Durkheim
French (17&18th century). Division of labor - division of labor increases as society becomes more complex and develops specialized roles. Anomie and Positivist Psychology
Anomie
a sense of aimlessness or despair that arises when we can no longer reasonably expect life to be predictable; too little social regulation; normlessness.
Positivist sociology
a strain within sociology that believes the social world can be described and predicted by certain observable relationships (akin to social physics)
Georg Simmel
formal sociology - pure numbers. E.g., difference between group of to and group of three+. Also formed antecedents of network theory.
Chicago School
Considered urbanisation, interested in immigration, race, politics. Cooley and Mead pragmatist school of philosophy.
W.E.B. Du Bois
First black Sociologist came up with double consciousness. Interested in criminology. Newfound freedoms of former slaves. Claimed inequality was necessary for progress.
Double Consciousness
description of two behavioral scripts, one for moving through the world and the other incorporating the external opinions of prejudiced onlookers, which are constantly maintained by African Americans.
Jane Adams
Member of Chicago School - Hull House, attempted to link university ideas to the poor through a community center.
Functionalism
theory - various social institutions and processes in society exist to serve some important function to keep society running.
Conflict Theory
conflict between competing interests is the basic, animating force of social change and society in general.
Feminist theory
equality of men and women
Symbolic Interactionism
eschews larger sociological theories in favor of micro-level interactions. Shared meanings, assumptions, and orientations form the basis of people’s actions.
Postmodernism
The term derives from the idea that the grand narratives of history are over… questions the notion of progress and history, and multiple, potentially conflicting, identities resulting from disjointed affiliations. Shared meanings have eroded and one thing may mean something different to different groups. Everything is interpretable, “even facts are up for debate”. Objective phenomena are social constructions.
Social Construction
an entity that exists because people agree upon it and all of there social structures help to support the construction of this entity.
Midrange theory
Doesn’t try to predict society at large or between individuals. Instead attempts to explain the workings and interactions of social institutions and thus develops falsifiable hypotheses.
Microsociology
seeks to understand interactional contexts. uses ethnographic methods - participant observation and in-depth interviews
Macrosociology
concerned with social dynamics across the breadth of society
Deductive approach
a research approach that starts with a theory, forms a hypothesis makes empirical observations, and then analyzes the data to confirm, reject, or modify the original theory.
Inductive approach
a research approach that starts with empirical observation and then works to form a theory.
Requirements of causality
correlation, time order, ruling out alternative explanations.
Reverse Causality
the mistake that a is responsible for b, when in fact the reverse is true.
Dependent variable
the outcome that you’re trying to explain.
Independent variable
variable that is believed to have a causal impact on the dependent variable.
Validity
the extent to which an instrument measures what it is intended to measure.
Reliability
the likelihood of obtaining consistent results using the same measure.
Generalizability
the extent to which we can claim our findings inform us about a group larger than the one we studied.
Reflexivity
analyzing and critically considering our own role in, and effect on, our research.
Culture
the sum of the social categories and concepts we embrace in addition to belief, behaviors and practices. Everything but the natural world
Ethnocentrism
the belief that one’s own culture or group is superior to others, the tendency to view others from the perspective of one’s own culture.
Nonmaterial culture
values, beliefs, behaviors, and social norms
Material culture
everything that is part of our constructed physical environment
Culture lag
time gap between the appearance of new tech and the words and practices that give it meaning
culture shock
doubt, confusion, or anxiety arising from immersion in an unfamiliar culture.
code switch
to flip between different cultures
ideology
system of concepts and relationships, an understanding of cause and effect.
cultural relativism
taking into account the differences across cultures
cultural scripts
modes of behavior and understanding that are not universal or natural
