Intro To Sociology Quiz #1

the sociological perspective stresses the social contexts in which people live and how it influences their lives... Functionalist Conflict Symbolic Interactionist society a group of people who share a culture and a territory social location corners in life that people occupy because of where they are located in society Functionalist interested in how society functions thinks of society as a human body and how everything works together (Macro-study) Conflict Theorist inequality of any kind is a problem. people are in competition for scarce resources (Macro-study) Symbolic Interactionist interested in social norms. society is nothing more than the sum of interactions (Micro-study) positivism idea of applying scientific method to the social world. proposed by Auguste Comte Auguste Comte proposed positivism. also asked "What creates social order instead of chaos?" Herbert Spencer believed that societies evolved from lower (barbaric) to higher (civilized) forms 'Survival of the Fittest' Karl Marx believed engine of human history is class conflict between bourgeoisie and the proletariat classes Emile Durkheim goal was to get sociology recognized as a separate discipline. believed in social integration social integration the degree to which people are tied to their social group Max Weber believed/theorized that religion is central force in social change rapport a feeling of trust that is essential for honest answers in interviews. random sample a sample in which everyone in the target population has the same chance of being included in the study reliability the extent to which research produces reliable (consistent or dependable) results cultural lag Ogburn's term for human behavior lagging behind technological innovations. Belief that a group's material culture usually changes first, with the nonmaterial cuture lagging behind cultural leveling the process by which cultures become similar to one another; especially the process by which U.S. culture is being exported and diffused into other nations technology tools and the skills or procedures necessary to make and use those tools cultural diffusion groups of people learning from others and adapting some part of the other's way of life. pluralistic society a society that is made up of many different groups value contradiction values that contradict one another; to follow the one means to come into conflict with the other subculture the values and related behaviors of a group that distinguish its members from the larger culture; a world within a world counterculture a group whose values, beliefs, and related behaviors place its members in opposition to the broader culture culture shock the disorientation that people experience when they come in contact with a fundamentally different culture and can no longer depend on their taken-for-granted assumptions about life cultural relativism not judging a culture, but trying to understand it on its own terms sanction expressions of approval or disapproval given to people for upholding or violating norms folkways norms that are not strictly enforced mores norms that are strictly enforced because they are thought to be essential to core values or the well-being of the group taboo a norm so strong that it often brings revulsion if violated Sapir-Whorf hypothesis Edward Sapir's and Benjamin Whorf's hypothesis that language creates ways of thinking and perceiving. Against common sense that objects force themselves on our conciousness, but that language does. ethnocentrism a tendency to use our own group's ways of doing things as the yardstick for judging others material culture the material objects that distinguish a group of people, such as their art, buildings, weapons, utensils, machines, hairstyles, clothing, and jewelry nonmaterial culture also called symbolic culture a group's ways of thinking (including its beliefs, values, and other assumptions about the world) and doing (its common patterns of behavior, including language and other forms of interaction) total institution a place in which people are cut off from the rest of society and are almost totally controlled by the officials who run the place agents of socialization people or groups that affect our self-concept, attitudes, behaviors, or other orientations toward life life course the stages of our life as we move from birth to death resocialization the process of learning new norms, values, attitudes, and behaviors Piaget and the Development of Reasoning 1. The sensorimotor stage 2. the preoperational stage 3. the concrete operational stage 4. the formal operational stage ideal culture refers to values, norms, and goals that a group considers ideal, worth aspiring to real culture norms and values that people actually follow