Sociology Exam Ch.1-4

Sociology the scientific study of human behavior as it is shaped by groups Comte said: "the study of society" What is empirical data? can be sensed by 5 senses What is the Sociological Perspective? understanding human behavior by placing it within its broader social context Whe sociological perspective emphasizes how the social ocntext influences people's lives, particularly how people are influenced by... society Social Location the group memberships that people have bc of their location in history and society What did Peter Berger say about the sociological perspective? The seeing the general in particular (general patterns of behavior in people) We see ourselves as "independent" and as "free thinkers" What is generalization? A statement that goes beyond the indiviual case and is applied to a broader group or situation Who is Auguste Comte? creditied as founder of sociology purpose=discover social priciples and apply them to social reform What is positivism? What did Comte propose? A scientific approach to knowledge based on "positive" facts on the social world as opposed to mere speculation Comte proposed that the scientific method ould be applied to the study of social life What are the goals of scientific discipline? 1. Explain why something happens 2. Make generalizations 3. Predict The ideal of Objectivity... "personal neutrality" To allow facts to speak for themselves and not be influenced by the researcher's personal values and biases What was Weber's concept of Verstehen? Verstehen=understanding Weber said to interpret human behavior is to understand the feelings and motivations of people being studied. insight is gained -observe what people do -share in thier world of meaning -appreciate why they act as they do Who was the social thinker of the 19th century who predicted that there would be a classless society once the working class united and began a revolution was.. Emile Durkheim Durkheim identified social integration What is social integration? the degree to which members of a group or a society feel united by shared values and other social bonds What is basic or pure sociology? sociological research for the purpose of making discoveries about life in human groups, not for making changes in those groups What is applied sociology? the use of sociology to solve problems from the micro level of family relationships to the macro level of global pollutin A theoretical perspective in which society is viewed as composed of symbols that people use to establish meaning, develop their views of the world, and communicate with one another Symbolic Interactionism A framework for building theory that sees society as a complex system whose parts work together to promote solidarity and stability Structural Functional Analysis aka: functionalism, structural functionalism Social Structure Social Functions What theory? -any relatively stable pattern of social behaviors -consequences of a social pattern for the operation of society as a whole -Structural Functional Manifest functions? Latent functions? -intented to help some part of a social pattern -the unrecognized and unintended sonsequences of a social pattern ex)school serves as day care? Who developed manifest and latent functions? Robert Merton A theorical framework in which society is viewed as a complosed of groups that are competing for scarce resources Conflict theory Macro-level analysis Micro-level analysis large scale patterns of society (Functional analysis and Conflict theory) small scale patterns of society (symbolic interactionism) What did Karl Marx say about the conflict perspective? Social classes and class struggle bt the bourgeosie and proletariat was the foundation of the conflict perspective, believed the class conflict was the key to human history "founder of conflict theory", class conflict What is culture? language, beliefs, values, norms, behavior, material objects, and technology that are passed down from one generation to the next by members of society is culture What are the components of symbolic culture? gestures, language, values, norms, and sanctions, folkways (norms not strictly enforced) and mores (norms that are strictly enforced) What are some emerging values? leisure, self fulfillment or personal growth, physical fitness, youthfulness, concern for the environment the use of one's own culture as a yard-stick for judging the ways of other individuals or societies, generally leading to a negative evaluations of their values, norms, and behaviors ethnocentrism Culture relativism not judging a culture to understand it on its own terms Who studied the Hopi Indians and concluded that langues has embedded within its ways of looking at the world? Sapir and Whorf What is the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis? language creates ways of thinking and perceiving -reverses common sense -language creates our consciousness What are subcultures? groups whose cultural patterns set them apart from the dominant society, still accept the underlying goals and values of the larger society ex)religious cults, teenagers What are countercultures? Groups whose cultural patterns are at odds with wider society-members typically reject the underlying goals and values ex)radical milita groups George Murdock found what? Cultural Universals: a value, norm, or other cultural trait that is found in every group like: 1.courtship/marriage 2.toilet training 3.funerals 4.games 5.laws 6.music 7.myths 8.incest taboos Who is William Ogburn? Coined the term cultural lag -material culture generally happens first (human behavior lagging behind technological innovations) What is cultural diffusion? The spread of cultural traits from one group to another; includes both material and nonmaterial traits What is cultural leveling? the process by which cultures become similar to one another; refers especially to the process by which Western culture is beig exported and diffused into other nations What concept did Cooley develop? "the looking glass self" which refers to the process by which our self develops through internalizing others reactions to us 1) We imagine how we appear to those around us 2) We interpret other reactions 3) We develop What did George Herbert Mead develop? How we learn to take on the roles of others 1) Imitation- no sense of self- under 3 2) Play- "pretend" to be others- 3 to 6 3) Team Games- taking on multiple roles 6 to 7 What is Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development? 1) The Sensorimotor Stage (birth-2)- individuals experience that world only through sensory contact 2) The Preoperational Stage (2-7)- individuals first use language and other symbols 3)The concrete operational stage (7-12)- indiviuals first perceive casual connections in their surroundings 4) The Formal Operational Stage (after 12)- individuals think abstractly and critically Freud's Model of Personality id- human beings basic drives ego-a person's conscious efforts to balance innate pleasure- seeking drives with the demands of society superego- the operation of culture w/in the individual Paul Ekman Anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness, surprise -Biological feelings, we share these emotions, regardless of where we are What did Kohlberg do? Studied moral reasoning, how people come to judge situations as right or wrong 1)Preconventional Level- Ages 7to10- they have learned rules and follow them to stay out of trouble 2) Conventional Level- teens- learn to defice right from wrong in terms of what pleases parents and conforms to cultural norms 3) Post conventional level- people move beyond society's norms to consider abstract ethical principles What is social inequality? a social condition in which privleges and obligations are given to some but denied to others What are the agents of socialization? individuals or groups that affect our self-concept, attitudes, behavior, or other orentations toward life -family, neighborhood, religion, daycare, the school (first place to understand diversity), peer groups (teach "corridor curriculum"), worlkplace Impersonal communications aimed at a vast audience and also shape socialization mass media What is resocialization? the process of learning new norms, values, attitudes, and behaviors What is Total institution and what is one greeted with when entering a total institution? Who developed this? -a place that is almost totally controlled by those who run it, in which people are cut off from the rest of society and the society is mostly cut off from them 1)supervision 2)control and stanardization 3)formal rules and daily routines -degradation ceremony (taking identity and replacing with another) -Erving Goffman What is macrosociology? Mircosociology? -Places focus on large-scale features of social structure -focues on social interaction The framework (or typical patterns) that surround us, consisting of the relationships of people and groups to one another, which gives direction to and sets imits on behavior Social Structure What would functionalists say about mass media? What would conflict theorists say? -represents the varred interest of many groups that make up a nation -interests of political elite are represented Ascribed status Achieved status -a position an individual either inherits at birth or receive involuntarily later in life -a position that is earned, accomplished, or involves at least some effort or activity on the individuals part What is master status? a status that cuts across the other statuses that an individual occupies -being striped of identity and status replaces What is status inconsistency? ranking high on some dimenstions of social class and low on others, aka status discrepancy What is socialization? The process by which people learn the characteristics of their group-the knowledge, skills, attitudes, values, norms, and actions thought appropriate for them Functionalist Perspective views social institutions as working together to meet universal human needs...what are the functional requisites? replacing memebers, socializing new members, producing and distributing goods and services, preseving order, providing a sense of purpose A collective consciousness that people experience as a result of performing the same or simiar tasks Mechanical solidarity, Durkheim a collective consciousness based on the interdependence brought about by an increasingly specialized division of labor-that is how people divide up tasks- a shared consciousness) Organic solidarity, Durkheim The degree to which memebers of a group or a society feel united by shared values and other social bonds Social integration Who is Ferdinand Tonnies and what did he contribute? Analyzed different types of societes that existed befoer and after industrialization -Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft -As people change, so do their orientations to life What is Gemeinschaft? type of society in which life is intimate; a community in which every one knows everyone else and share a sence of togetherness -preindustrialization What is Gesellschaft? type of society dominated by impersonal relationships, individual accomplishments, and self interest What did Edward Hall develop? Distance Zones -intimate, personal, social, public What is dramaturgy? and who made it into a sociological term? Social life is analyzed in terms of drama or the stage aka dramaturgical analysis -Erving Goffman Front stages? Back stages? -places where we give performances -places where people rest from their performances, discuss their persentations and plan future performances What is role perfomance? -the ways in which someone performs a role within the limits that the role provides; showing a particular "style" or "personality" What is impression management? people's effort to control the impressions that others receive of them Role conflictt? Role strain? -conflicts that someone feels between roles bc the expectatios attached to one roleare incompatible with the expectations of another role -conflicts that someone feels within a role What was is face-saving behavior? techniques used to salvage a performance (interaction) that is going sour What is ethnomethodology? the study of how people use background assumptions to make sense out of life Thomas Theorem definition of the situation What is social constuction of reality? the use of backround assumption and life experiences to define what is real