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Definition
| Herbert Spencer, Emile Durkhiem, Talcott Parsons, Robert Merton |
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| Karl Marx, C. Wright Mills, Domhoff, W.E.B. DeBois, Harriet Martineau |
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| George Mead, Charles Horton Cooley, Peter Berger, Luckmann, Erving Goffman |
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| Rational Choice Theorists |
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| Based on the idea that society is not objective; heavy influence of the media; challenges the idea that society is objectively real; is a Diverse Theoretical Perspective |
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| Psych focuses on people as individuals, Sociology focuses on people as groups. Social Psychology is a hybrid. |
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| Interprets each part of society as contributing to the stability of the whole. Each part is dependent on other parts. Needs structure to function, is a form of macrosociology. |
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| Emphasizes the role of coercion & power. Emphasizes strife, friction, & inequality. Social order is maintained by dominatin, not consensus. Power is in the hands of those w/the most political, economical, and social resources. Form of macrosociology. The rich controls and benefits from the poor. |
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| Face-to-face contact, is a form of microsociology. Analyzes society by addressing subjective meanings that people impose on objects, events, & behaviors. Started in the Chicago School. |
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| Functionalist who coined the term "Survival of the fittest". Believed that society should be left alone to follow it's natural evolutionary course. |
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| Functionalist, created social solidarity, researched suicide, felt that if we don't have norms then we have anomi. Discovered the social basis of human behavior (social facts). |
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| Functionalist who believed that all parts of a social system are related. If a part malfunctions, the other parts adjust to return the system to equilibrium. |
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| Functionalist that came up with latent and manifest functions. Believed that all social practices have consequences. |
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| Conflict Theorist who studied class & equality. Explained how Capitalism shaped society. |
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| Conflict Theorist who wrote the book "The Sociological Imagination". Came up w/the concept of Troubles and Issues. Felt that the task of sociology was to understand the relationship between individuals and the society in which they live. |
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| Conflict Theorist who was the 1st black scholar to get a PhD from Harvard. Wrote over 2000 books, co-founded the NAACP in 1909. Focused on race & equality. |
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Definition
| Conflict Theorist who was a feminist and one of the 1st women sociologists. Wrote about how to observe behavior in a participant observation study. |
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| George Herbert Mead & Charles Horton Cooley |
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Definition
| Symbolic Interactionists who saw the individual & society as interdependent. Society exists because it's imagined in the mind of the individual. Cooley felt we are shaped by others perceptions. |
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Definition
| Symbolic Interactionist who came up with "debunking". Considered society to be socially constructed by human interpretation. Wrote "Social Construction of Reality" w/Luckmann. |
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Definition
| Symbolic Interactionist who worked in a dramaturgical model of society: Society is like a stage, and people are actors, projecting and portraying social roles to others. |
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| Interactionalist under the Rational Choice Theory, who was influenced by and argued with Marx. Felt society had 3 basic dimensions: political, economical, and cultural. Came up w/verstehen. Defined "social action". |
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| Posits that the choice humans make are guided by reason. |
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| Different, not like everyone else, outside what's considered "in" or normal. |
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| Ability to see social patterns that influence individual & group behavior. How social facts can affect experience. |
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Term
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| Troubles are privately felt problems of an individual. Issues affect large numbers of people. |
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| w/o norms. Confusion as to what norms are anymore. Ex: Do men still open doors for women? |
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| Patterns that we all expect as normal. Most compelling explanation for behavior, not individual state of mind. Ex: Getting up and getting dressed is a social fact. |
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| To question actions & ideas that most people take for granted. Ex: we see school only as educational, but the sociological perspective reveals processes @ work like social cliques. |
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| Intended goals and/or consequences of behavior. |
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| Unintended goals and/or consequences of behavior. |
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| An organized pattern of social relationships & institutions that constitute society. Forces that guide and shape human behavior. |
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| An organized pattern of social relationships & institutions that constitute society. Forces that guide and shape human behavior. |
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| Established & organized systems of social behavior w/a particular/recognized behavior. Ex: family, religion, marriage, government, economy. |
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| The possibility for change within a society. Society is not fixed or immutable. Ex: the comparison of the 50's and now, how segregation is less and there are now women in the workplace. |
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| How events in one place may be linked to events on the other side of the globe. |
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| Application of the scientific approach to the social world. |
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| Principle that human reason can direct social change for the betterment of society. |
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| A behavior to which people give meaning. Ex: talking, laughing, watching TV. |
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| Means "understanding". Understanding social behavior from the POV of those engaged in it. To be empathetic. |
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| A speculative plan or idea. |
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| Empirical Discipline/Science |
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| Conclusions are based on systematic observations, not previous assumptions. |
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Term
| Age of Reason/Enlightenment |
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Definition
| When sociologists 1st emerged in the 18th & 19th centuries. Characterized by the faith/belief of human reason to solve society's problems. |
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Definition
| The theory that sociology could be used to engineer social change. |
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| Diverse Theoretical Perspectives |
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Definition
| Feminist theory, Exchange theory, Rational Choice theory, Post Modernism |
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Definition
| Contemporary sociologist who studied flight attendants. |
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Definition
| Studied the role of strangers in social groups. |
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| Coined the word "sociology". Called the "Father of Modern Sociology", believed sociology could discover the laws of human behavior. |
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Definition
| Thought democratic values in the US influenced American social institutions for the better & transformed personal relationships. Felt the tyranny of kings was replaced by the "tyranny of the majority". |
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Definition
| Ultraconservative thinker, claimed the "survival of the fittest" attitude justified inequality. Thought tampering w/social system would bring disaster. |
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Definition
| Felt sociology could be used to engineer social change, coined the term "social telesis". |
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Definition
| Adviser to Booker T. Washington. Studied race and found that cities were typically sets of concentric circles. |
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| W.I. Thomas & Florian Znaniecki |
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Definition
| Wrote 5-volume study of ethnicity, immigration, neighborhood segregation, & urban life. Felt that the influence of society is so strong that, even w/evidence to the contrary, people will behave according to what they think is real. |
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| Close friend of du Bois, co-founder w/du Bois of NAACP. Was the only practicing sociologist to win the Nobel Prize. |
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Definition
| Interested in the origins of Capitalism. Analyzed racial prejudice, discrimination, & segregation of American society. |
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| 1st black person to be elected as president of the American Sociological Association. |
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| The use of sociological research & theory to solve human problems. |
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Definition
| An economical system based on the pursuit of profit & the sanctity of private property. Exploitation of the working class by the rich. |
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Definition
| Conceives society as an organism, a system of interrelated parts that work together to create a whole. Society is constantly evolving, like an organism. |
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Definition
| The application of Darwinian thought to society. Society is an organism that evolved, in a process of adaptation, from single to complex. |
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Definition
| Variety of group experiences that result for the social structure of society. |
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Definition
| A research technique that studies society while being a participant in the study. Qualitative. |
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Definition
| A research technique that uses a questionnaire to solicit data for study. Close-ended questions are quantitative and open-ended are qualitative. |
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Definition
| A research technique where 2 groups are studied. An experimental group is exposed to the causal factor, and a control group is not, so it can be used as comparison. All other conditions must be equal. Quantitative. |
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Definition
| A research technique that analyzes cultural artifacts to measure what people write, say, see, & hear. Ex of artifacts: magazine ads, TV commercial, novels, popular music. Quantitative. |
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Definition
| A research technique that examines research over time. Uses secondary research, i.e. town archives, private diaries, oral histories, etc. Qualitative. |
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Definition
| A research technique that assesses the effect of policies & programs on society. Qualitative & quantitative. |
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Term
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Definition
| research process that involves observation, hypothesis testing, analysis of data & generalization. Defined by Sir Francis Bacon. |
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Definition
| Figure out specific details from general principles. Ex: one might reason deductively that because Catholic Doctorine forbids abortion, Catholics answering a survey would be less likely than other religious groups to support abortion rights. |
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Definition
| Reverse logic of deductive reasoning. Arrive @ general conclusions from specific observations. Ex: Observing that most of the Protestants @ an abortion clinic are evangelical christians, one might infer that strong religious beliefs are important in determining human behavior. |
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Term
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Definition
| 1. Theory; 2. Review literature (if any); 3. Hypothesis; 4. Operational Definition (assign value); 5. Pick your research design; 6. Collect data; 7. Analyze data; 8. Form your conclusion. |
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Definition
| Uses statistical methods that can be calculated into numbers and/or percentages. |
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Definition
| Less structured research that focuses on the question being asked. More in-depth look, not usually reduced to numbers. |
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Term
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Definition
| A prediction. A tentative assumption one intends to test. Often presented in "if-then" statements. |
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Term
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Definition
| A variable that causes the dependent variable. Ex: if a scrape on the knee is the effect, tripping on something is the independent variable, as it caused the fall (the fall is the dependent variable). |
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Definition
| A variable that is caused by the independent variable. Ex: if a scrape on the knee is the effect, falling would be the dependent variable, as it was caused by tripping over something (tripping would be the independent variable). |
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Definition
| Any abstract characteristic that can be potentially measured. |
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| The extent to which research produces consistent & dependable results. |
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Definition
| When people know they are being studies & therefore change their behavior. |
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Definition
| Primary data is original data. Secondary data is data already collected by someone else. |
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Definition
| While pursuing 1 question, a scientist stumbles across another finding. |
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Definition
| An association or pattern, not necessarily significant. Spurious correlation has no meaningful causal connection. |
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Definition
| The effect of one thing causing another. |
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Definition
| Open-ended research based on broad observations of human behavior. |
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Term
| General Social Survey (GSS) |
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Definition
| Secondary data used frequently by sociologists. Data from 1500 americans that range in topics. |
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Term
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Definition
| The process in which data are categorized & put into a form for either quantitative or qualitative analysis. |
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Definition
| The ability to draw conclusions from specific data & apply them to a broader population. |
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Definition
| Person with whom the participant observer in a participant observation study works closely to learn about the group. |
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Definition
| Researcher that wrote "Sidewalk", about a participant observation study. |
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Definition
| Research intended to produce policy recommendations. |
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Definition
| Evaluation of sales potential for products or services. |
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Definition
| The likelihood that a specific behavior or event will occur. Ex: You can't predict that a person definitely will die in the next couple of years, but you can predict how likely it is that they will. |
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Definition
| If you understand the principles of a physical system, you can predict how it will behave. |
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Definition
| Any subset of a population to conduct research on. A random sample is when everyone in the population is given an equal chance of being selected. |
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| Fundamental Statistical Tools |
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Definition
| Percentage, rate, mean, & median. |
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Term
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Definition
| A target group to be studied. |
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Definition
| The same as an average. Ex: adding a list of 15 numbers, then dividing that total by 15 will give you the mean. |
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Definition
| Midpoint in a series of numbers. Ex: in a series of 15 numbers, the 8th number is the median. |
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Definition
| The value or score that appears most frequently in a set of data. |
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Definition
| Percentage are the parts per hundred. Ex: 75% would be 75 out of every 100. Rate is parts per another number, such as 10,000 or 100,000. Ex: The homicide rate for 2003 was 5.7 per 100,000. This means that for every 100,000 people, 5.7 of them were murdered. |
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Definition
| Data are broken down into subsets for comparison. When you cross-tabulate gender, you can see if men & women answered differently from each other. |
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| Centered on the experiences of men. |
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| Debate which raises the issue of whether or not the researcher should be a member of the population being studied. |
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Definition
| Did a participation observation study on black women domestic workers. |
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Definition
| Assigning a value to clearly define what you're studying. Ex: defining what a woman will look like vs a man to define gender. If you're studying hot vs cold coffee in a coffee shop, defining plastic cups as cold and cardboard cups as hot, this is your operational definition. |
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Definition
| Did a psychology experiment in 1961, "Milgram shock study", and said that if you legitimize authority, people will do anything you tell them to. |
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Definition
| Complex pattern of behavior that is genetically transmitted. Humans have basic urges & drives, but not instincts. |
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Definition
| Most basic drives (the drive to keep oneself alive). How we fulfill them is by culture. |
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Definition
| The measurement of closeness you get between groups of people. The closest social distance is married people or having a child w/someone. Ex: If one can imagine oneself married to someone of a different race, they have no social distance w/that race. |
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Definition
| Behaviors we consider normal or abnormal in a society. There are 3 types: Taboos, More's, & Folkways. |
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Definition
| Things that 95% of the population are morally against. Ex: Incest, necrophilia, pedophilia, beastiality, etc. |
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Definition
| Carry significant support, for or against, only for those who believe in them. Ex: Gay marriage, abortion, flag-burning, etc. |
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Definition
| Everyday things and/or actions. Ex: Politeness, "common sense", clean house, appropriate clothing, etc. |
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| All shared products of a society. Ex: Cars, clothes, houses, customs, language, beliefs, etc. Culture is our substitute for instincts. Is fluid and always changing. |
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Definition
| The most mainstream culture in a society. Ex: Gender (males are dominant over females), race (whites are dominant over non-whites), economic status (rich are dominant over poor), etc. |
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Definition
| Groups that organize to challenge the dominant culture. Ex: feminists, proponents of gay marriage, pro-life demonstrators, etc. |
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Definition
| Adhere to the dominant culture, but has their own ideas. A culture within a culture. Ex: students, truckers, sociologists, etc. |
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Definition
| Not caught up to some of the social changes taking place. |
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Definition
| Concept or idea that is the same universally, but the definitions may be different. Ex: All cultures have things like marriage, language, music, but we may define them differently. |
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Definition
| To judge another culture or group by your own culture or group's standards. |
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Definition
| Understanding and being okay w/the fact that other cultures are different than your own. |
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Definition
| A measurement of what's important to one, whether culturally, personally, or ethically, etc. |
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Definition
| The hypothesis that people are predisposed to see things based on their own language. |
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Definition
| Spreading parts of one culture to another. |
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Definition
| An encoded norm and formal social control; a way to force people to follow culture. Ex: house rules are informal social control, but laws like the seat belt law are formal social control. |
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Definition
| Gender is social, but the sex of a person is biological. Ex: Males are taught to be masculine, and females are taught to be feminine. We have a core gender role by 2 or 3 years old. Biologically males and females have different sex & reproductive organs. |
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