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Intro To Sociology Exam Prep
N/A
90
Sociology
Undergraduate 1
09/08/2013

Additional Sociology Flashcards

 


 

Cards

Term
Five Standards of Scientific Knowledge
Definition

Empirically Testable

Falsifiable

Reproducible

Valid

Generalizable

Term
What is Reactivity
Definition
The extent to which humans being studied respond to the research process or the researcher by changing their behavior, either unintentionally or intentionally.
Term
The Hawthorne Effect
Definition
the unintended effects on behavior produced when people are aware they are being studied.
Term
The idea that sociology is a subjective Experience (Verstehen)
Definition

People experience life subjectively

 

To understand people's actions we must understand what their acts mean to them.

Term
The Research Process
Definition
Continuing cycle of theory, hypotheses, data, and empirical generalizations.
Term
Variable
Definition
a measurable trait or characteristic which can vary and which is used to measure a concept
Term
Operational Definition
Definition
a description of procedures used to measure a concept in sufficient detail so that someone else could perform the same procedure and get a similar result
Term
Questions in surveys tend to be answered with greater reliability and validity when they....
Definition

1. Ask things respondents could reasonably be expected to know

2. Ask things resppondents want to tell you correctly.

3. Ask things that are neither too difficult to answer nor consume too much time.

Term
Sampling
Definition
a subset of members of the population rather than the entire population
Term
Generalizing
Definition
The results should be something that is related to the broader population
Term
Quota Sample
Definition
a sample including specific numbers of cases falling in various subcategories
Term
Probability Sample
Definition

Each case in the population has some known probability of being included

 

All segments of the population are represented

Term
Descriptive Statistic
Definition

- describe the distribution of cases on some variable

-mean, median, and mode are measures of 'central tendency'

Term
Association vs Causality
Definition

Two variables are associated when the values of one variable depend on or can be predicted from the values of the other variable

 

Just because two variables are associated together doesnt mean that one causes the other

Term

 

observational studies

Definition

Two types: participant observation & systematic observation

 

:Researchers watch subjects to see how they behave in various circumstances

Term
Systematic Observation
Definition

quantitative method where researchers typically develop a systematic set of codes, use to code each event observed, and analyze the results statistically. 

 

Often use audiotapes or  videocameras to document behavior

 

Reactivity must be considered.

Term
Participant Observation
Definition
researcher participates in and is directly involved in the lives of those he/she is studying
Term
Ethnography
Definition

a typically detailed descriptive account summarizing and interpreting a culture or a collection of people studied.

 

Often read like a novel or diary and give the reader a sense of experiencing the event themselves 

Term

Researcher Roles

1. True Insider

2. Acting as an Insider

3. Outsider

Definition

1. someone already participating in the context in a non research role who chooses to study that setting

2. pretends to be an insider

3. someone who does not disguise their role as a researcher

Term
Social surveys
Definition

gather information by asking people questions.

The questions may be objective (factual information) or subjective information (attitudes and beliefs)

Term
Respondent
Definition
someone who answers the questions in a social survey.
Term
What is culture?
Definition
a combination of ideas, behaviors, and material objects that people have created and adopted for carrying out necessary tasks of daily life.
Term
Culture is passed from one generation to another through __________.
Definition
Socialization
Term
Two components of culture
Definition

1. Material culture

2. Non material culture

Term
4 Types of Nonmaterial Culture
Definition

1. Symbols

2. Language

3. Values/Beliefs

4. Norms

Term
Material Culture
Definition
Includes all of the art, architecture, technological artifacts, and material objects created by a society.
Term
Non Material Culture
Definition
everything about culture that isnt part of the material culture
Term
Two Types of non material culture
Definition

Cognitive Elements

 

Normative Elements

Term
Cognitive elements
Definition

type of non material culture-->expressing thoughts, beliefs, and preferences

 

Examples: Symbols, values, beliefs, attitudes, language

Term
Normative Elements
Definition
Part of non material culture which expresses how we should behave (norms)
Term
Symbols
Definition
words, gestures, pictures, anything that conveys meaning to people who share a culture
Term
The Sapair Whorf Hypothesis states that.......
Definition
LANGUAGE SHAPES THOUGHT
Term
Cultural values are standards of ________, rightness, or importance in a society. They indicate whether something is good or bad, important, unimportant, attractive, or unattractive. Values are not ________. They are positive or negative.
Definition

Desirability

 

 

Not Neutral

Term
Work Ethic
Definition
a respect for and appreciation for people who work hard and a sense that hard work should be rewarded.
Term
Norms
Definition
Expectations for behavior. Often apply to social roles that people are playing more than to the individuals themselves.
Term

Folkways

 

Example?

Definition

Rules governing everyday confuct that are not considered to be morally important and are not strictly enforced. 

 

Not wearing a tie in church, saying please and thank you, not staring at people in an elevator

 

Term

Mores

 

Example?

Definition

serious norms for important activities having a strong moral imperative and strictly enforced

 

 

laws forbid murder, rape, stealing, and assualt

Term

What are sanctions?

 

 

Definition

Acts designed to encourage behaviors conforming to norm and discourage behaviors that violate norms

 

 

Term
Example of Negative Sanction
Definition
punishments....glaring at a reckless driver
Term
Examples of a positive sanction
Definition
Rewards.....congratulating someone who stopped a crime
Term

Internalization

 

Example

Definition

Adopting the norm as your own, we become our own police force.

 

Guilt from cheating on a test

Term
What two types of societies have great cultural diversity within them?
Definition
Large industrial and postindustrial societies
Term

Dominant Culture

 

Example?

Definition

the culture that takes precedence over other cultures in acivities or events involving people from many categories of the population.

 

President of the united states

Term

Subculture

 

Question?

Definition

a culture containing many elements of the dominant culture, but having unique features that distinguish its members from the rest of the population. This may be based on ethnic heritage, lifestyle choices, social class, regional diferences, race, or gender.

 

College Students

Term

Counterculture

 

 

Example?

Definition

a subculture that challenges important elements of the dominant culture such as beliefs, attitudes, or values and seeks to create an alternative lifestyle.

 

Hippies

Term
Multiculturalism
Definition
a perspective that recognizes the contributions of diverse groups to our society and holds that no single culture is any better than all the rest
Term
Ethnocentrism
Definition

the view that your own culture is the standard against which other cultures can be judged right or wrong. 

 

The US is often criticized for being ethnocentric

Term
Three major theoretical perspectives within sociology each can be applied to culture
Definition

The functional View

 

The interactionist view

 

The conflict view

Term
The Functional View of Culture
Definition
Explains Cultural elements by their functions for society. A cycle of society, structures, and social consequences. If this view was correct then they should be cultural universals.
Term
Cultural Universals
Definition
cultural elements found in all cultures
Term
Interactionist View Of Culture
Definition
The social interactionist view examines how we come to define the meaning of cultural elements through social interaction
Term
Stereotypes
Definition
negative, biased generalizations regarding all people in the same category
Term
High Culture
Definition
the artifacts, values, knowledge, beliefs, and other cultural elements that elites in a society use to distinguish themselves from the masses
Term
popular culture
Definition
all the artifacts, values, knowledge, beliefs, and other cultural elements that appeal to the masses.
Term
Three types of social and culture change
Definition

Cultural Lag Theory

 

Cultural diffusion

 

A global culture

Term
Culture Lag Theory
Definition
technological change drives other changes in culture, with other cultural elements often lagging behind  technology.
Term
Cultural Diffusion
Definition
the spread of cultural elements including objects and ideas from one culture to another.
Term
why is the world possibly considered a single global culture
Definition
because you can do many things all over the world. Like fly on american airplanes, listen to rock music, hook up to the internet, and eat mcdonalds.
Term
__________ the scientific  study of social life
Definition
Sociology
Term
Sociology studies the relationship between what two things
Definition
individuals and social structures
Term
Sociology includes ____-level analyzes focusing on individuals, such as studies fo small groups and attitude change
Definition
mirco
Term
sociology includes ___-level analyses focusing on social structures, such as studies of political and economic systems
Definition
macro
Term

What sociologist was born in France and heavily influenced by the French Revolution

 

He also coined the term sociology

Definition
August Comte
Term
Comte proposed applying the scientific methods used in the natural sciences to the social sciences. What was this approach called?
Definition
Positivism
Term
C. Wright Mills said that the ___________ _________ is the capacity for individuals to understand the relationship between their individual lives and broad social forces that influence them.
Definition
sociological imagination
Term

What is the intersection of history and biography

 

The relationship between private troubles and public issues

 

Our lives are not purely personal, but are lived out in the context of social circumstances that affect us all

Definition
The sociological Imagination
Term
What are the six reccurent themes in sociology
Definition

Social control

the social construction of reality

inequality

social structure

knowledge

social change

Term
What are the three main theories used to explain the recurrent themes of sociology
Definition

structural functional theory

 

conflict theory

 

interactionist theory

Term
Who are the four main classic sociologists
Definition

Marx

Weber

Durkheim

Mead

Term

The great majority of social control is ________ ___________ in which people do things because they believe it is the right thing to do, not because they are forced to do so.

 

Who said this?

Definition

internalized social control

 

Emile Durheim

Term
the ___________ theory says that individuals,though contrained by social circumstances, can make decisions and take actions that influence their own lives and those of others
Definition
Interactionist
Term
____________ ___________ are important characteristics of groups that cannot be reduced to some simple combination of characteristics of individuals.
Definition
Emergent Properties
Term
What  is the "definition of the situation"
Definition
a statement or action that explicitly or implicitly suggests the meaning the actor would like others to attribute to their actions
Term
What is "negotiated order"
Definition
a shared meaning of the situation agreed upon by all participants
Term
who developed the Symbolic Interactionist Perspective and believed people can interact by taking the role of the other
Definition
George Herbert Mead
Term
Who was the son of a New England Minister and taught at the university of Chicago
Definition
George Herbert Mead
Term
_________ _______ are enduring, relatively stable patterns of social behavior. They also constrain social behavior, even behavior we might think are solely individual.
Definition
Social Structures
Term
Who developed the structural-functional theory
Definition
Emile Durkheim
Term
Durkheim says that ______ ______ are regular patterns of behavior that exist independently of individuals and constrain individual behavior
Definition
social facts
Term
__________ conducted a classic study in which he found suicide to be related to social integration of individuals in the larger society
Definition
Durkheim
Term
What theory has a circular cycle of Structure, social consequences, and society
Definition
Structural Functional Theory
Term
_____ _______ was the father of the conflict perspective
Definition
Karl Marx
Term
What influenced Karl Marx
Definition
The industrial Revolution
Term
_________ was born in Germany, but spent most of his life in Britain. He also believed that human history was the history of class conflict.
Definition
Marx
Term

Society consists of groups competing for scarce resources


What appears on the surface to be cooperation merely masks the struggle for power


Social structures persist in society because they serve the interests of those who have wealth and power

Definition
Conflict Theory
Term
Who was the son of a successful Protestant entrepreneur
Definition
Max Weber
Term
Weber argued that life was experiencing increasing __________.
Definition
rationality
Term
Weber said that traditional organizations were being superceded by ____________.
Definition
Bureaucracies
Term
Who said that social life is based on rational action guided by subjective understanding (verstehen) anchored in shared cultural ideas
Definition
Max Weber
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