SOC TEST 1
In her research for The Second Shift, Arlie Hochschild interviewed married couples to find out how they dealt with changing family roles as more women entered the workforce. What advantages came from her decision to use interviews as a research method?
a. It allowed her to gather direct quotations and construct an intimate portrait of married couples.
According to Robert Merton, which of these statements about manifest functions is true?
a. Manifest functions are intended and obvious.
Sameer thinks that religion consists of meaningful displays of values and norms that are created, maintained, and changed through social interaction. What perspective best describes Sameer's views?
a. symbolic interactionism
An ideal whereby researchers identify facts without allowing their own personal beliefs or biases to interfere is known as
a. value-free sociology.
Theories
abstract propositions that explain the social world and make predictions about the future
Max Weber
also studied how society was becoming industrialized. He was concerned with the process of rationalization, applying economic logic to all human activity, focused on bureaucracies. He believed that contemporary life was filled with disenchantment, the result of the dehumanizing features of modern societies. •Was not an activist. Advocated objective, value-free sociology Wrote influential book: The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism
Émile Durkheim's study on suicide found that suicide rates went up when the economy slumped, but they also increased when the economy boomed. Which of Durkheim's concepts explains why both positive and negative economic conditions could increase suicide rates?
anomie
closed-ended questions
give respondents a choice of answers.
Values
ideas about what is right or wrong, good or bad, desirable or worthy in a particular group; they express what the group cherishes and honors
•Comparative historical research
involves an analysis of different regions and time periods
•Open-ended questions
let respondents talk as much as they'd like about the question you asked,
Norms
rules or guidelines regarding what kinds of behavior are acceptable and appropriate within a particular culture; these typically emanate from the group's values
Bernard McGrane
says that to explore the social world, it is important that we clear our minds of stereotypes, expectations, and opinions so that we are more receptive to our experiences.
The Macro Micro Continuum
society, culture, social institutions, social inequality, groups, roles, socialization, interaction, self
C. Wright Mills coined the term?
sociological imagination AKA sociological perspective
Everyday actor:
someone who approaches the world by using knowledge that is practical or taken for granted.
Social analyst:
someone who approaches the world by using reasoning and questions to gain deeper insights.
Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis
the idea that language structures thought and that ways of looking at the world are embedded in language
Symbolic Culture
the ideas associated with a cultural group, including ways of thinking (beliefs, values, and assumptions) and ways of behaving (norms, interactions, and communication)
Ethnocentrism
the principle of using one's own culture as a means or standard by which to evaluate another group or individual, leading to the view that cultures other than one's own are abnormal or inferior
Sociology
the systematic study of human society and social behavior from large-scale institutions and mass culture to small groups and individdual interactions
Latent functions:
the unrecognized and unintended consequences of any social pattern unintended unconscious
Dominant Culture
the values, norms, and practices of the group within society that is most powerful (in terms of wealth, prestige, status, influence, etc.)
industrial societies,
where factory work was becoming increasingly specialized, organic solidarity prevailed: people's bonds with each other were based on the tasks they performed, interdependence, and individual rights. In both cases, people are bound to each other—it is the qualities of the bonds that are different.
•an experimental group
which is exposed to the factor or variable one is examining,
Proletariat
workers; those who have no means of production of their own and so are reduced to selling their labor power in order to live
Interviews
• involve direct, face-to-face contact with respondents. •They can generate large amounts of qualitative data. •A researcher identifies the target population of interest, then selects a sample of people to be interviewed from that population.
Existing sources
•A type of existing sources is referred to as comparative historical research. •Government records (birth, death, marriage) •Journals and diaries •Song lyrics •Literature •Television shows and films
Experiments
•Controlled experiments are highly focused ways of collecting data and are especially useful for determining a pattern of cause and effect.
Marx's theory
•Devoted to explaining how capitalism, an economic system based on pursuing profit, shaped society •Group affiliation affect's an individual's place in society •Marx predicted that inequality leads to class conflict.
Qualitative
•Focuses on central research question, in depth analysis •Interviews •Participant observation •Field research •Controlled experiments •Content analysis •Historical research •Evaluation research/policy
Quantitative
•Uses numerical analysis •STATISTICS!! Survey Questionnaires •Evaluation research/policy • •Data à numbers, % •Example:37% of college students will transfer at least once.
Anomie
"normlessness"; term used to describe alienation and loss of purpose that result from weaker social bonds and an increased pace of change
•a control group
, which is not exposed to the factor or variable being tested.
Auguste Comte
-laid the groundwork for future sociologists & helped to establish the discipline. -A "founding father" of sociology, an 1800's philosopher. -Coined the term "sociology" -believed that society could be studied scientifically to improve society. French scientist, developed a theory of the progress of human thinking from its early theological and metaphysical stages toward a final "positive," or scientific, stage.
Karl Marx
-one of the most influential thinkers in history. -saw society as systematic and structural and class as a fundamental dimension of society that shapes social behavior.
Society
A group of people who shape their lives in aggregated and patterned ways that distinguish their group from others
Sociological Imagination
A quality of the mind that allows us to understand the relationship between our individual circumstances and larger social forces
W.E.B. Du Bois
A scholar and co-founder of the NAACP, he was deeply troubled by the racial divisiveness in society. He envisioned a community-based, activist profession committed to social justice. Division of identity in 2 or more social realities: Double Consciousness The problem of the 20th century is "The color line" Critical race theory builds from his ideas.
Sociological perspective
A way of lokoking at the world through a sociological lens
•Cultural Universals
All societies have developed adaptations to meet basic human needs (food, shelter, clothing) •Social institutions found in virtually all societies are called . •Varies between societies, may change over time. •Sports •Cooking •Dance •Art •Marriage •Sexual restrictions •Medicine •Trade •Religious ritual
Deductive Approach
An approach whereby the reseacher formulates a hypothesis first and then gathers data to test that hypothesis
Inductive Approach
An approach whereby the researcher gathers data first, then formulates a theory to fit the data
There is only one correct theoretical explanation for any particular social phenomenon.
False
a MICRO-level theoretical approach in sociology developed by
George Herbert Mead that emphasizes the role of symbols and language as core elements of human interaction
Many everyday cultural practices such as greeting a friend, giving someone flowers, or using the thumbs-up sign seem like natural ways of acting. Why does having an awareness of how these practices vary across cultures demonstrate a healthy sociological imagination?
It reminds us that everyday interactions are connected to larger societies and norms.
value-free sociology,
Max Weber stating that researchers should identify facts without allowing their own personal beliefs or biases to interfere.
Symbolic interactionism argues that people act toward things on the basis of their meaning. According to this perspective, how does meaning arise?
Meaning is negotiated through interaction with others.
Manifest functions:
Open, stated, conscious
Qualitative Reseach
Research that works with nonnumerical data such as texts, flied notes, interview transcripts, photographs, and tape recordings; this type of research more often tries to understand how people make sense of their world
Émile Durkheim
Structural Functionalist -worked to establish sociology as an important academic discipline. -studied the social factors that bond and hold people together. This is called "social solidarity." In Suicide, he studied the relationship between social isolation and suicide at the macro-level.
•Material culture
TThe objects associated with a cultural group, such as tools, machines, utensils, buildings and artwork; any physical object to which we give social meaning
Social Sciences
The disciplines that use scientific method to examine the social world
Culture
The entire way of a group of people share a set of ideas, values, norms and behaviors
Positivitism
The theory that sense perceptions are the only valid source of knowlegde
mechanical solidarity
The type of social bonds present in premodern, agrarian societies in which shared traditions and beliefs created a sense of social cohesion
Symbolic Interactionism
This theoretical framework focuses on immediate social interaction to be the place where "society" exists. -a paradigm that sees interaction and meaning as central to society and assumes that meanings are not inherent but are created through interaction
Marxism (from the works of Karl Marx)
Views society as composed of groups and interests competing for power and resources. Explains various aspects of our social world by looking at which groups have POWER and benefit from a particular social arrangement. Ideology •Shared ideas or beliefs that serve to justify the interests of dominant groups
Conflict theory
a MACRO level paradigm that sees social conflict as the basis of society and social change, and emphasizes a materialist view of society, a critical view of the status quo, and a dynamic model of historical change
Designer labels on purses and logos on shirts are both examples of
b. material culture.
Autoethnography
a form of participant observation where the feelings and actions of the researcher become a focal point of the ethnographic study
Subculture
a group within society that is differentiated by its distinctive values, norms, and lifestyle
Counterculture
a group within society that openly rejects and/or actively opposes society's values and norms
Harriet Martineau
a journalist and political economist, proclaiming views that were radical for her time: supported labor unions, the abolition of slavery, and women's suffrage. -In 1837, she wrote about it in Society in America (race, class, gender and religion)
Ethnography
a naturalistic method based on studying people in their own environment in order to understand the meanings they attribute to their activities; also the written work that results from the study
Structural functionalism
a paradigm based on the assumption that society is a unified whole that functions because of the contributions of its separate structures
simple random sample
a particular type of probability sample in which every member of the population has an equal chance of being selected
•Correlation:
a relationship between two variables
•Causation:
a relationship in which one variable causes another variable to change
•Spurious correlation:
a relationship that seems to exist between two variables, but is actually caused by some external, or intervening, variable.
culture shock
a sense of disorientation that occurs when entering a radically new social or cultural environment
Paradigm
a set of assumptions, theories, and perspectives that make up a way of understanding social reality
Jill is visiting her boyfriend's family in China. During a conversation, she points to him with her index finger, which his family doesn't seem to like. Later, her boyfriend explains that she should point with an open hand instead of using a finger. Why is this instruction needed?
a. The meaning of gestures is not universal.
According to symbolic interactionism, what is the relationship between the self and society?
a. The self is shaped by society, but society is also shaped by the self.
Max Weber believed that modern industrialized societies were characterized by which of the following institutions?
a. bureaucracies
How are norms enforced in everyday settings?
a. by sanctions
What economic system emerged during the Industrial Revolution?
a. capitalism
In recent years, sociologists who study deviance have learned that they can measure the quantities of narcotics consumed by a community by testing its sewage before treatment. What part of the research process would the sociologists be carrying out when they visit the sewage treatment plant to test its sewage?
a. collecting data
If changing one variable seems to lead to a change in another variable, this shows ________ but does not necessarily prove ________.
a. correlation; causation
A sociologist performs an experiment designed to investigate the effect of marriage counseling on divorce. He or she divides research participants into two similar groups of troubled couples, provides only one group with counseling, and observes whether, over time, the two groups eventually divorce at different rates. What is the independent variable in this experiment?
a. marriage counseling
What do you call broad theoretical models of the social or natural world?
a. paradigms
Which term describes a policy of honoring diverse racial, ethnic, national, and linguistic backgrounds?
b. multiculturalism
•Surveys
are questionnaires that are administered to a sample of respondents selected from a target population. •Sociologists often use probability sampling (or random sampling) to obtain a sample that reflects the characteristics of members of the target population. •Survey research tends to look at large-scale social patterns and employs statistics and other mathematical means of analysis. •Polls about politics •Consumer confidence •Opinion surveys
What kind of question usually produces a wide variety of responses by allowing respondents to answer in whatever way seems appropriate to them?
b. open-ended
A research team is curious about the relationship between exercise habits and academic performance among American college students. In order to get their data, the researchers randomly select seventeen colleges by pulling names out of a hat. They travel to campuses and stand in prominent public places asking for volunteers until they have ten people from each campus willing to be interviewed. What is the researchers' target population?
b. American college students
Which of the following is an advantage of replicability in experiments?
b. Experiments can be performed again and again over time in order to measure change.
What can an institutional review board do if it has reservations about the safety or ethics of a research project?
b. It may stop the project from going forward, at least until changes have been made.
Structural functionalist theory is concerned with the ways in which structures contribute to the stability of society. What is a structure?
b. a social institution that is stable over time and helps meet the needs of society
Jai is conducting a sociological research study on differences in interactions between similar and dissimilar co-workers. After reviewing the literature, he developed a hypothesis and has operationalized the variables he will study. What is the next step Jai should take in the scientific method?
b. choose a research design or method
You want to conduct some sociological research on whether people on social networking sites are less likely to meet in person as a result of their online community participation. What is the next step in the scientific method?
b. conduct a literature review
Clashes over values in the United States, especially as represented by liberals and conservatives in the mass media, have been termed
b. culture wars.
The values, norms, and practices of the most powerful group within a society are called
b. dominant culture.
The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis suggests that
b. language can structure our perception of reality.
Sociology can be defined as the systematic and scientific study of human society and social behavior, from ________ to ________.
b. large-scale institutions; individual interactions
Which of the following theories views society as a whole unit made up of interrelated parts that work together?
b. structural functionalism
You are doing a research project on the effects of contemporary media. What are your variables if your hypothesis is "watching violence on television causes an increase in violent behavior"?
b. violence on television and violent behavior
Critical race theory is associated with which of the major theoretical perspectives or schools of thought in sociology?
conflict theory
Which of the following is an advantage of using ethnography to study social life?
c. Ethnography allows the researcher to gather abundant data on a small population.
Some researchers suggest that interviews give "voice" to people who may never have been heard before and offer privileged access to authentic experience, private worlds, and true selves. How do interviews do this?
c. Interviews allow respondents to speak in their own words, which can reveal their thoughts, feelings, and beliefs.
Why do ethnocentric people tend to view other cultures as abnormal?
c. They use their own culture as a standard of judgment.
Although many people believe that expectations for personal space are innate, members of many cultures are accustomed to noticeably less personal space than those of others. This helps demonstrate that people's expectations for personal space are
c. a part of our culture and, as such, are learned rather than innate.
What is a paradigm?
c. a set of assumptions, theories, and perspectives that makes up a way of understanding social reality
The article "Body Ritual among the Nacirema" is useful to sociologists because it
c. challenges people's inability to observe their own cultures.
What research method is a sociologist using if he or she watches a lot of television and counts the number of times women play roles with lower status than those played by men?
c. content analysis
What term did Karl Marx use to describe the fact that most of the population accepts inequality even when it does not benefit them personally?
c. false consciousness
In the 1980s, many politicians argued that listening to heavy metal music led teenagers to die by suicide. Though you might find this belief silly, it is a(n)
c. hypothesis.
A monetary fine, harsh words, and shaking one's fist are examples of
c. negative sanctions.
Alejandra believes that religion is the basis for good values and that promoting religion in society promotes social order. What perspective best describes Alejandra's views?
c. structural functionalism
What is the sociological imagination?
c. the sociological approach that assumes individual decisions and interactions are independent of larger social institutions
Many American colleges and universities require students to take classes on non-Western cultures. Why do these requirements exist?
c. to demonstrate the value of multiculturalism and to reduce ethnocentrism
Culture Wars
clashes within mainstream society over the values and norms that should be upheld
Microsociology
concentrates on the interactions between individuals and the ways in which those interactions construct the larger patterns, processes, and institutions of society
Sociology can be approached from both a microsociological and a macrosociological perspective. Which is more useful?
d. Both are useful in different ways because they each provide different types of information about the same object of study.
What does it mean if a sample of sociological research is representative?
d. A smaller group of people studied can tell us something about a larger group.
Which of the following is one of the functions of symbolic culture?
d. It enables people to communicate.
Karen thinks that religion is used by powerful people and institutions to control the public. What perspective best describes Karen's views?
d. conflict theory
The ability to understand another culture in terms of that culture's own norms and values, without reference to any other culture's standards, is called
d. cultural relativism.
Sociologists who conduct interviews can only gather data from a limited number of people because
d. interviews are too time-consuming.
Survey research tends to produce quantitative data. One key advantage of this kind of data is that it
d. is easy to transmit to the public.
Which of the following is a latent function of the educational system in the United States?
d. keeping children out of trouble while parents are at work
Harriet Martineau supported many ideas that were radical for her time including
d. labor unions and the abolition of slavery.
Countercultural groups such as the hippies of the 1960s
d. rejected the norms of the dominant culture.
What is the definition of "culture"?
d. the entire way of life of a group of people and it acts as a lens through which we view the world.
Even though we are not all trained academically as sociologists, we can all be considered "everyday actors" because
d. we are all members of society and have background knowledge about how society works.
Macrosociology:
examines large-scale social structures to determine how they impact groups and individuals
Bourgeoisie
owners; the class of modern capitalists who own the means of production and employ wage laborers
Sanctions
positive or negative reactions to the ways that people follow or disobey norms, including rewards for conformity and punishments for violations
Quantitative Research
research that translates the social world into numbers that can be treated mathematically; this type of research often tries to find cause-and-effect relationships
A cultural group that exists harmoniously within a larger, dominant culture is called a
subculture
In Durkheims book suicide he showed that_
suicide rates were higher in societies where norms were unclear or contradictory. (Religion)
Which social theory focuses on micro-level interactions?
symbolic interactionism
Social Darwinism
the application of the theory of evolution and the notion of "survival of the fittest" to the study of society
Solidarity
the degree of integration or unity within a particular society; the extent to which individuals feel connected to other members of their group