Sociology, Chapter 1-16 (megansanny)

When did industrialization first occur?

Industrial revolution in Britain between 1760-1850, was soon repeated throughout Western Europe

Who are the most influential advocates of functionalism? (2)

Talcott Parsons, Robert Merton

Positivism

a belief that the world can best be understood through scientific inquiry

unit of analysis

what or whom is being studied

Who was Herbert Spencer?

British social theorist who had an evolutionary perspective on social order and social change

Who was Harriet Martineau?

British sociologist who translated and condensed Comte's works, also an active sociologist

Who was the sociologist to identify double-consciousness? What is it?

Du Bois; the identity conflict of being both a black and an American

Who coined term anomie?

Durkheim

Who was Emile Durkheim?

French sociologist that stressed that people are the product of their social environment and that behavior cannot be understood fully in terms of individual biological and psychological traits

Who contributed to symbolic interactionism? (2)

George Herbert Mead and Herbert Blumer

Who was Karl Marx?

German economist and philosopher who stressed that history is a continuous clash between conflicting ideas and forces

Who was Max Weber?

German social scientist who was concerned about changes brought about by the Industrial revolution

Who was Georg Simmel?

German sociologist that theorized about society as a web of patterned interactions among people

Did Weber agree with Marx's idea that economics was the central force in social change?

No, but he did acknowledge that economic interests are important in shaping human actions

Who were the main 3 contributors to conflict perspectives?

Simmel, Marx, Weber

According to Durkheim, what did strains on society lead to?

a breakdown in traditional organization, values and authority and to a dramatic increase in anomie

Anomie

a condition in which social control becomes ineffective as a result of loss of shared values and of a sense of purpose in society

interview

a data-collection encounter in which an interviewer asks the respondent questions and records the answers

Functionalism: What did Parsons believe regarding families?

a division of labor between husband and wife is essential for family stability and social order

alienation

a feeling of powerlessness and estrangement from other people and from oneself

Society

a large social grouping that shares the same geographical territory and is subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations

Survey

a poll in which the researcher gathers facts or attempts to determine the relationships among facts

prestige

a positive or negative social estimation of honor

theory

a set of logically interrelated statements that attempts to describe, explain, and predict social events

power elite

a small clique composed of top corporate, political and military officials

hypothesis

a statement of the expected relationship between two or more variables

What is formal sociology? Who developed it?

an approach that focuses attention on the universal recurring social forms that underlie the varying content of social interaction; Simmel

perspective

an overall approach to or viewpoint on some subject

variable

any concept with measurable traits or characteristics that can change or vary from one person, time, situation, or society to another

symbol

anything that meaningfully represents something else

Sex

biological and anatomical differences between females and males

How did Weber make significant contributions to modern sociology?

by emphasizing the goal of value-free inquiry and the necessity of understanding how others see the world

According to Marx, what is necessary in order to produce social change and a better society?

conflict, especially class conflict

Conflict perspective: racial-ethnic approach?

continued exploitation of certain racial-ethnic groups

Conflict perspective: feminist perspective approach?

directs attention to women's experiences and the importance of gender as an element of social structure

According to Durkheim, when is anomie most often to occur?

during periods of rapid social change

Who was W. E. B. Du Bois?

founder of the 2nd department of sociology in the US at Atlanta University; created a lab of sociology, instituted a program of systematic research, founded and conducted regular sociological conferences on research

Who was Auguste Comte?

french philosopher who coined the term sociology

What are the four major sociological perspectives?

functionalism, conflict theory, symbolic interactionism, postmodernism

Functionalism: What are manifest functions? Latent functions? Dysfunctions?

functions intended and/or overtly recognized by the participants in a social unit; unintended functions that are hidden and remain unacknowledged by participants; undesirable consequences of any element of a society

Functionalism: What did Robert Merton contribute?

he distinguished between manifest and latent functions of social institutions

How did Mills contribute to conflict perspectives?

he encouraged sociologists to get involved in social reform by looking beneath everyday events in order to observe the major resource and power inequalities that exist in society

How did Marx contribute to conflict perspectives?

he focused on the exploitation and oppression of the proletariat by the bourgeoisie

How did Weber contribute to conflict perspectives?

he recognized the importance of economic conditions in producing inequality and conflict in society and added power and prestige as other sources of inequality

What are high-income countries? Examples? (6)

highly industrialized countries, technologically advanced industrail, administrative and service occupations, relatively high levels of income; US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Western Europe

What did Simmel analyze?

how social interactions vary depending on the size of the social group

interaction

immediate reciprocally oriented communication between two or more people

According to functionalism, society is composed of?

interrelated parts, each of which serves a function and contributes to the overall stability of society

What did Robert E. Park assert about urbanization at the Chicago School?

it has a disintegrating influence on social life by producing an increase in crime rate and in racial and class antagonisms that contribute to the segregation and isolation of neighborhoods

Why study sociology?

it helps us gain a better understanding of ourselves and our social world

What are middle-income countries? Examples? (2 subgroups)

nations with industrializing economies, moderate levels of income; Eastern Europe, most Latin American countries (Brazil, Mexico)

What are the three branches of conflict perspective?

neo-Marxist approach; racial-ethnic inequalities; feminist perspective

Anomic suicide

occurs from a lack of social regulation

Fatalistic suicide

occurs from excessive regulation and oppressive discipline (ex: slaves)

Altruistic suicide

occurs with people who are excessively integrated into society (military leaders who kill themselves in defeat)

Egoistic suicide

occurs with people who are isolated from any social groups

Who was Jane Addams

one of the best-known early women sociologists who founded a famous settlement house in an impoverished area of Chicago

For Auguste Comte, what were the best policies/forces of sociology?

ones that involved order and authority

Social facts

patterned ways of acting, thinking, and feeling that exist outside any one individual but that exert social control over each person

What are postmodern perspectives?

perpectives that attempt to explain social life in modern societies that are characterized by postindustrialization, consumerism, and global communications

What are symbolic interactionist perspectives? What type of analysis are they based on?

perspective that views society as the sum of interactions of individuals and groups; microlevel analysis

What are functionalist perspectives?

perspectives based on the assumption that a society is a stable, orderly system, characterized by societal consensus (members share values, beliefs, etc.)

What are conflict perspectives?

perspectives that view groups in society as engaged in a continuous power struggle for control of scarce resources

What is Comte's philosophy known as? What are its two dimensions?

positivism; methodological (the application of scientific knowledge to both physical and social phenomena); social and political (the use of such knowledge to predict the likely results of different policies so that the best one could be chosen)

What are low-income countries? Examples? (2 subgroups)

primarily agrarian nations with little industrialization and low levels of income; Africa, Asia (India, Chine)

What did H. Martineau advocate?

racial and gender equality, creating a science of society that would be grounded in empirical observations and widely accessible to public

According to Weber, what was the most significant factor in determining the social relations between people in industrial societies?

rational bureaucracy

quantitative research

research based on the goal of scientific objectivity and focus on data that can be measured numerically

qualitative research

research that uses interpretive description rather than statistics to analyze underlying meanings and patterns of social relationships

What are the steps of the conventional research model?

select and define the research problem, review previous research, formulate the hypothesis, develop the research design, collect and analyze the data, draw conclusions and report the findings

What was Spencer's view of society called?

social darwinism (the belief that those species of animals, including human beings, best adapted to their environment survive and prosper)

Because of rapid urbanization and fast-paced changes in third world countries, what is happening to the social aspect?

social ties are weakened, as people move away from their families and their community

What was Comte's main theory of sociology?

societies contain social statics (forces for social order and stability) and social dynamics (forces for conflict and change)

What was Spencer's Theory of General Evolution?

society has various interdependent parts that work to endure the stability and survival of the entire society

What was C. Wright Mills major contribution to sociology? What was it?

sociological imagination; the ability to see the relationship between individual experiences and the larger society

Why is sociology systematic?

sociologists apply both theoretical perspectives and research methods to examinations of social behavior

Research methods

specific strategies or techniques for systematically conducting research

Class conflict

struggle between capitalist class and the working class

Four types of research methods

survey, analysis, field research, experiments

Sociology

systematic study of human society and social interaction

power

the ability of a person within a social relationship to carry out his or her own will despite resistance from others

What are postmodern theories based on?

the assumption that rapid social change occurs as societies move from modern to postmodern conditions

Ethnicity

the cultural heritage or identity of a group and is based on factors such as language or country of origin

status quo

the existing state of society

validity

the extent to which a study or research instrument accurately measures what it is supposed to measure

reliability

the extent to which a study or research instrument yields consistent results when applied to different individuals at one time or to the same individuals over time

What was the Chicago School?

the first department of sociology in the US

What do postmodern theories emphasize?

the fragmented nature of contemporary society brought about by constant change

What was Durkheim's most important contribution to sociology?

the idea that societies are built on social facts

Gender

the meanings, beliefs, and practices associated with sex differences

Urbanization

the process by which an increasing population lives in cities rather than in rural areas

Industrialization

the process by which societies are transformed from dependence on agriculture and handmade products to an emphasis on manufacturing and related industries

research

the process of systematically collecting info for the purpose of testing an existing theory or generating a new one

Class

the relative location of a person or group within the larger society, based on wealth, power, prestige, or other valued resources

According to Spencer, how do societies develop?

through a process of struggle (for existence) and fitness (for survival), which he referred to as the survival of the fittest

What does sociological imagination enable us to do?

understand the link between our personal experiences and the social contexts in which they occur

What did Weber believe that sociological research should be? What does this mean?

value free; research should be conducted in a scientific manner and should exclude the researcher's personal values and economic interest

dependent variable

variable assumed to be caused by the independent variable

independent variable

variable assumed to be the cause of the relationship between variables

Conflict perspective: neo-Marxist approach?

views struggle between classes as inevitable and as a prime source of social change