Midterm Vocab
Subculture
culture within a culture (ex: Korean Americans)
Field Notes
detailed notes taken by an ethnographer describing her activities and interactions, which later become the basis of the analysis
Labeling Theory
deviance is not inherent in any act, belief, or condition; instead, it is determined by the social context
simple random sample
each member of the larger target population has an equal chance of being included in the sample based on random number generation (like drawing names from a hat)
Role-taking emotions
emotions that require that we bleed able to see things from someone else's point of view (ex: sympathy)
Verstehen
empathic understanding (Weber)
Hegemony
ideas of the dominant group are accepted by all
Innovators
individuals who accept society's approved goals but not society's approved means to achieve them
Ritualists
individuals who have given up hope of achieving society's approved goals but still operate according to society's approved means
Rebels
individuals who reject society's approved goals and means and instead create and work toward their own (sometimes revolutionary) goals using new means
Retreatists
individuals who renounce society's approved goals and means entirely and live outside conventional norms altogether
Total Institutions
instituions in which individuals are cut off from the rest of society so that they can be controlled and regulated for the purpose of systematically stripping aways previous roles in order to create new ones (ex: jail)
Counterculture
norms and values that are often incompatible with or in direct opposition to the mainstream
Mores
norms that carry a greater moral significance and are more closely related to the core values of a culture group (ex: cheating on a spouse)
Crowd
not considered a group, since people are together briefly and may interact but won't stay in contact
mechanical solidarity
Durkheim's term for the unity (a shared consciousness) that people feel as a result of performing the same or similar tasks
Superego
It is composed of two components- the conscience (keeps us from engaging in socially undesirable behavior) and the ego-ideal (upholds our vision of who we believe we should ideally be).
Self
Our experience of a distinct, real, personal identity that is separate and different from all other people
Microsociology
The study of human behavior in contexts of face-to-face interaction.
Macrosociology
The study of large-scale groups, organizations, or social systems.
Iron cage
Weber's pessimistic description of modern life, in which we are caught in bureaucratic structures that control our lives through rigid rules and rationalization
Rationalization
Weber's process about the application of economic logic to all sphere of human activity
Backstage
Where we prepare for our performance (ex: a prof at home)
Deviance
a behavior, trait, or belief that departs from a norm and generates a negative reaction in a particular group
Group
a collection of at least two people who not only share some attribute but also identify with one another and have ongoing social relations
False Consciousness
a denial of the truth on the part of the oppressed when they fail to recognize the interests of the ruling class are embedded in the dominant ideology
secondary deviance
a deviant identity or career
Likert scale
a format in which respondents can choose along a continuum (ex: strongly agree to strongly disagree)
In-Group
a group a member identifies with and feels loyal towards
Institutional Review Board (IRB)
a group of scholars who meet regularly to review the research proposals of their colleges and make recommendations on how to protect human subjects
Reference Groups
a group that provides standards by which a person evaluates their own personal attributes (ex: one's peers)
Out-Group
a group toward which an individual feels opposition, rivalry, or hostility (ex: UCLA vs USC)
Stereotype promise
a kind of self-fulfilling prophecy in which positive stereotypes, such as the "model minority" label applied to Asian Americans, lead to positive performance outcomes
Stereotype threat
a kind of self-fulfilling prophecy in which the fear of performing poorly - and confirming stereotypes about their social groups - causes students to perform poorly
Sanctions
a means of enforcing norms (rewards for conformity and punishments for violations)
content analysis
a method in which researchers identify and study specific variables - such as words - in a text, image, or media message
Participant Observation
a methodology associated with ethnography whereby the researcher both observes and becomes a member in a social setting
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 (Founder: Émile Durkheim)
Group Cohesion
a sense of solidarity or team spirit that members feel toward their group
Paradigm
a set of assumptions, theories, and perspectives that make up a way of understanding social reality
Hidden curriculum
a set of behavioral traits such as punctuality, neatness, discipline, hard work, competition, and obedience (ex: these are not the purpose of going to school, but they are something you learn while there)
Role Conflict
a situation in which two or more roles have contradictory expectations
conversation analysis
a sociological approach that looks at how we create meaning in naturally occurring conversation, often by taping conversations and examining their transcripts
Hawthorne effect
a specific example of reactivity, in which the desired effect is the result not of the independent variable but of the research itself
Moral Holiday
a specified time period in which some norm violations are allowed (ex: going to Las Vegas)
Master status
a status that seems to override all others and affects all other statuses that one possesses
Intervening Variable
a third variable that explains the relationship between two other variables
Triad
a three person social group
Taboos
a type of more, the most powerful of all norms (ex: cannibalism)
organic solidarity
a type of social order based around an acceptance of economic and social differences
Theories
abstract propositions that explain the social world and make predictions about the future
Deductive approach
an approach whereby the researcher 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
self-fulfilling prophecy
an inaccurate statement or belief that, by altering the situation, becomes accurate; a prediction that causes itself to come true
Grounded theory
an inductive method of generating theory from data by creating categories in which to place data and then looking for relationships among categories
Material Culture
any physical object to which we give social meaning (Ex: driving a certain car might say something about your status)
Stigma
any physical or social attribute that devalues a person or group's identity and that may exclude those who are devalued from normal social interaction
Personal front
appearance, manner, and style of dress, gender, race, and age
Cooling out the mark
behaviors that help others to save face or avoid embarrassment, often referred to as civility or tact
Emobdied Status
one that is located in our physical selves
Achieved status
one that we have earned through our own efforts (ex: occupation, hobby)
Ascribes status
one we are born with that is unlikely to change
Real Culture
patterns of behavior that actually exist
Category
people who fit into the same "box", they don't normally interact with each other (ex: everyone who is 18 years old)
Aggregates
people who happen to find themselves together in a particular physical location (idk how this is different from crowd tbh)
Praxis
practical action (conflict theory)
Deviance Avowal
process by which an individual self-identifies as deviant and initiates her own labeling process (ex: in AA, they have to admit that they need help)
Applied research
putting into action what is learned (to create social change)
Unobtrusive measures
research methods that rely on existing sources and where the researcher does not intrude upon or disturb the social setting or its subjects
Comparative historical research
research that uses existing sources to study relationships among elements of society in various regions and time periods
Agents of Socialization
social groups, institutions, and individuals that provide structured situations in which socialization takes place (ex: family, schools, media)
Feelings rules
socially constructed norms regarding appropriate feelings and displays of emotion
Replicability
the ability to repeat or replicate the research
Sociological Imagination
the ability to see the link between society and self (individual circumstances vs larger social forces)
Spurious Correlation
the appearance of causation produced by an intervening variable
Social Ties
the connections between individuals
Culture
the entire way of life of a group of people
Generalized other
the expectations and perspectives of a network of others
Particular or significant other
the expectations and perspectives of a particular role that a child learns and internalizes
Deception
the extent to which participants are unaware of a project of goal
Social Control
the formal and informal mechanisms used to elicit conformity to values and norms and thus promote social cohesion
Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis
the idea that language structures thought and that ways of looking at the world are embedded in language (toddlers don't know/remember anything because they don't know language)
Dual Nature of the Self
the idea that we experience the self as both subject and object, the "I" (subjective) and the "me" (objective)
Nonmaterial Culture
the ideas associated with a cultural group, including ways of thinking and ways of behaving (ex: what side of the road to drive on)
Cultural imperialism
the imposition of one culture's beliefs and practices on another culture through mass media and consumer products rather than by military force
Manifest Functions
the obvious, intended functions of a social structure of the social system
Folkways
the ordinary conventions of everyday life about what is acceptable or proper and are not always strictly enforced (ex: not wearing flip-flops with a suit)
Group Dynamics
the pattern of interaction between groups and individuals (dyads, triads, etc)
Thick Description
the presentation of detailed data on interactions and meaning within a cultural context, from the perspective of its members
Social construction
the process by which a concept or practice is created and maintained by participants who collectively agree that it exists
Emotional labor
the process of evoking, suppressing, or otherwise managing feelings to create a publicly observable display of emotion (ex: peppy flight attendant)
Socialization
the process of learning and internalizing the values, beliefs, and norms of our social group, by which we become functioning members of society
Class Consciousness
the recognition of social inequality on the part of the oppressed, leading to revolutionary action
Resocialization
the replacement of previously learned norms and values with different ones
Norms
the rules and guidelines regarding what kinds of behavior are acceptable; they develop out of a culture's value system
Basic Research
the search for knowledge for its own sake with no agenda
Role
the set of behaviors expected from a particular status position
Values
the set of shared beliefs that a group of people considers to be worthwhile or desirable in life
Front
the setting that helps establish a particular meaning (ex: a classroom for teaching)
Dyad
the smallest possible social group, consists of only two members (ex: romantic couple)
Region
the specific social setting (includes location, scenery, decor, and props)
Social Control Theory
the stronger one's social bonds, the less likely one is to commit crime
Ethnomethodology
the study of "folk methods" and background knowledge that sustains a shared sense of reality in everyday interactions (Garfinkel)
Primary deviance
the thing that gets a person labeled as deviant in the first place
Reactivity
the ways that people and events respond to being studied
Social network
the web of direct and indirect ties connecting an individual to other people who may also affect the individual
In-Group Orientation
they reject the standards that mark them as deviant and may even actively propose new standards in which their special identities are well within the normal range
Signs
things designed to represent something else (ex: traffic signals, logos)
Ethnocentrism
thinking of our own culture as being the normal one
Expressions of Behavior
tools we use to project our definitions of the situation to others
Laws
type of norms that are formal and officially codified
Expressions Given Off
typically nonverbal but observable in various ways and may be intended or unintended
Expressions given
typically verbal and intended
Differential association theory
we learn to be deviant through our associations with deviant peers
Tertiary deviance
when a person labeled deviant rejects the notion of deviance entirely and attempts to redefine their "deviant" attributes or behavior as normal
Cultural diffusion
when different groups share their material and nonmaterial culture with each other (ex: McDonalds going to Japan)
Copresence
when individuals are in on another's face-to-face physical company
Frontstage
where we play a particular role and perform for an "audience" of others (ex: prof teaching in class)
Anomie
"normlessness"; term used to describe the alienation and loss of purpose that result from weaker social bonds an increased pace of change
Primary Groups
Families and close friends, people who involve more face-to-face interaction and deeper feelings of belonging
Reflexivity
How the identity and activities of the researcher influence what is going on in the field setting
Sociology
Scientific study of human society and behavior
Symbolic Interactionism
a paradigm that sees interaction and meaning as central to society and assumes that meanings are not inherent but are created through interaction (Founder: George Herbert Mead)
Conflict Theory
a 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 (Founder: Karl Marx)
Postmodernism
a paradigm that suggests that social reality is diverse, pluralistic, and constantly in flux
Status
a position in a social hierarchy that comes with a set of expectations
Saturated self
a postmodern idea that the self is now developed by multiple influences chosen from a wide range of media sources
Focus Group
a process for interviewing a number of participants together the also allows for interaction among group members
Dramaturgy
an approach pioneered by Goffman in which social life is analyzed in terms of its similarities to theatrical performance
Midrange Theory
an approach that integrates empiricism and grand theory
prepatory stage
children imitate others (mead)
Game Stage
children play organized games and take on the perspective of the generalized other (mead)
Play Stage
children pretend to play the role of the particular or the significant other (mead)
Culture Wars
clashes within mainstream society over the values and norms that should be upheld
Thomas Theorem
classic formulation of the way individuals determine reality, whereby "if people define situations as real, they are real in their consequences"
Id
composed of biological drives, is the source of instinctive psychic energy. Its main goal is to achieve pleasure and avoid pain
Passing
concealing stigmatizing information (ex: "passing" as white in the 60s)
Psychosexual stages of development
four distinct stages of the development of the self between birth and adulthood, according to Freud; personality quirks are a result of being fixated, or stuck, at any stage
Target population
group that is the focus of a study; the researcher would like to generalize
Groupthink
highly cohesive groups may demand absolute conformity and punish those who threaten to undermine the consensus
Ego
it operates on the basis of reason and helps to mediate the demands of the id and superego
Secondary Groups
larger, less intimate groups that include co-workers, college students, and political parties (usually organized around a specific activity)
Impression Management
like actors, we play our parts and use all our communicative resources to present a particular impression to others
Role Exit
occurs when a person leaves behind a role they once occupied
Cultural leveling
occurs when cultures that were once distinct become increasingly similar to one another (ex: when Walmarts take over diverse mom and pop shops)
Role Strain
occurs when there are contradictory expectations within one single role a person plays
Negative questions
questions that ask respondents what they don't think instead of what they do
Double-barreled questions
questions that involve too many issues at one time, answers are confusing
Leading questions
questions that predispose a respondent to answer in a certain way
Probability sampling
random number generators used to select participants
Cultural Relativism
seeing each culture as simply different, not better or worse but on its own terms
Gestures
signs made with the body (ex: clapping, nodding, smiling)
Structures
stable, ordered system made up of interrelated parts (ex: family, economy, religion)
Latent Functions
the less obvious, perhaps unintended functions of a social structure
Ideal Culture
the norms and values that members of a society believe should be observed in principle
Looking-Glass Self
the notion that the self develops through our perception of others' evaluations and appraisals of us (Cooley)