Sociology Exam 1

What are the basic steps for scientific research?

1- developing a research question 2- creating a research design 3- gathering data 4- analyzing the data 5- reaching conclusions and reporting results

what are the basic concepts of sociology?

1-focus on human behavior 2- social groups as unit of analysis 3-focus of current social issues or historical background of ongoing issues

fuctionalism

1-focuses on how each of society's parts, institutions and systems contribute to the stability of the whole. 2- concerned with the stability and shared public values of the culture or the society.3- conditions such as deviance are disruptive to the stability of the society and they lead to social change as the society must find ways to deal with it and re-establish its social stability and order.

What are the three major sociological frameworks in sociology? How are they different? What are the major criticism of each framework? Which one is macro sociology? Which one is micro sociology?

1-functionalism (macro) 2- conflict (macro) 3-symbolic interaction (micro) diverse theoretical frameworks (macro and micro)

conflict theory

1-society is comprised of groups that compete for social and economic resources. 2-emphasizes the role of economic force and power 3- social order is maintained not by consensus but by domination 4- emphasizes strife and revolution as an agent of social change

How do you use your "sociological imagination" to analyze the unique characteristics of norms, values and beliefs among today's young generation? For instance, discuss why the teenage pregnancy rate is going down these days by using your sociological imagination

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Name the social scientist who first developed Functionalism.

Emile Durkheim

. How is "culture" functional? Explain based on Functionalism.

In functionalism culture integrates people into groups, provides coherence and stability in society and creates norms and values that integrate people in society.

what is sociology?

It is the study of human behavior in society. or a scientific way of thinking about society and its influence on human groups.

. Name the social scientist who first developed Conflict Theory.

Karl Marx

what is sociological imagination? who coined this term?

The ability to see the societal patterns that influence the individual as well as groups of individuals. The person who coined the term was C.W. Mills

What is the main theme of the "magic picture" exercise - i.e. an old woman vs. a young lady - introduced in class?

The main point was to show debunking and to open our minds to the idea that their are many different ways to look at the subject rather then old ways.

Who is Max Weber

Weber expanded on Marx's thinking he said that society had three basic dimensions, political, economic and cultural which must all be examined. he did not advocate political activism. He saw society from a multidimensional perspective that went beyond Marx's strictly economic focus he believed that sociologists must not project their political ideas on their students value free.

Who is W.E. B. Dubois?

a black 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, he also believed in the scientific approach to sociological questions.

participant observation

ad- able to obtain vast subjective information about the group members . dis- may be too much information to analyze systematically. time consuming. interpretation may not be objective

survey

ad- possible to ask specific questions about a large number of topics possible to perform sophisticated analyses to find patterns and relationships among variables. dis- difficult to accurately capture the opinions of the respondent . may fail to capture nuances in peoples behaviors and attitudes.

content analysis research cultural artifacts

adv- no effect on person being studied dis- limited by studying only cultural products, artifacts not developed for research purposes,

evaluation research

assesses the effect of policies and programs on people in society.

What are the examples of "social groups"?

collection of people who interact with each other and share similar characteristics and a sense of unity.

. What are the characteristics of "culture" from sociological perspectives according to the textbook and our class exercise?

culture is 1- shared 2- learned 3- taken for granted 4- symbolic 5- varies across time and space

What is "dominant culture? What is "subculture"? What is "counterculture?" Give some examples of each concept.

dominant culture- is the culture of the most powerful group in a society (not determined by size of group but power it has on determining the group's culture's framework. ) subculture - cultures whose values and norms differ to some degree from those of the dominant culture. counterculture- subcultures created as a reaction against the values of dominant culture.

what is a social institution?

established and organized systems of social behavior with particular and recognized purpose.they confront individuals at birth and transcend individual experience, but still influence individual behavior. examples are family, religion, marriage, government, and the economy.

controlled experiments

experimental group - exposed to factor control- not exposed adv- can establish cause dis- artificial environment , difficult to measure amount of variables, required ethics

Historical analysis

focus on how societies develop overtime. adv- easy to capture long term social changes, possible to study comparative perspectives. dis- may reflect biases of the original researcher and reflect cultural norms that were in effect when the data were collected.

Discuss how symbolic interaction theorists view "culture.

how social interaction produces and changes culture and cultural behavior. and how people create culture ex. tattoos, stickers fashion the meaning behind them.

Discuss how Conflict theorists view "culture."

in conflict theory culture serves the interests in powerful groups, can be a source of political resistance, is increasing controlled by economic monopolies

culture

is the complex system of meaning and behavior that defines the way of life for a given group or society.

what is debunking?

looking behind the facades of everyday life. Peter Berger called it the unmasking tendency of sociology. (1963)

. What is micro-perspective ( or microsociology)? What is macro-perspective (or macro sociology)? Which sociological perspective(s) use micro-perspective? Which sociological perspective(s) use macro-perspective?

macro sociology are theories that strive to understand society as a whole Durkheim, Marx and Weber were micro sociology. Micro sociology is theoretical frameworks that center on face to face interaction. ex - Chicago school studies individuals and group processes in society.

. What are the six major methods used in social science studies? How are they different? List the advantages and disadvantages of each method.

survey research , participant research, controlled experiment, content analysis, historical research, evaluation research

ethnocentrism

the habit of only seeing things from the point of view of ones own group.

cultural relativism

the idea that something can be understood and judged only in relationship to the cultural context in which it appears.

symbolic interaction

the theoretical framework focuses on immediate social interaction to the place where society exists. it studies the ways groups of people cultures and societies assign different meaning to behavior , events and things. emphasize face to face interaction and pay attention to words, gestures and symbols.

What is the difference between "troubles" and "issues" according to the textbook and lecture?

troubles are privately felt problems that spring from events or feelings in a person's life. issues affect large numbers of people and have their origins in the institutional arrangements and history of a society.