sociology mid term
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?'
Conduct a literature review
definition of culture
Culture includes the habits and lifestyle choices of a group of people. Culture includes customs and rituals, as well as tools and artifacts. Culture shapes and defines who we are. Culture encompasses every aspect of social life.
The tendency to use your own group's way of doing things as the yardstick for judging others is called
Ethnocentrism
Howard Becker said that sociology can best be understood as the study of people "doing things together." This definition reminds us that
Neither society nor the individual exists in isolation; each is dependent on the other.
The article "Body Ritual among the Nacirema" is useful to sociologists because it
because it challenges people's inability to observe their own cultures.
Paridigm
broad theoretical models of the social or natural world
All left-handed people in the United States would be classified as a
cateogory
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?
choose a research design or method
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
cultural relativism
Scientific Method
define problem, review literature, formulate hypo, collect and analyze data, conclusion
The famous anthropologist Margaret Mead said that the United States of America is the best place to raise a female child. Her assertion is an example of
ethnocentrism.
Children raised without human interaction or with minimal human contact are referred to as ________ children.
feral
Several cases of children who grew up in extreme social isolation, such as the case of Genie in 1970, suggest that
most of our mental capacities, and perhaps even the ability to think, are learned through social interaction.
cultural shock
personal disorientation when experiencing an unfamiliar way of life
Which type of group is characterized by long-term, intimate, and face-to-face relationships?
primary groups
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
qualitative research
research that works with non-numerical data such as texts, field notes, interview transcripts, photographs, and tape recordings; this type of research more often tries to understand how people make sense of their world
You're doing a research project on the effects of contemporary media. If your hypothesis is that "watching violence on television causes an increase in violent behavior," then what are your variables?
violence on television and violent behavior
Even though we are not all trained academically as sociologists, we can all be considered "everyday actors" because
we have enough experience in life to get by
Examples of something that would be part of a person's or a society's material culture?
weapons of war
What is an aggregate
A collection of people who share a physical location but do not have lasting social relations
How do sociologists distinguish a group from a crowd?
A crowd doesn't necessarily feel a shared identity.
Although many people feel that expectations for personal space (usually about 18 inches for Americans) are innate, members of many cultures are used to noticeably less personal space than we are, w hich helps to demonstrate that our expectations for personal space are:
A part of our culture, rather than innate
Lili is conducting a sociological research study on the underground music scene. She has just finished collecting data for the study. What is the next step Lili should take in the scientific method?
Analyze data
Sociology can be approached from both a microsociological and a macrosociological perspective. Which is more useful?
Both are useful in different ways, because they each provide different types of information about the same subject of study
Who coined the phrase "survival of the fittest?
Herbert Spencer
What will a good researcher always do after formulating a general research question?
Review the literature in order to become familiar with earlier research that relates to his topic.
One of the baristas at José's local coffee shop always greets him by name. She often asks how school is going and seems to care about his answer. How would we characterize José relationship with the barista?'
She is a "consequential stranger" who bridges the gap between primary and secondary groups.
A famous social scientist tells you that the most important task in her research was entering the social world of the people she was studying. What can you say about this researcher?
She's a qualitative researcher.
The indie rock band the Halo Benders once sang the following: Part environment And part heredity What we're born with And what's been fed to me
The nature vs. nurture debate
What is true about the process of socialization?
The process is reciprocal: society shapes the individual and the individual shapes society.
What happens to individuals who are not socialized
They are devoid of many of the qualities we associate with being human.
Why do ethnocentric people tend to view other cultures as abnormal?
They use their own culture as a standard of judgment.
What are the goals of sociology
To teach norms, values, and beliefs
Sociologists would not consider fans of the rock musician Bruce Springsteen to be a group because they
because groups can identify and interact to one another
How is culture transmitted and internalized?
We learn values and beliefs slowly and incrementally.
How is the study of culture different for sociologists than for anthropologists?
anthropologists go out into other regions in the world and look at their cultures while sociologists study both the everyday behavior within their own cultures as well as the deviant few
What is true abut secondary groups?
are large groups whose relationships are impersonal and goal oriented. People interact on a less personal level than in a primary group, and their relationships are generally temporary rather than long lasting.
According to the scientific method, what are the steps in conducting research and in what order should they be completed?
form a hypothesis, define variables, predict outcomes, collect data, analyze data
What uses an inductive method that involves collecting data and then generating theory by looking for relationships among categories
grounded theory
What does Marx see as the primary tool for the oppression of the lower social classes in modern society?
industrial capitalism
Survey research tends to produce quantitative data. One key advantage of this kind of data is that it
it is easy to transmit to the public.
Examples of a groups sociological sense?
more than common sense
characteristics of primary groups?
s typically a small social group (small-scale society) whose members share close, personal, enduring relationships. These groups are marked by members' concern for one another, in shared activities and culture. Examples include family, childhood friends, and highly influential social groups.
Members of which of the following think of themselves as belonging together and interact with one another?
social group
sociologists observe society by...
studying various parts of society and the ways they interact and influence each other
Sociological imagination
the ability to see the link between society and self
The nature vs. nurture debate helps us understand
the complex interaction between hereditary traits and social learning.
The term "socialization" refers to:
the lifelong process by which people learn the norms, values, and beliefs of their culture.
definition of sociology
the scientific study of society and social behavior.