Soc 101 Exam 1

  1. What is Sociology?
    The study of human society and social interaction
  2. Karl Marx
    • viewed history as a clash between conflicting ideas and forces
    • Class conflict- Marxian framework; the struggle between the capitalist class and the working class
  3. Max Weber
    • believed sociological research should exclude personal values and economic interests
    • Provided insight on rationalization, bureaucracy, and religion
    • Knew a lot about women discrimination
  4. theory
    A set of logically interrelated statements that attempts to describe, explain, and predict social events
  5. Functionalist perspective
    • based on the assumption that society is stable and orderly system
    • Society is composed of interrelated parts each of which serves a function or contributes to the overall stability of society
    • Theorized by Herbert Spencer and Emile Durkheim
    • Characterized by societal consensus- the majority of members share a common set of values beliefs and behavioral expectations
  6. Conflict perspective
    • sees groups in society as engaged in a continuous power struggle for the control of the scarce resources
    • Originate from Karl Max class conflict through upper and middle class
    • Georg Simmel, C. Wright Mills- conflict theorists
  7. Symbolic Interaction
    • a micro level analysis focused on small groups rather than whole societies or a larger scale social structure
    • Introduced by George Herbert Mead
    • Explored how individual personalities are developed from social experience and concluded that we would not have an identity, a “self”, without communication with other people
  8. Deductive Approach to research
    • uses reasoning from one or more general statements
    • Start with a theory and research to test theory
  9. Inductive Approach to research
    • reasoning efforts to make a theory
    • Collect info and then generates a theory
  10. Quantitative research
    goal is scientific objectivity, and the focus is on data that can be measured numerically
  11. Qualitative research
    description (words) rather than statistics (numbers)
  12. Independent variable
    • causes dependent variable
    • Ex: depression
  13. Dependent
    • can’t stand alone
    • Ex: suicide
  14. Quantitative Research Model-
    • i. Select and define research topic
    • ii. Review previous research
    • iii. Formulate the hypothesis
    • iv. Develop research design
    • v. Collect and analyze data
  15. Random sampling
    every member of pop has same chance of being selected
  16. Probability sampling
    participants are deliberately chosen because they have specific characteristics- age, sex, race, education
  17. Qualitative Research Model
    • i. Research begins with a general approach rather than a highly detailed plan
    • ii. Researcher has to decide when the literature review and theory application should take place
    • iii. Study presents a detailed view of the topic
    • iv. Access to people or other resources that can provide the necessary data is crucial
    • v. Appropriate research methods are important for acquiring useful qualitative data
  18. Survey
    • a poll in which the researcher gathers facts or attempts to determine the relationship among facts
    • Most widely used research method because they make it possible to study things that are not directly observable- attitudes, beliefs
  19. Types of surveys
    • Questionnaire
    • Interview
  20. Questionnaire
    a printed research instrument containing a series of items to which subjects respond
  21. Interview
    an interviewer asks the respondents questions and records the answers
  22. Advantages of an interview
    more effective in dealing with complicated issues and provide an opportunity for face to face communication between the interviewer and the respondent
  23. Disadvantages of an interview
    cost and time involved
  24. Strength of survey
    useful in describing the characteristics of a large population without having to interview each person in a population
  25. Multivariate analysis
    • research involving more than two independent variables
    • Ex: the influence of religion on suicidal behavior among African Americans
  26. Weakness of survey
    tends to force respondents into categories in which they may not belong
  27. Secondary analysis
    • researchers use existing material and analyze data that were originally collected by others
    • Public records, other surveys
    • Considered unobtrusive research- bc had not impact on the people being studied
  28. Culture
    • the knowledge, language, values, customs, and material objects that are passed from person to person and from one generation to the next in a human group or society
    • Essential for survival and communication with other people
    • Learned through interactions, observations, and imitations
    • Fundamental for the survival of societies
  29. Material culture
    physical or tangible creations that members of a society make, use, and share
  30. Technology
    knowledge, techniques, and tools that make it possible for people to transform resources into usable forms, and the knowledge and skill required to make them
  31. Nonmaterial culture
    • Abstract or intangible human creations of society that influence people’s behavior
    • Language, beliefs, values, rules or behavior, family patterns, political systems
  32. Language
    • symbols that express ideas and enable people to communicate
    • Verbal/ non verbal
    • Important means of cultural transmission
    • -----Learn about cultural heritage and develop a sense of personal identity in relationship to their group
    • Source of power and social control
    • Create visual images
    • Maintain group boundaries
    • Shape experiences
  33. Norms
    established rules of behavior or standards of conduct
  34. prescriptive norms
    • state what behavior is appropriate or acceptable
    • Ex: go to school
  35. proscriptive norms
    • behavior which is inappropriate and unacceptable
    • Ex: Talking in church
  36. Formal norms
    written down and involve a specific punishment
  37. Informal norms
    unwritten standards of behavior which are understood
  38. Sanctions
    rewards for appropriate behavior or penalties for inappropriate behavior
  39. folkways
    • everyday customs which can be broken without a huge punishment
    • Not enforce- lightly punishable
    • -----Eat food without utensils
  40. Mores
    • based on cultural behaviors
    • can be punishable by sanctions (jail)
  41. Taboos
    very strong mores
  42. Incest taboo
    prohibits sexual relationship between certain kin
  43. Laws
    formal, standard norms that have been enacted by legislature and are enforced by formal sanctions
  44. Civil laws
    • disputes among persons or groups
    • Compensation money
  45. Criminal laws
    • deals with public safety and well being
    • Fines and sentences
  46. Ethnocentrism
    the practice of judging all other cultures by one’s own culture
  47. Cultural relativism
    the belief that the behaviors and customs of any culture must be viewed and analyzed by the culture’s own standards
  48. High culture
    • activities patronized by the elite
    • opera
  49. Popular culture
    • activities, products, and services that are assumed to appeal primarily to members of the middle and working class
    • Ex: Concerts
  50. Fads
    temporary , widely copied activity followed enthusiastically by a large number of people
  51. Fashion
    a style of behavior, thinking or appearance that is longer lasting and more widespread than a fad
  52. Cultural imperialism
    extensive infusion of one nation’s culture into other nations
  53. August Comte
    founder if sociology
  54. Harriet Martineau
    • Translated and condensed Comte’s work
    • Studied the social customs of Britain and US
    • Advocated for racial and gender equality
  55. Herbert Spencer
    • English philosopher
    • Major contribution- evolutionary perspective on social order and social change
    • Social Darwinism
  56. Social Darwinism
    belief that the human beings best adapted to their environment survive and prosper, where those poorly adapted die out
  57. Emile Durkheim
    • Most influential of early thinkers
    • Expert on suicide
    • Stressed people are the product of their social environment
  58. Important concepts from Emile Durkheim
    • Social factors
    • Anomie
  59. Social factors
    patterned way of acting, thinking, and feeling that exist outside the individual but that exert social control over each person
  60. Anomie
    a condition which social control becomes ineffective as a result of the loss of shared values and of a sense of purpose in society
  61. Industrialization and urbanization
    important historical factors that brought about significant changes in social life
  62. The three theoretical perspectives are
    functionalist, conflict and symbolic interaction
  63. What Sociologists study
    societies and interactions to develop theories of how human behavior is shaped by group life and how group life is affected by individuals
  64. Why study sociology?
    • Better understanding of our self and world
    • Learn about others
    • Behavior is shaped by groups
  65. society
    • Large social group
    • Share the same geographical region
    • Is subject to the same political authority and dominant culture expectations, such as the US, Mexico, or Nigeria
  66. Sociological imagination
    • C Wright Mills
    • See relationship between individual experiences and larger society
    • Distinguishes between personal troubles and public issues
    • Think from an alternative point of view
  67. Sociology and Scientific Evidence
    • Involves debunking- unmasking fake ideas or opinions
    • There are 2 approaches to analyzing issues involving values
  68. There are 2 approaches to analyzing issues involving values:
    • Normative
    • Empirical
  69. Normative
    uses religion, customs, habits, traditions, and law to answer important questions
  70. Empirical
    attempts to answer questions through systematic collection and analysis of data
  71. Standards
    • Beliefs should be supported by evidence or info
    • These beliefs should be open to public debate and critiques from other scholars (Consider alternative theories)
  72. ASA (American Sociological Association) Code of ethics
    • i. Disclose research findings in full and include all possible interpretations of the data
    • ii. Safeguard the participants right to privacy and dignity while protecting them from harm
    • iii. Protect confidential info provided by participants
    • iv. Acknowledge research collaboration and disclose all financial support (works cited)
  73. Suicide signals
    • Talking about death
    • Making plans
    • Showing signs of depression
  74. Experiment
    a situation where the researcher studies the impact of certain variables on subjects’ attitudes or behaviors
  75. Weakness of experiment
    tendency to produce Hawthorn effect- changes subjects behavior
  76. Values
    • shared ideas that are socially desirable
    • provide criteria by which we evaluate people, objects, and events
  77. Core American Values
    • Individualism
    • Achievement & success
    • Activity & work
    • Science & technology
    • Progress & material comfort
    • Efficiency & Practicality
    • Equality
    • Morality & Humanitarism
    • Freedom & Liberty
    • Racism & Group Superiority
  78. Individualism
    people are responsible for own success
  79. Achievement & success
    personal achievement results from competition
  80. Activity & work
    industrious people are heroified and lazy people are ridiculed
  81. Science & technology
    people in US have great fate in science and technology
  82. Progress & material comfort
    material comfort s of life are basic necessities and things that make life easier
  83. Efficiency & Practicality
    people want things to be bigger, better and faster
  84. Equality
    have a presumed equal chance
  85. Morality & Humanitarism
    aiding others especially after natural disaster
  86. Freedom & Liberty
    individual freedom highly valued in US
  87. Racism & Group Superiority
    people like their ethic group better than others and leads to some thinking they are superior
  88. Cultural lag
    a gap between the technical development of society and its moral and legal institutions (material culture changes quicker than non material culture)
  89. Subculture
    • category of people who share distinguishing attributes, beliefs, values, and/or norms that set them apart in some significant manner from the dominant culture
    • Amish
  90. Counter culture
    • group that strongly rejects dominant societal values and norms and seeks alternative lifestyles
    • Ex: flower children- 1960s
Author
pugsrule915
ID
173755
Card Set
Soc 101 Exam 1
Description
Soc 101 Exam 1
Updated