Sociology Exam 1

The scientific study of human society and social intereactions, who's goal is to understand social siutations and look for repeating patterns in society.

• Social statics- study of how social insitutions ar einterrelated, focusing on order, stability, and harmony.
• Social dynamics- study of how socities develop and change over time.

• Believed society was similar to a living organism.
• Various segments of society are interdependent.
• A proponent of Social Darwinism.

• Applied Charles Darwin's notion of "survival of the fittest" to society.
• Lack of success was viewed as an individual failing unrelated to barriers created by society.
• To help the poor and needy was to intervene in an natural evoutionary process.

Believed the history of human societies could be seen as the history of class conflict between bourgeoisie and proletariat.

• Believed individuals were the products of their social environment.
• Society shapes people in every possible way.
• Shows how a personal act, suicide, is patterned by social factors.

• Egoistic- derives from lonliness and a commitment to personal beliefs over group values.
• Altruistic- The individual is willing to die for the sake of the community.
• Anomic- Results from feelig disconnected from society's values.

• Believed capitalism stemmed from religion.
• The "Protestant Ethic"- Financial success was seen as God's will.

Manifest functions and latent functions.

The intended consequences of social processes.

The unintended consequences of social processes.

• Structural-functional
• Social-conflict
• Interactionist

The parts of society are interdependent and functionally related.

Social life involves conflict because of differing goals.

Most of what people do has meaning beyond the concrete act.

Analyzed the customsa nd lifestyles of the 19th century US and wrote a book after traveling through the US observing mental hospitals, prisons, factories and family gatherings.

• 1. To describe in detail aparticular thing or event.
• 2. To propose and test theories that help us understand these things or events.

• 1. Define the Problem
• 2. Review previous research.
• 3. Develop hypotheses.
• 4. Determine the research design.
• 5. Define the sample and collect data.
• 6. Analyze the data and draw conclusions.
• 7. Prepare the research report.

• What is the purpose of the study?
• What information is needed?
• How will the information be used?

• What studies have been done on this topic?
• Do we need additional information?
• From what perspective should we approach this issue?

• What are the independent and dependent variables?
• What is their relationship?
• What types of questions do we need to answer?

• Can we use existing data?
• What will we measure or observe?
• What research methods should we use?

• Are we interested in a specific population?
• How large should the sample be?
• How long will it take to gather information?

• What statistical techniques will we use?
• Have our hypotheses been proved or disproved?
• Is our information valid and reliable?
• What are the implications of our study?

• Who will read this report?
• Wha tis their level of familiarity with the subject?
• How should we structure the report?

• 1. Provide for the collection of all necessary and sufficient date to test the stated hypotheses.
• 2. Guard against the collection of unnecessary information, which can lead to a waste of time and money.

• Surveys
• Participant Observation
• Experiments
• Secondary analysis

• Open ended.
• Close ended.

• Covert
• Overt

• Used to study patterns of interaction in small groups under a variety of settings.
• The variables being studied are controlled and the researcher obtains the results through precise observation and measurement.

The process of making use of data that has been collected by others.

• Random
• Snowball
• Convenient