Question | Answer |
What is sociology? | the systematic study of human society |
Who coined the phrase "social imagination" | C Wright Mills |
What is definition of social problem? | a condition that undermines the well being of some or all members of a society and is usually controversial |
Do social problems change? | yes the specific conditions do change because at any particular time the objective facts and subjective perception of any social issue may or may not be the same |
Claims making | the process by which members of of a social movement try to convince the public and public officials that a condition should be defined as social problem |
What are the four stages social movement goes through? | *emergence * coalescence * formalization * decline |
How do sociologists view social problems | The result of the operation of society rather than simply the actions of bad people |
Why is the global perspective important | many social problems cross national boundaries also many problems are more serious elsewhere than in United States |
What are Theoretical approaches? | Sociologists use this to guide to guide research and theory building |
What are the major theoretical approaches | Structural~functional
Social~conflict
Symbolic~interaction
and all provide insights into various social problems |
What is structural~functional approach? | it sees society as a complex system of many different parts. |
What is the social~conflict approach? | highlights social inequality |
What is symbolic~interaction approach? | helps us understand how people experience social problems in their routine everyday interactions |
What is sociological imagination? | a point of view that highlights how society affects the experiences we have and the choices we make |
What is sociology? | the systematic study of human societies |
What is culture? | a way of life including widespread values (about what is good or bad) beliefs( about what is true) and behavior (what people do everyday) |
What is social problems? | a condition that undermines the well being of some or all members of a society and is usually a matter of public controversy. |
What is social~constructionist approach? | the assertion that social problems arise as people define conditions as undesirable and in need of change |
What is claims making? | the process of convincing the public and important public officials that a particular issue or situation should be defined as a social problem |
What is social movement? | an organized effort at claims making that tries to shape the way people think about an issue in order to encourage or discourage change |
What is a theory? | a statement of how and why specific facts are related? |
What is theoretical approach? | a basic image of society that guides theory and research |
What is structural functional approach | a theoretical framework that sees society as a system of many interrelated parts |
What is social institution? | a major sphere of social life or a societal subsystem organized to meet a basic human need |
What is social~ conflict approach? | a theoretical framework that sees society as divided by inequality and conflict. |
What is feminism? | a political movement that seeks the social equality of women and men |
What is symbolic~interaction approach | a theoretical framework that sees society as the product of individuals interacting with one another |
What is survey? | a research method by which subjects responds to items on a questionnaire or in a interview |
field research(participant observation) | a research method for observing people while joining them in their everyday activities |
What is a experiment? | a research method for investigative cause-and-effect relationships under tightly controlled conditions |
What is social policy? | formal strategies that affect how society operates. |
What is political spectrum? | a continuum representing a range of political attitudes from "left" to "right" |
What is social issues? | Political debates involving moral judgments about how people should live. |
What are economic issues? | Political debates about how society should distribute material resources |
What methods do sociologists use to investigate social problems? | Survey research
Field research
Experimental research
Secondary analysis of existing data |
What are radical left? | Marxists claim that social problems result from the operation of the capitalist economic system. |
What are liberals? | they claim that social problems arise from the operation of society including patterns of social inequality that prevents categories of people from having equal oppurtunity |
What are conservatives? | They claim that social problems arise from the short comings of particular individuals or the bad choices people make about how to live. |
What are radical right? | claims that the most serious problem our society faces is the growth of big government which threatens individual freedoms |
Status quo~ | the situation as it is |