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Sociology
Study guide for all terms in sociology test
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Sociology | the study of human groups and societies, giving particular emphasis to analysis of the industrialized world |
| Personal troubles | difficulties that are located in individual biographies and their immediate milieu; seemingly private experiences |
| Public issues | difficulties or problems that are linked to the institutional and historical possibilities of social structure |
| Sociological imagination | the application of imaginative thought to the asking and answering of sociological questions |
| Structuration | the two-way process by which we shape our social world through our individual actions and by which we are reshaped by society |
| Global Perspective | Connections between the local and global |
| Globalization | the economic, political, and social interconnectedness of individuals throughout the world |
| Theory | narrowly focused idea that tries to explain specific social conditions or events. |
| theoretical approach | a structured framework that guides understanding, analysis, and research by linking concepts, assumptions, and methods to established theories. |
| August Comte | a French philosopher who gave sociology its name. He saw sociology as a way to improve human welfare |
| Émile Durkheim | studied social facts. Topics such as organic solidarity, social constraint, division of labor, and anomie. He saw society as a body that needed all its parts to function in harmony. |
| Social facts | aspects of social life that shape our actions as individuals |
| Organic solidarity | social cohesion that results from the various institutions of a society functioning as an integrated whole |
| Social constraint | the conditioning influence on our behavior by the groups and societies of which we are members |
| Division of labor | the specialization of tasks, by means of which different occupations are combined within a production system |
| Anomie | referring to a situation in which social norms lose their hold over individual behavior |
| Karl Marx | focused on capitalism and the inequalities perpetuated by its class system. He helped form views on materialist conception of history, capitalism |
| Materialist conception of history | material, or economic, factors have a prime role in determining social and historical change. |
| Capitalism | an economic system based on the private ownership of wealth, which is invested and reinvested to produce profit |
| Max Weber | Mainly focused on the importance of culture and ideas. Theorizing that bureaucracy allows large organizations to run efficiently but poses problems for democracy. |
| Rationalization | the action of attempting to explain or justify behaviour or an attitude with logical reasons, even if these are not appropriate |
| Division of labor | separation of work into specialized tasks, allowing individuals or groups to focus on specific activities to increase efficiency, productivity, and economic output. |
| Harriet Martineau | scholar and activist who brought sociology to England when she translated Comte’s work. |
| W. E. B. Du Bois | first African American to earn a doctorate from Harvard and was a founding member of the NAACP |
| Symbolic interactionism | a theoretical approach in sociology developed by George Herbert Mead (1863–1931) that emphasizes the role of symbols and language as core elements of human interaction |
| Symbol | one item used to stand for or represent another—as in the case of a flag, which symbolizes a nation |
| Functionalism | a theoretical perspective based on the notion that social events can best be explained in terms of the functions they perform, that is, the contributions they make to the continuity of a society |
| Manifest functions | the functions of a particular social activity that are known to and intended by the individuals involved in the activity |
| Latent functions | the functions of a particular social activity that are unintended or of which individuals involved in the activity are unaware. |
| Conflict theories | sociological perspectives that emphasize the role of political and economic power and oppression as contributing to the existing social order |
| Marxism | a body of thought deriving its main elements from Karl Marx’s ideas |
| Power | the ability of individuals or the members of a group to achieve aims or further the interests they hold |
| Ideology | shared ideas or beliefs that serve to justify the interests of dominant groups |
| Robert Merton | a founding father of modern sociology, and a major contributor to the subfield of criminology. |
| Feminism | advocacy of the rights of women to be equal with men in all spheres of life |
| Feminist theory | a sociological perspective that emphasizes the centrality of gender in analyzing the social world and particularly the experiences of women |
| Postmodernism | the belief that society is no longer governed by history or progress |
| Microsociology | the study of human behavior in contexts of small-scale face-to-face interaction |
| Macrosociology | the study of large-scale groups, organizations, or social systems |
| Science | the disciplined marshaling of empirical data, combined with theoretical approaches and theories that illuminate or explain those data |
| Empirical investigation | factual inquiry carried out in any area of sociological study |
| Factual questions | raise issues concerning matters of fact (rather than theoretical or moral issues) |
| Comparative questions | draw comparisons among different human societies |
| Developmental questions | focus on the origins and path of development of social institutions |
| Theoretical questions | seek to explain a particular range of observed events (allowing us to generalize about the nature of social life) |
| Hypothesis | an idea or a guess about a given state of affairs, put forward as a basis for empirical testing |
| Data | factual information used as basis for reasoning, discussion, or calculation |
| steps of research process | Defined problem, research evidence, make precise problem, work out solution, carry out the research, interrupt results, report findings |
| Defined problem | select topic of research |
| research evidence | familiarize yourself with research already done on the topic |
| make precise problem | What do you intend to test? What is the relationship among the variables |
| Work out a design | Choose one or more research methods. |
| carry out the research | Collect data, and record information |
| interpret the results | work out the implications of your findings |
| Report the findings | What is their significance and how do they relate to previous findings |
| Qualitative methods | approaches to sociological research that often rely on personal and/or collective interviews, accounts, or observations of a person or situation |
| Quantitative methods | approaches to sociological research that draw on objective and statistical data and often focus on documenting trends, comparing subgroups, or exploring correlations |
| Ethnography | the firsthand study of people using observation, in-depth interviewing, or both |
| Participant observation | a method of research widely used in sociology and anthropology in which the researcher takes part in the activities of the group or community being studied |
| Survey | a method of sociological research in which questionnaires are administered to the population being studied |
| Standardized surveys | Standardized or fixed-choice questions offer a fixed range of responses to choose from, and these responses are easy to compare and count |
| Open ended surveys | Open-ended questions provide more detailed information, but responses may be difficult to compare statistically. |
| Pilot study | a trial run in survey research |
| Sample | a small proportion of a larger population |
| Representative sample | a sample from a larger population that is statistically typical of that population |
| Sampling | studying a proportion of individuals or cases from a larger population as representative of that population as a whole |
| Random sampling | sampling method in which a sample is chosen so that every member of the population has the same probability of being included |
| Experiment | a research method in which variables can be analyzed in a controlled and systematic way, either in an artificial situation constructed by the researcher or in naturally occurring settings. (Stanford prison experiment) |
| Measures of central tendency | ways of calculating averages |
| Comparative research | research that compares one set of findings on one society with the same types of findings on other societies |
| Oral history | interviews with people about events they witnessed earlier in their lives |
| Triangulation | the use of multiple research methods as a way of producing more reliable empirical data than are available from any single method |
| ethical dilemma | situation where conflicting moral principles make it difficult to determine the right course of action |
| Ethical questions | Does the research pose risks to the subjects that are greater than the risks they face in their everyday lives? Do the scientific gains or “benefits” of the research balance out the risks to the subjects? |
| Informed consent | the process whereby the investigator informs potential participants about the risks and benefits involved in the study |
| Debriefing | following a study, the process whereby an investigator informs participants about the true purpose of the study and reveals any deception that happened during the study |
| Culture | the values, norms, and material goods characteristic of a given group |
| Cultural appropriation | the adoption of one cultural group’s elements by members of another cultural group |
| Toolkit | the various symbols, stories, rituals, and worldviews that individuals use to navigate and understand their social world. |
| Values | abstract ideals held by individuals or groups about what is desirable, proper, good, and bad |
| Norms | rules of conduct that specify appropriate behavior in a given range of social situations |
| Language | a system of symbols that represent objects and abstract thoughts; the primary vehicle of meaning and communication in a society |
| Linguistic relativity hypothesis | a hypothesis, based on the theories of Edward Sapir and Benjamin Lee Whorf, that perceptions are relative to language |
| Material culture | the physical objects that a society creates that influence the ways in which people live |
| Signifier | any vehicle of meaning and communication |
| Society | a system of interrelationships that connects individuals together |
| Early human culture | how culture is related to the physical evolution of the human species |
| Nature or nurture | Are we shaped by our biology, or are we products of learning through life’s experiences, that is, of nurture |
| Sociobiology | an approach that attempts to explain the behavior of both animals and human beings in terms of biological principles |
| Instincts | fixed patterns of behavior that have genetic origins and that appear in all normal animals within a given species |
| Biological determinism | the belief that differences we observe between groups of people, such as men and women, are explained wholly by biological causes |
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