- Sociology
- Human activity
- scientific study of human activity in society
- things people do with, to and or one another, and what they think and do as a result of others' influence
Social forces
- anything human-created that influence, pressure, or push people to interact, behave or think in specific ways
- ex: cell phones
- troubles
- issues
- individual problems, or difficulties, that are attributed to personal shortcomings related to motivation, attitude, ability, character or bad judgment
- a societal matter that affects many people and that can only be explained by larger social forces th
- Anomic
- Fatalistic
- a state in which the ties attaching the individual to the group are disrupted due to dramatic changes in circumstances
- a state in which the ties attaching the individual to the group are so oppressive that there is no hope of release
Auguste Comte:
- Positivism
- Social statics
- Social dynamics
- knowledge about the world can be derived only from using the scientific method
- forces that hold societies together and give them endurance over time
- forces that cause societies to change
Durkheim:
- solidarity
- mechanical solidarity
- organic solidarity
- system of social ties that acts as a cement bonding people to one another and to the wider society
- system of social ties based on uniform thinking and behavior (Eskimo)
- system of social ties such that people relate to others in terms of their specia
Durkheim:
- Anomie
- Social integration
- Social ties
- lack of guidance and clear direction, "rootless" or normlessness (privacy of celebrities; taking photos off their hard drive via hacking)
- integrating oneself socially to make social ties (joining clubs on campus to meet and make connections with peopl
Jane Addams:
- Sympathetic knowledge
- public sociology
- first hand knowledge gained by living and working among those being studied, because knowing others increases the "potential for caring and empathetic moral actions"
- promoted public sociology oriented toward solving problems and creating reform
Conflict Perspective
- see conflict over scarce and valued resources as an inevitable fact of life
- level of analysis: Meso/Macro
- emphasizes power differentials, dominance and inequality
- assumptions: societies are competitive arenas where groups are in a constant struggl
Symbolic Interactionism
- level of analysis: micro
- seeks to understand society by examining day-to-day interactions of people
- particular focus on language, gestures and symbols and assigning meaning to situations
- assumptions: reality is a social construction, what one beli
Structural Functionalism
-level of analysis: meso/macro
- emphasizes how society is structured to maintain stability, emphasizes consensus and cooperation
- assumptions: society is integrated system composed of specialized parts that serve fxns both manifest (intended) and latent
World Systems Theory
- level of analysis: macro
- seeks to understand large scale social change in global systems
- takes ecological, geographical and historical causes and effects into consideration
- assumptions: "nation" isn't the best unit to understand social change, cha
- Manifest functions
- Latent functions
- a part's anticipated disruptions to an existing social order (i.e texting and driving)
- unanticipated disruptions to existing social order (i.e. privacy issues)
Social facts
- describe collectively imposed ways of thinking or behaving as individuals navigate social structures and structural change
- ex: women shaving legs, pressure to get an education, coercive in nature
Social construction of reality
- describes the process by which facts, knowledge, and "truth" are collectively and individually shaped through interaction
- not only made up of objective realities but subjective interpretations of meaning and facts
- usually starts with an agreement of
Thomas Theorem
- states that situations we define as real become real in their consequences (reality is soft as shaped but hard in its effects)
- ex: playing -> someone gets hurt -> fight
Self-fulfilling prophecy
- a collective assumption or prediction in society often creates the event to occur and affirms a self fulfilling prophecy
-ex: test anxiety -> I have test anxiety so I didn't study
Empirical Research
- generalizable of larger populations (representative sample)
- systematic, controlled observation
- theoretical basis for method of study
- strong social ties improve academic performance
Research design
- describes the plan for gathering data on a chosen topic and will illuminate the methods of data collection (surveys, interviews, case studies)
- variable
- independent
- dependent
- indicator
- any characteristic, attitude, behavior or event that can take on two or more values or attributes (ethnic identification, annual salary, dorm student/off campus student)
- experimental variable presumed to cause or influence the dependent variable
- exp
- Qualitative
- Quantitative
- research based on non-numerical info that describes social life (text, written words, interviews, symbols, observations)
-ex: deep research, why
- research based on the collection of numerical data that utilizes precise statistical analysis
- poll resea
Culture
- includes the ways of thinking, acting and the material objects that unite a people
- material (clothes, hulk lunch box)
- nonmaterial (ideas and language)
- Dominant culture
- Subculture
- Counterculture
- the political and economic power to impose values and norms as cultural patterns (ex: mainstream media, powerful institutions, wealthy folks); often sets the parameters for how values and norms are discussed, debated, and changed
- refers to cultural pa
- Ethnocentrism
- practice of judging another culture by the standards of one's own culture (i.e. this is wrong because this is not how I'm used to doing it)
Characterization of globalization
- Global economy: flow of goods
- global communication: flow of information
- global migration: flow of people
- global culture: more advanced in some parts of the world than in others
- people look at the world through their own cultural lens
- Symbols
- Symbolic Meaning
- anything that carries a particular meaning recognized by people who share the same culture
- varies from society to society, within a single society, and over time
Culture shock
- mental and physical strain that people can experience as they adjust to the ways of new culture
- intensity depends on
- 1. extent to which the home and foreign cultures differ
- 2. level of preparation for living in a new culture
- 3. circumstances - v
- Ideal Culture
- Real Culture
- what society claims they do and believe in (ex: education, individualism, democracy, equality, justice)
- what society actually does (when ideal culture clashes)
Socialization
- lifelong social experiences by which individuals develop their human potential and learn culture
- contributes to self - unique traits that make us distinct and guide planning and behavior (reflexive behavior)
Roles of agents of socialization
- Family: socialization within the family varies markedly by social class and culture
- Schools: socialized to be evaluated by universal cultural standards
- hidden curriculum: passes on other cultural values (competition, USA is superior, and gender rule
Cooley's development of self
- recognition of oneself as distinct from others
- language acquisition
- development of looking glass self - interpret actions of others toward us as mirrors in which we see ourselves
Cooley's Looking Glass Self
1. Our perception of how we appear to another person
2. Our estimate of the judgment the other person makes about us
3. Some emotional feeling about this judgment (such as pride or shame)
Mead's development of self
- Role of the other
- "I"
- "Me
- understanding someone's intentions requires imagining the situation from that person's point of view (become self-aware)
- part that reacts spontaneously without assessing possible consequences (nature)
- socialized, self-reflective aspect of self that
Mead's Stages of Development
1. Mimic behavior without understanding intention (no self)
2. Play assumes role models of significant other (playing house) and allows child to imagine the world from someone else's perspective
3. Complicated games, includes multiple roles (baseball)
4.
- Gerontology
- Agism
- Resocialization
- study of aging and the elderly
- prejudice and/or discrimination against people or a person based on their age
- process of transforming ways of behaving or thinking based on new life experiences or circumstances (retiring, joining the military, leaving
- Norms
- Mores
- Folkways
- Sanctions
- rules and expectations by which a society guides the behaviors of its members
- norms that are widely observed and have a great moral significance
- norms for routine or casual interaction
-social response that punishes or otherwise discourages violatio
Goffman's Dramaturgical Analysis
1. Dramaturgical analysis consists of the definition of social interaction in terms of theatrical performance
2. Presentation of self is the effort of an individual to create specific impressions in the minds of others
3. Front stage/backstage: front= per
Total Institutions
place of work and residence where a great number of similarly situated people, cut off from the wider community for a considerable time, together lead an enclosed, formally administered way of life
In deciding what kinds of questions to ask as they begin research, sociologist
are guided by:
A. One or more theoretical approaches
B. Their own common sense
C. The data they collect
D. Sheer chance
One or more theoretical approaches
A young woman who believes she is overweight begins to starve herself in the hopes of becoming more attractive. A sociologist would explain the woman's
behavior in terms of:
A. A mental disorder of personality defect
B. Her lack of will power & self estee
Societies value of thinness and interpretation of what is "attractive
A sociological theory would best be described as:
A. A true depiction of how things work
B. A model of how things work
C. A wild guess
D. A logical system of knowledge based on political goals.
a model of how things work
A good description of the structural-functional approach might be:
A. Bringing about needed change
B. Understanding the components of society that make "it tick"
C. Learning how people find meaning in behavior
D. Understanding the relationship between soc
understanding the components of society that make "it tick
______________ refers to the environment or the interaction experiences that make up every individual's life.
a. Nature
c. Television
b. Nurture
d. Internalization
Nurture
Getting fit as a result of building trails for
the Forest Service would best be considered a(n):
A. Empirical result
B. Manifest function
C. Latent function
D. Micro level issue
Latent function
A family can be considered a social structure because:
A. A family is structured and consistent
B. A family is something that is made by society
C. A family usually entails certain patterns of relationships
D. A family unit can be analyzed with a tape mea
a family usually entails certain patterns of relationships
A Sociologist who wants to understand why some U.S. public schools have good
teachers and resources for instruction and others do not would be looking at
schools through which approach?
A. The symbolic interactionist approach
B. A postmodern approach
C. A
a social conflict approach
Which of the following is not true about culture:
A. Culture includes material objects
B. Culture is always changing
C. Culture is always confined to geographical and societal boundaries
D. Culture includes beliefs
culture is always confined to geographical and societal boundaries
Cases of extreme isolation teach us that people need:
a. caretakers free of speaking or hearing impairments.
b. certain amount of "space."
c. their physical needs met.
d. meaningful social contact with others.
meaningful social contact with others
A mother who blows the dust off her records and plays them for her son while explaining the importance of the music would be engaged in:
A. Culture shock
B. Creating a cultural system
C. Being a totally overbearing bore
D. Cultural transmission
cultural transmission
Values and norms describe how __________ behave more than they describe how ______ behave.
A. "We do", "we should"
B. "We should", "we do"
C. "People used to", "people today"
D. "Short people", "tall people
we should," "we do
Opening a door for an elderly man illustrates conforming to:
A. Mores
B. Taboos
C. Folkways
D. Ageism
Folkways
The philosopher who first established that all societies contain both forces for
stability and forces for change is:
A. Stanley Milgram
B. Auguste Comte
C. Durkheim
D. Charles Cooley
Auguste Comte
As a part of human culture, religious ideas would be an example of:
A. Material culture
B. Nonmaterial culture
C. Culture shock
D. Human nature
nonmaterial culture
From the sociological point of view, Mead viewed play as important to children's
social development because it:
a. creates awareness about endangered species like unicorns and trolls.
b. increases motor skills.
c. helps with language acquisition.
d. allow
allows children to learn and practice taking the role of the other
Which of the following statements linking
nature and nurture is correct?
A. Nature is far more important than nurture
B. For human beings, nurture is our nature
C. Humans have powerful instincts the same way other animals do
D. None of the above are corre
For human beings, nuture is our nature
Which of the following plays a part in the reality we construct within social
interaction?
A. Our social class background
B. The country we live in
C. Our Ethnicity
D. All of the above are correct
all of the above are correct
Mead considered the "generalized other" To be:
A. Important individuals in the child's life
B. A person who provides complete care for a child
C. Any significant other
D. Widespread cultural norms and values people take as their own
widespread cultural norms and values people take as their own
A way of examining human life that focuses on the broad social forces and structural features of society that exist
above the level of individual people is:
A. Manifest level
B. Superficial level
C. Macro level
D. Micro level
Macro level
Why do social researchers usually report not only their findings but also their methods?
A. To show where other researchers have failed
B. To allow other researchers to replicate the study and method of data collection
C. To show the superiority of their
to allow other researchers to replicate the study and method of data collection
The Thomas Theorem states: If people define situations as real, they are:
a. usually not real.
b. internalized.
c. real in their consequences.
d. imaginary.
real in their consequences
Flirting is one good example of an everyday experience that can be described as:
A. The Sappir-Whorf hypothesis
B. Role interaction
C. Social construction of reality
D. The generalized other
social construction of reality
According to Cooley the first important step in developing a self concerns:
A. Language acquisition
B. The looking glass self
C. Seeing oneself as distinct from others
D. Getting some fancy shoes
seeing oneself as distinct from others
The principle that people's beliefs and activities should be interpreted in terms of their own culture is called:
A. Dominant culture
B. counterculture
C. private culture
D. cultural relativism
Cultural relativism
Sitting still, raising a hand for permission to speak, and coming to class on time are __________ that govern classroom behavior in our culture.
A. Values
B. Norms
C. Sanctions
D. Rules for Suckers
Norms
Goffman claims that a mental hospital is an example of:
A. an institution
B. structural holding
C. Structural Resocialization
D. Total institution
total institution
For Goffman, the front stage is the area:
a. out of the audience's sight.
b. where people take care to create and maintain expected images and behavior.
c. where individuals can "let their hair down."
d. that people take great care to conceal from the aud
where people take care to create and maintain expected images and behavior
Positivism describes:
A. Having a positive attitude about society
B. An awareness that we can change things about the social world we don't like
C. Understanding that we can understand how society works through scientific processes
D. A sociological appro
understanding that we can understand how society works through scientific process
Describe how each theoretical paradigm (model) would look at the social structure that you write on. For example, what would a structural functionalist view of family focus on? Social conflict? Symbolic? (9 points, 3 points for each theoretical applicatio
Functional Theorists:
- Relationships, Modeling, Mentoring
- Socialization - job training, skill sets
- Independent beings that give back, helps us in ways families can't
Social Conflict Theorists:
- student debt, funding, budget cuts, overinflation of de
Describe and explain material and nonmaterial culture (2 points). What are some of the ways in which computers have affected both material and nonmaterial culture? (3 points).
- Material culture refers to physical objects, resources, and spaces that people use to define their culture. Some examples being clothes, hulk lunchbox, offices, and homes.
- Non-material refers to the nonphysical ideas that people have about their cultu
Describe how the interactions between two people on a date from the perspective of Goffman's dramaturgy. Be sure to define and give examples related concepts related to dramaturgy (a minimum of three). (5 points)
- guy and girl get ready backstage
- guy and girl try to attract each other on front stage
- girl chokes on potato chip and is embarrassed when she almost dies and he has to save her using the Heimlich maneuver on her
- girl is embarrassed
- guy tries to