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Ch. 1-4

Sociology 110 with Schrader at Augustana College (SD)

About this deck

By: Erin Brustuen
Created: 2011-02-24
Size: 67 flashcards
Views: 16

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Achieved v. Ascribed Status

achieved status is a social position acquired through our own efforts of accomplishments or taken on voluntarily; ascribed status is a social position acquired at birth or taken on involuntarily later in life

Aggregate

2+ people in the same place at the same time interacting only to an extent necessary as to avoid collision

Altruistic suicide

another type of suicide that is more likely when the ties of one’s community are too strong and don’t consider individuality important

Anomic suicide

occur when people’s lives are suddenly disrupted by major social events, such as economic depressions, wars, and famines; conditions around which people have organized their lives are dramatically changed, leaving them with a sense of hopelessness and despair

Categories

2+ people having characteristics in common but not unified by interaction patterns

Coalition

subgroup of a triad, formed when 2 members unite against the 3^rd member

Comparative method

comparing existing official statistics and historical records across groups; Durkheim

Conflict perspective

: theoretical perspective that views the structure of society as a source of inequality, which always benefits some groups at the expense of other groups

Counterculture

group that actively opposes the values and behavior patterns of the dominant culture

Cultural relativism

principle that people’s beliefs and activities should be interpreted in terms of their own culture

Culture

language, values, beliefs, rules, behaviors, and artifacts that characterize a society

Debriefing

telling the subject what was happening during the experiment

Dependent v. independent variable

dependent variable is assumed to be caused by, or to change as a result of, the independent variable; the independent variable presumes to cause or influence the dependent variable

Dyad

group consisting of 2 people

Egoistic suicide

type of suicide that occurs in settings where the individual is emphasized over group or community connections

Empiricism

emphasizes the roles of experience and evidence; knowledge comes via the sense’s experience

Ethics

norms for conduct that make the distinction between acceptable and unacceptable behavior

Ethnocentrism

the belief that one’s own cultural or ethnic group is superior to others, and that all other groups are measured in relation to theirs

Experiments

research method designed to elicit some sort of behavior, typically conducted under closely controlled laboratory circumstances

Feminist perspective

theoretical perspective that focuses on gender as the most important source of conflict and inequality in social life

Field research

type of social research in which the researcher observes events as they actually occur

Folkway

informal norm that is mildly punished when violated

Gestalt

“the whole”; the whole is greater than the sum of its parts

Globalization

process through which people’s lives all around the world become economically, politically, environmentally, and culturally interconnected

Group

set of people who interact more or less regularly and who are conscious of their identity as a unit

Ideology

a set of ideas that constitute one’s goals, expectations, and actions

Incorrigible proposition

unquestioned cultural belief that cannot be proved wrong no matter what happens to dispute it

Individualistic explanation

attributing people’s achievements and failures to their personal qualities; pg. 3

In group

those groups we belong to and toward which we feel a sense of loyalty

Institutionalized norm

Latent function

unintended, unrecognized consequences of activities that help some part of the social system

Manifest function

intended, obvious consequences of activities designed to help some part of the social system

Material Culture

refers to the physical objects, resources, and spaces that people use to define their culture. These include homes, neighborhoods, cities, schools, churches, synagogues, temples, mosques, offices, factories and plants, tools, means of production, goods and products, stores, and so forth. All of these physical aspects of a culture help to define its members' behaviors and perceptions.

Macrolevel

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

Microlevel

way of examining human life that focuses on the immediate, everyday experiences of individuals

More

highly codified, formal, systematized norm that brings severe punishment when violated

Nonmaterial Culture

refers to the nonphysical ideas that people have about their culture, including beliefs, values, rules, norms, morals, language, organizations, and institutions. For instance, the non-material cultural concept of religion consists of a set of ideas and beliefs about God, worship, morals, and ethics. These beliefs, then, determine how the culture responds to its religious topics, issues, and events.

Norm

culturally defined standard or rule of conduct

Organization

large, complex network of positions created for a specific purpose and characterized by a hierarchical division of labor

Outgroup

groups we don’t belong to and toward which we feel a certain amount of antagonism

Primary group

collection of individuals who are together over a relatively long period, whose members have direct contact with and feel emotional attachment to one another

Probalistic

capable of identifying only those forces that have a high likelihood, but not a certainty, of influencing human action

Qualitative v. quantitative

qualitative research is a method of sociological research based on nonnumerical information (text, written words, phrases, symbols, observations) that describes people, actions, or events in social life; quantitative research is based on the collection of numerical data that uses precise statistical analysis

Representation

typical of the whole population being studied

Role

set of expectations—rights, obligations, behaviors, duties—associated with a particular status

Role conflict

frustration people feel when the demands of one role they are expected to fulfill clash with the demands of another role

Role strain

situations in which people lack the necessary resources to fulfill the demands of a particular role

Sample

subgroup chosen for a study because its characteristics approximate those of the entire population

Sanction

an action designed to control the conduct of a group of people

Secondary group

relatively impersonal collection of individuals that is established to perform a specific task

Self-fulfilling prophesy

assumption or prediction that in itself causes the expected event to occur, thus seeming to confirm the prophecy’s accuracy

Sick role

role of norms governing how one is supposed to behave and what one is entitled to when sick

Social institution

stable set of roles, statuses, groups, and organizations—such as the institutions of education, family, politics, religion, health care, or the economy—that provides a foundation for behavior in some major area of social life

Social organization

how people interact, the kinship systems they use, marriage residency patterns, how they divide up the various tasks that need to be completed, who has goods and knowledge, what ranking strategy is being used, etc

Social structure

social institutions, organizations, groups, statues and roles, values, and norms that add order and predictability to our private lives

Society

population of people living in the same geographic area who share a culture and a common identity and whose members fall under the same political authority

Sociological information

enables us to understand the larger historical picture and its meaning in our own lives; developed by C. Wright Mills; pg. 8; allows us to recognize that the solutions to many of our most serious social problems lie not in changing the personal situations and characteristics of individual people but in changing the social institutions and roles available to them

Sociology

the systematic study of human societies

Status

any named social position that people can occupy

Structural-functionalism perspective

theoretical perspective that posits that social institutions are structured to maintain stability and order in society

Subculture

values, behaviors, and artifacts of a group that distinguish its members from the larger culture

Symbol

something used to represent or stand for something else

Symbolic interactionism

theoretical perspective that explains society and social structure through an examination of the micro-level, personal, day-to-day exchanges of people as individuals, pairs, or groups

Theory

set of statements or proposition that seeks to explain or predict a particular aspect of social life

Triad

group consisting of three people

Unobtrusive research

technique in which the researcher, without direct contact with the subjects, examines the evidence of social behavior that people create or leave behind

Value

standard of judgment by which people decide on desirable goals and outcomes

Value variable

any characteristic, attitude, behavior, or event that can take on two or more values or attributes

About this deck

By: Erin Brustuen
Created: 2011-02-24
Size: 67 flashcards
Views: 16

About StudyBlue

STUDYBLUE makes things that make you better at school. Things like online flashcards with photos and audio. Things like personalized quizzes and friendly reminders about when (and what) to study next. Think of it as a digital backpack™: access to all of your study materials online and on your phone. STUDYBLUE exists to make studying efficient and effective for every student, for free. Join us.

“Simply amazing. The flash cards are smooth, there are many different types of studying tools, and there is a great search engine. I praise you on the awesomeness.”
Dennis