Chapter 1-5

Sociology 101 with Williams at Ohio State University - All Campuses

About this deck

By: Maureen Grady
Textbook:

You May Ask Yourself: An Introduction to Thinking Like a Sociologist
Created: 2010-10-05
Size: 107 flashcards
Views: 136

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.

“I have been getting MUCH better grades on all my tests for school. Flash cards, notes, and quizzes are great on here. Thanks!”
Kathy

Sign up (free) to study this.

Sociology

The study of human society

Sociological imagination

the ability to connect the most basic intimate aspects of an individuals life to seemingly impersonal and remote historical forces

Social Institution

a group of social positions, connected by social relations, performing a social role; also defined in a narrow sense as any institution in a society that works to socialize the groups or people within it

Social Identity

How individuals define themselves in relationship to groups with which they affiliate (or disassociate from)

Historical materialism

a methodological approach that looks for the causes of developments and changes in human societies in the way in which humans collectively earn a living, thus emphasizing, through economic analysis, everything that coexists within the economic base of society

Verstehen

German; to interpret and understand the social world through experience

Interpretive sociology

the study of social meaning

Positivist sociology

a strain within sociology that believes the social world can be described and predicted by certain describable relationships

Formal Sociology

sociology of pure numbers

Anomie

a sense of aimlessness or despair that arises when we can no longer reasonable expect life to be predictable; too little social regulation

Functionalism

the theory that various social institutions and process in society exist to serve some important (or necessary) function to keep society running

Conflict Theory

the idea that conflict between competing interests is the basic, animating force of social change and society in general

Symbolic interactionism

a micro-level theory in which shared meanings, orientations, and assumptions form the basic motivation behind people's actions

Postmodernism

a condition characterized by a questioning of the notion of progress and history the replacement of narrative within pastiche and multiple, perhaps even conflicting identities resulting from disjointed affiliations

Social construction

an institutionalized entity or artifact in a social system invented or constructed by participants in a particular culture or society that exist because people agree to behave as if it exists, concur on following certain conventional rules, or behave as if such an agreement or rule exist

Deconstruction

The process of showing how certain social phenomena are arbitrary and devised by social actors with varying degrees of power

Midrange theory

a theory that attempts to predict how certain social institutions tend to function

Micro sociology

seeks to understand local interactional contexts; its methods of choice are ethnographic, generally including participant observation and in depth interviews

Macro sociology

generally concerned with social dynamics at a higher level of analysis- that is across the breadth of a society

Causality

the notion that a change in one factor results in a corresponding change in another

Research methods

approaches that social scientists use for investigating the answers to questions

Qualitative methods

methods that attempt to collect information about the social world that cannot be readily converted to numeric form

Quantitative methods

methods that seek to obtain information about the social world that cannot be readily converted to numeric form

Deductive approach

a research approach that starts with a theory, forms a hypothesis, makes empirical observations, then analyzes the data to confirm reject or modify the original theory

Inductive approach

a research approach that starts with empirical observations and then works to form a theory

Correlation (or association)

simultaneous variation in two variables

Natural experiment

an event that affects the factor that we believe is causing an outcome, but does not affect the outcome in any other way other than through that factor

Time Order

chronology or sequence of events

Alternative explanations

plausible stories that could explain our data but do not fit in with our own central hypothesis

Spurious

false or misleading

Reverse causality

a situation in which the researcher believes A results in a change in B, but B in fact is causing A

Dependent variable

the outcome that the researcher is trying to explain

Independent variable

a measured factor that the researcher believes has a causal impact on the dependent variable

Hypothesis

a proposed relationship between two variables

Operationalization

the process of assigning a precise method for measuring a term being examined for use in a particular study

Participant observation

a qualitative research method that seeks to observe social actions in practice

Probe

to push a research subject past his or her initial comfortable answers on somewhat delicate, controversial issues

Survey

an ordered series of questions intended to elicit information from respondents

response rate

out of all the surveys a researcher has distributed, the proportion that were completed and returned

Repeated cross-sectional survey

a survey that samples a new, representative group each survey wave

Panel survey

a survey that tracks the same respondents over time

Historical methods

research that collects data from written reports, newspaper articles, journals, diaries, artwork, and other artifacts that data to a prior time period under study

Comparative research

a methodology by which two or more entities, which are similar in many dimensions but differ on one in question, are compared to learn about the dimension that differs between them

Experimental methods

methods that seek to alter the social landscape in a very specific way for a given sample of individuals and then track what results that change yields; often involve comparisons to a control group that did not experience such an intervention

Audit study

a specific type of experimental method in which a pair of comparable people are observed in a specific situation to see if they fare differently

Content analysis

a systematic analysis of the content rather than the structure of a communication, such as a written work, speech or film

Manifest content

content that we can observe

Latent content

content that is implied but not stated outright

"Do no harm"

the notion that by participating in the study, a research subject will encounter no more harm than he or she likely would in everyday life

Informed consent

the right of a research subject to know they are participating in a study and what the study will consist of

Voluntary participation

the right of a research subject to decide if he or she wants to participate in a study, also can stop without repercussion

Protected populations

groups that a researcher often needs additional approval to study. Minors, prisoners, pregnant women

Public sociology

the practice of sociological research, teaching that seeks to engage a non-academic audience for a normative productive end

Culture

a set of beliefs, traditions, and practices; the sum total of social categories and concepts we embrace in addition to beliefs, practices and surroundings; that which is not the natural environment around us

Nonmaterial culture

values, beliefs, behaviors, and social norms

Material culture

everything that is a part of our constructed environment, including technology

Ideology

a system of concepts and relationships, an understanding of cause and effect

Cultural relativism

taking into account the differences across cultures without passing judgement or assigning value

Cultural scripts

modes of behavior and understanding that are not universal or natural

Subculture

the distinct culture values and behavioral patterns of a particular group in society; group having social, economic, or ethnic traits distinctive enough to distinguish it from others within the same culture or society

Values

moral beliefs

Norms

how values tell us to act

Socialization

the process by which individuals internalize the values, beliefs, and norms of a given society and learn to function as a member of that society

Reflection theory

the idea that culture is a projection of social structure and relationships into the public sphere a screen onto which the film of the underlying reality or social structures of our society is projected

Media

any formats or vehicles that carry, present or communicate information

Hegemony

a historical process by which individuals internalize the values, beliefs and norms of a given society and learn to function as a member of that society

Socialization

the process by which individuals internalize the values, beliefs, and norms of a given society and learn to function as a member of that

Self

the individual identity of a person as perceived by that same person

the self as perceived as an object by the "I"; as the self as one imagines others perceive one

Other

someone or something outside of oneself

Generalized other

an internalized sense of the total expectations of others in a variety of settings-regardless of whether we've encountered those people or places before

Re-socialization

the process by which one's sense of social values, beliefs, and norms are reengineered often deliberately through an intense social process that may take place in a total institution

Total institution

an institution in which one is totally immersed and that controls all the basics of day-to-day life; no barriers exist between the usual spheres of daily life and all activity occurs in the same place under the same single authority

Status

a recognizable social position that an individual occupies

Role

the duties and behaviors expected of someone who holds a particular status

Role Strain

the incompatibility among roles corresponding to a single status

Role conflict

the tension caused by competing demands between two or more roles pertaining to different statuses

Status set

all the statuses one holds simultaneously

Ascribed status

a status into which one is born; involuntary

Achieved status

a status into which one enters; voluntary

Master status

one status within a set that stands out or overrides all others

Gender roles

sets of behavioral norms assumed to accompany one's status as male or female

Symbolic interactionism

a micro level theory in which shared meaning, orientations, and assumptions form the basic motivations behind people's actions

Dramaturgical theory

the view of social life as essentially a theatrical performance, in which we are all actors on metaphorical stages, with roles, scripts, costumes, and sets

Face

the esteem in which an individual is held by others

Ethnomethodology

literally "the methods of the people" this approach to studying human interactions focuses on the ways in which we make sense of our world, convey this understanding to others, and produce a mutually shared social order

Dyad

a group of two

Triad

a group of three or more

Mediator

member of a triad who attempts to resolve conflict between the two other actors in the group

Tertius gaudens

the new third member of a triad who benefits form conflict between the other two members of the group

Divide et impera

a member of a triad who intentionally drives a wedge between the other two actors in the group

small group

a group characterized by face-to-face interaction, a unifocal perspective, lack of formal arrangements and a certain level of equality

Party

a group that is similar to a small group but multifocal

Large group

a group characterized by the presence of a formal structure that mediates interaction and consequently status differentiation

Primary groups

social groups, such as family or friends, composed of intimate face-to-face relationship that strongly influence the attitudes and ideals of those involved

Secondary group

groups marled by impersonal, instrumental relationship (those existing as a means to an end)

In-group

another term for the majority

Out-group

another term for the minority

Reference group

a group that helps us to understand or make sense of our position in society relative to other group

Organization

any social network that is defined y a common purpose and has a boundary between its membership and the rest of the social world

Organizational culture

the shared beliefs and behaviors within a social group; often used interchangeably with corporate group

Organizational structure

the ways in which power and authority are distributed within an organization

Isomorphism

a constraining process that forces one organization to resemble others that face the same set of environmental condition

Ecological Fallacy

generalizing to a whole group of people or even a whole society/culture, based on the attitudes and behaviors of one person or a few people

Ethnocentrism

the tendency to assume that one's own culture and way of life represent the norm for the world and/or is superior to all other cultures.