Ch. 1: What is Sociology?

Question 1

Define:

Sociological Imagination

Answer 1

The ability to see the connection between our individual identities and the social contexts (family, friends, and institutions) in which we find ourselves.

Question 2

Define:

Sociology

Answer 2

The study of human behavior in society.

Question 3

Define:

Canon

Answer 3

The officially recognized set of foundational sociologists.

Question 4

Define:

Mechanical Solidarity

Answer 4

Durkheim’s term for a traditional society where life is uniform and people are similar. They share a common culture and sense of morality that bonds them.

Question 5

Define:

Organic Solidarity

Answer 5

Emile Durkheim’s term for a modern society where people are interdependent because of the division of labor; they disagree on what is right and wrong but share solidarity because the division of labor makes them dependent on each other.

Question 6

Define:

Social Darwinism

Answer 6

A model of social change that saw easy succeeding society as developing through evolution and the “survival of the fittest.”

Question 7

Define:

Generalized Other

Answer 7

The organized rules, judgements, and attitudes of an entire group. If you try to imagine what is expected of you, you are taking on the perspective of the generalized other.

Question 8

Define:

Symbolic Interactionism

Answer 8

Sociological perspective that examines how individuals and groups interact, focusing on the creation of personal identity through interaction with others. Of particular interest is the relationship between individual action and group pressures.

Question 9

Define:

Structural Functionalism

Answer 9

A sociological paradigm (a typical example or pattern of something; a model) that contends that all social life contains of several distinct, integrated levels that enable the world-and individuals who are within it-to find stability, order, and meaning.

Question 10

Define:

Paradigm

Answer 10

An example, pattern, or model, especially an outstandingly clear or typical example or archetype (a very typical example of a certain person or thing).

Question 11

Define:

Manifest Functions

Answer 11

The intended consequences of an action or event.

Question 12

Define:

Latent Functions

Answer 12

The unintended consequences of an action or event.

Question 13

Define:

Conflict Theory

Answer 13

Sociological paradigm that views society as organized by conflict rather than consensus and sees that norms and values are not equally distributed or accepted among members of a society. This theory tends to focus on inequality.

Question 14

Define:

Globalization

Answer 14

A set of processes leading to the development of patterns of economic, cultural, and social relationships that transcend geographical boundaries; a widening, deepening, and a speeding up of a worldwide interconnectedness in all aspects of contemporary life.

Question 15

Define:

Multiculturalism

Answer 15

The doctrine that several different cultures (rather than one national culture) can coexist peacefully and equitably (characterized by equity or fairness; just and right; fair; reasonable) in a single country.

Question 16

Define:

Macrolevel Analysis

Answer 16

Analysis of the large-scale patterns or social structures of society; such as economies or political systems.

Question 17

Define:

Microlevel Analysis

Answer 17

Analysis of small-scale social patterns, such as individual interactions or small group dynamics.

Question 18

Define:

McDonaldization

Answer 18

The homogenizing spread of consumerism around the globe.

Question 19

Define:

Modernism

Answer 19

In sociology, it challenged tradition, religion, and aristocracies as remnants of the past and saw industry, democracy, and science as the wave of the future.

Question 20

Define:

Postmodernism

Answer 20

A late-twentieth-century worldview that emphasizes the existence of different worldviews and concepts of reality, rather than one “correct” or “true” one. Postmodernism emphasizes that a particular reality is a social construction by a particular group, community, or class.