Flashcards in Chapter 1 Deck (44):
1
Sociology
the scientific study of human social life, groups and societies
2
personal troubles
individuals often believe the problems they (and others) face are personal
3
public issues
personal troubles that are occurring in a patterned way to large numbers of individuals, consequences of social structure
4
sociological imagination
learning to think sociologically, requires breaking free from the immediacy of personal circumstances and putting things in a wider context
5
structuration
social contexts in our life do not just consist of random events or actions, there are regularities in the way we behave and in the relationships we have with one another. societies are being reconstructed constantly
6
social facts
according to Derkheim, aspects of social life that shape our actions as individuals e.g. the state of the economy or religion influences
7
organic solidarity
Derkheim theory, for a society to function and persist over time, its specialized institutions (govt., religion, the family and education system) must work in harmony with each other and function as an integrated whole
8
social constraint
theory by Derkheim, social structure constrains our activities in a parallel way, setting limits on what we can do as an individual. it is external to us
9
anomie
discovered by Derkheim, a feeling of aimlessness or despair provoked by modern social life
10
materialist conception of history
Marx's viewpoint, it is not the ideas or values people hold that are the main source of social change but social change prompted by economic influences, conflicts between social classes provide motivation for historical development
11
capitalism
Marx, a system of production that contrasts radically with previous economic systems in history, involves the production of goods and services sold to a wide range of consumers
12
symbolic interactionism
discovered by Mead, stated that language is a set of symbols, virtually all interactions between individuals involve an exchange of symbols
13
symbol
something that stands for something else
14
functionalism
to study the function of a social activity is to analyze the contribution the activity makes to the continuation of the society as a whole
15
manifest functions
functions known to and intended by the participants in a specific type of social activity
16
latent functions
consequences of the activity of which participants are unaware
17
Marxism
supposed to generate a program of radical political change, lay more emphasis on conflict, class division, power and ideology
18
power
the capability of the individuals or a group to make their own concerns or interests count, even when others resist, may involve the direct use of force
19
ideology
the development of ideas, used to justify the actions of the powerful
20
feminist theory
women's lives and experiences are central to the study of society
21
feminism
beliefe that men and women should be equal
22
postmodernism
there are no long any "grand narratives" or overall conception of history that make any sense
23
microsociology
the study of everyday behavior in situations of face-to-face interactions
24
macrosocioloy
analysis of large scale social systems like the political system or economic order
25
science
the use of systematic methods of empirical investigation to develop a body of knowledge about a certain subject
26
empirical investigation
the analysis of data, theoretical thinking and the logical assessment of argument
27
factual questions
questions used to gather factual evidence before coming to conclusions
28
comparative questions
relating ones social context in a society to contrasting examples drawn from different societies
29
theoretical questions
encompass a wide array of specific phenomena
30
hypothesis
an educated guess about what is going on at this stage
31
data
the research material
32
ethnography
firsthand studies of people using participant observation
33
participant observation
participating directly in activities
34
survey
subjects are asked to provide answered questions to structured questionnaires
35
pilot study
a trial run in which a questionnaire is completed by a small number of people and problematic questions are identified and revised
36
sampling
concentration on a small portion of a large group to then represent the group as a whole
37
sample
a small portion of a large group
38
representative
the group of individuals must be typical of the population as a whole
39
random sampling
a sample is chosen by which each member of society has an equal probability of being chosen
40
experiment
enables a researcher to test his hypothesis under highly controlled conditions
41
comparative research
enables researchers to document whether social behavior varies across time and place and by ones social group memberships
42
oral history
interviewing people about events they witnesses at some point earlier in their lives
43
informed consent
the study participants are given a broad description of the study prior to agreeing to participate
44