Chapter 1 Flashcards
(44 cards)
Sociology
the scientific study of human social life, groups and societies
personal troubles
individuals often believe the problems they (and others) face are personal
public issues
personal troubles that are occurring in a patterned way to large numbers of individuals, consequences of social structure
sociological imagination
learning to think sociologically, requires breaking free from the immediacy of personal circumstances and putting things in a wider context
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
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
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
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
anomie
discovered by Derkheim, a feeling of aimlessness or despair provoked by modern social life
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
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
symbolic interactionism
discovered by Mead, stated that language is a set of symbols, virtually all interactions between individuals involve an exchange of symbols
symbol
something that stands for something else
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
manifest functions
functions known to and intended by the participants in a specific type of social activity
latent functions
consequences of the activity of which participants are unaware
Marxism
supposed to generate a program of radical political change, lay more emphasis on conflict, class division, power and ideology
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
ideology
the development of ideas, used to justify the actions of the powerful
feminist theory
women’s lives and experiences are central to the study of society
feminism
beliefe that men and women should be equal
postmodernism
there are no long any “grand narratives” or overall conception of history that make any sense
microsociology
the study of everyday behavior in situations of face-to-face interactions
macrosocioloy
analysis of large scale social systems like the political system or economic order
