Chapter 1 - Summary - The Sociological Perspective

Question 1

What can sociology contribute to our understanding of social life?

Answer 1

• understanding how human behaviour is shaped by group life and how group life is affected by individuals
• our culture tends to emphasize individualism, sociology pushes us to consider more complex connections between personal lives and larger world

Question 2

Why is the sociological imagination important for studying society?

Answer 2

• C. Wright Mills - sociological imagination helps us understand how personal troubles are related to larger social forces
• relationship between individual experiences and larger society

Question 3

Why is the global sociological imagination important?

Answer 3

• future of this country deeply intertwined with future of all nations of the world
• economic, political, environmental and humanitarian levels

Question 4

How did Comte contribute to sociology?

Answer 4

• Founder of Sociology

- coined the term sociology

Question 5

How did Harriet Martineau contribute to sociology?

Answer 5

• founding member of sociology

- social progress must involve gender and social equality

Question 6

How did Durkheim contribute to sociology?

Answer 6

• societies are built on social facts
• rapid social change produces strains in society
• loss of shared values and purpose can lead to anomie

Question 7

How did Marx contribute to sociology?

Answer 7

stressed that within society there is a continuous clash between owners of means of production and workers

Question 8

How did Weber contribute to sociology?

Answer 8

necessary to acknowledge the meanings that individuals attach to their own actions

Question 9

What is the key assumption behind functionalist perspectives?

Answer 9

• society is stable, orderly system characterized by social consensus
• has been criticized for overlooking importance of change in societies

Question 10

What is the key assumption behind conflict perspectives?

Answer 10

• society is a continuous power struggle among competing groups
• minimizes the importance of social stability and shared values in society

Question 11

What is the key assumption behind feminist perspectives?

Answer 11

focus on significance of gender

Question 12

What is the key assumption behind symbolic interactionist perspectives?

Answer 12

• focus on how people make sense of everyday social interactions
• made possible by use of mutually understood symbols
• focuses on microlevel society and tends to ignore macro concepts

Question 13

What is the key assumption behind postmodern theorist perspectives?

Answer 13

believe that entirely new way of examining social life is needed