Chapter 1 - The Sociological Perspective

Question 1

Sociological Perspective

Answer 1

understanding human behavior by placing it within the social context that surrounds it; includes people’s ideas, attitudes, and orientations to life

Question 2

society

Answer 2

people who share a culture and a territory

Question 3

social location

Answer 3

the group memberships that people have because of their location in history and society

the corners of society that people occupy, including their group memberships and ids

Question 4

intersectionality

Answer 4

another term for social location

Question 5

intersectional analysis

Answer 5

analyzing how social locations produce identities, life orientations, and relationships; often with an emphasis on marginalization, dominance, and power

Question 6

science

Answer 6

the application of systematic methods to obtain knowledge and the knowledge obtained by those method

Question 7

natural sciences

Answer 7

the intellectual and academic disciplines designed to comprehend, explain, and predict events in our natural environment

Question 8

social sciences

Answer 8

the intellectual and academic disciplines designed to understand the social world objectively by means of controlled and repeated observations

Question 9

generalization

Answer 9

a statement that goes beyond the individual case and is applied to a broader group or situation

Question 10

common sense

Answer 10

those things that “everyone knows” are true

Question 11

scientific method

Answer 11

the use of objective, systematic observations to test theories

Question 12

positivism

Answer 12

the application of the scientific approach to the social world

Question 13

sociology

Answer 13

the scientific study of society and human behavior

Question 14

class conflict

Answer 14

Marx’s term for the struggle between capitalists and workers

Question 15

bourgeoisie

Answer 15

Marx’s term for capitalists, those who own the means of production

Question 16

proletariat

Answer 16

Marx’s term for the exploited class, the mass of workers who do not own the means of production

Question 17

social integration

Answer 17

the degree to which members of a group or a society feel united by shared values and other social bonds; also known as social cohesion

Question 18

patterns of behavior

Answer 18

recurring behaviors or events

Question 19

value free

Answer 19

the standards by which people define what is desirable or undesirable, superior or inferior, good or bad, beautiful or ugly

Question 20

Value

Answer 20

the standards by which people define what is desirable or undesirable, superior or inferior, good or bad, beautiful or ugly

Question 21

objectivity

Answer 21

not imposing personal biases (values, attitudes) when conducting research or analyzing research findings

Question 22

replication

Answer 22

the repetition of a study in order to test its findings

Question 23

Verstehen

Answer 23

a German word used by Weber that is perhaps best understood as “to have insigh

Question 24

subjective meanings

Answer 24

the meanings that people give their own behavior

Question 25

social facts

Answer 25

Durkheim’s term for a group’s patterns of behavior

Question 26

basic (or pure) sociology

Answer 26

sociological research for the purpose of making discoveries about life in human groups, not for making changes in those groups

Question 27

applied sociology

Answer 27

the use of sociology to solve problems—from the micro level of classroom interaction and family relationships to the macro level of race relations and pollution

Question 28

public sociology

Answer 28

applying sociology for the public good; especially the use of the sociological perspective (how things are related to one another) to guide politicians and policy makers

Question 29

theory

Answer 29

a general statement about how some parts of the world fit together and how they work; an explanation of how two or more facts are related to one another

Question 30

symbolic interactionism

Answer 30

a theoretical perspective in which society is viewed as composed of symbols that people use to establish meaning, develop their views of the world, and communicate with one another

Question 31

functional analysis

Answer 31

a theoretical framework in which society is viewed as composed of various parts, each with a function that, when fulfilled, contributes to society’s equilibrium; also known as functionalism and structural functionalism

Question 32

conflict theory

Answer 32

a theoretical framework in which society is viewed as composed of groups that are competing for scarce resources

Question 33

macro-level analysis

Answer 33

an examination of large-scale patterns of society; such as how Wall Street and the political establishment are interrelated

Question 34

micro-level analysis

Answer 34

an examination of small-scale patterns of society; such as how the members of a group interact

Question 35

social interaction

Answer 35

people’s actions influencing one another; usually refers to what people do when they are in one another’s presence, but also includes communications at a distance

Question 36

nonverbal interaction

Answer 36

communication without words through gestures, use of space, silence, and so on

Question 37

globalization

Answer 37

the growing interconnections among nations due to advances in trade, travel, and communications

Question 38

globalization of capitalism

Answer 38

capitalism (investing to make profits within a rational system) becoming the globe’s dominant economic system