Introduction to Sociology Flashcards
(19 cards)
Define Sociology
The study of society
“Seeing the ______ in the ______”
“the first wisdom of sociology is this- things are not what they seem…social reality turns out the have many layers…the discovery of each new layer changes the perception of the whole.” - who said it
“Seeing the strange in the familiar.”
PETER BERGER.
Large scale phenomena/patterns
MACRO
Example of “Macro” question
what are the social causes that render people without homes?
smale scale phenomena/patters
MICRO
example of a “micro” question
how do houseless persons survive?
Who came up with the concept of social imagination?
C. Wright Mills
Sociology lies at the intersection of
History and biography
Sociology challenges conventional wisdom and thinking critically about the world around you.
“framework of society that exists above the level of individuals and provides the social setting in which individuals interact with one another to form relationships
SOCIAL STRUCTURE
For arenas of social structure:
INSTITUTIONS
ORGANIZATIONS
GROUPS
STATUSES/ROLES
“Position a person occupies in a social structure”
SOCIAL STATUS
examples of family, occupational and social class status
- MOTHER, CHILD, etc.
- LAWYER, CMT, FIREFIGHTER, etc.
- UPPER, WORKING, etc.
“Sum of total expectations about the behavior attached to a particular social status.”
ROLES
“culturally defined rules of conduct”
- specify what people should do and how they should pursue their values
- prescribe “proper or necessary behavior within particualr roles, groups, organizations and institutions
NORMS
“if men define situations as real, they are real in their consequences.”
THOMAS THEOREM
William Isaac Thomas
3 Perspectives on social order
STRUCTURAL-FUNCTIONALIST PERSPECTIVE
CONFLICT PERSPECTIVE
SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONISM
“social institutions are structured to maintain stability and order in society.”
STRUCTURAL-FUNCTIONALIST PERSPECTIVE
- society as complex system composed of various parts
- critiques for expressing EXPLOITATION/OPPRESSION
- sees institutions as mechanisms for fostering order
EMILE DURKHEIM
views structure of society as a source of inequality that always benefits some groups at the expense of others.
CONFLIT PERSPECTIVE
KARL MARX
- arena of HAVE/HAVE NOTS
- institutions as means to foster and legitimate the power of some at the expense of others
- critiqued for ignoring shared elements of society
explains society and social structure through an examination of microlevel, personal day-to-day exchanges of people
SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONISM
MAX WEBER
- society is produced and reproduced by agreements of symbolic systems
- institutions as agreed upon contracts
- critiqued by ignoring larger social patterns that set the stage for peoples interactions
