Midterm Flashcards
(172 cards)
1.1: What is sociology?
The systematic study of human society
1.1: What is the sociological perspective?
a special point of view of sociology that identifies general patterns of society in particular people’s lives.
Being an outsider or experiencing a social crisis encourages the sociological perspective!!
AKA: “seeing the general in the particular”
1.1: What does the sociological perspective tell us about the selection of a partner?
that social factors such as age, race, sex, and class guide our selection of a partner
1.1: Who is C. Wright Mills?
He coined the “sociological imagination,” which transforms personal troubles into public issues.
1.1: What is global perspective?
the study of the larger world and our place in it.
1.1 Which 3 types of change were important to the development of sociology?
- New industrial economy
- Growth of cities
- Political change
1.1 Who coined the term sociology?
Auguste Comte
1.1: What were Comte’s 3 stages of society?
- Theological Stage (church & middle ages)
- Metaphysical Stage (the enlightenment)
- Scientific Stage (modern physics/chem/sociology)
1.1: What was Comte’s approach?
POSITIVISM = the scientific approach based on “positive” facts
1.1: What are some reasons why global awareness is an important part of the sociological perspective?
- Where we live shapes the lives we lead.
- Societies throughout the world are increasingly interconnected.
- What happens in the rest of the world affects life here in Canada.
- Many social problems that we face in Canada are far more serious elsewhere.
- Thinking globally helps us learn more about ourselves.
1.2: What are 3 benefits of the sociological perspective?
- It’s used by government agencies when developing laws and regulations that guide how people in communities live and work.
- Helps us understand the barriers and opportunities in our lives.
- Is an advantage in many fields of work that involve working with people
1.3: What’s a theoretical approach?
A general basic image of society that guides thinking and research
- sociologists make use of 3 of them (structural functional, social-conflict, and symbolic-interaction)
1.3: What is the structural-functional approach?
MACRO LEVEL!
a framework for building a theory that sees society as a COMPLEX SYSTEM that WORKS TOGETHER to promote SOLIDARITY AND STABILITY.
1.3: Who is Robert Merton?
he distinguished between latent and manifest functions!
1.3: What are manifest functions?
The recognized and intended consequence/outcome of a social pattern
(ex. cars manifest function is to get people from point A to point B)
1.3: What is a latent function?
The unrecognized and unintended consequence/outcome of a social pattern
(ex. cars latent function is car accidents aka death)
1.3: What are social patterns?
patterns that tie people together/keep society going
(ex. handshake, thumbs up)
1.3: What are social dysfunctions?
any social pattern that may disrupt the opperation of society
1.3: Who helped develop the social-functional approach?
- Auguste Comte
- Emile Durkheim
- Herbert Spencer
1.3: What is the social-conflict approach?
MACRO LEVEL!
a framework for building theory that sees society as an ARENA OF INEQUALITY that generates conflict and change
Sociologists use this approach to look at dominant & disadvantaged categories of people (ex. rich to poor, white to ppoc)
1.3: What are the 2 types of conflict theories from the social-conflict approach?
- Gender-conflict theory (also called feminist theory): inequality and conflict between men and women
- Race-conflict theory: inequality between people of different racial/ethnic categories
1.3: Who helped develop the social-conflict approach?
Karl Marx
1.3: What is the symbolic-interaction approach?
MICRO LEVEL!
framework for building theory that sees society as the product of the EVERYDAY INTERACTIONS of the individuals
1.3: Who helped develop the symbolic-interaction approach?
Max Weber and George Mead