SOCIOLOGY FINAL Flashcards
(242 cards)
1
Q
Charles Wright Mills and The sociological imagination
A
The ability to understand the dynamic relationship between individual lives and the larger society
2
Q
Quality of mind
A
The ability to look beyond personal circumstance and into social context
3
Q
Cheerful robots
A
Mills created this term which describes people who could not see the social world
4
Q
Peter Berger
A
Seeing the general in the particular is the ability t look at seemingly unique events (particular) and then recognize the larger (general) features involved. and seeing the familiar and the strange.
5
Q
The scientific revolution
A
hard science should be applied to the social world
6
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Comte’s Theological stage
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religious outlook, the world is an expression of God
7
Q
Comte’s Metaphysical stage
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a period of questioning and challenging (including the teachings of the Church)
8
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Comte’s positive stage
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rules of observation, experimentation and logic
9
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Positivism
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A theoretical approach that considers all understanding to be based on science
10
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Anti positivism
A
A theoretical approach that considers knowledge and understanding to be the result of human subjectivity
11
Q
Quantitative
A
Measurable behaviour tends to be positive
12
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Qualitative
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Non measurable subjective behaviors, anti positivist in nature
13
Q
The political revolution
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Promotion of individual rights and social responsibility, equal opportunity, and the political ideology of democracy
14
Q
Machiavelli
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human behavior motivated by self interest
15
Q
Descartes
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“I think therefore I am”, we are all masters of our own destiny
16
Q
Hobbes
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True nature of humankind is self-preservation
17
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Locke
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Knowledge is the result of experience
18
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Rousseau
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We achieve more working together than we can apart
19
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The industrial revolution
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associated with technological advancement. society went from agricultural to industrial.
20
Q
Macro
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Refers to attempting to understand society as a whole
21
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Micro
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Refers to attempting to understand individual or small group dynamics
22
Q
macro-sociologists
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Marx, Durkheim, and Weber
23
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micro-sociologists
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Mead, Cooley, and Blumer
24
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Sociology in Canada
A
- Geography and regionalism
- Political economy
- Canadianization movement
- Radical nature
25
Annie Marion MacLean
first Canadian woman to receive a PHD in sociology
26
Carl Dawson
co authored an introductory sociology textbook that was widely used in North American
27
Helen Abell
regarded as the founder of rural sociology
28
John Porter
wrote the seminal work "the vertical mosaic: an analysis of social class and power in Canada"
29
Globalization
A worldwide process involving the production, distribution and consumption of goods and services
30
Thomas Hobbes
- people are responsible for creating their social worlds
- natural state: how humans existed prior to the emergence of social structures
- people are motivated by self interest and the pursuit of power
31
John Locke
- God was responsible for the emergence of society and government
- Tabula Rasa
- right to self preservation and to private property
- individual autonomy and freedom
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Charles Montesquieu
- people never existed outside or without society
- humans created and defined by society
- laws define the spirit of the people; the republic, the monarchy, and despotism
- appreciation for cultural diversity and comparative methodology
33
Jean Jacques Rousseau
- the social contract
- human beings are perfectible and can achieve their potential only through society
- entered into the social contract as free and equal individuals
34
The enlightenment
philosophers advocated for critical thinking and practical knowledge and built on the natural sciences
35
conservative reaction
Sociology was born out of the conservative reaction against enlightenment thinking . conservatives believed that society was not the product of individuals, but was an entity in itself
36
Functionalism
social world is a dynamic system of interrelated and interdependent parts
37
Organic analogy
Human society is similar to an organism, which is fails to work together the system will fail
38
Herbert Spencer
-Survival of the fittest
-Social Darwinism
Darwin's idea of natural selection, asserts societies evolve according to the same principles as biological organisms
39
Emile Durkheim
- founder of modern sociology
- collective conscious drives behaviour
- social facts are general social features that exist on their own and are independent of the individual manifestations
40
Anomie
State of normlessness that results from the lack of clear goals and creates feelings of confusion that may ultimately result in higher suicide rates
41
Mechanic solidarity
Describes early societies based on similarities and differences
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Organic solidarity
Describes later societies organized around interdependence and the increasing division of labour
43
Talcott Parsons
created social action theory;
| A framework which attempts to separate behaviours from actions to explain why people do what they do
44
Four functional imperatives (AGIL)
Adaption
Goal attainment
Integration
Latency
45
Robert Merton
- social structures have many functions
- manifest content
- latent content
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Criticisms of the functionalist approach
- does not account for social change
- overemphasis on the extent to which harmony and stability actually exist in society
- often overlooked the positive consequences that can result from conflict and struggle
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Conflict theory
society is grounded upon inequality and competition
48
Karl Marx
Believed that the caste struggle was the most important inspiration behind the historical transformation of societies. He viewed social stratification as a mechanism that institutionalizes inequality and promotes social stability over time
49
idealism
human mind and consciousness are more important in understanding the human condition than is the material world
50
Base/superstructure
dynamic relationship between the material and social elements of society
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Base
material and economic foundation for society, includes the forces and relations of production
52
Superstructure
all the things that society values and aspires to once its material needs are met. Includes religion, politics, law
53
False consciousness
Belief in and support of the system that oppresses you
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Class consciousness
Recognition of domination and oppression, and the collective action that follows
55
Symbolic interactionism
Society and all social structures are nothing more than the creations of interacting people, and therefore can be changed
56
Ritzer's principles of symbolic interactionism
-people learn meanings and symbols in social settings -humans have the capacity for thought
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Max weber
Verstehen- a deep understanding and interpretation of subjective social meanings
58
Georg Simmel
society is the summation of human experience and its patterned interactions. he came up with formal sociology: different human interactions can be similar in form
59
George Herbert Mead
- I+me=self
- gaining approval from significant others
- generalized others
60
Charles H Cooley
Sympathetic introspection: putting yourself into someone else's shoes
Looking glass self: we develop our self image through the cues we receive from others
self fulfilling prophecy: internalize impressions and as a result become the kind of person we believe others to see us as
61
Erving Goffman
-dramaturgical analysis: the "self" emerges from the performances we play and how the other actors relate to us
62
Western Marxism
Gramsci's concept of hegemony
63
Gramsci
```
diverged from Marx in his analysis of how the ruling class ruled
-two forms of political control: domination ad hegemony
```
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Domination
Physical and violent coercion
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Hegemony
Domination through ideological control
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Superstructure
Divided into the state and civil society
| -prevailing consciousness internalized by population and becomes common sense
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Dorothy Smith
second wave feminist that believed that knowledge production has been androcentric
68
Discourse
social organized activity among people
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Ruling relations
Socially organized practices of individuals
| People actively constitute social relations
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Complex relations
the same set of social relations that produces men's privilege also produces women's oppression
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Bell Hooks
third wave feminist. Black feminist thought criticized feminist theorizing that automatically positions households as places of patriarchal oppression for women
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Post structuralism
Concerned with how knowledge is socially produced
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Foucault
focused on power, knowledge, and discourse
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Power
Created within social relationships
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Knowledge
Can never be separated from relations of power
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Queer theory
problematizes the standard of equality based on sameness
| -three main areas of queer theory : desire, language, and identity
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Imperialism
The ideas, practices, and attitudes of colonizers
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Colonialism
The effects of imperialism within colonized spaces
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Orientalism
A western style of thought that creates a false opposition between the Orent (East) and the Occident (West)
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Academic orientalism
Knowledge produced by academics, experts, about the Orient
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Imaginative orientalism
Representations including art, novel, poems, images, that make a distinction between the orient and the occident
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Institutional orientalism
Institutions created by Europeans such that they could gain authority over, alter and rile the Orient
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critical race theory
seeks to understand inequality and racism
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Anthony Giddens
transformation of time and space in our lives
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Time-space distinction
the separation of time and space which allows social relations to shift from a local to a global context
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Disembedding mechanisms
Mechanism that aids in shifting social relations from local to global contexts
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Symbiotic token
Medium of exchange
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Expert systems
Systems of knowledge on which we rely on but we may never be in direct contact
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Functionalist research
A researcher working from a functionalist perspective is interested in the smooth functioning of society—for example, how roles and shared values promote equilibrium.
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Conflict theorists research
a conflict theorist may be interested in how families cope with current economic strains. Researchers working from this perspective may be interested in examining government and corporate policies that disadvantage families by privatizing or withdrawing particular social supports.
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Symbolic interactionists research
Examining individuals and small groups. A symbolic interactionist researcher may be interested in how immigrant families negotiate their sense of identity in their new surroundings.
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Inductive logic
moves from data to theory
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Deductive
moves from theory to data
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Independent variables
can be varied or manipulated by researchers.
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Dependent variables
is the reaction (if one occurs) of the participants to this manipulation.
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Operational definition
a description of something that allows it to be measured
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Validity
If a measurement is valid, it means that it accurately measures the concept.
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Reliability
refers to the consistency of a given result.
99
Correlation
a relationship between two variables; it can range from weak to strong.
100
Causality
means that one variable causes a change in the other variable.
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Spurious correlation
when one variable seems to produce a change in another variable, but in reality the correlation is false.
102
Research population
a group of people that a researcher wishes to learn something about.
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Sample
a subset of the larger research population
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Surveys
three main types of surveys are self administered questionnaires, telephone surveys, and in person surveys
105
The most well knows self administered survey in Canada
The most well knows self administered survey in Canada is the Census of Population performed by statistics Canada every five years
106
Interviews
can be semi structured or structured
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Participant observation
involves a researcher’s active participation in the daily life activities of those he or she is observing. can be covert and semi covert
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Content analysis
analysis of texts. content analysis can also be a combined effort of both qualitative and quantitative approaches
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secondary analysis
useful in studying past events and trends over time. example, Durkheim's classic suicide study
110
Participatory action research
brings together two approaches: action research and participatory research.
111
Multiple research methods
A mixed method research project happens when researchers choose to design a single research project that uses elements of both qualitative and quantitative procedures
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Triangulation
happens when researchers employ more than one research method in an attempt to more fully understand what they are researching.
113
Androcentricity
A vision of the world in male terms, a reconstruction of the social universe through a male perspective
114
Overgeneralization
occurs when researchers include only one sex in their study but present their findings as being applicable to both men and women
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Overspecificity
occurs when sex-specific terms are used in situations that are relevant to both sexes. Terms such as mankind and man-made are instances of overspecificity
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Gender insensitivity
occurs when gender is ignored as a socially important variable
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Sex appropriateness
a specific instance of a double standard. Eichler specifies that sex appropriateness occurs “when human traits or attributes are assigned only to one sex or the other and are treated as more important for the sex to which they have been assigned"
118
Familism
a problem derived from gender insensitivity. It occurs when families are taken as the smallest unit of analysis in situations where specific individuals within those families are responsible for particular actions or experiences.
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Sexual dichotomism
an extreme form of a double standard. It occurs when the two sexes are treated as completely separate and distinct social and biological groups rather than as two groups with overlapping or similar characteristics
120
Tri-Council Policy Statement
directs that “Women shall not be inappropriately excluded from research solely on the basis of gender or sex.”
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the Nuremberg Code
It details 10 principles for ethical research, covering such topics as voluntary consent, beneficial results for society, avoidance of unnecessary harm
122
Milgram's obedience study
Milgram devised an experiment in which he could witness whether people were willing to “harm” others simply because a researcher told them to do so. Milgram discovered that two-thirds of the participants continued to “shock” another human being even as they heard sounds of pain and pleas to stop the experiment.
123
The Stanford prison experiment
a prison was constructed in the basement of Stanford University and male students were recruited as participants. The participants were randomly assigned roles as either guards or prisoners. The men then engaged in role play—guards ordered the prisoners to engage in particular actions, and the prisoners followed these orders. After only six days, the study was terminated because of the condition of the participants
124
Nature
holds that our actions and feelings stem from our biological roots.
125
Nurture
Argues that we are the product of our socialization, and the result of social interactions
126
sociobiology
uses evolutionary theory and genetic inheritance to examine the biological roots of social behaviour
127
Evolutionary psychology
Like sociobiology, evolutionary psychology argues that Darwinian inheritance can explain contemporary human behavior
128
Role playing
A way to explain symbolic interactionists analysis of how we interpret ourselves, other people, and the social world by assuming the position of another to better understand that person's perspective
129
Preparatory stage
- children wanting to please the significant others in their lives
- through positive and negative reinforcement, children begin to develop the I, but the me is also forming in the background
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Play stage (ages three to five)
- children assume the roles of others through role play and their me continues to grow
- children want to receive more positive reinforcement from significant others
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Game stage (elementary- school years)
- they begin to take on multiple roles in life (daughter, student, friend)
- they begin to identify with the generalized other
- this is the stage in which primary socialization occurs, when they learn attitude, values, and appropriate behaviours
132
Double consciousness
Du Bois describes Black Americans as possessing double consciousness in his book "the soul of black folk". This is being caught between a self concept as an American and also as a black person
-he describes it as both a deprivation and a gift
133
Agents of socialization
Individuals, groups, and social institutions that together help people to become functioning members of society
134
the four principle agents of socialization
families, peers, education, and mass media
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Cultural capital
term coined by Pierre Bourdieu, which describes how children's social assets gained from their families help the school and prepare them for success, which in turn reproduces ruling class culture
136
Hidden curriculum
Asserts that beyond schools conscious formal obligations to teach course content are the unconscious, informal , and unwritten rules that reinforce and maintain social conventions
137
Socialization across the life course
Sociologists tend to distinguish the socialization that occurs during childhood as primary socialization and the socialization that occurs throughout one's adult life as life course
138
Birth cohort
How sociologists track how events may influence people's lives which encompasses all those who are born during a given person and therefore experience historical events at the same point in their lives
139
Empty nest syndrome
Women becoming more likely to be depressed as the last child leaves home, research has shown this syndrome is a myth.
Majority of women actually experience an increase in life satisfaction and psychological well being when children leave the home
140
Means tested programs
The Canadian old age pension plan and the old age assistance program were programs implemented based on financial needs
141
Gerontology
The scientific study of old age and aging
142
Stages of dealing with mortality established by Kubler Ross
1. denial
2. Anger
3. Bargaining
4. Depression
5. Acceptance
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Dying trajectories
Idea established by Kubler Ross, which is the course that dying takes in both social and psychological senses. Her model describes the sequence of dying and suggests a set of overall therapeutic recommendations as to how dying "should" take place
144
Resocialization
The profound change or complete transformation of a person's personality as a result of being placed in a situation or an environment dedicated to changing his or her previous identity
Ex. Being places in a prison or psychiatric institution
Erving Goffman studies resocializations that occur in total institutions in his book "asylums"
145
Total institutions
Settings in which people are isolated from society and supervised by an administrative staff
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Mortifications of self
People's existing identities being stripped from them, through having all their personal possessions taken away, losing control over their daily schedule, wearing uniforms etc.
147
Social stratification
A society's hierarchical ranking of people into social classes
148
Social class
Based on both birth and achievements in life
149
Social status
An individuals position within the class structure
150
Meritocracy
The belief that people can achieve wealth and status through individual attributes
151
Social mobility
Movement between classes
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Intergenerational mobility
Comparing adult children's status to that of their parents or comparing an individuals status position over his of her lifetime
153
Classism
The belief that people's relative worth is at least partly determined by their social and economic status
154
Blaming the victim
A perspective that assumes that the poor need only to work harder to transcend poverty
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Culture of poverty
A term to accentuate anthropologist Oscar Lewis' belief that the poor have different subcultural value systems than the larger American society and that these systems limit their ability and desire to escape poverty
156
Deferred gratification
The ability to forgo immediate pleasures in the interest of achieving greater rewards in the future. The poor appear to have difficulty deferring gratification
157
Blaming the system
A perspective that recognizes the systemic discrimination that exists within social systems and is more consistent with the sociological perspective
158
Deindustrialization
The transformation of an economy from one based on manufacturing to one based on services
159
From perception to policy
The perceptions of why people succeed or fail have important policy implications for government
160
Closed systems
Those based on ascribed status
161
Open systems
Based on achieved status
162
Caste systems
Ascribed systems, allow no social mobility
163
Class structure
Overall economic hierarchy that categorizes groups of people based on their socioeconomic status. It is comprised of three indicators of social position: income, occupational prestige, and education. It is important to look at all of these indicators together
164
Intergenerational income elasticity
```
How social mobility is measured
-lower scores indicate a more open class system
```
165
Occupational prestige
People agreeing on prestige and the social value of certain positions or occupations
166
Davis-Moore thesis
Holds that social inequality serves two important social functions: it instills in certain people the desire to fill certain social positions and it instills in these people the desire to complete their duties and responsibilities
167
Weber argued there are other sources of influence
class, status groups, and party
168
Status inconsistency
Weber proposed that since three distinct systems of stratification are at work, there exists the possibility of status inconsistency which occurs when an individual occupies several differently ranked statuses at the same time.
169
Conspicuous consumption
Concept found by thorstein veblen
| -it is the purchase of good simply because they are valuable despite having no innate satisfaction in them
170
Conspicuous leisure
The demonstration of ones high social status through forms of leisure that include taking long vacations in exotic locales
171
Conspicuous waste
The disposal of valuable goods to demonstrate wealth
172
The double ghetto
The situation in which women who have full time jobs outside the home often work another "shift" when they get home
173
Low income cut off
The poverty line
-represents the level of income at which a household in a particular location must spend 20 percentage points more of its gross income on food, shelter, and clothing than does the average Canadian household.
174
Feminization of poverty
Recognizes the universality of women's wage discrimination
175
Kuznets curve
A theory that argues that as societies developed, they become more inequal until the early phases of the Industrial Revolution, after which inequality tended to decline
176
Evolutionary theory
Suggests that while hunting and gathering societies are open and classless, significant social stratification emerges in horticultural societies and then expands throughout agrarian and industrial economies. Essentially as technology develops, wealth accumulates into fewer hands, resulting in greater social inequality
177
The Gini Index
A measure of inequality of wealth or income distribution. Deviations from the 45 degree angle are referred to as the Lorenz curve.
178
Freud: Essentialism
Male-female differences are universal; reflect biological differences. Gender is part of “essence” of a person’s biological makeup
179
Mark Simpson
Metrosexual: not fixed, but gender identity is fluid and changing
180
gender relations
organizing principles within society- shape interactions between men and women
181
hegemonic masculinity
normative idea of masculinity (antonia gramsci)
182
emphasized feminity
based on women's compliance with their subordination to men
183
the chilly climate
represent women's experience on university campuses
184
exchange theory
suggests that power in a relationship is influenced by the resources that a partner brings to a relationship
185
Butler
theorist that argues there is no essential basis to gender nor is there some authentic feminity or masculinity that is rooted in female or male bodies (gender is our performance of gender)
186
serial monogamy
having a series of monogamous relationships
187
the racialized sexual double standard
sexual exploitation of Black women from American slavery, white women superior to Black women
188
Kingsley Davis
wrote about sexuality and argued that prostitution helped keep families together (functionalist)
189
the heterosexual questionnaire
created by Rochlin, directed at heterosexuals as means of exposing heteronormativity- the assumption that being straight is normal
190
eurocentrism
the view of Europeans being superior
191
ecological fallacy
people drawing conclusions about individuals based on generalized perceptions about an entire group
192
exception fallacy
when people draw conclusions about an entire group based on observations of individuals
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democratic racism
the belief that we're all just people and should treat everyone equally
194
individual discrimination
discrimination against one another
195
direct institutional discrimination
institution employing policies or practices that are discriminatory against a person or group
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indirect institutional discrimination
occurs when action results in individuals being treated differently based on unlawful criteria
197
scapegoat theory
people wanting to blame specific groups
198
authoritarian personality theory
people believing strongly in following cultural norms, traditions, values
199
Frankfurt school
group of German social philosophers who worked with critical social theory
200
the f scale
developed by Adorno to measure authoritarianism
201
cultural theory
suggests prejudice is found in all cultures
202
ethnocentrism
benefits of one culture over another
203
social distance
Bogardus found people could rank different ethnic groups based on how close or distant they felt from them
204
dual labor market (conflict theory)
argues that modern societies have two distinct types of labor markets
205
primary labor market
secure positions that pay healthy salary and benefits
206
secondary labor markets
no advantages, low pay
207
Marxist and exploitation theory
views the powerful economic elite as benefitting the most from discrimination
208
selective perception (symbolic interactionism)
as we grow older our prejudice is reinforced, we limit positive perceptions of minority groups and accentuate negative attributes
209
contact hypothesis
the proposal that prejudiced attitudes can decline w intergroup contact
210
multiracial feminism
incorporated multiple understandings of what it means to be a woman or man in today's society
211
five categories of minority relations
- genocide
- expulsion and population transfer
- segregation and separatism
- assimilation
- cultural pluralism or multi culturalism
212
cultural relativism
appreciating differences of other cultures and that all cultures should be evaluated on their own terms rather than according to one's own cultural standards
213
Whorf hypothesis
created by Sapir, suggests language influences how we perceive the world
214
linguistic determinism
assumes that the way you think is determined by the language you speak
215
linguistic relativism
suggests that differences between languages do not determine but reflect different world views of their speakers
216
environmental sociology
study of the interaction between human societies and the natural environment
217
ecology
the study of how living organisms interact w the environment
218
deep ecology
mystical approach
219
anthropocentrism
that the environment exists for the pleasure and exploitation of human beings
220
new ecological paradigm
extends this thinking by emphasizing that modern industrial society is beginning to exceed the limits of environment
221
ecocentric
humans being apart of the ecosystem
222
the triple bottom line
found by Elkington, who argues companies should rethink their business model as having three distinct bottom lines
- traditional bottom line
- people account
- planet account
223
the triple helix
the concept of having universities, private corporations, and governments work together to innovate and help protect the environment
224
greenhouse effect
regulates earth's temp, and absorbs and traps heat into the earth
225
carbon sink
natural matter absorbing more carbon than it emits
226
carbon source
when natural matter emits more carbon than it absorbs
227
permafrost
ground that has been frozen for longer than two successive years
228
Anthropocene
the idea that human activities impact the earth so much that it constitutes a new geological era
229
ecosystem
refers to the number and variety of habitats for organisms within a geographic area
230
species diversity
number of species that exist in a given ecosystem
231
genetic diversity
amount of genetic information within single population species
232
environmental racism
discrimination against minority groups and poor people who are subject to environmental hazards and pollution
233
robert bullard
father of environmental justice
234
dominant social paradigms
capitalism
235
alternative environmental paradigm
advocates for smaller societies that do not use science and tech to dominate environment
236
the treadmill of production theory
asserts that capitalism's insatiable quest for profits and economic expansion is at odds w protecting the environment
237
ecological modernization theory
emerged from Joseph Huber, suggests that tech and scientific discoveries will keep pace w human and environmental pressures and allow economic expansion without destroying the environment
238
ecofeminism
combines feminist and ecological insights into exploitive domination of women and nature by men
239
cultural ecofeminism
encourages a connection with women and the environment
240
bioprospecting
refers to companies search for news sources to exploit economic potential
241
biocolonialism
dominant and submissive relationship w western corporation and local people
242
biopiracy
the unauthorized appropriation of traditional biological and genetic knowledge, resources, and practices of Indigenous people
