Study guide

Question 1

What are social facts?

Answer 1

Concepts, practices, and institutions that exist outside individuals but shape their behaviors

According to Durkheim.

Question 2

What is the sociological imagination?

Answer 2

The ability to connect personal experiences to larger social and historical forces.

Question 3

What does the intersection of biography and history refer to?

Answer 3

Recognizing how individual lives are shaped by historical and social contexts.

Question 4

Define personal troubles.

Answer 4

Individual problems affecting a person’s life.

Question 5

Define public issues.

Answer 5

Larger societal problems that impact many people.

Question 6

What are social structures?

Answer 6

The organized patterns of relationships and institutions that shape society

Examples include family, education, and government.

Question 7

What are the promises of sociology?

Answer 7

• Agency: The ability of individuals to make choices.
• Collective Action: Groups working together for social change.
• Social Change: Transformations in society over time.

Question 8

What is the Looking-Glass Self?

Answer 8

The way individuals form their self-concept by perceiving how others view them

Coined by Cooley.

Question 9

What are the components of the ‘I’ and the ‘Me’ according to Mead?

Answer 9

• I: The spontaneous, active self.
• Me: The socialized, reflective self.

Question 10

What is the Generalized Other?

Answer 10

The understanding of societal expectations and norms.

Question 11

What is socialization?

Answer 11

The lifelong process of learning cultural norms, values, and behaviors.

Question 12

What is primary socialization?

Answer 12

Initial identity development.

Question 13

What is resocialization?

Answer 13

Learning new norms when entering a different social environment.

Question 14

What is media socialization?

Answer 14

Influence of media on behavior and identity.

Question 15

What are agents of socialization?

Answer 15

Institutions and groups that shape an individual’s social development

Examples include family, schools, peers, media, religion, work, and military.

Question 16

What does embodiment refer to?

Answer 16

How identity is expressed through physical presence and interaction.

Question 17

What are self-narratives?

Answer 17

Stories people tell about themselves.

Question 18

What is a self-fulfilling prophecy?

Answer 18

A belief or expectation that causes itself to become true.

Question 19

What is solidarity and social integration?

Answer 19

The bonds that connect individuals to a society

According to Durkheim.

Question 20

What is egoistic suicide?

Answer 20

Suicide caused by weak social ties and low integration into society.

Question 21

What are enabling constraints?

Answer 21

Social limitations that also create opportunities.

Question 22

Define moral regulation.

Answer 22

Societal control over individuals’ behaviors.

Question 23

What is anomie?

Answer 23

A state of normlessness leading to instability.

Question 24

What are strong ties?

Answer 24

Close, personal connections.

Question 25

What are weak ties?

Answer 25

More distant, yet valuable connections for opportunities.

Question 26

Define homophily.

Answer 26

The tendency to associate with similar individuals.

Question 27

What is social capital?

Answer 27

The benefits from social relationships.

Question 28

What is Putnam’s 'Bowling Alone' Thesis?

Answer 28

Decline in social participation leading to weaker community bonds.

Question 29

What is collective action?

Answer 29

People working together to create social change ## Footnote According to Becker.

Question 30

What is the social construction of reality?

Answer 30

Society creates shared meanings and norms through interaction.

Question 31

Define beliefs.

Answer 31

Accepted ideas about the world.

Question 32

Define values.

Answer 32

Cultural principles of what is desirable.

Question 33

Define norms.

Answer 33

Social rules governing behavior.

Question 34

What are subcultures?

Answer 34

Groups with distinct values and norms within a larger culture.

Question 35

What are ideologies?

Answer 35

Systems of beliefs that justify social arrangements.

Question 36

What are institutionalized ideologies?

Answer 36

Officially accepted beliefs shaping institutions.

Question 37

What is ethnocentrism?

Answer 37

Judging another culture by one’s own standards.

Question 38

What is cultural relativism?

Answer 38

Understanding cultures based on their own context.

Question 39

List Wade’s Five Steps of Identity Formation.

Answer 39

* Invent * Divide * Stereotype * Perform * Rank

Question 40

What does 'doing' identity mean?

Answer 40

Identity is performed through social interactions.

Question 41

What is in-group bias?

Answer 41

Preference for one’s own group, leading to prejudice.

Question 42

Define stigma.

Answer 42

A mark of disgrace.

Question 43

What are controlling images?

Answer 43

Stereotypical representations used to oppress groups.

Question 44

What is social status?

Answer 44

A position in society.

Question 45

What are status elites?

Answer 45

Those with high social standing and influence.

Question 46

What are folkways?

Answer 46

Informal norms (e.g., greetings).

Question 47

What are mores?

Answer 47

Stronger norms with moral significance (e.g., honesty).

Question 48

What is face and impression management?

Answer 48

How individuals manage their public image.

Question 49

Define front stage behavior.

Answer 49

Public performance of self.

Question 50

Define back stage behavior.

Answer 50

Private self, free from societal expectations.

Question 51

What is role playing?

Answer 51

Expected behaviors in social positions.

Question 52

What are cultural scripts?

Answer 52

Predefined patterns of behavior.

Question 53

What are social sanctions?

Answer 53

Reactions to behavior (positive or negative).

Question 54

What is social control?

Answer 54

Mechanisms enforcing norms.

Question 55

What is Foucault’s Panopticon?

Answer 55

A metaphor for modern surveillance and discipline.

Question 56

What is a dyad?

Answer 56

Two-person group, intimate but unstable.

Question 57

What is a triad?

Answer 57

Three-person group, more stable but complex.

Question 58

What are organizations?

Answer 58

Large social structures for a purpose.

Question 59

What is bureaucracy?

Answer 59

Hierarchical organization with formal rules.

Question 60

What are Ritzer’s principles of McDonaldization?

Answer 60

* Efficiency * Calculability * Predictability * Control

Question 61

What are institutions?

Answer 61

Long-standing social structures (e.g., education, religion, healthcare).

Question 62

What are the three revolutions?

Answer 62

* Industrial: Economic and technological changes. * Democratic: Political transformations. * Scientific: Growth of knowledge and rationality.

Question 63

What is the Protestant Ethic?

Answer 63

The belief that hard work and discipline lead to success ## Footnote According to Weber.

Question 64

What is organic solidarity?

Answer 64

Social cohesion based on interdependence.

Question 65

What are the discontents of modernity?

Answer 65

* Social inequalities * Loss of meaning (anomie) * War and environmental destruction

Question 66

What is the irrationality of rationality?

Answer 66

Overemphasis on efficiency leads to negative consequences.