Theoretical Perspectives & Social Science Disciplines

Question 1

What is a Theoretical Perspective?

Answer 1

a point of view based on a specific theory

Question 2

What is a Theory?

Answer 2

a framework for organizing and explaining observable evidence

Question 3

What is a Discipline?

Answer 3

specific branches of learning

Question 4

What are the 4 Questions?

Answer 4

• what happens?
• how does it happen?
• why does it happen?
  -how can people change what happens?

Question 5

What is Anthropology?

Answer 5

study of human behavior/culture in society and determining their patterns

Question 6

What is Sociology?

Answer 6

study of the behaviour of individuals in social groups, families, and society, looks at social facts, and social sources to explain rates of behaviour

Question 7

What is Psychology?

Answer 7

study of behaviour based on mental processes, how the individual thinks, also how individuals interact and influence one another

Question 8

What is Ethnocentrism?

Answer 8

tendency to evaluate behavior from point of view of own culture

Question 9

What are Demographics?

Answer 9

analysis of statistical data or a population

Question 10

What are other Disciplines?

Answer 10

social history, economics, politics, and religion

Question 11

What is Functionalism?

Answer 11

how society is organized to perform required functions effectively, they function to benefit society leading to a stable society, examined roles individuals play within institutions

Question 12

What is Systems Theory?

Answer 12

how groups of individuals interact as a system, examination of family processes, continuous membership, share responsibility for patterns of behaviour, new strategies develop when behaviour changes over time

Question 13

What is Symbolic Interactionism?

Answer 13

how individuals choose how they will act based on their perceptions of themselves and of others, the mental processes of perception and interpretation in determining the behaviour of individuals

Question 14

What is Social Exchange Theory?

Answer 14

explains social factors that influence how individuals interact within reciprocal relationships, based on perceptions of individuals, used to explain how individuals form and maintain relationships

Question 15

What is Developmental Theory?

Answer 15

attempts to describe patterns of growth and change throughout human lifespan, describes predictable changes in behaviour of individuals or families

Question 16

What is Conflict Theory?

Answer 16

explains how power holds a society together, conflicts exist between groups due to inequalities in power, social groups divide people according to their power

Question 17

What is Feminist Theory?

Answer 17

rooted in conflict theory but separates gender from class and explains the impact of sex and gender on behavior, looks at issues of human behaviour from a women’s point of view

Question 18

What are Gender Roles?

Answer 18

socially and culturally constructed differences between female and males found in the meanings, beliefs, and practices associated with femininity and masculinity