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Exam One
Vocabulary, People, and Theories
66
Sociology
Undergraduate 3
09/28/2012

Additional Sociology Flashcards

 


 

Cards

Term
Sociological Imagination 
Definition
The application of imaginative thought to the asking and answering of sociological questions. Someone using the sociological imagination “thinks himself away” from the familiar routines of daily life. Connects the personal to the public 
Term
Social Structure 
Definition

The underlying regularities or patterns in how people behave and in their relationships with one another 

Term
Structure 
Definition
idea that humanity has created rules, laws, and ideas that give order  
Term
Agency 
Definition

ability to take action, power to change things 

Term
Socialization 
Definition
 the social processes through which children develop an awareness of social norms and values and achieve a distinct sense of self. Although socialization processes are particularly significant in infancy and childhood, they continue to some degree throughout life. No individuals are immune from the reactions of others around them, which influence and modify their behavior at all phases of the life course 
Term
Sociology 
Definition

termed coined by Auguste Comte 

social scientists who studied people interactions within one culture 

Term
social facts 
Definition

·      the aspects of social life that shape our actions as individually 

Term
division of labor 
Definition
the specialization of work tasks, by means of which different occupations are combined within a production system. 
Term
anomie 
Definition

·      a concept first brought into wide usage in sociology by Durkheim, referring to a situation in which social norms lose their hold over individual behavior 

Term
capitalism 
Definition
an economic system based on the private ownership of wealth, which is invested and reinvested in order to produce profit 
Term
rationalization 
Definition
a concept used by Weber to refer to the process by which modes of precise calculation and organization, involving abstract rules and procedures, increasingly come to dominate the social world 
Term
symbolic interactionism 
Definition

·      the theoretical approach in sociology developed by George Herbert Mead, which emphasizes the role of symbols and language as core elements of all human interaction 

Term
functionalism 
Definition

·      a theoretical perspective based on the notion that social events can best be explained in terms of the functions they perform- that is, the contribution they make to the continuity of a society 

Term
microsociology 
Definition

the study of human behavior in contexts of face-to-face interaction

Term
macrosociology 
Definition
The study of large-scale groups, organizations, or social systems 
Term
hypothesis 
Definition

·      ideas or guesses about a given state of affairs, put forward as bases for empirical testing 

Term
variable 
Definition
a dimension along which an object, individual, or group may be categorized. 
Term
independent variable 
Definition
a variable that causally affects another 
Term
dependent variable 
Definition
a variable causally influenced by another 
Term
Ethnography 
Definition
the firsthand study of people using participant observation or interviewing 
Term
participant observation 
Definition

·      a method of research widely used in sociology and anthropology, in which the researcher takes part in the activities of the group or community being studied 

Term
fieldwork 
Definition
study of people in their natural world 
Term
surveys 
Definition
a method of sociological research in which questionnaires are administered to the population being studied 
Term
population 
Definition
the people who are the focus of social research 
Term
sample 
Definition
a small proportion of a larger population 
Term
sampling frame 
Definition
a list of everyone in the population 
Term
Types of nonprobability sampling 
Definition

1. haphazard/ convenience 

2. quota

3. purposive 

4. snowball

4. snowball 

Term
haphazard/ convenience sampling 
Definition
finding the first person 
Term
quota 
Definition
touch upon a certain percentage of all categories 
Term
purposive 
Definition
seek out people who you want to speak to 
Term
snowball
Definition
survey a person and then ask them if they know anyone else that can be surveyed 
Term
types of probability sampling 
Definition

1. random 

2. systematic 

3. stratified 

Term
random sampling 
Definition
everyone has an equal chance of being chosen 
Term
systematic sampling 
Definition
use the same number over again 
Term
stratified 
Definition
make sure you are accurately representing each subcategory of society 
Term
parameter 
Definition

limit of people who we are actually studying 

Term
measures of central tendency 
Definition
the ways of calculating averages 
Term
mean 
Definition
a statistical measure of central tendency, or average, based on dividing the total by the number of individual cases 
Term
mode 
Definition
the number that appears most often in a given set of data. 
Term
median 
Definition
the number that falls halfway in a range of numbers 
Term
inductive method 
Definition
start with data collecting 
Term
deductive method 
Definition
start with hypothesis, then you gather data, then either accept or reject hypothesis 
Term
institutional review board 
Definition
Before doing research this committee will overview methods and make sure that it is ethical 
Term
margin of error 
Definition
if same survey was conducted with a different sample how much variance there would be ( +- 5%) 
Term
informed consent 
Definition
telling the participants of a research project the purpose of the study and obtain their permission. Ethics. 
Term
C. Wright Mills 
Definition

Sociological Imagination à examines the relationship between personal and public / man and society / biography and history / self and world

·      We need to understand both components!

 

3 Questions:

1. What’s the structure of society? (descriptive)

2. Where does it stand in history? (comparative)

3. Who prevails in society? (power) 

Term
mode of production 
Definition
the tools to produce commodities 
Term
bourgeoisie 
Definition
capitalist class, owned the means of production (tools to produce things) 
Term
proletariat 
Definition
workers 
Term
Karl Marx 
Definition

·      Capitalism- social and economic set of relationships

·      Mode of production

·      Feudalism preceded capitalism (major change in classes and relationships)

 

2 classes:

1. bourgeoisie- capitalist class, owned the means of production (tools to produce things)

2. Proletariat – workers

·      New ways of producing, distributing, classes 

Term
Max Weber 
Definition

Rationalization- people obtain status in society by rational means (people earn positions through qualifications)

·      How cultural change shifted capitalism

·      Transformation from catholic church to protestant church came before capitalism

Eventually money brings about temptations à work ethic maintains, but without the same reasons

Christian ‘calling’ à puritans called to work --? ‘iron cage’ à can’t get out of the feeling we always need to work 

Term
rationalization 
Definition

people obtain status in society by rational means (people earn positions through qualifications) 

Term
George Simmel 
Definition

microlevel sociology 

social types 

the stranger 

Term
social types 
Definition
there are different types of people that are reoccuring 
Term
Erving Goffman 
Definition

symbolic interactionism 

dramaturgical perspective 

Term
front stage 
Definition
where the people perform 
Term
backstage 
Definition
prepare, practice 
Term
script 
Definition
lines to be performed 
Term
front 
Definition
what people see 
Term
face 
Definition
how people understand who you are 
Term
anticipatory socialization 
Definition
before starting a new role (ex. Job) you begin to change yourself (ex. Way to dress and act) 
Term
Emile Durkheim 
Definition

types of social organization

social facts 

Term
mechanical solidarity 
Definition
jobs that all look the same (example: wagon wheel)
Term
organic solidarity 
Definition
complex and different jobs (Example: a human body) 
Term
social reproduction 
Definition
the passing of important values in a society down through generation 
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