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57 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
What is the Sociological Perspective?
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How people are influenced by groups; mainly society
Understanding human behavior by placing it within its broader social context |
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Who is considered the father of sociology?
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Auguste Comte
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What is sociology?
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The study of society and human behavior
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What are the three historical origins of sociology?
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1) Social upheaval of the Industrial Revolution
2) Social upheaval of the American and French Revolution 3) Imperialism |
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What is Durkheim known for?
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SOCIAL INTERGRATION
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What is social integration?
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the degree to which people are tied to the social group
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How do social integration and suicide rates relate?
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The less socially integrated a person is, the more likely it is for them to commit suicide
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What are social facts?
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Patterns of behavior that characterize a social group
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What is the irony of resistance to society?
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People are constantly resiting social norms, and consequently make their choices as an individual.
However, these choices still almost always follow the social norms |
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What is Max Weber known for?
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The Protestant Ethic
- said that religion is the central force in social change |
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What is the Protestant Ethic?
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- They lived frugally, investing to make money as a sign that God will save them
- Birth of capitalism |
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What is the spirit of capitalism?
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Readiness to invest capital in order to make more money
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What is Verstehen?
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"to grasp by insight"
the best interpreter of human behavior is someone who "has been there" subjective meaning |
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How did Comte and Spencer's view differ?
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Spence said sociology should NOT guide social reform
Rather societies go through natural evolution from barbaric to highly civilized Social Darwinism - survival of the fittest |
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W.E.B. Du Bois
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(African American Sociologist)
- studied relations between Blacks and Whites - Co founder of NAACP |
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Jane Adams
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Leader in women's rights, helped the less powerful become more powerful
Worked with NAACP and Hull-House |
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What is basic sociology?
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(Pure sociology)
Research for the purpose of making discoveries about life in human groups, not for making changes in these groups |
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What is applied sociology?
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The use of sociology to solve problems - from the micro level of family relationships to the macro level of global pollution
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What are the 3 major sociology theories?
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1) Symbolic Interactionism
2) Functional Analysis 3) Conflict Theory |
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Symbolic Interactionism
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Society is view as composed of symbols that people use to establish meaning, develop their views of the world, and communicate with one another
Analyze how social life depends on the ways we define ourselves and others |
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How does this theory apply to divorce rates?
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As divorce becomes more common, its meaning changed.
Rather than being a symbol of failure, divorce became an indicator of freedom and new beginnings. Removing the stigma from divorce shatter the barrier that was holding people back from doing it |
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Functional Analysis
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Society is views as composed of various parts, each with a function that contributes to society's equilibrium
also known as functionalism and structural functionalism |
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How does functional analysis apply to divorce rates?
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When family loses function, it becomes more fragile, and an increase in divorce is inevitable.
Husbands and wives getting individual paychecks no longer make living a cooperative, home-based effort with husband and wife depending on each other. |
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Conflict Theory
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Society is viewed as composed of groups that are competing for scare resources
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In industrialized societies who is the struggle between
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The bourgeoisie (the small group of capitalists who own the means to produce wealth) and the proletariat (the mass of workers who are exploited by the bourgeoisie)
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How does the conflict theory look at divorce rates?
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They focus on how men's and women's relationships have changed.
Industrialization fostered a world where women could provide for themselves. As wives stove for more power in this new world, the grew less inclined to put up with unfair relationships. This increased the divorce rate |
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What is macro-level analysis
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An examination of large-scale patterns of society
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What is micro-level analysis
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An examination of small-scale patterns of society
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Which level do functionalists and conflict theorists focus on?
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They focus on the macro-level scale
They examine large scale patterns of society |
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What level do symbolic interactionists focus on?
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Micro-level
They focus on social interaction - what people do when they are in one another's presence |
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What is culture?
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The language, beliefs, values, norms, behaviors, and even material objects that characterize a group and are passed from one generation to the next
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Describe the fish in the water metaphor for how we look a different cultures
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We usually take our gestures, our beliefs, and our customs for granted.
We assume what we do is normal and the standard "The last thing the fish would ever notice would be water" |
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Describe how culture is like a lens
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Culture becomes the lens through which we perceive and evaluate what is going on around us
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What is a subculture?
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A cultural subgroup differentiated by status, ethnic background, residence, religion, or other factors that functionally unify the group and act collectively on each member
Ex. CMU, jock, Catholic |
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Counter culture
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Term used to describe the values and norms of behavior of a cultural group, or subculture, that run counter to those of the social mainstream of the day
Counterculture can also be described as deviating away form the norm of society, or what is perceived to be normal |
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Culture shock
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the disorientation that people experience when they come in contact with a fundamentally different culture and can no longer depend on their taken-for-granted assumptions about life
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Ethnocentrism
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THe use of one's own culture as a yardstick for judging the ways of other individuals or societies, generally leading to a negative evaluation of their values, norms, and behaviors
Having a superior view of your society |
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What is cultural relativism?
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Not judging a culture but trying to understand it on its own terms
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What is languages importance in culture?
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It is the basis of culture and how we pass it from one person to the next
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What are the pros and cons of cultural relativism?
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It helps us to avoid cultural smugness but sometimes makes us question the quality of life in some cultures.
Should we really not judge cultures that practice female circumcision, gang rape, and wife beating? Instead we should put them on a scale based on the quality of life they promote |
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What are values?
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The standards by which people define what is desirable or undesirable, good or bad, beautiful or ugly
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What are norms?
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They flow from values; expectations, or rules of behavior, that reflect and enforce behavior
Have positive or negative sanctions |
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What are the three different types of norms?
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Folkways
Mores Taboos |
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What are folkways?
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Norms that are not strictly enforced
Ex. picking your nose in public, passing someone on the wrong side of the sidewalk |
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What are mores?
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Norms that are strictly enforced because they are though essential to core values or to the well-being of the group
Ex. Murder, rape, stealing, nudity |
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What are taboos?
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A norm so strong that it brings extreme sanctions and even revulsion if someone violates it
Ex. incest, cannibalism |
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What are the Core U.S. Values?
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1. achievement and success
2. individualism 3. hard work 4. efficiency and practicality 5. science and technology 6. material comfort 7. freedom 8. democracy 9. equality 10. group superiority 11. education 12. religiosity 13. romantic love |
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What are the Emerging Values?
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1. leisure
2. self-fulfillment 3. physical fitness 4. youthfulness 5. concern for the environment |
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What is socialization?
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the process by which people learn the characteristics or their group -
the knowledge, skills, attitudes, values, norms, and actions thought appropriate for them |
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What is the looking-glass self?
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Charles Horton Cooley
Refers to the process by which our self develops through internalizing others' reactions to us |
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What is the idea of 'taking the role of the other'?
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putting oneself in someone else's shoes
understanding how someone else feels and thinks and thus anticipating how that person will act |
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What is the generalized other?
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the norms, values, attitudes, and expectations of people "in general"
the child's ability to take the role of the generalized other is a significant step in the development of a self |
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What is gender socialization?
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The ways in which society sets children on different paths in life because they are male or female
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What are valid topics for sociological research?
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Macro-level: race relations, the military, mulitnational coroporations
Micro-level: pelvic examinations, how people interact on street corners, shyness All human behavior is up for scrutiny |
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What are the 8 steps of research?
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1. Select a topic
2. Define the problem 3. Review the literature 4. Formulate a hypothesis 5. Choose a research method 6. Collect the data 7. Analyze the results 8. Share the results |
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What is participant observation?
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Research in which the researcher participates in a research setting while observing what is happening in that setting
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What is rapport?
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A feeling of trust between researchers and the people they are studying
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