Sociology Ch. 1 Key Terms
Terms
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- Economic determinism
- the idea that the nature of a society is based on the society’s economy
- Mechanical solidarity
- social unity based on a consensus of values and norms, strong social pressure for conformity, and dependence on tradition and family
- Positivism
- the use of observation, experimentation, and other methods of the physical sciences in the study of social life
- Dynamic equilibrium
- the assumption by functionalists that a society both changes and maintains most of its original structure over time
- Social structure
- patterned, reoccurring social relationships
- Bourgeoisie
- members of a society who own the means for producing wealth
- Macrosociology
- the level of analysis that focuses on relationships among the social structures without reference to the interaction of the people involved
- Sociology
- the scientific study of social structure
- Verstehen
- the method of understanding social behavior by putting oneself in the place of others
- Symbol
- something that stands for, or represents, something else
- Latent function
- an unintended and unrecognized consequence of some element of a society
- Conflict theory
- the theoretical perspective that emphasizes conflict, competition, change and constraint within a society
- Presentation of self
- the ways that we, in a variety of social situations, attempt to create a favorable evaluation of ourselves in the minds of others
- Social dynamics
- the study of social change
- Theoretical perspective
- a set of assumptions accepted as true by its advocates
- Microsociology
- the level of analysis concerned with the study of people as they interact in daily life
- Sociological imagination
- the set of mind that allows individuals to see the relationships between events in their personal lives and events in their society
- Humanist sociology
- the theoretical perspective that places human needs and goals at the center of sociology
- Liberation sociology
- the theoretical approach to sociology that seeks to replace human oppression with greater democracy and social justice
- Social statics
- the study of stability and order in society
- Proletariat
- members of society who labor for the bourgeoisie at subsistence wages
- Class conflict
- the conflict between those controlling the means for producing wealth and those laboring for them
- Organic solidarity
- social unity based on a complex of highly specialized roles that makes members of a society dependent on one another
- Value-free research
- research in which personal biases are not allowed to affect the research process and its outcomes
- Rationalization
- the tendency to use knowledge and impersonality in social relations to gain increased control over society
- Functionalism
- the theoretical perspective that emphasizes the contributions (functions) made by each part of a society
- Manifest function
- an intended and recognized consequence of some element of society
- Dysfunction
- a negative consequence of some element of a society
- Power
- the ability to control the behavior of others, even against their will
- Feminist theory
- a theoretical perspective that links the lives of women and men to the structure of gender relationships within society
- Symbolic interactionism
- the theoretical perspective that focuses on interaction among people based on mutually understood symbols
- Dramaturgy
- the symbolic interactionist approach that depicts social life as theater