Sociology Exam 1 2
Terms
undefined, object
copy deck
- Diversity
- The variety of group experiences resulting from the social structure.
- Critical Thinking
- The process by which students learn to apply sociological concepts to observable events in society.
- Mass Media
- Channels of communication that are available to very wide segments of the population.
- Globalization
- Increased economic, political, and social interconnectedness and interdepnedence among societies in the world.
- Sociology
- The study of human behavior in society.
- Sociological Imagination
- The ability to see the societal patterns that influence individual and group life
- Applied Sociology
- The use of sociological research and theory in solving real human problems
- Capitalism
- An economic system based on the pursuit of profit and the sanctity of private property
- Conflict Theory
- A theoretical perspective that emphasizes the role of power and coercion in producing social order
- Dramaturgical model
- A perspective that sees society like a stage (that is, a drama) wherein social actors are "on stage," projecting and portraying social roles to others
- Empirical
- Refers to something that is based on careful and systematic observation
- Enlightenment
- The period in seventeenth and eighteenth-century Europe characterized by faith in the ability of human reason to solve society's problems
- Functionalism
- A theoretical perspective that interprets each part of soecity in terms of how it contributes to the stability of the whole.
- Humanitarianism
- The principle that human reason can successfully direct social change for the betterment of society.
- Issues
- Problems that affect large numbers of people and have their origins in the institutional arrangements and history of a society
- Latent Fuctions
- Indirect, nonobvious consequences (functions) emerging from the activities of institutions
- Manifest Functions
- The stated and open goals of social behavior
- Organic Metaphor
- Refers to the similarity early sociologists saw between society and other organic systems.
- Positivism
- A system of thoughtin which accurate observation and description is considered the highest form of knowledge
- Postmodernism
- A theoretical perspective based on the idea that society is not an objective thing but is found in the words and images--or discourses--that people use to represent behavior and ideas
- Power
- A person or group's ability to excercise influence and control over others
- Social Action
- Behavior to which people give meaning
- Social Darwinism
- The idea that society evolves to allow the survival of the fittest
- Social facts
- Social patterns that are external to individuals
- Social Institution
- An established and organized system of social behavior with a recognized purpose
- Social Structure
- The patterns of social relationshiops and social institutions that comprise society
- Symbolic Interaction Theory
- A theoretical perspective claiming that people act toward things because of the meaning things have for them.
- Troubles
- Privately felt problems that come from events or feelings in one individual's life
- Verstehen
- The process of understanding social behavior from the point of view of those engaged in it.
- Concept
- Any abstract characteristic or attribute that can be potentially measured
- Content Analysis
- The analysis of meanings in cultural artifacts suchs as books, songs, and other forms of cultural communication
- Controlled Experiment
- A method of collecting data that can determine whether a given factor causes something independently of other factors
- Correlation
- A statistical technique that analyzes patterns of association between pairs of sociological variables
- Cross-Tabulation
- A table showing the relationship between two variables.
- Data
- The systematic information that sociologists use to investigate research questions
- Data analysis
- The process by which sociologists organize collected data to discover what patterns and uniformities are revealed
- Deductive Reasoning
- A form of reasoning in which specific hypoteses, or predictions, are derived from general principles
- Dependent variable
- The variable that is a presumed effect
- Evaluation Research
- Research assessing the effect of policies and programs
- Field Research
- Research which usually invovles the participation of the researcher with the people or group(s) being studied.
- Generalization
- A claim that a finding represents something greater than the specific observations on which finding is based
- Hypothesis
- A statement about what one expects to find in research
- Independent variable
- A variable treated as the presumed cause of a particular result
- Indicator
- Something that points to or reflects an abstract concept
- Inductive reasoning
- A logical process of building general principles from specific observations
- Informant
- A group member secretly in alliance with the researcher, as an aid the researcher in studying the group
- Intervening variable
- A variable caused by the independent variable and which in turn causes the dependent variable.
- Market research
- A type of evaluation research, the purpose of which is to evaluate the sales potential of some product or service
- Mean
- The sum of a set of values divided by the number of cases from which the values are obtained; an average
- Median
- The midpoint in a series of values that are arranged in numerical order
- Mode
- The value that appears most frequently in a set of data
- Participant Observation
- A method whereby the sociologist becomes both a participant in the group being studied and a scientific observer of the group
- Percentage
- Parts per hundred
- Policy Research
- Research intended to produce results for social policy
- Population
- A relatively large collection of people (or other unit) that a researcher studies and about which generalizations are made
- Probability
- The likelihood that a specific behavior or event will occur
- Qualitative Research
- Research that is somewhat less structured yet focused on a question being asked; it is more interpretive and tends to have greater depth than quanitative research
- Quantitative Research
- Research that uses statistival methods
- Random Sample
- A sample that gives everyone in the population an equal chance of being selected
- Rate
- Parts per a given number (for example, per 10,000 per 100,000)
- Reliability
- The likelihood that a particular measure would produce the same results if the measure were repeated
- Replication Study
- Research that is repeated exactly but on a different group of people at a different time
- Research Design
- The overall logic and strategy used in a research project
- Sample
- Any subset from a population that a researcher studies.
- Scientific Method
- The steps in a research process including observation, hypothesis testing, analysis of data, and generalization
- Validity
- The degree to which an indicator accurately measures or reflects a concept
- Variable
- Something that can havemore than one value
- Beliefs
- Shared ideas held collectively by people withina given culture
- Couterculture
- Subculture created as a reaction against the values of the dominant culture
- Cultural Diffusion
- The transmission of cultural elements from one society or culture to another
- Cultural Hegemony
- The pervasive and excessive influence of one culture throughout society
- Cultural Relativism
- The idea that something can be understood and judged only in relationship to the cultural context in which it appears
- Culture
- The complex system of meaning and behavior that defines the way of life for a given group or society
- Culture lag
- The delay in cultural adjustments to changing social conditions
- Culture Shock
- The feeling of disorientation that can come when one encounters a new or rapidly changed cultural sitsuation
- Dominant Culture
- The culture of the most powerful group in society
- Ethocentrism
- The belief that one's in-group is superior to all out-groups
- Ethnomethodology
- A technique for studying human interactionby deliberatley disrupting social norms and observing how individuals attempt to restore normalcy
- Folkways
- The general standards of behavior adhered to by a group
- Global culture
- Diffusion of a single culture throughout the world
- Language
- A set of symbols and rules that, put together in a meaningful way, provides a complex communication system
- Law
- The written set of guidelines that define what is right and wrong in society
- Adult Socialization
- The process of learning new roles and expectations in adult life
- Anticipatory Socialization
- The process of learning the expectations associated with a role one expects to enter in the future
- Ego
- The part of the self representing reason and common sense
- Game Stage
- The stage in childhood when children become capable of taking a multitude of rolesat the same time
- Generalized Other
- The abstract composite of social roles and social expectations
- Id
- The part of the personality that inlcudes various impulses and drives, including sexual passions and desires, biological urges, and human instincts
- Identity
- How one defines oneself
- Imitation Stage
- The stage in childhood when chilldren copy the behavior of those around them
- Life Course Perspective
- Sociological framework for studying aging that connects people's personal attributes, the roles they occupy, the life events they experience, and their sociohistorical context
- Looking-glass self
- The idea that people's conception of self arises through reflection about their relationship to others
- Object relations theory
- A psychoanalytic theory of socialization arguing that social relationships children experience early in life determine the development of their personality
- Peers
- Those of similar status
- Personality
- The relatively consistent parttern of behavior, feelings, and beliefs in a given person
- Play Stage
- The stage in childhood when children begin to take on the roles of significant peopl in thier environment
- Psychoanalytic Theory
- A theory of socialization positing that the unconscious mind shapes human behavior
- Resocialization
- The process by which existing social roles are radically altered or replaced
- Rite of Passage
- Ceremony or ritual that symbolizes the passage of an individual from one role to another
- Roles
- The expected behavior associated with a given status in society
- Self
- Our concept of who we are, as formed in relationship to others
- Self-esteem
- The value a person places on his or her identity
- Significant others
- Those with whom we have a close affiliation
- Social identity complexity
- A term referring to how a person sugjectively interprets the interrelationships among multiple group identities
- Social learning Theory
- A theory of socialization positing that the formation of identity is a learned response to social stimuli
- socialization
- The process through which people learn the expectations of society
- Socialization agents
- Those who pass on social expectations
- Taking the role of the other
- The process of imagining oneself from the point of view of another