1. sociology

1. sociology the study of human society 2. Who argued that in the effort to think critically about the social world around us, we need to use our sociological imagination to see the connections between our personal experience and the larger forces of history? C. Wright Mills 3. sociological imagination the ability to connect the most basic, intimate aspects of an individual’s life to seemingly impersonal and remote historical forces 4. social institution a complex group of interdependent positions that perform a social role and reproduce themselves over time; also defined in a narrow sense as any institution in a society that works to shape the behavior of the groups or people within it 5. Who invented what he called ” social physics” or ” positivism”? Auguste Comte (1798-1857) 6. Comte’s three historical, epistemological stages * 1. Theological stage * 2. Metaphysical stage * 3. Scientific stage 7. Comte’s stage in which society seemed to be the result of devine will theological stage 8. Comte’s stage in which scholars might consult the Bible or other ecclesiastical texts theological stage 9. Comte’s stage in which Enlightenment thinkers such as Jean Jacques Rousseau, John Stuart Mill, and Thomas Hobbes saw humankind’s behavior as governed by natural, biological instincts metaphysical stage 10. Comte’s stage in which to understand the nature of society, we needed to strip away the layers of society to better comprehend how our basic drives and natural instincts governed and established the foundation for the surrounding world metaphysical stage 11. Comte’s stage in which we would develop a social physics of sorts in order to indentify the scientific laws that govern human behavior scientific stage 12. Who was the first to translate Comte into English? Harriet Martineau (1802-1876) 13. works of Harriet Martineau * Theory and Practice of Society in America (1837) * How to Observe Morals and Manners (1838) 14. Who is considered one of the earliest feminist social scientists writing in the English language? Harriet Martineau 15. founding fathers of the sociological discipline * Karl Marx * Max Weber * Emile Durkheim * sometimes: Georg Simmel 16. most famous fo the founding fathers? Karl Marx (1818-1883) 17. the term Marxism (an ideological alternative to capitalism) is derived from his surname Karl Marx 18. Who criticized Marx for his exclusive focus on the economy and social class, advocating sociological analysis that allowed for the multiple influences of culture, economics, and politics? Max Weber (1864-1920) 19. works of Max Weber * Economy and Society (1914) * lengthy essay – ” The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism 20. Verstehen * German: understanding * this concept forms the object of inquiry for interpretive sociology – to study how social actors understand their actions and the social world through experience * Weber suggested that sociologists approach social behavior from the perspective of those engaging in it 21. founding father from France Emile Durkheim 22. founding father from Germany Max Weber 23. founding father who settled in London Karl Marx 24. works of Emile Durkheim * The Division of Labor in Society (1893) * Suicide (1897) * The Elemental Forms of Religions of Life 25. anomie * a sense of aimlessness or despair that arises when we can no longer reasonably expect life to be predictable * to little social regulation * normlessness 26. positivist sociology a strain within sociology that believes the social world can be described and predicted by certain describable relationships (akin to a social physics) 27. received less credit as one of the founders of sociology, although as of late is gaining wider recognition Georg Simmel (1858-1918) 28. established what we today refer to as formal sociology – that is, a sociology of pure numbers Georg Simmel 29. emergence of American sociology characterized by which of the following: focus on big, sweeping theories more focused empirical research more focused empirical research 30. ” looking-glass self” * Charles Horton Cooley * the self emerges from an interactive social process * by refining our vision of how others perceive us, we develop a self-concept that is in constant interaction with the surrounding social world 31. ” social self” * Charles Horton Cooley and George Herbert Mead * the social environment shapes the individual 32. most important black sociologist of the time and the first African American to receive a Ph. D. from Harvard W. E. B. DuBois (1868-1963) 33. first sociologist to undertake ethnography in the African American community W. E. B. DuBois 34. double consciousness a concept conceived by W. E. B. DuBois to describe the two behavioral scripts, one for moving through the world and the other incorporating the external opinions of prejudiced onlookers, which are constantly maintained by African Americans 35. Who theorized that the breakdown of norms resulting from the sudden and newfound freedom of former slaves caused high crime rates among blacks (at least in the South)? W. E. B. DuBois 36. considered a marginal member of the Chicago School, yet many of the movement’s thinkers drew some of their insights from her applied work Jane Addams 37. founded the first American settlement house, Hull House, an institution that attempted to link the ideas of the university to the poor through a full-service community center, staffed by students and professionals, which offered educational services and aid and promoted sports and the arts Jane Addams 38. Where were the ideas of the Chicago School put into practice and tested? Hull House in Chicago 39. functionalism the theory that various social institutions and processes in society exist to serve some important (or necessary) function to keep society running 40. organicism * the notion that society is like a living organism, each part of which serves an important role in keeping society together * The state or government was seen to be the brain; industry was the muscular system; media and mass communications were the nervous system; and so on 41. conflict theory the idea that conflict between competing interests is the basic, animating force of social change and society in general 42. symbolic interactionism a micro-level theory in which shared meanings, orientations, and assumptions form the basic motivations behind people’s actions 43. feminist theory * emerged from the women’s movements of the 1960s and 1970s * shares many ideas with Marxist theory – in particular, the Marxist emphasis on conflict * emphasize equality between men and women and want to see women’s lives and experivences represented in sociological studies * focused on defining concepts such as sex and gender and challenging conventional wisdom by questioning the meanings usually assigned to these concepts * focuses on inequalities based on gender categories * studied women’s experiences at home and in the workplace, in social institutions such as schools, the family, and the government * sociologists remain interested in how power relationships are defined, shaped, and reproduced on the basis of gender differences 44. Ann Oakley * Sex, Gender, and Society (1972) * argued that much of what we attribute to biological sex differences can be traced to behaviors that are learned and internalized through socialization 45. focuses on big theories of society macrosociology 46. focuses on how face-to-face interactions create the social world microsociology 47. postmodernism a condition characterized by a questioning of the notion of progess and history, the replacement of narrative within pastiche, and multiple, perhaps even conflicting, identities resulting from disjointed affiliations 48. social constitutions an entity that exists because people behave as if it exists and whose existence is perpetuated as people and social institutions act in accordance with the widely agreed upon formal rules or informal norms of behavior associated with that entity 49. midrange theory a theory that attempts to predict how certain social institutions tend to function 50. microsociology seeks to understand local interactional contexts; its methods of choise are ethnographic, generally including participant observation and in-depth interviews