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Flashcards in TEST #1 Deck (85)
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1
Q

The systematic study of human society and social interaction.

A

Sociology.

2
Q

A large social grouping that shares the same geographical territory and is subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations.

A

Society

3
Q

The ability to see the relationship between individual experiences and the larger society.

A

Sociological imagination.

4
Q

Nations with highly industrialized economies; technologically advanced industrial, administrative and service occupations; and relatively high levels of national and personal income.

A

High-income countries.

5
Q

What are some examples of high-income countries?

A

United States Canada Australia New Zealand Japan Countries of Western Europe

6
Q

Nations with industrializing economies particularly in urban areas, and moderate levels of national and personal income.

A

Middle-income countries.

7
Q

What are some examples of middle-income countries?

A

China The nations of Eastern Europe Latin American countries such as Brazil and Mexico

8
Q

Countries that are primarily agrarian nations with little industrialization and low levels of national and personal income; Where people typically work the land and are among the poorest in the world.

A

Low-income countries.

9
Q

What are some examples of low-income countries?

A

Burkina Faso Central African Republic Democratic Republic of the Congo Liberia Niger Sierra Leone

10
Q

The process by which societies are transformed from dependence on agriculture and handmade products to an emphasis on manufacturing and related industries.

A

Industrialization.

11
Q

The process by which an increasing proportion of a population lives in cities rather than rural areas.

A

Urbanization.

12
Q
  • French philosopher.
  • Coined term sociology from the Latin word socius (“social, being with others”) and the Greek word logos (“study of”) to describe a new science that would engage in the study of society.
  • Considered by some the “founder of sociology.”
  • Positivism
A

Auguste Comte (1798-1857)

13
Q

A belief that the world can best be understood through scientific inquiry.

A

Positivism

14
Q

Auguste Comte believed that positivism had two dimensions:

A
  1. Methodological—the application of scientific knowlege to both physical and social phenomena
  2. _Social and Political—_the use of such knowledge to predict the likely results of different policies so that the best one could be chosen.
15
Q
  • Received no recognition in the field of sociology because she was a woman in a male-dominated society.
  • In Society in America (1962/1837), the examined religion, politics, child rearing, slavery, and immigration in the United States, paying speciial attention to social distinctions based on class, race and gender.
  • Advocated racial and gender equality.
A

Harriet Martineau. (1802-1876)

16
Q
  • Believed that societies develop through a process of “struggle” (for existence) and “fitness” (for survival) which he referred to as the “survival of the fittest.”
  • Social Darwinism.
A

Herbert Spencer (1820-1903)

17
Q

The belief that those species of animals, including human beings, best adapted to their environment survive and prosper, whereas those poorly adapted die out.

A

Social Darwinism

18
Q
  • French sociologist
  • Stressed that people are the product of their social environment and that behavior cannot be understood fully in terms of individual biological and psychological traits.
  • The Rules of Sociological Method
  • Social facts
  • Anomie—most likely to occur during a perood of rapid change.
A

Emile Durkheim (1858-1917).

19
Q

Patterned ways of acting, thinking, and feeling that exist outside any one individual but that exert social control over each person.

A

Social Facts.

20
Q

A condition in which social control becomes ineffective as a result of the loss of shared values and of a sense of purpose in society; To feel disengaged or alienated from society.

A

Anomie.

21
Q
  • German economist and philosopher.
  • Stressed that history is a continuous dash between conflicting ideas and forces.
  • Believed the most important changes are economic.
  • Class conflict.
  • From his viewpoint, the capitalist class controls and exploits the masses of struggling workers by paying less than the value of their labor.
  • Predicted that the working class would come aware of its exploitation, overthrow the capitalists, and establish a free and classless society.
  • Regarded as one of the most profound sociological thinkers; However his social and economic analyses have also inspired heated debates among generations of social scientists.
A

Karl Marx (1818-1883)

22
Q

Struggle between the capitalist class and the working class.

A

Class Conflict.

23
Q

The capitalist class or ________, comprises of those who own and control the means of production—the tools, land, factories, and money for an investment that form the economic basis of a society.

A

Bourgeoisie.

24
Q

The working class, or _______, is comprised of those who must sell their labor because they have no other means to earn a livelihood.

A

Proletariat.

25
Q

A feeling of powerlessness and estrangement from other people and from oneself.

A

Alienation.

26
Q

The existing state of society.

A

Status quo.

27
Q
  • German social scientist.
  • Concerned about the changes brought about by the Industrial Revolution.
  • Disagreed with Marx’s idea that economics is the central force in social change.
  • Emphasized that sociology should be value free—research should be conducted in a scientific manner and should exclude the researchers personal values and economic interests.
  • Stressed that sociologists should employ verstehen​ (German for “understanding” or “insight”) to gain the ability to see the world as others see it.
A

Max Weber (1864-1920)

28
Q
  • German sociologist.
  • Theorizing about society as a web of patterned interactions among people.
  • Analyzed how social interactions vary depending on the size of the social group.
  • Developed formal sociology, an approach that focuses attention on the universal recurring social forms that underlie the varying content of social interaction.
  • His contributions to sociology are significant. He wrote more than thirty books and numerous essays on diverse topics, leading some critics to state that his work is fragmentary and piecemeal.
A

Georg Simmel (1858-1918).

29
Q

The first departments of sociology in the United States were located at the University of ________.

A

Chicago.

30
Q
  • One of the best-known early women sociologists in the United States because she founded Hull House, one of the most famous settlement houses in an impoverished area of Chicago.
  • Awarded a Nobel Prize for her assistance to the underprivileged.
A

Jane Addams (1869-1935).

31
Q
  • Founded the second department of sociology in the United States at Atlanta University.
  • One of the first scholars to note that a dual heritage creates conflict for people of color. He called this duality double consciousness.
A

W. E. B. Du Bois (1868-1963)

32
Q

The identity conflict of being both a black and an American.

A

Double-consciousness.

33
Q

A set of logically interrelated statements that attempts to describe, explain and (occasionally) predict social events.

A

Theory.

34
Q

An overall approach to or viewpoint on some subject.

A

Perspective.

35
Q

Perspectives that are based on the assumption the assumption that society is a stable, orderly system.

A

Functionalist perspectives.

36
Q

Perhaps the most influential contemporary advocate of the functionalist perspective, stressed that all societies must provide for meeting social needs in order to survive.

A

Talcott Parsons (1902-1979)

37
Q

Talcott Parsons suggested, for example, that a division of labor (distinct, specialized functions) between husband and wife is essential for family stability and social order. The husband/father performs the _______ tasks, which involve leadership and decision making responsibilities in the home and employment outside the home to support the family. The wife/mother is responsible for the _______ tasts, including house work, caring for the children, and providing emotional support for the entire family.

A

Instrumental; Expressive

38
Q

Functionalism was redefined further by _________, who distinguished between manifest and latent functions of social institutions.

A

Robert K Merton (1910-2003).

39
Q

Intended and/or overtly recognized by the participants in a social unit.

A

Manifest functions.

40
Q

Unintended functions that are hidden and remain unacknowledged by participants.

A

Latent functions.

41
Q

The undesirable consequences of any element of society.

A

Dysfunctions.

42
Q

Groups in society are engaged in a continuous power struggle for control of scarce resources.

A

Conflict perspectives.

43
Q

A social group with three members.

A

Triad

44
Q

Max Weber defined _____ as the ability of a person within a social relationship to carry out his or her own will despite resistance from others, and _____ as a positive or negative social estimation of honor.

A

Power; Prestige.

45
Q

C. Wright Mills (1916-1962) believed that most important decisions in the United States are made largely behind the scenes by the _______—a small clique composed of top corporate, political, and military officials.

A

Power Elite.

46
Q

Directs attention to women’s experiences and the importance of gender as an element of social structure.

A

Feminist theoretical approach or Feminism.

47
Q

According to feminist theorists, we live in a ________, a system in which men dominate women and in which things that are considered to be “male” or “masculine” are more highly valued than those considered to be “female” or feminine.

A

Patriarchy.

48
Q

In North America, ______ are more likely to attempt suicide, whereas ______ are more likely to actually take their own life.

A

Females; Males.

49
Q

Examines whole societies, large-scale social structures, and social systems instead of looking at important social dynamics in individuals’ lives.

A

Macrolevel analysis.

50
Q

Which focuses on small groups rather than large-scale social structures.

A

Microlevel analysis.

51
Q

According to ________, society is the sum of the interactions of individuals and groups.

A

Symbolic interactionist perspectives.

52
Q

Anything that meaningfully represents something else; Includes signs, gestures, written language, and shared values.

A

Symbol.

53
Q

______ occurs when people communicate through the use of symbols—for example, a ring to indicate a couple’s engagement.

A

Symbolic interaction.

54
Q

How people _____ the messages they receive and the situations they encounter becomes their subjective reality and may strongly influence their behavior.

A

Interpret.

55
Q

According to ______, existing theories have been unsuccessful in explaining social life in contemporary societies that are characterized by postindustrialization, consumerism, and global communications.

A

Postmodern Perspectives.

56
Q

Process of systematically collecting information for the purpose of testing an existing theory or generating a new one.

A

Research.

57
Q

With ______ research, the goal is scientific objectivity, and the focus is on data that can be measured numerically.

A

Quantitative.

58
Q

With ______ research, interpretive descriptions (words) rather than statistics (numbers) are used to analyze underlying meanings and patterns of social relationships.

A

Qualitative research.

59
Q

A statement of the expected relationship between two or more variables.

A

Hypothesis.

60
Q

Any concept with measurable traits or characteristics that can change or vary from one person, time, situation, or society to another.

A

Variable.

61
Q

Presumed to be the cause of the relationship.

A

Independent variable.

62
Q

Assumed to be caused by the independent variable.

A

Dependent variable.

63
Q

The people who are selected from the population to be studied; should accurately represent the larger population.

A

Sample.

64
Q

A selection from a larger population that has the essential characteristics of the total population.

A

Representative sample.

65
Q

The extent to which a study or research instrument accurately measures what it is supposed to measure.

A

Validity.

66
Q

The extent to which a study or research instrument yields consistent results when applied to different individuals at one time or to the same individuals over time.

A

Reliability.

67
Q

Process through which data are organized so that comparisons can be made and conclusions drawn.

A

Analysis.

68
Q

The repetition of the investigation in substantially the same way that it was originally conducted.

A

Replication.

69
Q

Specific strategies or techniques for systematically conducting research.

A

Research methods.

70
Q

A poll in which the researcher gathers facts or attempts to determine the relationships among facts.

A

Survey.

71
Q

People who provide data for analysis through interviews or questionnaires.

A

Respindents.

72
Q

Printed research instrument containing a series of items to which subjects respond.

A

Questionnaire.

73
Q

Questionnaires may be administered by interviewers in face-to-face encounters or by telephone, but the most commonly used technique is the _________ questionnaire, which is either mailed to the respondent’s home or administered to groups of respondents gathered at the same place at the same time.

A

Self-administered.

74
Q

Data collection encounter in which an interviewer asks the respondent questions and records the answers.

A

Interview.

75
Q

Survey research often uses _______ interviews, in which the interviewer asks questions from a standardized questionnaire.

A

Structured.

76
Q

Research involving more than two independent variables.

A

Mulivariate analysis.

77
Q

In _______, researchers use existing material and analyze data that were originally collected by others.

A

Secondary analysis.

78
Q

The systematic examination of cultural artifacts or various forms of communication to extract thematic data and draw conclusions about social life.

A

Content analysis.

79
Q

Study of social life in its natural setting; observing and interviewing people where they live, work, and play.

A

Field research.

80
Q

The process of collecting systematc observations while being part of the activities of the group that the researcher is studying.

A

Participant observation.

81
Q

A detailed study of the life and activities of a group of people by researchers who may live with that group over a period of years.

A

Ethnography.

82
Q

Carefully designed situation in which the researcher studies the impact of certain variables on subjects’ attitudes or behavior.

A

Experiment.

83
Q

Contains the subjects who are exposed to an independent variable (the experimental condition) to study its effect on them.

A

Experimental group.

84
Q

Contains the subjects who are not exposed to the independent variable.

A

Control group.

85
Q

Exists when two variables are associated more frequently than could be expected by chance.

A

Correlation.