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55 Cards in this Set

  • Front
  • Back
-Scientific study of social structure
-Group behavior (social)
Does NOT study individual behavior
(only 100 years old)
Social structure
What we study
our basic unit
a custom
social habit
sociological imagination
ability to perceive a social event politically (sociologically)
micro-level analysis
small groups: family, friends, sunday school class.
macro-level analysis
cities, company (GM), possibly a state
**Human Ecology**
Studies humans
4 Theoretical perspectives:
1) human ecology
2)social interactionism
3) functionalism
4) conflict theory
Human ecology
focuses on space, time, population
ie. viewing ants
ALL are strong on prediction, weak on explanation
Example study: Single interviews of all in group. (Why are you here? Why diid you come in when you did?)
Social Interactionism
POV about studying individuals and what the behavior means to them. (What are you thinking when you do what you do?)
Only studies micro-small groups
KEYWORDS: Symbols, meaning, micro-sociology
Theory argues that social structures exist because they function for society.
KEYWORDS: Order, concensus, purpose, meeting societal needs.
Conflict Theory
KEYWORDS: Force, power, who benefits, control
Scientific Method
Study material is the world
Way of stating a concept. Putting human question into mathematical format.
4 ways:
The Effect of something-"depends on" something to be what it is.
Something to measure.
Must be able to go up and down.
Sudying objects.
Promotes natural causes to natural events (ordinary).
Independant Variable
The cause-Social class
Experimental group
Given treatment in the study
Control Group
NOT given treatment in the studay (ie. The Smart Pill)
Hawthorne Effect
People change the way they act when they know they are being studied.
participant observation
Scientist lives amont the people being studied.
Generalization built from the data. Attempt to explain variables.
Ideas about how behavior should be (Like a moral) about right and wrong, thought embedded with right and wrong.
Do not rape, kill, etc. (Typically the most heinous felonies are mores. Things that would get everyone upset.)
Milder than mores- Be polite, don't tailgate, try to eat well, shake hands, etc.
Usually one word-Refer to a standard of importance: Courage, freedom, persistance, cleanliness
Linguistic Relativity
Famous social science that argues that language is what makes something real. Language CREATES reality. All other forms of reality that don't exist with language just shouldn't exist. (Controversial)
Code that represents something else, is inborn, happens the same way (fixed), is non-cumulative, simple, universal.
(These are generated at the top of the spinal column.)
ie: Blinking, breathing, craying, gasping. It REFLECTS something.
Code that represents something else BUT it is learned, arbitrary, cumulative, can be complex, and is group specific.
ie: All the english words we use, music
(decoded on the left side of the neo-cortex.)
Sophisticated system of symbols.
(No difference in kind, but difference in quantity that separates us from the beasts.)
Shared language-based mental world of a socioculture (a human society). Creates our mental reality.
Belief that "My group does it beset."
Cultural relativism
REFUSES to evaluate anyone's trades. Unwilling to judge.
"Well, Hitler was just doing what he thought was best. Perhaps it was his upbringing, etc."
(4)There are four of them. Largest category IS the social category.
A collection of individuals who are grouped together because they share a trait deemd by the observer to be socially relevant (e.g., sex, race, or age)
(All in the NAVY, all who are sleeping, etc.)
Social GROUP
(3)A set of two or more individuals who share a sense of common identity and belonging and who interact on a regular basis. (This class, three friends, etc.)
(2)Largely self-sufficient autonomous group.
(5)A bunch of individuals who are near eachother, but are unorganized (people waiting for a bus, people on the beach.)
(1) A human Society. (All of Peru, Japan, Germany.) HUMAN ONLY.
American Navaho Indians are best described as a:
A position within a group
The behavior expected of a status
Role Expectations
What the other members of the society anticipate you will do.
A SUB-population within a society with a distinctive lifestyle. (Lifestyle of a prison inmate, or someone at bootcamp is DIFFERENT)
When a subculture goes AGAINST SOCIETY. (Hippies challenged middle class lifestyle.)
Primary Group
Small. Individuals are the end in itself. Intrinsic value. NOT easily substituted.
Secondary Group
Individuals are means to an end. Extrinsic value. Easily substituted. All beurocracies are secondary groups.
Role Conflict
conflict for an individual because of many groups. (All want a piece of you. Can't satisfy all.)(Parents who are working must put in extra time, which cuts into time with children.)
Role Strain
People experience conflicting demands in an existing role, or cannot meet the expectations of a new one. (Triage nurse experiences sever role strain.)
Ascribed Status
Can't be changed (peasant, slave, 6 toes, etc.)
Achieved Status
CAN be changed
(Professor, editor, Nobel Prize winner)
The child reasing process by which humans and animals learn to be part of a group.
Baby-human infant, wants needs met, now, here.
Conscience-our morals-what we ought to do
PERSONALITY formed out of content between Id and Superego.
Significant Other
Anyone who had an important influence on us. Anyone who impacts us. (Who is important to us)
Generalized Other
A person's internalized conception of the expectations and attitudes held by society. Other people who's opinions we care and worry about.
Socialization Agents
People who are important to our upbringing.
Reference Group
People who we identify with around us.