Introduction To Sociology

Front 1

Sociology

Back 1

systematic study of human society and social interaction

Front 2

Society

Back 2

large social grouping that occupies the same geographic area and is subject to a common political authority and dominant cultural expectations

Front 3

Industrialization

Back 3

the process by which societies are transformed from agriculture based economic activity to manufacturing based economic activity

This process began during the industrial revolution. People no longer labored on the land; they worked in factories

Front 4

Bourgeoisie

Back 4

Capitalist Class

The class that owned the key economic resources in industrial societies

What Karl Marx termed "The means of production"

Front 5

Proletariat

Back 5

Working Class.

Composed of people who owned only their ability to labor, which they sold to the bourgeoisie in order to earn a living.

Front 6

Conflict Perspective

Back 6

views society as a composition of groups with clashing interests who ingage in a struggle over scarce social resources

views social conflict as an inevitable and permanent feature of society, though that conflict could have potentially beneficial consequences, as it has the possibility of producing social change that will lead to a better society

one group tends to have control over a disproportionate amount of valuable social resources, such as money, buildings, equipment and quality employment opportunities and a disproportionate control over key social institiutions, such as the political and economic systems. That disproportionate control gives the group power to shape societal practices to their advantage.

Front 7

Functionalist Perspective

Back 7

views society as a relatively stable and orderly system composed of interdependent and interrelated parts

Front 8

Latent Function

Back 8

consequences that are unintended and unrecognized

ex: a latent function of weddings is family reunions, as kin come together to both celebrate the marriage and catch up with each other

Front 9

Social Facts

Back 9

patterned ways of behaving, thinking and feeling

social facts are generated at the individual level but are observable at the societal level

Front 10

Manifest Function

Back 10

intended, expected or overtly recognized consequences of an activity or institution.

ex : manifest function of a wedding is to legally join together two people in marriage.

Front 11

Social Dysfunction

Back 11

undesirable consequences of an institution or activity for the social system.

ex: citizens of the USA highly value personal privacy, especially privacy at home. However, such privacy may mask and hide behaviour such as child abuse, which is generally regarded as undesireable.

Front 12

Anomie

Back 12

when society provides little moral or behavioral guidance to an individual

no social norms

Front 13

Suicide Facts

Back 13

men are more likely to commit suicide because they are raised to be less emotionally expressive

married people were less likely to commit suicide than single people because they were embedded in a strong relationship with someone else

Protestants commit suicide at higher rates than Catholics or Jews

Front 14

Theory

Back 14

a set of logically interrelated statements that attempts to explain, describe and occasionally predict how two or more social phenomena are related

Front 15

Theoretical Perspective

Back 15

a basic overall image or paradigm (model, pattern) used to organize a way of understanding society

Front 16

Charles Horton Cooley

Back 16

concept of the "looking glass self"

referred to the way a person's sense of self is based on the imagined reactions of others (or how we think others see us)

Front 17

Ideal Culture

Back 17

values a culture professes to hold dear

Front 18

Real Culture

Back 18

the actual values embodied in a people's day-to-day behavior

Front 19

Norms

Back 19

specific rules that shape behavior

behavioral guidelines

prescriptive - how someone should act (please, thank you)

proprescriptive - how someone should NOT act (cheating, stealing, cutting in line)

Front 20

Folkways

Back 20

behavioral guidelines (not picking your nose in public, holding door open for next person, quiet on elevators)

may be violated without serious consequences

Front 21

Mores

Back 21

behavioral guidelines with considerable moral significance

carry serious consequences if violated

Front 22

Laws

Back 22

formal norms that have been created by a society's political authority

punishable by official sanctions when violated

ex : theft, assault, kidnapping

Front 23

Subculture

Back 23

a group of people that possess some cultural pattern(s) that may distinguish it from the larger society

ex : Chinatowns, Gay & Lesbian, Amish

Front 24

Countercultures

Back 24

groups that reject the norms and values of dominant culture and possess a distinctive way of life

ex : white supremacists, Hippies

Front 25

Popular Culture

Back 25

cultural patterns that are widespread within the middle and working classes of society

Front 26

High Culture

Back 26

cultural patterns that distinguish a society's elite from the other classes of society

ex : debutante balls