Sociological Foundations
This research method relies on closed-ended questions and numbers to gather statistical data from large populations.
What is quantitative?
This macro-level theoretical perspective views society as a system of interconnected parts working together to maintain stability and equilibrium.
What is functionalist?
The material objects, items, and technology created and used by a group of people in a culture.
What are artifacts?
The concept that an act is not inherently deviant in and of itself, but only becomes deviant relative to the specific culture, time period, or social context in which it occurs.
What is the relativity of deviance?
The lifelong process through which individuals learn the values, skills, and cultural norms of their society.
What is socialization?
This is a research method that uses interviews, field observations, or open-ended questions to gather in-depth, non-numerical data.
What is qualitative?
This macro-level theoretical perspective focuses on the struggle for scarce resources and power between social groups.
What is conflict theory?
A system of symbols (spoken, written, or gestured) that allows people to communicate with one another within a culture.
What is language?
A criminal justice strategy focused on harsh punishments, mandatory minimums, and strict law enforcement to deter crime.
What is the get tough approach?
The dramatic process of tearing down an old identity and building a brand new one, typically experienced in total institutions like military boot camps or prisons.
What is resocialization?
This refers to a research design that collects data using questionnaires or interviews administered to a sample of respondents.
What is a survey?
This micro-level theoretical perspective focuses on how people use symbols, shared meanings, and face-to-face interactions to construct their daily realities.
What is symbolic interactionalist?
A culture's ideas about what is morally right and wrong, desirable and undesirable, or good and bad.
What are values?
This theory suggests that labels given to people by authority figures (such as "criminal" or "troublemaker") can become a self-fulfilling prophecy, pushing them further into deviance.
What is labeling theory?
Charles Horton Cooley’s concept that our self-image develops from how we think other people perceive and judge us.
What is the looking-class self?
Coined by C. Wright Mills, this term refers to how a person's corners in life (such as race, social class, gender, and region) determine their access to resources and life experiences.
What is social location?
Developed by Robert Merton, this theory explains how societal pressures (such as the American Dream) can lead individuals to commit deviant acts when culturally approved goals are blocked.
What is strain theory?
The rules, expectations, or behavioral guidelines that a society uses to govern the acceptable behavior of its members.
What are norms?
A phenomenon where individuals are less likely to offer help to a victim when other people are present because responsibility is divided among the crowd.
What is diffusion of responsibility?
Erving Goffman's term for the efforts we make to control, manage, and manipulate the impressions that others form of us during social interactions.
What is impression management?
Max Weber’s term for the opportunities each individual has to improve their quality of life and realize their goals within society.
What are life chances?
Edwin Sutherland's theory stating that people learn deviant or criminal behavior through their interactions and associations with close friends and family members who deem deviance acceptable.
What is differential association?
A person's socially defined position within a group or society, which dictates their rights, duties, and expectations.
What is status?
This sociological concept argues that human behavior, knowledge, and reality do not exist independently, but are actively created and sustained through ongoing social interactions and agreements.
What is the social construction of reality?
Drawing on Erving Goffman’s dramaturgical theory, this term describes the "behind-the-scenes" private space where individuals relax, drop their masks, and prepare for their public performances.
What is back stage?