Agents of Society
This is the word for people who live together and follow the same rules and customs.
Society (or "group/society")
This French thinker is often called the "father of sociology" and wanted to study society scientifically.
Auguste Comte
The ability to see how personal experiences are connected to larger social forces is called this (two words).
Sociological imagination
Functionalism views society like this — many parts working together — name the analogy (one word).
Organism
If you ask why people follow the same schedule each weekday at school, you are looking for this kind of ___________ behavior.
Patterned behavior or social patterns
Name one place or institution where people learn expected behaviors.
School (or "family, religion")
This early English woman wrote "Society in America" and argued sociologists should observe and push for social reform.
Harriet Martineau
A word meaning "rules and expectations" that guide behavior in everyday life.
Norms
This theory asks the question: "Who gets what?" It focuses on this between groups (one word).
Conflict
When students clip three newspaper articles to study a social trend, they are using this general approach to learn about society (two words).
Content analysis or current events activity (or "collecting articles / current-events research")
The written and unwritten rules that tell people how to behave in a group are called these.
Norms
This sociologist used the idea "survival of the fittest" and opposed social reform, believing society evolves on its own.
Herbert Spencer (Social Darwinism)
The term for unintended or hidden results of an action or social institution (not its main goal).
Latent functions (or "dysfunctions" if negative)
Symbolic interactionism studies small groups and how people use these to communicate (hint: shared marks or actions).
Symbols
Give one way the Internet might create a "dysfunction" for families (short answer).
Examples: "Less face-to-face family time," "cyberbullying," or "reliance on devices"
This is the group that works for others and usually performs labor for wages; sociologists call them the ______?
Proletariat (or "working class")
This sociologist studied suicide and showed social factors (like religion or marital status) affect suicide rates; he introduced the idea of "anomie."
Émile Durkheim (and anomie)
The idea that people learn behavior from family, school, and media is part of this larger structure that shapes how we act.
Social structure
From the conflict perspective, the group that controls money, power, and prestige is said to have this (one word).
Power
Explain in a sentence how Durkheim used data to show that social integration affects suicide rates (student-level explanation).
"Durkheim measured suicide rates and showed groups with stronger social ties had lower suicide rates — so social integration affects suicide."
When many people share the same values and feel connected because of specialized jobs, sociologists call that this type of social cohesion.
Organic solidarity
This scholar studied bureaucracy and rationalization and introduced the idea of "verstehen" — trying to understand others by seeing their point of view.
Max Weber (verstehen, bureaucracy, rationalization)
The belief that the economy shapes society and that class struggle drives historical change is the core idea of this theorist (name the theory or the thinker).
Marxism or Karl Marx's theory of class conflict
Give one example of how the interactionist perspective would explain why two students act differently in the same classroom.
Example: Interactionists might say students act differently because they interpret classroom symbols (like a teacher's smile) in different ways, so their behavior changes.
Design a simple classroom activity (2–3 steps) that helps students see how perspective shapes what people notice — include how partners will share results.
Example activity: "Step 1: One student draws a simple shape at the board while partner faces away. Step 2: Student A describes it without showing it; Student B draws. Step 3: Compare drawings and discuss how different descriptions led to different results — shows perspective shapes perception."