1.1
What is an example of a micro-level social group sociologists might study?
small scale: Teenager slang, Baker County
What is the difference between Anthropology and Sociology?
Sociology: Western societies
Anthropology: Primitive or ancient societies, Comparative societies/cultures
Best Theory for studying Social Change
Conflict Theory
Grand-daddy of Positivism
Compte
What did the Scientific Revolution contribute to the field of sociology?
Scientific Method of studying a topic through observation in order to discover underlying laws.
(also challenged conventional thinking of day)
What is an example of a macro-level social group sociologists might study?
large scale: United States, or change in the change in English Language over time.
Provide an example of a social institution and define the need it fulfills in society.
A major Theoretical Perspective more suited to micro-level analysis than macro-level analysis
Symbolic Interactionism
Anti-positivist who emphasized need to study subjective nature of human interactions
Weber
How did the Enlightenment influence early Sociology?
Proposed the idea that society could be improved through reform.
Ex: French Revolution (Compte), American Revolution
A society is a group of people who;
1) Share a culture
2) Live in a defined area or territory
3) AND...
interact with each other
Provide an example of a cultural pattern and the social force it exhibits over the individual.
Answers may vary. Ex: Increasing divorce rates. More social acceptance of divorce and changing view of marriage as more based on romance and compatibility as opposed to sacred and holy.
Best theory for studying social stability and worst for understanding social change
Functionalism
Came up with idea that social conflict leads to change.
Marx
How did the changes of the Industrial Revolution influence the development of Sociology?
The economic transition in society caused many problems in cities, factories, and the environment. Poverty and inequality grew influencing Sociologists to try and understand/reform changes.
Marx explained with Conflict Thoery
Weber explained with book on Capitalism
Addams created social services for Urban Poor
What do you call the shared products of society? The things people create (physical and abstract)?
Culture
What would Norbert Elias say is critical to consider when studying a major social institution?
Apply Figuration to see how institution affects individuals and is shaped by groups of individuals.
Ex: "The Government," "The Schools," "The Police,"
Which theory looks at people as active members in constructing their society through their actions and beleifs
Symbolic Interactionism
First methodological and academic Sociologist, studied suicide, and gave rise to Functionalist Theory.
Durkheim
How are the ideas of the Sociological Imagination and Figuration related?
They both try to understand how individual behavior and life experience are related to history and culture.
When studying a person or group suffering from homelessness, what kind of questions might a sociologist ask to understand the situation?
Why/How have institutions failed this person?
How has this person interacted with other groups in society?
What social pressures/problems have contributed to homelessness here?
How is the structure of society flawed?
This theory came out of the family of Symbolic Interactionism and views society through the metaphor of a theatrical performance
dramaturgical analysis
Coined the term survival of the fittest, was influenced by Darwin, and was interested in how societies evolve.
Spencer