Introductory Sociology CLEP InstantCert

The study of human social behavior--societies, social groups, and the relationships between people.

The ability to see that social forces affect individual lives and that individuals can alter the course of human history.

Defined by C. Wright Mills as something we need if we are to understand ourselves in relation to society.

The three sociological perspectives, or paradigms.

Philosophical or theoretical perspectives--each one is a point of view from which a sociologist studies society.

The sociological perspective which focuses on symbols and face-to-face interaction.

Focused on the process of social interaction and on the meanings that are constructed and reconstructed in that process.

The sociological perspective which focuses on the relationship between different parts of society, where each part contributes to the overall stability of the whole.

Based on the writings of Emile Durkheim and Herbert Spencer and is based on looking at things from the perspective that everything, whether apparently good or bad, serves some kind of function.

Sees society as characterized by conflict and inequality; it focuses on how the elite control the poor, and the competition for scarce resources.

Based on the work of Coser, Dahrendorf, and Mills.

Primarily used in the natural sciences, but are also used by sociologists. They make use of statistical and other math-based techniques to form conclusions from their observations.

Designed to achieve precision, in contrast to qualitative methods.

Rely on personal observation and description to form conclusions on behavior.

Not an exact science like quantitative methods which are based on statistics and math.

The most commonly used method of observation by sociologists which involves asking the subjects of the study questions.

Involves either interviewing the subjects, or having them fill out a survey.

Unless the number of subjects being studied is small, not everyone is approached in a survey.

A portion of the subject population which represents the whole. It involves randomly choosing subjects so that everyone has an equal chance of being selected.

Uses differences which exist in a subject population, such as gender, as the basis for selecting, instead of doing a straight random selection.

If a population is divided into blue-collar and white-collar workers, the researcher might choose to select a certain number of each based on what proportion of the total population they make up, instead of choosing a completely random mix.

The study of populations and their characteristics.

Categorize people based on age, gender, education, occupation, income, family background, etc.

Subjects of a study change their behavior if they know they are being studied.

Subjects in a study at the Hawthorne Plant of Western Electric Company who hadn't been subject to any changes improved their performance in the presence of researchers.

Physically attractive people are perceived as having more positive characteristics, such as kindness, sociability, honesty, etc.

Occurs when people become stereotyped based on earlier impressions and these impressions color future events. It can be positive or negative.

Kept under normal conditions in an experiment.

Subject to a particular condition in an experiment.

Sociologists use this term instead of "cause".

Sociologists use this term instead of "effect".

Produces an effect on another variable.

The variable affected.

Adopted a functional approach to his study of religion, stating that it served the function of acting as a source of solidarity and identification for the individuals within a society.

Sees each aspect of society as interdependent and serving some kind of function. This approach stresses practicality, purpose, and utility.

Subjects are observed from a distance--normally the subjects do not know they are being observed, and the researcher is not directly involved with them.

The researcher joins the group of subjects or participates in the activity being observed.

Researcher studies old records and documents in an attempt to discover something new, instead of going out and collecting his own data.

Concerns such as "could the results of this research be used in harmful ways," "is the privacy of the subjects being invaded," or "should subjects know they are being studied?"

The process whereby people become social beings or learn to take part in new social situations.

The two types of socialization.

The socialization which takes a child from birth to the point where he is a member of society as a social being.

The subsequent socialization which an already socialized person experiences.

Children draw on their parents' experiences to learn about their possible future.

Occurs in advance of playing an actual role. We rehearse for the future by learning something about role requirements and visualize ourselves in the role.

Believed social interaction to be a series of human dramas in which people play roles much as actors do, attempting to control the reactions of others by presenting a certain image of one's self.

Social life is like a drama or stage play.

Believed the self develops through three stages: the preparatory stage, the play stage and the game stage.

Children imitate others.

Children pretend to take the roles of specific people.

Children become aware of the expectations of others.

For Mead, the process of acting involves the interaction of two basic aspects of the self.

All human acts begin in this form and give acts energy--the creative aspect of the self.

This aspect of the self focuses on conformity with the expectations of society.

Preventing crime by instilling fear in the general population through the punishment of offenders.

The individual offender is discouraged from further crimes through punishment.

Crime that generally involves acts that are non-violent.

Forgery, fraud, embezzlement and counterfeiting. These criminals are often respectable people with no previous criminal record.

This is developed in a person through socialization.

Allows people to acquire and develop a personality. There have been documented examples of people who grew up with animals in the forest, and did not have a human personality due to the absence human interaction.

The process of "becoming human," or being able to participate in society.

The driving forces behind socialization--the individuals, groups, and institutions which help socialization to take place.

A practice or relationship which is of importance in the life of a community or society.

An established organization dedicated to education, public service, or culture.

The process of discarding behavioral practices and adopting new ones.

A place of forced resocialization, where the people confined are cut off from the rest of society.

Places such as prison, mental hospitals, and even the military.

Developed the idea of psychoanalysis, and believed biological drives were the primary source of human activity.

He believed that people are ruled by unconscious desires, and through socialization, learn to repress and channel these desires in socially acceptable ways.

According to this Sigmund Freud principle, the id is the reservoir of primitive desires and drives--unaffected by the real world.

The set of biological needs and is governed by the "pleasure principle."

According to Sigmund Freud, the ego is guided by this priniciple and manages the id's impulses to conform to society's standards.

The "executive" of the person--it manages the person's functioning.

Depends on service industries and high technology.

The relative importance of manufacturing lessens and that of services, information, and research grows--most jobs are knowledge-based or service professions.

Represents internalized parents--a conscience, according to Sigmund Freud.

The last of the three psychic apparatuses to develop.

The three psychic apparatuses

Believed that the self-concept is reevaluated every time we enter a new social situation. He called this process of self-formation the looking-glass self.

This process has three stages--the end result being that our conception of ourself is based on the judgements of others--other people become our mirror.

Developed a theory of cognitive development, which he broke down into four stages to describe the changes which occur over time in children's reasoning and understanding.

Theory of cognitive development stages.

The first stage--infants do not understand cause-and-effect, they only perceive things through the immediate experience of sucking, touching, looking, etc.
Generally associated with the ages 0 to 2 years old.

Defined by Emile Durkheim, which sees it as necessary to establish group boundaries--it marks the extremities of acceptable behavior.

Known for his functionalist view of deviance, seeing it not necessarily as harmful to society, but stated that a limited amount of crime is necessary and beneficial. His anomie theory proposed that the cause of deviance is a state of normlessness resulting from rapid social change.

The preoperational stage is where a child begins to use language and symbols, and can differentiate fantasy from reality.

Theory of cognitive development stage associated with the ages 2 to 7 years.

Children maturely understand cause-and-effect, but they cannot conceive of ideas beyond the concrete situation or event.

This is the third stage because the child's thinking is still concrete--he/she is not yet capable of abstract thought.

Occurs during a person's lifetime, and refers to a change in an individual's social standing. It is also called career mobility.

A change in social standing across generations--an example is the son of high-school dropout blue collar workers graduating from business school.

The last stage where children are capable of highly abstract thought to include logic, deductive reasoning, and classification.

He defined eight stages of psychosocial development that involved a task or crisis.

Culture where people attach meaning to and use objects.

Includes things such as books, furniture, clothes, and even burial sites--basically anything that is material, or physically exists, which people attach meaning to and use.

The beliefs, behaviors, objects, and other characteristics common to the members of a particular group or society.

Agreed-upon expectations and rules by which people orient their behavior, and often vary from culture to culture.

Conventions or customs; they are standards of behavior which members of a society or group expect each other to conform to.

Norms of moral and ethical significance, and violation of these would offend most people of a culture and result in strong criticism or even punishment.

Norms which are absolutely forbidden by the culture--an example is incest.

A person judges other cultures against the standards of his own culture.

Sociologists try not to let ethnocentrism affect their study of other cultures--they try to stay objective.

A unique culture or cultural organization within a large culture--an example is the Amish people.

A unique culture or cultural organization within a larger culture with values and ways of life which do not conform to the larger culture's norms--such as the Ku Klux Klan.

Occurs when an immigrant group effectively becomes part of the main culture by gradually adopting the values and culture of the majority of the population.

Occurs when ethnic minority groups remain distinctive, they adapt and conform to a limited number of majority values and behaviors.

The physical absorption of one group by another through intermarriage--the opposite of separation.

Occurs when different groups in a society maintain parts of their distinctive cultures while coexisting peacefully with the majority group.

Something as broad as human association or more narrowly, a group of people living in a certain geographical area who share a common culture.

The idea that as time passes, society becomes more complex.

Depend on hunting animals and gathering vegetation for food, and are nomadic--constantly moving around as the local sources of food are used up.

Grow their own food, but their level of technology is very primitive--hand tools are used to farm.

Dedicated animals as their primary source of food.

A shared cultural heritage that defines a group of people and involves cultural ties--shared cultural practices, perspectives and distinctions.

American females involved in sports has increased dramatically since the 1970's.

Depend on farming, but use techniques such as irrigation and draft animals to produce a large surplus.

Utilize fuel-driven machines used to produce goods.

Based on information, knowledge, and selling of services instead of being driven by factory production of goods.

Believed that all societies are marked by class conflict, where the poor are exploited by the rich and powerful.

Defined two classes--the proletariat, who were the laborers, and the bourgeoisie, who were the ones who exploited the laborers and owned the means of production.

Believed that society limits our insatiable desires and gives our lives meaning. Stated that humans were different from other animals, because we are not satisfied once our biological needs are met, and we need a sense of meaning or purpose.

French sociologist who was the first person to systematically apply scientific methods to sociology.

Emile Durkheim is famous for is his definition of four types of suicide

Came up with a method which he called verstehen, which allows sociologists to mentally put themselves into the "other person's shoes" and obtain an "interpretative understanding" of individual behavior.

Means "empathetic understanding."

A person's position in society or a group--includes things such as being a computer science major, a wife, a Hispanic-American, etc.

Status either through birth or some other reason beyond his control but not because he tried to achieve it.

Status that a person has because of something he did, or through his efforts.

The most important status a person holds, and is the status that the person is most identified with.

All of the statuses a person occupies.

Theories that attempt to determine patterns in the development of cities--multiple nuclei theory, concentric zone theory, and the sector theory.

Different and conflicting expectations exist for a particular status.

Some of a person's statuses conflict with each other.

Said that change could result in anomie either in the whole society or some parts of it.

Refers to a condition of relative normlessness--social regulations break down, the controlling influence of society on individual propensities is no longer as effective and individuals are left to their own devices.

An association of self-selected equals, based on friendship, a sense of belonging, and acceptance.

The members intimately and warmly interact over a long period of time.

The members do not interact much in this group--the interaction may be anonymous, or for a short duration, and with few emotional ties.

Per hour worked, the percentage women now earn of what men earn.

Refers to small communities consisting largely of primary group relationships.

Refers to groups where membership is based on contractual relationships--the members have a particular goal they want to achieve.

Racism which has been codified into society's institutions of custom, practice, and law.

An artificial barrier in the work world which makes promotion beyond a certain level for certain groups difficult.

Group consisting of two people.

Group which consists of three people--not as cohesive and personal as a dyad.

Technique developed by J. L. Moreno for figuring out the direction of interaction in a small group.

Group which a person belongs to.

Social group we use to provide the standards for how we evaluate ourselves.

Person goes along with group goals, doing things they normally would not do, to be accepted.

Members of a group think similarly and conform to each other's views, often at the expense of ignoring reality--decisions being made from a narrow point of view.

Achievement motivated; they are task-oriented leaders who are interested in achieving the goals--make good managers because they are efficient.

Affiliation motivated--they want to maintain warm, friendly relationships, and make sure that the subordinates are satisfied.

A secondary group with a goal-directed agenda. It is characterized by formality, ranked positions, and complex division of labor.

Organizations made up by the informal relations, alliances, or cliques among the workers.

Calculated by subtracting the death rate from the birth rate.

Believed that population growth had a tendency to exceed food production.

The number one cause of death in the U.S.

The leading cause of death in low-income, less developed countries.

An organization whose goal is to perform complex tasks as efficiently as possible--it is guided by rules and written procedures, and is usually rigid and inflexible.

The classic model of modern bureaucracy was proposed by a German sociologist. He believed promotion of bureaucrats should be gradual and based on merit rather than political connections.

States that in a bureaucratic organization, "work expands to fill the time available for its completion."

The condition where population growth outpaces industrial growth.

States that employees in a bureaucracy are promoted to their level of incompetence.

Robert Michels' law which said that in every organization, a small number of people actually make the decisions.

Any behavior which violates social norms, and can either be criminal or non-criminal--such as alcoholism, public nudity, stealing, and cross-dressing .

A "mark of social disgrace," where the person's deviance is recognized by others.

Refers to the ways of getting people to conform to norms--such as persuasion, teaching, and force.

The confusion that arises when social norms conflict or don't even exist.

Proposed the differential association theory to explain how people learn deviance.

The group into which a person is born.

The group formed in adulthood by people when they have children.

Family that consists only of a mother, father, and their children.

Parents and children live with other close relatives--common in Asian societies where one house may consist of three generations of related families living together.

The American sociologist theorized that changing family patterns were not a simple effect of one cause such as industrialization.

William J. Goode's book, World Revolution and Family Patterns noted a trend in industrialized societies toward nuclear family households or smaller family units.

A family where the majority of the authority is vested in the father.

A family where the majority of the authority is vested in the mother.

Indicate where newlyweds will live.

Newlyweds live with the wife's family.

Newlyweds live with the husband's family while

Newlyweds live separate from their extended families.

Marriage occurs outside of specific groups--marrying with someone outside of his family.

One marries within a certain group--marrying someone of the same race.

Marriage that involves more than one spouse.

A form of polygamy where a man has several wives at once.

A form of polygamy where a woman has several husbands at once.

How work is divided among people in a social group or organization.

People are directly involved with extraction and cultivation of natural resources--hunting, gathering, farming, and mining.

Calculated by dividing the number of births in a year by the number of women aged 15 to 44.

Known as the number of people in the total population who are not in the total work force.

Largest component of the dependency ratio.

Fastest growing component of the dependency ratio.

Raw materials are turned into manufactured goods--mills and factories.

Services, rather than physical goods--health, education, and entertainment.

Form of distribution in which goods or services are exchanged directly for other things which are considered to be of equivalent value--before money became a medium of trade.

Believed that class conflict marks all societies, the classes being defined by who owns the means of production.

Own the means of production

In conflict with the bourgeoisie and do not own the means of production.

Value of goods and services are based on supply and demand and uses money as a medium for trade.

From long-held customs, people follow not because of the leader's qualifications but because that's what people have always done--a king.

Based on rational grounds and usually a body of laws which have been legally enacted or contractually established.

Based on the ability to influence others through exemplary or extraordinary character attributes--politicians.

Region made up of several large cities and their surrounding areas in sufficient proximity to be considered a single urban complex.

Created when the suburbs surrounding several metropolises grow and merge together, forming one continuous urban complex.

Max Weber believed that authority is ultimately granted by those being governed--the people must believe in the ruler.

People being led believe that the leader has a legitimate right to command.

Max Weber differentiated between three different ways of getting legitimacy.

People being governed have little or no say in government's operations--the rulers are dictators who do not tolerate opposition to their authority.

The three main types of government.

Moving from one social level to another, instead of moving within the same social level--upward or downward.

Change in status within the same social level--switching from one janitorial job to another.

Rulers exercise absolute and centralized control over all aspects of life--takes the level of authority one step further from an authoritarian government.

People have a right to participate in government, and ultimately hold the authority over how they are governed.

Stated that a small group of military leaders, politicians, and business leaders cooperate and form a "ruling class" in America.

Power is dispersed throughout many competing interest groups.

Believed that a pluralist model of power exists in the United States and no one can dominate society's decision-making process.

Refers to religious symbols, objects, and rituals.

Nonreligious in subject matter, form, or use.

Stated that religion functions to bind society's members by having them affirm their common beliefs and values on a regular basis.

Studied six of the world's largest religions and wrote the Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism.

He believed that Protestantism's "Work Ethic" played a big part in the development of capitalism in the West, whereas Eastern religions such as Hinduism were barriers to capitalism.

Economic system characterized by limited involvement of the government in the economy, individual ownership of the factors of production, and individuals pursuing their own self interest with few constraints.

Government plays a major part in allocating resources--US welfare system.

Small number of organizations or individuals control a product or service--automobile manufacturing industry.

The simplest form of religious organization and normally centers around a charismatic leader. Members of such an organization reject the norms and values of the larger society.

The three main forms of religious organization.

Religious organization which typically forms in protest to a larger denomination--with little formal structure and few or no leaders.

Formally established leadership, an institutionalized way of dealing with money, and many members are automatically born into the organization--rather than voluntarily joining it.

Synonymous with a denomination and is a large and established religious body with a formal, bureaucratic structure.

Biggest group of people in poverty.

Highest poverty rate (percentage of a group which is in poverty) in America.

US children living in poverty.

Sociologists attribute this high rate of child poverty to a sharp increase in births outside of wedlock.

The rate of children in poverty has always been higher than that of the total population.

Since the mid-1970s, poverty among the elderly has fallen and remained below the national poverty level since 1982.

As a result of lower birth rates and higher life expectancy, the elderly comprise the fastest growing age group in the US.

People over age 80 are the most common victims of elder abuse.

The religions of the West and Middle East emphasize one god--Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

Religions of the Far East and Southeast Asia emphasize many gods--Buddhism, Hinduism, Shintoism, and Confucianism.

Unequal distribution of power, property, and prestige--the "three P's".

People end up in ranked statuses whether they are born into this status or achieve it on their own.

Person is born into, whereas an achieved social position comes from personal ability or effort.

Person's ability to move through the different levels of the social hierarchy.

Person is born or married into his social position and social mobility is difficult or impossible--India.

Mobility is easier and occurs more often--America.

Categorizes people into races. Race is often used as a course of social stratification, and is based on physical differences which society has deemed to be socially significant.

Group identified on the basis of their common language, national heritage, or cultural practices.

Argued that stratification is inevitable so that the most capable will fill the most demanding positions.

Believed that social stratification was a result of the class structure--the exploitation of the "have nots" by those who have, or the power of the bourgeoisie over the proletariat.

First to develop the concept of "sociology."

Auguste Comte's Law of Three Stages which are three stages societies progress.

His theory stated that society would progress--eventually the discontent laborers would overthrow their employers to form a classless society of economic equals.

Social condition in which the working class possess a distorted perception of the reality of class and its consequences.

World economic system must be understood as a single unit, not a collection of independent countries.

Wallerstein’s world systems theory divided the world into three unequal economic categories.

Poor countries that are exploited for their cheap labor and raw materials--primarily agricultural found throughout Africa, Latin America and Asia.

Somewhat industrialized and exploit peripheral countries-- are themselves exploited by core countries.

Dominant capitalist, most advanced industrialized countries and they exploit peripheral/semi peripheral countries.

Focused on the origins of man-made culture, and his view on social stratification was that due to class, status situation, and parties being a source of conflict and change, there was no foreseeable end to stratification.

Max Weber belief that differences in a person's opportunities for income, how other people assess that person's status, and the forming of parties to acquire social power.

Allows little social mobility--people are born or married into a certain position.

Model of city growth where cities grow in a series of rings, each characterized by a different group of people and activity.

Group behavior which can be either short-lived spontaneous public expressions of feeling, or long-term public expressions aimed towards achieving specific goals--mass hysteria, panics, crazes, fads, fashions, and rumors.

Stated that being in a crowd frees the individual members of feeling responsibility or social restraint.

Members of a crowd feel anonymous, and free of social restraint and responsibility, and therefore do whatever the group is doing.

States that a number of like-minded individuals coming together forms a collective action--the individual motives resulted in the collective action, not some separate "collective mind of the crowd."

Proposes that the crowd becomes something like a wild animal, just going with the flow of the crowd and not thinking for themselves.

Focuses on the negative and conflicted nature of society.

States that new norms are created by a few individuals, and the whole crowd soon adopts the new norms.

Collective activities which are set on causing or preventing changes in society--civil rights movement or temperance movement.

Focuses on the ability of members of a social movement to obtain resources, mobilize people to advance their cause, and places a great deal of emphasis on the acquisition of financial resources from individuals, organizations, elites and governments.