Sociology 1025A/B Study Guide - Fall 2018, Comprehensive Midterm Notes -
12 Oct 2018
School
Department
Course
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Sociology 1025A/B
MIDTERM EXAM
STUDY GUIDE
Fall 2018
SOC1025
Chapter 1 – Seeing & Acting Through the Lens of Sociology
Sociology: Study of groups and group interaction, societies and their interactions, anywhere
from small to large groups (e.g., families, political party, classrooms, etc.)
o In different group memberships, there are different acceptable behaviours
Society: Group of people living in a defined geographic area, interact & share common culture
e.g., Nefoudlad’s soiet has diffeet ultue s. Quee
Culture: The shared practices, values, & beliefs of groups
Macrosociology: Teds aog/etee lage goups o soieties e.g., a ao soiologists
may study how women moved into the labour market over the years)
• Macro-level: Level of broader social forces
Microsociology: Interactions between small groups and individuals (e.g., everyday interactions
such as in classrooms, the way in which co-workers interact)
• Micro-level: The level of individual experiences/choices
Agency vs. Structure
• Ongoing debate in sociology
o Whether or not we have our own choices, or we are constrained by larger social
foes e.g., soe people ho do’t go to uiesit a ot hae the esoues
to go, although they want to)
o Some may argue, lack of women in science may have to do with the lack of role
models, opportunities presented in early socialization, which streams them out
of science/tech/maths
• Agency: Ability to exercise free will (individual choice)
• Social Structure: Can be material, or cultural (norms, customs, traditions, ideologies)
Sociological Imagination (C. Wright Mills, 1959)
• An awareness of the elatioship etee a peso’s ehaiou ad epeiees ad
the wider culture that shaped the persons choice and perceptions
• Empirical methods: Data collection that produces verifiable findings and is carried out
using systematic procedures
Norms
• Formal/informal rules of acceptable behaviour
• Expectations of conduct in particular situations which regulate human behaviour
• Normative: Behaviours, epeiees, thoughts that oespod to soiet’s os
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• Vary according to the acceptance of then, and how society enforces them, how it
transmits, and how those conform
o Folkways: Informal rules (e.g., etiquette, manners)
o Mores: Formal rules of conduct w/in group
o Taboos: Serious violation of normative behaviour (e.g., incest, cannibalism)
How Sociology is Different
• Science: Systematic methods used to study the social/natural worlds and knowledge
gained by using those methods
o Natural Sciences
o Social Sciences: Interested in laws/theories governing human behaviour (polisci,
econ, anthro, psych, soc)
Quantitative vs. Qualitative
• Quantitative: Statistical methods, surveys, large populations, generalizations
o Key variables identified in advance
o Confounding variables controlled
o Analysis of data using statistical methods
• Qualitative: In-depth interviews, focus groups, content analysis, books, journals
o Begins with more open-ended questions
o No predefined variables
o Confounding factors explored
• Can both work together
o E.g., gay men vs. straight
o Hetero men earned the most, then gay men, then lesbians, then straight women
o This research used both quantitative and qualitative when taking a look at
percentage/number difference, and asking why
History of Sociology
• Origins of sociology (on exam)
o Industrial revolution
▪ Agricultural production to industrial productions, mass production, etc.
▪ Down side is conditions were really bad, poor wages and child labour,
unsafe work environment
▪ Reason and rationality will bring changes
o Imperialism
▪ Brings new cultures to the forefront (new customs, norms, etc.)
▪ Taught people how different cultures were
o Success of the natural science
▪ New advances in chemistry and engineering led researchers to use the
same principals when studying the social world
• August Comte (1798-1857): Positivism
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