SOCL 2001 : Sociology Exam 1 Study Guide Part 1
Study Guide: Exam 1, Chapters 1-6 Wednesday September 19th
S o c i o l o g y -s y s t e m a t i c o f s o c i a l i n t e r a c t i o n @ a v a r i e t y o f l e v e l s
S o c i o l o g i c a l i m a g i n a t i o n -i n t e r s e c t i o n b / w i n d i v i d u a l l i v e s & l a r g e r s o c i a l i n f l u e n c e s
M i c r o s o c i o l o g y v s m a c r o s o c i o l o g y -m i c r o - s t u d y o f s m a l l s c a l e p a t t e r n s o f i n d i v i d u a l s ’ s o c i a l i n t e r a c t i o n
i n s p e c i f i c s e t t i n g s ; m a c r o - s t u d y o f l a r g e s c a l e p a t t e r n s & p r o c e s s e s t h a t c h a r a c t e r i z e s o c i e t y a s a w h o l e
A u g u s t C o m t e -F a t h e r o f S o c i o l o g y ; T h o u g h t t h a t a s c i e n t i f i c s t u d y o f s o c i e t y w a s n e e d e d ; T h o u g h t t h a t i n f o n e e d e d t o b e
b a s e d o n o b s e r v a t i o n i n s t e a d o f r e l i g i o n o r i d e o l o g y ; S a w s o c i o l o g y a s t h e s c i e n t i f i c s t u d y o f 2 a s p e c t s : S o c i a l S t a t i s t i c s - O r d e r ,
s t a b i l i t y , a n d s o c i a l o r g a n i z a t i o n & S o c i a l D y n a m i c s - S o c i a l C h a n g e ; P r o c e s s e s o f s o c i a l l i f e & h o w t h e y c h a n g e
H a r r i e t M a r t i n e a u -F e m i n i s t w r i t e r ; T r a n s l a t e d A u g u s t e C o m t e ’ s w o r k ; H e l p e d s p r e a d C o m t e ’ s w o r k ; D a t a c o l l e c t i o n n e e d e d
t o h a p p e n t h r u o b s e r v a t i o n s a n d i n t e r v i e w s ; t h e i r n e e d e d t o b e a n o b j e c t i v e o f t h e f i n d i n g s ; F e m i n i s t a n d o p p o n e n t o f
s l a v e r y ; W r o t e t h e f i r s t b o o k o n r e s e a r c h m e t h o d s , 1 8 3 8
E m i l e D u r k h e im- Sociology must study social facts- aspects of social life, external to the individual,that can be measured Social solidarity according to Durkheim is maintained by a division of labor:an
interdependence of different tasks and occupations, characteristic of industrialized societies, that produce social unity and facilitate change; cohesion & harmony;mechanical vs. organic; studied suicide&social integration
K a r l M a r x C a p i t a l i s m ; O w n e r s h i p o f m e a n s o f p r o d u c t i o n = p r i v a t e h a n d s = p o w e r ;C l a s s C o n f l i c t ;“ h a v e s ” v s “ h a v e -
n o t s ” ;A l i e n a t i o n -F e e l i n g o f s e p a r a t i o n f r o m o n e ’ s g r o u p o r s o c i e t y
M a x W e b e r -Verstehen- requires knowing how people perceive the world in which they live Value-Free Sociology ;A researcher who is value free is one who separates her or his personal values, opinions,
ideology, and beliefs from scientific research ; He maintained that educators and scholars should be as dispassionate as possible about political ideological positions
J a n e A d d a m s - Co-founded Hull House; Community center for the neighborhood poor ; Active reformer; Leader in the woman’s suffrage movement; Greatest woman sociologist of her day; By
assisting underprivileged and creating a more equal society
W . E . B . D u B o i s - Studied experience of African Americans in the US; Sought to provide cure for prejudice and discrimination; Social reformer
T h e o r e t i c a l P e r s p e c t i v e s a n d h o w t h e y r e l a t e t o e a c h t o p i c c o v e r e d a s w e l l a s
a d v a n t a g e s a n d d i s a d v a n t a g e s o f e a c h
-Functionalism maintains that society is a complex system of interdependent parts that work together to ensure a society’s survival; the parts of a society, work
together to maintain the whole structure; According to some critics, however, functionalism is so focused on order and stability that it often ignores social change; A second criticism is that functionalism often ignores the
inequality that a handful of powerful people create and maintain
-Conflict theory examines the ways in which groups disagree, struggle over power, and compete for scarce resources; Conflict theorists see disagreement and the
resulting changes in society as natural, inevitable, and even desirable; Conflict theory is important in explaining how societies create and cope with disagreements;
-However, some have criticized conflict theorists for over-emphasizing competition of coercion at the expense of order and stability
They go a step further because feminist theories try to explain the social, economic, and political position of women from traditionally oppressive expectations, constraints, roles, and behavior ; Feminist perspectives
maintain that women suffer injustice because of their sex, and that ppl should be treated fairly and equally regardless of their race, ethnicity, national origin, age, religion, class, sexual orientation, disability, and other
characteristics One criticism is that many feminists are part of an “old girl network” that has not always welcomed different points of view from black, Asian American, American Indian, Muslim, Latina, lesbian,
working-class, and disabled women; A second criticism is that feminist perspectives tend to downplay social class inequality by focusing on low-income and minority women but not their male counterparts
- Symbolic interactionism is a micro-level perspective that looks at individuals’ everyday behavior thru the communication of knowledge, ideas, beliefs, and attitudes; Symbolic interactionists focus on process and keep
the person at the center of their analysis; One of the most common criticisms, however, is that symbolic interactionism overlooks the widespread impact of macro-level factors such as economic forces, social movements,
and public policies on our everyday behavior and relationships; A related criticism is that interactionists often have an optimistic and unrealistic view of people’s everyday choices
M a n i f e s t v s l a t e n t f u n c t i o n - There are 2 kinds of functions: Manifest functions- are intended & recognized; they are present and clearly evident Latent
functions- are unintended & unrecognized; they are present but not immediately obvious
S o c i a l r e s e a r c h -e x a m i n e s h u m a n b e h a v i o r
S c i e n t i f i c m e t h o d - the steps in the research process that include careful data collection, exact measurement, accurate recording and analysis of the findings, thoughtful interpretation of results,
and, when appropriate, a generalization of the findings to a larger group
V a r i a b l e - is a characteristic that can change in value or magnitude under different conditions
H y p o t h e s i s - a statement of a relationship b/w two or more variables that they want to test
I n d e p e n d e n t v s d e p e n d e n t v a r i a b l e Independent variable, a characteristic that determines or has an effect, and the dependent variable, the outcome
R e l i a b i l i t y - is the consistency with which the same measure produces similar results time after time
V a l i d i t y - is the degree to which a measure is accurate and really measures what it claims to measure
D e d u c t i v e v s i n d u c t i v e r e a s o n i n g Deductive reasoning begins with a theory, prediction, or general principle that is then tested through data collection
An alternative mode of inquiry, inductive reasoning, begins with specific observations, followed by data collection, a general conclusion, or theory construction
P o p u l a t i o n - is any well-defined group of people (or things) about which researchers want to know something
S a m p l e a n d t y p e s o f s a m p l e s a group of people (or things, such as an e-mail address) has an equal chance of being selected because the selection process is random; A nonprobability
sample is any sample for which little or no attempt is made to get a representative cross section of the population Convenience or availability
Q u a l i t a t i v e v s q u a n t i t a t i v e r e s e a r c h In qualitative research, sociologists examine non-numerical material that they then interpret; In quantitative research, sociologists
focus on a numerical analysis of people’s responses or specific characteristics, studying a wide range or attitudes, behaviors, and traits
T y p e s o f r e s e a r c h ( s u r v e y s , s e c o n d a r y , f i e l d , e x p e r i m e n t , e v a l u a t i o n ) Surveys to systematically collect data
from respondents using questionnaires, face-to-face or telephone interviews, or a combination of these methods Questionnaires can be mailed, used during an interview, or self-administered
Advantages- Usually inexpensive, simple to administer, and have a fast turnaround, Face-to-face interviews have high response rates compared with other data-collection techniques bc they
involve personal contact, In depth interviews can provide rich detail about the respondent’s social world and vivid descriptions of personal experiences, Interviewers can also record a
respondent’s body language, facial expressions, and intonations, which can be useful in interpreting verbal responses Disadvantages mailed questionnaires is a low response rate, respondent
may throw the questionnaire away, may skip questions or lie about questions that they feel are “too nosy”
Secondary Analysis examines information that has been collected by someone else, May be historical materials, Personal documents, Public records, Official statistics Advantages Convenience
& inexpensive Disadvantages Existing data sources may not have the information a researcher needs
Field Research sociologists collect data by systematically observing people in their natural surroundings Participant observation, researchers interact with the people they are studying; may not
reveal their identities as researchers Nonparticipants observation, researchers study phenomena without being part of the situation Advantages Provides an in-depth understanding of attitudes and
behavior, observation is also more flexible than some other methods because the researcher can modify the research design, observation doesn’t disrupt the natural surroundings, the researcher
doesn’t directly influence subjects Disadvantages Can be expensive, time-consuming task, may be dangerous, difficult
Content Analysis is a method of studying social behavior that systematically examines some form of communication, speeches, TV programs, newspaper articles, advertisements, office memos,
songs, diaries, advice columns, poems, or e-mails Advantages usually inexpensive and sometimes less time consuming, can correct coding errors fairly easily by redoing the work, unobtrusive
permits comparisons over time Disadvantages very labor intensive, coding material is very subjective, reflects social class biases, content analysis rarely captures the behavior or attitudes or
working classes and the poor
Experiments is a carefully controlled artificial situation that allows researchers to manipulate variables and measure the effects, experimental group, the subjects are exposed to the independent
variable, control group, they are not exposed to the independent variable before, the researcher measures the dependent variable in both groups using a pretest, after the experimental group is
exposed to the independent variable, the researcher measures both groups again using a post-test Advantages come closer than any other data collection method in suggesting a cause-and-effect
relationship, less expensive & time consuming, experiments can be replicated many times with different subjects Disadvantages difficult to generalize from them to the outside world,
researchers must rely on volunteers, paid subjects or a captive audience, attrition among the subjects may be very high, the members of experimental and control groups may communicate with
each other about what’s going on and behave differently as a result
Evaluation Research assesses the effectiveness of social programs in both the public and the private sectors use a variety of data collection Advantages, examines actual efforts to deal with
social problems, findings can be very valuable to program directors or agency heads in showing discrepancies b/w the original objectives and the program’s actual functioning and
accomplishments Disadvantages Practitioners rarely welcome the results of evaluation research if a sociologist concludes that a particular program isn’t working
Ethical Research Do not harm Must get the subject’s informed consent Researchers must protect a subject confidentiality
Document Summary
Study guide: exam 1, chapters 1-6 wednesday september 19th. D u b o i s - studied experience of african americans in the us; sought to provide cure for prejudice and discrimination; social reformer. However, some have criticized conflict theorists for over-emphasizing competition of coercion at the expense of order and stability. S o c i a l r e s e a r c h - e x a m i n e s h u m a n b e h a v i o r. V a r i a b l e - is a characteristic that can change in value or magnitude under different conditions. H y p o t h e s i s - a statement of a relationship b/w two or more variables that they want to test.
