Sociology 2206A/B Chapter Notes - Chapter 2: Symbolic Interactionism, Grounded Theory, Negative Relationship

• School: Western University
• Department: Sociology
• Course: Sociology 2206A/B
• Professor: William Marshall

Document Summary

Aggregates: a collection of cases, samples, or individuals. Social theory: a system of interconnected ideas that condense/organize knowledge about the social world. They can be divided into three broad groupings based on the level of social reality they deal with: macro-social theory: focuses on social structures and populations. Their focus on large- scale social phenomena mean they deal with highly abstract ideas: micro-social theory: focused on individuals and individual action, meso-social theory: focuses on social organizations and social institutions in society. Note: time is also important when determining which type of social theory is being used (macro-social theory will span over 10 years, meso will take place over a 5 year period, micro will take 2 months) Offers a simple statement or generalization about two or more concrete concepts. Example: more men than women chose engineering as a university major: this example summarizes a patterns between gender and major choice.