Chapter 1 Study Guide, Study Guides, Projects, Research of Sociology

Download Chapter 1 Study Guide and more Study Guides, Projects, Research Sociology in PDF only on Docsity! Chapter 1 - C Wright Mills referred to sociological perspective as “intersection of biography” - Sociology addresses social world - Used to explain why things happen as well as prediction for the future - Originated from the industrial revolution - Auguste Comte, Herbert Spencer, Karl Marx, Durkheim, Max Weber early thinkers - Positivism - applying scientific method to social world, Comte - founder of sociology - Spencer - “Second founder of sociology”, social darwinism, survival of the fittest - Weber - “Vertehen” - “grasp by insight” - understand why people act the way they do - Durkheim - find out what influences others - DeBois - first african american to earn doctorate from Harvard - In the 1940s, sociology shifted from social reform to theory - Theory - general statement about how parts of the world fit together, relate to one another, and affect each other - Three major theories - symbolic interactionism - “micro” people use symbols to develop and share view of world, interpret reality through everyday life, functional analysis -”macro” how parts of society work together to fulfill respective functions and create harmony, and conflict theory - competition over resources, “macro” - power imposition - Comte coined the term sociology - Marx - class conflict was key to human history - Durkheim - three goals 1. Get sociology recognized as separate academic discipline 2. Understanding social factors that influence individual behavior 3. Social research should be practical - develop solutions - Weber - disagreed with Marx, defined religion as central force in social change, remain totally neutral - Social facts - patterns of behavior that characterize a social group - Talcott Parsons - harmony, C. Wright Mills opposite, wanted social reform - Sociologists use three theoretical perspectives to understand social behavior 1. Symbols to define relationship, symbolic interactionist - Functional analysis - understand society and structure, Merton used :function” keep society stable, manifest - intended, latent - unintended - Globalization - second major trend affecting sociology, breaking down of national boundaries Comte - three stages of human sociological development 1. Theological stage a. People viewed the world as a direct expression of gods, gods influencing people’s lives 2. Metaphysical Stage a. People viewed the world as a reflection of human tendencies, problems were a result of humans not gods 3. Positivism a. Applying scientific method to social world Emile Durkheim - mechanical and organic solidarity a. Mechanical solidarity - social integration of members of a society who have common values and beliefs that create a “collective conscience” - causes individuals to cooperate b. Organic solidarity - social integration that arises from individual need for another’s services, division of labor Karl Marx - Class Conflict a. During the rise of capitalism, bourgeois (powerful) would use that power to oppress the proletariat (those of lower status, workers) W.E.B. Du Bois - Double Consciousness theory a. Internal conflict within African Americans during their times of oppression - being both African American and strictly American, veil of segregation Jane Addams a. Founder of Hull house - for immigrants, winner of nobel peace prize b. Progressivism - social reform, represent interests of ordinary and oppressed people to obtain government change Ida B. Wells a. One of the founders for Nation Association for the Advancement of Colored People b. Courage during the times of lynching c. Stood up for colored people Charles Cooley - Looking Glass Self a. States that a person’s self grows out of the perception of others which reinforces their perspective of themself, our ability to think of ourselves stems from human interaction Cultural Relativism a. Edgerton b. It is the practice of understanding a culture on its own terms without assessing its elements as any better of worse than one’s own culture c. Trying to appreciate one’s way of life without imposing ideals of own onto it Validity vs reliability a. True validity comes as a result of both being accurate b. Validity is when the data proves to be right c. Reliability can be kind of repeatability, if it consistently comes back the same, it is reliable George Herbert Mead - The Self a. Ones identity is a result of external social interactions and internal feelings of oneself