Sociology |Questions & Answers With Expert Verified Solutions |
Latest 2024/2025
Society - ✔✔An organized group of people associated together for religious, benevolent (purpose of
"doing good"), cultural, scientific, political, patriotic or other purposes.
-May live as members of a community.
-A highly structured system of organizations that stand for protection, continuity, security and a national
identity Ex. Canadian society.
Behaviour - ✔✔The manner of conducting oneself.
Human actions & responses (to stimulation/ the environment).
Sociology - ✔✔Studies human social behaviour.
Looks at the group and NOT at the individual perspective.
The most basic premise of sociology:
Humans are social beings, shaped by groups to which they belong.
When did Sociology begin? - ✔✔began in the late 1800s during the Industrial Revolution.
Societal change: people moved from country -> city.
pollution, poverty, malnutrition, crime & unemployment resulted in Social disorder.
Structural Functionalism - ✔✔Each segment of a society serves a specific purpose for the society as a
whole.
,Ex: Family - raising children
School - knowledge & skills
Conflict Theory - ✔✔Power, not function, holds a society together.
Society is a group of people acting in competition.
Competition/conflict may bring about change; sometimes leads to progression & improvement.
Focus: Social Classes - their problems and demands (economy).
Karl Marx: Studied class conflicts throughout history.
Symbolic Interactionism - ✔✔Focus: How individuals learn about their culture; How they subjectively
interpret & act upon their social worlds.
The meaning we give to things in our world based on our unique/personal experiences.
Max Weber: Sociologists must put themselves in the place of the people they are studying in order to
understand their thinking & behaviour.
Feminist Sociology - ✔✔Women & gender inequality in society.
Social roles of men & women in different cultures.
Focus: Raise awareness & bring about change, socially & politically.
Discrimination, spousal abuse, date rape & stalking.
, Cross-disciplinary approach - draws on knowledge from many fields such as history, economics,
psychology, etc
Dorothy Smith - ✔✔Canadian Sociologist - work rooted in the actual experiences of women.
Auguste Comte - ✔✔Invented term "sociology"
Found that societies tried to change and adapt over time
Important contribution - positivism (use of scientific method)
Socialization - ✔✔"the lifelong process through which we learn all the knowledge, skills, and attitudes
we need to survive and prosper."
How we develop
Agents - ✔✔organizations, individuals and institutions that help our social, psychological & emotional
development.
family, school, peers, media, religion, etc.
Emile Durkheim - ✔✔Considered founder of modern sociology.
Looked at changing nature of society.
Famous for studies on suicide.
What do we learn from family - ✔✔communication, behaviour, values. love, respect.
Latest 2024/2025
Society - ✔✔An organized group of people associated together for religious, benevolent (purpose of
"doing good"), cultural, scientific, political, patriotic or other purposes.
-May live as members of a community.
-A highly structured system of organizations that stand for protection, continuity, security and a national
identity Ex. Canadian society.
Behaviour - ✔✔The manner of conducting oneself.
Human actions & responses (to stimulation/ the environment).
Sociology - ✔✔Studies human social behaviour.
Looks at the group and NOT at the individual perspective.
The most basic premise of sociology:
Humans are social beings, shaped by groups to which they belong.
When did Sociology begin? - ✔✔began in the late 1800s during the Industrial Revolution.
Societal change: people moved from country -> city.
pollution, poverty, malnutrition, crime & unemployment resulted in Social disorder.
Structural Functionalism - ✔✔Each segment of a society serves a specific purpose for the society as a
whole.
,Ex: Family - raising children
School - knowledge & skills
Conflict Theory - ✔✔Power, not function, holds a society together.
Society is a group of people acting in competition.
Competition/conflict may bring about change; sometimes leads to progression & improvement.
Focus: Social Classes - their problems and demands (economy).
Karl Marx: Studied class conflicts throughout history.
Symbolic Interactionism - ✔✔Focus: How individuals learn about their culture; How they subjectively
interpret & act upon their social worlds.
The meaning we give to things in our world based on our unique/personal experiences.
Max Weber: Sociologists must put themselves in the place of the people they are studying in order to
understand their thinking & behaviour.
Feminist Sociology - ✔✔Women & gender inequality in society.
Social roles of men & women in different cultures.
Focus: Raise awareness & bring about change, socially & politically.
Discrimination, spousal abuse, date rape & stalking.
, Cross-disciplinary approach - draws on knowledge from many fields such as history, economics,
psychology, etc
Dorothy Smith - ✔✔Canadian Sociologist - work rooted in the actual experiences of women.
Auguste Comte - ✔✔Invented term "sociology"
Found that societies tried to change and adapt over time
Important contribution - positivism (use of scientific method)
Socialization - ✔✔"the lifelong process through which we learn all the knowledge, skills, and attitudes
we need to survive and prosper."
How we develop
Agents - ✔✔organizations, individuals and institutions that help our social, psychological & emotional
development.
family, school, peers, media, religion, etc.
Emile Durkheim - ✔✔Considered founder of modern sociology.
Looked at changing nature of society.
Famous for studies on suicide.
What do we learn from family - ✔✔communication, behaviour, values. love, respect.
