SOCIOLOGY 1301 EXAM 2 STUDY GUIDE
sociology - Answers -scientific study of society (Different cultures, groups, social
institutions, religion, family structure)
reason to study sociology - Answers -you interact with people who are different from
you
Sociological imagination creator/founder/father - Answers -C. Wright Mills
Sociological imagination - Answers -you can never fully understand an individual unless
you also understand the society and historical time period in which he/she lives,
personal troubles (unemployment and divorce) and social issues (broad changes,
industrialization)
Sociology and common sense - Answers -Based on social interactions/experiences
Sociology is NOT common sense
2 driving forces of being a discipline (19th Europe) - Answers -Enlightenment -
movement away from traditional explanations of the world toward more rational
scientific explanations
Industrial revolution - product of scientific advancement; economic change, expand
education (universal), different cultures combined, disease, overcrowding, crime (more
opportunities), fires
Auguste Comte - Answers -Considered the father/founder of sociology because he
named the discipline and was the first person to scientifically analyze society
Positivist
Altruism
Positivist - Answers -believes that science is the best way to study any phenomenon
Altruism - Answers -an unselfish concern for the welfare of others
"In all societies you have both social statics and social dynamics" - Comte - Answers -
Social statics - forces of order and stability (functionalist perspective)
Social dynamics - forces of change (conflict perspective)
Herbert Spencer (British Functionalist) - Answers -Social Darwinism - idea that
societies, just like organisms, if left alone ("hands off"), would naturally evolve according
to the principle of Survival of the Fittest (Spencer, not Darwin)
Karl Marx - Answers -Father/founder of the conflict perspective
Human social relations are bound by historical time periods
Centrality of the economy (most important institution)
, Emile Durkheim - Answers -Father/founder of the Functionalist perspective
Suicide rates between different groups
Membership in groups more/less prone, then look at groups
France, England and Denmark - large scale
Social integration
Social integration - Answers -the social bonds or ties we have with other member of
society
4 types of suicide - Answers -Egoistic suicide
Altruistic suicide
Anomic suicide
Fatalistic suicide
Egoistic suicide - Answers -committed by people who have few or no social bonds/ties
(Homeless, old/lonely)
Altruistic suicide - Answers -committed by people who are "overly" bonded to a social
group or cause; they commit suicide to further the goals of that group/cause
(Suicide bomber, Buddhist monks on fire, kamikaze pilots)
Anomic suicide - Answers -committed in response to a societal condition of anomie
(Stock market crash of '29, revolutionary change in government)
Anomie - Answers -there is a major disruption in society such that the norms (social
rules or expectations of behavior) are no longer clear cut, condition of society
Max Weber (German Functionalist/ Conflict/ Interactionist Perspective) - Answers -70-
75 hours a week - did everything to "see how much he can take"
No PhD in sociology
Verstehen
Bureaucracy
With their emphasis on rules and structure, he believed they were trapping humans in
an IRON CAGE robbing them of their individuality and creativity
Verstehen - Answers -people's subjective understanding of their own actions
Enhanced knowledge of the social sciences, giving them more information than the
natural sciences (not better)
You can ask humans "Why did you do that?"
Bureaucracy - Answers -a large scale formal organization rationally designed to
maximize efficiency
George H. Mead and Charles H. Cooley - Answers -Cofounders/fathers of the
Interactionist perspective
sociology - Answers -scientific study of society (Different cultures, groups, social
institutions, religion, family structure)
reason to study sociology - Answers -you interact with people who are different from
you
Sociological imagination creator/founder/father - Answers -C. Wright Mills
Sociological imagination - Answers -you can never fully understand an individual unless
you also understand the society and historical time period in which he/she lives,
personal troubles (unemployment and divorce) and social issues (broad changes,
industrialization)
Sociology and common sense - Answers -Based on social interactions/experiences
Sociology is NOT common sense
2 driving forces of being a discipline (19th Europe) - Answers -Enlightenment -
movement away from traditional explanations of the world toward more rational
scientific explanations
Industrial revolution - product of scientific advancement; economic change, expand
education (universal), different cultures combined, disease, overcrowding, crime (more
opportunities), fires
Auguste Comte - Answers -Considered the father/founder of sociology because he
named the discipline and was the first person to scientifically analyze society
Positivist
Altruism
Positivist - Answers -believes that science is the best way to study any phenomenon
Altruism - Answers -an unselfish concern for the welfare of others
"In all societies you have both social statics and social dynamics" - Comte - Answers -
Social statics - forces of order and stability (functionalist perspective)
Social dynamics - forces of change (conflict perspective)
Herbert Spencer (British Functionalist) - Answers -Social Darwinism - idea that
societies, just like organisms, if left alone ("hands off"), would naturally evolve according
to the principle of Survival of the Fittest (Spencer, not Darwin)
Karl Marx - Answers -Father/founder of the conflict perspective
Human social relations are bound by historical time periods
Centrality of the economy (most important institution)
, Emile Durkheim - Answers -Father/founder of the Functionalist perspective
Suicide rates between different groups
Membership in groups more/less prone, then look at groups
France, England and Denmark - large scale
Social integration
Social integration - Answers -the social bonds or ties we have with other member of
society
4 types of suicide - Answers -Egoistic suicide
Altruistic suicide
Anomic suicide
Fatalistic suicide
Egoistic suicide - Answers -committed by people who have few or no social bonds/ties
(Homeless, old/lonely)
Altruistic suicide - Answers -committed by people who are "overly" bonded to a social
group or cause; they commit suicide to further the goals of that group/cause
(Suicide bomber, Buddhist monks on fire, kamikaze pilots)
Anomic suicide - Answers -committed in response to a societal condition of anomie
(Stock market crash of '29, revolutionary change in government)
Anomie - Answers -there is a major disruption in society such that the norms (social
rules or expectations of behavior) are no longer clear cut, condition of society
Max Weber (German Functionalist/ Conflict/ Interactionist Perspective) - Answers -70-
75 hours a week - did everything to "see how much he can take"
No PhD in sociology
Verstehen
Bureaucracy
With their emphasis on rules and structure, he believed they were trapping humans in
an IRON CAGE robbing them of their individuality and creativity
Verstehen - Answers -people's subjective understanding of their own actions
Enhanced knowledge of the social sciences, giving them more information than the
natural sciences (not better)
You can ask humans "Why did you do that?"
Bureaucracy - Answers -a large scale formal organization rationally designed to
maximize efficiency
George H. Mead and Charles H. Cooley - Answers -Cofounders/fathers of the
Interactionist perspective
