ECU SOCI 2110 Final Exam Study Guide | Sociology Review, Key Concepts &
Practice Questions
Max Weber - ANS ✔✔ (1864-1920) German Sociologist and Economist. Symbolic
Interactionism. Focused on understanding the meaning of social interactions through verstehen
Emile Durkheim - ANS ✔✔ (1858-1917)
Believed in functionalism and the scientific method; saw society as a set of independent parts
that maintain a system but each separate part has a function
"Father of structural functionalism"
Karl Marx - ANS ✔✔Came up with a social theory which argues that individuals and groups
(social classes) within society have differing amount of material and non material resources and
that the more powerful groups use their power in order to exploit groups with less power
Conflict Theorist
Charles Cooley - ANS ✔✔Symbolic Interactionist
Came up with the Looking Glass Self
W.I. Thomas - ANS ✔✔Functionalist
Came up with the Thomas Theorem
C. Wright Mills - ANS ✔✔Described the importance of the sociological imagination when
viewing the world, especially for people with power.
Sociological Imagination
August Comte - ANS ✔✔"Father of Sociology"
,Believed that the new scientific approach to problem solving could be applied to the study of
society
He penned Positive Philosophy
Functionalist
Robert Merton - ANS ✔✔Argued that society is set up in a way that encourages excessive
deviance
Broke Society into small parts to study them as a whole and believed in manifest and latent
success
Functionalist
Erving Goffman - ANS ✔✔Focused on the roles we play when we interact with others. He
argues that we have a private inner self that stays off stage, and a social self that acts out the
roles people expect of us.
Dramaturgical Analysis
Symbolic Interactionist
Immanuel Wallerstein - ANS ✔✔Came up with the worlds system theory
Jane Addams - ANS ✔✔Activist and co-founder of one of the best known settlement houses,
Hull House in Chicago (1889), and recipient of the 1931 Nobel Peace Prize for her work in the
peace movement
Harriet Martineau - ANS ✔✔Compared the positions of women and that of American slaves in
society
Called for equal rights for all during a time when they were granted only to white men
Encouraged education so that women had options other than marriage
regarded as the first woman sociologist. Defended workers rights to unionize, argued for laws to
protect factory workers
, -Conflict Theorist
Positive Philosophy - ANS ✔✔The first systematic, sociological approach to the study of society
developed by August Comte
Reliability - ANS ✔✔Refers to the extent to which a measure produces consistent results (can
someone else repeat the study and get statistically significant results)
Validity - ANS ✔✔A measure trait or characteristic that is subject to change under different
conditions
Scientific Method - ANS ✔✔A systematic, organized series of steps that ensures maximum
objectivity and consistency in researching a problem
Structural Functionalism - ANS ✔✔(MACRO) Sociological Perspective.
originally attempted to explain social institutions and their place within society.
Shifted focus of sociology from the study of day-to-day social interaction to a MACRO level
analysis, which examies broader social structures and society as a whole.
Symbolic Interactionism - ANS ✔✔(MICRO) Sociological Perspective.
Examines how individuals and groups interact, focusing on the creation of personal identity
through interaction of others.
Conflict Theory - ANS ✔✔(MACRO) Sociological Perspective. Marxist-based social theory. Argues
that individuals and groups (social classes) within society have differing amount of material and
non-material resources and that the more powerful groups use their power in order to exploit
groups with less power.
Practice Questions
Max Weber - ANS ✔✔ (1864-1920) German Sociologist and Economist. Symbolic
Interactionism. Focused on understanding the meaning of social interactions through verstehen
Emile Durkheim - ANS ✔✔ (1858-1917)
Believed in functionalism and the scientific method; saw society as a set of independent parts
that maintain a system but each separate part has a function
"Father of structural functionalism"
Karl Marx - ANS ✔✔Came up with a social theory which argues that individuals and groups
(social classes) within society have differing amount of material and non material resources and
that the more powerful groups use their power in order to exploit groups with less power
Conflict Theorist
Charles Cooley - ANS ✔✔Symbolic Interactionist
Came up with the Looking Glass Self
W.I. Thomas - ANS ✔✔Functionalist
Came up with the Thomas Theorem
C. Wright Mills - ANS ✔✔Described the importance of the sociological imagination when
viewing the world, especially for people with power.
Sociological Imagination
August Comte - ANS ✔✔"Father of Sociology"
,Believed that the new scientific approach to problem solving could be applied to the study of
society
He penned Positive Philosophy
Functionalist
Robert Merton - ANS ✔✔Argued that society is set up in a way that encourages excessive
deviance
Broke Society into small parts to study them as a whole and believed in manifest and latent
success
Functionalist
Erving Goffman - ANS ✔✔Focused on the roles we play when we interact with others. He
argues that we have a private inner self that stays off stage, and a social self that acts out the
roles people expect of us.
Dramaturgical Analysis
Symbolic Interactionist
Immanuel Wallerstein - ANS ✔✔Came up with the worlds system theory
Jane Addams - ANS ✔✔Activist and co-founder of one of the best known settlement houses,
Hull House in Chicago (1889), and recipient of the 1931 Nobel Peace Prize for her work in the
peace movement
Harriet Martineau - ANS ✔✔Compared the positions of women and that of American slaves in
society
Called for equal rights for all during a time when they were granted only to white men
Encouraged education so that women had options other than marriage
regarded as the first woman sociologist. Defended workers rights to unionize, argued for laws to
protect factory workers
, -Conflict Theorist
Positive Philosophy - ANS ✔✔The first systematic, sociological approach to the study of society
developed by August Comte
Reliability - ANS ✔✔Refers to the extent to which a measure produces consistent results (can
someone else repeat the study and get statistically significant results)
Validity - ANS ✔✔A measure trait or characteristic that is subject to change under different
conditions
Scientific Method - ANS ✔✔A systematic, organized series of steps that ensures maximum
objectivity and consistency in researching a problem
Structural Functionalism - ANS ✔✔(MACRO) Sociological Perspective.
originally attempted to explain social institutions and their place within society.
Shifted focus of sociology from the study of day-to-day social interaction to a MACRO level
analysis, which examies broader social structures and society as a whole.
Symbolic Interactionism - ANS ✔✔(MICRO) Sociological Perspective.
Examines how individuals and groups interact, focusing on the creation of personal identity
through interaction of others.
Conflict Theory - ANS ✔✔(MACRO) Sociological Perspective. Marxist-based social theory. Argues
that individuals and groups (social classes) within society have differing amount of material and
non-material resources and that the more powerful groups use their power in order to exploit
groups with less power.
