SOCIOLOGY 201 EXAM 1 STUDY GUIDE
sociology - Answers - the study of human behavior in society
C. Wright Mills - Answers - was one of the first to write about the sociological
perspective in his classic book, The Sociological Imagination
the sociological imagination - Answers - the ability to see the societal patterns that
influence the individual as well as groups of individuals
troubles - Answers - privately felt problems that spring from events or feelings in a
person's life
issues - Answers - affect large numbers of people and have their origins in the
institutional arrangements and history of society
social structure - Answers - the organized pattern of social relationships and social
institutions that together constitute society
empirical discipline - Answers - conclusions based on careful and systematic
observations
debunking - Answers - the exposure of falseness or pretensions
George Simmel - Answers - discovered the group size effect he observed how group
size influences the behavior of the participants
diversity - Answers - the variety of social experiences that results from the social
structure of society
August comte - Answers - remembered as the founder of positivism, coined the term
"sociology"
Positivism - Answers - a system of thought that regards scientific observation to be the
highest form of knowledge
Alexis de Tocqueville - Answers - traveled to the United States as an observer
beginning in 1831. Tocqueville thought that democratic values and the belief in human
equality positively influenced American social institutions and transformed personal
relationships.
harriet martineau - Answers - used the powers if social observation to record and
analyze the social structure of American society
, Emile Durkheim - Answers - People are glued together by belief systems, society is an
entity larger than the sum of its parts
o Created the basis of functionalism
Karl Marx - Answers - analyzed capitalism as an economic system with enormous
implications for how society is organized, in particular how inequality, between groups
stems from the economic organization of society
Max Weber - Answers - used a multidimensional approach to analyzing society,
interpreting the economic, cultural, and political organization of society as together
shaping social institutions and social change
Verstehen - Answers - refers to understanding social behavior from the point of view of
those engaged in it
organic metaphor - Answers - society is an organism, a system of interrelated functions
and parts that work together to create the whole
Charles Darwin - Answers - revolutionized biology when he identified the process
termed evolution, a process by which new species are created through the survival of
the fittest
Social Darwinism - Answers - the application of Darwinian thought to society. According
to the social Darwinists, the "survival of the fittest" is the driving force of social evolution
as well.
Robert Park - Answers - interested in urban problems and how different racial groups
interacted with each other. He was also fascinated by the social design in cities (borders
deciding a Vietnamese neighborhood and an Italian one, etc)
Jane Addams - Answers - woman sociologists, was a leader in the settlement house
movement providing services and doing research to improve the lives of slum dwellers,
immigrants, and other poor people
Ida B. Wells Barnett - Answers - well-known for their brave campaign against the
lynching of African American people. Less known are the early contributions to
sociological thought.
W.E.B. Du Bois - Answers - one of the first sociologists to use community studies as the
basis for sociological work
functionalism - Answers - interprets each part of society in terms of how it contributes to
the stability of the whole. Functionalism conceptualizes society as more than the sum of
its component parts. Each part is "functional" for society- each part contributes to the
stability of the whole
sociology - Answers - the study of human behavior in society
C. Wright Mills - Answers - was one of the first to write about the sociological
perspective in his classic book, The Sociological Imagination
the sociological imagination - Answers - the ability to see the societal patterns that
influence the individual as well as groups of individuals
troubles - Answers - privately felt problems that spring from events or feelings in a
person's life
issues - Answers - affect large numbers of people and have their origins in the
institutional arrangements and history of society
social structure - Answers - the organized pattern of social relationships and social
institutions that together constitute society
empirical discipline - Answers - conclusions based on careful and systematic
observations
debunking - Answers - the exposure of falseness or pretensions
George Simmel - Answers - discovered the group size effect he observed how group
size influences the behavior of the participants
diversity - Answers - the variety of social experiences that results from the social
structure of society
August comte - Answers - remembered as the founder of positivism, coined the term
"sociology"
Positivism - Answers - a system of thought that regards scientific observation to be the
highest form of knowledge
Alexis de Tocqueville - Answers - traveled to the United States as an observer
beginning in 1831. Tocqueville thought that democratic values and the belief in human
equality positively influenced American social institutions and transformed personal
relationships.
harriet martineau - Answers - used the powers if social observation to record and
analyze the social structure of American society
, Emile Durkheim - Answers - People are glued together by belief systems, society is an
entity larger than the sum of its parts
o Created the basis of functionalism
Karl Marx - Answers - analyzed capitalism as an economic system with enormous
implications for how society is organized, in particular how inequality, between groups
stems from the economic organization of society
Max Weber - Answers - used a multidimensional approach to analyzing society,
interpreting the economic, cultural, and political organization of society as together
shaping social institutions and social change
Verstehen - Answers - refers to understanding social behavior from the point of view of
those engaged in it
organic metaphor - Answers - society is an organism, a system of interrelated functions
and parts that work together to create the whole
Charles Darwin - Answers - revolutionized biology when he identified the process
termed evolution, a process by which new species are created through the survival of
the fittest
Social Darwinism - Answers - the application of Darwinian thought to society. According
to the social Darwinists, the "survival of the fittest" is the driving force of social evolution
as well.
Robert Park - Answers - interested in urban problems and how different racial groups
interacted with each other. He was also fascinated by the social design in cities (borders
deciding a Vietnamese neighborhood and an Italian one, etc)
Jane Addams - Answers - woman sociologists, was a leader in the settlement house
movement providing services and doing research to improve the lives of slum dwellers,
immigrants, and other poor people
Ida B. Wells Barnett - Answers - well-known for their brave campaign against the
lynching of African American people. Less known are the early contributions to
sociological thought.
W.E.B. Du Bois - Answers - one of the first sociologists to use community studies as the
basis for sociological work
functionalism - Answers - interprets each part of society in terms of how it contributes to
the stability of the whole. Functionalism conceptualizes society as more than the sum of
its component parts. Each part is "functional" for society- each part contributes to the
stability of the whole
