Exam 1 - Introduction to Sociology
Week 1 - Sociology & Sociological questions
Gentrification : The process of having wealthier/lighter skinned people remove the colored/working-
class community from their own urban areas
- E.g. Brooklyn, New York with neighborhoods where predominantly black people lived were
removed to make space for white people by increasing the prices for homes
Familiarization : Go to unfamiliar places in order to familiarize yourself in the area
- E.g. Somebody who wants to study the housing price in New York City compared to Los Angeles
will familiarize themselves with the housing prices in New York so that they can then compare
the prices and see which is cheaper
Defamiliarization : To question the familiar, deconstruct familiar concepts → to gain a new perspective
and see the world differently
Methodology : A tool that can be used in various ways to gather, analyze, and interpret data
- Visual sociology - Visual aspect of sociology
- Digital sociology - Analyze data by learning how certain networks work
- Big data analysis
- Machine learning
Ethnomethodology : The systematic study of the methods used by ‘natives’ (members of a particular
society) to construct their social worlds - is a third interactionist perspective.
Analyzing the ways in which people from a particular society like a town in the Netherlands
interact with one another and how that differs from the interactions of a village in Cambodia
Postmodernist theory : The questioning of ideas/values oftentimes associated in modernism with beliefs
in progress and innovation
- The Aboriginals in Australia questioning the white Australians ideas/values of how to modernize
Australia
Post-colonial theory : The global/historical impact colonialism has on cultures/societies around the
world
Eurocentrism : The worldview that favors Western civilizations over non-Western civilizations
Hegemony : The dominant set of ideas and practices that come into practice
Primordial : The idea that nations or ethnic identities are fixed, natural, and ancient
Primordial Discourse : Question the norms of a specific society
, Social phenomena : Emergent properties, which are the individual, external, social constructions that
influence our lives and development (are constantly evolving) - it is created by society
Intersectionality : The ways in which decision of class, gender and ethnicity combine or ‘intersect’ to
produce complex forms of social inequality
- African-American women in the United States are more likely to face discrimination and sexism
on a daily basis compared to white men in the same society based on their sex and race
Decolonizing sociology : Correcting the distortions and exclusions produced by empire and global
inequality and reshaping the discipline in a democratic direction on a world scale.
(De) familiarization : → Question the norms of society in order to gain new perspectives and see the
world differently
The world systems theory : Assumes that the world system of production and distribution is the center
of analysis
- Periphery : The developing world that is largely agricultural economies manipulated by the core
countries for their own economic advantage
o Found throughout Africa
o Lesser extent in Latin America and and Asia
o Countries where natural resources along with profits flow from the periphery to the
core
o The core, in turn, sells finished goods back to the periphery, also at a profit
- Semi-periphery : Semi-industrialized, middle-income countries that extract profits from
peripheral countries and in turn yield profits to the core countries. Able to exploit the periphery
while still to some degree controlled by the core
o Mexico
o Brazil
o Argentina
o Chile
o Newly industrializing economies of East Asia
- Core : The most advanced industrial nations taking most of the profits from the world economy
o United States
o Japan
o Western Europe
Universality : Ideas/concepts that exist in all human societies and are valid at all times
Ethnography : About embedding ourselves as researchers within specific social settings for a prolonged
period of time, in order to develop a richer understanding of the dynamics and complexities of social
life, social relations, and the workings of society
Mainstream culture : The widespread culture throughout a society that applies in part or whole to all
members of the society
Week 1 - Sociology & Sociological questions
Gentrification : The process of having wealthier/lighter skinned people remove the colored/working-
class community from their own urban areas
- E.g. Brooklyn, New York with neighborhoods where predominantly black people lived were
removed to make space for white people by increasing the prices for homes
Familiarization : Go to unfamiliar places in order to familiarize yourself in the area
- E.g. Somebody who wants to study the housing price in New York City compared to Los Angeles
will familiarize themselves with the housing prices in New York so that they can then compare
the prices and see which is cheaper
Defamiliarization : To question the familiar, deconstruct familiar concepts → to gain a new perspective
and see the world differently
Methodology : A tool that can be used in various ways to gather, analyze, and interpret data
- Visual sociology - Visual aspect of sociology
- Digital sociology - Analyze data by learning how certain networks work
- Big data analysis
- Machine learning
Ethnomethodology : The systematic study of the methods used by ‘natives’ (members of a particular
society) to construct their social worlds - is a third interactionist perspective.
Analyzing the ways in which people from a particular society like a town in the Netherlands
interact with one another and how that differs from the interactions of a village in Cambodia
Postmodernist theory : The questioning of ideas/values oftentimes associated in modernism with beliefs
in progress and innovation
- The Aboriginals in Australia questioning the white Australians ideas/values of how to modernize
Australia
Post-colonial theory : The global/historical impact colonialism has on cultures/societies around the
world
Eurocentrism : The worldview that favors Western civilizations over non-Western civilizations
Hegemony : The dominant set of ideas and practices that come into practice
Primordial : The idea that nations or ethnic identities are fixed, natural, and ancient
Primordial Discourse : Question the norms of a specific society
, Social phenomena : Emergent properties, which are the individual, external, social constructions that
influence our lives and development (are constantly evolving) - it is created by society
Intersectionality : The ways in which decision of class, gender and ethnicity combine or ‘intersect’ to
produce complex forms of social inequality
- African-American women in the United States are more likely to face discrimination and sexism
on a daily basis compared to white men in the same society based on their sex and race
Decolonizing sociology : Correcting the distortions and exclusions produced by empire and global
inequality and reshaping the discipline in a democratic direction on a world scale.
(De) familiarization : → Question the norms of society in order to gain new perspectives and see the
world differently
The world systems theory : Assumes that the world system of production and distribution is the center
of analysis
- Periphery : The developing world that is largely agricultural economies manipulated by the core
countries for their own economic advantage
o Found throughout Africa
o Lesser extent in Latin America and and Asia
o Countries where natural resources along with profits flow from the periphery to the
core
o The core, in turn, sells finished goods back to the periphery, also at a profit
- Semi-periphery : Semi-industrialized, middle-income countries that extract profits from
peripheral countries and in turn yield profits to the core countries. Able to exploit the periphery
while still to some degree controlled by the core
o Mexico
o Brazil
o Argentina
o Chile
o Newly industrializing economies of East Asia
- Core : The most advanced industrial nations taking most of the profits from the world economy
o United States
o Japan
o Western Europe
Universality : Ideas/concepts that exist in all human societies and are valid at all times
Ethnography : About embedding ourselves as researchers within specific social settings for a prolonged
period of time, in order to develop a richer understanding of the dynamics and complexities of social
life, social relations, and the workings of society
Mainstream culture : The widespread culture throughout a society that applies in part or whole to all
members of the society
