Sociology Midterm Exam (Chapters 1-5) with Updated Questions and Answers

Sociology Midterm Exam (Chapters 1-5) with Updated Questions and Answers Sociology - CORRECT ANSWER The scientific study of human social life, groups and societies. Social Facts - CORRECT ANSWER The aspects of social life that shape our actions as individuals Organic solidarity - CORRECT ANSWER The social cohesion that results from the various parts of a society functioning as an integrated whole. Social constraint - CORRECT ANSWER The conditioning influence on our behavior of the groups and societies of which we are members Anomie - CORRECT ANSWER referring to a situation in which social norms lose their hold over individual behavior..... When an individual goes astray Materialist conception of history - CORRECT ANSWER develped by Karl Marx, according to which material or economic factors have a prime role in determining historical change. capitalism - CORRECT ANSWER An economic system based on private ownership of wealth, which is invested and reinvested in order to produce profit. Social imagination - CORRECT ANSWER The application of imagnative thought to the asking and answering of sociological questions Structuration - CORRECT ANSWER The two way process by which we shape our social world through individual actions and by which we are reshaped by society Natural Science - CORRECT ANSWER Study of physical features, nature and the ways they interact and change Social Science - CORRECT ANSWER The study of social features of humans and the ways they interact and change. Theory - CORRECT ANSWER set of statements that seek to explain problems, actions or behaviors. symbolic interactionism - CORRECT ANSWER (G.H Mead) emphasizes the role of symbols and language as core elements of all human interaction. Symbol - CORRECT ANSWER One item used to stand for or represent another. functionalism - CORRECT ANSWER the notion that social events can best be explained in terms of the functions they perform- that is the contributions they make to the community of a society. manifest functions - CORRECT ANSWER the functions of a particular social activity that are known to and intended by the individuals involved in the activity latent functions - CORRECT ANSWER Functional consequences that are not intended or recognized by the members of a social system in which they occur Marxism - CORRECT ANSWER A body of thought deriving its main elements from Karl Marx's ideas ideology - CORRECT ANSWER system of ideas characteristic of a group or culture Feminist theory - CORRECT ANSWER A sociological perspective that emphasizes the centrality of gender in analyzing the social world and particularly the uniqueness of the experience of women. There are many strands of feminist theory, but they all share the desire to explain gender inequalities in society and to work to overcome them. Feminism - CORRECT ANSWER the doctrine advocating social, political, and all other rights of women equal to those of men. postmodernism - CORRECT ANSWER The belief that society is no longer governed by history or progress. Postmodern society is highly pluralistic and diverse, with no "grand narrative" guiding its development. microsociology - CORRECT ANSWER The study of human behavior in contexts of face-to-face interaction Macrosociology - CORRECT ANSWER The study of large-scale groups, organizations, or social systems empirical investigation - CORRECT ANSWER factual inquiries carried out in any area of sociological study factual questions - CORRECT ANSWER questions that raise issues concerning matters of fact (rather than theoretical or moral issues) comparative questions - CORRECT ANSWER Questions concerned with drawing comparisons between different human societies for the purposes of sociological theory or research. developmental questions - CORRECT ANSWER Questions that sociologists pose when looking at the origins and path of development of social institutions from the past to the present. theoretical questions - CORRECT ANSWER Questions posed by sociologists when seeking to explain a particular range of observed events. The asking of theoretical questions is crucial to allowing us to generalize about the nature of social life. ethnography - CORRECT ANSWER the study of an entire social setting through extended systematic observation participant observation - CORRECT ANSWER a research method in which investigators systematically observe people while joining them in their routine activities