Sociological Imagination - Answers C. Wright Mills- the ability to see the connections between our
personal experience and the larger forces of history.
Verstehen - Answers Max Weber-German for understanding-the basis of interpretive sociology in which
researchers imagine themselves experiencing the life positions of the social actors they want to
understand rather than treating those people as objects to be examined.
Double Consciousness - Answers W.E.B. Du Bois-describes the two behavioral scripts, one for moving
through the world and the other incorporating the external opinions of prejudiced onlookers, which are
constantly maintained by African Americans
Conflict Theory - Answers Karl Marx- conflict between competing interests is the basic animating force
of social change and society in general.
Feminist Theory - Answers emphasis on women's experiences and a belief that sociology and society in
general subordinate women
Symbolic Interaction Theory - Answers developed in the 1960s, a micro-level theory in which shared
meanings, orientations and assumptions form basic motivations behind people's actions
Post-modernism Theory - Answers a condition characterized by a questioning of the notion of progress
and history, the replacement of narrative within pastiche, and multiple, perhaps even conflicting,
identities resulting from disjointed affiliations. Shared meanings have eroded, there is no longer one
correct answer to situations
Qualitative - Answers methods that attempt to collect information about the social world that cannot be
readily converted to numeric form. Meanings of actions or mechanisms by which social processes occur
Quantitative - Answers methods that attempt to collect information about the social world that is
already in or can be converted into numeric form. Statistical analysis, data collection
Deductive - Answers research approach that starts with a theory, forms a hypothesis, makes empirical
observations, and the analyzes the data to confirm, modify or reject the original theory
Inductive - Answers research approach that starts with empirical observations and then works to form a
theory
Correlation - Answers : simultaneous variation in two variables: tend to vary together. Ex. Income and
health
Causality - Answers change in one factor results in a corresponding change in another
The Challenges of Establishing Causality - Answers three factors are needed: correlation, Time order and
ruling out alternative explanations
, Dependent Variables - Answers outcome that the researcher is trying to explain
Independent Variables - Answers a measured factor that the researcher believes has a casual impact on
the dependent variable
Hypothesis - Answers a proposed relationship between two variables
Hypothesis Testing - Answers operationalization- the process of assigning a precise method for
measuring a term being examined for use in a particular study
Culture - Answers a set if beliefs, traditions, and practices: the sum of the social categories and concepts
we embrace in addition to beliefs, behaviors (except instinctual ones), and practices; everything but the
natural environment around us
Ethnocentrism - Answers the belief that one's own culture or group is superior to others, and the
tendency to view all other cultures from the perspective of one's own.
Material culture - Answers everything that is a part of out constructed, physical environment, including
technology
Nonmaterial culture - Answers values, beliefs and behaviors, and social norms
Ideology - Answers a system of concepts and relationships, an understanding of cause and effect
Cultural relativism - Answers taking into account the differences across cultures without passing
judgment or assigning values
Cultural Scripts - Answers modes of behavior and understanding that are not universal or natural.
Subculture - Answers the distinct cultural values and behavioral patterns of a particular group in society:
a group united by sets on concepts, values symbols and shared meaning specific to the members of that
group and distinctive enough to distinguish it from others within the same culture or society
Hegemony- Antonio Gramsci - Answers a condition by which a dominant group uses its power to elicit
the voluntary "consent" of the masses
Political Economy of the Media - Answers Media concentration- different campaigns have different
intended results. Short term intended ( kids cereal), long term intended (public service announcements),
short term unintended (violent video games causing crimes), long term unintended (desensitized to
violence and sex)
Consumerism - Answers the steady acquisition of material possessions, often with the belief that
happiness and fulfillment can thus be achieved
Culture Jamming - Answers the act of turning media against themselves