Scientific - Answers a way of learning about the world that combines logically constructed
theory and systematic observation
Sociology - Answers the scientific study of social relations, groups, and societies
Social embeddedness - Answers the idea that economic, political, and other forms of human
behavior are fundamentally shaped by social relations
Sociological imagination - Answers the ability to grasp the relationship between individual lives
and the larger social forces that help shape them
Agency - Answers the ability of individuals and groups to exercise free will and to make social
changes on a small or large scale
Structure - Answers patterned social arrangements that have effects on agency, and are, in turn,
affected by agency
Critical thinking - Answers the ability to evaluate claims about the truth by using reason and
evidence
Norms - Answers accepted social behaviors and beliefs
Anomie - Answers a state of normlessness that occurs when people lose touch with the shared
rules and values that give order and meaning to their lives
Social statics - Answers the way society is held together
Social dynamics - Answers the laws that govern social change
positivist - Answers science that is based on facts alone
Social facts - Answers qualities of groups that are external to individual members yet constrain
their thinking and behavior
Social solidarity - Answers the bonds that unite the members of a social group
Collective conscience - Answers the common beliefs and values that bind a society together
Class conflict - Answers competition between social classes over the distribution of wealth,
power, and other valued resources in society
Proletariat - Answers the working class, wage workers
Bourgeoisie - Answers The capitalist (or property-owning) class.
Means of production - Answers the sites and technology that produce the goods we need and