CHAPTER 1 – Thinking Like a Sociologist Fill in the BlankSelect the missing terms from each section and place them in the correct blank space.Section 1 Alienation Bourgeoisie or capitalists Cultural and political Divisiveness Emile Durkheim EmpiricalHull House Macrosociological MicrosociologicalNAACP Objective ProletariatRace Social facts Social solidaritySociological imagination Sociology SystematicallyTheorySociology is the systematic study of groups in society. Because social behaviors have regular patterns, sociologists can study this behavior systematically. Sociological understandings of the world differ from common sense because common sense is subjective. The objective data from sociological researchoften contradicts the way we think the world works.C. Wright Mills (1959) discussed the sociological imagination as the ability to recognize how the influence of the larger society plays out in individual lives. When sociologists take a macrosociological approach, they focus on the large-scale patterns of society as a whole. On the other hand, when sociologists focus on the smaller-scale patterns of individuals and their interaction, they are taking a microsociological approach.When sociologists analyze the social world, they use a theory or a guiding set of statements that explains problems, actions, or behaviors. They also rely on empirical information – information that is provable by observation or experiment. Auguste Comte argued that sociologists must be empirical when analyzing society. Émile Durkheim argued that sociologists should study patterns of social behavior that are measurable and external to the individual, which he called social facts. He also believed that social cohesiveness, or social solidarity, was an important characteristic of modern social life.Karl Marx believed the conflict between the bourgeoisie or capitalists (owners of the means of production) and the proletariat (workers) produces social divisiveness and results in alienation - the feeling separate from the surrounding society. Max Weber argued that cultural and political institutions were equally important to economics in explaining society. Jane Addams co-founded the settlement house called Hull House. W.E.B. Du Bois helped found the NAACP, and argued that race was the biggest social problem in contemporary America.CHAPTER 1 – Thinking Like a Sociologist Fill in the BlankSelect the missing terms from each section and place them in the correct blank space.Section 2Developing nations Dysfunctional FunctionalismGlobal feminism Haves ideas, beliefsLatent functions Less powerful Liberal feminismManifest functions Men and women PowerRadical feminism Resources Shared meaningsSocial institutions Socially constructed StabilitySymbolsSociological theory is separated into four main theoretical camps. Functionalism emphasizes the way each part of society works together to create social stability. Social institutions like education have manifest functions that are intended such as teaching students to read and write. Education also has unintended functions called latent functions, such as how college serves as a marriage market. In some cases, a social pattern causes instability for society as a whole, so this social pattern is dysfunctional.Conflict theory analyzes the way that groups struggle for social power and compete for scarce resources, arguing that those with economic and social power (the “haves”) control much of society at the expense of the less powerful.Feminist theories also emphasize this aspect of conflict, but focus specifically on the inequality between men and women. A variety of feminisms exist, including liberal feminism, which emphasizes social and legal reforms to achieve gender equity, and radical feminism, which sees male dominance as the major cause of women’s inequality. Global feminism focuses on larger patterns of gender inequality, including the exploitation of women in developing nations.Symbolic interactionism is a microsociological approach in that it focuses on everyday behavior and ideas, beliefs, and attitudes. This perspective emphasizes that society is socially constructed in our daily activities and the way we act and react to others. It argues that when we have shared meanings (common definitions) for words, gestures, and images that represent something, symbols, we can interact
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