SOC 100 1st Edition Exam 1 Study Guide Intro To Sociology Midterm Study Guide SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY 1 Know why humans are social animals biology psychology rationality Biology people who are more social are more likely to survive Psychology we are cognitive misers that rely on support from the community Rationality we are awarded for being social and punished for being non social 2 Understand Freud s model of the self superego ego and id and its relevance to sociology Superego society s self nurture Ego rational self Id biological self nature Freud s relevance to sociology first to recognize personality is co determined by society 3 Understand the Nature vs Nurture debate and know which side sociologists take Nature biology and genetics Nurture society and culture Sociologists choose nurture 4 Remember Isabelle s case study which shows the importance of nurture Locked in a room with no human interaction did not know language normality 5 Understand the comparative examples including gender race and sexuality which Demonstrate the importance of nurture Gender things considered natural in one society are not in another naturally better at childcare example Race One drop president example Sexuality what is considered natural differs by society homosexuality example 6 Know what it means to say that humans are cognitive misers As human beings we are forever trying to conserve our cognitive energy 7 Be able to define the following terms from readings and lectures Conformity Cognitive Dissonance etc Conformity a change in a person s behavior or opinions as a result of real or imagined pressure from a person or group of people Cognitive dissonance personal discomfort that occurs whenever we have an internalized belief that conflicts with reality 8 Know and understand the Milgram Experiment and the Asch Experiment Milgram shock experiment Asch line experiment 9 Be able to define social location and remember that it has an effect on our perceptions Social location where an individual is situated in terms of the overall hierarchy of socioeconomic structures THE SOCIOLOGICAL IMAGINATION 1 Understand and be able to interpret the basic theoretical model of sociology A B Sociologists look for the social cause A of general social patterns B 2 Know what a social context is Social context the totality of social causes and the resulting general patterns that affect an individual group or event 3 Understand what it means to move from the particular to the general and why this is Important for scientists Concrete particular Abstract general Important so that they can talk about a wider range of phenomena 4 Familiarize yourself with the key terms Society Social Structure Social Institution Organization Group Network and Individual Especially need to know the first three Society a population of people who share the same geographical territory and are subject to the same political authority and dominant culture Social structure a general framework of social institutions that regulates a society Social institution a set of organizations that performs a particular set of social functions Organization one or more groups that are designed and managed for a specific purpose Group inter related social networks that share a common identity culture Network individuals that are somehow related to each other Individual one alone STRATIFICATION AND POVERTY 1 You will need to know and understand the different types of poverty Official Poverty Absolute Poverty Relative Poverty Transitional Poverty and Structural Poverty Official necessities that conclude the poverty line Absolute desperate conditions in which one is lacking the resources for basic survival Relative conditions in which one is lacking resources relative to the rest of society Transitional a temporary state of relative poverty usually because of a systematic change in social location Structural relative poverty that is created and maintained by social structures 2 Know the causes of structural poverty Social Institutions Structural Failures and SocialChange Know some examples of these causes Also be able to define working poor Social institutions slavery and castes Structural failures the working poor Structural change economic recession Working poor when someone is working one or more full time jobs and still struggling to pay their bills 3 Be able to define stratification and social class Stratification relative social position of persons in a given social group category geographical region or other social unit Social class a set of concepts in the social sciences and political theory centered on models of social stratification in which people are grouped into a set of hierarchical social categories 4 Familiarize yourself with the historical trends of inequality in the U S and the social Causes Make sure that you have completed the Greenhouse reading and reviewed the Lecture slides I will not ask you to memorize specific statistics but I might present you With a general trend or fact and ask you whether it is true or not The rich are getting richer the top 10 of earners make up this class The middle class is vanishing the cost of living has increased The lower classes are struggling half of Americans are in or near relative poverty HISTORY OF SOCIOLOGY 1 Be able to distinguish between macro level versus micro level sociology Macro level studying societies and communities as a whole using the abstract concepts of social structures institutions etc Micro level focusing on individual actions within particular social settings groups and networks 2 Know who Ibn Khaldun Auguste Comte and George Herbert Mead were and why they Were each important historical figures Ibn Khaldun the first sociologist stressed the importance of inking sociological thought with historical observations and desired to know the social causes of things Auguste Comte typically known as being the first modern social scientist invented the term sociology promoted positivism mainly studied how social institutions can provide effective moral regulations for a society George Herbert Mead founder of pragmatism and symbolic interactionism 3 You will need to know the basic theories of each major historical figure Marx capitalist social structures A inequality social problems B The social structures of capitalism create and maintain a degrading harmful and or intolerable social context for the lower classes Durkheim social disorder change A1 anomie A2 social problems B Changes in society causes