Introduction to Sociology Pre-Assessment

Pre-Assessment: Introduction to Sociology

• Durkheim's Suicide Research: Suicide rates higher in areas where individual ties to groups are disrupted or distorted. Suicide rates are not linked to community ties, but rather, lowest in areas with strong individual identity.

Sociological Concepts

• Auguste Comte's Contribution: Introduced positivism to sociology.

• Sociological Perspectives (Page 2):

  • Symbolic interactionism: Social life shaped by meanings people assign to things.
  • Functional analysis: Society as interdependent parts working together.
  • Conflict: Society as groups competing for scarce resources.
  • Microsociology: Study of small-scale interactions.

• Ethical Dilemmas in Sociological Research (Page 2): Laud Humphrey's study of men in public restrooms highlighted misleading research subjects.

• Sociological Research Ethics (Page 2): Sociologists must consider the physical and emotional risks to research participants. Ethical standards are key to research considerations. Personal values, data validity, and data analysis are all important considerations.

• Sociological Perspectives (Page 3):

  • Conflict perspective: Society as groups competing for scarce resources.

• Cultural Evaluation (Page 3): Sociologists practice cultural evaluation without judging cultures.

• Examples of Subculture (Page 3): Teachers in a neighborhood regularly discussing ethnicity and family issues in daily work.

• Culture's Role in Social Interactions (Page 3): Values define standards, communication, and expectations. Values can express positive or negative sanctions.

• Workplace as an Agent of Socialization (Page 3): The workplace socializes by creating concrete operational thought, and where one's social class is not unimportant, it's also where the looking-glass self is first realized.

• Group Identity and Socialization (Page 4): Adolescents (ages 13-17) grapple with "Who am I?" more than other age categories.

• Gender Socialization (Page 4): Family is the primary place where gender socialization begins.

• George Herbert Mead's "Generalized Other" (Page 4): Generalized other refers to a person's internalized norms, values, attitudes, and expectations from others. It shapes self-development.

• Looking-Glass Self (Page 5): Refers to the sociological concept of how we develop a sense of self from the perceived reactions of others.

• Secondary Groups (Page 5): A group formed by similar interests or professions.

• Social Comparison (Page 5): Individuals use a group as comparison to evaluate themselves.

• Student Behavior in the Social Structure (Page 5): Students who are well-prepared may avoid answering in class in order to avoid putting classmates in a bad light. It shows that they're behaving in a way that avoids risking negative reactions from peers, which impacts their behavior within a social structure.

• Social Categories (Page 6): An example is fans gathered for a concert.

• Aggregate (Page 6): A crowd of people who happen to be in the same place at the same time.

• Social Theorist on Bureaucracies (Page 6): Max Weber first analyzed bureaucracies as powerful social and organizational forms.

• Group Dynamics and Size (Page 7): In smaller groups, there are more interactions between members. Larger groups tend to be more stable.

• Bureaucracy Characteristics (Page 7): Clear division of labor is a key characteristic of a bureaucracy. Communication tends to be formal and impersonal.

• Group Dynamics and Size (continued, Page 7): As a smaller group grows larger, interactions become less intimate, and structure becomes more formal.

• Strain Theory (Page 7): Strain theory explains deviance by looking at how societal pressures create stress in individuals.

• Conflict Perspective on Deviance (Page 8): Deviant behavior is defined by those in power, who use power to label others as deviant.

• Deviant Behavior (Page 8): Certain behaviors are considered deviant but are not crimes (e.g., public nose picking).

• Durkheim's View of Deviance (Page 8): Deviance can encourage social change and reinforce cultural values.

• Moral Boundaries (Page 9): Deviance can upset or confuse moral boundaries.

• Prisons & Identities (Page 9): Prisons cement a criminal identity, increasing the chances of continuing criminal behavior.

• High-Status Crime (Page 9): White-collar crime is committed by people in high social status, usually driven by financial gain.

• Institutional Discrimination (Page 9): An example can be racially biased housing loans.

• Conflict Perspective (Page 10): Racism stems from competition between cultural groups for resources.

• Race vs. Ethnicity (Page 10): Race focuses on physical traits, ethnicity on cultural identity.

• Group Interaction Patterns (Page 11): Assimilation is when ethnic groups adopt dominant cultural patterns and lose their distinctive traits.

• Gender Roles in Marriage (Page 11): Gender roles influence decision-making power and family structures in marriages.

• Wage Gap (Page 11): The difference between the average pay of men and women.

• Poverty Explanations (Page 13): Sociologists consider social structure for understanding poverty, instead of blaming individual characteristics.

• Class Inequality (Page 13): Karl Marx discusses social classes being defined by people's relationship to the means of production.

• Urban Expansion and Inequality (Page 13): Urban expansion can increase housing costs in poor areas, displacing the original residents.

• Global Inequality (Page 14): Peripheral countries are the poorest in Immanuel Wallerstein's analysis focusing on global inequality.

• Cohabitation Trends (Page 14): Cohabitation rates have generally increased since 1960 in the US.

• Marriage Trends (Page 14): Couples are marrying later in life more often. One reason is they are pursuing higher education first.

• Marriage As Social Tool (Page 15): Functionalist sociologists view marriage as fundamental to society's survival.

• Symbolic Interaction & Marriage (Page 15): Different meanings to men and women in marriage are explored in this perspective.

• Weber's Theory (Page 15): Max Weber associated Protestantism with capitalism.

• Bias in Standardized Tests (Page 15): Standardized tests can have cultural bias, favoring some groups over others. White middle-class students are sometimes advantaged.

• Educational System's Role (Page 16): The educational system can transmit dominant cultural norms in a functionalist perspective.

• Urban Poverty and Education (Page 16): Schools with students from working poor families may face challenges, such as lower graduation rates.

Test your knowledge on key concepts of sociology including Durkheim's research on suicide, Comte's positivism, and the various sociological perspectives. This pre-assessment will also cover ethical dilemmas and considerations in sociological research. Prepare to challenge your understanding of how society functions and the research that explores it.