Sociology Basics

Sociological Imagination

• The ability to recognize how personal issues reflect broader social structures

Research Process

• Stating the problem
• Setting the stage by selecting variables and sampling strategy
• Gathering data
• Finding patterns
• Generating theories
• Repeat

Sociological Perspectives

• Structural functionalism: focuses on how society as a whole is stabilized, and how institutions and systems function to stabilize society
• Conflict theory: focuses on inequality in access to resources or opportunities due to power dynamics
• Symbolic interactionism: focuses on how social behavior is perceived and the meanings we make of different behaviors based on social context

Culture

• Total way of life shared by members of a community
• Includes language, values, technology, material objects, and symbolic meanings
• Carried through language, norms, and values

Culture-Related Concepts

• Culture shock: unpleasant experiences when encountering a different culture
• Assimilation: the process of learning and adopting dominant group values, often giving up one's own values
• Multiculturalism: valuing and nourishing different cultural strands within a broader culture
• Ethnocentrism: judging other cultures by one's own norms and values
• Cultural relativity: evaluating cultural traits in their own context
• Norms: expected behaviors that help carry out values
• Values: overarching goals tied to morality

Cultural Competence

• Better access to care, better care, and better health outcomes for patients

Socialization

• Gradual process of learning rules, practices, and values necessary for participation in culture and society
• Lifelong process
• Resocialization: occurs when experiencing a life-changing event (e.g., accident, total institution)

Family and Socialization

• Family plays a crucial role in socialization, teaching practical skills, language, values, beliefs, and goals
• Family's race, ethnicity, class, and religion shape children's initial experiences

Statuses and Roles

• Ascribed statuses: born with
• Achieved statuses: gained over a lifetime
• Roles: behaviors expected based on statuses

Social Institutions

• School: teaches intellectual and social skills
• Family: raises children and reproduces
• Religion: provides answers about the unknown and moral direction
• Economy: produces and distributes goods
• Government: provides services, defense, and politics

Institutional Interdependence

• Institutions impact each other and are simultaneously impacted by each other, creating a ripple effect when one changes