Sociology
Chapters 1-2 Review
1. Describe three things the Industrial Revolution caused.
Economic Changes
Social Changes
Political Changes
2. Name three sociologists and describe their perspectives.
Symbolic Interactionism from George Herbert Mead
Functional Analysis from Robert k. Merton
Class Conflit from Karl Marx
Positivism from Auguste Comte
Social Darwinism from Herbert Spencer
3. Explain the perspectives of W.E.B. Dubois.
Double consciousness describes the individual sensation of feeling as though your
identity is divided into several parts, making it difficult or impossible to have one unified
identity
4. Explain symbolic interaction.
This perspective focuses on symbols that can be found in society, what those
symbols mean to each of us, and how those symbols affect the way we interact with
others in our society. It is the key to understanding how we view the world and
communicate with one another. It explains that social behavior in terms of how people
interact and compare with each other
5. Explain functional analysis and conflict theory and describe how these theories
apply today.
society is a system of interconnected parts that work together in harmony to
maintain a state of balance and social equilibrium for the whole. The functionalist
perspective emphasizes the interconnectedness of society by focusing on how each
part influences and is influenced by other parts
The conflict perspective explains various aspects of our social world by
looking at which groups have power and benefit from a particular socia larrangement
society is made up of two social classes and evolves through different modes of
production in which the upper class controls the means of production and the lower
class is forced to provide labor.
Example: Economics provides for the production, distribution, and
consumption of goods and services.
Example:In the criminal justice system, the capitalist class passes laws
designed to benefit themselves, but these same laws are detrimental to the working
class.
6. Describe four basic steps for doing research in sociology.
A. Selecting a Topic
B. Defining the Problem
C. Reviewing the Literature
D. Formulating a Hypothesis
E. Choosing a Research Method
F. Collecting the Data
G. Analyzing the Results
7. Describe three major research methods.
A. Experiment
B. Survey
C. Participant observation
8. Define culture, material culture and nonmaterial culture and give examples for
each.
Material culture refers to the physical objects and resources that people use to
define their culture, such as jewelry, art, buildings, weapons machines, and eat utensils.
It’s something that can be touched or can be seen. For example, Americans eat with forks
and knives, while Chinese eat with chopsticks. Non material culture refers to the
nonphysical ideas that people have about their culture, is group’s way thinking, feeling
and doing, including beliefs, values, rules, norms, morals, language, organizations, and
institutions. For example, in China it is normal or signal someone using your index
finger. In Japan, beckoning someone with your index finger can be seen as offensive
9. Explain ethnocentrism and detail how this could be both positive and negative.
Ethnocentrism is a major reason for divisions amongst members of different
ethnicities, races, and religious groups in society.
Positive: It helps people to know their ethnic culture, perhaps speak another
language, and to appreciate the traditions of their culture.
Negative: It’s wrong to think your culture makes you ‘special’, or that since you
are in the majority culture, minority cultures should try to act more like you
10. Describe values, norms and sanctions and give examples of each.
Values is the idea of what is desirable in people’s life. Norms are social rules of
behavior and it is base on value. Sanctions refers to the reactions people receive for
following or breaking norms, It is a reaction help the norm works. Sanctions have
positive side and negative side. A positive sanction is an approval for following a norm, a
negative sanction is a disapproval for breaking a norm. An example for the negative
sanction associated with not following the norm, a person got a well paid job and want to
save money for a new car but he always late for work, then he got fired.
11. Describe folkways, norms and mores with examples.
Norms are social rules of behavior and it is base on value. Folkways and mores
are informal norms that dictate behavior; however, the violation of mores carries heavier
consequences. Mores derive from the established practices of a society rather than its
written laws. Folkway is a custom or belief common to members of a society or culture.
12. Describe subculture and counterculture with examples of each.
Counterculture is any subculture that run opposition to the main culture, go
against what the main culture does. Subculture is a smaller cultural group within a larger
culture; people of a subculture are part of the larger culture, but also share a specific
identity within a smaller group.
13. Name four American values and describe three.
14. Name two emerging values and describe one.
15. Detail three ways technology has had an influence on culture.
