SOCIOL 1101 COMPREHENSIVE
EXAM REVIEW NOTES 2024
What is Sociology
Sociology: Scientific study of dynamic relationships between individual
people and social structures, and their influence on human behavior and
social life
o “The systematic study of how people are affected by and affect
the social structures and social processes associated with the
groups, organizations, cultures, societies, and world in which
they exist” – George Ritzer
Mill’s concept of the sociological imagination
o Defined more by perspective (accounting for multiple) than any
topic
o Life of an individual as well as the history of a society must be
understood together
Individualism
o Social problems are the result of individuals’ flaws
o Society is just an aggregation of individuals
o Individuals > Interactions or Relationships
Durkheim’s Holism
o Opposite of individualism
o Society is all about relationships and everyone/thing as a whole
Social Structure
o Parts and their relationships to each other
o Status: position given to someone in society
o Role: the way someone is expected to behave in a particular
social situation
,o Norm: Informal rules that guide what members of a culture do
in given situations and how they live
, Social Behavior: Behavior oriented towards others
o To think sociologically is to be aware of the relationship
between our individual lives and the wider society
Understanding the intersection of biography and history
Labeling Theory of Deviance
o Deviance is created as much by the behavior of authorities as
by those who are considered (or not considered) deviant
o Treat kid as criminal results in a self-fulfilling prophecy
Instance of the social construction of reality in which
shared beliefs about the social world create the believed-in
outcomes
Social Science
o Utilizes a set of methods and data sources for systematic
observation
o Concepts and theories
Theory: Unified explanations using scientific concepts to
make sense of a variety of observed facts
Build concepts and refute or support theories
o Values
Universalism: Claims evaluated on basis of pre-established
impersonal criteria (agreed-upon rules of evidence)
Communalism: Scientific findings belong to us all
Disinterestedness: Science should not be pursued to
support a pre-existing ideology
Organized Skepticism: Science produces knowledge, but
not absolute truth (never final judgement)
Everything can be questioned
, Be your own most demanding critic
EXAM REVIEW NOTES 2024
What is Sociology
Sociology: Scientific study of dynamic relationships between individual
people and social structures, and their influence on human behavior and
social life
o “The systematic study of how people are affected by and affect
the social structures and social processes associated with the
groups, organizations, cultures, societies, and world in which
they exist” – George Ritzer
Mill’s concept of the sociological imagination
o Defined more by perspective (accounting for multiple) than any
topic
o Life of an individual as well as the history of a society must be
understood together
Individualism
o Social problems are the result of individuals’ flaws
o Society is just an aggregation of individuals
o Individuals > Interactions or Relationships
Durkheim’s Holism
o Opposite of individualism
o Society is all about relationships and everyone/thing as a whole
Social Structure
o Parts and their relationships to each other
o Status: position given to someone in society
o Role: the way someone is expected to behave in a particular
social situation
,o Norm: Informal rules that guide what members of a culture do
in given situations and how they live
, Social Behavior: Behavior oriented towards others
o To think sociologically is to be aware of the relationship
between our individual lives and the wider society
Understanding the intersection of biography and history
Labeling Theory of Deviance
o Deviance is created as much by the behavior of authorities as
by those who are considered (or not considered) deviant
o Treat kid as criminal results in a self-fulfilling prophecy
Instance of the social construction of reality in which
shared beliefs about the social world create the believed-in
outcomes
Social Science
o Utilizes a set of methods and data sources for systematic
observation
o Concepts and theories
Theory: Unified explanations using scientific concepts to
make sense of a variety of observed facts
Build concepts and refute or support theories
o Values
Universalism: Claims evaluated on basis of pre-established
impersonal criteria (agreed-upon rules of evidence)
Communalism: Scientific findings belong to us all
Disinterestedness: Science should not be pursued to
support a pre-existing ideology
Organized Skepticism: Science produces knowledge, but
not absolute truth (never final judgement)
Everything can be questioned
, Be your own most demanding critic
