Sociology 200 Exam 1 Study Guide 100%
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Sociology - Answer✔is the scientific study of social structure. Key concepts are the interaction
between the individual and the social structure, and the different levels of analysis used by
sociologists.
Importance of Perspective - Answer✔one's point of view, shapes how people interpret what is
happening around them. In the example given, Virginia colonists and Native Americans each
believed that their way of educating their children is best and desirable for everyone. Sociology
has a unique perspective of its own.
The unique perspective of sociology - Answer✔Sociological study focuses on social structure,
which may be understood as recurring patterns in social interaction. Within the sociological
perspective behavior is predictable and varies among members of different categories of
people.
Patterned social behavior - Answer✔Despite individual differences, people in similar
circumstances tend to behave in predictable ways, in recurrent patterned interaction.
Group behavior differs from individual behavior - Answer✔Just as metal alloys have properties
that are different from those of their component parts, people's behavior in groups differs from
individual behavior. In fact, group behavior cannot necessarily be predicted from the individual
group members. Group members tend to act like each other despite differing personal
preferences.
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Conformity relates to group behavior - Answer✔Conformity is encouraged in virtually every
situation. Individuals are not aware of, nor can they control, the social forces that promote
conformity.
Why people conform - Answer✔Conformity occurs because members have been conditioned to
believe the ways of their group are best. Social pressures also promote conformity.
Why conformity is important to sociology - Answer✔Sociologists are able to understand,
explain, and predict human behavior in part because of the tendency of people to conform.
Individuals affect society - Answer✔The interplay between the individual and the social
structure works in both directions: people are influenced by the social structure, and they also
have an impact on the social structure. Social structure does not determine social behavior.
Microsociology - Answer✔studies daily interaction among people with reference to the
meaning that comes from social relationships.
Macrosociology - Answer✔is not dependent on the interaction of specific people. At the macro
level sociologists study entire societies and the relationship of social structures within societies.
The Sociological Imagination - Answer✔C. Wright Mills termed the personal use of sociology
the sociological imagination.
The self interacts with society - Answer✔The sociological imagination enables the individual to
understand the events of personal life in the context of the society. Individuals are affected by
the time and place in which they live. The sociological imagination enables people to
understand the impact of social forces on their lives
The debunking theme stimulates the sociological imagination - Answer✔Sociology leads us to
question taken for granted assumptions, replacing misconceptions with more accurate
information and explanations.
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The sociological imagination is intellectually liberating - Answer✔Like other liberal arts
disciplines, sociology may be intellectually liberating because it provides a means of better
understand the world outside of the individual. Sociology permits the rational understanding of
differing perspectives and an understanding of how social forces shape those perspectives. This
deeper understanding may serve to free one from social pressures.
Moral responsibilities - Answer✔Despite its origins in America as a discipline aimed at solving
social problems, sociology has become more socially uninvolved over time. Still, sociologists
disagree about the possibility and even desirability of being value neutral. Humanist and
liberation sociology are two strains with a greater emphasis on improving human welfare.
Influence on public policies and programs - Answer✔Sociological research has influenced social
policy, including the outlawing of separate but equal schools for African Americans and whites.
Sociology includes policy-related research, such as investigations of the effects of environment
on IQ, and the impact of desegregation. Some sociologists work for social change. Clinical
sociologists effect change in organizations, and may work in settings with more personal and
direct intervention.
Work skills - Answer✔Sociology contributes to the development of the four basic skills that
interest most employers: the ability to work with others, writing and speaking skills, problem
solving, and the ability to analyze information.
Specific preparation for employment - Answer✔More specific skills are developed in the
subdisciplines of sociology, such as urban planning and social work in urbansociology, human
resource management in gender and race relations, and criminal justice and juvenile
delinquency in criminology.
Anthropology - Answer✔Sociology may be better understood through comparison with other
social sciences. While the social science disciplines may be distinguished from each other, there
is still overlap at many points. Is the most related to sociology, but it has focused more on non-
literate societies, while sociologists have studied modern, complex, industrial societies.
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