PSEB SS Sociology flashcards

33 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

Sociology

The systematic, evidence-based study of human society, social interaction, social groups, and institutions, distinguished from common sense by its use of methodical research and theory.

Sociological imagination

C. Wright Mills's term for the capacity to see the connection between personal troubles and broader public issues, linking individual biography to historical and structural forces.

Positivism

Auguste Comte's doctrine that social phenomena should be studied using the methods of natural science, relying on observation and empirical evidence rather than speculation or metaphysics.

Social fact

Durkheim's concept for external, coercive ways of acting, thinking, and feeling that exist independently of individual wills and constrain individual behaviour.

Mechanical solidarity

Durkheim's term for social cohesion in pre-industrial societies based on similarity, shared beliefs, and a strong collective conscience among largely self-sufficient people.

Organic solidarity

Durkheim's term for cohesion in industrial societies based on interdependence arising from the division of labour, where specialized individuals rely on one another's different functions.

Verstehen

Max Weber's method of interpretive understanding, requiring the researcher to grasp the subjective meanings and motives that actors attach to their own social actions.

Ideal type

Weber's analytical construct that exaggerates and simplifies key features of a phenomenon to form a coherent benchmark against which real cases can be compared.

Historical materialism

Marx's framework holding that the economic base of production shapes the political, legal, and ideological superstructure, and that class conflict drives historical change.

Base and superstructure

Marxist model in which the economic base (forces and relations of production) conditions the superstructure of law, politics, religion, and ideology in a society.

Anomie

Durkheim's term for a condition of normlessness in which society fails to regulate individual desires and expectations, often produced by rapid change or economic crisis.

Structural functionalism

A theoretical perspective, associated with Parsons and Merton, that treats society as an interconnected system whose parts perform functions contributing to overall stability and survival.

Manifest and latent functions

Merton's distinction between the intended, recognized consequences of a social practice (manifest) and its unintended, hidden consequences (latent).

Symbolic interactionism

A micro-level perspective, developed by Mead and Blumer, holding that society is created through the meanings people negotiate and interpret during everyday interaction.

Conflict theory

A perspective derived from Marx holding that society is characterized by inequality and competition for scarce resources, with dominant groups using power and ideology to maintain advantage.

Feminist sociology

A perspective analysing gender as a central axis of inequality, examining how patriarchy shapes institutions, work, family, and knowledge, and seeking to correct male-centred accounts.

Social structure

The relatively stable pattern of social relationships, roles, groups, and institutions that shapes opportunities and constrains individual action in a society.

Culture

The learned, shared way of life of a society, comprising material objects and non-material elements such as norms, values, beliefs, symbols, and language.

Norms

Shared expectations or rules of behaviour in a group, ranging from everyday folkways to strict mores and laws, enforced by formal and informal sanctions.

Values

Culturally shared ideals or standards about what is desirable, good, and important, which guide norms and behaviour across a society.

Ethnocentrism

The tendency to judge another culture by the standards of one's own, often treating one's own culture as superior or as the normal yardstick.

Cultural relativism

The principle that a culture's beliefs and practices should be understood on their own terms rather than evaluated by the standards of another culture.

Subculture

A group whose values, norms, and lifestyle differ from the dominant culture while remaining broadly compatible with it, such as an occupational or regional group.

Counterculture

A group whose norms and values directly oppose those of the dominant culture, often rejecting mainstream institutions and advocating alternative ways of life.

Socialization

The lifelong process through which individuals learn the norms, values, roles, and skills of their society, beginning in the family and continuing through school and peers.

Looking-glass self

Cooley's idea that the self develops through imagining how others see us, how they judge us, and the resulting feelings of pride or shame.

Agents of socialization

Institutions and groups that transmit norms and values, including the family (primary), school, peer group, mass media, religion, and workplace (secondary).

Social stratification

The hierarchical ranking of people or groups according to unequal access to wealth, power, and prestige, producing structured inequality across generations.

Caste system

A closed system of stratification, traditionally associated with India, in which status is ascribed at birth, endogamy is enforced, and mobility is largely prohibited.

Social mobility

Movement of individuals or groups between social strata; it may be vertical (up or down), horizontal, intragenerational, or intergenerational.

Quantitative research

A methodological approach using numerical data gathered through surveys, experiments, or statistics to measure variables and test hypotheses statistically.

Qualitative research

A methodological approach using non-numerical data such as interviews, observation, and ethnography to explore meanings, experiences, and processes in depth.

Validity and reliability

Validity is the degree to which a measure captures the intended concept; reliability is the degree to which repeated measurement yields consistent results.