Chapter 1 – 4 Official Review

Chapter 1

What is sociology?
The systematic study of human society.

High-income countries:
Countries with the highest overall standards of living.

Middle-income countries:
Countries with a standard of living about average for the world as a whole.

Low-income countries:
Countries with a low standard of living in which most people are poor.

Global perspective:
The study of the larger world and our society’s place in it.

Page 8 Table
US achievements result from the nation’s privileged position in the worldwide social
system.

Science and Scientology:

Auguste Comte elaborated the term sociology in 1838 to describe a new way of
looking at society. It made sociology one of the youngest academic disciplines,
newer than history, physics, economics, etc.

Other notable people who thought about the nature of society include, Confucius,
Plato, and Aristotle.

Their major objective was to understand how society actually operated.

Comte; saw sociology as a 3 stage historical development.

Theological; people took a religious view that society expressed God’s will.
Metaphysical; people saw society as a natural rather than a supernatural system.
Scientific stage; understanding based on science.

Examples;
Theological stage:
The church in the middle ages.

Metaphysical stage:
The enlightenment and the ideas of Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau.
Scientific stage:
Physics, chemistry, sociology.

Science is still a crucial part of sociology but human behavior is far more complex.

Chapter 2

Science / Scientific evidence:

A logical system that bases knowledge on direct, systematic observation.

Empirical evidence / common sense:

Information we can verify with our own senses.

What the U.S believes;

- Poor people are more likely than rich people to break the law.
- The United States is a middle-class society in which most people are more or
less equal.
- Most poor people don’t want to work.
- Differences in the behavior of females and males are just human nature.
- People change as they grow old, losing many interests as they focus on their
health.
- Most people marry because they are in love.

Concept:
A mental construct that represents some part of the world in simplified form.

Variable:
A concept whose value changes from case to case.

Operationalize a variable:
By specifying exactly what is to be measured before assigning a value to a
variable.

Mean:
Average of a series of numbers, adding all values together and dividing by the
number of cases.

Median:
The middle case, the middle number when arranged from lowest to highest.

Mode:
The number that occurs most often.
Reliability:
Consistency in measurement. (It is reliable if repeated measurements give the
same result time after time).

Validity:
Actually measuring exactly what you intend to measure.

Chapter 3

Culture:
The ways of thinking, acting, and the material objects that together form a
people’s way of life.

Nonmaterial culture:
The ideas created by members of society.

Material culture:
The physical things created by members of a society. (Example; armchairs,
zippers, etc.)

Culture, Nation, and Society

Culture refers to a shared way of life.
Nation is a political entity, a country.
Society is the organized interaction of people who typically live in a nation.

One indicator of culture is language.

Values:
Cultural defined standards that people use to decide what is desirable, good, and
beautiful.

Beliefs:
Specific thoughts or ideas that people hold to be true.

Norms:
Rules and expectations by which a society guides the behavior of its members.

Mores:
Norms that are widely observed and have great moral significance. (Example,
people not walking around naked in public).

Folkways:
Norms for routine or casual interactions. (Example, a man who goes to a formal
party without wearing a tie maybe raise eyebrows for violating folkways).
Social control:
Attempts by society to regulate people’s thoughts and behavior.

Shame:
The painful sense that others disapprove of our actions.

Guilt:
A negative judgment we make of ourselves.

Chapter 4

Society:
People who interact in a defined territory and share a culture.

Gerhard Lenski:
- Describes how societies have changed over the past 10,000 years.
- Importance of technology shaping any society.
- Sociocultural evolution; changes that occur as a society gains new
technology.
- Societies with complex technology such as cars and cellphones are more
productive.
- Hunting & gathering; People live by hunting and gathering, making use of
simple tools to hunt animals and gather vegetation for food.
- Hunting & gathering societies usually have a shaman or a spiritual leader
who enjoys high status, but has to work to find food like everyone else.
- Horticulture society; the use of hand tools to raise crops.
- Horticulturalists are more likely to think one God as the creator of the
world.