SOCI 210 Midterm

Degree to which group members share beliefs and values and their intensity and frequency of their interaction

Alturistic suicide - high-solidarity setting (ex. military)
egotistic suicide - low-solidarity setting due to lack of integration into society
anomic suicide - low-solidarity due to vague norms governing behaviour (lack of shared code of morality)
- strong ties and shared moral principles (less church attendance, more unemployment, more divorce) eroded in Canada since 1960s so increase in suicide rate

Relatively stable patterns of social relations

Pattern of social interaction formed during face-toface interaction
ex. family

Pattern of social interaction lying outside and above intimates and acquaintances
ex. class relations, bureaucracies, power system

Pattern of social relation that lies outside and above national level
ex. international organizations, economic relations

Social imagination - quality of mind that enables a person to see the connection between personal troubles and social problems
3 Origins
1. scientific revolution - basing conclusions on solid evidence
2. democratic revolution - suggested people are responsible for organizing society
3. industrial revolution - created new social problems requiring application of science and tech for working class

Coined the term "sociology" but eve did any research

Social darwinism - individuals struggle to survive, the unfit die therefore they cannot bear offspring and the fittest survive and reproduce

Argues human behaviour is governed by relatively stable social structures which maintain social stability and are based mainly on shared values; suggests that social problems can be solved by re-establishment of equilibrium
- Durkheim suicide study
- Parsons argues that equilibrium is in place when family successfully raises new generations, military successfully defends society, schools teach skills and values, and religion creates shared moral code (has been criticized for exaggerating)
- Merton argued that social structure have different consequences for different groups of people and some are dysfunctional meaning that they create social instability; manifest and latent functions of social structures

Focuses on large macro level structures and shows how majority of patterns of inequality in society produce social stability in some circumstances and social change in others
- members of privileged groups try to maintain their advantages while subordinate groups struggle to increase theirs (power struggle)
eliminating privilege will lower level of conflict and increase human welfare
- Marx argues about class conflict in regards to industry owners and workers to increase capitalism and that class consciousness would lead to communism
- Weber argues that members of occupational groups stabilize society because they enjoy higher status and income more and pointed out that Marx did not focus on technology influence and how it would reduce hours and increase pay and working conditions
- C. Wright Mills argues power is highly concentrated in American society and less democratic than we believe

Focuses on micro level interactions in social settings and emphasizes that an adequate explanation of social behaviour requires understanding (Verstehen) the subjective meaning people attach to their social circumstances that they create
- Weber argues protestant ethnic caused capital development because religious doubts can be reduced and state of grace ensured when people work hard but live modestly

Social constuctionism - argues that apparently natural.innate features of life are often sustained by social processes
- when people interact, they assume that things are naturally that way
- ex. assumption that differences between men and women are biological but social constructionist believe they are due to social processes

Queer theory - argues people's sexual identities and performances are so variable that labels fail to capture the sexual instability
- labels impose social conventions on people which would otherwise note exist

Claims that patriarchy is at least as important as class inequality in determining a person's opportunities in life
- male domination and female subordination are determined by social structures and power which can and should be changed for the benefit of all members of society
- both macro and micro levels
- Harriet Martineau was the first female sociologist and feminist
- Jane Addams fought against social reform and won nobel prize for Hull House