Sociology in Changing World

Social normlessness, without moral guidance or standards

Shared values of society (Durkheim)

Social theories that focus on issues of contention, power, and inequality, highlighting the competition for scarce resources

The collection of values, beliefs, knowledge, norms, language, behaviors, and material objected shared by a people and socially transmitted from generation to generation

The way people specialize in different tasks, each requiring specific skills

Inhibiting or disrupting the working of a system as a whole

The use of large-scale machinery for the mass manufacture of consumer goods

The largely unrecognized and unintended consequences of social phenomena

A focus on large-scale social systems and processes such as the economy, politics, and population trends

The recognized and intended consequences of social phenomena

A focus somwhere between very large and very small social phenomena---on organizations or institutions, for example

A focus on small-scale, usually face-to-face social interaction

A historical era beginning in the 1700s characterized by the growth of democracy and personal freedom, increased reliance on reason and science to explain the natural and social worlds, and a shift toward an urban industrial economy

(Comte) a belief that accurate knowledge must be based on the scientific method

A historical period beginning in the mid-twentieth century characterized by the rise of information-based economies and the fragmentation of political beliefs and ways of knowing