Exam 1: The Sociological Perspective

Simmel theorized that there is no significant difference between dyad groups and triad groups.

A______________is anything that meaningfully represents something else.Examples include signs,gestures,written language,and shared values.

Social scientist Thorstein Veblen described early wealthy U.S.industrialists as engaging in -the continuous public display of one's wealth and status through purchases such as Expensive houses,clothing,motor vehicles,and other consumer goods.

Use the sociological perspective to explain the effect of Wal­Mart and other "big­box" stores on local communities.What role have credit cards played in the expansion of "big­box" stores?

______________ primarily focuses on internal factors relating to the individual in explanations of human behavior and mental processes-what occurs in the mind.

According to the functionalist perspective,a society is composed of interrelated parts.If there is an adverse effect in one institution such as the economy,there will be:

George Herbert Mead explored how individual personalities are developed from social experience and concluded that we would not have an identity,a "self",without communication with other people.

From a functionalist perspective,the husband/father performs the______________tasks,which involve leadership and decision-making responsibilities in the home and employment outside the home to support the family.

This social scientist articulated the idea of the "looking­glass self."

Define industrialization and urbanization,and explain the role of each in furthering sociological thought.

From Marx's viewpoint,the______________is composed of those who must sell their labor because they have no other means to earn a livelihood.

In describing the law of the three stages,Auguste Comte believed that knowledge began in the ,where explanations were based on religion and the supernatural,and kinship was the most prominent unit of society.

In Society in America,______________examined religion,politics,child rearing,slavery,and immigration to the United States,paying special attention to social distinctions based on class,race,and gender.

______________ is the academic discipline that studies political institutions such as the state,government,and political parties.These scientists study power relations and seek to determine how power is distributed in various political systems.

Define the terms "race," "ethnicity," "class," "sex," and "gender." Explain the relationship between these terms and the sociological imagination.

According to British social theorist______________,societies developed through a process of "struggle" (for existence)and "fitness" (for survival),which he referred to as the "survival of the fittest."

A community that comes together to build a barn for one of its members after it has been destroyed by fire would be characteristic of a preindustrial society.Durkheim would conclude their members have:

State the major assumptions of functionalism,conflict theory,symbolic interactionism,and postmodernism.

The ability to see the relationship between individual experiences and the larger society is referred to as:

The perpetuation of gender,racial-ethnic,and class inequalities in the education system in the United States is an example of Merton's concept of: