Lecture

Question 1

Durkheim Book #1

Answer 1

Concerned with changin nature of social solidarity

• nature of crime and punishments vary depending on solidarity
• primitive societies = very punitive
• moderate societies = rehab based
• examines mechanic and organic solidarity

Question 2

Durheim book #3

Answer 2

unspoked debate with marx
concerned with abnormal social solidarity
3 conditions of solidarity
1. anomic
2. forced division of labour
3. ...

Question 3

Conceptual template

Answer 3

organizing ideas we struggle with

- contrasts mostly aren’t resolvable

Question 4

Major issues in theory

Answer 4

nominalism vs. realism
facts vs. value judgements
objectivity vs. subjectivity
conservitive vs. radical

Question 5

6 contrasts in sociology

Answer 5

1. organicism vs atomism
2. nature vs. nurture
3. reactors vs. actors
4. realist vs. nominalist
5. facts and/or values
6. conservative vs. radical

Question 6

Explain organicism

Answer 6

• everything is a system
• institution is structure which serves purpose of society
• we are all players of roles inside a functioning system
• personal details irrelevant
• all interdependent on eachother recognizing other roles
• system falls apart if we deviate
• doesn’t consider criticisms, activism is deviance
• conservative

Question 7

explain atomism

Answer 7

• exactly the same as organicism with one addition
• it is possible for a person to step outside the institution to critique it
• comes along with moral judgements

Question 8

organicism vs. atomism

Answer 8

• on criticism of the system
  -organicism believes critiques are deviants
  = systems are naturally homogenous, theorists must protect system
  believe in human nature
• atomists believe you can step outside and be critical of the system
• believe in nurture

Question 9

explain relationship between culture, society and the individual

Answer 9

1. reactors - we are simply sponges conditioned by social world around us
   - organicism
2. actors - humans are sometimes capable of making up our own minds, articulating unexpected demands of the system
   - atomistm

Question 10

what are the 2 analytical epistemologies in soc?

Answer 10

realism vs nommanalism

Question 11

explain realism

Answer 11

• explain social events and processes with reference to ‘natural’ forces
• don’t explain in reference to human intentions

Question 12

explain nomminalism

Answer 12

• social processes occure because of the intention of the individual
• we must develop methodologies to ask why i do what i do, realists don’t ask questions
• nomminalism gives agency to objects of study

Question 13

what are descruptive/ analyticial explanations?

Answer 13

• if you are a you do B

- straight forward definitions not accounting for hybridity

Question 14

explain prescriptive/ evaluative logic

Answer 14

• any judgement theorists make about ‘preserving’ social order
• that there are things we ‘ought’ to do to preserve it is a prescriptive/ evaluative statement for realism

prescriptive nominalist statement
- social order should be maintained OR changed in order to foster needs of humans

Question 15

what are facts

Answer 15

• anything that is indisputably the case is one definition
• to say something is face assumes everone agrees, what happens when you can imagine disagreement
• when there isn’t universal agreement there is bias
  -when there is universal agreement there is objectivity
  -objectivity isn’t a matter of fact, it is a way of expressig intersubjective agreement
  = can’t be forced or coerced

Question 16

explain values

Answer 16

• an estimate of the worth of something
• there is no such thing as a fact without value
  1. values influence what we decide to study
  2. values influence how we decide to observe society (qualitative vs. quantitative)
  3. values influence our definition of what constittues a fact (terrorist vs. freedom fighters)
  4. how we explain things is influenced by values (scientifict method vs. intuition)
  5. values influence how we use info we obtain

Question 17

explain conservative thought process

Answer 17

• concerned with social order at all cost
• conservatives usually organicist
• concerned with good social solidarity, objective fafacts

Question 18

explain radical thought process

Answer 18

concerned with human development at it’s apex and creating a social world that will enable that development
- all our values can be questioned, all our processes can be changed

Question 19

explain evolution

Answer 19

• conservative notion
• value judgement, value of evolving depending on type of evolution
• focused on order and integrity of social system

Question 20

explain development

Answer 20

• teleological = goal oriented, can’t say things are developing unless we have idea of end point
• development means it enables humans to have ability to develop
• women can’t be educated unless society allows them to go to school

Question 21

evolution vs development

Answer 21

evolution - change to maintain order

development - change toward an ideal

Question 22

epistemologies

Answer 22

sociology vs. common sense, philosophy, religion and history

Question 23

sociology vs. common sense

Answer 23

common sense

1. unreflective
2. circular logic
3. non rigourous- doesn’t require proof
4. generalizes - no sensitivity to cross cultural differences

sociology

1. reflective - think about our explanations
2. non-circular = new point
3. rigorous - tries to test ideas
4. non general - sensative to cross cultural differences

Question 24

sociology vs. religion

Answer 24

religion

• looks for first and final causes - God is answer
• based on faith, non logical
• circular knowledge, statement that can’t be investigated, 2+2=4, because 4=2+2
• religion is fine when passes of as faith, problem when passed off as logic

sociology

• relationship among things important, not first and final fundamental causes of things
• interested in what is and how to explain it

Question 25

sociology vs. philosphy

Answer 25

philosophy - interested in a coherent logies 3 strategies of validity to make argument logical 1. coherence - systems of thought have to make sense in relationship to eachother 2. correspondence - relationship between coherence and facts, external confirmation 3. consensus - requires dialoguge and agreement, ultimate democratic test of coherence and correspondence sociology - analytical and synthetic

Question 26

sociology vs. history

Answer 26

history - idiographic - interested in specifics, concerned with the detail - if we are talking about war, historians say which war sociology - nomothetic - interested in general ideas, about nature of war itself, want to understand general human condition

Question 27

science

Answer 27

- epistemology and method | - science does things that satisfy our interestst

Question 28

scientific wheel

Answer 28

methods to theory - >hypothesis - observation - law (emperical generalization) - theory - can begin science at any point - must move clockwise after beginning

Question 29

explain hypothesis

Answer 29

- prediction of relationship between 2 or more variables

Question 30

explain law

Answer 30

demonstrate universalizable hypothesis - statement that says 2 or more variables ALWAYS influence eachother in the following way - some argue no one has discovered law - instead we use (emperical generalization)

Question 31

explain theory

Answer 31

- logical system of emperical generalizations huypothesis x always -> y - theory places it all together in a coherent way 2 functions: 1. expalin what has been observed 2. predict on basis of that explainetion either the reoccurance of what was observed or the occurance of something new -theory must do both

Question 32

operationalization

Answer 32

- the activity of putting the terms of a hypothesis into measurable form - we are actively involved in the construction of the facts we observe - facts aren't generated from neutral points of veiw