Foundations of Sociology Lecture:
Examines ____________________ and ____________________ of human society (__________________)
Theorizes social life, social change, and the social ___________ and _________________ of human _________________
Sociologists investigate structure of ___________, organizations, and _____________, and how individuals are impacted
Key Concepts in Sociology:
Roles:
(ascribed/achieved)
Status
Hierarchy
Values
Rules
Norms
Mores
Folkways
Taboos
Laws
Social Institutions:
(Talcott Parsons)
Deviance
Rehabilitation
Theoretical Perspectives in Sociology:
Symbolic Interactionism:
 Symbolic Interactionists believe humans have ______________ _________________ and little instinctive
behaviour
 Interpretation of daily stimuli occurs through the attachment of _________________ __________________
 Focus on how individuals ________ and ______________society beyond its institutions to form
_______________
 As a result, Symbolic Interactionists focus research on the human __________ rather than social _____________
 People’s actions are based on ______________ of meanings of the particular situation– the “definition of the
situation.”
 It is essentially how we as individuals process and interpret what we ____________________ in society, not
society’s institutions, that form the core of our value system.
 (Know: George Herbert Mead, Herbert Blumer, Charles Cooley)
Conflict Theory/Neo-Marxism:
 Basis of the theory founded in the __________________________________________ theory of communism
 Focus on process of ___________ ______________ leading to __________________ power as a key to
understanding society
 _________________ for economic power means that society is not static but ___________________________
 Economic system creates a ___________________________________ and a _____________________________
- Social ills stem from the economic ______________________ between ______________________.
 _____________________________ (churches, schools, prisons etc.) created to represent the division between
the ________________ and ______________________
 Max Weber: _________________________________________________________________________________
Feminism:
 Feminist Theorists focus on _____________________ issues – extension of __________________ Theory
 Believe that ________________ have traditionally been ______________________ in society because
__________ have _________________ against them
 (Know: Liberal Feminism, Marxian Feminism, Radical Feminism, Socialist Feminism)
Structural Functionalism:
 Belief that each society should provide its members with the fundamental requirements for ________________
o _______________________________________
o _______________________________________
o _______________________________________
 Argue that societies remain stable by its members sharing ___________________ and agree on ways that its
___________________________ operate. Change ____________, then society _____________.
 When change occurs in one part, there is change in another. During times rapid change, the danger is that
sometimes institutions ______________________________________________
 (Know: Durkheim and Deviance)
Institutionalism:
 Focus on possibility of conflict between __________ and _________ groups, and _________________________
 Before WWII - _________________________________ views on cultural relations; believing the
______________ would eventually _______________ the ________________ (______________________)
 Recognize _____________________ while rejecting the urge to view society through perspective of the majority