Unit 1: What is Sociology?

What is sociology? 

• scientific study of the brain

• scientific study of history

• scientific study of society and human behavior

• scientific study of government and politics

This sociologist is the founder of the functionalist theory

• Emile Durkheim

• Karl Marx

• Max Weber

• Herbert Spencer

Which perspective is most likely to use participant observation as a research method?

• Conflict Perspective

• Functionalist Perspective

• Individualist Perspective

• Interactionist Perspective

This sociological perspective would say that change is constant and happens when power shifts between groups

• Functionalist

• Conflict

• Symbolic Interactionist

Instead of looking at a society as a whole, this sociological perspective looks at individual interactions and symbols

• Functionalist

• Conflict

• Symbolic Interactionist

Which perspective sees society as being like an organism?

• Conflict

• Interactionist

• Functionalist

• Feminist

This sociological perspective would say that change may happen but society soon returns to stability

• Functionalist

• Conflict

• Symbolic Interactionist

This sociological perspective would say that society is based on social consensus (a set of shared values that most people follow)

• Functionalist

• Conflict

• Symbolic Interactionist

Which theorist argued that Verstehen (an attempt to understand the meanings individuals attach to their actions) was needed in research?

• Karl Marx

• Max Weber

• Emile Durkheim

This type of research method can study the group in its natural setting, and can see things from the group's internal perspective.

• group interview

• unstructured interview

• participant observation

• non-participant observation