Introduction to Sociology Vocabulary

patterns of beliefs and behaviors focused on meeting social needs

• social institutions

• social facts

• grand theories

• macro-level

In-depth interviews, focus groups, and/or analysis of content sources as the sources of its data

• quantitative sociology

• qualitative sociology

• function

• dysfunctions

a theory that looks as society as a competition for limited resources

• constructivism theory

• dysfunctions

• conflict theory

• functionalism theory

a wide-scale view of the role official structures within a society

• micro-level

• macro-level

• manifest functions

• paradigms

a group's shared practices, values, and beliefs

• function

• figuration

• significant others

• culture

the systematic study of society and social interaction

• theory

• society

• sociology

• social facts

a group of people who live in a defined geographical area who interact with one another and who share a common culture

• symbolic interactionism

• social solidarity

• social institutions

• society

a theory through which scholars examine the relationship of individuals within their society by studying their communication

• quantitative sociology

• symbolic interactionism

• sociological imagination

• reification

statistical methods such as surveys with large numbers of participants

• quantitative sociology

• qualitative sociology

• positivism

• antipositivism

a theoretical approach that sees society as a structure with interrelated parts designed to meet the biological and social needs of individuals that make up that society

• functionalism

• function

• culture

• figuration