SOCI 1101 Chapter Notes - Chapter 1: Symbolic Interactionism, George Herbert Mead, Social Darwinism
Document Summary
Sociology: the study of groups and group interactions, societies, and social interactions. Sociological imagination: the ability to see our personal experiences and decisions as entwined with the structural arrangements of society. Imagine if you were born into a different group (gender, social status, wealth, time period) Macrosociology: studies trends between large groups and society. Culture: a groups shared practices, values, and beliefs. Reification: error or treating an abstract concept as if it has real, material existence. Social facts: laws, morals, values, religious beliefs, customs, and social rules that govern social lives. Figuration: the process of simultaneously examining the behavior of individuals and the society that shapes it; example: religion. - Harriet martineau: social activist who supported (at the time) radical social changes. Herbert spencer: first great english speaking sociologist who believed in evolution and coined the phrase survival of the fittest . Emile durkheim: worked to establish sociology as an academic discipline and studied social factors that bond people together.
