Introduction to Sociology — Core Concepts flashcards
10 of 79 cards free to study here · 15 topics · the whole deck is built into Willys
The sociological imagination, founders and the major perspectives, research methods, culture, socialization, organizations, deviance theories, stratification, race, gender, family, religion, education, health, cities and social movements.
Learn deck · part of Introduction to Sociology · written against: Standard Soc 101; OpenStax Introduction to Sociology 3e, consulted as a reference; no text copied. Updated 2026-10-10.
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Using C. Wright Mills's idea of the sociological imagination, why is mass unemployment a public issue rather than a string of personal troubles?When one person is jobless, the cause may lie in that person's choices or luck — a personal trouble. When millions are jobless, the cause lies in the economy and social structure — a public issue. The sociological imagination is the habit of linking individual biography to that wider history and structure.Sociology & Theory
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A traveler calls a host country's eating customs 'backward' simply because they differ from her own. Which concept is this, and what stance do sociologists recommend instead?Ethnocentrism — judging another culture by the standards of one's own. Cultural relativism instead tries to understand a practice within its own cultural context.Culture
Watch out: relativism is a stance for understanding, not a claim that every practice is morally acceptable. -
A nurse who is also a single parent is called in for a double shift on the night of her child's school play. Is this role strain or role conflict?Role conflict — the demands of two different roles (employee and parent) collide. Role strain is tension within a single role, such as a professor torn between the research and teaching duties of the same job.Society & Socialization
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Why did Durkheim claim that some deviance is normal and even useful for society?Reacting to deviance clarifies moral boundaries, unites the people who condemn it, and can push society toward needed change. He argued that a society entirely without deviance could not exist.Deviance & Social Control
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What distinguishes a caste system from a class system?A caste system fixes rank at birth, allows almost no social mobility and usually requires marriage within the caste (endogamy). A class system mixes birth and achievement, so movement up or down is possible and people may marry across classes.Stratification & Class
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How do sociologists distinguish sex from gender?Sex refers to biological characteristics such as chromosomes, hormones and anatomy. Gender refers to the socially learned roles, behaviors and identities a society links with being a man, a woman or another category.Gender & Sexuality
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What is the difference between a family of orientation and a family of procreation?The family of orientation is the one you are born or raised into; the family of procreation is the one you form through marriage, partnership or having children.Family
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Students learn to wait their turn, obey bells and defer to authority, though no lesson plan teaches it. What is this called?The hidden curriculum — the informal values and behaviors schools teach alongside the official subjects. Conflict theorists argue it prepares students for obedient roles in the workforce.Education
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According to Talcott Parsons, what does a person gain and what does he or she owe when occupying the sick role?The sick role excuses a person from normal duties and from blame for the illness, but obliges the person to want to get well and to seek and cooperate with competent medical help. Parsons saw it as a functionalist way of limiting the disruption illness causes.Health & Medicine
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David Aberle classified social movements by who is to change and by how much. What are his four types?Alternative (limited change in individuals), redemptive (total change in individuals, such as religious conversion), reformative (limited change in society, such as changing one law) and revolutionary (total change in society).Social Change & Movements
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Checked against:
- OpenStax Introduction to Sociology 3e, consulted as a reference; no text copied.
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