Sociology Assignment: Understanding Social Constructs and Theories

This sociology assignment delves into various fundamental concepts and theories within the field. Part A offers definitions for key terms such as positivism, feminist perspectives, social facts, validity versus reliability, social marginality, social imagination, and the differences between quantitative and qualitative research methods. It further clarifies concepts like anomie, alienation, organic versus mechanical solidarity, mediated communication, Taylorism, bureaucracy versus informal structures, and the characteristics of industrial versus post-industrial societies. The assignment also covers the social construction of race, the Indian Act of 1876, the McDonaldization of society, the "irrationality of rationality," and post-modern theories. Furthermore, it differentiates between racism and discrimination, and explores the split labor market theory and critical race theory. Part B is an essay that explores the application of these concepts, providing a comprehensive understanding of sociological principles. This assignment is designed to enhance the student's grasp of core sociological ideas and their practical implications.

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Sociology
PART A: DEFINITIONS
1. Positivism: This refers to a system that is philosophical towards the recognition of things
that are scientifically verifiable or a system capable of mathematical and logical proof
thus, rejecting theism and metaphysics.
2. Feminist: One who supports feminism or movements and parties with a common social
goal or ideas.
3. Social facts: An idea of statement that originates from a culture of a particular society and
of which affects the attitudes and behaviour of a particular member or members of that
society.
4. Validity vs. reliability: When a test measures what it is intended to measure, it is valid.
Otherwise, if the result of the test is not as intended, it becomes invalid. However, a
measurement is likely to be valid though not reliable or reliable and not valid. Therefore,
validity and reliability are independent of one another.
5. Social marginality vs stigma: Stigma refers to the discontent or disapproval (in extreme)
of an individual or group on grounds that are socially perceived while social
marginalization refers to pushing a given group of individuals to the society’s edge by
denying them the identity or active voice.

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6. Social Imagination: was used by Wright Mills as a concept in the description of one’s
ability to “think differently from the usual everyday life” and have a new perspective of
things.
7. Quantitative vs qualitative research: While qualitative research is one that requires
reasoning and understanding of motives and opinions or otherwise exploratory research,
quantitative research refers to empirical study of questions of research via the application
of scientific methods.
8. Anomie vs alienation: while anomie refers to inadequate ethical and social standards
within a group of people or person, alienation is loss of one’s identity or
depersonalization and caused by difficulties associated with emotional inhibition.
9. Organic vs mechanical solidarity: while organic solidarity is social unity with regards to
labour division for those depending on one another, mechanical solidarity refers to
collectiveness or social integration of people with common beliefs and values.
10. Mediated communication: Is a type of communication that is performed through ICT.
11. Scientific management of work (Taylorism): Refers to principles and practices of work
efficiency as ascribed in Taylor System.
12. Bureaucracy vs informal structure: While bureaucracy is an administrative procedure that
is excessively complicated, an informal structure refers to a social structure that is
interlocking and governs the way that individuals work.
13. Industrial society vs post-industrial: Industrial society is a society that is run by
technological implications while post-industrial society is a societal stage in its
development when wealth is mostly created by the service sector compared to the
manufacturing sector.

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14. Social construction of race: This statement means that race is because of social construct
and thus, not biological.
15. Indian Act (1876): Refers to various laws consolidated concerning indigenous
individuals. However, these laws were enacted by different colonies.
16. McDonaldization of society: Refers to a phenomenon that happens when organizations in
a given society adapt to the same characteristics in fast food chains.
17. “Irrationality of rationality”: This statement refers to a paradox of rationality that
inevitably leads to irrationality.
18. Post-modern theories: Such are theories that describe movements of postmodernists as
well as cultural tendencies associated with cultural movements.
19. Racism vs discrimination: While racism is a belief that a given race is better than the
other is, discrimination is prejudice to individuals based on ethnicity or race.
20. Split labour market vs critical race theory: While split labour market theory explains
ethnic and racial tensions as well as segmentation of labor market by ethnicity and race,
critical race theory is a theoretical framework that examines culture and society in
relation to law, race, and power categorizations.
PART B: ESSAY