| A | B |
|---|
| ideal type | A description comprised of the essential characteristics of a feature of society. |
| dysfunctional | Containing a negative consequence for the stability of the social system. |
| anthropology | The comparative study of past and present cultures. |
| sociological imagination | The ability to see the connection between the larger world and your personal life. |
| economics | The study of the choices people make in an effort to satisfy their needs and wants. |
| political science | Study of the organization and operation of governments. |
| function | The consequence that an element of society produces for the maintenance of its social system. |
| symbol | Anything that represents something else. |
| latent function | The unintended and unrecognized consequence of an element of society. |
| social phenomena | Observable facts or events that involve human society. |
| social psychology | The study of how the social environment affects an individual’s behavior and personality. |
| functionalist perspective | The view of society as a set of interrelated parts that work together to produce a stable social system. |
| theoretical perspectives | A general set of assumptions about the nature of things. |
| theory | An explanation of the relationships among particular phenomena. |
| history | The study of past events. |
| sociological perspective | A viewing of the behavior of groups in a systematic way. |
| social Darwinism | Perspective that holds that societies evolve toward stability and perfection. |
| psychology | The social science that deals with the behavior and thinking of organisms. |
| manifest function | The intended and recognized consequence of some element of society. |
| Verstehen | Principle that involves an attempt to understand the meanings individuals attach to their actions. |
