Sociology 101
Explore Sociology study guides, quizzes, and flashcards covering social stratification, deviance, and race and ethnicity.
Topics
Challenges Families Face
Unpack the structural and personal forces that destabilize modern families, from poverty and divorce to domestic violence, child abuse, and substance abuse. This pack covers macro- and micro-level causes, conflict theory, functionalism, symbolic interactionism, and research on how parental conflict shapes children's outcomes — everything you need to analyze family challenges beyond individual blame.
Crime and the Criminal Justice System
Examine how sociologists define and explain crime through competing theoretical lenses — from Merton's strain theory and Merton's strain theory and functionalist accounts of deviance to conflict and labeling perspectives. Trace how law enforcement, courts, and corrections interact, and learn to critically evaluate crime statistics like the UCR and NCVS to understand what they measure and where they fall short.
Deviance and Control
Unpack the sociological forces that define, produce, and punish deviant behavior in this Sociology 101 study pack. From Durkheim's functionalist view of deviance as socially useful to Merton's strain theory, Becker's labeling theory, and Hirschi's social bond theory, you'll master the key frameworks and thinkers. The pack also contrasts formal and informal social control and examines how conflict theory explains why marginalized groups bear a disproportionate share of deviant labels.
Deviance and Social Control
Unpack the sociological forces that define, enforce, and challenge deviance — from Durkheim's argument that rule-breaking reinforces collective norms to Merton's strain theory and the labeling process that reshapes identity. This pack covers formal and informal social control, key theorists, and how institutions from family to law regulate behavior, giving you a solid foundation for exams.
Marriage and Family
Unpack the sociological foundations of marriage and family, from functionalist, conflict, and symbolic interactionist perspectives to kinship systems, descent rules, and how property and status transfer across generations. Examine how family structures — nuclear, extended, polygamous, and chosen — vary across cultures, and explore shifting trends in marriage, divorce, cohabitation, and single-parent households in post-industrial societies.
Prejudice, Discrimination, and Racism
Unpack the key distinctions between prejudice, discrimination, and racism as sociologists define them — from stereotypes as cognitive shortcuts to individual versus institutional racism. Examine Robert Merton's attitude-behavior typology, the contact hypothesis, and scapegoating theory, then connect these concepts to real-world consequences like wage gaps, housing inequality, and disparities in criminal justice.
Race and Ethnicity
Unpack the sociological foundations of race and ethnicity, from why race is a social construct rather than a biological fact to how minority group status is defined by power, not population size. Examine shifting racial classifications, the assimilation spectrum, and the distinction between race and ethnicity as analytical tools used to explain real-world inequality and identity.
Racial Ethnic and Minority Groups
Unpack the core concepts behind race, ethnicity, and minority group status as sociologists define them — from the social construction of race to the difference between prejudice and discrimination. Examine how racism operates at individual, institutional, and systemic levels, and how dominant groups use stereotyping, scapegoating, and social distance to maintain power. This pack covers exactly what Sociology 101 exams test.
Religion and Society
Examine how religion functions as a social institution through the competing lenses of Durkheim, Weber, and Marx — from sacred-profane distinctions and Protestant work ethics to religion as ideological control. This pack covers functionalist, conflict, and symbolic interactionist perspectives alongside secularization theory, giving you the conceptual grounding needed to analyze religion's role in shaping identity, inequality, and collective life.
Research Methods in Sociology
Break down the four core research methods in sociology — surveys, field research, experiments, and secondary data analysis — alongside the quantitative vs. qualitative distinction that shapes every study design. This pack covers key concepts like participant observation, independent and dependent variables, and IRB ethics, giving you the focused review you need before an exam on how sociologists gather and interpret data.
Sex, Gender, Identity, and Expression
Unpack the distinctions between sex, gender, identity, and expression as sociologists define them — from biological classifications and intersex conditions to transgender and nonbinary identities. This pack covers gender roles, socialization, and how feminist and queer theory challenge the natural binary. Ideal for students studying how power and culture shape what societies treat as fixed biological fact.
Social Stratification and Inequality
Unpack the structures and systems that sort people into social hierarchies with this study pack on social stratification and inequality. Cover slavery, caste, and class systems alongside functionalist, conflict, and symbolic interactionist explanations for why stratification persists. From status consistency and occupational prestige to intergenerational mobility myths, this pack addresses the core concepts your sociology exam will test.
Sociological Theories and Perspectives
Unpack the major theoretical frameworks sociologists use to explain how society works, from the macro-level structures of functionalism and conflict theory to the micro-level focus of symbolic interactionism. Trace the influence of Marx on conflict theory, explore feminist critiques of gender inequality, and clarify the key macro versus micro distinction that separates these perspectives and drives their research questions.
What Is Culture
Unpack the building blocks of culture — from material objects and nonmaterial values to folkways, mores, and laws — with this Sociology 101 study pack. Explore how language shapes perception through the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, why ethnocentrism distorts analysis, and how Ogburn's concept of cultural lag explains the tension between fast-changing technology and slower-shifting norms.
What Is Sociology and the Sociological Imagination
Unpack the foundational concepts of sociology, from C. Wright Mills's sociological imagination to the distinction between macrosociology and microsociology. This pack covers how sociologists move beyond common sense using empirical methods, why social institutions like family, education, and government matter, and how categories like race, class, and gender systematically shape individual life chances.