Sociology vocab

Thinking like a sociologist means applying analytical tools to something you

have always done without much conscious thoughtlike opening this book or
taking this class. It requires you to recon- sider your assumptions about
society and question what you have taken for granted in order to better
understand the world around you. In other words, thinking like a sociologist
means making the familiar strange.

we need to use our socio- logical imagination, the ability to see the
connections between our personal experience and the larger forces of history.
That is just what we are doing when we question this textbook, this course,
and college in general. Writes Mills in The Sociological Imagination (1959),

Generalized other an internalized sense of the total expectations of others in

a variety of settingsregardless of whether weve encountered those people
or places before.

Mead calls the generalized otherour view of the

views of society as a whole that transcends individuals or
particular situations.

"I" is the infant's sense of his/herself before the infant has experiences with
social interaction. "I" is what the infant sees when playing peekaboo and
puts hands in front of his/her face. The infant only sees him/herself. The
infant only thinks about how "I" am here; "I" exist; "I" eat; "I" play; "I" have
agency and control over my actions. ["I" is also often what we think of as our
"self" if we don't use a sociological imagination. We say "I am sad" or "I am
strong." We think we are individuals and only individuals (or that we exist
without society). We don't realize that "I" actually becomes "me" based on
our social status/position(s) and normative understandings about and
interactions related to that position(s).]

"Me" is a person's social identity (the identity a toddler and young child
learns and one that can change and develop over time based on multiple
social interactions). "Me" is the self in relation to others. The me is the self
as a social object. The Me is what you think others think of you or expect of
you. You have as many "Me"s as there are people who know of you and who
interact with you.

"I" becomes "me," and one's "self," through our interactions with and
observations of others. We later learn our reference group(s), or the
generalized other and the identity expectations assigned to the social groups
that we are ascribed to, such as men vs. women, daughters vs. mothers,
college students vs. professors, etc.