SOC 101: Finals
Finding a mate:
- Arranged marriages - Free-choice marriages (based on romantic love)
Differential Association Theory in Deviance: Edwin HY. Sutherland's (1947) - Differential Association Theory explains that...
- People are not born criminals - Conformity or deviance is learned from those we spend time with such as... (close friends, family members, fellow employees, organizations, neighborhoods, and other surroundings) These individuals/groups teach us not only how to commit various crimes but also the values, motives, and rationalizations that we need to adopt in order to justify breaking the law.
Divorce Consequences:
- Rate of divorce highest among young couples - Emotional costs to the spouses, children, and family and friends - *Men have a harder time dealing with divorce emotionally*, women have more difficulties financially
American Class Structure
- upper class - middle class - lower class
Sociologist William Julius Wilson noted:
1. African American Racial oppression experience in the 19th century was caused first by slavery and then by a lingering caste structure. 2. The rise of industrialism created more opportunities for African Americans, allowing upward mobility. 3. Historic shifts in the labor market left low-skilled workers in the inner city with virtually no access to jobs, with devastating consequences for the nation's urban poor. 4. Social structure and culture interact to shape different group outcomes that embody racial inequality 5. Most adults in many inner-city ghetto neighborhoods are not employed in a typical week. Thus, children in these neighborhoods may grow up without ever seeing someone go to work (Wilson 1996) 6. "We cannot simply say, 'do what we did.' They don't have that option. So we, as a nation, and those of us who are black, in particular, have a responsibility to help those left behind"
Richard Ramirez - The Night Stalker
1960 - Born in El Paso, Texas An American serial killer 1984-1985: - R/ped and tortured more than 25 victims - Murdered more than a dozen 1989: Found guilty of: - 13 murders - 5 attempted murders - 11 s/xual assault charges - 14 burglary charges Received 19 death sentences 2013 - Died of natural causes at the age of 53
Marital assault became a crime in all 50 states by
1993.
What is a family?
A group of two or more people who are related by blood, marriage, adoption, or a mutual commitment and who care for one another.
Agents of socialization teach us from birth how to display proper gendered behaviors.
Agents include: - Educational systems - Corporations - Mass media - Religious beliefs
Global Concentration of Wealth
As of 2015, the richest 1% of people in world controlled 50% of the wealth 50% left for the other 99% of the world The poorest people: the bottom billion Those in bottom billion have: › low life expectancy of about 50 years › high infant mortality rates › higher likelihood of malnourishment
Thorstein Veblen's (1899/1953) term conspicuous consumption-
displaying goods in a way that others will notice and will earn the owner respect.
Gender Stratification; Structural-functionalist theory —
each sex has a role to play in the interdependent groups and institutions of society • As societies organize, roles and relationships change. • Society: from mechanical to organic solidarity • Two types of complementary roles are necessary for efficiency in society. *1. Expressive (private sphere)* - *females carry this role* - plays childbearing, nursing, and caring for family members in the home. *2. Instrumental (public sphere)* - *men carry this role* - by working outside the home to support the family
Poverty line:
households that fall below threshold are determined to have less than needed to survive Family of four: $24,600 pretax income Single adult: $12,060 pretax income
Sexuality
how cultures shape the meanings of sexuality and sexual acts and how we experience our own bodies and our bodies in relation to others. Strange as it may seem, sexuality is also socially constructed. Even what we find attractive is culturally defined.
Intimate violence is more common:
in poor families and economic inequality.
Should these four variables of bonds to society become weakened, there is an...
increased possibility that the person could commit deviant acts.
Institutional racism:
involves discrimination that is hidden within the system.
Side effect discrimination
involves practices in one institution that are linked to practices in another institution Example: believed roles in the family might affect women's devotion to job promotions
When prejudice attitudes become actions, they are referred to as Discrimination, which:
is actions taken against members of a minority group
Gender socialization
is the process by which people learn the cultural norms, attitudes, and behaviors appropriate to their gender through sanctions
Genocide:
is the systematic effort of a dominant group to destroy a minority (e.g., Holocaust).
Gender
learned and created, refers to socially constructed notions of masculinity and femininity
Racial stratification was the central stratification system in the United States for
many years.
Absolute poverty
not having resources to meet basic needs, means no prestige, no access to power, no accumulated wealth, and insufficient means to survive
Racial classifications have been based on
numerous physical characteristics
Self-fulfilling prophecy:
occurs when a belief or a prediction becomes reality and affects one's actions.
Race depends on our social location-
on who is doing the classifying.
Symbolic racism:
people insist they are not prejudiced or racist, yet oppose social policies that would eliminate racism and make true equality of opportunity possible.
Intersex
persons with ambiguous genitalia
At birth, when doctors say, "It's a ...," they are referring to the distinguishing
primary characteristics that determine sex, genitals
Prejudice:
refers to attitudes that prejudge a group, not based on facts.
Vertical mobility:
refers to movement up or down in thenhierarchy › In closed societies, there is virtually no chance of moving up or down (e.g. Caste System) › In open societies, there is more vertical mobility (e.g. Social Class System)
Past-in-present discrimination-
refers to practices from the past that may no longer be allowed but that continue to affect people today. Example: There are fewer women senior law partners in part because women who are now in their 50s or older were often not admitted to professional graduate programs in the '60s or '70s.
Population transfer and trans-nationalism:
refers to the removal of a minority group from a region or country.
Assimilation:
refers to the structural and cultural merging of minority and majority groups (minority loses their original identity).
Subjugation:
refers to the subordination of one group to another that holds power and authority (forms include slavery, segregation, Jim Crow laws).
For men:
rigid stereotyping has been correlated with guilt, anxiety, and early death.
Gender roles
rigidly and/or commonly assigned tasks or expected behaviors of individuals because of their sex category
Power Pluralism Theorists argue that power is not held exclusively by an elite group but is
shared among many power centers, each which has its own self-interest to protect (Ritzer and Goodman 2004.) Ex: Well financed special interest groups (e.g. diary farmers or the American Medical Association)
Upward mobility is taking place among those who come from
small, highly educated families with "get-ahead" values.
The whole idea of changing one's social position is called:
social mobility.
Social control is never perfect, and so there are always:
some people who violate norms.
Relativity of deviance: whether a behavior is considered deviant depends on...
the circumstance in which the behavior occurs and not on the behavior itself.
According to Merton, the reasons individuals resort to these behaviors lie in...
the social conditions that lead to different levels of access to success, not in their individual biological or psychological makeup.
Deviance:
the violation of social norms
C. Wright Mills (1956) insisted that power was concentrated in the hands of a few, the power elite
those who make the big decisions in the U.S. society
De-jure discrimination
— done deliberately because of cultural images of women as inferior to or fundamentally different from me
De-facto discrimination
— unequal treatment that is unintended
Religious beliefs serve as agents of socialization (on gender too) by:
• Defining • Reinforcing • Perpetuating gender role stereotypes and cultural beliefs.
Women are more likely than men to be poor because they:
• Occupy lower paying jobs • Earn less than men • Divorced and never-married women with children result in high numbers of poor female headed households
Gender stratification; Conflict theory
• Sees males as "haves"(power, wealth), women as "have nots" • By keeping women in subordinate roles, men protect their privileges • Male dominance justified by traditional ideologies
Individual Life Changes and Lifestyles:
› Life chances refer to one's opportunities, depending on their achieved and ascribed status in society › Important institutions that affect life chances are: - Education, Health, social conditions, and life expectancy - Family life and child-rearing patterns - Attitudes toward achievement - Lifestyles
Wealth, power, and prestige are awarded according to:
Cultural capital —knowledge and access to important information in society • Social capital —networks with others who have influence
Inmates' lives are changed through:
Degradation —mark the inmate as deviant Mortification —break down the original self as the inmate experiences re-socialization
Whether the infraction is driving over the speed limit, as serious as murder, or as humorous as running naked through Las Vegas Blvd...
Deviance is still the violation of social norms.
Dominant groups are not always a numerical majority.
Ethnic and racial groups are the most common minority groups in the world.
One line of research focuses on heredity and violent crimes.
Ex: Studies of identical twins tend to find that if one twin has committed a crime, the other will too. Although this similarity suggests a genetic bases for criminality, identical twins are likely to do activities, including criminal behavior, together (Nosbett, 2009).
Feminist Theory in Families:
Feminist argue that patterns of patriarchy and dominance lead to inequalities for women Where men are the heads of families and women are dependent, women may be treated less than equal both within the family and in the labor market.
Sociologists use the term *homogamy* to refer to the tendency of people who have similar characteristics to marry one another.
Homogamy occurs largely as a result of propinquity, or spatial nearness. That is, we tend to "fall in love" with and marry people who live near us or whom we meet at school, church, or work.
Cultural Explanations:
Ideas of cultural superiority replaced those associated with biological superiority
Biological and Psychological Approaches of Deviance:
In the 1800s, Italian Physician Cesare Lombros measured various body dimensions of Italian prisoners and decided their bodies resembled those of primitive men. He reasoned that criminals were evolutionary accidents, or atavist, whose brains were incapable of conforming to modern norms. (Note: Lombroso's view was later discredited.)
Social learning theory, learning from association:
In this view, people who are prejudiced are merely conforming to the culture in which they grew up, and prejudice is the result of socialization from parents, peers, the news media, and other various aspects of their culture.
Most sociologists believe that if biology was the compelling factor in human behavior males and females would act the same around the world. Therefore, many assert that we behave the way we do because of social factors, not biology.
In this view, we learn gender roles and the physical and behavior interpretations of gender through socialization.
Violence Against Intimates:
Intimates commit violence against each other in many ways. Women also commit violence against husbands and boyfriends. However, their violence is usually in self-defense and often not reported.
Gender stratification occurs independently of prejudice.
It becomes part of the social system, and we are not even conscious of it, especially if we are one of the privileged members of society
Prejudice is difficult to change.
It is rooted in traditions, cultural beliefs, and stereotypes.
John Wayne Gacy
Killer in Chicago that kept young men buried in the crawl space of his home. Necrophilia...
The resulting strain from the consequences of gender stratification can contribute to depression and certain health problems such as headaches, nervousness, and insomnia (Wood 2008).
Likewise, trying to achieve the "ideal" beauty image may cause eating disorders.
Cohabitation:
Many people are preferring to Cohabitate than to marry. Cohabitation - adults living together in a sexual relationship without being married. Cohabitation rates vary by ethnicity and may mean something different for different groups of people.
Race is a social construction...
Not universal.
Family Arrangements:
Nuclear Family - A family composed of two parents and their children living in the same household. OR Extended Family - a family in which parents, children, and other relatives live in the same household.
For more than 300 years, or ever since White Europeans began colonizing populations of color elsewhere in the world, race has served as the...
Premier source of human identity.
Prisons and Jails
Prisons are examples of Total Institutions. They completely control the prisoners' lives and regulate all of their activities.
The self-fulfilling prophecy effect can lead to continued deviance.
Research shows that job applicants with a criminal record are much less likely than those without record to be hired. As a result, they will commit new offenses. - Moral panic - "Have-nots" are more likely to be labeled as deviants
Costs and Consequences of Gender Stratification
Rigid stereotyping can have psychological and social consequences for individuals.
Individuals grow up learning these ingrained beliefs, which often go unchallenged.
Self-fulfilling prophecy: minorities may incorporate prejudiced views of themselves into their behavior
Theoretical Perspectives: What causes deviant behavior?
Sociologist consider the *socialization process* and *interpersonal relationships*, group and social class differences, cultural and sub-cultural norms, and power structures that influence individuals to conform to or deviate from societal expectations.
Why do some have more than others?
Sociologist have developed explanations-theories that help explain stratification. Different theories that have been tested with research data.
People can even learn to be prejudice against their own group. A national survey of black Americans conducted by black interviewers found that African Americans think that lighter-skinned African Americans are more attractive than those with darker skin (Hill 2002).
Sociologists call this the internalization of the norms of the dominant group.
Deviance is relative in two ways:
Space and time.
Conflict Theory of Stratification
Stratified social structures promote inequality Focus: control that those in the upper levels exercise over culture and deployment of cultural ideals (hard work) The haves dominate because the lower-class have-nots cannot earn enough money to change their positions. Some positions require more education than others, but some lower-level positions (e.g., garbage collector) are more important than some higher level positions (e.g, lawyer)
Marriage and Family: The Symbolic Interactionism Perspective
Symbolic interactionist —say our families help socialize us into behavioral patterns Through interaction, not only do we learn family patterns, "we do" family in the sense that we follow and pass on gender-segregated roles. We define what is real or "normal" based on what those around us accept as ordinary. Throughout the generations, housework and child care have been regarded as "women's work," and men have resisted getting involved. Now, women are working outside of the home more and men are doing more house work (e.g. cleaning, taking care of children, cooking, etc.)
Lesbian and Gay Families:
Tend to be more reflexive, democratic in family decisions and practices than straight couples Studies show children suffer no more or different adverse affects than growing up in straight families
Divorce:
The U.S. divorce rate has risen since the early 1900s. Divorce has increased because of: - changing norms and less stigma attached to divorce.
Immigration results in a mix of peoples that create many multiracial individuals.
The United States accepts more new immigrants than any other country.
Sex
The anatomical and other biological differences between females and males that are determined at the moment of conception and develop in the womb and throughout childhood and adolescence
Sexism
The belief that women are inferior to men
What is Romantic Love?
The feeling of deep emotional and sexual passion for someone.
Original migration patterns over thousands of years illustrate that "push" factors drive people from some countries and "pull" them to other countries.
The most common push-pull factors are: • Job opportunities • Desire for security • Individual liberties • Availability of medical and education opportunities
Social control:
The ways in which society prevents and sanctions behavior that violates social norms.
Corporations on Gender:
The workplace itself is gendered. Organizations and institutions in our society teach and reinforce gender assumption and roles. In the U.S., women get less pay and opportunities than men. (Ex: The women that work full time only receive 80.2% percent of what men are paid - For every $10,000 that men earn, women earn only about $8,002.)
Failure to comply often results in sanctions.
Therefore, we generally learn to conform, at least in our public behavior.
VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN
Violence against women perpetuates gender stratification, as is evident in the intimate environment of many homes. • Because men have more power in the larger society, they often have more resources within the household as well (side effect discrimination). • Women are often dependent on the man of the house for his resources and as a result, some women will not leave their abuser.
Types of Crime:
Violent crimes: threat or actual use of force Property crimes: taking or destroying of property Victimless crimes: offense is mostly an affront to someone else's morals White-collar crime — a violation of the law committed by an individual or group in the course of a legitimate, respected occupation or financial activity Felonies: punishable by more than one year in prison Misdemeanors: punishable by a fine or imprisonment of less than a year
Stratification in the beginning stage.
We begin to experience it as children (e.g. in school)
Gender difference in behavior...
We expect and assume that females and males behave differently. Many question if gender difference in behavior has to do with biology or culture. The reality is that we don't know for sure.
We are not born with prejudice.
We learn prejudice from the people around us.
Men usually hold all or most of the power in a family.
Women do most or all the house work. - There are many dual earner families today, but women still pull the "second shift". This leaves many women dissatisfied with their marriage.
Gender identity
a person's internal sense of gender
Bonds encourage us to...
adhere to norms.
Ideological racism:
an attempt to justify racism on the basis of a pseudo-scientific (presented as scientific, but lacks supportive evidence) set of ideas.
Growing evidence suggests that news media coverage of people of color helps fuel racial prejudice and stereotypes.
By presenting people of color in a negative light, the media may unwittingly reinforce the prejudice that individuals already have or even increase their prejudice (Larson, 2005).
If people believe something is real, it is real in its consequences
(W.I. Thomas Theorem).
In larger cities, some ethnic groups are concentrated in ethnic enclaves.
(e.g. Little Italy, Chinatown, Greek Town, etc. )
Alternatives to prison:
*Building social capital*—social networks, shared norms, values, and understanding that facilitate cooperation within or among groups and access to important resources *Shock probation* —releasing a first-time offender early in the hope that the shock of prison life would deter them *Day treatment or halfway houses* *Restitution* —The offender renders money or service to the victim or community under supervised parole to compensate the victim *Privatization of prison* —an attempt to turn prisons into more business-like, cost effective institutions
Merton's Strain Theory
1. *Conformity* —embracing the society's definition of success and adhering to the established and approved means of achieving success 2. *Innovation* —use of illicit means to reach approved goals 3. *Ritualism* —strict adherence to social rules, but with no hope of achieving goals 4. *Retreatism* —giving up on both the goals and the means 5. *Rebellion* — rejecting socially approved goals and means and replacing them with alternative goals and strategies.
Conflict/Critical Theory in Deviance:
*Deviance and the poor:* Deviance fueled by capitalist economic systems and adversely affects the poor *Deviance and the elite:* Capitalists legitimize elite acts of deviance and have greater ability to commit deviant acts *The poor and minorities are more likely because of their poverty and race to be arrested, convicted, and imprisoned.* Ex: O.J. Simpson, former football player, was arrested in 1994 for killing two people. He was able to afford a defense and won his case.
Explanations for gender gap in pay:
*Discrimination* - *Promotions / Gender Stereotypes* *Glass ceiling effect* —social forces that keep women from reaching the highest levels of corporate and public responsibility • *"Child Penalty"* - women missing out on work experience and opportunities while they care for children (Hundley 2001; Chaker and Stout 2004). • *Choice of career* - the choices are gender-linked / segregated by sex.
Two types of vertical social mobility:
*Intergenerational mobility* Vertical mobility from one generation to the next within the same family *Intragenerational mobility* Vertical mobility within a person's own lifetime A key vehicle for upward mobility is formal education
Family is the most
*basic institution of society.*
People in United States 25+, who have never been married:
- 2016: 28% of men, 24% of women - 1960: 10% of men, 8% of women
The Continuing Significance of Race
- A clear racial economic hierarchy exists with White Americans on top and other racial groups below - Education is one of the key means of social mobility
Functions or the purposes of prisons include:
- Revenge or retribution - Removing dangerous individuals from society - Deterrence (for the purpose of discouraging) - Recidivism: returning to prison after already serving a prior term
Some examples of violence against women:
- Sexual violence - Honor Killing ( a woman that is thought to have brought disgrace on her family is killed by a male relative ) - Female circumcision - Dowry deaths
Misconceptions About Deviance:
- Some acts are inherently deviant. - Those who deviate are socially identified and recognized. - Deviants purposely and knowingly break the law. - Deviance occurs because there is a dishonest, selfish element to human nature.
Do stereotypes actually affect public views about racial and ethnic groups?
...
Deinstitutionalization of American marriage, the five factors:
1 - Women entering work force 2 - Norms associated with having children within context of marriage gradually wearing away 3 - High divorce rates 4 - Increased cohabitation 5 - Same-sex marriage growth
Such individuals, like many U.S. presidents, have come from millionaire white families with
"old money" (Baltzell and Schneiderman 1988)
What are examples of deviance relative in space and deviance relative in time?
1. Relative in space: a given behavior may be considered deviant in one society, but acceptable in another society. 2. Relative in time: a behavior in a given society may be considered deviant in one time period, but acceptable many years later - or vise versa
The family is [a] universal [function] because it fulfills six needs in society:
1. Sexual regulation 2. Reproduction and replacement 3. Socialization 4. Emotional support and protection 5. Status assignment/attainment 6. Economic support
Mate Selection, Family Dynamics:
A number of cultural rules govern the choice of a mate in any society. Most are unwritten norms.
Many citizens and politicians see assault as an individualized, personal act, whereas social scientists tend to see it as a structural problem that stems from negative stereotypes of women, subservient positions of women in society, and patriarchal systems of power.
A number of sociologist and anthropologist believe that assault will not be substantially reduced unless our macho definitions of masculinity are changed.
David Reimer
A physician accidentally burned off the penis of one of the boys. The parents decided to change their son's sex. At 22 months old, the boy was castrated and constructed a vagina. He was given a new name, Brenda. Brenda was never able to adapt well to femininity. Her father confessed her the truth, that she was born a male. Brenda then decided to become a male again and went through another sex change, got married to a woman, and adopted children.
Split Labor Market theory (a branch of conflict theory) — characterizes the labor market as having two levels
Primary market —"clean" jobs Secondary market —minorities, especially from the urban underclass, are most likely to work in this market Competition for lesser jobs pits minorities against each other and low-income whites against minorities. This benefits employers since they are more likely to get cheaper labor in the process.
Toys and Gender:
Producers of toys and games also contribute to traditional messages about gender, reinforcing gender stereotypes.
Race and Ethnicity are not the same terms.
Race =/= Ethnicity
In the US, who are the poor?
Race Ethnicity: Whites are the largest racial-ethnicity group in the U.S. and so, they make most of the percentage of the poor people in the country.
Social stratification:
Rankings of people in society according to how many valued resources they possess Each society determines how individuals are ranked
Aileen Wuornos
Aileen was a paranoid sex worker turned serial killer who was acknowledge by law enforcement and health officials as a troubled women. She shot and killed at least seven of her clients in Florida and faced past abuse as well as seeing her father committing crimes.
Functionalism Theory of Stratification:
All societies need to be stratified Certain positions require more expertise, have more responsibility More wealth and prestige have to be attached to jobs with highnresponsibility The stratification system motivates individuals to carry out their roles As a result, each individual contributes in some way to the maintenance of society Without high rewards, high-level positions would remain understaffed or unfilled
Sexual violence Assault is a sexual act, but closely tied to macho behavior. Assault is often a power play to intimidate, hurt, and dominate women.
Assault provides an example of the impact of cultural practices, beliefs, and stereotypes. The woman is seen as an object, instrument, and/or immaterial.
Conflict Theory, explanations of dominant-minority group relation:
Assumptions: Privileged people perpetuate prejudice and discrimination against minority group members to keep privileges and resources. Three critical factors contribute to hostility over resources: If two groups of people are identifiably different: • "we" versus "they" thinking may develop. • groups come into conflict over scarce resources (e.g. employment, best schools, best land, positions of power and prestige, etc.) • The group with more power will ensure that its members (and their offspring) get the most valued resources. • However, because they do not want to see themselves as unfair and brutish people, they develop stereotypes and derogatory characterizations of "those other people," so lack of access seems reasonable and justified.
What is an example of Differential Association Theory in Deviance?
Being a drug user depends on whether your family and friends define drug use as acceptable or deviant.
secondary sex characteristics
Biological differences between females and males that emerge during puberty (such as tone of voice, body hair, fatty tissue, and height)
Example of social learning theory:
Blee found that their racism was not the cause of their joining the KKK but, rather, their joining was the cause of their racism from learning and conforming to the group.
Formal Social Control:
Can include involvement with the legal system (police, judges and prosecutors, jail, etc.)
Informal Social Control:
Can involve anger, disappointment, exclusion, and ridicule reactions from others
Family Violence:
Child Abuse - the majority of victims are children under the age of six. The most common form of child abuse is neglect. Other forms of child abuse are emotional and physical abuse.
Foot binding
Chinese practice of tightly wrapping girls' feet to keep them small, begun in the Tang dynasty; an emphasis on small size and delicacy was central to views of female beauty.
Marriage and Family: The Conflict Perspective
Conflict theorist point out that the family can be a source of conflict for its own members. This conflict results from struggles for power within the family and society at large.
Religious teachings provide explanations of all aspects of life, including proper male/female roles.
Ex: Because Adam was created first, he is superior to Eve. Eve was created from the rib of man and was a sinner. Her sins keep women forever in an inferior position. Another example: Genesis 3:16 To the woman he said, "I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you."
What are examples of deviance?
Ex: people getting tattoos in the past vs. now Men with long hair in the past vs. now
Mate selection types:
Exogamy - is a norm that requires individuals to marry outside of their own immediate group. Endogamy - requires individuals to marry inside certain boundaries, whatever the societal members see as protecting the homogeneity of the group.
Emmett Till
Fourteen-year-old Emmett Till was visiting relatives in Money, Mississippi, on August 24, 1955, when he reportedly flirted with a white cashier at a grocery store. Four days later, two white men kidnapped Till, beat him and shot him in the head. His murder galvanized the emerging Civil Rights Movement. In January 1956, Bryant and Milam admitted to committing the crime. Protected by double jeopardy laws, they told the whole story of how they kidnapped and killed Emmett Till to Look magazine for $4,000.
Explanations of Prejudice: Micro-Level Analysis
Frustration-aggression theory is a theory that states that acts of prejudice and discrimination are motivated by anger and frustration individuals feel when they cannot achieve their work or goals. Scapegoating is a form of aggressive action motivated by frustration against minority groups because an individual is unable to vent frustration toward the real target or cause. Occurs when a minority group is blamed for the failures of others.
Gender Stratification; Symbolic interactionist perspective —
Gender is socially constructed; it is not intrinsically related to sex • Physical, biological sex differences act as symbols that differentiate rights and rewards • Humans do not just passively adopt gender roles; we actively "do" gender in everyday interaction
Effects of poverty:
Health problems Mental Illness Family Problems Education Homeless
In the typical case, marriage in the United States is preceded by "romantic love."
Ideas of romantic love can differ from one society/culture to another.
What are examples of relativity of deviance?
If an assailant, say a young male, murders, someone, he faces arrest and prosecution. Yet, if a soldier kills someone in wartime, he may be considered a hero and given a medal.
Educational System on Gender:
In a classic study of children books (Weitzman et al. 1972) several observations were made: • Males appear as the central characters, are active, and employed. • Males characters play activities and females assist them • Females are portrayed as passive and dependent.
Learned Through Socialization...
In adolescence, secondary characteristics further distinguish the sexes, with females developing breast and hips and males developing body hair, muscle mass, and deep voices. Some traits that members of society commonly link to sex are actually learned through socialization
In the U.S., 1 out 4 women are victims of domestic violence.
In most Global North societies, men are under pressure to be successful. When they are not, home may be the place where they vent their frustrations. More equality and autonomy for women can be obtained with changes in the patriarchal family structure.
Symbolic Interactionism of Stratification:
Individuals take up social positions through socialization, in which they learn the appropriate cultural capital › Cultural capital influences children's school and home environments › Social positions are represented by symbols.
For women:
The "superwoman syndrome," a pattern by which women assume multiple of roles (being beautiful, cooking, caring for children, cleaning, and sometimes working) and try to do all well, has its toll.
HOW ARE WOMEN AND MEN PORTRAYED IN THE MEDIA?
Some media has depicted female adventurous, competent, brave, and intelligent characters. Usually, these characters are unrealistically thin or highly attractive with large breasts. Television commercials have long presented the sexes in stereotyped ways.
Labeling Theory:
Labels are symbols that have meanings that affect an individual's self concept. Labeling theory—suggests that behavior is not intrinsically deviant, but becomes deviant because it is labeled as such. Labeling someone deviant increases the chances that the labeled person will continue to commit deviance. Labels affect an individual's self-concept and how others will treat them.
The Social Channels of Love and Marriage:
Love does not hit us willingly, as if Cupid had shot darts blindly into a crowd. If it did, marital patterns would be unpredictable. *Love is socially channeled.* The *most predictable social channels* are age, education, social class, and race/ethnicity.
Media and Gender:
Mass media is a major socialization agent in gender roles. • Media images have an impact on how we see ourselves.
What characterizes race and ethnic groups?
Minority groups are characterized by: • Distinguishable from dominant groups • Excluded or denied full participation • Less access to power and resources; evaluated less favorably • Stereotyped, ridiculed, condemned, or otherwise defamed • Develop collective identities
Individual status is shaped by access to resources and reinforced by the family through socialization
Our experiences of life are shaped by our status
Authority Systems in Families:
Patriarchy - a social system in which men dominate women Matriarchy - women dominate men as a group Egalitarian - men and women have equal authority
Gender stratification; Feminist theory
Patriarchy is the cause of women's oppression. • Despite intersections, women are a "minority group" subject to stereotypes, prejudice, discrimination • Feminism actively advocates change to the social order to eliminate patriarchy • Feminist theorist feels that little change will occur until group consciousness is raised so that women understand the system that limits their options (Sapiro 2003).
What about vertical mobility?
People can and do move up the socioeconomic ladder, but their movement is fairly limited Hardly anyone starts at the bottom of the ladder and ends up at the top Opportunities for upward mobility have significantly changed with globalization. Manufacturing jobs have moved to developing countries to take advantage of cheap labor, low taxes, no labor unions, few regulations, and many workers needing jobs.
Marriage and Family: The Functionalism Perspective
When functionalists look at marriage and family, they examine how they are related to other parts of society, especially the ways that marriage and family contribute to the well-being of society.
Stereotypes:
categorizing the personal qualities of large groups of people based on racial or ethnic features - Distorted ideas are passed down through culture
Feminization of Poverty
the trend in which single females with children make up a growing proportion of those in poverty
Stratification systems vary on:
their degree of vertical mobility
Power struggles within families can be positive because:
they can lead to changes that make the family as a unit stronger
Relative poverty refers
to those whose income falls below the poverty line, resulting in an inadequate standard of living relative to others in a given country
Strain Theory in Deviance: Robert Merton (1910-2003) an American sociologist, wanted to explain why poor people have higher deviance rates than the non-poor.
Those with fewer resources are less able to achieve socially shared goals and may resort to deviant behaviors to achieve their desired goals.
Social Control Theory in Deviance:
Travis Hirchi (1969) a criminologist, argued that bonds to conventional social institutions such as the family and school keeps individuals from violating norms. They conform to norms because *they have desires to fit into the group.* This is known as the social control theory.
Question for debate remains:
Has race declined in significance and class become more important in determining placement in the stratification system?
All of us are deviants of one sort or another,
for we all violate norms from time to time.
Lifestyle includes
one's attitudes, values, beliefs, and behavior patterns, which depend on socialization into one's culture and status Lifestyle is not a simple matter of having money. (e.g. Acquiring money- say, by winning the lottery-cannot buy a completely new lifestyle)
Anthropologists, sociologists, and biologists question the value of the biological concept of race:
- An individual or group of individuals is often "assigned" to a race on arbitrary or even illogical grounds - People from different races are more than 99.9 percent the same in their DNA. Fossils and DNA evidence show that humans are all one race, evolved in the last 100,000 years from Africa.
Reasons for Income Inequality:
- Deindustrialization (The process of social and economic change which is due to the reduction in industrial capacity or the activities of a country's manufacturing and heavy industry) - Technological advances - Outsourcing (US WTO member since 1995) - Decline of middle-income jobs - Wage stagnation Those near bottom must offer lower prices than competition, gained by reducing costs negatively impacting their own workers.
Is getting tattoos deviant?
- Depends on who is judging/where/when
Rational Choice Theory in Deviance:
- Human beings seek to maximize pleasure and minimize pain. - Whether to be deviant depends on the calculation of the pleasure/pain ratio. - Punishment should impose high costs for criminal behavior, as a deterrent
Sociologists are interested in:
- The relationship between family and marriage - The forms that families take - How families are formed and maintained - How they expand, contract, and dissolve
It is difficult to know how much child abuse occurs because:
- They might not define it as abuse - They might be scared to tell on their parents - They might blame themselves for being abused
Major global family system changes (pushed by industrialization) include:
- Traditional family is declining in the face of globalization - New hybrid forms of family are being created to meet demands of globalization - Entire families can move with relative ease - Free choice of spouse - More equal status for women - Equal rights in divorce - Equal kinship systems
"Scientific" Explanations:
-Eugenics: Suggest that races should be distinguished from one another based on presumed genetic composition
People are bonded to society in 4 ways:
1. *Attachment* to others 2. *Commitment* to conventional activities 3. *Involvement* in activities that keep them busy 4. *Belief* in the social rules of their culture
Four Styles of Discipline:
1. Authoritarian Parents set firms but overly restrictive rules for their children's behavior and are general not very warm toward them. When their children misbehave, the parents may yell at them and punish them harshly. 2. Authoritative Parents set clear rules for their children's behavior but at the same time let their kids exercise independent judgment. When their kids misbehave, they simply explain to them what they did wrong, if necessary, discipline them with time-outs or groundings. 3. Lax or Permissive Parents set rules for their children's behavior and don't discipline them when they misbehave 4. Uninvolved Parents usually provide little emotional support and fail to set rules for their behavior
Five common reactions to dealing with a minority group status:
1. Avoidance—shunning all contact with the dominant group 2. Aggression—results from anger and resentment over minority status and from subjugation may lead to retaliation or violence 3. Change-oriented action—minority groups pursue social change in meso and macro-levels of society 4. Assimilation—accommodation to prejudice and discrimination 5. Acceptance— live with minority status with little overt challenge to the system
The Functions of Deviance: According to Emile Durkheim (1893/1933, 1895/1964), its 3 main functions are...
1. Clarifies social norms and increases conformity. - Sets examples of unacceptable behavior 2. It strengthens social bonds among the people reacting to the deviant - Bonds people together through their common rejection of deviant behavior 3. It can help to lead to positive social change - Can signal problems in a society that needs to be addressed (stimulate positive change) - Opens societies to new and creative paths of thinking
Four factors relating to associating with a deviant group:
1. Duration of time spent with the group 2. Intensity of the interaction 3. Frequency of interaction 4. Priority of the group in one's friendship network
Romantic love has two components:
1. Emotional - a feeling of sexual attraction 2. Cognitive - a label that we attach to our feeling. If we attach this label, we describe ourselves as being "in love."
Solutions to improve minority and dominant group relations:
1. Individual or small-group solutions— e.g., human relations workshops and group encounters. 2. Group contact— e.g., integrated housing projects, job programs to promote minority hiring, busing children to schools 3. Institutional and societal strategies— e.g., lobbying, education information dissemination, protest marches, rallies, and boycotts
Mate Selection is a three-stage process. Sociologists have developed various mate selection theories, several of which view dating as a three-stage process, which is:
1. Stimulus —we meet someone to whom we are attracted 2. Value comparison —we find a person compatible if they affirm our own beliefs and values 3. Roles and needs —the couple explores the roles of companion, parent, housekeeper, and lover and find common needs, interests, and favored activities
Emile Durkheim and Deviance:
Emile Durkheim (1895/1962), a founder of sociology, stressed that a society without deviance is impossible for at least two reasons: 1. The collective conscience is never strong enough to prevent all rule breaking 2. Deviance serves several important functions for society For such reasons, Durkheim considered deviance a normal part of every healthy society.
Types of Marriages:
Monogamy - marriage with only one person at a time. Polygamy - the practice or condition of having more than one spouse Polygyny - when men are allowed or have more than one wife Polyandry - when women are allowed or have more than one husband
Hate Groups:
Most hate groups in United States are white supremacists who believe minorities are a threat to national identity
Race:
a group identified by society because of certain biologically inherited physical characteristics
Racism:
any attitude, belief, or institutional arrangement that favors one racial group over another; this favoritism may result in intentional or unintentional consequences for minority groups.
Ethnic groups:
are groups where membership is based on shared cultural heritage and other cultural factors and is often connected with a national or geographic identity.
The biggest subgroup living in poverty in the U.S. are
children
Attitudes Toward Achievement-
differ by social status and in part products of your upbringing and the opportunities you see as available to you.
Because different groups have different norms, what is deviant to some is not...
deviant to others to another culture or to a group within the same society.
In schooling, socialization channels men and women into
different education paths.
Deviance is socially constructed. This means...
members of groups in societies define what is deviant.
Pluralism:
occurs when each ethnic or racial group in a country maintains its own culture and separate set of institutions but has recognized equity in society.
People are defined or define themselves as belonging to a group based on
part on physical appearance.
According to the Resource theory,
the spouse with the greater resources (education, income, occupational prestige) has greater power
The most popular contemporary psychological explanation of deviance focuses on:
various personality problems that are said to create deviant individuals.
Gendered Education Paths:
• Because gender socialization gives men and women different orientations to life, they enter college with gender-linked aspirations. *• Socialization channels men and women into different education paths.*
Gendered school activities:
• Boys are encouraged to play sports and girls to support them (Gilligan 1982; Kramer 2010) • These stimulate hierarchical adult roles of boss/secretary and physician/nurse.
Examples of distorted media coverage:
• News media stories use pictures of African-Americans far more often than those of whites in stories about poverty • African Americans are more likely to be shown in T.V. getting arrested for violent crimes than whites • Televisions shows are more likely to portray whites as the "Good Samaritans" • About 2/3 of the Latino's stories focused on their crime, immigrations, and employment problems rather than on their achievements.
The Nature of Prejudice:
• Prejudice is an understandable response of humans to their social environment. • To survive, every social group needs to mobilize the loyalty of its members. • Each organization needs to convince people to voluntarily commit. • The commitment to a group influences one's perception and loyalties, creating preference or even bias for the group.