sociology 3-6

the studies on group conformity

(Milgram, Asch, Janis) -that illustrate key principles in group conformity, obedience to authority, and social influence.

Signs

(or symbols)- such as a traffic symbol, price tag, notes on sheet music, product logo are meant to represent something else -they all convey info -number and letters are the most common signs- -some symbols may be nearly universal while others may be particular to a given culture

How does capitalism shape our notions of deviance?

-Conflict theorists believe that a society's inequalities are reproduced in its definitions of deviance, so that less powerful groups are more likely to be deemed deviant and criminalized. -Merton's structural strain theory argues that the tension or strain between socially approved goals and an individual's inability to meet those goals through socially approved means leads to deviance as individuals reject either the goals (achieving success), the means (hard work, education), or both. -Conflict Theory: Power and social class- inequality in legal system -owners/ruling class/ 1% control -workers/ working class/ 99%, Criminal Justice system does not equal justice -maintains privilege for those in position of power

What are the functions of deviance?

-Deviance affirms cultural values and norms -Responding to deviance clarifies moral boundaries -Responding to deviance promotes social unity -Deviance encourages social change -Deviance provides a safety valve for discontented people, -Employs a lot of people

roles importance to social organization:

-Doubting your ability to continue in a certain role, -Tipping point, -Past role continue to influence because the role shaped self image, -Have to rebuild relationships

How are the social (nurture) and biological (nature) connected? What are the different human experiences unique to each stage of life?

-The nature vs. nurture debate refers to the ongoing discussion of the respective roles of genetics and socialization in determining individual behaviors and traits. -Ultimately both sides do play a role in making us the people that we are.

Bureaucracy

-a specific type of secondary group, are everywhere in your life -your university, employer, etc -are designed to perform tasks efficiently and they approach their tasks, whatever they are, with calculations designed deliberately to meet their goals

Race w crime

-african americans make up 12 percent of us population but account for 28 percents of all arrests -sociologists maintain that the relationship by merton's self fulling prophecy and class variables -it is important to recognize that none of these variables- class age, gender, race- affect crime rates in isolation; they work together to shape the experiences of individuals as well as the larger society

Expressive

-are concerned with maintaining harmony within the group -conveys interest in group members emotions as well as their achievement

Nurture side

-argue that human behavior is learned and shaped through social interaction -nature provides a biological window through which social and moral development occurs

Peers

-as children get older, peers often become more important than parents -it is peers who have the most intense and immediate effect on each other -membership in a peer group provides young people with a away of exercising independence from, and possibly reacting against adult control -peer groups can also be source of painful self doubt- ridicule or rejection -Peers provide very different social skills

Thomas theorem

-classic formulation of the way individuals determine reality, whereby "if people define situations as real, they are real in their consequences". -Because we encounter ambiguous situations every day, many meanings are possible, they way we define each situation, then becomes its reality.

Schools

-education advocated believed that schooling played a critical role in maintaining a democracy -when kids start attending school- it may be their first significant experience away from home -school helps them become less dependent on the family, providing a bridge to other social groups, -learn hidden curriculum- a set of behavioral traits such as punctuality, neatness, discipline hard work, competition and obedience that teaches many of the behaviors that will be important later in life.

How do symbolic interactionists explain deviance?

-focus on how interactions shape definitions and meaning of deviance and influence those who engage in deviant behavior. -Differential association theory- states that we learn to be deviant through our associations with deviant peers. -Labeling theory claims that- deviance is a consequence of external judgments, or labels, which both modify the individual's self-concept and change the way others respond to the labeled person. - Labeling theory is also related to the idea of the self-fulfilling prophecy, which is an assumption, usually defined by a label, that causes itself to come true

Primary groups

-groups in which we are intimately associated with the other members, such as families and close friends, -typically involve more face to face interaction, greater cooperation, and deeper feelings of belonging, -members often associate w each other for no reason than to spend time w each other, -cooley introduced the term primary for this type of group because such groups have the most profound effect on us as individuals, -they provide most of our emotional satisfaction through interaction with other members, - are responsible for much of our socialization, and remain central to our identities throughout our lives -we measure who we are and perhaps how we've changed by the way we interact w primary group members, -they represent the most important looking glass in the formation of our social selves- they constitute our significant other

What is deviance?

-is a behavior, trait, or belief that departs from a norm and generates a negative reaction in a particular group -the norms and group reactions are necessary for a behavior or characteristic to be defined as deviant -when sociologists use the term deviant they are making a social judgement not a moral one -if a particular behavior is considered deviant this means that it violates the values and norms of a particular group, not that is inherently wrong or that the other groups will make the same judgment

Human nature

-it is culture and society that make us human -these things that we have created also make us who we are -we have to learn the meanings we give to food, housing, sex, and everything else -those taking the nature side- (sociobiologists) argue that behavioral traits can be explained by genetics

Secondary groups

-less intimate groups, -these include coworkers, college classes, athletic organizations, labor unions and political parties -interaction is more formal and impersonal -usually organized around a specific activity of the accomplishment of a task -membership is often temporary and does not usually carry the same potential for emotional satisfaction that primary group does -a great deal of what we do involves secondary groups -membership can be completely anonymous -secondary group membership often generates primary group ties as well -close personal relationship can begin w the more impersonal ties of secondary groups (the friends u make at work) and are sometimes a direct outgrowth of our attempts to counteract the depersonalizing nature of secondary groups

Gender w crime

-males are more likely to commit crime -males constitute 88 percent of all arrest for aggravated assaults, robbery, rape, murder and nonnegligent manslaughter. -gender diff in crime rates was based on physical, emotional, and psychological diff between men and women -lower crime rates among women could be explained by their lower status in the power hierarchy -once women start gaining more power in the labor market crime rates w women will rise -between 2003 and 2012 male arrests rates decreased by 18 percent while female arrest rates decreased by only 5 percent -social structure plays an important role

the media

-many sociologists question whether the media may have even usurped some of the function of the family in teaching basic norms and values and giving advice on common problems -caused eating disorders -hodge and tripp argued that watching tv actually helps kids learn to distinguish between reality and fantasy a important development - has great potential to inform and educate -often overriding the family and other institutions in instilling values and norms.

Class in crime

-statistics tell us that crime rates are higher in poor urban areas than in wealthier suburbs, but these higher crime rates may not actually be the result of increased criminal behavior -police tend to concentrate their efforts in urban areas, where they assume are prone to crime, and thus make more arrest there -it appears that social class is more directly related to how citizens are officially treated by police, courts, prisons than to which individuals are likely to commit crime

How is status important to social organization?

-statuses and roles help shape our identities by providing guidelines for own behavior and by providing the patterns that others use to interact with us. -They are part of our construction of our social selves

Family

-the original group which we belong -it is where early emotional and social bonds are created, where language is learned, and where we first began to internalize the norms and values of our society. -most of our primary socialization which teaches us to become mature, responsible members of society, takes place within the family -family has such a powerful impact on us partly because as young children we have limited outside contact (until we start school) - the family is also in the world= where a dam is located, both geographically and socially will affect family members -importance: gender roles: we see what moms and dads, sisters and brothers are expected to do -teaches us the basic values and norms that shape our identity.

Age w crime

-the younger the population, the more likely its members are to commit crimes -the peak age for arrests being nineteen -in the us 15-19 make up about 7 percent of the population yet account for 15 percent of criminal arrests -people 65 and older make up more than 13 percent of population make up more than 13 percent of the population and account for less than 1 percent of arrest -we call this trend aging out of crime -since our stereotypical image of a criminal is youthful, it may be that the public and public are more likely to accuse and arrest young people and less likely to target seniors -in addition youth may commit more visibly (robbery) older people commit crimes diff to detect (embezzlement or fraud)

Goals of punishment

-there is an ongoing debate about the role of punishment in the criminal justice system, a collection of social institutions (legislatures, police, courts, and prisons) that create and enforce laws. --Deterrence- is an approach to punishment that relies on the threat of harsh penalties to discourage people from committing crimes. -Retribution- is an approach to punishment that emphasizes retaliation or revenge for the crime as the appropriate goal. -Incapacitation- is an approach to punishment that seeks to protect society from criminals by imprisoning or executing them. -Finally, rehabilitation is an approach to punishment that attempts to reform criminals as part of their penalty.

instrumental

-they are task or goal oriented -an instrumental leader is less concerned w people's feelings than we getting the job done

Milgram experiment

-to test the lengths to which ordinary people would follow orders from a legitimate authority figure -3 roles: the experimenter, teacher, and a learner -the stated goal of the experiment was to measure the effect of punishment on memory and learning -a subject will often rely on the expertise of an individual or a group, when faced a difficult decision -few people have the personal resources to resist authority even when it goes against their consciences -people conform based on the authority of the person

Problems with the death penalty

Capital punishment -the death penalty was suspended in 2011 -people were wrongly convicted -false convictions

What is culture?

Culture is one of the fundamental elements of social life and thus a very important topic in sociology -patterns of behavior -culture encompasses practically all of human civilization and touches on almost every aspect of social life -culture- is the entire way of life of a group of people- it can include everything from language and gestures to style of dress and standards of beauty, from customs and rituals to tools and artifacts, from music and child rearing practices to the proper way for customers to line up in a grocery store. -it forms basics beliefs and assumptions about the world and the way things work, and it defines the moral parameters of what is right and wrong, good and bad -culture actually accounts for our great success a species -we are dependent on it to deal with the demand of life in society -we learn culture- we are often unaware of the process -culture guides the way we make sense of the world around us and the way we make decisions about what to do and how to do it

Mead's theory of the social self (I and the Me)

Dual nature of the self- the idea that we experience the self as both subject and object the "i" and the "me", I- is the subject component the experience of a spontaneous active and creative part of ourselves. Me- is the object component- the experience of a norm-abiding conforming part of ourselves, more socialized and therefore reliant on others , Mead- believed that the self is created through social interaction. Believes that this process starts in childhood- that children begin to develop a sense of self at about the same they time they began to learn language

Norms can be broken down further into 3 types

Folkways, mores, taboos

Irving Janis

Groupthink- when a poor decision is made on behalf of a group but they go ahead and do it anyway -isolated- smaller group within a larger formal --organization -when there a are number of pre conditions: High stress, time pressures, leadership that is resistance to any kind of pushback (embedded in the organization) -exp: recent tax cuts

How has society been McDonaldized?

McDonaldization- is the spread of bureaucratic rationalization and the accompanying increases in efficiency and dehumanization. -we lose that personal connection, ATMs, parking garages -frustrating when you have to interact with a person -how do we get things done as quickly and efficiently as possible

What are the pros and cons to the McDonaldization of society?

Pros: efficienticiency, Cons: job cuts, less human interactions

Achieved status

Social position that is taken on voluntarily as a result of personal choice, reward, or direct effort (i.e. Bono = rockstar, drug addicts) like being fat. Individualism = huge value in US

Bureaucracies traits that help operate efficiently

Specialization: all members of a bureaucracy are assigned specialized roles and tasks, Technical competence: all members are expressed trained and and qualified for their specific roles within the organization, Hierarchy: bureaucracies always feature the supervision of subordinates by higher-ranking managers and bosses, Rules and regulations: these are meant to make all operations as predictable as possible, Impersonality: rules come before people, no individual receives special treatment, Formal written communication: documents such as memos or emails are the heart of the organization and the most effective way to communicate -the rules of bureaucracy trumped your individual needs: no matter how deserive you thought you were, you are treated like a number

What are the components or common elements of culture?

The most important functions of symbolic culture is to allow us to communicate through signs, gestures, and language -these form the basis of social interaction and are the foundation of culture

What are the types of formal organizations?

Utilitarian, normative, and coercive

Role conflict

a situation in which 2 or more roles have contradictory expectations

What is a master status?

a status that seems to override all others in our identities, often shaping a person's entire life, and affects all other statuses that one possesses.

The Asch experiment

a study on compliance -gathered groups of 7 or 8 students to participate in which he called an experiment on visual perception -only 1 of the students in each group was real research subject, the others knew ahead of time how they were supposed to act -look at lines and match the length -some people knew the answers but were scared they were wrong cuz of the others - it's hard to maintain independence in a group situation -his studies showed that some people will go against the evidence of their own sense if others around them seem to have different perceptions -we conform when you are in groups

problem with bueracracy

alienation, inefficiency and ritualism, bureaucratic inertia, and oligarchy

Mores

are norms that carry a greater moral significance and are more closely related to the core values of a cultural group, -are norms to which particular everyone is expected to conform

Gestures

are signs made with the body- clapping, nodding, smiling, facial expression, this is referred to body language or nonverbal communication, every culture has its own way of expressing praise and insulting others, some gestures in certain cultures could be offensive in another culture

Folkways

are the ordinary conventions of everyday life about what is acceptable or proper and are not always strictly enforced, are the customary ways that people do things, and they ensure for smoother and orderly social interactions , Exp: wearing flip flops with a business suit

Norms

are the rules and guidelines regarding what kind of behavior are acceptable; they develop directly out of a culture's value system.

Values

are the set of shared beliefs that a group of people consider to be worthwhile or desirable in life- what is good or bad- right or wrong- beautiful or ugly, -they articulate the essence of everything that a cultural group cherishes in a society

Agents of socialization

are the social groups, institutions, and individuals that provide structured situations in which socialization takes place. -The four predominant agents of socialization are the family, schools, peers, and the mass media.

Merton's structural strain theory

argues that the tension or strain between socially approved goals and an individual's inability to meet those goals through socially approved means leads to deviance as individuals reject either the goals (achieving success), the means (hard work, education), or both.

White collar crime

crime committed by a high-status individual in the course of his occupation -include guard, embezzlement or insider trading -come from a relatively private background

What are the 10 major US values? How do they sometimes contradict each other?

equal opportunity, achievement and success, material comfort, activity and work, practicality and efficiency, progress, science, democracy and free enterprise, freedom, racism, sexism, and group superiority -they contradict becasue equal opportunity and group superiority where class is highly racialized

Ritualists

go through the conventional motions while abondings all hopes of success, individuals who have given up hope of achieving societies approved goals but still operate according to society's approved means

Goffman's dramaturgical analysis

goffman was saying that it's not just what you say but how you say it that creates meaning, -Erving Goffman believed that meaning is constructed through interaction. -focuses on how individuals take on roles and act them out to present a favorable impression to their "audience." -Goffman argued that people are concerned with controlling how others view them, a process he called impression management.

What are the types of group leadership?

instrumental and expressive

Status

is a position in a social hierarchy that comes w a set of expectations

Material culture

is any physical object to which we give social meaning: art and artifacts, tools and utensils, machines and weapons, clothing and furniture, buildings and toys, any physical thing that people create, use, or appreciate, by studying material culture we can see how santa barbara manages to preserve its history and heritage and successfully resist the pressures of encroaching urban development Exp: big mac

Superego

is composed of 2 components: the conscience and the ego-ideal. The conscience serves to keep us from engaging in socially undesirable behavior, and the ego-ideal upholds our vision of who we believe we should ideally be. It develops as a result of parental guidance, in inhibits the urges of the id and encourages the ego to find morally acceptable forms of behavior. The superego helps suppress the urge to kill ur competitor and keeps you working towards getting that raise in socially acceptable ways.

Embodied status

is located in our physical selves (such as beauty or disability)

Ascribed status

is one we are born with that is unlikely to change (such as gender or race)

Ego

is the part that deals w the real world. It operates on the basis of reason and helps to mediate and integrate the demands of both the id and the superego. The ego is part of the self that says "okay this time the other guy won, but if keep trying im bound to get that raise eventually"

retreatists

like dropouts of hermits renounce the culture goals and means entirely and live outside conventional norms together, exp: drug addicts

Coercive

maintains control through force, where once someone enters they usually can't leave, life is very routine, rules are very important,

innovators

might seek financial success via unconventional means (drug dealing or embezzlement). Walter white from breaking bad- keeps culutural goals but he turns to an illegitimate means to achieving them, Individuals who accept society's approved goals but not societies approved means to achieve them

Social construction

of reality the process by which a concept or practice is created and maintained by participants who collectively agree that it exits

Symbolic culture (non material)

reflects the ideas and beliefs of a group or people, it can be something as specific as a certain rule or custom: driving on the right side of the road in the US, and on the left in the UK, it can be as broad social system: democracy, or a large- scale social pattern: marriage

rebels

reject the cultural definitions of success and the normative means of achieving it and advocate radical alternatives to the existing social order

cultural relativism

seeing each different culture as simply that- different- not better or worse- not right or wrong, but on its owns terms- doing so helps us place diff values, beliefs, norms, practices within their own cultural context

What is role? How is it important to social organization?

set of responsibilities and expected behaviors of someone who holds a status

Informal

that they are implicit and unspoken

What are some examples that illustrate the Thomas theorem?

the infamous killing of Trayvon Martin in 2012. Trayvon Martin was fatally shot by a neighborhood watch coordinator (George Zimmerman) in Florida, on the grounds that he "looked suspicious and up to no good." The truth was that Martin was just heading home from the nearby store after having bought something, and was completely unarmed. Zimmerman had already perceived that the 17-year-old kid was a threat to the neighborhood, and shot him without actually assessing the whole situation as it really was. He based his action on his individual perception of Martin, and not on the reality. Thus, he defined that situation as a threatening one, and reacted accordingly, which had severe consequences

Language

the most significant component of culture, is what has allowed us to fully develop and express ourselves as human beings, and it is what distinguishes us from all other specifies on the planet,is the basis of symbolic culture and the primary means through which we communicate with one another, it allows us to convey complicated concepts and to pass along a culture from one generation to the next, language shapes not only our communication, but our perception- the way we see things, does play a significant role in how people construct a sense of reality and how they categorize the people, places, and things around them

Cooleys looking glass self

the nothing that the self develops through our perception of others evaluations and appraisals of us, we all act like mirrors to each other, reflecting back to one another an image of ourselves.

ethnocentrism

the principle of using one's own culture as a means or standards by which to evaluate another group of individual, leading to the view that cultures other than one's owns are abnormal or inferior.

Plea bargaining

the process of legal negotiation that allows an accused person to plead guilty to a lesser charge in return for a lighter sentence -from a conflict perspective push- for a lighter sentence -example of lack of justice

Formal norms

they are officially codified and explicitly stated

When and how can the rationality of bureaucracies become irrational?

think about target- the coupons with the mom-

Symbolic interactionism understanding culture

value and norms are social construction that may vary over time and in different contexts; meaning is created, maintained, and changed through ongoing social interaction

Conflict Theory understanding culture

values and norms are part of the dominant culture and tend to represent and protect the interests of the most powerful groups in society

Functionalism understand culture

values and norms are widely shared and agreed upon, they contribute to social stability by reinforcing common bonds and constraining individuals behavior

Normative

voluntary oriented a shared goal or purpose

Emile durkheim

we need crime to force these people to know what crosses the line No society without crime -as a society we come together because of crime, gives us shape Exp: inside out

Utilitarian

when a group of individuals join an organization it to receive a benefit

Reference group

when a group provides standards by which a person evaluates his own personal attributes Exp: family -we often try to live up to the standards of our parents, siblings, extended family and compare ourselves -if we don't see ourselves as having the same qualities we might a negative self image

Role exit

when a person leaves behind a role he once occupied

Freud's Id/Ego/Superego

when were born there is a competent of our personality that is present at birth

Id

which is composed of biological drives- is the source of instinctive, psychic energy, its main goal is to achieve pleasure and to avoid pain in all situations, which makes the id a selfish and unrealistic part of the mind.

Role strain

which occurs when there are contradictory expectations within one single role a person plays