SOCL 304- EXAM #3

Definition of structure from powerpoint

"sets of mutually sustaining schemas and resources that empower and constrain social action and that tend to be reproduced by social action" (Sewell, 1992 p. 219). Structures must never be taken for granted. It is always at risk of change because of the various cultural schemas available to people and the social interaction that must take place to reproduce the structure. This view of structure allows for the idea of social transformation

Be able to analyze a selection of literature and pick out how each of these elements work from Bourdieu's theory of habitus and field

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What is the third basic questions of feminism?

-" Feminist explore this question by considering the different backgrounds of people and came up with the reasoning that the "invisibility, inequality, and roles differences in relation to men that generally characterize women's loves are profoundly affected by a woman's social location" (Ritzer & Siepnisky, 2011, p. 441). -Therefore, they are referring to a "woman's class, race, age, affectional preference, marital status, religion, ethnicity, and global location" (Ritzer & Siepnisky, 2011, p. 441).

According to Bourdieu, what is a habitus?

-According to Bourdieu, habitus are the "mental, or cognitive structures through which people deal with the social world; so, habitus is the product of the internalization of the structures of the social world or as internalized, embodied social structures" Ritzer & Siepnisky, 2011, p. 520). -Bourdieu states we can think of it as "common sense." Habitus also reflects objective divisions in a society's class structure as well as a long-term occupation within a position in the social world, in which not everyone will possess the same habitus but sometimes it is similar. -Habitus is also a collective phenomenon, which "allows people to make sense out of the social world, but the existence of a multitude of habitus means that their social world and its structures do not impose themselves uniformly on all actors" (Ritzer & Siepnisky, 2011, p. 521). -Mental or cognitive structures or internalized schemas through which we perceive, understand, appreciate and evaluate our social world (common sense). Our "common sense" is developed through our social location. -This common sense constitutes habitus for Bourdieu. -We have multiple habitus.

According to Bourdieu, what is symbolic violence?

-According to Bourdieu, symbolic violence is a "soft" form of violence, or "violence which is exercised upon a social agent with his or her complicity" (Ritzer & Siepnisky, 2011, p. 523). -Therefore, it is violence that is practiced more indirectly through forms of cultural mechanisms. An example of this would be with politics, such as political and class domination against minorities. -Another example could be related to social pressure to do something as simple as playing Facebook games in which they make users feel socially obligated into playing them through tasks or levels they need to beat to keep playing or get further along then one of their Facebook friends.

Lifeworld; system

-According to Habermas, life world is a representation of internal perspectives, meaning, it views there is only one society; however, the life world and system are just different ways of viewing this society. - Habermas sees the life world as "the transcendental site where speaker and hearer meet, where they reciprocally raise claims that their utterances fit the world and where they can criticize and confirm those validity claims, setter their disagreements, and arrive at agreements" (Ritzer & Siepnisky, 2011, p. 530). -So, a life-world involves many unspoken presuppositions which mutual understanding must occur for communication to exist in a rationalized life-world. "Habermas sees the rationalization of the life-world as involving the progressive differentiation of its various elements; the life world is composed of culture, society, and personality "(Ritzer & Siepnisky, 2011, p. 530). -Each of these compositions of a life-world then creates interpretive patterns about culture and its effects on actions, patterns of social relations, and what people are like and how they act. Overall, "the rationalization of the life-world involves the growing differentiation between culture, society, and personality" Ritzer & Siepnisky, 2011, p. 530.

Definition of agency from powerpoint

Agency is formed by cultural schemas and thus forms of agency will depend on historical and cultural factors. (Sewell, 1992) "Agency is temporally embedded process of social engagement informed by the past (in its habitual aspect), but also orientated toward the future (as a capacity to imagine alternative possibilities) and toward the present (as a capacity to contextualize past habits and future projects within the contingencies of the moment.) (Emirbayer and Mische, 1998 p. 963)

Cultural Feminism

-Explains how women are different from men. -Current theme is women operate our of a different method of moral reasoning than men. -Two ethical styles -the ethic of care: seen as female and focuses on achieving outcomes where all parties feel that their needs are noticed and responded to and the ethics of justice. -the ethics of justice which is seen as male and focuses on protecting the equal rights of all parties -Although much research is concerned with whether there are gender differences in people's appeal to these two ethics, the more lasting influence of this reattach lies in the idea that an ethic of care is a moral position in the world -Despite criticism, cultural feminism, has wide

Globalization defined

-Globalization is a social theory that is related to modernization in which it incorporates the spread of worldwide social life through "diffusion of practices, expansion of relations across continents, organization of social life on a global scale, and growth of a shared global consciousness and recasts the agenda of social theory by examining how the world order can arise in the face of civilizational differences" (Kivisto, 2013, p. 370-371). Therefore, globalization is analyzed culturally, economically, politically, and institutionally and is expanded upon in a global scale.

Beck's 7 distinctive features of globality (p. 577)

Beck lists seven things that are distinctive about globality: 1. Everyday life and interactions across national borders are being profoundly affected. 2. There us a self-perception of this transnationality in such realms as the mass media, consumption, and tourism. 3. Community, labor, and capital are increasingly placeless. 4. There is a growing awareness of global ecological dangers and of actions to be taken to deal with them. 5. There is an increasing perception of transcultural others in our lives 6. Global culture industries circulate at unprecedented level 7. There is an increase in the number and strength of transnational agreements, actors, and institutions." (Ritzer & Stepnisky, 2014, p. 574).

Colonization of the lifeworld

-Habermas meant by the phrase, "colonization of the life world" a distinction between the life world itself from the system and how colonization it allows modernity and rationalization of the system feat the rationalization of a life-world, which results in the life-world vein colonized by the system. -Communicative Action: Free and open communication among people to solve problems. -Lifeworld—culture, personality, society (substantive rationality) -System: external perspective including systems such as the judiciary, state, economy. (formal rationality) -The lifeworld becomes colonized when the system is more dominant in the ability of individuals, groups, organizations and nations to make decisions -As systems grow in power they exercise more control over the lifeworld. -When systems dominate it limits consensus and threatens the ability to come to a consensus. -Rather than language and discussion dominating and coordinating action, money and power coordinate action. -Habermas saw the formally organized domains such as the economy and state as the main forces colonizing the lifeworld. -Sees communication as rigid and fragmented.

Interactionist

-In sociology, interactionism is a theoretical perspective that derives social processes (such as conflict, cooperation, identity formation) from human interaction. - Derived from ethnomethodology--posits that institutions, culture, and stratificational systems are maintained by the ongoing activities of individuals in interaction -Believe that gender is constantly being produced by people in interaction with each other as a way of making sense of and letting the world work. -See people in interactions hold other people "accountable" for behaving in ways that are expected and useful or understandable

Liberal Feminism (what is their ideal arrangement; what does the theory argue?

-Major expression of Gender inequality -All people are created equal and should not be denied equality of opportunity because of gender -The theory argues: that women may claim equality with men on the basis of an essential human capacity for reasoned moral agency, that gender inequality is the result of a sexist patterning of the division of labor, and that gender equality can be produced by transforming the division of labor through the repatterining of key institutions-law, work, family education, and media. -Ideal arrangement: is where each individual acting as a free and responsible moral agent chooses the life style most suitable to her or him and has that choice accepted and respected, be it for housewives or househusbands, unmarried or married, childless or with child and heterosexual or homosexual.

Radical Feminism (be able to provide an example; what is meant by patriarchy as violence?)

-Male power and privilege is the basis of social relations and sexism is the ultimate tool used by men to keep women oppressed -Women are considered the first oppressed group and women's oppression is the most widespread and provides conceptual model for understanding all other forms of oppression -Refusing to reproduce is the most effective way to escape -Speak out against all social structures because they are created by men -Patriarchy as violence means: sexual abuse and rape, enforced prostitution, spouse abuse and murder, sadism in pornography, the historical and cross-cultural practices of with burning, stoning, etc.

Major contribution of Giddens to structure and agency theory

-Structuration Theory -Recognized structure as both enabling and constraining individuals -groups and nations

General idea behind gender difference theory

-That there are fundamental differences between men and women and women are considered to be inferior to men and they fall into social subornation.

What is the general idea behind the gender oppression theory?

-That women and their situations are a result of direct power relations between men and women, where men have the fundamental and concrete interest in controlling, using, and oppressing women

What is the fourth basic questions of feminism?

-They explain this question by considering critical social theory and its explanation on how people can and have faced injustice in a political, social and historical context, such with women being a minority.

What is the first basic questions of feminism?

-This question is asked by feminists in order to understand what women are doing, if they are or are not being investigated, what are their contributions, how they experience situations, and what it means to them as a whole. - To answer these questions, feminist give generalize answers, such as women are present in different social situations and play different roles from popular belief. -"Where they are not, it is not because they lack ability or interest but because there have been deliberate efforts to exclude them" (Ritzer & Siepnisky, 2011, p. 441). -However, even though these women are present in these different social situations, there are often overlooked and their roles, even though essential, are considered to be different, less privileged, and subordinate to men and their roles. - Therefore, women face inequality.

What is the second basic questions of feminism?

-To answer this feminist state it based on the concept of gender and has created a general social theory to explain this. - "Biologically determined attributes associated with male and female and the socially learned behaviors associated with masculinity and femininity; they did so by designated the latter as "gender" (Ritzer & Siepnisky, 2011, p. 441). -Also, feminists still debate gender; however, they do agree upon understanding gender as social construction and is created by people in order to process group life

What is meant by "doing Gender."

-West and Zimmerman's 1987 article "Doing Gender" was the most cited work in recent feminist sociological theory -Its starting point is in distinguishing among sex, sex category, and gender. -A baby is born with some configuration of biological sex; on the basis of what the adult attending to the birth interpret as its sex, the baby is assigned to a sex category. -Everyone around the child and the child itself over time begin to do gender, to act in ways considered appropriate to the sex category designation -They recognize that apart of the substance of the doing in gender is "doing difference"--acting to make distinctions, to distinguish oneself as masculine not feminine or, conversely, as feminine not masculine--these actions are repeated from situation to situation to maintain gender identity. -The social mechanism that produces all this doing of gender difference is the operation of accountability in terms of sex category. -People in individual interactions do for the most part produce remarkably similar behaviors when doing gender

Gender Oppression

-Women are oppressed, not just different from or unequal to, but actively restrained, subordinated, molded, and used and abused by men. -"Describes women's situation as the consequence of a direct power relationship between men and women in which men have fundamentals and concrete interests in controlling, using, and oppressing women, or the practice of domination" (Ritzer & Siepnisky, 2011, p. 456). -In the case of women, there is gender oppression in the way a society is organized through patriarchy; where a society is organized in which all men have privileges in all aspects of social life compared to women.

Structural Oppression

-Women's experience of difference, inequality, and oppression varies by their social location within capitalism, patriarchy, and racism -Oppression "recognizes oppression results from the fact that some groups of people derive direct benefits from controlling, using, and subjugating other groups of people" (Ritzer & Siepnisky, 2011, p. 461). -Therefore, these theorists analyze how domination occurs through the social structure against women by social relations and arrangements of power and examine how products of structural arrangements affect women. -Interrogating gender is what theorists are looking at when considering how women are really to be understood and how the category of women is produced and maintained in society

Gender Inequality:

-Women's location in most situations is not only different from but also less privileged than or unequal to that of men. -is summed up into four themes but the main point is that men and women are not only different but are also unequal. - Meaning, women receive less social power, opportunities, and resources than men who share the same social locations and factors like race, class, religion, etc. "This inequality results from the organization of society, for although individual human beings vary in their profile od potentials and traits, no significant pattern of natural variation distinguishes the sexes" (Ritzer & Siepnisky, 2011, p. 448). -Therefore, women are assumed to have less empowerment than men in a social structure.

Gender Difference Theory

-Women's location in, and experience of, most situations is different from that of men in the situation -is considered the oldest of feminist theories, which considers the thesis that there are fundamental differences between men and women and is considered immutable. -According to the text, "that immutability usually us seen as traceable to three factors: (1) biology (2) social institutional needs for men and women to fill different roles, most especially but not exclusively in the family, and (3) the existential or phenomenological need of human beings to produce an "Other: as part of the act of self-definition" (Ritzer & Siepnisky, 2011, p. 447).

According to Bourdieu, what is hysteresis?

-people who have an inappropriate habitus -situations where we have an inappropriate habitus. -Habitus does not necessarily determine choice but gives us a set of practices on what we should think and do. We are not often conscious about how habitus operates. Example: someone who is uprooted from an agrarian existence in a contemporary pre capitalist society and put on Wall Street--would not be able to cope very well with life

Feminist Sociology of Knowledge

-sees everything that people label "knowledge of the world" as having four characteristics: 1. it is always created from the standpoint of embodied actors situated in groups that are differentially located in social structure 2. it is always partial and interested, never total and objective 3. it is produced in and varies among groups and to some degree, among actors within groups 4. it is always affected by power relations-whether formulated from the standpoint of dominant or subordinate groups -feminist attempt to describe, analyze, and change the world from the standpoint of women and vices, working from women's subordinated position in social relations, feminist see that knowledge production is part of the system of power governing all production in society. -attempts to alter the balance of power within sociological discourse by establishing the standpoint of women in particular, and of oppressed people more broadly. -considers what constitutes a standpoint of women in four strategies 1. asserting validity of webbed accounts 2.privileging the standpoints of the less empowered actors or groups because of a major factor of unequal power relations 3. be reflective about and give an account of the stage through which she or he moves from knowledge of an individuals standpoint to the generalizations of a sociological account for that of translation is an act of power 4. identify her or his partiality and its effects on the theory constructed

Intersectionality theory (or matrix of domination as is referred to in the online lecture)

-understanding that women experience oppression in varying configurations and in varying degrees of intensity -These vectors of oppression and privilege, "the matrix of domination", include not only gender but also class, race, global location, sexual preference, and age. -the argument in intersectionality theory is that it is intersection itself that produces a particular experience of oppression, and one cannot arrive at an adequate explanation by using an additive strategy of gender, plus race, plus class, plus sexuality. -at the core of their theory is understanding these arrangements of inequality as hierarchical structures bad in unjust power relations

What are the Four Themes of Gender Inequality?

1. Men and women are situated in society not only differently but also unequally; women get less of the material resources, social status, power, and opportunities for self-actualization than do men who share their social location-be it a location based on class, race, occupation, ethnicity, religion, education, nationality, etc. 2. Inequality results from the organization of society, for although individual human beings vary in their profile of potentials and traits, no significant pattern of natural variation distinguishes the sexes. 3. All human beings are characterized by an intrinsic need for self-actualization and by a fundamental malleability that lets them adapt to the constraints or opportunities of their situations. 4. All inequality theories assume that both women and men will respond fairly easily to more egalitarian social structures and situations--theorists of gender inequality contrast with theorists of gender difference. or 1. Both genders are situated in society not only differently but also unequally (e.g women get less opportunities, material resources, social status, power and self actualization 2. Inequality results from the organization of society, not from any significant biological or personality differences entwine women and amen. 3. Although individual human beings may vary somewhat from each other in profile of potential and traits--but no pattern of natural variation disinguishes the sexes; all human are characterized by a deep need ffresom to seek self-actualization 4. All inequality theories assume that both genders respond fairly, easily, and naturally to more egalitarian social structures an situations

What are the basic questions of feminism?

1."and what about the women?" 2. "Why is all this as it is?" 3. "And what about the differences among women?" 4. "How can we change and improve the social world so as to make it a more just place for all people?"

Globality

According to Beck, "globality, in which closed spaces, especially those associated with nations, are seen as growing increasingly illusory because of globalization with varying degrees of power, identities, and the like, crisscrossing and undermining nation-states" (Ritzer & Stepnisky, 2014, p. 574). Globality is the idea that nation states are becoming less powerful and transnational actors are becoming more powerful. Nothing is limited to the local anymore.

According to Bourdieu, what is a field?

According to Bourdieu, "the field is a network of relation among the objective positions within it, so these relations exist apart from individual consciousness and will and are not interactions or intersubjective ties among individuals" (Ritzer & Siepnisky, 2011, p. 522). He also states there are numerous fields in a social world and it is structured "guides the strategies whereby the occupants of these positions seek, individually or collectively, to safeguard or improve their position and to impose the principle of hierarchization most favorable to their own products" (Ritzer & Siepnisky, 2011, p. 522). -Network of relations among objective positions. -Fields are considered sites of struggle. We employ various capitals (economic, cultural, social and symbolic) in order to keep and improve our position in the field. -We create strategies of how to best employ these capitals. -All fields must be traced back to the political field or the source of power. -Within fields we can also experience symbolic violence which is where the values of those who are in power are imposed on the population. -You will experience symbolic violence if you choose to go against those values. -Bourdieu argues that education is key in reproducing class and power relations in society.

According to Bourdieu, what is cultural?

Cultural capital explains the understanding and ease of cultural institutions and society's cultural hierarchy.

According to Bourdieu, what is economic?

Economic capital is explained as what occurs in a society's economic sphere.

Globalism

Globalism is the view that the world is dominated by economics and that we are witnessing the emergence of the hegemony of the capitalist world market and neoliberal ideology.

Bauman: Space War

He argues globalization can be seen as a space war. Mobility is of key importance in social stratification. Those who are mobile are most free and can create meaning for themselves and those who are less mobile are less free and cannot create meaning

Central questions to structure and agency

How do we act? How controlling are structures? How do groups act? (i.e. nations, organizations and groups)

Matrix of domination

Interlocking levels of domination that stem from the societal configuration of race, class and gender relations. Means of analyzing access to power and privilege

Theories of Anthony Giddens

Leading author in modern theory Considers society as a juggernaut and describes our current situation as "late modernity" Modernity defined as: capitalism, industrialism, surveillance capacities (supervision of the activities of subject populations) and control of the means of violence (industrialization of war) Focus of work on the nation state

Basic structure of Domination is called?

Patriarchy

According to Bourdieu, what is social capital?

Social capital is social relation between people that are valued.

Notes on Structure

Structure is one of the sociological concepts most often used, but a precise definition of elusive. (Sewell, 1992) Often used to describe patterns of social life and using the metaphor of the girders of a building meaning that structure is hard and solid. However, some argue that this view gives the impression that we cannot break out of these patterns of social life.

According to Bourdieu, what is symbolic honor?

Symbolic capital is from an individual who shows both honor and prestige.

Political Theory: Sources of Fragmentation (Rosenau) pgs. 596-598

The main focus is what is going to happen to the nation state as a result of globalization. The text argues, "the state is now a minor player globally when compared to a huge and growing borderless global economy that nation-states are unable to control. The nation state has been weakened by global and transnational organizations.

Economic Theory: Transnational Capitalism (p. 590-591)

This is the focus on those practices that cut across boundaries in that territorial boundaries are declining in importance in capitalist globalization.

Cultural convergence paradigm—McDonaldization -all elements

This is the idea that globalization is leading to sameness

Cultural hybridization

This is the mixing of cultures into new and unique hybrid cultures that are no either local or global.

Bauman: Tourists

Tourists are those who are on the move because they want to be.

Bauman: Vagabonds

Vagabonds are those who are on the move because they find their environs unbearable, inhospitable for any number of reasons.

Cultural Differentialism—basic definition

there are lasting differences between cultures that are not affected by globalization.