SOC 101 Chapter 2 PP 48 - 56

Status

One's position within a group or society (e.g. mother, lawyer, student, female, Cuban American, ex-convict, shopper, etc.); ready-made positions with some, but limited range of choice

Subculture

A group whose members participate in the main culture of a society while simultaneously sharing a number of unique values, norms, traditions and lifestyles (e.g. religious, racial, ethnic, etc.)

Social fact

A phenomenon that we experience as external to ourselves or as an "independent reality" that forms a part of our objective environment (i.e. according to Durkheim, e.g. social structure is a social fact)

Master Status

A status position that overshadows our other statuses both in our mind and/or in the minds of other people; a key or core status that carries primary weight in a person's interactions & relationships with others (e.g. age, gender, race, occupation, celebrity, etc.)

Counterculture

A subculture whose norms and values are significantly at odds with those of the larger society; rejects many of the behavioral standards & guideposts that hold-in dominant culture

Cultural relativism

A value-free/neutral approach that views the behavior of a people from their perspective, instead of from our own (Max Webber); rejects observation through the lens of morality and instead looks for the role a behavior plays in the life of a people.

How is belonging to the "best people" (ethnocentrism) functional?

Creates a "social glue" which cements people together for harmony and progress

How is ethnocentrism dysfunctional?

Creates unnecessary inter-group conflict which when combined with scarce resources can create a power imbalance between groups; conflicts range from small skirmishes to world wars

What are the great merits of 'culture'?

Helps us circumvent the slow pace of genetic evolution; culture is thought to be a more important source for behavioral change than biological evolution.

Basic Categories for Social Analysis

Social status positions that are greater than one's master status; forms of inequality that profound affect human experience and operate as interlocking systems of privilege & oppression (e.g. gender, race, etc.)

Ascribed Status

Status positions that are assigned to you by your group or society (e.g. age, gender, race, ethnicity, etc.)

Achieved Status

Status positions that we secure on the basis of individual choice and competition (e.g. quarterback, college graduate, hair stylist, convict, etc.)

Social interaction

a process through which social structure continually evolves via outcome and matrix; interweaving & stabilizing of social relationships that create and re-create social structure

Cultural Universals

behaviors or traits that occur universally in all cultures are good candidates for evolutionary adaptations; eatures of culture, society, language, behavior, and psyche for which there are no known exception; patterned & recurrent aspects of life that occur in all known societies (Emile Durkheim, et. al.)

Cultural constants or common denominators occur because people ...

confront many of the same problems.

Items that form a culture tend to constitute a . . .

consistent and integrated whole.

Social structures ________ our behavior and _______ our actions in certain directions.

constrain/channel

Ethnocentrism

cultural ways peculiar to our own society that are so deeply ingrained that they are 2nd nature to us; makes it difficult to conceive of alternative ways of life, and easy to judge the behavior of other groups by the standards of our own culture

Social structure is __________, not _______________.

dynamic/static

Strain toward consistency

powerful forces linking the various elements of culture; similar to closely interwoven fabric

Social Structure

social ordering; interweaving of people's interactions and relationships in more or less recurrent & stable patterns; prevents haphazard or random behavior; organized & focused qualities that define our group experiences & allow us to achieve our collective purposes (e.g. church, neighborhood, employer, etc.)

Culture represents an accumulation of . . .

solutions to the problems posed by human biology & the generalities of the human condition. (e.g. food quest, marriage ritual, social classification, child rearing, etc.)