Sociology 1101 final exam
Sociological imagination
allows us to see how human life (our biography) is shaped by the time and place in which we live. by C Wright Mills having this allows us to distinguish between private troubles and public issues- this this allows us to think more deeply about the cause of and potential solutions to problems that seem, on the surface, to be entirely personal
Resocialization: .
an interactive process during which the affected party reconstructs his or her social identity and associated relationships can be triggered by a crisis or a less dramatic event (a woman begins to seriously date someone, someone retires from job after 40 years, person inherits lots of $$)
deviance:
any behavior or physical appearance that is socially challenged and/ or condemned because it departs from the norms and expectations of some group. deined by Durkheim as 'those acts that offend collective sentiments" no such thing as society without deviance, even in a 'community of saints' what makes an act or appearance deviant is not the act itself but rather thr fact that the group has defined it as something dangerous or threatening to its well being
Feminist perspective (definition and application)
considered a variation of conflict theory: gives central focus to unequal distribution of power & other valued resources as it relates to gender define the gender divide as the most basic, persistent, prevalent, and resistant to change
Secondary sector:
consists of economic activities that transforms raw materials into manufactured goods (houses, computers, cars)
income inequality in different nations:
country with smallest gap btwn rich and poor is japan. Country with LARGESt gap is Sierra Leone
reentry shock:
cultural shock upon returning home after living in another culture intensity of reentry shock depends on: (1) length of time one has lived in host culture (2) extent to which the returnee has internalized the ways of the host culture
Bureaucracy-
defined by Max Weber as a completely rational organization that uses the most efficient means to achieve a valued goal. Ex: McDonalds (feeding people), counting people (census bureau), collecting taxes (IRS) 6 IDEAL traits: clear cut division of labor, authority is hierarchal, written rules specift the way positions relate to each other and describe the way an organization should operate, positions filled according to objective criteria, authority belongs to the position, organizational personnel treat clients or customers as cases
Karl Marx on religion :
described religion as the "opiate of the people" which they use to repress, constrain, and exploit others, said it justifies the status quo. brlirved religion was the most humane feature of an inhumane world & that it arose in response to tragedies acknowledged the comforting role of religion but also said religion rationalizes existing inequalities or downplay their importance. religion serves as a source of false consciousness for the politically and economically disadvantaged
tertiary sectors- .
economic activities related to delivering services (like healthcare, entertainment, sales) and to creating and distributing information
Primary sector:
economic activities that extract raw materials from the natural environment (mining, fishing, growing crops, raising livestock, drilling for oil, planting/harvesting forest products)
Primary group:
face to face contact / strong emotional ties among members who feel an allegiance to one another (teams, couples, siblings, peer groups) ex: group of students on one-month long study abroad reseach trip
Conflict perspective (definition and application)
focus on conflict as an inevitable fact of social life and as the most important agent for social change. Ask who benefits from a particular social arrangement & at whose expense? to answer the question, conflict theorists seek to describe the social arrangements that advantaged groups have established to protect and promote their privileged position work to expose the façade of legitimacy
Symbolic interaction perspective (definition and application)
focus on social interaction. Focus on people's 1) self-awareness an 2) shared symbols and 3) negotiated order when interacting - ask how ppl take into account what the other person will do & then how do they direct their conduct accordingly
Inequality:
social inequality is the unequal distribution of income, wealth, and other valued resources
social control:
strategies people use to encourage, often force, others to comply with social norms (referee calls foul when athlete violates rules) police officers, school teachers and others act as referees when they issue tickets, write students up, and arrest offenders mechanisms of social control are employed when conformity cannot be achieved voluntarily methods of social control: positive & negative sanctions, censorship, surveillance, authority, group pressure
strain theory: Robert K. Merton
takes 2 elements of social structure into account: (1) the goals a society defines as valuable- economic success, upward mobility, home ownership and (2) the culturally legitimate means to achieve those valued goals, including the actual # of legitimate opportunities available to achieve valued goals. Structural strain is a situation in which there is an imbalance btwn culturally valued goals and the legitimate means to obtain them. structural strain generates deviant responses. Merton argues that structural strain induces a state of cultural chaos (anomie)
dependent variable
the behavior to be explained/ predicted
Dr Jones......which theoretical perspective?
D: conflict theory
In a hypothesis about educational inequality that makes a causal claim that a decrease in the level of school funding in society will result in a decrease in the high school graduation rate in that society, ________________is the dependent variable.
E: high school graduation rate
college students incurring debts:
a high percentage of students around the world who borrow money for college DEFAULT on the loans. About 2/3 of college graduates report having taken out loans while in college.
social structure:
a largely invisible system that broadly shapes and constrains human activity in noticeable and predictable ways the concept of social structure is key to understanding how institutions meet human needs shapes people's sense of themselves and their relationships and opportunities to connect with others
culture shock:.
a mental and physical strain that people can experience when they adjust to the ways of a new culture one single incident will NOT generate culture shock- its the cumulative effect of a series of such adjustments that can trigger an all-encompassing disorientation intensity of culture shock depends on: (1) extent to which home & foreign cultures differ (2)preparation level for living in new culture (3)circumstances (vacation, job transfer, war) surrounding the encounter ** don't have to live in foreign culture to experience culture shock
Relative poverty:
a person is disadvantaged when compared with a person in an average or more advantaged situation considers not just survival needs but also goods and services that allow people to participate in society (internet and transportation access)
ethnocentrism:
a point of view in which people use their home or other culture as standard for judging the worth of another culture's ways. puts one culture at the center of everything and all other ways are "scaled and related with reference to it" ex: saying that Arabic (written right to left) is written 'backward' is an ethnocentric way of describing the Arabic writing process
role conflict:
a predicament in which the roles associated with two or more distinct statuses that a person holds conflict in some way (college student trying to balance workload and a job)
role strain:
a predicament when there are contradictory or conflicting role expectations associated with a single status (doctors obligated to do no harm to their patients but may recommend unnecessary medical procedures if pressured to meet quotas related to patient load.
Hypothesis
a prediction about the relationship btwn the dependent and independent variables If it is supported by the data, then researchers can claim that if they know the value of an independent variable, then they can PEDICT the independent variable
The sociological imagination connects private troubles to public issues. Use an example to illustrate how the sociological imagination help us achieve a better understanding of an aspect of the U.S. society.
"neither the life of an individual nor the history of a society can be understood without understanding both" "[men] cannot cope with their personal troubles in such ways as to control the structural transformations that usually lie behind them" "enables us to grasp history and biography and the relationship btwn the 2 in society" SUICIDE-
cultural relativism:
(1) a foreign culture should NOT be judged by the standards of a home or some other culture (2) a behavior or way of thinking must be examined in its cultural context- in terms of that culture's values, norms, beliefs, environmental challenges, and history primary aim is to understand a culture on its own terms a point of view that acts as a check against an uncritical and overvalued acceptance of the home culture, thereby constricting thinking and narrowing sympathies
If I hypothesized that an increase in the unemployment rate will result in an increase in the crime rate, ________ is the independent variable in my hypothesis.
A, the unemployment rate
Sociologist C Wright Mill's argued that our individual lives were affected by our society's culture and social institutions. Believed each of us would need to develop a _______ to see how our personal troubles were connected to the larger "public issues" of our society.
A- sociological imagination
______ argues that we use language, gestures, and other social cues to communicate with one another about what is currently going on. In effect, we are working together to create reality.
D- symbolic interaction theory
Wealthy students in the Us graduate from high school at a higher rate than students from families falling below the poverty line. If you wanted to investigate how social structure effects the high school graduation rate of wealthy and poor students, which research question would be best to ask?
B- Do wealthy students go to schools with better resources and more opportunities than the schools poor students attend?
Societies are full of rules that tell us how to behave in a particular situation. For instance, if someone holds their hand up for a high-5, you are expected to slap their hand with yours, This is an example of ___________________
B: social norms
Similar to how each organ of your body works together to maintain its stability, ______ views society as a collection of interconnected groups, institutions, and organizations that all work together to increase the stability of the society as a whole
C- structural functional theory
Analyzing the data presented in the graph above, what can we conclude?
C. Both race and prison experience have an impact on job hunting outcomes
the looking-glass self:
Charles Horton Cooley defined this as critical to self -assessment and awareness the way in which a sense of self develops: people act as mirrors for one another internalizing culture: children in the US are likely to have internalized the belief that happiness is achieved thru having things bc the us govt has few laws limiting children's exposure to advertisements
How do the structural-functionalist and the conflict perspective approach inequality? Applying each of these perspectives, explain why claims that people in poverty are lazy or not competitive fail to explain poverty.
Functionalist: argue that social inequality is the device by which societies ensure that the best qualified people fill those occupations considered to be the most functionally important (why doctors make more than garbage men- the salary difference represents the greater functional importance of the doctor relative to the garbage man). Believe social inequality is a necessary device societies use to attract the best qualified ppl for functionally important occupations conflict: argue that some social positions command large salaries even though their functional importance is questionable. Also ask why women and men doing the same job are paid differently argue that specialization and interdependence make every occupational category necessary
the world system theory :
Immanuel Wallerstein: the 500 year expansion of a single market force (capitalism) that created the world economy the 260 countries and territories that have become part of the world economy play 1 of 3 different and unequal roles in the economy: core, peripheral, or semiperipheral
funding of higher education :
In countries Iceland and Sweden, generous financial assistance is given to students and students pay no or very low tuition/fees. In France and Ireland, students also pay no or very low tuition/fees BUT there is less generous financial assistance to students. In the United Kingdom and the USA, students pay high tuition/fees and there is generous financial assistance to students. In Japan and Korea, Students pay high tuition/fees AND there is less generous financial aid for students.
religious fundamentalism :
Lionel caplan defines it as a belief in the timelessness of sacred writings and a belief that the words apply to every setting. Is applied to a wide array of religious groups around the world. Americans use this term to explain events involving people in the middle east, especially political turmoil (our oversimplification misrepresents fundamentalism)
Social Self
Sense of Self: something acquired by children when they are able to step outside the self and see it from another's point of view and also imagine the effects of their appearance, words, and actions have on others. means children have acquired a set of standards about how others expect them to behave and look in a given situation involves learning about the groups to which we do and do not belong
difference between wealth and income:
WEALTH refers to the combined value of a person's income and other material assets like stocks, real estate, and savings minus debt. INCOME refers to the money a person earns thru salary or wages, usually on an annual basis
Absolute poverty:
a situation in which people lack the resources to satisfy the basic needs nobody should be without (US $1.25 per day)
Alienation:
a state of being in which humans lose control over the social world they have created and are dominated by the forces of their inventions. Marx wrote about alienation specifically in the workplace: workers alienated on 4 levels: (1) from the process of production (2)from the product (3) from the family and community of the fellow workers (4)from the self Karl Marxx said increased control over nature is accompanied by alienation alienation in the workplace describes the downside of efficiency ex: surveillance thru cameras and drones by gov't - caused individuals to lose control over their private lives
achieved status:
acquired through some combination of personal choice, effort, and ability (nurse's aid, college student)
material culture-
all the natural and human created objects to which people have assigned a name and attached a meaning. (phones, tattoos, trees, diamonds) to understand the social significance of material culture, sociologists strive to understand the larger context on which an object exists.
the functionalist perspective on inequality: .
argue that social inequality is the device by which societies ensure that the best qualified people fill those occupations considered to be the most functionally important (why doctors make more than garbage men- the salary difference represents the greater functional importance of the doctor relative to the garbage man). Believe social inequality is a necessary device societies use to attract the best qualified ppl for functionally important occupations
the conflict perspective on inequality:
argue that some social positions command large salaries even though their functional importance is questionable. Also ask why women and men doing the same job are paid differently argue htat specialization and interdependence make every occupational category necessary
Scientific method
carefully planned research process with the goal of generating observations and data that can be verified by others 6 steps: determine research topic/question reviewing the literature choose a research design identify variables and specifying hypotheses collecting and analyzing the data draw conclusions (6 steps not always followed in order)**
Values:
general ,shared conceptions about what is right, good, desirable, important, with regard to personal characteristics, ways of conducting the self, & other desired states of being
Structural-functional perspective (definition and application)
give focus to order and stability. Define society as a system of interrelated, independent parts. Use the human body as an analogy for society. A society's parts are interdependent and function to maintain social order also consider the expected or anticipated disruptions (manifest disruptions) a part may have on the stability of aan existing social order
subculture
have certain aspects in common with mainstream culture but possess cultural anchors (values, norms, beliefs, language) NOT shared by those in the 'mainstream' culture (ex: nondenominational cowboy churches- members come dressed as cowboys, pastors preach on horses)
nonmaterial culture
intangible human creations that cannot be seen or touched with the hands: values, beliefs, norms, symbols
labeling theory: Howard Becker
labeling theorists define a deviant as someone who is noticed as violating expectations and is punished. Guided by assumptions that (1) rules are socially constructed and (2) rules are not enforced uniformly or consistently. Assert that whether an act is deviant depends on whether people notice it and if they do, whether they label it as violation of a rule (simply violating a rule does NOT make someone a deviant)
the hidden curriculum:
lessons conveyed through the way students are taught, the work they are asked to do, the way they are tested, tone of teachers voice. Teaches lessons about the value of the subject AND culturally valued ways of thinking and behaving
characteristics of capitalism:
raw materials and means of producing and distributing goods and services are privately owned. PROFIT-DRIVEN & free of government interference, driven by laws of supply and demand
characteristics of socialism:
raw, materials and the means of producing and distributing goods & services are collectively owned. Public ownership, govt plays central role in regulating economic activity on behalf of the people. Celebrate the common worker (China, Cuba, North Korea) reject the idea that what is good for the individual and for privately owned business is good for society as a whole.
Oligarchy-
rule by the few: the concentration of decision making power in the hands of a few persons who hold the top positions in a hierarchy. organizations become oligarchical b/c democratic participation is virtually inconceivable in large organizations
functions of education-
schooling: transmitting skills, facilitating personal growth, integrating diverse populations, sorting skilled/ capable students from the unskilled, solving social problems,
Beliefs:
shared conceptions that people accept as true concerning how the world operates and the place of the individual in relationship to others. *about what is/ is not true or real
social function of poverty:
the economy 'depends' on poverty level wages: industries, consumers, and occupational groups benefit from poverty wealthy/affluent ppl contract out and pay low wages for time consuming activities, the poor often volunteer for OTC & prescription drug tests, many businesses, govt agencies serve those in poverty, those considered poor use goods/services that would otherwise be discarded
Socialization:
the lifelong process by which people learn the ways of the society in which they live. People acquire a sense of self (social identity), develop their human capacities, learn the cultures of the society in which they live, and learn expectations for behavior. process by which human capacities are developed takes hold through internalization
Life chances:
the probability that a person's life will follow a certain path and turn out a certain way (the chance someone will survive the 1st year after birth, travel abroad, live long)
ascribed status:
the result of chance in that people exert no effort to obtain them (birth order, race, age, sex) can play a role in determining achieved statuses
Culture
the shared and human created strategies for adapting and responding to one's surroundings is a blueprint that guides and determines behavior sociologists find it difficult to define a culture's boundaries
Sociology -
the systematic and scientific study of society sociologists work to understand how human activities, including social interactions and relationships, are organized, with a goal of analyzing how that organization affects people's lives, thinking, and responses to others. are especially interested in identifying and understanding the social forces that shape the way people organize activities
independent variable
the variable the explains or predicts the dependent variable
Secondary group:
two or more people who interact for a very specific purpose: a work unit, college classroom, church, fans of a sports team. These relationships are confined to a particular setting. ex: runners in a marathon
the pluralist model:
views politics as an arena of compromise, alliances, and negotiation among many competing special-interest groups & views power as something dispersed among these groups. According to this model, no single special interest group dominates the US political system. 1 problem with this model: we cannot conclude that every special-interest group has enough resources to represent and defend its interests
Stanley Milgram's study on obedience to authority:
wanted to learn why some people obey an authority's command to behave in ways that conflict with their conscience. Designed an experiment to see how far people would go before they conformed. Obedience was founded simply on the firm command of a person with an assumed status and supporting symbols that gave minimal authority over the participant
master status:
when one status takes on such great importance that it overshadows all other statuses a person occupies. (unemployed, retired, ex-convict, HIV-positive, down-syndrome)
Norms:
written and unwritten expectations for behavior, thought and appearance deemed appropriate to a particular social situation. (ex: rules in a college handbook, raising hand to speak)