Sociology Exam #2
Self-control:
occurs because individuals internalize the norms of the group, making them part of their basic belief system and their very identity
Genocide:
refers to mass killings aimed at destroying a population
Social Networks:
-An individual's total set of relationships
Deviance:
-Breaking the NORMS of a society -Norm violations only become deviance when they exceed the tolerance level of the community and bring negative sanctions. -Deviance is behavior of which others disapprove to such an extent that they believe something significant ought to be done about it.
Deindividuation:
-Deindividuation: the feeling that one's self has merged with the group. -Results in decrease or loss of individual responsibility for an action
Reference Groups:
-Groups that individuals compare themselves to regularly -Can have positive or negative effects -influence self-esteem
1. What is a social group, a primary group, a secondary group? (ppt social groups and class text CH 5) p.105-106
-Social group: consists of two or more people who regularly interact and share a sense of unity and common identity. -Primary Group: Intimate, small, personal, informal; ex: Family, Friends, Co-workers; Serve expressive needs--provide emotional support, sense of belonging; groups characterized by intimate, face-to-face interaction, permanent, strong sense of loyalty and belongingness, constitute a basic source of identity, strengthens sense of social integration into society -Secondary Groups: Formal, large, impersonal; ex: classmates, teachers, employees; Serve instrumental needs, accomplish a specific task
Robert Merton -- Strain Theory/Theory of Anomie:
-Society's goal = goal that most people in society feel is important = financial success -Society's way= legal and approved way of attaining the goal = college / talent
Reverse Discrimination:
-discrimination against members of a dominant or majority group
Environmental racism:
-refers to the disproportionately large numbers of health and environmental risks that minorities face daily in their neighborhoods and workplaces
Organizational culture:
-refers to the pattern of norms and values that structures how business is actually carried out in an organization
Segregation:
-refers to the physical seperation of minority and majority group members
social interaction
-refers to the ways individuals interact with others in everyday, face-to-face situations
Modern Racism:
-subtle form of racism that involves the belief that -serious discrimination in America no longer exists -racial inequality is the fault of minority group members -Most who fit this description do not consider themselves to be racist
Solutions: Freedom Riders
1960's White and Black civil rights activists that worked together to fight segregation
the norms of reciprocity:
the expectation that people will return favors and strive to maintain a balance of obligation in social relationships
Informal social control:
the self-control is reinforced by informal social control: all the small and not-so-small ways that friends, co-workers, and others around us informally keep us from behaving improperly
discrimination:
the unequal treatment of indivduals in the basis of their membership in categories
Exchange:
a voluntary interaction from which all parties expect some reward
role conflict
occurs when incompatible role demands develop because of multiple status -Conflict between 2 different states; ex: student and mom
Role strain: p 81-82
occurs when incompatible role demands develop within a single status. --Conflict within one status; ex: student taking many classes
scapegoating:
occurs when people or groups who are blocked in their own goal attainment, blame others for their failures
Risky shift:
Risky shift: tendency to engage in riskier behavior in a group than one would individually
Color-blind racism:
refers to the belief that all races are created equal and that racial equality has already been achieved
Victimless crimes:
-such as drug use, prostitution, gambling and pornography are voluntary exchanges between persons who desire illegal goods or services from each other
Pluralism:
-the peaceful coexistence of separate and equal cultures in the same society
What causes criminal behavior:
1) Biological theories 2) Psychological theories 3) Sociological theories
A group:
Two or more individuals who: 1.Interact 2. Share goals and/or norms 3. Have an awareness of "we" -two or more people who interact on the basis of shared social structure and recognition mutual dependency
Bureaucracy:
a special type of complex organization characterized by explicit rules and hierarchical authority structure, all designed to maximize efficiency
Conformity:
accept society's goals as well as society's way of attaining these goals. -ex: business owner
formal social control:
administrative sanctions such as fines, explosion, or imprisonment might scare you into conformity
institution
is an enduring social structure that meets basic human needs
Stanford Prison Experiment:
-1973 experiment simulating a prison environment -After only 3 days the "guards", began to act brutally towards the other students: having them strip, simulate sex, clean toilet bowls with bare hands -After 6 days the researchers had to terminate the study
Stereotypes:
-A preconceived, simplistic idea about the members of a group -Hinder social interactions, lead to false assumptions about others
Symbolic Interactionism: Control Theory:
-A strong social bond between individuals and society keeps most people away from crime; Strong social bonds between a person and society keep them from deviating -2 Control Systems: 1. inner controls (conscience, morals, ideas of right and wrong) 2.outer controls (people - family, friends) work against our tendencies to deviate ~If one or more are missing people may commit crimes
A minority group"
-a group that is culturally, economically, and politically subordinate
Cohesion:
-cohesion in a group is characterized by high levels of interaction and by strong feelings of attachment and dependency
Complex organizations:
-large, formal organizations with elaborate status networks
Moral entrepreneurs:
-people who attempt to create and enforce new definitions of morality
Institutionalized racism:
occurs when the normal operation of apparently neutral processes systematically produces unequal results for majority and minority groups.
Social processes:
the form of interaction through which people relate to one another, they are the dynamic aspects of society
A majority group:
-a group that is culturally, economically, and politically dominant
15. When did the U.S. Census allow multiple racial categories to be selected? (PPT Race a)
2000
The agents of socialization
-The agents of socialization are all the individuals, groups, and media that teach social norms -Includes family, friends, religion, mass media, government, and schools. -People, groups, and media that teach us social norms; influences from all around us
Medicalization:
-the process through which something becomes defined as a medical problem
Elements of the social bond:
1. Attachment to significant others 2. Commitment to conventional goals 3. Involvement in conventional activities
Structural Functionalism
Structure of society makes it impossible for some people to achieve success in legitimate ways
Social Control:
-the forces and processes that encourage conformity -Takes place at 3 levels: (self-control, informal, and formal controls) ~Through internalized self-control, we police ourselves ~Through informal controls, our friends and intimates reward us for conformity and punish us for nonconformity ~Through formal controls, the state or other authorities discourage nonconformity
Solutions:
1. Youth programs (boys and girls clubs, after-school activities, high quality pre-school) 2. Community programs (neighborhood watch) 3. Alternatives to prison (probation, psychological treatment, house arrest, group therapy) 4. Prison reform (increase occupational training programs) 5. Reducing poverty (better education, on the job-training) 6. Parental responsibility laws (making parents responsible for delinquent behavior of their children) 7. Better law enforcement (strictly enforced curfews or focus on combating street gangs) 8. Juvenile boot camps (scared straight approach) 10. Parenting Training(parenting classes, resources, counseling) 11. Decriminalization of some laws (drug use, gambling, prostitution) 12. Legislative action (changes laws: ex: gun control)
Anomie:
-As a society grows larger, becomes more diverse, and experiences rapid social change, the norms of society may become unclear or no longer apply; this is called anomie, and believed it was a major cause of suicide in industrializing nations. -Anomie is a situation in the norms of society are unclear and no longer applicable to current conditions
Crime:
-Breaking the LAWS of a society -behavior that is subject to legal or civil penalties
Race is a social construct:
-Categories not based on science. -Race is a social construction -Scientifically we are all a part of the same race-the human race. -Criteria we use to distinguish race are blurred and imperfect. -Racial boundaries are set by social agreement. -Criteria such as skin color, eye shape, nose shape, and geographical origin can overlap -Most people are not of one "race." -The social construction of race and ethnicity: the process through which a culture (based more on social ideas than on biological facts) defines what constitutes a race or an ethnic group.
8. Know the difference between cooperation, conflict, and competition (class text CH 5)
-Cooperation: interaction that occurs when people work together to achieve shared goals; exchange is a trade: i give you something and you give me something in return; its teamwork -Competition: any struggle over scarce resources that is regulated by shared rules; the rules usually specify the conditions under which winning will be considered fair and losing will be considered tolerable; stimulates achievement and heightens people's aspirations; often results in personal stress, reduced cooperation, and social inequalities -Conflict: a struggle over scarce resources that is not regulated by shared rules; it may include attempts to destroy, injure, or neutralize one's rivals; no tactics are forbidden and anything goes; creates divisiveness rather than solidarity
11. What is white collar crime? (class text CH 6)
-Crimes committed by respectable people of high social status in the course of their works; can be committed by either individuals or companies. Ex: Individuals may embezzle money from their firms or defraud clients; -When white-collar crimes are committed by companies, they're sometimes referred to as Corporate Crimes, which includes price fixing, selling defective products, evading taxes, or polluting the environment; -heavy economic costs, the dollar loss due to corporate crimes can dwarf that lost through street crime -Social costs: exposure to repeated tales of corruption breeds distrust and cynicism, and undermines the integrity of social institutions -White-collar crimes are similar to street crime because: people (and companies) want more than they can legitimately get and think the benefits of a crime outrun its potential costs
13. How is prejudice explained by cultural transmission theory, group identification theory, frustration-aggression hypothesis, and personality theory? (Info in PPT Race b-basic ideas only)
-Cultural Transmission: prejudice transmitted through culture from generation to generation; child learns prejudice stereotyping (by family, peers, media);social distance-extent of contact members of one group allow or desire with others -Group Identification Theory: prejudices are tied in with group membership; groups are drawn together through common interests; "in-group" tend to rate others as lower; Pride in your group becomes excessive -Personality theories: authoritarian personalities have higher tendencies of holding prejudice beliefs. Authoritarian personality: ~rigidly conventional ~uncritical of authority ~preoccupied with power ~close-minded ~raised by excessively harsh adults ~leads to intolerant views of other groups -) Frustration-aggression hypothesis: prejudice develops in response to people's need to cope with the frustration in their daily lives; Ethnic groups provide scapegoats for hostility and frustration; Shifting of blame
Conflict Theory:
-Deviance is a natural and inevitable product of competition in a society in which groups have different access to scarce resources; the ongoing process of competition should be the real focus of deviance studies -Major Question: how does unequal access to scare resources lead to deviance? = Deviance is a normal response to competition and conflict over scare resources -Most useful for explaining deviance among all classes: Lower class is driven to deviance to meet basic needs and to act out frustrations; Upper class uses deviant means to maintain privileges -The cause of deviance is inequality and competition; results from competition and class conflict; Class conflict affects deviance in two ways: 1) Class interests determine how the criminal justice system defines and responds to crime; 2) Economic pressures can lead to crime, particularly property crime, among the poor -Argues that the law is a weapon used by the ruling class to maintain the political and economic status quo -criminal justice system is controlled by a small group of people who have power; Sees the law as an instrument of oppression REVIEW -Social inequality leads to crimes -Those in power define what is criminal -Law punishes those without power (racial minorities or lower socioeconomic status) and benefits those with power
2. What are group think and attribution theory? (class text CH 5, ppt social groups)
-Group think: tendency for members to reach a consensus at all costs; exists when pressures to agree are strong enough to stifle critical thinking; groupthink can often result in bad decisions -Attribution Theory: seeing someone as part of our in or out groups can distort our perceptions of them; ex: Motives, capabilities, and actions -Attributions errors: wrong assumptions we make about a group
14. What is the difference between institutional discrimination and individual discrimination? (PPT Race a)
-Individual Discrimination: behavior by an individual that leads to unequal treatment; based on race or other factors; ex: Taxi-driver refusing to pick up someone -Institutional Discrimination: arrangements, practices that tend to favor one group; procedures that result in unequal treatment or opportunities ; May be deliberate, subtle, or unintended;Example: Taxi company instructing drivers not to pick up certain groups
Labeling theory: pg.134
-Major Question: How do acts and people become labeled deviant? = Deviance is relative and depends on how others label acts and actors -Deviance is caused by people whose acts are labeled deviant and who accept the label become career deviants. -Most useful for explaining deviance among the powerless who are labeled deviant by more powerful individuals. -Concerned with the processes by which labels such as deviant come to be attached to specific people and specific behaviors; this theory considers on the maxim that deviance is relative -Society creates deviants by labeling those who have been apprehended as different: ~Self-fulfilling prophecy ~Example: "Spurters" ~Students were labeled ; Met the high expectations
Deterrence theories: pg.134
-Major Question: When is conformity not the best choice? = Deviance is a choice based on cost/benefit assesments -Deviance is caused by the failure of the sanctioning system (benefits of deviance exceed the costs) -Most useful for explaining deviance among all groups, but especially those lacking a "stake in conformity" -Suggests that individuals will engage in deviance when they believe it will offer more rewards than will conformity and when they believe that potential risks and costs of deviance are low. Suggests that deviance results when social sanctions provide insufficient rewards for conformity. -The primary blame for deviance is placed on an inadequate (dysfunctional) system of rewards and punishments , its also believed that individuals actively make a cost/benefit decision about whether to engage in deviance. -People commit crimes if the perceived consequences do not outweigh the potential benefit -Example:Cheating; Carpool lane
Differential association theory: pg.134
-Major Question: Why is deviance more characteristic of some groups than others? = Deviance is learned like other social behaviors -Deviance is caused by subcultural values which differ in complex societies; some subcultures hold values that favor deviance; these are learned through socialization -Most useful for explaining deviance among delinquent gangs and those integrated into deviant subcultures and neighborhoods -Argues that people learn to be deviant through association with others; people who have more delinquent friends are more likely to become delinquent themselves -Differential association encourages deviance through 2 primary mechanisms: 1) if our interactions are mostly with deviants, we may develop a biased image of the generalized other, the norms we internalize may differ greatly from those of conventional society; 2) if we interact mostly within a deviant subculture, that subculture will reward us not for filling conventional norms but for violating them; through these mechanisms we can learn that deviance is acceptable and rewarding -Argues that people learn to be deviant when more of their associates favor deviance than favor conformity -Interaction with others teaches: values and attitudes associated with crime, and the techniques and motivations for criminal behavior -certain groups or subcultures have criminal acts woven into the texture of life
7. What is McDonaldization (ppt social groups ,BASIC definition only)
-McDonaldization: How principles of fast food industry apply to other areas: 1. Efficiency: Tasks completed quickly. 2. Calculability: Size, cost, and time more important than quality. 3. Predictability: Products standardized 4. Control through technology: Automation replaces human labor. -Problems of McDonaldization: 1. Employees unable to use full capabilities 2. Unable to be creative 3. Human interaction limited 4. Not paid to think, just follow procedures 5. Job/Life dissatisfaction -alienation, working as an extension of a machine -The process by which the principles of the fast-food restaurant--efficiency, calculability, predictability, and control--are coming to dominate more sectors of American society
4. What did Stanely Milgram's "teacher-learner" experiment that included fake electric shocks demonstrate? (ppt social groups)
-Milgram Obedience Studies (1974) : Participants continued in an experiment where they believed they were inflicting pain on another person "Please continue" "The experiment requires that you continue" "It is absolutely essential that you continue" "You have no other choice, you must go on" -Illustrates the power of authority figures
Power and Influence of Groups:
-Most of us believe we do not conform -Psychologist Philip Zimbardo Not me syndrome: response that people give saying "some people might conform in that situation, but not me" -Many people do indeed conform Ex: -Millions of people who were Jewish, mentally or physically challenged murdered between 1939 and 1945 by the Nazi party -In the Spring of 2004 it was revealed that military guards in Iraqi prison Abu Ghraib engaged in severe torture of prisoners of war
6. What is organizational culture? (ppt social groups)
-Organizational Culture: Pattern of norms and values - structures how business is carried out in an organization Ex: Friendly customer service Quality
12. What are prejudice, discrimination, and racism? (PPT Race a)
-Prejudice -- attitudes (Fear, anger, strong dislike, hatred, other negative emotions); am irrational, negative attitude toward a category of people -Discrimination - actions (Unequal treatment based on group membership) -Racism - discriminatory beliefs or actions based on race; the belief that inherited physical characteristics associated with racial groups determine indivduals abilities and characteristics and provide a legitimate basis for unequal treatment
Race vs. Ethnicity:
-Race: a category of people who share physical characteristics; a category of people treated as distinct on account of physical characteristics to which social importance has been assigned -Ethnicity: a shared cultural heritage and/or national origin -ethnic group: a category whose members are thought to share a common origin and important elements of a common culture -Example: Cubans/Puerto Ricans/Dominicans -same ethnicity but can be of different races
Collective Efficacy Theory:
-Refers to the extent to which individuals in a neighborhood share the expectation that neighbors will intervene to stop social disorder and deviance and will work together to maintain social order
5. What is relative deprivation? (ppt social groups)
-Relative depravation: feeling that you have less compared to another -exists when we compare ourselves to others who are better off than we are
3. What did Solmon Asch's experiment on group conformity demonstrate? (ppt social groups)
-Soloman Asch showed even obvious objective facts cannot withstand influence, pressure, or desire to conform (1955) 1/3 of participants go against what their senses tell them -Informational conformity: follow because believe the group -Normative conformity: follow to avoid standing out
Structural-Functional Theories:
-the basic premise of structural-functional theory is that the parts of society work together like the parts of an organism. -Structure of society makes it impossible for some people to achieve success in legitimate ways -According to this theory, deviance can help nudge a society toward needed, incremental social change; but when deviance becomes extreme, it is dysfunctional (disruptive) to the society. -Benefits of minor deviance -define deviance as a social problem rather than a personal problem; it is a property of the social structure, not of the individual; therefore the solution to deviance isn't in reforming the individual deviant but in changing the dysfunctional aspects of society. -Crime is functional for society: ~Strengthens group cohesion: people unite to express outrage over a crime. ~Punishment reiterates boundaries of what is considered right or wrong ~May inspire social change REVIEW: -deviants are products of society -Society makes it impossible for some people to achieve success -Crime can be functional
9. Robert Merton's strain theory describes modes of adaptation to a state of anomie: innovation, rebellion, ritualism, retreatism, and conformity. What are examples of each? (ppt crime part b) PG.131
-Strain theory: suggests that deviance occurs when culturally approved goals cannot be reached by culturally approved means -Merton's strain theory of deviance suggests that individuals caught in this dilemma may reject the goals or the means or both, and by doing so they become deviants. ~Innovation: refers to people who accept society's goals but reject accepted institutional means, instead using illegitimate means to achieve their goals; accept society's goal but find their own way of getting it; includes poor teenagers who steal flashy cars, students who cheat, athletes on steroids, drug dealer -Ritualism: referes to people who continue to use culturally approved means for achieving socially desired goals even though they have rejected--or given up on--those goals; doesn't buy into the goals of society but follow the routines ex: workers who follow all bureaucratic procedures just to keep their job, not to get ahead, or an apathetic high school student -Retreatism: refers to those who have given up on both society's goals and its accepted means; rejects the goals of society and retreat from society ; They are society's drop out: the vagabonds, drifters, street people, drug addicts -Rebellion: like Retreatism, Rebellion also refers to those abandon society's goals and means, but revels additionally adopt alternative values; they're like revolutionaries, rastafarians, or the rainbow tribe who hope to create an alternative society; rejects the values of society, substitute a new set of values; ex: Animal rights activist
How do each of the 3 theories analyze socialization (Structural Functionalist Perspective, Conflict Theory Perspective, and Symbolic Interactionist Perspective)
-Structural-functional theory (socializaton): schools, religious institutions, families, and the other social arenas in which children are socialized are designed to integrate the young smoothly into the broader culture, avoiding conflict or chaotic social change; the socialization is all for the good: through socialization, young people learn how to become happy and productive members of society; socialization benefits everyone. -Conflict theory (socialization): assumes socialization only benefits those who are in power; focusing on how socialization reinforces unequal power arrangements; points out that in socializing children to the world as it is, we also teach them to accept existing inequalities and make it difficult for them to see how to change the world for the better. socialization can quash dissent and social change and reproduce inequalities -Symbolic interaction theory (socialization): these 3 premises: 1. to understand human behaviors, we must first understand what those behaviors mean to individuals; 2. those meanings develop within social relationships; 3. Individuals actively construct their self-concepts, within limits imposed by social structures and social relationships; also uses the looking-glass self and role taking concepts to understand how individuals construct their self-concepts.
Symbolic Interaction Theories:
-Suggests that deviance is learned through interaction with others and involves the development of a deviant self-concepts; deviance is believed to result from broad social structure but from specific face-to-face interactions, and this argument takes three forms: Differential association theory, Deterrence theory, and Labeling theory REVIEW: labels, group influence, and consequences -Deviance is learned through: ~groups we interact with ~the labels we acquire (self-fulfilling prophecy) ~choice is based on cost/benefit assessment
Strain Theory:
-The classic structural-functionalist theory of crime is Robert Merton's Strain theory: which notes that most of us are conformists, who accepts both our society's culturally approved GOALS and its culturally approved MEANS for reaching these goals. Strain theory argues that deviance results when individuals cannot reach culturally approved goals using culturally approved means -Most commonly used to explain lower-class crime -Major Question: Why do people break rules? = Deviance is an abnormal characteristic of the social structure -The cause of deviance is a dislocation between the goals of society and the means to achieve them -Most useful for explaining deviance among: the working and lower-classes who cannot achieve desired goals by prescribed means
Robert Merton's Typology:
-prejudice and discrimination do not always occur together 1. All weather liberal: unprejudiced non-discriminator 2. Fair weather liberal: unprejudiced discriminator (if in a setting where others discriminate may also discriminate) 3. Timid bigot: prejudice non-discriminator 4. All weather bigot: prejudice discriminator
Authoritarian personality:
a personality that is submissive to those in authority and antagonistic toward those lower in status