Sociology Midterm Study Guide

Class Conflict (Marx)

"All history is the struggle between classes."

Superstructure

(politics, religion, family, education, law) Strongly influenced by economic base of society

Hypothesis

A logical statement (theory) that we can test through our research

Macro level analysis

Analysis looks at a big picture or large scale process (for instance, how population size might influence health outcomes).

Culture Jamming

The act of turning cultural messages against themselves

Organizations

a pattern of relationships between and among Individuals and groups (ex: characteristics of a social organization can include qualities such as size, sexual composition, spatiotemporal cohesion, leadership, structure, division of labor, communication systems, generation)

Ascribed status

assigned to a person by society without regard for the person's unique talents or characteristics (famous people)

Culture

language, values, beliefs, rules, behaviors, and artifacts that characterize a society

Ritualist

Ritualists reject socially defined goals and live within their own means. This typology is actually quite uncommon. Cult members are a good example of ritualists who have little interest in the success goals of the culture. Typically, the average person is not a ritualist and knows few people who are.

Theory Testing

Select valid indicators of concepts, obtain evidence, compare evidence and predictions

Positivism

(social physics) identifying the abstract laws that govern social behavior

The Paradox of Deviance

**It is the deviants among us that hold us together. Here you can think about for yourself what this statement, the paradox of deviance, means as you consider the question: how is it that the deviants among us hold society together? (hmmm... could be another good short answer question, to explain this quote and its meaning).

Theory construction

-Become curious about some phenomenon -Isolate and define key elements -State why and how these concepts are related

Functions

Are the observed consequences of the existence of institutions, groups, and other system parts that permit the adaptation or adjustment of a system

Institutions

Are the principal structures whereby these critical tasks for social living functions are organized, directed, and executed. Each Institution, such as education, the economy, and the family, is built around a standardized solution to a set of problems

Manifest function

Are those consequences that are intended and recognized by the participants in a system

Latent function

Are those consequences that are neither intended nor recognized

Social Facts

Aspects of life that cannot be fully explained in terms of the biological or mental characteristics of the individual

Cultural capital

Attributes, knowledge, or ways of thinking that can be converted or used for economic advantage The more privileged one's status, the greater the accumulation of cultural capital

Informal Social Control

Informal social control refers to the reactions of individuals and groups that bring about conformity to norms and laws.

Social Statics (Comte)

Involves those aspects of social life that have to do with order, stability, and social organization that allow societies and groups to hold together and endure

Observational Learning

Is a form of learning that occurs when we watch interactions and then reproduce the responses we see in others. We can watch real life or media and learn how to respond.

Ethnocentrism

Is a term that encapsulates the sense of take-for-granted superiority in the context of cultural practices and attitudes. It refers to the belief that one's own culture is superior to others and the tendency to view all other cultures from the perspective of one's own.

Symbols

Is something that stands for something else, that something else is meaning. *Social interaction, and therefore society itself, is possible because people share meanings*

Social Construction Theory

Process through which the members of a society, discover, make known, reaffirm, and alter a collective version of facts, knowledge, or "truth' Society is created by humans through a process of: Externalization Objectification Internalization We learn who we are and how to act from others = social influence And from how society is organized = societal influence **It look at how individuals and groups participate in the construction of their perceived social reality, and the ways social phenomena are created, institutionalized, known, and made into tradition.**

Cultural relativism

Taking into account the differences across cultures without passing judgment or assigning value. *Not racist - accepting of others beliefs and lifestyles

Culture #2

That which seems normal or natural to us, but isn't. That which we do not even recognize at home, but see immediately when looking toward others

Culture of Fear

1) According to Glassner, three out of four Americans say they feel more fearful today than they did twenty years ago. 2) He explores such questions as: Why do we have so many fears these days? Are we living in exceptionally dangerous times? Why do we fear the things we do? 3) How are our fears socially constructed or socially influenced? **4) Our perception of danger has increased, not our actual level of risk, and only for certain 'dangers' and not others."** 5) Glassner goes on to expose the people and organizations that manipulate our perceptions and profit from our fears, including advocacy groups that raise money by exaggerating the prevalence of particular diseases and politicians who win elections by heightening concerns about crime, drug use, and terrorism. 6) Media effects theory addresses how it is that the media can bombard us with sensationalistic stories (such as the ones Glassner describes) that are designed to increase ratings. We often take this stories to be objective (in this way believing that they are true and free of all bias) when in fact this is often not the case. This is then part of how and why we fear certain things and not others. Those fears are socially constructed.

Accountability structure

A system through which Individuals are judged in terms of their failure or success to meet the expectations of the given society

Measurement and Interpretation

1) All social research organized around two activities: measurement and interpretation. Researchers measure an aspect of social reality. Researchers draw conclusions about the meaning of what they have measured. Measurement is not synonymous with casual observation: Is more rigorous and deliberate. Takes precautions against errors. Observations recorded systematically 2) Interpretation: Understanding measured observations The focus of social scientific theory Theory: an integrated network of general statements about the logical interrelations among variables

Socialization (agent, process, target, outcome)

1) An agent who serves as the sources for what is being learned. A learning process. A target, or individual being socialized. An outcome. 2) The social processes by which we, as social actors, develop an awareness of norms and values are the processes of socialization. 3) Socialization refers to the process of becoming a social being. Of learning the knowledge, attitudes, values, beliefs and behaviors essential to being a member of society. 4) It is a lifelong process which never ends as long as you are living. Culture is always changing, and we are always entering and exiting different phases of our lives. 5) We are socialized to different norms and expectations and different ways of being (the norms of college students, partners, parents, employees, retirees, grandparents, etc, come to mind... you get the idea). The point is that socialization continues throughout the life course, and is not just the process of children learning and growing.

Conventional Wisdom

1) Body of beliefs generally recognized as a part of a culture's common knowledge 2)Conventional wisdom allows space for cultural values to blind sociological imagination

"Researching Dealers and Smugglers"

1) Extols participant observation as the ONLY way to gain information about deviant subcultures Problems of the process include: 'Getting in' 2) Forging Trust and Relationships (covert vs. overt) 3) Developing Analysis 4) Reliability of data 5)Moral, legal, and ethical dilemmas of participation

Gender roles

1) Gender involves the social and cultural significance we attach to presumed biological differences (what is means to be male or female). 2) Gender is very much a social role, and as such it involves (like other roles) a social script and sets of expectations for what we should and should not do when we are fulfilling our roles. 3) We can also see how our gender roles shift and change in regards to different social institutions (such as education, the family, or the economy). There are few realms of life where roles are not gendered, or where gender does not play a part.

Intersubjectivity

1) How meanings are neither produced solely by the individual, nor or they given to us by nature. Rather, meanings are specific to specific social groups. 2) Based on agreement of a given set of meanings or a definition of the situation that occurs between separate conscious mind.

Alice Goffman: On the Run: Fugitive Life in an American City

1) In depth ethnography of an inner city community plagued by drugs 2) Participant observation of deviant behavior 3) Her 'standing decisions' have been called into question, and thus so have her conclusions

Inductive and Deductive reasoning

1) Inductive: Observing people and understanding the patterns of what is observed, begins with a concrete observation, and aims to identify a general principle governing what is being observed 2) Deductive: Begins with a general principle, and turns to observation to test the validity what is expected theoretically Inductive reasoning is described as the process of observing people first and then formulating an understanding based on the patterns of what is observed. Inductive reasoning begins with a concrete observation and then aims to identify a general principle governing what is being observed.

Ethnomethodology

1) Is a theoretical approach in sociology based on the belief that you can discover the normal social order of a society by disrupting it via social breaches. 2) Ethnomethodologists often deliberately disrupt social norms (via breaching) to see how people respond and how they try to restore social order 3) Ethnomethodology is based on the belief that human interaction takes place within a consensus and interaction is not possible without this consensus. 4) Ethnomethodologists argue that you cannot simply ask a person what norms they use because most people are not able to articulate or describe them. People are generally not wholly conscious of what norms they use

Social structure

1) Our everyday actions are not random or haphazard. They are characterized by the social ordering of recurrent and stable patterns of interaction. These patterns are social structures. 2) *Social structures represent the underlying frameworks of society consisting of the positions people occupy and the relationships between them. Their existence seems to transcend the particular individuals who populate them.

Looking glass self

1) Our sense of who we are that is defined by incorporating the reflected appraisals of others (Charles Horton Cooley) 2) How we think other people see us

Quantitate and Qualitative methods

1) Quantitative measurement: Expressed numerically "Students went to the bathroom an average of 2.4 X during the exam." 2) Qualitative measurement: Expressed in narrative form "The student expressed annoyance upon being told she could not leave the room during the exam."

"The Mundanity of Excellence"

1) Questions the conventional concept of talent 2) Utilizes specific methods of observation (quite distinct from journalism) 3) Challenges taken-for granted assumptions and provides empirical evidence gathered from rigorous observation 4) Draw conclusions from this evidence rather than simply reifying assumptions 4) Talent is a useless concept 5) Qualitative differentiation means more than quantitative 6) Maintaining mundanity is the key to long term achievement of goals

Importance of research ETHICS

1) Respect for persons (gain informed consent) 2) Beneficence (have no negative impact, do no harm) 3) Justice (make sure participants aren't exploited, distribute burdens and benefits fairly and equally)

Strain Theory

1) Strain theory is a functionalist theory of crime and deviance (and is thus a macro level theory). Durkheim's theory of anomie is the basis for strain theory. In sociology and criminology, strain theory states that social structures within society may pressure citizens to commit crime. 2)According to strain theory, deviance occurs when a society does not give all its members equal ability to achieve socially acceptable goals. Those we want the socially desired goals, but do not have the appropriate means of attaining them, will seek to attain those goals by any means. 3) The strain may be either structurally or individually defined: Structural strain refers to the processes at the societal level which filter down and affect how the individual perceives his or her needs, i.e. if particular social structures are inherently inadequate or there is inadequate regulation, this may change the individual's perceptions as to means and opportunities. Individual strain refers to the frictions and pains experienced by an individual as he or she looks for ways to satisfy his or her needs, i.e. if the goals of a society become significant to an individual, actually achieving them may become more important than the means adopted. 4) **The strain in 'strain theory' arises when the means of achieving a goal don't match up to the goal desired. That person may attempt to achieve the desired goals by any means necessary, possibly be becoming a social deviant or criminal.

3 major sociological paradigms (structural functionalism, conflict theory, symbolic interactionism) defined

1) Structural Functional Theory: Spence focused on its structures and the functional contributions these structures make to its survival. Has done a poor job, exaggerate consensus, conservative bias 2) Conflict theory: focuses on inequality 3) Symbolic Interactionism: argues that society emerges from and is changed by the process of human beings interacting with one another using symbols based in shared meanings. Research by symbolic interactionists has often focused on narrow aspects of social life, such as nude beaches, the relationships between prostitutes and truck drivers, and the role of odors in social life

Sociology

1) The systematic study of social behavior and human groups 2) A search for the patterns of social interaction 3) A situating of individual stories within social context

Symbolic interactionism 3 Meanings

1) We respond to things in our environment on the basis of their meanings, that is, the understanding we have of them 2) Meanings are not inherent things, but emerge from social interaction 3) Because we are continually interacting, shared cultural meanings are continually emerging and changing -Symbolic interactionists said that we experience the world as a constructed reality (ex: our reaction to other peoples clothes, meanings they symbolize, meanings shift between age, gender, race, financial status)

Gender Socialization

1) learning the social expectations, attitudes, and appropriate behaviors associated with one's gender. (ex: ladies have to sit with their legs crossed, men can sit with their legs open) 2) Gender socialization occurs through such diverse means as parental attitudes, schools, how peers interact with each other, and the mass media.

Anomie

A breakdown of norms; normlessness; disconnect between individual and society A condition where social and/or moral norms are confused, unclear, or simply not present. Durkheim related anomie to the feeling of aimlessness or despair that can be provoked by modern social life. Example: in criminology, the idea of anomie is that the person chooses criminal activity because the individual believes that there is no reason not to. We can see how the actions of the individual are related to social forces outside of the individual which have a coercing effect on their actions.

Correlation

A correlation describes the degree to which two or more attributes (or measurements) show a tendency to vary together, such that when one changes, so too does the other. Correlations tell us how strongly variables are related.

Counter Culture

A counterculture can exist alongside or within a dominant culture, but the norms and values of such a group are at substantial odds with those of the larger society. Countercultures are thus somewhat rare.

Theory

A general framework or perspective that provides an explanation for a specific social phenomenon. That there is something more to excellence and achievement than that which we can see through conventional wisdom, the conventional wisdom is not explaining the whole story

Cultural Values

A general sentiment regarding what is good or bad, right or wrong

Laws

A law is a norm that is formally inscribed at the state or federal level and is enforced by police or the FBI. Laws exist because the violation of the norms of behavior they govern would typically result in injury or harm to another person, or are considered violations of the property rights of others. Those who enforce laws have been given legal right by a government to control behavior for the good of society at large. When someone violates a law, depending on the type of violation, a light (payable fine) to severe (imprisonment) sanction will be imposed by a state authority.

Rebel

A rebel is one who rejects both the means and goals of a society, but (unlike the retreatist) wants to alter or destroy the institutions from which he/she is alienated. This is again quite a rare typology, and I will imagine few of us know a true rebel (despite the conventional use of the term to imply something positive or a desirable social identity). Rebels are associated with radical social movements and the like.

Retreatist

A retreatist is one who rejects both the socially defined goals of the society and the means of achieving these goals. These individuals completely retreat from society and drop out, so to speak. Again, this is a rare typology and I will guess few of you know a true retreatist.

Society

A society refers to a group of people who live within the same territory and share a common culture. Society describes a system of interrelationships that connect individuals. The word derives from a Latin term for the 'ties that bind people together,' ties that makes sustained human interaction possible. Such bonds can be informal, such as friendships, or formal, such as religious organizations, businesses, or entire nations.

Innovator

Accept the socially defined goals or their society, but reject the socially acceptable means to achieve these goals. (ex: Bill Gates) This is not any easy path and the rate of success is low.

Primary Deviance

An initial act of deviance, but one that does NOT result in internalization of a deviant identity. **Primary deviance refers to the violation of a norm or rule that does not result in the violators being stigmatized as deviant. This is very common throughout society, as everyone takes part in basic form violation (we are all deviants and conformists, as we have seen). Primary deviance, however, does not result in a label being attached or a person internalizing a deviant identity, so one does not alter their self-concept to include this deviant identity. It is not until the act becomes labeled or tagged, that secondary deviation may materialize.

Micro level analysis

Analysis looks toward small scale interactions. For instance, the rules governing behavior in an elevator.

Cultural Iceberg

Basically it refers to the fact that most of what we see in another culture is that which is above the ice (so to speak) even though the main components of culture are 'below the surface" and thus inaccessible or difficult to access to those who are not fully socialized to these meanings.

Self-fulfilling prophecy #2

Bringing on a real effect based on an expectation.

Social insitutions

Combinations of statuses, groups, and networks can coalesce to address the needs of a particular sector of society, forming what sociologists refer to as institutions. These are the main social structures that organize our social lives and everyday experiences. **We can define social institutions as integrated and persistent social networks dedicated to making sure that society's core needs are met. Some major and important social institutions are: the family, education, the economy, religion, the state, and the law. Each makes a contribution to the social structure. Social institutions thus operate as established sets of norms and subsystems that support each society's survival. Each sector carries out certain tasks and has different responsibilities that contribute to the overall functioning and stability of a society. This helps to decrease chaos and increase structure.

Auguste Comte

Comte divided the study of society into social statics and social dynamics. Auguste Comte coined the word sociology to describe the subject he wished to establish. He is considered the founder of sociology. Comte was among the first to distinguish philosophy from science explicitly. Comte believed that the scientific method could be applied to the study of human behavior and society, and that this new field could produce knowledge of society based on scientific evidence. He initially termed this subject social physics, because he felt, like a physicist, the job of the sociologist was to identify abstract laws that govern behavior. Comte termed his vision of how sociology should work POSITIVISM. He used positivism to suggest that the social world could be described and predicted by paying attention to the relationships among the parts. Comte's explanation of the Positive philosophy introduced the important relationship between theory and practice and human understanding of the world.

Impression management

Concept associated with Erving Goffman *Describes how we seek to predict or control how others will view us. The process by which we seek to present ourselves to others in a favorable light. (ex: nice hair cut, warm smile, confident, formal clothing, firm hand shake, correct body posture)

Social types and social forces:

Conformist, ritualist, innovator, retreatist, rebel

Research methods

Cross sectional (looking at all levels of the sport of swimming, beginners to experts) via participant observations and interviews

How do Cultural Values act "Blinders"?

Cultural values can make it hard to think sociologically We very often reify what is socially constructed by a particular group and label it as natural, good, or normal.

Reflection Theory

Culture is a projection of social structures into the public sphere, a screen through which the film of the underlying reality or social structure of our society is shown.

Double consciousness

Describes 2 behavioral scripts, one for moving through the world, and one for taking the external opinions of others into consideration. Du Bois developed it by observing the mechanism through which African Americans were constantly behaving according to two behavioral scripts.

Dialectical Materialism:

Development depends on the clash of social forces

Deviance

Deviance is defined very simply as an act that violates a norm (remembering that norms = the shoulds and should nots of a society and that norms typically lay out social scripts or social expectations for behavior).

Non-Material Social Facts

Durkheim discussed how nonmaterial social facts also resulted from larger social forces and also could exert a coercive influence on the individual. Nonmaterial social facts are: the values, norms and other conceptually held beliefs of a society. These include things like principles of morality, social rules of behavior, the meanings of symbol, as wall as any form of shared consciousness. Example: "Ideal beauty" - It is not so much a biological fact, is it is a social one. The meaning of beauty is a nonmaterial social fact in Durkheim's estimation.

Achieved status

Earned, worked hard in order to go to college... become a doctor

Emile Durkheim

Emile Durkheim was a French sociologist, social psychologist, and philosopher. He formally established the academic discipline and - along with Comte and Weber, he is commonly cited as the principal architect of modern social science and one of the founding fathers of sociology. Durkheim was deeply preoccupied with the acceptance of sociology as a legitimate science. He redefined the positivism originally set forth by Auguste Comte, For Durkheim, sociology was the science of institutions, if this term is understood in its broader meaning as "beliefs and modes of behavior instituted by collectivity." Durkheim is famous for the dictum: "Treat Social Facts as Things." Durkheim used the term "social fact" to describe phenomena that have an existence in and of themselves, are not bound to the actions of individuals, but have a coercive influence upon them. Durkheim argued that social facts have sui generis, an independent existence greater and more objective than the actions of the individuals that compose society. Being exterior to the individual person, social facts may also exercise coercive power on the various people composing society.

Externalization, Objectification, Internalization

Externalization: personal thoughts, feelings, ideas, the personal ego (i) Objectification: language is institutionalization, experiences are reified, social values are legitimated, consciousness is intersubjective. Those products take on a life of their own, separate from their creator Internalization: social thoughts, feelings, ideas, the social ego (me). We internalize these meanings and reify them through our own practices

Folkways

Folkways are norms that stem from and organize casual interaction, and that emerge out of repetition and routines. We engage in them to satisfy our daily needs, and they are most often unconscious in operation, though quite useful to the ordered functioning of society. How close we stand to someone (the idea of personal space) is a good example of a folkway, as is the way we organize and move up in line.

Formal Deviance

Formal deviance refers to those actions which violate a formal law or code of ethics within a society. Drunk driving, speeding, murder... these are all acts of formal deviance that go against laws and regulations and that will receive negative sanctions.

Interactionists perspective

Has been more concerned with the micro or small scale aspects of life

Formal Social Control

Formal social control refers to external sanctions enforced by government to regulate individual and group behavior and prevent the establishment of chaos. These are the laws of a given society, and anyone who breaks the law is punished.

Functionalists V.S. Conflict Theorists

Functionalists often viewed existing social arrangements as necessary and justified by the requirements of group life. Whereas conflict theorists saw many of the arrangements as neither necessary nor justified

Cultural Values

General sentiments regarding what is right or wrong, good or bad in a society.

Karl Marx

He was a political activist, did not think of himself as a sociologist however he was a sociologist, philosopher, historian, economist, and a political scientist. Marx's goal was to change the structure of capitalist institutions and to establish new institutions in the service of humanity. Marx was born in Germany, authorities there viewed him as politically dangerous, and he was compelled to spend much of his adult life as a political exile in London. Marx tried to discover the basic principles of history. He focused his search on the economic environments in which societies develop, particularly the current state of their technology and their method of organizing production, such as hunting and gathering, agriculture, or industry. Marx believed that society is divided into those who own the means of producing wealth and those who did not, which gives rise to class conflict. Class conflict- "All history is the struggle between classes." Marx's perspective is called dialectical materialism, the notion that development depends on the clash of opposing social forces and the subsequent creation of new, more advanced structures In the Marxian view of history, every economic order grows to a state of maximum efficiency; at the same time, it develops internal contradictions or weaknesses that contribute to its decay. The roots of a NEW ORDER begin to take hold in the OLD ORDER (cause and effect). Marx depicted slavery as being displaced by feudalism, feudalism by capitalism, capitalism by socialism, and ultimately socialism by communism-- for Marx, the highest stage of society. In Marx's theory, political ideologies, religion, family organization, education, and government make up what he called the "SupremeStructure" of society. This SuperStructure is strongly influenced by the economic base of society-- It's mode of producing goods and its class structure In Marx's view, economic factors- whether one owns and controls the means of production- are primary. For this reason, he is viewed as an economic determinist.

Hegemony

Hegemony refers to the historical process by which a dominant group uses its power to elicit the voluntary 'consent' of the masses. It is the way the dominant culture exercises moral and intellectual leadership by winning the consent of the popular masses who wish to demonstrate their alignment to dominant culture and thus avoid subordination or punishment.

Primary socialization

How we learn basic social skills that form the core of our identities Includes all of the ways a child is molded into a social being capable of interacting in and meeting the expectations of their primary group (e.g, Family, Church, etc)

Ideal culture

Ideal culture refers to the values, norms, beliefs each society claims as central to its modus operandi, the aspirations, ends and goals of our behavior.

Informal Deviance

Informal deviance refers to minor violations of social laws that are not otherwise illegal (such as a woman sitting slouched in a skirt wither her legs spread... there is nothing against the law here, but she is clearly being deviant, or un-lady like in her appearance and presentation

Social inequality

Is the existence of unequal opportunities and rewards for different social positions or statuses within a group or society.

Mechanical Solidarity (Durkheim)

Is the social integration of members of a society who have common values and beliefs. These common values and beliefs constitute "a collective conscience" that works internally in individual members to cause them to corporate.

Generalized other

It is the general notion that a person has of the common expectations that others have about actions and thoughts within a particular society, and thus serves to clarify their relation to the other as a representative member of a shared social system. **Any time that an actor tries to imagine what is expected of them, they are taking on the perspective of the generalized other. (George Herbert Mead)

Labeling theory

Labeling theory is symbolic interactionist theory of deviance. It looks at the meanings individuals bring to their actions, rather than at the larger social structures of which they are unwittingly a part. labeling theorists seek to discover why some people become labeled as deviant for their actions, while others may not. **The belief here is that individuals subconsciously notice how other see or label them, and their reactions to those labels (over time) form the basis of their self-identity.

Secondary socialization

Learning and adaptation to the norms of different social groups (other than primary groups) Learning what is the appropriate behavior as a member of a smaller group within the larger society

Max Weber

Max Weber was a founding figure of the field of sociology. He was most famous for his thesis of the "Protestant Ethic" and for his ideas on bureaucracy. Weber introduced 'VERSTEHEN'- this is the translation of the German word 'understanding' It was Weber's position that the goal of sociology was to understand social meaning, and to do so, sociologists had to pay strict attention to the subjectivity of actors, that is to say, they had to focus on how social actors understand their own actions and their own social world through experience. Weber argued that to practice sociology effectively, sociologists should always seek to understand social behavior from the perspective of those engaging in it and not from their own point of view. This is known as INTERPRETATIVE SOCIOLOGY- the study of social meaning and its articulation is largely attributed to Weber. -Weber's most famous study- "The Protestant Ethic and Spirit of Capitalism"In it he argued that the religious transformation that occurred during the protestant reformation laid the groundwork for the development of modern capitalism. ^How? It upended the medieval ethic of virtuous poverty (catholic) and replaced it with an ideology that saw richness as a sign of divine providence. Thus capitalism in Northern Europe only evolved when the Protestant (particularly Calvinist) ethic influenced a large number of people to engage in work in the secular world, developing their own enterprises and engaging in trade and the accumulation of wealth for investment. Weber's work on this thesis highlighted the power of sociology to describe how social forces influence action at both the macro and micro levels of society.

Mores

Mores are more strict in folkways, as they determine what is considered moral and ethical behavior; they structure the difference between right and wrong. People feel strongly about mores, and violating them typically results in disapproval or ostracizing. As such, mores exact a greater coercive force in shaping our values, beliefs, behavior, and interactions than do folkways.

Secondary Deviance

Occurs when labeled individuals come to view themselves as deviant and act accordingly (the labeled individual comes to incorporate the impression of others into their self-identity. In secondary deviance, deviant behavior that results from being publicly labeled as deviant and treated as an outsider. Further, once a person is labeled a deviance, teachers or employers may consider that person to be untrustworthy (Bart Simpson, of the Simpsons, may be the perfect example of secondary deviance).

Social interaction

Only possible because people share meanings. If we didn't, we couldn't even speak. Indeed, language is but a shared symbol system, where in words stand for meanings and are used to communicate agreement.

Sociological feminism

Places much emphasis on different forms of oppression, on how these forms intersect with gender and with each other, on the resulting diversity of experience, and on the implications such an orientation has for the elimination of all forms of exploitation and oppression.

Statuses

Positions within a society. Rank of a person or group. There are two kinds: Achieved and Ascribed.

Postmodernism

Postmodernists are deeply distrustful of science and the principle of objectivity, arguing that scientific knowledge is as much a product of the socially determined interests and biases of investigators as it is of facts, which themselves are products of social processes. Scientific knowledge has failed to solve social problems or to prevent war or genocide. Very pessimistic framework. It argues that there is no foundation for objective, reliable knowledge about social life

Relationship between personal problems and public issues

Problems that affect individuals but that can be seen as social problems. (Obesity, suicide, and divorce are all public issues)

Durkheim's Theory of Suicide

Published in 1897, this work is considered groundbreaking both for showcasing an in-depth case study of suicide that revealed that there can be social causes to suicide, and because it was the first book to present a sociological study. Durkheim looked at how individual acts are conditioned by social forces (the role social facts play on behavior. When we look at social problems as influenced by factors outside of the individual, we can also turn our attention to social structures as solutions to these problems. Altering a social structure is often much easier than altering something inherent about an individual, and thus this perspective is very powerful.

Real Culture

Real culture, on the other hand, refers to the values, norms, and beliefs actually executed or practiced, and the behaviors or means actually used to pursue a society's ends.

Social control

Refers to any mechanism that creates normative compliance in individuals. *There are government laws and religious laws that tell us what is appropriate or inappropriate behavior, but there are also the more invisible but no less present social laws that influence our behavior, and these are very important to us too.

Hegemonic masculinity

Refers to the cultural ideal of manhood which is primarily reflective of white, heterosexual, largely middle-class males who are muscular, aggressive, and successful.

Hegemonic Femininity

Refers to the cultural ideal of womanhood, which is primarily reflective of white, heterosexual, middle-class females. The ideal suggest that women be, among other things, should strive to be thin, demure (passive), and supportive.

Subculture

Refers to the distinct values and behavioral patterns of a particular group in society. It is a group united by a set of concepts, values, symbols, and shared meaning specific to the members of that group (values distinctive enough to distinguish it from others within the same culture or society).

Social Dynamics (Comte)

Refers to those processes of social life that pattern institutional development and have to do with social change

Validity and Reliability

Reliability refers to the consistency of a measure (whether the results can be reproduced under the same conditions). Validity refers to the accuracy of a measure (whether the results really do represent what they are supposed to measure).

Social Context

Social context refers to the broad social and historical circumstances surrounding an act or event

Material Social Facts

Social facts can be material (physical objects or patterns of interaction) or immaterial (meanings, sentiments)Material social facts have to do with the physical social structures which exert influence on the individualLike a biologist studying the body, Durkheim saw society as a set of independent parts, each of which could be studied separately. He thus looked to the major institutions of society (law, family, religion, education, the economy, the state) and sought to understand the patterns that resulted from these different organizational structures. He described these patterns as Material Social Facts. Thus things like housing patterns, crime rates, and population distributions could be seen as tangible (material) facts resulting from the ways those societal parts (families, the economy, etc.) function.

Social Patterns

Social patterns are general trends we can see when we look beyond any two cases.

Roles

Social roles is a set of connected behaviors, rights, obligations, beliefs, and norms conceptualized by actors in a social situation (ex: Student, son, daughter, employee, parent, professor)

Social Stigma

Social stigma is the disapproval of, or discrimination against, a person based on perceivable social characteristics that serve to distinguish them from other members of a society. Social stigmas are commonly related to culture, gender, race, age, intelligence, and health.

How is society organized?

Society is organized into statuses, roles, groups, organizations, social institutions, and cultures

Scientific Method

Sociological research is the scientific means of acquiring information about various aspects of society and social behavior. Sociologists stress the accurate and unbiased collection and analysis of social data, use systematic observation, conduct experiments, and exhibit skepticism

Why is conventional wisdom not enough?

Sociologists need to rely on more than conventional wisdom. We need to accept that simply being there or being part of society does not grant us sufficient insight into how that society is structured or organized and does not answer the question: what is the meaning of this?

Violation

Somehow our deviant has violated the expectations of normative behavior for a social group

Social Institutions

Stable sets of roles, statuses, groups, and organizations (such as education, family, politics, religion, health care, or the economy..that provides a foundation for behavior in some major areas of social life.

Stigma as Social Control

Stigma theory and its relationship with POWER, we argue that stigma is a mechanism of social control operating across societal levels. It is oriented toward maintaining a particular moral order and the power dynamics with which it is entwined

C. Wright Mills

The 'sociological imagination' is defined by C. Wright Mills in "The Promise" According to Mills, the sociological imagination is more than just a theoretical concept or heuristic device: it is a "promise." The promise of the sociological imagination is to allow individuals to understand their place in the broader social and historical context. We want to begin to see how what might look on the surface to be purely an individual level choice or accomplishment, is also affected by social and historical forces larger than anyone's personality.

Broken Windows Theory

The Broken Windows Theory is a criminological theory of the norm-setting and signaling effect of urban disorder and vandalism on additional crime and anti-social behavior. The theory states that maintaining and monitoring urban environments to prevent small crimes such as vandalism, public drinking and toll- jumping helps to create an atmosphere of order and lawfulness, thereby preventing more serious crimes from happening. The theory is based on the work of social psychologist Philip Zimbardo (who we first encountered when we looked at the Stanford Prison experiment).

Power

The ability to control the behavior of others, even against their own will - determines who will gain and who will lose. Power also determines which group will be able to translate its preferences for behavior (its values) into the operating rules for others

The sociological Imagination

The ability to see our private experiences, personal difficulties, and personal achievements, as, in part, a reflection of the structural arrangements of society and the times in which we live

WHO ARE THE NACIREMA?

The answer to this question is: we are! That is to say: Miner is describing in this article the practices of modern American culture. Miner presents some of our rituals and practices (such as going to the dentist, the pharmacy, the hair salon, or brushing our teeth) as 'exotic' and 'strange' rituals influenced by a strong cultural belief that the human body is prone to sickness and disfiguration. Thus much of the lives of the "Nacirema" (Americans) are comprised of engaging in rituals and customs designed to improve conditions of the body. These rituals are filled with 'magical components' (such as drinks and remedies) whose ingredients are known only to the local 'medicine men" or 'shamans' (doctors, dentists, or pharmacists). By presenting our own culture back to us in this way, Miner is able to make the point that the most usual routine (for an American) can be seen as 'bizarre' and 'exotic' when judged from the position of social distance (as if we are judging 'the other' and not ourselves). In this way he makes our taken-for-granted assumptions about the 'normalcy' of our own cultural practices and socially constructed meanings the real object of inquiry. Part of the take-away from this reading is that we have a tendency to use our own culture as a standard by which we judge others (often negatively). Here we are even judging ourselves.

Postmodern social theory

The assumption that the modern period of history is coming to an end

Social integration (Durkheim)

The density of social relationships

Gender scripts

The expected norms and values set out for men and women in a society which they are expected/socialised to follow from an early age.

Reaction

The general populace reacts to this violation, generally through some form of social sanction (the sanctions are meant to get people to conform to group expectations).

Cultural inconsistency

The imbalance between ideal and real culture, where actual behaviors may contradict culturally prescribed goals The imbalance between ideal culture ('beauty is only skin deep') and real culture ('beauty matters to social outcomes') surrounding beauty and body image.

Independent and dependent variables

The independent variable is one that causes the effect. The dependent variable is the one that is affected. (the dependent variable is affected by the Independent variable)

Social Contexts and Social Deviance

We have to evaluate the action in order to discern its deviance. Whether an action is deviant or not depends on many factors, including social context.

Language

The language we speak directly influences the way we think about and experience the world. Language thus demonstrates the unity and diversity of culture. It is the primary vehicle of meaning and communication in a society. It is also a system of symbols that represent objects and abstract thoughts alike. Our language and our uses of language indicate much about our cultural values and beliefs.

Hawthrone Effect

The phenomenon that subject behavior changes by the mere fact that they are being observed

Social Regulation (Durkheim)

The rules that apply social cohesion

Master status

The status that carries primary weight in an individual's interactions (Often it's related to race, class, gender, or sexuality)

Interpretative Sociology

The study of social meaning and its articulation is largely attributed to Weber.

Social Research

The systematic observation of social life for the purpose of finding and understanding patterns among what is observed

Dominat culture

The values, norms, beliefs, and practices of a group that is the most powerful in terms of wealth, prestige, status, influence, and so on

Operationalization

The way in which a researcher defines and measure the concepts or variables of interest

Values

These are abstract ideals and broad ideas about how things should be, such as moral beliefs. (For example, being married to a single partner is a prominent value in most Western societies. Some cultures (such as US culture) value individualism, while other's stress shared needs. What individual's value is strongly influenced by the culture in which they live).

Norms

These are principles or rules of social life that everyone is expected to observe. These rules are how values and beliefs tell us to behave. (Norms of behavior in marriage, for instance, include the roles that husbands and wives each play). Like the values they reflect, norms vary across cultures (such that the rules of behavior for husbands and wives can be quite different in different locales, or even in the same locale in different historical periods).

Sanctions

These are social responses that punish or otherwise discourage violations of a norm.

Appearance norms

These are society's generally accepted standards of appropriate height, body weight, distribution or shape, bone structure, skin color, etc. Appearance norms affect both men and women. When individuals conform to appearance norms, they generally receive positive feedback from society, while individuals who deviate from the norms are likely to be negatively sanctioned.

Beliefs

These are statements about whether or not something is 'true'; our notions about how we ought to act.

Material culture

This concept is used to refer to everything that is part of our constructed physical environment, including technology. It consists of the physical objects that a society creates and that influence the ways people live. In the image, we see things such as tables, chairs, lights, pots, pans, dishes, shelves, a toilet... all of these objects are components of material culture.

Symbolic Culture

This concept refers to the values, beliefs, and norms that influence social behaviors. In the image we see two women shaking hands after a tennis match. Now the match itself and their rackets and clothing are part of material culture, but this aspect of shaking hands after competition, that is nonmaterial or symbolic culture in action. It is scripted behavior influenced by the normative constructs of society.

Conformist

This is the most common typology. The majority of people are conformists and thus do not engage in antisocial behavior. Rather, a conformist accepts both socially acceptable goals and the strategies to achieve them. such behavior is the bedrock of a stable and functioning society.

Expectation

This refers to the norms that define the scripts of behavior in particular situations (these can be specific to specific groups, and the expectations of different groups (for instance, your parents and your friends) might contradict each other)

Dysfunctions

Those observed consequences that lessen the adaptation or adjustment of a system (poverty has functional and dysfunctional properties)

Identity

Through the course of interaction, each of us develops a sense of identity, *Essential characteristics that both link us to and distinguish us from other social players, and thus help establish who we are in different social settings. The concept of identity in sociology is multifaceted.

Value-Free Sociology

Weber argued that to practice sociology effectively, sociologists should always seek to understand social behavior from the perspective of those engaging in it and not from their own point of view. This is the essence of what is known as value-free sociology (no judgement).

Groups

Two or more people who interact with one another, share similar characteristics and collectively have a sense of unity or purpose (ex: soccer team, family, dorm residents, movie audience).

W E.B. DuBoris

W.E.B. DeBois was the first African American to earn a doctorate from Harvard. He was the first social researcher to trace the problems faced by African Americans to their social and economic underpinnings, a connection this is now widely accepted. DeBois- Double consciousness= this term describes 2 behavioral scripts, one for moving through the world, and one for taking the external opinions of others into consideration. He developed it by observing the mechanism through which African Americans were constantly behaving according to 2 behavioral scripts. One script, for example, might simply be a shopper in a store, moving through the aisles, behaving normatively, remembering the grocery list. However, script #2, was fully aware of your social status and the eyes of others upon you, the security guards watching you, and the need to get in and out of the store quickly lest you experience some problem.

Verstehen

Weber introduced 'VERSTEHEN'- this is the translation of the German word 'understanding' It was Weber's position that the goal of sociology was to understand social meaning, and to do so, sociologists had to pay strict attention to the subjectivity of actors, that is to say, they had to focus on how social actors understand their own actions and their own social world through experience.

Culture-agasint-people

When the beliefs, values, or norms of a society lead to destructive or harmful patterns of behavior

Spuriousness

When two variables look like they are related, but in fact have no causal relationship. They are related either in coincidence or in the presence of a third variable

Reification

When we act without questioning the meaning of our actions, it is called REIFICATION. To treat as natural and complete in and of itself that which is socially situated and defined

Self-fulfilling prophecy

When we think something is true, it becomes true for us... Self fulfilling prophecies make personal experience seem like the victor over social knowledge

How do different methods answer certain research questions?

if we do not understand which methods to use, then we cannot assess the accuracy of the conclusions. By looking to relationships among variables and measuring these relationships, we can effectively answer such questions.

Instrumental conditioning

is a form of learning in which the consequences of behavior determine the probability of its future occurrences. It includes positive or negative sanctions (rewards and punishments). Rewards increase the likelihood that the behavior will be repeated, while punishments discourage such action.