Sociology final

Bias

prejudice/unsupported judgements in favor of or against one thing, person, or group compared to another

Intersex - definition and prevalence

umbrella term for differences in sex traits or reproductive anatomy at birth or developed in childhood / puberty; social assumptions about the uniqueness of men and women have shaped how we study, measure, and define sex from a biological standpoint, we look for more differences than actually exist, blind to diversity that does exist

How is race socially constructed?

we develop an understanding of racial difference through socialization and reinforce racial differences through our culture/interactions. Institutional processes create racial categories and assign rights to certain groups based on these categories. Racial categorizations change as societies change and each society has different definitions/categories of race

identity politics

when groups of people with partcular shared racial, religious, ethnic, social, or cultural, identity seek to promote their own specific interests or concerns; powerful claims on both sides about threats to identity and marginalization in mainstream society.

Students in which racial/ethnic group are most likely to attend a school where more than 50% shares their race/ethnicity?

white

The gender binary

Social assumptions about the uniqueness of men and women have shaped how we study, measure, and define sex from a biological standpoint. We perceive, and therefore look for, more difference than actually exists; and, we are generally blind to the diversity that does exist.

How America compares in views of mobility/meritocracy

Americans are more likely to think that people are rewarded for their intelligence and skills and are less likely to believe that family wealth plays a key role in getting ahead. Americans are more likely to believe that hard work pays off.

Distribution of wealth by race (what percent of wealth do Black families hold compared to white families?)

white families have more wealth than black, Hispanic and other races. Black families have less than 15% of that of white families

Care work

work performed face-to-face for the purpose of enhancing the capabilities of another person

Mental health benefits of using affirming pronouns

youth who have support are less likely to attempt suicide

Social capital

Social capital: based on who we know, our social networks, and our connections.

Prevalence of transgender youth in the US (and why is this hard to measure?)

around 2 and 3% of young adults around ages 18-29 identify as transgender or non-binary. But this data is hard to get exact because the questions beinging asked are not clear or hard to answer.

Political polarization - individual level

divergence of political attitudes to idealogical extremes

Androcentrism

favoring of masculinity over feminity; assumption male is default - causes women to be subordiante and men to be held to strict standards

Disparities in parole by race (Black, Hispanic, and White men

fewer than one in six black or hispanic men was released at his first hearing, compared with one in four white men

Emergent norm theory

"keynotes" (Important or influential people, people whos actions become copied by an entire group) model baheavior that is replcated by other group members

Income - distribution by quintile (what share is held by top quintile?)

51.6% of income controlled by highest quintile

Mental health disparities for transgender youth

1 out of 5 transgender/ non- binary young peo

How have the culture wars changed of time?

1990's (evangelical conservatism vs. progressivism) - abortion, same sex marriage, religion in schools / society and 2020's (driven by conservatism vs. liberalism as identies) - abortion, transgender rights, race, climate change, vaccines

How does turnout for 18-29 year old voters compare to other age groups?

27% of eligible voters 18-29 years old actually voted, In the 2022 midterm, elections, 12% of voters were under 30.

What are the culture wars?

A Partisan strategy for politicizing rights-based political issues and dividing supporters/dissenters into two sharply divided sides

Social movemets

A form of collective behavior motivated by a social or political aim and intended to create or prevent social change

Socioeconomic status

A more comprehensive measure of an individual's position within a stratified social order (usually) based on their (parents') income, education level, and occupation

Meritocracy as an ideology

A social order based on the idea that if one works hard, one can get ahead in society and in which those with the most talent rise to the top and are appropriately rewarded for their contributions. Meritocracy as an ideology hides social inequality behind the assumption that everyone who works hard gets an equal chance.

Modified patriarchy

A society in which women have been granted formal gender equality but where the patriarchal conflation of power with men and masculinity remains a central part of the daily life

Meritocracy - definition

A society where status and mobility are based on individual attributes, ability, and achievement. Emphasizes indvidualism and hard work over structural factors.

Gender

A status within a set of social arrangements and gender roles that are built around social assumptions about normative sex categories Male-female

Ethnicity

A system for classifying people who are believed to share common descent based on perceived cultural similarities.

Race

A system of classifying people who appear to share common descent based on perceived innate physical similarities. A group of people who share common traits-typically physical ones- and are believed to have a common bloodline.

How America compares in views on individualism

Americans believe working hard is important to getting ahead in life: 73% of Americans said it is was a "10" or "very important," compared with a global median of 50% among the 44 nations. This shows that we embrace the meritocracy as an ideology more than other nations

Collective action - crowd vs mass

Behavior that takes place in groups and diverges from the social norms of the situation or challenges an institution in some way. Crowd collective action: takes place face-to-face among members of a group. Mass collective action: people participate without being together physically

Race/ethnicity/gender and low wages - which groups make up the largest share of low-wage workers?

Black and Hispanic women are more than twice as likely as White men to fall into this low-wage category.

Examples of social inequality in voting

Black and hispanic people are disproportionatly effected by voter disenfranchisment laws. *1 in 16 black Americans cannot vote due to past criminal convictions. **25% of black Americans do not have government issued photo ID's. ***Geographic isolation prevents indigionous voters from accessing polling places in more rural environments. ****nearly 2/3 of polling places had at least one impedement for people with disabilities.

Prejudice

Built into our institutions - assumptions that whiteness is superior or default - creates socioeconomic/political system in which white people experience structural advantages/rights that other racial/ethnic groups do not

Civic participation

Civic participation defines a parties in engagement in political and social events like protests, attending council meetings. From data we can that groups that are less engaged in a political party are less likely to engage civilly.

Contagion theory

Contagion theory: people's behavior tends to conform to the norms of those around them - crowds develop their own norms of behavior that spread among members.

De Facto vs De Jure discrimination

De Facto: through daily operations, De Jure: written into laws

Examples of how health care is segregated

De jure segregation affected healthcare by making separate facilities for black patients

Institutional Discrimination

Disparities created by institutions (and the people within them) that are following their job descriptions and the law

Educational attainment and race (general differences)

Educational Attainment is steadily increasing over time for all races. (The data is based on the percent of adults 25+) Percentages by race for those who obtained a high school diploma: White: 93%, Asian: 89%, Black: 88%, Hispanic: 67%. Percentages by race for those who obtained at least a bachelor's degree: Asian: 53%, White: 36%, Black: 23%, Hispanic: 15%

White supremancy - in daily life/institutions

Embraces the belief that white people are culturally and/or biologically superior to all other people, glorify the past where all white people lived in white-controlled society, claims about "invasion" or "flood" of non-whites, pushback against diversity and multiculturism efforts.

Generation Z and political party identification

Gen Z voters often don't align democrat or republican, 47% Gen Z believes no party aligns with their political affiliation

"Doing gender"

Gender is not simply what a person is, it is what a person does, in interaction with others- it is something we accomplish in everyday life and into which we are socialized. We communicate our gender through behavior and interactions.

Mental health disparities for men

Less likely to utilize mental health services due to masculine gender socialization; higher suicide rates in men due to untreated/unaddressed mental health challenges

Which racial/ethnic groups have the highest percent of children living in poverty?

Hispanic

Genetic variation (or lack thereof) between races

Humans have very low genetic variation between racial groups. We share 99.9% of genes. There is far more variation between individuals than racial groups. 8.6 times more variation within groups than between them.

Parenting of middle class families - "concerted cultivation" - attributes, class benefits

In middle class families, Lareau observed: 1. lots of structured extracurricular activities 2.parental oversight of grades/homework 3.parents talk and negotiate with kids 4.children learn to challenge authority 5. emphasis on time management The argument is that middle-class parents see their children to be a project, trying to develop their talents and skills through reading use, through language use and time use, organized activities, and also interventions in institutions such as doctor visits or schools.

Why is poverty so persistent?

Institutional inequalities between poor and more affluent communities. Economic changes such as globalization , mechanization of industry, and the increasing prevalence of part-time/non-benefits jobs. Discrimination based on intersecting social hierarchies such as race/ethnicity, gender identity, immigration status, and physical ability.

Change in US prison population over time (and what led to these changes

It rose exponentially from 1980 to 2010 (war on drugs). It has begin to decline in recent years.

Intersection of race and gender in gender pay gap

Latina, Native American, and Black mothers are paid significantly less than non-Hispanic fathers

Formal gender equality

Laws that treat men and women as equal citizens.

Overall percent of children living in poverty over time (about what percent today and is it higher or lower than in the past?)

Lower from the past. The percent of children in poverty by race and ethnicity are as follows: White: 21.4%, Black: 35.5%, Hispanic: 40.7%, Asian: 19.5%

Binary assumptions about sex

Male and female bodies are far more similar than they are different; even for physical characteristics on which there is a clear difference, we see a great deal of overlap. Heteronormativity is common assumption which assumes that heterosexuality is natural, default, or superior.

Heterosexism

Marginalization and/or oppression or people based on heternormative assumptions; a system of attitudes, bias, and discriminations in favor of opposite- sex sexuality and relationships

Masculinity hierarchy

Men are ranked based on how masculine they seem

Living wage vs Minimum wage

Minimum wage: how much people make an hour($7.25 per hour since 2009). Living wage: an approximate income needed to meet a family's basic needs including housing, food, childcare, transportation, healthcare and basic necessities.

Health disparities for men

More likely to engage in behaviors that put their physical health at risk (drunk driving, motorcycle accidents, etc); less likely to seek healthcare for routine needs; more likely to caus eharm through workouts/physical activities; less likely to wear masks/get vacccinated

Gender as an ascribed status

Once gender is ascribed, social order holds us to strongly gendered norms and expectations: we must be perceieved as different even if we are doing the same thing

Parenting of working class and poor families - "accomplishment of natural growth" - class consquences

Parents in working class have to work more (often times multiple jobs) which means they have less time to focus on parenting the kids. Told what to do the first time, lots of unstructured and unsupervised time. Pushes them into adulthood faster with less adult influence, and the children are more independent, but arent as good at interacting with authority and navigating bureaucracies.

Sex

Physiological/biological distinctions between male and female based genetics, anatomy, and hormones.

Geographic concentration of poverty & race (how much more likely are poor/Hispanic or poor/Black adults in the US to live in poverty compared to poor/white adults?)

Poor + hispanic = 3x as likely than poor + white to live in poverty and poor + black = 5x as likely

Link between school funding and residential segregation

Public school districts largely on property taxes to fund schools, which can vary widely between wealthy and poor areas. Affluent areas end up with well-funded schools and low-income areas end up with poorly funded schools.

Link between "poverty segregation" and resdiential segregation as it applies to educatio

Racial achievement gaps are largely due to segregation by poverty, rather than segregation by race

Link between redlining and health resources/outcomes (in general

Redlining and ongoing residential segregation (by both poverty and race) have left hospitals that served Black people deeply segregated, understaffed, and under-resourced. Redlining and ongoing residential segregation (by both poverty and race) have left hospitals that served Black people deeply segregated, understaffed, and under-resourced.

Relationship between masculinity and violence

Relationship between masculinity and violence

Explanations for gender pay gap (three hypotheses)

Socialization hypothesis-men and women respond to gender stereotypes when planning, training, and applying for jobs/ Employer Selection hypothesis-employers tend to prefer men for masculine jobs and women for feminine jobs, slotting applicants into gender-consistent roles during hiring and promotions/ Selective Exit hypothesis- workers' abandonment of counter stereotypical occupations due to workplace conditions, social pressures, and discrimination

Status symbols

Status symbols are elements of culture (material and nonmaterial) that we use to convey information about our cultural capital and class identity.

US incarceration rate - what is it, how does it compare to other nations?

The U.S. has an incarceration rate higher than any other nation. 639/100,000 people are incarcerated in the US (compared to just over 700 in 2015).

How does the US compare to other countries - paternity leave

The U.S. is one of 83 countries without paid paternity leave. The average length for those that have it is 16 weeks.

How does the US compare to other countries - maternity leave

The U.S. is one of the 7 countries without paid maternity leave. the average length for those that have it is 29 weels

How the US compares to other countries in terms of share of GDP dedicated to social welfare programs

The US devotes far fewer programs dedicated to assisting the economically vulnerable. The U.S. allocates a smaller proportion of its GDP to social welfare programs than virtually any other industrialized country.

The welfare state

The idea that the state is responsible for the wellbeing of its citizens

ncome inequality in the US compared to other countries - how many times more, on average, does the top 10% of households earn compared to the bottom 10%?

The US has a broader range of income inequality than any other nation in the world. Our rich are much richer than our poor.

Wealth inequality in the US compared to other countries - how much larger is the median wealth of the top 5% compared to the median US family?

The US leads any country by far for top 5% of wealth. The median top 5% household wealth has more than 90 times more the wealth of the median U.S. family.

Heteronormativity

The cultural construction of heterosexuality as the default sexuality; centers heterosexual attraction as an essential aspect of gender normativity.

Gender pay gap - definition, amount

The difference between incomes of the typical man and woman who work full time. Among workers employed full-time, women make 83 cents for every dollar men make.

Gerrymandering

The drawing of voting districts to include or exclude voters, allowing politicians to pick their constituents, rather than the other way around.

Ideal worker norm

The idea that employees should commit their energies to their job without the distraction of family responsibilities

Social constructionist approach to gender

The meanings we give to gender differences, and the ways we perceive them, are product of socialization, interaction, discrimination, and institutionalized norms

Gendered job segregation

The process of filling occupations with mostly men or mostly women workers, as jobs filled by women are seen as disproportionately lower paid

Social status

The rank or placement of an individual within a stratified social system.

Income - share held by middle income households, gap betwen upper and lower income households

The share held by middle-income households is decreasing, going from 62% to 43%. The gap between upper and lower-income households is getting bigger. The share of U.S. aggregate income for upper-income households is increasing while the share for lower-income households remains unchanging, causing this gap to increase.

Racial formation

The social process by which racial categories are created and by which certain groups come to be designated as being part of a particular race; the sociohistorical process by which racial identities are created, lived out, transformed, and destroyed

Residential segregation

The spatial segregation of two or more social groups within a specified geographic area (e.g. city, neighborhood)

Share of voters who are generation Z and millennial

The two youngest generations (millennials and generation Z) make up the largest number of eligible voters in the United States. Gen Z is 10% of voters, and millenials make up 27%

Why don't genetics explain health disparities?

There is 8.6 time more genetic variation within traditionally defined racial groups, more variation between any given individual.For example, only 3 studies out of 68 total show a significant difference in cardiovascular diseases between people of African versus European descent.

Hegemonic masculinity

There is an "ideal" type of masculinity to which all masculinities compare; this is an idea rather than reality - a set of instructions for how men perfrom gender

Redlining

US housing policy (National Housing Act of 1934, the GI Bill, and the Fair Housing Act) systematically denied various services to residents of specific, often racially associated, neighborhoods or communities, either directly or through the selective raising of prices. Redlining in the 1940s was De Jure but today it is De Facto because it is not written out by laws.

Student academic outcomes - what matters more? Racial or poverty segregation?

When "poverty segregation" measures are added to the statistical model including racial segregation models, having higher numbers of poor schoolmates have more of an effect than having higher numbers of minority schoolmates.

Relationship between race of police officers, likelihood of using gun, and racial composition of neighborhoods (study of 1.2 million 911 calls)

White officers are more likely to use a gun in black neighborhoods than black officers

Racial inequalities in incarceration (Black, Hispanic, and White men)

White people make up the largest share of the total prison population but are underrepresented as a group. Black people and hispanics make up larger shares of the prisoners than their share of the U.S. population. Black men who commit the same crime as white men received federal prison sentences 20% longer. Fewer than 1/6 Blacks and Hispanics were released after their first hearing, compared to 1/4 Whites.

White supremacy - extremist ideologies

White supremacist movements/identities embrace the belief that white people are culturally and/or biologically superior to all other people; they explicitly support and advocate for the superior status of white people in society.

Relationship between gender role expectations and family

Women are assumed to be natural caregivers and men are are assumed to be less adept at child rearing, but beyond teh biological realities of birth and breastfeeding, all of this is socialized

How does being a mother impact the gender pay gap?

Women are assumed to be natural caregivers while men are assumed to be less adept to caregiving. Result of socialization. The gender pay gap is the difference between the incomes of the typical man and woman who work full-time. Women earn $0.83 for every dollar made by men.

Wealth - definition

a family or individual's net worth (everything a household owns, minus debts); this includes property and finances accumulated across the life course; often measured in quintiles (20% increments)

Institutionalization of social movements

a formal structure developed to promote a cause, Institutionalized (based in structured interactions, organizations, or shared goals that endure over time).

Non-binary

a person whose gender identity falls outside / beyond / between the traditional gender binary of male or female

Sexual orientation

a persons identity relating to the gender they are sexually atractted to.

Mandatory minimum sentencing

a policy created by Congress (in the late 1980s) or a state legislature, which the court must give to a person convicted of a drug-related crime, no matter the unique circumstances of the offender or the offense.

Emergence of social movements

a problem is identified as a "public issue". collective concern, support, or attention is intentionally or organically gathered.

Wealth - distribution by quintile (what share is held by top quintile?)

all members of a population lined up from lowest to highest, then divided into 5 even groups (20 percent each)

Transgender

an umbrella term describing people whose gender identity or expression differs from that associated with their birth sex

Political participation

any event or activity that has the intent or effect of influencing government action

Essentialist approach to gender (biological determinism)

assumes gender differences are explained by natural, innate factors; explains social behavior using

How is discrimination a social determinant of health?

because it falls under psychological interpretation (feelings of inadequacy, low worth, and stigma cause people stress...)

Social construction of sexuality

categories we have for describing, labeling, and identifying our sexualities are socially constructed; ideas concerning sexual orientation have changed over time, meaning what is considered "normal" has also changed

Convergence theory

collective action happens when people with similar ideas, values, and tendencies gather in the same place.

Symbolic ethnicity

cultural practice of identifying with a nationality/culture without constraint or stigma - ethnicities that are not racialized

Relationship between implicit bias/stereotypes and structural/institutional racism

decisions that people make upholds insitutional racism; redlining - stereotypes of racism leads to people assessing homes to value home of a white person greater than that of a Black person

Collateral consquences of incarceration (examples, why do they matter?

denial of employment or occupational licensing. Ineligibility for federal student loans or government assistance. Denial of access to housing or property rights. Restrictions on family relationships and living arrangements, such as child custody, fostering and adoption. Registration, lifetime supervision and residency requirements. Publication of an individual's criminal record or mandated notification to the general public or to particular private individuals. Denial of the right to vote (depending on state).

Mental health benefits of recieving gender-affirming health care

gender affirming care significantly reduces depression, suicidal attempts, and thoughts. A study involving 100 youth found that gender affirming care yielded a 60% reduced rate of moderate to severe depression and a 73% reduction in suicidality.

Relationship beteen the culture wars and group polarization

groups in American becoming more hateful; culture wars fuel group polarization by making postive and negative generalizations about parties

Distribution of income by race (general differences)

in order it goes, asian, white, hispanic, black

Social mobility - intergenerational vs intragenerational

intergenerational- mobility from generation to generation (my parents were working class immigrants, but I am now an upper middle class nurse). Intragenerational- mobility within one's own life (I grew up middle class, but am now lower class)

Mean vs median when measuring economic inequality

mean- the average which can be a good overall indicator (susceptible to outliers) median- tells us the "true" middle (better measure for highly skewed distrubutions)

Absolute poverty

measure based on the point at which a household's income falls below the necessary level to purchase necessities to sustain its members ($26,500 for a family of four in 2021)

Income - definition

money received by a person for work, from transfers of money, or returns on investments; measured within a certain time period (e.g. annual)

Implicit Bias

occurs automatically/unintentionally, but nevertheless affects judgments, decisions, and behaviors; can result in actions/decisions that may be at odds with one's conscious beliefs about fairness/equality

Rate of police use of force - comparison between White/Black citizens

officers employ force in less than 2 percent of all police-civilian interactions, but use of police fore is disproportionately high for african-americans: 3.6 times higher than the rate for white residents and 2.5 times higher than the overall rate

Gender identity

our sense of being male or female

Sexism - overt vs covert vs subtle

overt: clear and obvious ex. rape; covert: unequal and harmful treatment of women in a concealed way ex. lower pay scale for women; subtle: elusive and abstract discrimination ex. microagression

Relative poverty

situation in which some people fail to achieve the average income or lifestyle achieved by the rest of society - usually based on percentage of median income in a given location.

Patriarchy

social system in which only men control society and have political/social rights

Political polarization - state level

state level: all government institutions; measure of two parties overlap; america has high polarization as we are on either extremes

Stigma and subculture as they relate to LGBTQ+ communities

stigma: negative labels associated with deviance and stereotypes; subculture: a group united by sets of concepts, values, and shared meaning specific to the members of the group and unique enough from mainstream culture to distinguish it in a meaningful way

Cultural capital

the accumulation of knowledge, behaviors, property, and skills demonstrating our social statuses

Coalescence of social movements

the concrete action taken around the problem.

Social determinants of health (general definition)

the conditions in the environments where people are born, live, learn, work, play, worship, and age that affect a wide range of health, functioning, and quality of life outcomes and risks

Gender expression

the cultural construction of heterosexuality as the default sexuality; centers heterosexual attraction as an essential aspect of gender normativity.

Political polarization - group level

the extent to which citizens dislike affiliates of other parties; based in emotions of ordinary citizens rather than on support/opposition to specific policies

Fatherhood premium

the increase in wage once a man becomes a father

Motherhood penalty

the loss in wage once a woman becomes a mother