SOC 201 Midterm
Dialectical Materialism
"he idea that historical change (i.e., material/economic change) is the result of conscious human activity emerging from and acting on the socially experienced inequalities and contradictions in historically conditioned (i.e., human-made) economic forces and relations"
Capitalism
"mode of production based on unequal private ownership of the means of production "
aesthetization of reality
"the unabashed packaging and explicit re-presentation of something ordinary and real as something spectacular" + Jameson, Baudrillard + seen in Las Vegas and Dubai: "real, historically significant monuments (e.g., the Eiffel Tower, the Great Sphinx), and recreated them lavishly for us to enjoy, to consume in Las Vegas" + " the commodified version of the real is (or may be) better, more fun, more exhilarating, more daz-zling, more sumptuous than the original."
private property
+ "developed as the world became more populated and more complex in its social organization"
interpretive understanding
+ An understanding that focuses on the meaning that people make of their actions. + task of the sociologist in making sense of the varied motivations that underlie meaningful action; because sociology studies human lived experience (as opposed to physical phenomena), sociologists need a methodology that enables them to EMPATHICALLY understand human-social behavior + most apparent today in the research of those who conduct ethnographic studies of particular groups, commu-nities, neighborhoods, workplaces, etc. These sociologists' acquire and present to their readers a deep understanding of a particular group's practices, their way of life and their worldviews
Traditional societies
+ Characterized by sameness + rural, agricultural, and pre-industrial + Mechanical solidarity + social ties and relationships- bonds of social solidarity- are relatively easy to maintain because people share a lot in common + robust collective conscience + less individualism, personal freedom, and anonymity + limited division of labor
morality
+ Durkehim + the formal and informal social rules that permeate and regulate individuals' behavior vis-à-vis one another in society + not derived from a religious or a philosophical belief system but from socially prescribed or structured "rules of conduct" that reflect and reinforce the reciprocal nature of social life
mechanical solidarity
+ Durkheim + the creation and maintenance of social ties are fairly mechanical, i.e., they are built into the very struc-ture of the community. When people in a community have relatively similar occupations, family histories, experiences, and beliefs, and overlapping social relationships, these similarities make it relatively easy to produce social cohesion
Sucide
+ Durkheim attributed it to the weakening of social integration and regulation + appropriate social integration and regulation = less +too much or too little + social integration and regulation= more + a "normal" social fact + social integration acts as a buffer against this
structural functionalism
+ Durkheim theory + Society as a complex system whose component parts or structures (e.g., economic activity, law, science, family structure, religion, etc.) are all interrelated but whose independent functioning is necessary to the functioning of the whole society.
Social Facts
+ Durkheim theory + all the external and collective ways in which society shapes, structures, and constrains our behavior + the beliefs, tendencies, and practices of the group taken collectively + Forces that regulate group behavior + the ways in which social structures and social norms and collective expectations constrain social behavior
Harriet Martineau
+ First female sociologist who promoted feminist issues + sociology as the scientific study of morals and manners + Empathetic, yet objective, observation + Subject matter of sociology different to that of natural science + A positive scientific method that includes sympathetic understanding of individuals + critical of the contradictions between democratic ideals of equality and women's inequality. She under-scored the "political non-existence of women"
McDonaldization of Society
+ George Ritzer's term describing the spread of bureaucratic rationalization and the accompanying increases in efficiency and dehumanization + the convergence and homogenization of culture across the globe, notwithstanding the simultaneous significance of local cultural differences. Mcdonald's offers the world a standardized cultural experience + Cultural globalization is apparent in consumption
Vacherie, LA
+ Here, families stay put over several generations and there are strong cultural and family expectations that they will do so + High level of mechanical solidarity + strong collective conscience
dilemmas of the self
+ Makes us negotiate between: a unified and fragmentary self, powerlessness and appropriation, authority and uncertainty, & personalization and commodification + result of globalization
Universalistic over particularistic
+ Modernization Theory + emphasis on cosmopolitanism rather than localism + Modern societies are pluralistic and diverse and no one group in society is favored. Instead, individuals are socialized into being citizens of the nation (or the world) rather than primarily associating with a particularistic ethnic, tribal, social class, or religious community
Emotional neutrality over affectivity
+ Modernization Theory + modern societies maintain a clear functional separation between work and home + public sphere is based on an emotionally neutral, impersonal instrumentality (expressed in the execution of specific functions) whereas the private sphere is oriented by expressivity and emotion (in dealing with family relational diffuseness)
Durkheim
+ Social order in an industrial society amidst social progress functionalism + Shift from traditional to modern society + functionalism + Popularized scientific sociological methodology +Pioneering study of suicide rates + objectivity of social facts + argued that crime is normal in society until it becomes pathologically high + occupied with the maintenance of social cohesion and social morality + society exists independent of the individual + recognized that science alone was not enough to tie individuals together and recognized separate functions of science and religion
Baudrillard
+ Suggests media representations can become a form of hyperreality, which become more real than reality itself. In this sense, the media don't reflect reality, but actively create it. +simulacra + critical of cultural commodification and excess of consumption because it eludes the pursuit of living a meaningful, substantial life
egoistic suicide
+ Suicide that occurs when one is not well integrated into a social group +Excessively self-orientated + Modern societies + I.E. caused by over investment in the corporate world
Unicity
+ The impact of the global pooling of information - whether stock prices or celebrity gossip - and of the culture it transmits + Robertson: "Globalization has to do with the movement of the world as a whole in the direction of _________ - meaning oneness of the world as a single sociocultural place"
Data-centered sociology
+ The whole of social reality is open to empirical investigation + Treating social phenomena as "things" that can be measured
Religion/Church
+ a social fact or social phenomenon; concern with the sacred in society + collectively shared beliefs and rituals in regard to the sacred + single moral community united by shared beliefs and rituals pertaining to the sacred
Communism
+ a society characterized by the abolition of: private property, profit, the division of labor, and social classes. + The logic of material production in __________ society would require each person to contribute their labor to the everyday material and social good of the community on the basis of their diverse and multifaceted abilities + equality, abolition of social classes +would stop dialectical materialism + represent "universal human emancipation"
Anomie
+ although it has the potential to cause crisis in the form of social detachment, societal crises can have a socially unifying effect too. Durkheim cites war as an example of a social disturbance that can strengthen rather than weaken social cohesion + some disruptive events can have a socially binding effect, leading individuals to affirm their shared life in society - this is highlighted, for example, by the collective response of so many volunteers helping others rebuild their lives following Hurricane Katrina
Economic Transformation
+ can cause anomie by weakening social cohesion when both positive (new money in community) or negative (closing of factory in community) + global expansion of capitalism and consumerism can create anomic conditions that lead to suicide because the uncertainties associated with increased competition within various economic sectors, shifts in the geographical location of industries, and the impact of production outsourcing and downsizing can add to worker stress
Anomie
+ can happen during times of rapid social change or cultural turmoil and crisis - when the norms, those ways of acting, thinking, and feeling that we take for granted as normal, get uprooted and overturned, i.e. 9/11 + can also happen in times of natural disaster such as Hurricane Katrina that cause social dislocation + a social condition in which norms are weak, conflicting, or absent, thus uprooting patterns of social life. makes it difficult to achieve social integration and can lead to high rates of suicide. I.E. Las Vegas (highest suicide rate for all age demographics) + Durkheim
Simmel
+ emphasized the contrasting ways of life in urban and rural society. Like durkheim, he recognized "functional specialization" as the hallmark of urban society and how it forges interdependence among individuals, but more impersonally so in modern societies
Canon
+ established body of core knowledge/ideas in a given field of study. + Marx, Weber, Durkheim, and Martineau
Moral-social contract
+ formally regulates social relationships and behavior in all sorts of ways (e.g., marriage, club membership, housing mortgages and leases + have legitimacy only because they institutionalize (or legalize) the expectations and customs that we in society believe are necessary to maintaining and enforcing the norms of human reciprocity necessary to social life + Durkheim + emerge to protect social relationships and social order
Parsons
+ functionalist +Modernization theory +Argued that strain is avoided by having a clear sex-role separation, whereby men compete in the occupational structure and women occupy the home-based roles of wife and mother +social equilibrium
contrasting interpretations
+ highlight the importance of recognizing the interrelation between an observer's social background and theoretical questions on the content/social processes that are observed/critiqued
Modern Societies
+ industrialization, urbanization, immigration, and population growth + organic solidarity + characterized by population density, geographical and social mobility, and a diversity of occupational, religious, political, ethnic, and cultural groups. diversity brings a lot of personal freedom, anonymity, and impersonality; individual difference rather than sameness is the norm + less forceful collective conscience + highly specialized division of labor necessitated by population growth causing heightened sense of reciprocal dependence (social interdependence) causing a moral effect of cooperation amongst individuals
remix
+ its blending of incoherent or of dissociated and disembedded bits and pieces, exemplifies the decenter-ing and fluidity of our digitalized age + splicing of songs, video clips, photos, and images that come from multiple and varied sources, traditions, and era
Sociological objectivity
+ measured using various indicators, we can study social phenomena irrespective of our own views of, or feelings toward, the particular phenomenon. + Durkheim
Bourgeoisie
+ own and monopolize the means of production + capitalists who use their profit to expand their ownership of private property + "grave-diggers" of the downfall of capitalism
Simulacra
+ postmodern blurs classic distinction between "real" and "copy" + "the simulated, lavishly imagined consumer realities - are what is real, and what they produce in fact is a hyperreality"
division of labor
+ produces interdependence and social cohesion; it is a functional accommodation to the increase in population growth and the concentrated population density (urbanization) associated with the development of modern societies + requires, increasing numbers of individuals to act and interact with one another
Sociological Theory
+ relatively new discipline originating in the mid nineteenth century +concern with explaining empirical social phenomena + Focus on social structures, including culture, and institutional practices +Macro- and micro-level approaches to the study of society +Interplay between individual/collective agency and structural forces +critical analytical thinking skills
organic solidarity
+ social interdependency based on a high degree of specialization and interdependence in roles +. Affirms and requires indvidualisim + modern societies
achievement over ascription
+ social status is achieved rather than inherited or ascribed at birth +Modern societies are stratified societies, but the system of stratification is based on differential rankings related to on individually achieved competence and merit +Modernization Theory
dysfunctional consequences
+ social strains and tensions in the social system in its existing form (e.g., regarding immigration or health insurance), can, however, have a positive function +lead to system reform +merton
anomic suicide
+ suicide that occurs as a result of insufficient social regulation +
sacred
+ symbolism and shows collective representation, i.e. the American flag + Beliefs: are states of opinion and consist of representations + Rituals: fixed modes of actions [specific practices] + around _________ things that individuals collectively unite as a moral community affirming a shared solidarity + I.E. religion , sports events
cultural lag
+ the fact that some cultural elements change more quickly than others, disrupting a cultural system + gap between their achieved economic modernization and the vestiges of cultural traditionalism
physical density
+ the number of people encountered in the conduct of everyday life created by the division of labor + gives rise to moral density; the more people we meet, the more social interacting we have to do, however fleetingly, and therefore the more densely we are con-strained by social-moral norms of reciprocity and cooperation
cultural imperialism
+ the one-way flow of American ideas and products to the rest of the world. This is a concept that gained prominence in the post-World War II decades with the surging global popularity of disney characters, coca-cola, and other American cultural icons and products
Globalization
+ the process by which businesses or other organizations develop international influence or start operating on an international scale. + New opportunities are liberating but can also make us feel insecure and create dilemmas of the self
civil religion
+ the set of beliefs, rituals, and symbols that makes sacred the values of the society and places the nation in the context of the ultimate system of meaning + the civic-political ceremonies and rituals (e.g., presidential inaugurations, State of the Union addresses) that characterize the public life of American society and which function to affirm and maintain the (political) unity of the (indivisible) nation + specialized events that remind us of the interdependent bonds we have + have regulatory significance because remaining aloof at these events reflects and further debilitates our weakened ties to the collectivity
collective conscience
+ the shared morals and beliefs that are common to a group and which foster social solidarity + frequently excludes those who are not part of the dominant (white male) group in society
social solidarity
+ the social ties that bind a group of people together such as kinship, shared location, and religion + emerges from social rules and other social structures (social institutions) because these structures bind individuals to other individuals and to the larger society + created and regulated by individual interdependence
positive sociology
+ the study of society based on scientific observation of social behavior +Scientifically discoverable laws of society + Comte
uneven modernization
+ when societies experience modernization more quickly in one sphere of society than in another + variation in a country's simultaneous embrace of economic, social, and cultural change, and the societal conditions in which they overcome
sacred and profane
+All societies make a distinction between the _______, anything considered special or holy, and the ______, the everyday and ordinary + Durkheim + symbolic
functional analysis
+Examination of inappropriate behavior and its antecedents and consequences to determine one or more purposes (functions) that the behavior might serve for the learner. + depended on the interplay of theory, method, and research +merton
Marx
+Father of Communism + Communist manifesto + Predicted todays global economy- consumer goods are the common global cultural currency + Emphasized the inequality inherent in capitalism +Empahasis on tensions and contradictions + revolution as the "driving force of history" + freedom under capitalism is an illusion because of coercive labor exploitation + "the more commodities the worker produces the relatively poorer the worker himself or herself becomes." + "was writing when factory conditions were unsafe and unhygienic, child labor was the norm, and extreme poverty was visible on the streets and in the housing tenements of the increasingly populous cities" +"argues that an increase in wages does nothing to change the structural inequality that is inherent in capitalism" +"religion distracts workers from conscious-ness of their exploitation."
species being
+Marx + we don't just simply perform basic bodily functions (e.g., eating, sleeping, procreating) but we also creatively work in and on our physical (and social) environment and adapt it to our needs. +"our ability to produce an economic and social existence - e.g., food, tools, entertainment - is what distinguishes us as humans"
Specific over diffuse
+Modernization Theory + The acquisition of specific competencies; e.g., because of the specific "competence gap" between doctors and patients, for example, there is a social status differential between them + Modern societies require individuals to master certain bodies of basic knowledge and the ability to specialize in specific competencies.
self-orientation over collective or other-orientation
+Modernization Theory +Individuals are expected to follow their desires in choosing an occupation, a marriage partner, etc., unlike in more traditional societies, where family, ethnicity, and religious affiliation would constrain certain choices + Reflected by the stratification system and upward mobility
Modernization Theory
+Parsons +High degree of modernization= democratization, industrialization, urbanization, expansion of literacy, education, and mass media + U.S. as "lead" society in latest phase of modernization + Institutionalizing norms: achievement, universalism, specificity, emotional neutrality, and self-orientation + criticized as being ethnocentric because it ignored different histories such as colonialism + criticized for its inattentiveness to the unevenness of modernization within American society, such as gender and racial inequalities + functionalist explanation of social inequality
The Enlightenment
+Set the scene for the emergence of sociology +Emphasis on reason and progress +Move away from the dark forces of the past (myth, tradition, despotism) +Reason in politics; ideals of equality, collective self-governance +US declaration of Independence, 1776 +French Revolution, 1789 +Scientific reasoning +Emphasis on observable, empirical phenomena"
Merton
+Strain theory +Middle Range theory + Functional analysis of society + manifest and latent functions + rejected Parsons's presumption that data had to be fitted into a general theoretical system applicable to all societies and which would explain all inter-societal structures and subsystems
Middle Range Theory
+a set of propositions designed to link abstract theory with empirical testing + closely tied in to the empirical realities in societies, articulating the relationships that exist among particular variables +Merton
social relationships
+constraining forces which force us into social commitments + single childless people more likely to commit suicide than married people with children
August Comte
+father of sociology + Sociology as the empirical, positive science of society +Positive sociology
altruistic suicide
+suicide that occurs when one experiences too much social integration + traditional societies + suicide becomes the obligatory honorable option when they fail to meet group expectations + I.E. "honor" ones in Japan
Historical Materialism
+the assumption that material forces are the prime movers of history and politics; a key philosophical tenet of Marxism + change in the material conditions of society and in how economic-social relations are organized, emerges out of the contradictions perceived in the existing economic and social arrangements.
manifest functions
+the recognized and intended consequences of any social pattern +merton + I.E. sending a criminal to jail to punish them for wrongdoing
Contemporary Theory
+the successor theories/ideas out-lined to extend and engage with the classical theorizing of Marx, durkheim, Weber, and Martineau +Talcott Parsons, Max Horkheimer, c. Wright Mills, George Homans, and Erving Goffman, as well as those, like dorothy Smith, Patricia Hill collins, Michel Foucault, Pierre Bourdieu, and Immanuel Wallerstein,
latent functions
+the unrecognized and unintended consequences of any social pattern +merton + I.E sending a criminal to jail to affirm institutional behavioral norms
mode of production
, Way of organizing production—a set of social relations through which labor is deployed to wrest energy from nature by means of tools, skills, and knowledge, i.e. capitalism
Alexis de Tocqueville
Early 1830s *French civil servant who traveled to and wrote about the United States *Wrote Democracy in America, reflecting his interest in the American democratic process and appreciation of American civil society *Assessed the American attempt to have both liberty and equality *Provided an outsider's objective view of the Age of Jackson + noted the "complimentary natural differences" between men and women resulting from democratic equality
Inalienable Rights
Enlightenment belief that all individuals by virtue of their humanity and their naturally endowed reason are entitled to fully participate in society in ways that reflect and enrich their humanity (e.g., freedom of speech, of assembly, to vote, etc.)
Social Contract
French philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) argued that the best way to regulate individuals' different interests was through the voluntary coming together of individuals as citizens committed to the common good
Max Weber
German sociologist that regarded the development of rational social orders as humanity's greatest achievement. Saw bureaucratization (the process whereby labor is divided into an organized community and individuals acquire a sense of personal identity by finding roles for themselves in large systems) as the driving force in modern society.
class consciousness
Marx's term for awareness of a common identity based on one's position in the means of production + believed this would propel the working class to revolt against capitalism
Proletariat
Marx's term for the exploited class, the mass of workers who do not own the means of production +"revolutionary class", but this did not occur
Classical Theory
The ideas, concepts, and intellectual frame-work outlined by the founders of sociology (Marx, durkheim, Weber, Martineau)
Ritualist
a person who rejects socially defined goals but not the means
Symbol
any sign whose interpretation and meaning are socially shared; collective representation of a community's/society's collectively shared beliefs and values
Fredric Jameson
argues that our current era is one in which commod-ities, and the process of commodification, are all-encompassing. Everything, he argues, including the most banal, the most natural, and the most sacred of things, is eyed with a view toward wondering how it can be commodified, how it can be used for economic gain"
Cosmopolitan Imperatives
arise because of global risks (e.g., nuclear threats, financial crisis, global warming) across world society and require global awareness and global political alliances and solutions.
Commodification
blurrs the line between what is real and what is an illusion
Utilitarianism
idea from classical economics that individuals are rational, self-interested actors who evaluate alternative courses of action on the basis of their usefulness or resource value to them.
rebel
individual who rejects both traditional goals and traditional means in favor of their own
Moral Individualism
individuals (as social beings) interacting with others for purposes other than simply serving their own selfish or material interests
Socialization
learning to maintain society by cooperatively co-existing as friends, family members, work-mates, house-mates, team-mates, citizens - collectively bound by our recognition that social life rests on reciprocity, consideration of and engagement with others, rather than the competitive assertion of my specific individual needs over, or at the expense of, others' needs
retreatist
opts out of both the goals and the goal-behavior
conformist
person who complies with accepted goals and means of achievement
objectivity
positivist idea (elaborated by comte) that soci-ology can provide an unbiased (objective) analysis of a directly observable and measurable, objective social reality. This approach presumes that facts stand alone and have an objective reality independent of social and historical context and independent of any theories/ideas informing how we frame, look at, and interpret data
innovator
social deviant who accepts socially acceptable goals but rejects socially acceptable means to achieve them
Wilhelm Dilthey
sociology as interpretive understanding
Hyperreality
the condition in which media depictions of the world replace the experience of the "real" world +Baudrillard
Sheer Commodification
the cultural or lifestyle packaging of everyday things, places, or experiences as images and commodities purely for the purpose of promoting consumption for the sake of consumption
means of production
the factories, machines, tools, raw materials, land, and financial capital needed to make things + owned by the bourgeoisie
Cosmopolitan modernity
the idea that contemporary society(ies), western and non-western alike, are mutually entangled and interconnected and internalize one another's societal processes"
sui generis reality
the idea that society has its own nature or reality - its own collective characteristics or properties, which emerge and exist as a constraining force independent of the characteristics of the individuals in society
Empiricism
the use of evidence or data in describing and analyzing society.
emancipatory knowledge
the use of sociological knowledge to advance social equality
strain theory
theory that deviance is more likely to occur when a gap exists between cultural goals and the ability to achieve these goals by legitimate means
