Sociology Chapter 5

Demeanor

How we behave or conduct ourselves. Relative to social power.

Gesellschaft

"Associations" A large, urban society in which social bonds are based on impersonal and specialized relationships, with little long term commitment to the group or consensus on values. Relationships are based on achieved statuses.

Gemeinschaft

"Commune" or "community" A traditional society in which social relationships are based on personal bonds of friendship and kinship & on intergenerational stability. -relationships are based on ascribed statuses rather than achieved statuses. -people have a commitment to the entire group and feel a sense of togetherness.

Typology

A classification scheme containing two or more mutually exclusive categories that are used to compare different kinds of behavior or types of societies. -developed by Emile Durkheim and Ferdinand Tönnies.

Studied nonobservance

A face-saving technique in which one role player ignores the flaws in another's performance to avoid the embarrassment for everyone involved.

Self-fulfilling prophecy

A false belief or prediction that produces behavior that makes the originally false belief come true.

Role expectations

A group's or society definition of the way that a specific role ought to be played.

Formal organization

A highly structures group formed for the purpose of completing certain tasks or achieving specific goals. We expect these to educate us and solve social problems and provide work opportunities. (Colleges, corporations, the government)

Sociocultural evolution

A process coined by Gerhard & Jean Lenski which are the changes that occur as a society gains new technology.

Social network

A series of social relationships that links an individual to others.

Role

A set of behavioral expectations associated within a given status.

Social institution

A set of organized beliefs and rules that establishes how a society will attempt to meet it's basic social needs. Family, religion, education, the economy, & government or politics.

Primary group

A small, less specialized group in which members engage in face-to-face, emotion-based interactions over an extended period of time. (Family, close friends)

Ascribed status

A social position conferred at birth or received involuntarily later in life, based on attributes over which the individual has little or no control. -race, ethnicity, age, and gender.

Achieved status

A social position that a person assumes voluntarily as a result of a personal choice, merit, or direct effort.

Status

A socially defined position in a group or society characterized by certain expectations, rights, and duties. -They exist independently of the specific people occupying them. -defines high and low ranks. -distinguishable by the manner in which we acquire them.

Feeling rules

A term coined by Arlie Hochschild that shapes the appropriate emotions for a given role or specific situation. -the rules include how, where, when, and with whom an emotion should be expressed. (Funeral settings for example)

Emile Durkheim

Asserted that preindustrial societies are held together by strong traditions and by the members' shared moral beliefs and values. His perspective, social solidarity derives from a society's social structure which is based on the society's division of labor.

Pastoral societies

Based on the technology that supports the domestication of large animals to provide good. People typically remain nomadic, seeking new grazing lands and water sources for their animals. -family is the basic unit -gender equality is greater

Social group

Consists of two or more people who interact frequently and share a common identity and a feeling of interdependence.

Role performance

How a person actually plays out the role. It does not always match the role expectations.

Secondary group

Larger, more specialized group in which members engage in more impersonal, goal-oriented relationships for a limited period of time. (Schools, churches, corporations)

Status symbols

Material signs that inform others of a person's specific status and accomplishments.

Role strain

Occurs when incompatible demands are built into a single status that a person occupies. May be influenced by role conflict. Sexual orientation, age, & occupation are frequently associated with this.

Role conflict

Occurs when incompatible role demands are placed on a person by two or more statuses held at the same time. We may prioritize our roles and first complete the one we consider to be most important. A feeling of being pulled in different directions.

Role distancing

Occurs when people consciously foster the impression of a lack of commitment or attachment to a particular role.

Role exit

Occurs when people disengage from social roles that have been central to their self-identity. The steps are doubt, searching for alternatives, turning point, and then the creation of a new identity.

Division of labor

Refers to how the various tasks of a society are divided up and performed.

Impression management

Refers to people's efforts to present themselves to other in ways that are most favorable to their own interests or image.

Organic solidarity

Refers to the social cohesion found in industrial and post industrial societies, in which people perform very specialized tasks and feel united by mutual dependence. Less personal interaction.

Mechanical solidarity

Refers to the social cohesion of preindustrial societies, in which where there is minimal division of labor and people feel united by shared values and common social bonds. Everyone is engaged in similar work, and little specialization is found in the division of labor.

Face-saving behavior

Refers to the strategies we use to rescue our performance when we experience a potential or actual loss of face.

Interaction order

Regulates the form and process (but not the content) of social interaction.

Social solidarity

Relates to a group's ability to maintain itself in the face of obstacles.

Industrial societies

Societies based on technology that mechanizes production. Originating in England during the industrial revolution. Steam engine made it possible to produce goods and brought up new inventions. Politics usually based on a democratic form of government.

Horticultural societies

Societies based on technology that supports the cultivation of plants to provide food. People become more sedentary, remaining settled for longer periods in the same location. Slavery is a fairly common practice. High degree of gender equality. Education, religion and politics remain relatively informal in h&p societies, and they are both less egalitarian than hunter-gatherers.

Postindustrial societies

Societies in which technology supports a service and information- based economy. Characterized by an information explosion. Corresponding rise of consumer society and the emergence of a global village in which people around the world communicate with one another by electronic technologies. -produce knowledge that becomes a commodity.

Hunting and gathering societies

Societies that use simple technology for hunting animals and gathering vegetation. Until about 10,000 years ago, these societies were the only type of human societies that existed. -tools and weapons used such as spears, bows and arrows, nets, traps and digging sticks. Their religion is based on animism.

Agrarian societies

Societies the technology of large-scale farming, including animal-drawn or energy-powered plows and equipment to produce their food supply. Land is cleared of all vegetation and cultivated by the use of the plow. Social inequality is the highest of all preindustrial societies in terms of class and gender. -Landlords and peasants -inheritance becomes important -men demand that women practice premarital virginity and marital fidelity.

Erving Goffman

Suggested that day to day interactions have much in common of being on stage in dramatic production.

Animism

The belief that spirits inhabit virtually everything in the world. There is no shaman, or religious leader.

Social structure

The complex framework of societal institutions (such as economy, politics, & religion) & the social practices (rules and social rules) that make up a society and that organize and establish limits on peoples behavior. Essential for the survival of society and for the well being of individuals because it provides the framework within which we interact with others.

Personal space

The immediate area surrounding a person that the person claims as private. Age, gender, kind of relationship & social class are important factors. The need seems to increase with age.

Subsistence technology

The methods and tools that are available for acquiring the basic needs of life.

Master status

The most important status that a person occupies -being poor or rich, occupation. -vital to how we view ourselves. -confer high or low levels of personal worth and dignity on people.

Social interaction

The process by which people act toward or respond to other people. The foundation for all relationships and groups in society.

Social marginality

The state of being part insider and part outsider in the societal structure. This term was coined by Robert Park.

Dramaturgical analysis

The study of social interaction that compares everyday life to theatrical presentation.

Ethnomethodology

The study of the common sense knowledge that people use to understand the situations in which they find themselves. Harold Garfinkel initiated this approach and coined the term. Examining existing patterns of conventional behavior in order to uncover people's background expectancies. Interaction is based on assumptions of shared experiences.

Deference

The symbolic means by which subordinates give a required permissive response to those in power. It confirms the existence of inequality and real firms each person's relationship to the other. It is important in regard to facial expression, eye contact and touching.

Nonverbal communication

The transfer of information between persons without the use of words. Includes not only visual cues, but vocal features, & environmental factors that affect meanings. May be intentional or unintentional. Physical space is an important component.

Civil inattention

The ways in which an individual shows an awareness that another is present without making this person the object of particular attention. (Noticing someone walking down the street but not paying attention to them)

Ferdinand Tönnies

Used the terms of Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft to characterize the degree of social solidarity and social control found in societies. -especially concerned about what happens to social solitary when a "loss of community" occurs.

Definition of the situation

We analyze a social context in which we find ourselves determine what is in our best interest, & adjust our attitudes and actions accordingly. Can rest in self-fulfilling prophecy.