Sociology Chapters 4,5,6 EXAM 2

Emile Durkheim and Functionalism

(1858-1917) -perspective on society stressed the necessary inter connectivity of all its elements. - to him, society was greater than the sum of its parts.

Agents of socialization

(including social group agents) are individuals and groups that influence our orientations to life—our self-concept, emotions, attitudes, & behaviors.

conventional stage

(teen years) become increasingly aware of others' feelings and take those into consideration when determining what's "good" and "bad."

preconventional stage

(young children) experience the world around them only through their senses

False Consciousness (Marx)

- a condition in which the beliefs, ideals, or ideology of a person are not in the person's own best interest. is the ideology of the dominant class that is imposed upon the proletariat -Class Consciousness is the awareness of one's rank in society. Instead of existing as a "class in itself," the proletariat must become a "class for itself" in order to produce social change. (Marx and Engels 1848)

Socialization throughout the life course

- a lifelong process. -In the United States, socialization throughout the life course is determined greatly by age norms and "time-related rules and regulations" -As we grow older, we encounter age-related transition points or milestones that require socialization into a new role, such as becoming school age, entering the workforce, or retiring. -The five milestones that define adulthood, according to Henig, are "completing school, leaving home, becoming financially independent, marrying, and having a child"

Nurture

- in the debate, is the process of caring for and encouraging the growth or development of someone or something. is an extrinsic influence, from outside. Some experts believe this is how we are taught to be the way we are, how we become our selves.

Religion

- is an important avenue of socialization for many people. The U.S. has many different religions. - can be informal or personal, our focus here is on practices followed by formally institutionalized religions, the kind of religion where people meet in synagogues, temples, churches, mosques, and other religious communities, where they gather to worship and learn. -Like other institutions, these places teach participants how to interact with the religion's material culture -For many, important ceremonies related to family structure—like marriage and birth—are connected to religious celebrations. Marriage is a ceremonial rite of passage that reinforces the family unit. -Many religious institutions also uphold gender norms, the power dynamics of some religions reinforce gender roles and contribute to their enforcement through socialization. -Organized religion fosters a shared set of socialized values that are passed on through society.

moral development

- is an important part of the socialization process. - prevents people from acting on unchecked urges, instead considering what is right for society and good for others.

Family

- is the first agent of socialization, showing the child how to use objects, how to relate to others, and how the world works. Socialization of children includes teaching and learning about an unending array of objects and ideas. -Children are socialized to abide by gender norms, perceptions of race, and class-related behaviors, this begins with this. -influenced by many factors, race, social class, SES, religion, the historical time period, and many other factors play an important role in socialization.

Total Institution

- is where people are cut off from society and are in total control of officials in charge -Prison or jail is the most obvious example. The military, a ship at sea, religious convents and some religious cults would also fit the description of this

Roles

- patterns of behavior that we recognize in each other that are representative of a person's social status. -Role performance is how a person expresses their role

Dyad

- two-member group, a triad- three-member group (Simmel 1902). In a dyad if one person withdraws, the group can no longer exist. -It is difficult to define exactly when a small group becomes a large group. Perhaps it occurs when there are too many people to join in a simultaneous discussion.

Dramaturgy- (Goffman)

- we use "impression management" to present ourselves to others as we hope to be perceived. -Frontstage-how we want others to see us - Backstage-who we are "behind the scenes" when no one is looking, also the places where people rest from their performances, discuss their presentations, and plan future performances. -Each situation is a new scene, and individuals perform different roles depending on who is present. As in a play, the setting matters as well

Mead's play stage

- when children begin to take on the role that one other person might have. Lasts from about age two to six. -Children might try on a parent's point of view by acting out "grownup" behavior, like playing "dress up" and acting out the "mom" role, or talking on a toy telephone the way they see their father do. -allows children to get into character and act out real life roles or fictional performances. -Easily distracted. -Children pretend but do not adhere to the rules in organized games.

John Locke

-(an English philosopher and physician) was widely regarded as one of the most influential of Enlightenment thinkers. -He published the idea that children are born blank slates, "tabula rasa" and that life experiences form who we become as adults. This was a new idea and contradicted previous notions that we are born with some knowledge and habits.

Agricultural Societies/ Revolution

-3000 B.C.E. -explosion of new technology, innovation, and discoveries made farming possible/profitable. -permanent, metal tools - more effective. -rotated crops and produced fertilizer from waster products. -dawn of civilization due to agriculture surplus. -poetry and philosophy - settled and expanded fertile regions. -beginning of class divide. those whole had more resources lived better and developed into a class of nobility. -difference in social standing of men and women. -cities expand (denser population) causing concern for ownership and preservation of resources.

Feudal societies

-9th century the class divide evolved to fiefdoms, granted vassals by nobility. -contained a strict hierarchical system of power based around land ownership and protection. -Nobility (lords and land lords) owned the land and placed vassals in charge of areas of land. -Vassals pledged to fight for the lords in exchange for land resources. -Vassals had peasants live on the land and protected them from outside enemies in exchange for the peasants' work on the land and the surplus went to the vassals and the lords.

Formal Organizations and Bureaucracy

-Bureaucracy is an ideal type of formal organization. Ideal doesn't mean "best" in its sociological usage; -Ideal type refers to a general model that describes a collection of characteristics, or a type that could describe most examples of the item under discussion.

Leadership styles-

-Democratic leaders encourage group participation in all decision making. They work hard to build consensus before choosing a course of action and moving forward. -Laissez-faire leader (French for "leave it alone") is hands-off, allowing group members to self-manage and make their own decisions -Authoritarian leaders issue orders and assigns tasks. These leaders are clear instrumental leaders with a strong focus on meeting goals.

Gender Socialization, Gender related terms

-Gender is a term that refers to social or cultural distinctions of behaviors and appearance that are considered male or female -Gender role refers to society's concept of how men and women are expected to look (gender presentation) and how they should behave. ---Gender role describes the attitudes and behaviors that are expected of us when we are categorized as male or female

Defining a Group

-Group- at least two people, interact with some frequency, share a sense that their identity is somehow aligned with the group -aggregate- People exist in the same place at the same time, who do not interact frequently, do not share a sense of identity (people attending a rally or a crowd.) -category- people who share similar characteristics, do not all interact , don't share identity beyond the characteristic (teacher, toddlers, bus drivers) -Groups can emerge from aggregates and categories, Groups largely define how we think of ourselves

bureaucracy

-Hierarchy of authority refers to the aspect of bureaucracy that places one individual or office in charge of another, who in turn must answer to her own superiors. -clear division of labor refers to the fact that within a bureaucracy, each individual has a specialized task to perform. -The existence of explicit rules refers to the way in which rules are outlined, written down, and standardized. -impersonality, which takes personal feelings out of professional situations. -meritocracy-hiring and promotion is based on proven and documented skills, rather than on nepotism or random choice.

role strain

-If too much is required of a single role - role conflict this occurs when there are tensions or contradictions between the various roles we play in our lives. Sometimes, you can experience role conflict and this at the same time.

School

-In the U.S. children spend about seven hours a day, 180 days a year, in school, which makes it hard to deny the importance school has on their socialization. -Aside from education in the usual subjects, schools serve a latent function in society by socializing children into behaviors like practicing teamwork, following a schedule, and using textbooks. -The hidden curriculum, is the informal teaching done by schools, which includes school and classroom rituals, led by teachers serving as role models and leaders, these regularly reinforce what society expects from children and prepares children for the adult world. -Schools in different cultures socialize children differently in order to prepare them to function well in those cultures. Schools also socialize children by teaching them about citizenship and national pride. -one of the latent functions of school is to teach Citizenship and National Pride, children are taught to say the Pledge of Allegiance. Most districts require classes about U.S. history and geography.

Work and the Workplac

-Many U.S. adults at some point invest a significant amount of time at a place of employment. -Although we are socialized into our culture since birth, workers require new socialization into a workplace, in terms of both material culture and nonmaterial culture. Different jobs require different types of socialization. -In the past in the U.S. many used to keep the same job their whole working lives, but that has changed. Today, the trend is to switch jobs at least once a decade. This means that people must become socialized to, and socialized by, a variety of work environments.

Meade's Stages of Development

-Mead believed that there is a specific path of development that all people go through. -In the preparatory stage, children are only capable of imitation: they have no ability to imagine how others see things, they just mimic. -They copy the actions of people with whom they regularly interact, such as their mothers and fathers. -This lasts from the time we are born until we are about age two

Psychology and Sociology

-Psychology and Sociology both focus on human behavior. -Psychologists focus on how the mind influences behavior. -Sociologists study the role of society in shaping behavior. -Psychologists are interested in people's mental development and how their minds process their world. INWARD view-mental health, emotional processes -Sociologists are more likely to focus on how different aspects of society contribute to an individual's relationship with his world. OUTWARD view-social institutions, cultural norms, interactions with others

Why does socialization matter?

-Socialization is critical both to individuals and to the societies in which they live. - transmits and teaches culture, and it is through "new members" in society (children) learning culture that a society perpetuates itself. - through social interaction provides the means via which we gradually become able to see ourselves through the eyes of others. - teaches us to function successfully in society. -teaches us language. We have to learn language—whether it's the dominant language or one common in a subculture, whether it's verbal or through signs—in order to communicate and to think. -without socialization we literally have no self. -We have to learn the basics of both material and non-material culture, everything from how to dress ourselves to what's suitable attire for a specific occasion. -If new generations of a society don't learn its way of life, if they are not socialized, the society ceases to exist. -Socialization teaches us society's expectations. Socialization is how we know how we fit in the world around us. We could not function in society without socialization. -Socialization can be more important than intelligence

The Monkey Study

-The Harlows' studied rhesus monkeys raised with two types of substitute "mothers", one a hard mesh and wire sculpture, the other a soft terrycloth "mother." -The monkeys consistently preferred the company of a soft, terrycloth substitute mother that was unable to feed them, to a mesh and wire mother that provided sustenance via a feeding tube. The monkeys would eat but returned quickly to the warm mother. -The monkeys' development was impaired and they didn't know how to interact with other monkeys, with no live "mother" monkey to socialize them. -This study demonstrated the necessity for early social contact. -This demonstrated that while food was important, social comfort was of greater value

Max Weber and Symbolic Interactionism

-Weber's analysis of modern society centered on the concept of rationalization. Rational society is built around logic and efficiency rather than morality or tradition. To Weber, capitalism is entirely rational, but taken to the extreme there could be negative effects. For Weber, the culmination of industrialization, rationalization, and the like results in what he referred to as the iron cage, in which the individual is trapped by institutions and bureaucracy. This leads to a sense of "disenchantment of the world," a phrase Weber used to describe the final condition of humanity, when science and enlightenment though erodes away all superstition, religion and magic. - Weber's primary focus on the structure of society lay in the elements of class, status, and power. -Weber saw class as economically determined. Status, on the other hand, was based on non-economic factors such as education, kinship, and religion. Both status and class determined an individual's power, or influence over ideas. Unlike Marx, Weber believed that these ideas formed the base of society. -Weber was also unlike his predecessors in that he was more interested in how individuals experienced societal divisions than in the divisions themselves. Slide

Society

-a group of people who live in a definable community and share the same culture. -consists of the people, institutions, shared beliefs and cultural ideas. -classified according to development and use of technology.

Meade's game stage

-about age seven onwards, children can begin to understand and adhere to the rules of games. -Children begin to learn to consider several roles at the same time and how those roles interact with each other. -They learn to understand interactions involving different people with a variety of purposes. -They might take the whole time debating the rules, and not get around to actually playing the game.

Anomie (Durkheim)

-an outcome of the transition from mechanical to organic. -"without law" is a situation in which society no longer has the support of a firm collective consciousness. -collective norms are weakened. -National guards shot into group of Kent protesters killing 4 students, this was a time of social anomie.

hunter-gatherer societies

-basic structure of society 12,000-10,000 years ago, only a few hundred left today. -Nomadic -depend on existing resources to stay alive. strong dependence on environment. - based around kinship/tribes -used small, temporary tools

comparative

-benchmark for comparison -reference group serves as a benchmark for specific or narrowly defined behavior (admiring and imitating the lifestyle of neighbors)

Industrial society and the Industrial Revolution begin

-dramatic rise in tech, tasks that took months now took days. -steam engine could do the work of twelve horses. -farming and production of goods increasingly done with machine textile mills, mechanical seeders and threshers. -Capitalism grows. by 18th and 19th century, life is changing fast, cities become crowded with the poor, and the cities are filthy. -SOCIOLOGY IS BORN. -"new money" rise. nobility less powerful. capitalists like Rockefeller and Vanderbilt accumulate wealth and influence the gov. -labor unions begin -paper and glass available to average person. more access to education and health care too. beginning of night life due to gas lights. -society industrializes causing urbanization to happen as workers move to urban centers for jobs, urban center house diverse populations. -focus on acquiring wealth.

Societal Factors

-factors in society like race, social class and types of social institutions, like government, school, work, religion and mass media also play an important role in socialization

Habitualization

-idea that society is socially constructed by humans and human interaction -describes "any action that is repeated frequently becomes cast into a pattern, which can then be ... performed again in the future in the same manner and with the same economical effort" (Berger and Luckmann 1966). We construct our own society and we also accept it because others have created it before us. Society is "habit."

the collection conscience

-identified by Durkheim -communal beliefs, moral, and attitudes of a society -strong in societies with mechanical solidarity, when people have the same experiences and values. -mechanical solidarity, there are small differences but people are bound together by commonalities, similitude, and likenesses. .

organic solidarity

-industrial societies replace mechanical solidarity with organic, which is social cohesion based around an acceptance of economic and social differences, and acceptance that people's roles are different but necessary for each other to survive.

Conformity

-is the extent to which an individual complies with group norms or expectations. -Psychologist Solomon Asch (1907-1996) conducted experiments that illustrated how great the pressure to conform is, specifically within a small group (1956).

Degradation ceremony

-part of the process of resocialization into an institution, a person leaves behind aspects of their old identity through a degradation ceremony. - new members lose the aspects of their old identity and are given new identities. -Learning to deal with life after having lived in a total institution requires yet another process of resocialization. -Nursing home and joining a cult is gentle. going to prison or the army is extreme.

Nature

-predetermined, it is genetic or otherwise inherent. -in the debate, it refers to the idea that not only genetics, but also our temperaments, interests, and talents are set before birth. this is intrinsic, it comes from within.

Postindustrial society (present or information society)

-recent development -rooted in production of material goods. -based on the production of information and services. -digital technology is the steam engine of this society. -driven by knowledge and not material goods -control and distribution of information -social classes divided by access to education.

Gilligan's Theory of Moral Development and Gender

-recognized that Kohlberg's theory might show gender bias since his research was only conducted on male subjects. -set out to study differences between how boys and girls developed morality. -research demonstrated that boys and girls do, in fact, have different understandings of morality. -Boys tend to have a justice perspective, by placing emphasis on rules and laws. -Girls, on the other hand, have a care and responsibility perspective; they consider people's reasons behind behavior that seems morally wrong. -explained that boys are socialized for a work environment where rules make operations run smoothly, while girls are socialized for a home environment where flexibility and considering the reasons behind behavior allows for harmony in caretaking and nurturing

informative

-reference group serves as a source of info for directing the consumer behavior

Horticultural societies

-settled where rainfall and other conditions allowed them to grow stable crops. -stayed in one place with domesticated animals. -largely dependent on environment, permanent settlements. -developed around same time as pastoral societies. and still used small temporary tools. -more stable, produced more material goods, and are considered to be the first revolution in human survival.

Pre-Industrial Societies

-small, rural, and dependent on local resources. -rules of land tenure define how property rights to land are to be allocated within societies. -they define how access is granted to rights to use, control and transfer land, as well as associated responsibilities and restraints.

pastoral societies

-still dependent on their environment and used small temp. tools, although less than hunter-gatherers. -Nomadic. developed about 7,500 years ago. -relied on animals domestication for survival. -some plant civilization but moved when crops or water was short. -bred livestock for food, clothing, transportation, which also created a surplus of goods and trading begins between local groups.

Karl Marx and Conflict Theory

-the base, he economy hat determines what a society will be like. -Marx saw conflict in society as the primary means of charge. -economically, he saw conflict existing between the owners of the means of productions(bourgeoisie) and laborers (proletariat).

generalized other

-the common behavioral expectations of general society -Children develop, understand, and learn the idea of this. -At this stage, we are able to imagine how we are viewed by one or many others—and thus, from a sociological perspective, to have a "self". -This is the final stage of Meade's conception of development. - refers to the viewpoint of the social group at large. -The child begins taking this perspective into account during this stage

Marx Alienation

-the condition in which the individual is isolated and divorced from his or her society, work, or the sense of self. He identified four types of alienation : --Alienation from the product of one's labor. (one doesn't care what they are making, often just making pieces of a whole, a watch part rather than a whole watch. They don't connect to the object, just that the job exists -Alienation from the process of one's labor. (A worker does not control the conditions of her job because she does not own the means of production. There is no room for creativity or variation) -Alienation from others. (Workers compete, rather than cooperate.) -Alienation from one's self. (instead of being able to take pride in an identity such as being a watchmaker, automobile builder, or chef, a person is simply a cog in the machine) -With all this alienation, Marx expects the worker will eventually rise up and rebel, but when they don't he explains it with false consciousness.

Socialization

-the process through which people are taught to be proficient members of a society. - is how we come to learn and understand societal norms and expectations, to accept society's beliefs, and to be aware of societal values. - is not the same as socializing. -To be precise, it is a sociological process that occurs through socializing. - takes place through interaction with many individuals, groups, and social institutions. Socialization is a lifelong process.

status

-the responsibilities and benefits that a person experiences according to their rank and role in society - Ascribed Status—those status you do not select, such as son, elderly person, female, son -Achieved Status-status obtained by choice, such as a high school dropout, self-made millionaire, nurse -Role-set, or array of roles, attached to any status (Merton 1957). -You occupy a status, but you play a role!

social integration (Durkheim)

-the strength of the times that people have to their social groups was a key factor in social life.

Solidarity

-unity or agreement of feeling or action -societies with mechanical solidarity act in mechanical fashion. -things are done mostly because they have always been done that way, people often do similar tasks.

Symbolic Interaction

Concern is face-to-face exchanges and symbolic communication, regarding are how we are socialized. -For example, dressing baby boys in blue and baby girls in pink is one small way we convey messages about differences in gender roles.

Charles Horton Cooley

Cooley asserted that people's self-understanding is constructed, in part, by their perception of how others view them—a process he termed "the looking glass self" Steps of the process, according to Cooley -We imagine how we look to others -We evaluate how others judge us -We develop an identity based on that

examples of total institutions

Every branch of the military is a total institution and some cults fall into this category

Presentation of Self

It is impossible to look inside a person's head and study what role they are playing. All we can observe is behavior, or role performance. Remember role performance is how a person expresses his or her role. This can be very tricky online!

Iron Rule of Oligarchy

Michels (1911) suggested that all large organizations are characterized by this where in an entire organization is ruled by a few elites,

Institutional Agents of Socialization

School, the workplace, religion, government and the mass media (these are some big ones, there are others

The Social Construction of Reality

W.I. Thomas's notable Thomas theorem which states, "If men define situations as real, they are real in their consequences" (Thomas and Thomas 1928). That is, people's behavior can be determined by their subjective construction of reality rather than by objective reality. Slide

self-fulfilling prophecy

a false idea can become true if it is acted upon.

reference group

a group that people compare themselves to—it provides a standard of measurement (normative, comparative, informative, identification-can refer to a group for positive or negative.

Meade on Self

a person's distinct identity that is developed through social interaction. (sociological definition) In order to engage in this process of "self," an individual has to be able to view him or herself through the eyes of others. That's not an ability that we are born with. (George Herbert Mead 1934)

Expressive leaders

are more concerned with promoting emotional strength and health, and ensuring that people feel supported

Charles Horton Cooley

divided groups into Primary Groups and Secondary Groups

Resocialization

i-s learning new norms, values, attitudes & behaviors to fit a new situation in life - is necessary when a person moves to a nursing home or serves time in jail, etc. - occurs is in a total institution where people are isolated from society and are forced to follow someone else's rules.

instrumental leader

is one who is goal-oriented and largely concerned with accomplishing set tasks.

Anticipatory Socialization

is the preparation for future life roles

postconventional stage

is when people begin to think of morality in abstract terms, such as Americans believing that everyone has the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. At this stage, people also recognize that legality and morality do not always match up evenly

Functionalist Perspective

macro level, society is part of a well-balanced system, with all parts necessary to the functioning of the whole, they would study the role of different groups in relation to the whole.

Conflict Perspective,

macro view that focuses on the source and growth of inequality, would put groups into the context of conflict, exploitation, and how groups perpetuate inequality

Symbolic Interaction Perspective

micro level, day to day interactions or regular ongoing exchanges within or between groups, could examine leadership style or group dynamics

identification

reference group with which an individual wants to identify (celebrities, athletes, political leaders, well dressed people)

McDonaldization of Society (Ritzer 1993)

refers to the increasing presence of the fast food business model in common social institutions. This business model includes efficiency (the division of labor), predictability, calculability, and control (monitoring), and increasingly mechanization when machines do jobs formerly done by humans

Leadership function

refers to the main focus or goal of the leader

Secondary groups

serve and instrumental or pragmatic function, can be large, they are task or goal oriented.

Structural Functionalism

socialization is essential to society, both because it functions to train members to operate successfully within society, and because it perpetuates culture by transmitting it to new generations. Without socialization, a society's culture would perish as members died off.

Conflict Theory

socialization reproduces inequality from generation to generation by conveying different expectations and norms to those with different social characteristics. For example, individuals are socialized differently by gender, social class, and race

Weber and bureaucracy

sociologist Max Weber popularly characterized a bureaucracy as having a hierarchy of authority, a clear division of labor, explicit rules, and impersonality and was a meritocracy. (1922).

"Institutionalization

the act of implanting a convention or norm into society.

Kohlberg's Theory of Moral Development (1927-1987)

the way people learn what society considered to be "good" and "bad"

Instrumental function

there to do a job or accomplish something

Primary groups

usually small, members engage face to face and over the long term. These are the people you are close to that serve an expressive function-an emotional need is fulfilled within primary groups. Family, close friends

LookingGlass Self (Cooley)

we base our self-image on what we think other people see -We imagine how we look to other people - We draw conclusions based upon their reactions to us -Then we develop our personal sense of self. -In other words, people's reactions to us are like a mirror in which we are reflected. -Goffman's ideas are an expansion of Cooley

The Government

• Many rites of passage people go through today are based on age norms and laws established by the government. • Becoming an "adult" usually means being eighteen years old, the age at which a person becomes legally responsible for him- or herself. • Sixty-five years old is the start of "old age" since most people become eligible for senior benefits at that age. • We are socialized to become taxpaying, voting citizens. • Each time we become part of one of these new categories—senior, adult, taxpayer, voter—we must be socialized into our new role.

Mass Media

• distribute impersonal information to a wide audience, via television, newspapers, radio, and the Internet. • greatly influences social norms, people spend many hours consuming media in different forms. • People learn about objects of material culture (like new technology and transportation options), as well as nonmaterial culture—what is true (beliefs), what is important (values), and what is expected (norms). • Promoting gender norms are one of the many ways we are socialized through mass media.

Peer Group

• is made up of people who are similar in age and social status and who share interests. • socialization begins at a young age, it is usually the first major socialization experience outside of family. •are especially important to adolescents, as they begin to develop an identity separate from their parents and exert independence. • provide their own opportunities for socialization in different types of activities. We do different things with our friends than we do with our family.