sociology unit 3
what is the glass ceiling
- refers to an invisible limit on women's climb up the occupational ladder -kanter argues this is due to a cultural conflation of authority with masculinity
An essentialist would argue which of the following for why women outnumber men in occupations that involve caring?
Women find occupations that involve caring more suitable to their nature.
labeling theory
people see how they are labeled and accept the label as true. People behave the way they think someone with their label should behave. functionalism
What is deterrence theory?
philosophy of criminal justice based on the notion that crime results from a rational calculation of its costs and benefits
what did rousseau distinguish between
physical and social inequality
what is social regulation
refers to how many rules guide your society, what you can expect from the world on a day to day basis
What is the glass escalator?
refers to the accelerated promotion of men to the top of a work organization, especially in feminized jobs
what is feminism and what happened during the waves of feminism
- a social movement to get people to understand that gender is an organizing principle in society and to address gender-based inequalities Second wave of feminism- theorists wanted to find the answer to the woman question Asking for equal treatment in the family Third wave asks for equal political power
what is a bourgeois society
- a society of commerce (modern capitalistic society, for example) in which the maximization of profit is the primary business incentive
What is heteronormativity?
- idea that heterosexuality is the default or normal sexual orientation, from which other sexualities deviate
what is equality of condition
- the idea that everyone should have an equal starting point EX) affirmative action
What is the elite-mass dichotomy system?
a system of stratification that has a governing elite, a few leaders who broadly hold power in society
what is social deviance
any transgression of socially established norms (ex. picking nose)
The common faith or set of social norms by which a society and its members abide is defined by Émile Durkheim as
collective conscience
what is formal deviance
crime
Hegel argued that notions of inequality are constantly evolving in a larger historical arc and will eventually lead to
equality
what are the ideal types of stratification
estate system- a politically based system of stratification characterized by limited social mobility. In such a system laws are written in a language in which rights and duties separate individuals and distribute power unequally. Primarily found in feudal Europe Caste system- is a religion based system of stratification characterized by no social mobility. Caste societies are stratified based on hereditary notions of religious purity. Class system- an economically based hierarchical system characterized by cohesive oppositional groups and somewhat loose social mobility. No precise definition for different social classes. status hierarchy system elite mass dichotomy
what are essentialist arguments
explain social phenomena in terms of natural, biological, or evolutionary inevitables
how did thomas malthus view inequality
favorably, but only as a means for controlling population growth. He thought a more equal distribution of resources would increase the world's population to unsustainable levels and ultimately bring about mass starvation and conflict
what is primary deviance
first act of rule breaking, may result in the rule breakers being labeled "deviant" and thus influencing how people think about and act toward them
what are interactionist theories
focus on "doing gender" -west and Zimmerman argue that gender is a product of our interactions. Not a fixed role or identity -gender is a process, not a static category
what are psychoanalytic theories
focus on individual explanations for gender differences as opposed to societal ones. Support the idea that there are natural differences
What is punitive justice?
focuses on making violators suffer and thus defines the boundaries of acceptable behavior. popular in mechanical societies
Punishments that are overt expressions of official group sentiments toward deviants are also known as
formal social sanctions
what is intersectionality
gender is not the only part of our character, all things like race, social class, gender, etc combined make it up. Can't just say women are inferior to men, look at the big picture
what is social integration
how well you are integrated into your social group or community
what is the most efficient class
hunter gatherers
what is structural functionalism
inspired by durkheim theory in which society's many parts- institutions, norms, traditions, and so on- mesh to produce a stable, working whole that evolved over time According to this theory, inequality is functional in society because it helps allocate the best people to the most important roles
Many people believe sex to be an either/or situation (either male or female), but sociologists argue that these pure categories are
more of an approximation than an absolute.
what did jean jacques rousseau argue in the 18th century
private property creates social inequality, which ultimately leads to social conflict. believes private property should be abolished
What did Foucault believe?
punishing the body to reform the soul
what is sexuality
refers to desire, sexual preference, sexual identity, and behavior
What is stratification?
refers to the hierarchical organization of a society into groups with differing levels of power, social prestige, or status and economic resources
what is vertical social mobility
refers to the rise or fall of an individual or group from one stratum to another
what is social cohesion
refers to the way people form social bonds, relate to each other, and get along on a day-to-day basis
what is social control
set of mechanisms that create normative compliance in individuals
what do conflict and feminist approaches focus on
inequality and gender inequality
what did durkheim think about suicide
it was an instance of social deviance
what do the navajos have
three genders
What is conflict theory?
- the theory that conflict between competing interests is the basic, animating force of social change and society in general. Views world through lens of group conflict over resources. Stability is maintained through domination and power, not consensus.
being mugged from a symbolic interactionist perspective
-perpetrator picks right location -picks right victim -perpetrator tries to smooth things out after he gets the money - victim should acknowledge the perpetrators power -victim should not make eye contact (to avoid identifying perpetrator)
What is the Panopticon?
A building designed to allow a single watchman to observe inmates of an institution without the inmates being able to tell whether or not they are being watched.
what is the matrix of domination
Intersecting domains of oppression that create a social space of domination and, by extension, a unique position within that space based on someone's intersectional identity along the multiple dimensions of gender, age, race, class, sexuality, location, and so on. Ex) black women and white women
describe the three types of crime
Street crime (violent crime)- crimes committed in public and often associated with violence, gangs, and poverty White collar crime- crimes committed by a professional against a corporation, agency, or other business, done by an individual Corporate crime- a type of white-collar crime committed by the officers or executives of a company, done by an entire corporation
What is the free rider problem?
Tendency of individuals/organizations to fail to contribute to production of public goods BECAUSE they can still benefit without contributing
According to Howard S. Becker, why do marijuana smokers enjoy using the drug?
They engage in a social process of learning to define the experience as fun and pleasurable.
what is social equality
a condition in which no differences in wealth, power, prestige, or status based on nonnatural convention exist
what is horizontal social mobility
a group or individual transitioning from one social status to another situated more or less on the same rung of the ladder
what is exchange mobility
a large number of people moving up the social class ladder, while a large number move down; it is as though they have exchanged places, and the social class system shows little change
what is dialectic materialism
a notion of history that privileges conflict over economic, material resources as the central struggle and driver of change in society
what is gender
a social construct that consists of a set of social arrangements that are built around sex
what is dialectic
a two directional relationship following a pattern in which an original statement or thesis is countered with an antithesis leading to a conclusion that unites the strengths of the original position and the counterarguments
retreatists (strain)
accept neither a society's goals nor the means of achieving them ex) drug addict looking for drugs
innovators (strain)
accept the goals of a society, but they look for new, or innovative, ways of achieving them most common type of criminal
conformists (strain theory)
accept the goals of the society and the means of achieving those goals
what is secondary deviance
acts of rule breaking that occur after primary deviance and as a result of a person's new, deviant label and people's expectations of them
If we apply the sociological imagination to sex, gender, and sexuality, we might argue that
although biological differences exist between men and women, what we make of those differences is socially constructed and has changed through time and place.
what is status attachment model
an approach that ranks individuals by socioeconomic status including income and education attainment and that seeks to specify the attributes characteristic of people who end up in more desirable occupations
what is the structural functionalist approach to gender
assumes gender differences exist to fulfill necessary societal functions. Does not allow for the possibility that other structures could fulfill the same function or that structures change throughout history
what is rehabilitative justice
attempts to find ways to rehabilitate violators popular in organic societies
Alain's daughter wears dresses, plays with dolls, and likes to pretend she is a princess. Alain does not think society has influenced her preferences or games at all. He views his daughter as evidence that human behavior is determined by genes and hormones. Which term best describes Alain's views?
biological determinism
what is rubin's sex/gender system challenge
challenged the assumption that because women's subordination occurred everywhere, it must be fulfilling some societal function -said women are treated like valuable property whose trade patterns strengthen relations between families headed by men
What does cisgender mean?
describes people whose gender corresponds to their birth sex
what does transgender mean
describes people whose gender does not correspond to their birth sex
Rebels (strain theory)
don't accept the goals of the society or the means of achieving those goals, so they create their own goals using new means
Hegel felt that the relationship between slave and master was dialectic. This meant that
each was dependent on the other
what are the forces mills argues where the power of decision making has become centralized
economic institutions political order military order
what are the 4 types of suicide and explain them
egoistic- occurs when one is not well integrated into a social group altruistic- occurs when one experiences too much social integration anomic- occurs as a result of insufficient social regulation fatalistic- occurs as a result of too much social regulation
The new jim crow: mass incarceration in the age of colorblindness:
it isn't ok in today's society to discriminate based on race. Mass incarceration serves as colorblind to make African Americans suffer from being denied employment, etc. with a criminal record. Leads to inequality. Because those laws unproportionally affect African Americans.
Which of the following is an example of a symbolic interactionist theory of deviance?
labeling theory
Describe the broken windows theory
leaving out a rough looking, abandoned car in a bad neighborhood in Bronx and one in nice neighborhood in CA. the theory explains how social context and social cues affect the way individuals act. People who would not exhibit a certain behavior in one social context might do so in another context where the behavior seems more permissible.
By looking at anthropological findings in tribal societies, sociologists can see fluidity in gender, which helps us see that the boundaries within our own system of gender
may not be stable
what are the two ways social cohesion is established and explain them
mechanical or segmental solidarity- social cohesion based on the sameness of society's parts or members organic solidarity- social cohesion based on the differentness and interdependence of specialized parts or members
what are formal social sanctions
mechanisms of social control by which rules or laws prohibit deviant criminal behavior
What is the sex role theory?
men and women perform their sex roles as breadwinners and wives/mothers because this is the ideal family arrangement, best way for society to thrive
Your textbook points out that sex is partly a social concept. This is based on the fact that, although information about chromosomes is used to sort people into male and female categories, and although chromosomes are biological realities, the chromosomal makeup across people in a population
more of an average than a binary
what is structural mobility
movement up or down the social class ladder that is due more to changes in the structure of society than to the actions of individuals such as expansion of high tech jobs in the past 20 years
what is stigma
negative social label that changes ones behavior toward a person while also changing that person's self-concept and social identity
What does androgynous mean?
neither masculine nor feminine
Ritualists (Strain)
not interested in a society's goals, but they do accept the means of achieving them
A capitalist society with a continuing history of inequality in wealth, income, and power can still have equality of
oppurtunity
What is Marx's theory of history?
posited that social change emerged from groups' struggles for the control of the economic resources. He believed that eventually the contradictions inherent in capitalism would lead the working class to rise up and overthrow the system
What is meritocracy?
social position achieved solely based on personal ability and achievement
How do symbolic interactionists view society?
take a micro view of society, examining the beliefs and assumptions people bring to their everyday interactions in order to find the causes or explanations for deviance.
What does Merton's strain theory argue?
that deviance occurs when a society fails to give all its members equal ability to achieve socially acceptable goals
what did john millar and adam ferguson argue
that inequality is good because it means that some people are getting ahead and creating assets (a form of wealth that can be stored for the future)
what is sex
the biological distinction between females and males
What is hegemonic masculinity?
the condition in which men are dominant and privileged, and this dominance and privilege is invisible
In our society, many people take for granted that sex has only two categories, and they tend to ignore facts that suggest sex itself is socially constructed. Which of the following is an outcome of this sexual dichotomization?
the exclusion of those who don't fit neatly into one category or the other
what is equality of outcome
the idea that each player must end up with the same amount regardless of the fairness of the "game"
What is equality of opportunity?
the idea that everyone has an equal chance to achieve wealth, social prestige, and power because the rules of the game, so to speak, are the same for everyone. Ex) antidiscrimination laws
what is equality of condition
the idea that everyone should have an equal starting point (affirmative action)
what is social mobility
the movement between different positions within a system of social stratification in any given society
What is recidivism?
the tendency of a convicted criminal to reoffend - when a person who has been involved in the criminal justice system reverts to criminal behavior
what are informal social sanctions
unspoken rules and expectations about the behavior of individuals
why can it be difficult to measure crime rates over time
· Changes in how crimes are defined · Fluctuations in whether people report crimes · In the case of murders, improvements in medical technology
what are biological explanations for gender roles
· Evolutionary basis- women being more nurturing and affectionate, men being more dominant and aggressive which goes back to old days of hunter gatherers and their roles Hormonal differences
