SYG 2000: Intro to Sociology Final

Modernity

Characterization of industrialized societies, including the decrease of tradition and increase in individualism. As well as a belief in progress, technology, and science. With Modernity comes a strong promise to improve quality of life through technological innovation and scientific understanding. We look to the outside world for answers.

Conflict Theory

Conflict theory assumes that conflict between individuals, group interests, and/or social classes leads to evolutionary social change.

6 habits of sociologically empathetic people

Cultivate curiosity (not judgment) about strangers Challenge prejudices, and discover commonalities Try on another person's life, and feel what it's like to be them Listen closely - and open up to change in your world view Inspire action to social change Develop an ambitious imagination and reasonable faith

4 different Modernity Themes

Economic Political Social Cultural

Gender

Feeling like a man/woman/neither/etc.

Values in American Society

Freedom Prosperity Economic Efficiency Fairness Democracy

Karl Marx

German social theorist who wrote a critique of capitalism. Founder of Conflict Theory He pointed to the inequality among social classes, and the unfairness of the social structure created when a small class of owners drives the productive engines of society. Marx showed that a very elite group owned the means of production, while the remainder of society worked and were exploited for wages.

Sociological Empathy

How can we be more empathetic to others, and social problems?

Methods of Microsociology

Interviews Observation

Sociological Imagination

It is the ability to understand "the intersection between biography and history," or the interplay between our "self and the world."

Verstehen

Method of Understanding

Survey

Method of administering a questionnaire to a sample of respondents from a target population

Levels of Analysis, or Adjusting our Lens

Microsociology Macrosociology

Methods of Macrosociology

Statistics Surveys Historical analysis

Freedom

That people should be able to live their lives, to the greatest degree possible, as they wish. This means people should be free from coercive restrictions imposed by others and, as much as possible, have the capacity to put their life plans into effect.

Agents of Socialization

The Family School Peers Mass Media

Sex

The biological attributes of being male/female/intersex

Gender Identity

The gender label(s) that we attach to ourselves

Sociology

The study of social action and social order

Values, Norms, and Laws

Values and Norms are symbolic culture in action. When we know the norms and values of a group, we can understand beliefs and ideals.

Transgender

When one's sex and gender don't coincide (male≠man, female≠woman)

Auguste Comte

a French social theorist who was the first person to establish a "scientific study of society," or social physics. He called sociology the "Queen of the Sciences." Established Positivism through empiricism

Law

a common type of formally defined norm providing an explicit statement about is permissible and what is illegal in a society.

Socioeconomic status

a measure of an individual's place in a the social system. Used interchangeably with social class

Gender performance

a repetition of actions that we constantly display (the things that we DO)

Norm

a rule of guideline regarding what kinds of behavior are acceptable and appropriate in a culture.

Social Class

a system of stratification based on access to resources such as wealth, property, power, and prestige

Positivism

a theoretical frame that seeks to identify laws that describe a particular reality, through empiricism, or describable through the senses.

Social Theories

abstract propositions that describe how things are and how things should

Means of Production

are anything that create wealth, money, property, factories, and other types of businesses, and the infrastructure necessary to run them.

Bureaucracies

are secondary groups designed to perform tasks efficiently, characterized by specialization, technical competence, hierarchy, written rules, impersonality, and formal written communication.

Values

are what people consider desirable or contemptible, and right or wrong in a particular group. They express everything a cultural group cherishes.

Macrosociological theory

evolved as a way to describe social change, social order, and social inequality.

Masculine

expressing/performing as a man

Feminine

expressing/performing as a woman

Gender expression

how we show our gender to others (the way we appear)

Iron Cage

is Weber's way to describe modern life, where people are caught in bureaucratic structures that control our lives through rigid rules and rationalization.

Culture

is a lens that can limit or broaden our understanding of life, and our world.

Structural Functionalism

is a theory that assumes that society is a unified whole that functions because of the contributions of it's separate structures

Capitalism

is an economic system based on private ownership of the means of production and characterized by competition, the profit motive, and wage labor. Capitalism created distinct social and economic classes, with large gap between very rich and very poor.

Culture

is learned and is a way to make sense of our is learned and is a way to make sense of our world.

Rationalization

is the application of economic and mechanistic logic to human activity. The use of formal rules and regulations in order to maximize efficiency without consideration of individual concerns

Solidarity

is the degree of integration or unity within a particular society; the extent to which people feel connected to other members of the group

Culture

is the entire way of life of a group of people (including both material and symbolic elements) that acts as a lens through which one views the world and is passed from one generation to the next.

Inequalites

lead to unfair advantage and exploitation.

Differences

lead to variety and diversity

Cisgender

not transgender (male=man, female=woman)

Bourgeoisie

owners

Sociology

study of "people doing things together." Howard Becker

Social Stratification

the division of society into groups arranged in a social hierarchy

Prosperity

the idea that an economy should generate a high standard of living for most people, not just a small privileged elite.

Democracy

the idea that our public decisions should reflect the collective will of equal citizens, not of powerful and privileged elites.

Fairness

the idea that people should be treated justly and that they should have equal opportunity to make something of their lives without unfair privileges and unfair disadvantages.

Economic Efficiency

the idea that the economy should generate rational outcomes, effectively balancing costs and benefits in the way resources are used.

Microsociology

the level of analysis that studies face-to-face and small group interaction to understand how they affect the larger patterns and institutions in society.

Macrosociology

the level of analysis that studies large scale social structures to determine how they affect the lives of groups and individuals.

Nature vs. Nurture

the ongoing debate over the respective roles of genetics and socialization in determining individual behaviors and traits

Sociological Mindfulness

the practice of paying attention to the problems, hardships, and struggles other people face.

Sociological Mindfulness

the practice of tuning-in to how the social world works

Socialization

the process of learning and internalizing the values, beliefs, and norms of our social group, by which we become functioning members of society.

Roles

the set of behaviors expected of someone because of their status

Sociology

the systematic or scientific study of human society and social behavior

Social Inequality

the unequal distribution of wealth, power, and prestige among members of society

Emile Durkheim

was a French social theorist Durkheim was interested in understanding how society was ordered and structured, AKA social solidarity.

Karl Weber

was a German Social theorist who was most interested in the process of social action, values, and rationalization.

Passing

when others think you are the gender that you are trying to express/perform

Proletariat

workers

Economic

(how are goods made and traded) The evolution of industrialization, towards a global, consumer post-industrial economy

Social

(how are people organized) Large hierchical social structures based on class and status. Living in Mostly urban, suburban areas.

Political

(how is power negotiated in society) Liberal democratic state

Cultural

(what is our knowledge, and how do people make meaning) Science, objectivity, individualism, fragmentation of experience, commodification and consumption, and rationalization of all aspects of life.