SOCIOLOGY EXAM 2 Ch. 2,3,6

First human

"Scientists believe that the first humans evolved from apelike creatures on the African continent some 4 million years ago. "

"social change has affected cultural development. "

"The point of doing this is to tie together closely the two aspects of human social existence—the different cultural values and products that human beings have devel- oped and the contrasting types of society in which such cultural development has oc- curred. -Too often, culture is discussed separately from society as though the two were disconnected, whereas in fact, as we've already emphasized, they are closely inter- twined. "

nature/nurture" debate: Are we shaped by our biology or are we products of learning through life's experiences—that is, of nurture? Biologists and some psychologists em- phasize biological factors in explaining human thinking and behavior. Sociologists, not surprisingly, stress the role of learning and culture.

"They are also likely to argue that because human beings are capable of making conscious choices, neither biology nor culture wholly determines human behavior."

Our secrets powerfully reveal the social norms that govern our behavior.

********* social norms deep shame from violating these behavioral expectations but many are willing to share anonymously online means that norm violations are common ***** (PostSecret....also)

"reproductive strategy."

- A reproductive strategy is a pattern of behavior, arrived at through evolutionary selection, that favors the chances of survival of offspring. - Thus, according to sociobiologists, women will not squander that investment and are not driven to have sexual relations with many partners; their overriding aim is the care and protection of children. Men, on the other hand, tend toward promiscuity. - which is to maximize the possibility of impregnation

law

A rule of behavior estab- lished by a political authority and backed by state power.

ageism

Discrimination or prejudice against a person on the grounds of age

cc Compare the two main types of premodern societies.

Because writing was used and sci- ence and art flourished, these societies are often called civilizations. -The Chinese empire Most traditional (premodern) civilizations were also empires: They achieved their size through the conquest and incorporation of other peoples. -Traditional Rome and China."

Sociobiologists do not argue that our genes determine 100 percent of our behavior.

Example) argues that men can choose nonaggressive ways... open up field of sociobiology to culture as an additional explanatory factor in describing human behavior so social scientists have "critiqued" sociobiology for claiming that particular behaviors like violence... are "genetically programmed"

deviance

Modes of action that do not conform to the norms or values held by most members of a group or society. What is regarded as deviant is as variable as the norms and values that distinguish different cultures and subcultures from one another.

ethnocentrism

The tendency to look at other cultures through the eyes of one's own culture, and thereby misrepresent them

life course

The various transitions and stages people experience during their lives.

... associated with the functionalist school, regard social roles as fixed and relatively unchanging parts of a society's culture. According to this view, individuals learn the expectations that surround social positions in their particular culture and perform those roles largely as they have been defined. Social roles do not involve negotiation or creativity. Rather, they prescribe, contain, and direct an individual's behavior. Through socialization, individuals internalize social roles and learn how to carry them out.

This view, however, is mistaken. It suggests that individuals simply take on roles, rather than creating or negotiating them. Socialization is a process in which humans can exercise agency; we are not simply passive subjects waiting to be instructed or pro- grammed. Individuals come to understand and assume social roles through an ongo- ing process of social interaction.

subculture

Values and norms distinct from those of the majority, held by a group within a wider society. -This, in turn, has led to the emergence of societies that are cultural compos- ites, meaning that the population is made up of a number of groups from diverse cul- tural and linguistic backgrounds. In modern cities, many subcultural communities live side by side. For example, over ninety different cultural groups can be found in New York City today. Some experts have estimated that as many as eight hundred different languages are regularly spoken by residents of New York City and its sur- rounding boroughs (). -**Muslim woman in France not allowed to cover face with veil because it goes agains France's liberty and equality ... This controversy over Muslim women's veils vividly portrays the challenges when differ**

All cultures provide for childhood socialization, but what and how children are taught varies greatly from culture to culture. An American child learns the multi- plication tables from a classroom teacher, while a child born in the forests of Borneo learns to hunt with older members of the tribe.

Western images of beauty on the Internet, cultural definitions of beauty throughout the world are growing nar- rower and increasingly emphasize the slender physique...

Although the Internet is highly popular in Kuwait, Wheeler found that Kuwaitis were extremely reluctant to voice strong opinions or political views online.

With the exception of discussing conservative Islamic religious beliefs, which are freely disseminated over the Internet, Kuwaitis were remarkably inhibited online.

One instance of this is the effect of technology and globalization on the many cultures of the world; for example, would Pussy Riot have received support from artists throughout the world without technology to help them spread their message? We explore this topic in the conclusion to this chapter.

You might have even learned about Pussy Riot on the Internet and watched their videos on YouTube. A casual search reveals thousands of websites and apps devoted to different cultures and subcultures. Although sociologists do not yet fully understand these processes, they often con- clude that despite the powerful forces of globalization operating in the world today, local cultures remain strong and indeed flourish. Yet as the cautionary tale of Pussy Riot reveals, local cultural and social movements can thrive and flourish only if they are allowed to do so. Given the rapid social changes in recent decades, it is still too soon to tell whether and how globalization will transform our world, whether it will result in the homogenization of the world's diverse cultures, the flourishing of many individual cultures, or both.

"Values and norms work together to shape how members of a culture behave within their surroundings."

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All cultures incorporate ways of communicating and expressing meaning. All cultures also depend on material objects in daily life.

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Culture (early humans) -compensate for physical limitation -freed humans from dependence

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For a sociological perspective, the concept includes these activities, but also many more. Culture refers to the ways of life of the individual members or groups within a society: their apparel, marriage customs and family life, patterns of work, religious ceremonies, and leisure pursuits. The concept also covers the goods they create and the goods that become meaningful for them—bows and arrows, plows, facto- ries and machines, computers, books, dwellings. We should think of culture as a "design for living" or "tool kit" of practices, knowledge, and symbols acquired...through learning rather than by instinct.

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Health care providers also need a thorough understanding of culture if they hope to effectively treat their patients...many cultures are different in how they address or answer doctors... etc examples purple box... :)

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In American culture, dogs are typi- cally regarded as household pets and lavished with affection. Among the Akha of north- ern Thailand, dogs are seen as food and treated accordingly. The diversity of cultural meanings attached to the word dog thus requires an act of interpretation.

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Life course theorists reject what they regard as the one-sided emphases of both functionalism and conflict theories, where older adults are viewed either as merely adapting to the larger society (functionalism) or as victims of the stratification sys- tem (social conflict).

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One of the most distinctive features of human language is that it allows us to vastly extend the scope of our thought and experience. Using language, we can convey information about events remote in time or space and can discuss things we have never seen. We can develop abstract concepts, tell stories, make jokes, and express sarcasm.

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Subcultures and countercultures—groups that largely reject the prevailing values and norms of society— can promote views that represent alternatives to the dominant culture

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assimilationist = melting pot multiculturalism= salad bowl

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cultures that have different environments vary...adaptations...ex) cultures developed by desert dwellers, where water and food were scarce differed significantly than cultures developed in rain forests...

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primary and secondary deviance - primary- initial act of rule breaking ... actions that cause others to label one as a deviant secondary- individual comes to accept the labeling and see himself as a deviant ...continues the deviant behavior accordingly

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use to think that mental illness was results of labels that society ...rather than biochemical processes... today, b/c new understandings in genetics ... toward side of biology

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In 1967, Gerbner founded the Cultural Indicators Project to study the effects of television violence on society.

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cc What are the five stages of the life course, and what are some defining features of each stage?

childhood, the teenager, young adulthood, midlife (middle life), later life ("old age")

Instead, they ask how nature and nurture interact to produce human behavior.

ex) not biological that american straight men like certain woman but rather the exposure to tv adds,magazines etc... that emphasize specific cultural standards of female beauty...

Some cultures value individualism highly, whereas others place great emphasis on collectivism.

example of values and norms varying across cultures ex) cheating on a test in the US vs. Russia U.S.- bad against equality of opportunity, hard work, and respect for the rules Russia- Helping one another pass an examination reflects the value Russians place on equality and on collective problem solving in the face of authority.

Scooby do halloween kid boy dressed up as daphne

mothers were not having it

Mead (Development of self)

social self self-consciousness generalized other

Subcultures not only refers to diff cultural backgrounds or diff languages with a larger society but any segment of the population that is distinguishable from the rest like Goths, computer hackers, hipsters etc...

some refer to just one but others to a variety of different ones

Gender norms are particularly power- ful; women are expected to be more docile, caring, and even more moral than men.

woman roles seen as more eating so very controversial for the pussy riot band to do what they do and be woman and mothers

sanction

A mode of reward or punishment that reinforces socially expected forms of behavior.

society (a bit of culture) p.44

-A group of people who live in a particular territory, are subject to a common system of political authority, and are aware of having a distinct identity from other groups. Some societies, like hunting and gathering societies, are small, numbering no more than a few dozen people. Others are large, numbering millions—modern Chinese society, for instance, has a population of more than a billion people. -A society is a system of interrelationships that connects individuals to- gether. No culture could exist without a society; equally, no society could exist without culture. -no culture= we would not be human not literally, no language,no sense of self-consciousness, ability to think or reason would be severely limited

linguistic relativity hypothesis

-A hypothesis, based on the theories of Edward Sapir and Benjamin Lee Whorf, that perceptions are relative to language. -Which argues that the language we use influences our perceptions of the world. - for example, use terms such as black ice, corn, powder, and packed powder to describe different snow and ice conditions. Such terms enable them to more readily perceive potentially life-threatening situations that would escape the notice of a novice. In a sense, then, expe- rienced winter athletes have a different perception of the world—or at least, a different perception of the alpine slopes—than do novices. -One of the central paradoxes of our time is that despite the globalization of the English language through the Internet and other forms of global media, local at- tachments to language persist, often out of cultural pride. For example, the French-speaking residents of the Canadian province of Quebec are so passionate about their linguistic heritage that they often refuse to speak English, the dominant language of Canada, and periodically seek political independence from the rest of Canada

nation-state

-A particular type of state, characteristic of the modern world, in which a government has sovereign power within a defined territorial area, and the population are citizens who know themselves to be part of a single nation. -The industrialized societies were the first nation-states to come into existence.

folkways

-A subtype of norm; they guide our casual or everyday interactions. Violations are sanctioned subtly or not at all. -For example, cutting in front of someone in line at a coffee shop would be the violation of a folkway, whereas harassing the hardworking barista would be the violation of a more.

sociobiology

-An approach that attempts to explain the behavior of both animals and human beings in terms of biological principles. -The resurgence of biological explanations for human behavior began in the 1970s, when the evolutionary biologist Edward O. Wilson published Sociobiology: The New Synthesis (1975). -The term sociobiology refers to the application of biological principles to explain the social activities of animals, including human beings. -Some suggest that genetic factors explain why, in all human societies that we know of, men tend to hold positions of greater authority than women.

signifier

-Any vehicle of meaning and communication. -Other signifiers, however, include dress, pictures or visual signs, modes of eating, forms of building or architecture, and many other material fea- tures of culture -In our culture, at least until relatively recently, women have worn skirts and men pants, although in other societies the reverse is true (Leach 1976). -Even colors can signify important aspects of culture. In contemporary society, young girls are typically dressed in pink while boys are dressed in blue—but this wasn't always the case. -Ladies' Home Journal stated 19 century both boys and girls wore white use to be that boys wore pink because it was a stronger color and girls wore pink because it was a more delicate color

culture continues p.44 (conformity)

-Culture=Conformity example) when you say you subscribe to a particular value, such as formal learning , you are probably voicing the beliefs that conform to those of your family,friends, etc. significant in your life. -Cultures differ in how much they value conformity- Japanese culture= one extreme in terms of valuing conformity American culture= one of the least conformist (worlds highest in cherishing individualism) -Hipsters of today - Or are their styles perhaps as much the "uniforms" of their group as are navy blue suits among middle-aged business people? There is an aspect of conformity to their behavior—conformity to their own group. -instill in people a willingness to conform...accomplished in two ways- 1) individuals learn the norms of their culture ...most crucial learning during childhood...if learned successfully norms are internalized and they become unquestioned ways of thinking and acting so hey come to appear "normal" (norm=normal) 2) If individual fails to conform to a culture's norms a second way to instal cultural conformity comes into play : social control social control involves punishment of rule breaking (parking tickets to imprisonment) -"Durkheim, one of the founders of sociology (introduced in Chapter 1), argued that punishment serves not only to help guar- antee conformity among those who would violate a culture's norms and values but also to vividly remind others what the norms and values are."

what does a smile mean?

-For example, one does not find the strong tradition of public smiling that exists in many areas of western Europe and North America. This does not mean that the Inuit are cold or unfriendly; it is simply not their common practice to smile at or exchange pleasantries with strangers. - (Eskimos) Greenland don't smile to strangers in public ....but in increasing service industry in Greenland began many employers made efforts to began smiling to customers ...(essentials to competitive business practice)... they even had training videos on friendly service techniques ...even went as far as to be sent to abroad training courses. However this caused initial discomfort by staff because they felt it was insincere and artificial. Public smiling at lest in the work place has become more accepted.

agents of socialization

-Groups or social contexts within which processes of socialization take place. -In this phase, schools, peer groups, social organizations (such as sports teams), the media, and eventually the workplace be- come socializing forces for individuals. Social interactions in these contexts help people learn the values, norms, and beliefs that make up the patterns of their culture. (?) p.77

values p.41 (freedom of expression)

-Ideas held by indi- viduals or groups about what is desirable, proper, good, and bad. What individuals value is strongly influenced by the specific culture in which they happen to live. -Values are abstract ideas ex) monogamy (western) other countries can have several spouses ex) freedom cherished if the U.S but the pussy riots show the competing values of expression and the silent obedience to political/religious authority come into conflict with one another.

The American philosopher and sociologist George Herbert Mead gives atten- tion mainly to how children learn to use the concepts of "I" and "me." Jean Piaget, the Swiss student of child behavior, focused on cognition—the ways in which children learn to think about themselves and their environment.

-Mead called this "taking the role of the other"—learning what it is like to be in the shoes of another person. At this stage, chil- dren acquire a developed sense of self; that is, they develop an understanding of them- selves as separate agents—as a "me"—by seeing themselves through the eyes of others. -We achieve self-awareness, according to Mead, when we learn to distinguish the "me" from the "I".

norms p.41 (eye contact)

-Rules of conduct that specify appropriate behavior in a given range of social situations. A norm either prescribes a given type of behavior or forbids it. All human groups follow definite norms, which are always backed by sanctions of one kind or another— varying from informal disapproval to physical punishment. -Norms are widely agreed-upon principles or rules people are expected to observe; they represent the dos and don'ts of social life. ex) some marriages suppose to keep close relationship with in laws and in others keep a distance -Norms- eye contact western -good to have eye contact with strangers....rude not to look navajo-bad to have eye contact with strangers ...rude to look if a western and navajo meet many misunderstandings may appear and these misunder... can lead to generalizations and stereotypes

social roles

-Socially defined expectations of an individual in a given status, or occupying a particular social position. In every society, individuals play a number of social roles, such as teenager, parent, worker, or political leader. -...doctor, for example, encompasses a set of behaviors that should be enacted by all indi- vidual doctors, regardless of their personal opinions or outlooks. -Social roles do not involve negotiation or creativity.

pastoral societies

-Societies whose subsistence derives from the rearing of domesticated animals. -Pastoral societies, which rely on domesticated livestock as their means of livelihood, still exist in certain areas of Africa, the Middle East, and Central Asia.

assimilation

-The acceptance of a minority group by a majority population, in which the new group takes on the values and norms of the dominant culture. -In fact, identification based on race or country of origin in the United States persists today and is particularly strong among African Americans and immigrants from Asia, Mexico, and Latin America (Totti 1987).

aging

-The combination of bio- logical, psychological, and social processes that affect people as they grow older. -These three processes suggest the metaphor of three different, although interrelated, developmental "clocks": (1) a bio- logical one, which refers to the physical body; (2) a psychological one, which refers to the mind and mental capabilities; and (3) a social one, which refers to cultural norms, values, and role expectations having to do with age.

sanction

A mode of reward or punishment that reinforces socially expected forms of behavior. -Sanctions may be positive (the offering of rewards for conformity) or negative (punishment for behavior that does not conform). They can also be formal or informal.

material goods p.42

-The physical objects that a society creates; these influence the ways in which people live. -These objects, in turn, influence how we live. They include the food we eat, the clothes we wear, the cars we drive to the houses we live in; the tools and technologies we use to make those goods, from sewing machines to comput- erized factories; and the towns and cities that we build as places in which to live and work. -the article of clothing the pussy riots choose to wear reflect how they want to commnunicate very powerful social meaning ....in colorado this would not work(bright ski masks) What people wear may reveal what they believe, how they live, and what norms and values they abide by.

cultural relativism

-The practice of judging a society by its own standards. -Applying cultural relativism—that is, suspending your own deeply held cul- tural beliefs and examining a situation according to the standards of another culture can be fraught with uncertainty and challenge.

culture p.41

-The values, norms, and material goods characteristic of a given group. Like the concept of society, the notion of culture is widely used in sociology and the other social sciences (particularly anthropology). Culture is one of the most distinctive properties of human social association. -The sociological study of culture began with Émile Durkheim in the nineteenth cen- tury and soon became the basis of anthropology, a social science specifically focused on the study of cultural differences and similarities among the world's peoples.

multiculturalism

-The view- point according to which ethnic groups can exist separately and share equally in economic and political life. -Given the immense cultural diversity and number of subcultures in the United States, a more appropriate metaphor than the assimilationist "melting pot" might be the culturally diverse "salad bowl," in which all the various ingredients, though mixed together, retain some of their original flavor and integrity, contributing to the richness of the salad as a whole. -This viewpoint, termed multiculturalism, calls for respecting cultural diversity and promoting equality of different cultures. -Adherents to multiculturalism acknowledge that certain central cultural values are shared by most people in a society but also that certain important differences deserve to be preserved (Anzaldua 1990).

continuity theory

-Theoretical perspective on aging that specifies that older adults fare best when they participate in activities consis- tent with their personality, prefer- ences, and activities earlier in life. -For instance, a retired elementary school teacher may find volunteering at a local elementary school to be much more satisfying than taking bus trips to Atlantic City or playing bingo at a local community center.

smoking p.43

-U.s. surgeons general report "Smoking and Health" which presented definitive medical evidence linking smoking to serious health problems....a social norm favoring smoking (sex appeal, glamour) has also given way to antismoking social norm (unhealthy, unattractive, selfish) -Smoking was portrayed as sophisticated and elegant in the 1950s. Today, smokers are vilified for harming themselves and their children. What has contributed to these drastic changes in our perceptions of smokers?

life course theory

A per- spective based on the assumptions that the aging process is shaped by historical time and place; individuals make choices that reflect both opportunities and constraints; aging is a lifelong pro- cess; and the relationships, events, and experiences of early life have consequences for later life.

cultural universals

-Values or modes of behavior shared by all human cultures. -Amid the diversity of human behavior, several cultural universals prevail. For example, there is no known culture without a grammatically complex language. -All cultures possess some recognizable form of family system, in which there are values and norms associated with the care of children. -The institution of marriage is a cultural universal, as are religious rituals and property rights. -incest prohibition—the banning of sexual re- lations between close relatives - variety of other cultural universals have been identified by anthropologists, including art, dancing, bodily adornment, games, gift giving, joking, and rules of hygiene.

writing

-Writing first began as the drawing up of lists. Marks would be made on wood, clay, or stone to keep records about signifi- cant events, objects, or people. -For example, a mark, or sometimes a picture, might be drawn to represent each tract of land possessed by a particular family or set of families -A society that possesses writing can locate itself in time and space. - Ideas and experiences can be passed down through generations in cultures without writing, but only if they are regularly repeated and passed on by word of mouth. Written texts, on the other hand, can endure for thousands of years, and through them people from past ages can in a certain sense address us directly. This is, of course, why documentary research is so important to historians. By interpreting the texts that are left behind by past generations, historians can reconstruct what their lives were like."

The globalizing of social relations should be understood primarily as the reordering of time and distance in social life. Our lives, in other words, are increasingly and quickly influenced by events happen- ing far away from our everyday activities.

-brought good things but also brought terrorism -talaban p.68

ew...genital mutilation... young girls...clitoridectomies

-large majority favored the procedure for their own daughters, primarily for cultural reasons; they would be viewed as social outcasts if they did not have the procedure. - Clitoridectomies are re- garded with abhorrence by most people from other cultures and by a growing number of women in the cultures where they are practiced -In France, many mothers in the North African immigrant community arrange for traditional clitoridectomies to be performed on their daughters. Some of these women have been tried and convicted under French law for mutilating their daughters. They complain that the French are ethnocentric, judging traditional African rituals by French customs.

Pussy Riot is a cultural icon—an edgy, angry Russian feminist punk rock pro- test group and YouTube sensation.

-many celebrities support them but seen by the russioan orthdox church as criminals (Influential musicians like Madonna and Sting have embraced Pussy Riot, celebrating their radical politics and feminist messages and supporting their right to freedom of speech.) -Formed in August 2011, days after Russian president Vladimir Putin announced his plans to run for re-election, Pussy Riot began staging miniature flash protests in pub- lic places like the Moscow Metro and store windows. -performed short, fast, po- litically charged punk songs critical of Putin's government, especially its restrictive positions on women's and LGBT issues. These performances were recorded and then posted on the Internet for the entire world to see. -performed short, fast, po- litically charged punk songs critical of Putin's government, especially its restrictive positions on women's and LGBT issues. These performances were recorded and then posted on the Internet for the entire world to see. -"On August 17, 2012, after long and intricate legal proceedings, three members of the band were convicted of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred and sentenced to two years in a penal colony (Freed 2012)." -Almost instantly after the sentence was announced, protests erupted in the group's native Russia and throughout the world...made a day after them and many in person and online continue to support them. -Putin Will Teach You to Love the Motherland"— slamming Putin and Russia's handling of the Winter Games. -"The lyrics called for a popular revolt against the Russian government and an occupation of Russia's main square. During the performance they ignited a smoke bomb that led to their arrest and detainment for a misdemeanor. Two members were found guilty and each had to pay a fine of 500 rubles (roughly $15). -****The church and local government's attack on members of Pussy Riot—and the outcry of support from international artists, politicians, and musicians— raises important questions about values and culture in our increasingly diverse and global society.****

Egalitarian (Hunting) p. 57-58

-more info on pages -While we shouldn't idealize the circumstances in which hunters and gatherers lived, the lack of major inequalities of wealth and power and the emphasis on cooperation rather than competition are instructive reminders that the world created by modern industrial civilization is not necessarily to be equated with progress.

horticulture

-small gardens cultivated by the use of simple hoes or digging instruments -more reliable source of food -make larger stocks because where not on the move like pastoral communities

Is it possible to describe an "American" culture? p.43

1. refelects a particular set of values shared by many.... belief in the merit of individual achievement or in equality of opportunity 2. these values are connected to specific norms ex) usually expected that people will work hard to achieve occupational success 3. the use of material artifacts created mostly through modern industrial technology like cars,mass produced food, clothing etc.

Piaget (The stages of cognitive development)

1st- birth to 2 yrs old sensorimotor stage 2nd- 2- 7 yrs old pre-operational stage egocentric 3rd- 7-11 yrs old concrete operational stage (1st-3rd universal) 4th- 11-15 yrs old formal operational stage (4th not all adults reach)

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generalized other

A concept in the theory of George Herbert Mead, according to which the individual takes over the general values of a given group or society during the socialization process.

nuclear family

A family group consisting of an adult or adult couple and their dependent children.

instinct p.43

A fixed pattern of behavior that has genetic origins and that appears in all normal animals within a given species.

peer group

A friendship group composed of individuals of similar age and social status.

disengagement theory (Talcott Parsons)

A functionalist theory of aging that holds that it is functional for soci- ety to remove people from their traditional roles when they become elderly, thereby freeing up those roles for others.

activity theory

A functionalist theory of aging, which holds that busy, engaged people are more likely to lead fulfilling and produc- tive lives.

nationalism

A set of beliefs and symbols expressing identification with a national community.

marriage

A socially approved sexual relationship between two individuals. Marriage normally forms the basis of a family of procreation— that is, it is expected that the married couple will produce and raise children.

concrete operational stage

A stage of human cognitive development, as formulated by Jean Piaget, in which the child's thinking is based primarily on physical perception of the world. In this phase, the child is not yet capable of dealing with abstract concepts or hypothetical situations.

deviant subculture

A subculture whose members hold values that differ substantially from those of the majority.

mores

A subtype of norm; they are widely adhered to and have great moral or social significance. Violations are generally sanctioned strongly.

formal operational stage

According to Jean Piaget, a stage of human cogni- tive development at which the growing child becomes capable of handling abstract concepts and hypothetical situations.

pre-operational stage

According to Jean Piaget, a stage of human cognitive development in which the child has advanced suf- ficiently to master basic modes of logical thought.

sensorimotor stage

According to Jean Piaget, a stage of human cognitive development in which the child's awareness of his or her environment is dominated by perception and touch.

egocentric

According to Jean Piaget, the characteristic quality of a child during the early years of his or her life. Egocentric thinking involves understanding objects and events in the environment solely in terms of the child's own position.

crime

Any action that contravenes the laws established by a political authority.

social conflict theories of aging

Arguments that empha- size the ways in which the larger social structure helps to shape the opportunities available to the elderly. Unequal opportunities are seen as creating the potential for conflict.

self-consciousness

Awareness of one's distinct social identity as a person separate from others. Human beings are not born with self-consciousness but acquire an awareness of self as a result of early socialization.

The study of cultural differences highlights the importance of cultural learning as an influence on our behavior. Human behavior and practices—as well as beliefs—also vary widely from culture to culture and often contrast radically with what people from Western societies consider normal.

For example, in the modern West, we regard the deliberate killing of infants or young children as one of the worst of all crimes. Yet in traditional Chinese culture, female children were sometimes strangled at birth because a daughter was regarded as a liability rather than an asset to the family. -oysters but we do not eat kittens or puppies, both of which are regarded as delicacies in some parts of the world. -kissing "regard kissing as a normal part of sexual behavior, but in other cultures the practice is either unknown or regarded as disgusting"

industrialized societies

Highly developed nation-states in which the majority of the population work in factories or offices rather than in agriculture, and most people live in urban areas.

cognition

Human thought processes involving perception, reasoning, and remembering.

norms

Rules of conduct that specify appropriate behavior in a given range of social situations. A norm either prescribes a given type of behavior or forbids it. All human groups follow norms, which are always backed by sanctions of one kind or another—varying from informal disapproval to physical punishment.

social gerontologists

Social scientists who study aging and the elderly.

agrarian societies

Societies whose means of subsistence are based on agricultural production (crop growing)

oldest old

Sociological term for persons age eighty-five and older.

old old

Sociological term for persons between the ages of seventy-five and eighty-four.

young old

Sociological term for persons between the ages of sixty-five and seventy-four.

Because humans think and act in so many different ways, sociologists do not be- lieve that "biology is destiny." If biology were all-important, we would expect all cul- tures to be highly similar, if not identical. Yet this is hardly the case. For example, pork is forbidden to religious Jews and Muslims, but it is a dietary staple in China. This is not to say that human cultures have nothing in common.

Surveys of thousands of different cultures have concluded that all known human cultures have such common characteristics as language, forms of emotional expression, rules that tell adults how to raise children or engage in sexual behavior, and even standards of beauty (Brown 1991).

The forces that produce a global culture are discussed throughout this book. These include:

Television Unified global economy (with businesses whose factories, management structures, and markets often span continents and countries) "Global citizens" international organizations - united nations agencies, regional trade and mutual defense associations, multinational banks, global etc... Electronic communications - social media email, text, cell phone

social self

The basis of self- consciousness in human indi- viduals, according to the theory of George Herbert Mead. The social self is the identity conferred upon an individual by the reactions of others. A person achieves self- consciousness by becoming aware of this social identity.

biological determinism

The belief that differences we observe between groups of people, such as men and women, are explained wholly by biological causes -Sociologists tend to argue strongly against biological determinism...

industrialization

The emergence of machine production, based on the use of inanimate power resources (such as steam or electricity).

age-grades

The system found in small traditional cultures by which people belonging to a similar age group are categorized together and hold similar rights and obligations.

developing world

The less- developed societies, in which industrial production is either virtually nonexistent or only developed to a limited degree. The majority of the world's population live in less-developed countries.

self-identity

The ongoing process of self-development and definition of our personal identity through which we formulate a unique sense of ourselves and our relationship to the world around us.

language

The primary vehicle of meaning and communication in a society, language is a system of symbols that represent objects and abstract thoughts.

resocialization

The process of learning new norms, values, and behaviors when one joins a new group or takes on a new social role, or when life circumstances change dramatically.

colonialism

The process whereby Western nations estab- lished their rule in parts of the world away from their home territories.

social reproduction

The process whereby societies have structural continuity over time. Social reproduction is an important pathway through which parents transmit or produce values, norms, and social practices among their children.

In this instance, globalization has led to a fundamental clash of cultural norms and values that has forced members of both cultures to confront some of their most deeply held beliefs.

The role of the soci- ologist is to avoid knee-jerk responses and to examine complex questions carefully from as many different angles as possible.

socialization

The social processes through which we develop an awareness of social norms and values and achieve a distinct sense of self.

cc Contrast pastoral and agrarian societies.

pastoral - livestock, migrate a lot agrarian- crops