Sociology Final Chapters: 1,2,5,9,11,12,20
What is segregation? Please be familiar with the Plessey v. Ferguson as well as the Brown v. Board ruling.
Segregation refers to the physical separation of two groups, particularly in residence, but also in workplace and social functions. It is important to distinguish between de jure segregation (segregation that is enforced by law) and de facto segregation (segregation that occurs without laws but because of other factors). A stark example of de jure segregation is the apartheid movement of South Africa, which existed from 1948 to 1994. Under apartheid, black South Africans were stripped of their civil rights and forcibly relocated to areas that segregated them physically from their white compatriots. Only after decades of degradation, violent uprisings, and international advocacy was apartheid finally abolished. De jure segregation occurred in the United States for many years after the Civil War. During this time, many former Confederate states passed Jim Crow laws that required segregated facilities for blacks and whites. These laws were codified in 1896's landmark Supreme Court case Plessey v. Ferguson, which stated that "separate but equal" facilities were constitutional. For the next five decades, blacks were subjected to legalized discrimination, forced to live, work, and go to school in separate—but unequal—facilities. It wasn't until 1954 and the Brown v. Board of Education case that the Supreme Court declared that "separate educational facilities are inherently unequal," thus ending de jure segregation in the United States.
What is sexism?
Sexism refers to prejudiced beliefs that value one sex over another.
What did Gilligan find in her study?
She found 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, while girls have a care and responsibility perspective.
What is social mobility?
Social Mobility: the ability to change positions within a social stratification system. When people improve or diminish their economic status in a way that affects social class they experience social mobility. Upward mobility= upward shift in social class. Downward Mobility= lowering of one's social class. intergenerational mobility=different generations of a family to belong to varying social classes. intragenerational mobility= describes a difference in social class that between different members of the same generation. Structural mobility= happens when societal changes enable a whole group of people to move up or down the social class ladder.
How is social stratification defined?
Social Stratification: a socioeconomic system that divides society's members into categories ranking from high to low, based on things like wealth, power, and prestige. -Sociologists use the term social stratification to describe the system of social standing. Social stratification refers to a society's categorization of its people into rankings of socioeconomic tiers based on factors like wealth, income, race, education, and power.
How do the different theories view social stratification
Social stratification can be examined from different sociological perspectives—functionalism, conflict theory, and symbolic interactionism. The functionalist perspective states that systems exist in society for good reasons. Conflict theorists observe that stratification promotes inequality, such as between rich business owners and poor workers. Symbolic interactionists examine stratification from a micro-level perspective. They observe how social standing affects people's everyday interactions and how the concept of "social class" is constructed and maintained through everyday interactions.
What is status consistency?
Status Consistency: the consistency, or lack thereof, of an individual's rank across social categories like income, education, and occupation. Caste systems correlate with high status consistency, whereas the more flexible class system has lower status consistency. - There are inconsistencies between Susan's educational level, her occupation, and her income. In a class system, a person can work hard and have little education and still be in middle or upper class, whereas in a caste system that would not be possible. In a class system, low status consistency correlates with having more choices and opportunities.
What is a stereotype
Stereotype: Oversimplified ideas/generalizations about groups of people. It can be based on race, ethnicity, age, gender, sexual orientation- almost any characteristic.
What did the Harlow's find in their study on rhesus monkeys?
That baby rhesus monkeys need to be raised with social contact for healthy development.
What are the views of sexuality in the US?
The United States prides itself on being the land of the "free," but it is rather restrictive when it comes to its citizens' general attitudes about sex compared to other industrialized nations
What is Mead's concept of the self? What are the play, game, and generalized other stages?
The concept of self is a person's identity that is developed through social interaction. The play, game and generalized stages are the paths that people go through in order to develop. The play stage is when a child begins to take on the role one other person might have (dress up), The game stage is when children learn to consider several roles at the same time and how those roles interact with each other. The generalized other is the common behavioral expectations of general society. In this stage a person will be able to imagine how he or she is viewed by one or many others.
How did the great recession affect the economy? Social life?
The nation fell into a period of very high unemployment. The lower classes felt the impact the most. As the recession hit, they were often among the first to lose their jobs. They face more than loss of income. Their homes were foreclosed, their cars were repossessed, and their ability to afford health care was taken away. -It changed social attitudes. It was once important to flaunt designer items, but not there a new thriftier way of thinking. It is not about how much we spend, it is about how much we do not spend. For example, the song "Thrift Shop" by Macklemore.
What is the nature versus nurture distinction/debate?
The nature versus nurture debates whether who we are is dependent on our relationships or our genetics.
What are Freud's psychosexual stages? What happens if we don't engage or disengage from a particular stage?
The stages are: oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital. Failure to engage in or disengage from a specific stage results in emotional and psychological consequences throughout adulthood. An adult with an oral fixation may indulge in overeating or binge drinking. An anal fixation may produce a neat freak (hence the term "anal retentive"), while a person stuck in the phallic stage may be promiscuous or emotionally immature
What is environmental sociology?
The subfield of environmental sociology studies the way humans interact with their environments. This field is closely related to human ecology, which focuses on the relationship between people and their built and natural environment. This is an area that is garnering more attention as extreme weather patterns and policy battles over climate change dominate the news. A key factor of environmental sociology is the concept of carrying capacity, which describes the maximum amount of life that can be sustained within a given area. While this concept can refer to grazing lands or to rivers, we can also apply it to the earth as a whole.
What is symbolic Interactionism? Who identified with this?
The symbolic interaction perspective, also called symbolic interactionism, is a major framework of sociological theory. This perspective relies on the symbolic meaning that people develop and rely upon in the process of social interaction. Although symbolic interactionism traces its origins to Max Weber's assertion that individuals act according to their interpretation of the meaning of their world, the American philosopher George Herbert Mead introduced this perspective to American sociology in the 1920s.
What does the term gender role mean? How do we learn gender roles?
The term gender role refers to society's concept of how men and women are expected to look and how they should behave. These roles are based on norms, or standards, created by society. One way children learn gender roles is through play
What are the three levels of class usually used by sociologists when studying the US?
Upper, middle, lower class
How is urbanization defined? What do urban sociologists study?
Urbanization is the study of the social, political, and economic relationships in cities, and someone specializing in urban sociology studies those relationships.
How do the three perspectives view sexuality?
When it comes to sexuality, functionalists stress the importance of regulating sexual behavior to ensure marital cohesion and family stability. Since functionalists identify the family unit as the most integral component in society, they maintain a strict focus on it at all times and argue in favor of social arrangements that promote and ensure family preservation. From a conflict theory perspective, sexuality is another area in which power differentials are present and where dominant groups actively work to promote their worldview as well as their economic interests. Recently, we have seen the debate over the legalization of gay marriage intensify nationwide. Interactionists focus on the meanings associated with sexuality and with sexual orientation
What does it mean to do gender?
When people perform tasks or possess characteristics based on the gender role assigned to them, they are said to be doing gender
What is climate change and what drives it?
While you might be more familiar with the phrase "global warming," climate change is the term now used to refer to long-term shifts in temperatures due to human activity and, in particular, the release of greenhouse gases into the environment. The planet as a whole is warming, but the term climate change acknowledges that the short-term variations in this process can include both higher and lower temperatures, despite the overarching trend toward warmth.
What is society?
a group of people who live in a defined geographical area who interact with one another and who share a common culture.
What is demography?
demography, or the study of populations
What is socialization?
is the process through which people are taught to be proficient members of a society. It describes the ways that people come to understand societal norms and expectations, to accept society's beliefs, and to be aware of societal values. Socialization is not the same as socializing (interacting with others, like family, friends, and coworkers); to be precise, it is a sociological process that occurs through socializing.
What is the social construction of race?
ocial Construction of race: the school of thought that race is not biologically identifiable. It is a more sociological way of understanding racial categories. Research in this school of thought suggests that race is not biologically identifiable and that previous racial categories were arbitrarily assigned, based on pseudoscience, and used to justify racist practices.
What is the definition of sociology?
the study of groups and group interactions, societies, and social interactions, from small and personal groups to very large groups.
What is the caste system?
-Caste System: (closed stratification system) A system in which people are born into a social standing that they will stay in their entire lives. People are assigned occupations regardless of their talents, interests, or potential. There are virtually no opportunities to improve a person's social position.
Colorism?
-Colorism: The belief that one type of skin tone is superior or inferior within a racial group. Studies suggest that darker skinned African Americans experience more discrimination than lighter skinned African Americans. For example, if a white employer believes a black employee with a darker skin tone is less capable than a black employer with lighter skin tone, that is colorism.
What is correlation? (Remember, correlation is NOT the same as causation)
-Correlation: When a change in one variable coincides with a change in another variable, but does not necessarily indicate causation.
What is de facto segregation?
-De Facto Segregation: Segregation that occurs without laws but because of other factors. In Ferguson's schools, a race-based wealth gap, urban sprawl, and a black unemployment rate three times that of the white unemployment rate worsened existing racial tensions in Ferguson while also reflecting nationwide racial inequalities.
What is empirical evidence?
-Empirical Evidence: Evidence that comes from direct experience, scientifically gathered data, or experimentation.
What is Functionalism and who was a functionalist?
-Functionalism (structural-functional theory): a macro or mid level theoretical approach that sees society as a structure with interrelated parts designed to meet the biological and social needs of individuals that make up society (Herbert Spencer and Emile Durkheim). The way each part of society functions together to contribute to the whole.
How do the theoretical perspectives view race?
-Functionalist views of race study the role dominant and subordinate groups play to create a stable social structure. - Conflict theorists examine power disparities and struggles between various racial and ethnic groups. -Interactionists see race and ethnicity as important sources of individual identity and social symbolism. The concept of culture of prejudice recognizes that all people are subject to stereotypes that are ingrained in their culture.
What is the Hawthorne effect?
-Hawthorne Effect: When study subjects behave in a certain manner due to their awareness of being observed by a researcher. When people change their behavior because they know they are being watched as part of a study.
What is a hypothesis?
-Hypothesis: A testable educated guess about predicted outcomes between two or more variables.
What is an independent variable? Dependent variable?
-Independent Variable: Variables that cause changes in dependent variables. The CAUSE of the change. -Dependent Variable: Is the EFFECT, or the thing that is changed. A variable changed by other variables.
What is Macro-analysis?
-Macro-level: a wide-scale view of the role of social structures within a society.
What is Micro-analysis?
-Micro-level: the study of specific relationships between individuals or small groups.
What is an operational definition?
-Operational Definition: Specific explanations of abstract concepts that a researcher plans to study. They define the concept in terms of the physical or concrete steps it takes to objectively measure it.
How is race defined? Ethnicity? Minority group?
-Race: the idea of race refers to superficial physical differences that a particular society considers. -Ethnicity: Describes shared culture- the practices, values, and beliefs of a group. -Minority (subordinate group): Describes groups that are subordinate, or that lack power in society regardless of skin color or country of origin. Any group of people who, because of their physical or cultural characteristics, are singled out from the others in the society
What is racial steering? And redlining?
-Racial Steering: In which real estate agents direct prospective homeowners toward or away from certain neighborhoods based on their race. -Redlining: the practice of routinely refusing mortgages for households and business located in predominately minority communities.
What is reification
-Reification: an error of treating an abstract concept as though it has a real, material existence.
What is reliability?
-Reliability: A measure of a study's consistency that considers how likely results are to be replicated if a study is reproduced.
10. What are the steps of the scientific method?
-Scientific Method: An established scholarly research method that involves asking a question, researching existing sources, forming a hypothesis, designing and conducting study, and drawing conclusions.
What is the difference between sex and gender?
-Sex refers to physical or physiological differences between males and females, including both primary sex characteristics (the reproductive system) and secondary characteristics such as height and muscularity. -Gender refers to behaviors, personal traits, and social positions that society attributes to being female or male.
What are social facts?
-Social Facts: the laws, morals, values, religious beliefs, customs, fashions, rituals, and all of the cultural rules that govern social life.
What is the sociological imagination?
-Social Imaginations: Pioneer sociologist C. Wright Mills described it as a theoretical perspective through which scholars examine the relationship of individuals within their society by studying their communication (language and symbols). (described as an awareness of the relationship between a person's behavior and experience and the wider culture that shaped the person's choices and perceptions.) In class notes: how society deals with social problems, realizing that a personal trouble is actually a social issue
What are the ethical concerns of research?
-Sociologists and sociology students must take ethical responsibility for any study they conduct. They must first and foremost guarantee the safety of their participants. Whenever possible, they must ensure that participants have been fully informed before consenting to be part of a study. The ASA (American Sociological Association) maintains ethical guidelines that sociologists must take into account as they conduct research. The guidelines address conducting studies, properly using existing sources, accepting funding, and publishing results. Sociologists must try to maintain value neutrality. They must gather and analyze data objectively and set aside their personal preferences, beliefs, and opinions. They must report findings accurately, even if they contradict personal convictions.
15. What are the different methods of collecting data? What are the strengths and weaknesses of each approach? (Survey, Interview, Field Research, Participant Observation, Ethnography, Case Study, Experiment)
-Survey -Field work -Experiment -Secondary Data analysis
What is Validity?
-Validity: The degree to which a sociological measure accurately reflects the topic of study. (refers to how well the study measures what it was designed to measure)
What is the difference between income and wealth?
-Wealth: the value of money and assets a person has from, for example, inheritance - Income: the money a person earns from work or investments. A person's wages or investment dividends.
What is sexual orientation?
A person's sexual orientation is his or her physical, mental, emotional, and sexual attraction to a particular sex (male or female). Sexual orientation is typically divided into four categories: heterosexuality, the attraction to individuals of the other sex; homosexuality, the attraction to individuals of the same sex; bisexuality, the attraction to individuals of either sex; and asexuality, no attraction to either sex
What is the difference between a refugee and an internally displaced person?
A refugee is defined as an individual who has been forced to leave his or her country in order to escape war, persecution, or natural disaster, while asylum-seekers are those whose claim to refugee status has not been validated. An internally displaced person, on the other hand, is neither a refugee nor an asylum-seeker. Displaced persons have fled their homes while remaining inside their country's borders.
What is Malthusian theory? Demographic transition theory?
According to Malthusian theory, three factors would control human population that exceeded the earth's carrying capacity, or how many people can live in a given area considering the amount of available resources. Malthus identified these factors as war, famine, and disease (Malthus 1798). He termed them "positive checks" because they increase mortality rates, thus keeping the population in check. They are countered by "preventive checks," which also control the population but by reducing fertility rates; preventive checks include birth control and celibacy. Thinking practically, Malthus saw that people could produce only so much food in a given year, yet the population was increasing at an exponential rate. Eventually, he thought people would run out of food and begin to starve. They would go to war over increasingly scarce resources and reduce the population to a manageable level, and then the cycle would begin anew. Of course, this has not exactly happened. The human population has continued to grow long past Malthus's predictions. So what happened? Why didn't we die off? There are three reasons sociologists believe we are continuing to expand the population of our planet. First, technological increases in food production have increased both the amount and quality of calories we can produce per person. Second, human ingenuity has developed new medicine to curtail death from disease. Finally, the development and widespread use of contraception and other forms of family planning have decreased the speed at which our population increases. But what about the future? Some still believe Malthus was correct and that ample resources to support the earth's population will soon run out. Whether you believe that we are headed for environmental disaster and the end of human existence as we know it, or you think people will always adapt to changing circumstances, we can see clear patterns in population growth. Societies develop along a predictable continuum as they evolve from unindustrialized to postindustrial. Demographic transition theory (Caldwell and Caldwell 2006) suggests that future population growth will develop along a predictable four-stage model. In Stage 1, birth, death, and infant mortality rates are all high, while life expectancy is short. An example of this stage is the 1800s in the United States. As countries begin to industrialize, they enter Stage 2, where birthrates are higher while infant mortality and the death rates drop. Life expectancy also increases. Afghanistan is currently in this stage. Stage 3 occurs once a society is thoroughly industrialized; birthrates decline, while life expectancy continues to increase. Death rates continue to decrease. Mexico's population is at this stage. In the final phase, Stage 4, we see the postindustrial era of a society. Birth and death rates are low, people are healthier and live longer, and society enters a phase of population stability. Overall population may even decline. For example, Sweden is considered to be in Stage 4.
Who are the agents of socialization? Be familiar with the examples they give (family, peers, schools, etc)
Agents of socialization are our family, peer groups, school, workplace, religion, government, and mass media.
What is white flight?
As the Social Policy & Debate feature illustrates, the suburbs also have their share of socio-economic problems. In the United States, white flight refers to the migration of economically secure white people from racially mixed urban areas and toward the suburbs. This occurred throughout the twentieth century, due to causes as diverse as the legal end of racial segregation established by Brown v. Board of Education to the Mariel boatlift of Cubans fleeing Cuba's Mariel port for Miami. Current trends include middle-class African-American families following white flight patterns out of cities,
What was the 2014 child migration crisis?
Children have always contributed to the total number of migrants crossing the southern border of the United States illegally, but in 2014, a steady overall increase in unaccompanied minors from Central America reached crisis proportions when tens of thousands of children from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras crossed the Rio Grande and overwhelmed border patrols and local infrastructure (Dart 2014). Since legislators passed the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008 in the last days of the Bush administration, unaccompanied minors from countries that do not share a border with the United States are guaranteed a hearing with an immigration judge where they may request asylum based on a "credible" fear of persecution or torture (U.S. Congress 2008). In some cases, these children are looking for relatives and can be placed with family while awaiting a hearing on their immigration status; in other cases they are held in processing centers until the Department of Health and Human Services makes other arrangements (Popescu 2014). The 2014 surge placed such a strain on state resources that Texas began transferring the children to Immigration and Naturalization facilities in California and elsewhere, without incident for the most part. On July 1, 2014, however, buses carrying the migrant children were blocked by protesters in Murrietta, California, who chanted, "Go home" and "We don't want you." (Fox News and Associated Press 2014; Reyes 2014). Given the fact that these children are fleeing various kinds of violence and extreme poverty, how should the U.S. government respond? Should the government pass laws granting a general amnesty? Or should it follow a zero- tolerance policy, automatically returning any and all unaccompanied minor migrants to their countries of origin so as to discourage additional immigration that will stress the already overwhelmed system?A functional perspective theorist might focus on the dysfunctions caused by the sudden influx of underage asylum seekers, while a conflict perspective theorist might look at the way social stratification influences how the members of a developed country are treating the lower-status migrants from less-developed countries in Latin America. An interactionist theorist might see significance in the attitude of the Murrietta protesters toward the migrant children.
How is gender socialized?
Children learn at a young age that there are distinct expectations for boys and girls. Cross-cultural studies reveal that children are aware of gender roles by age two or three. At four or five, most children are firmly entrenched in culturally appropriate gender roles. Children acquire these roles through socialization, a process in which people learn to behave in a particular way as dictated by societal values, beliefs, and attitudes.
What is a class system?
Class System: social standing based on social factors and individual accomplishments. A class consists of a set of people who share similar status with regard to factors like wealth, income, education, and occupation. Unlike caste systems, class systems are open. People are free to gain a different level of education or employment than their parents. They can also socialize with and marry members of other classes, which allows people to move from one class to another.
What are class traits?
Class Traits: aka class markers, are the typical behaviors, customs, and norms that define each social class. It also indicates the amount of resources a person has to spend on items like hobbies, vacations, and leisure activities.
What is the Conflict theory and who identified most with it?
Conflict Theory: a theory that looks at society as a competition for limited resources. Macro-level approach. Most identified with Karl Marx. The way inequalities contribute to social differences and perpetuate differences in power.
What is environmental racism?
Environmental racism refers to the way in which minority group neighborhoods (populated primarily by people of color and members of low socioeconomic groups) are burdened with a disproportionate number of hazards, including toxic waste facilities, garbage dumps, and other sources of environmental pollution and foul odors that lower the quality of life.
What is fracking?
Fracking, another word for hydraulic fracturing, is a method used to recover gas and oil from shale by drilling down into the earth and directing a high-pressure mixture of water, sand, and proprietary chemicals into the rock. Commonly, this process also includes drilling horizontally into the rock to create new pathways for gas to travel.
How do the three perspectives view gender?
Functionalists argue that gender roles were established well before the pre-industrial era when men typically took care of responsibilities outside of the home, such as hunting, and women typically took care of the domestic responsibilities in or around the home. These roles were considered functional because women were often limited by the physical restraints of pregnancy and nursing and unable to leave the home for long periods of time. Once established, these roles were passed on to subsequent generations since they served as an effective means of keeping the family system functioning properly. According to conflict theory, society is a struggle for dominance among social groups (like women versus men) that compete for scarce resources. When sociologists examine gender from this perspective, we can view men as the dominant group and women as the subordinate group. According to conflict theory, social problems are created when dominant groups exploit or oppress subordinate groups. Consider the Women's Suffrage Movement or the debate over women's "right to choose" their reproductive futures. It is difficult for women to rise above men, as dominant group members create the rules for success and opportunity in society. Symbolic interactionism aims to understand human behavior by analyzing the critical role of symbols in human interaction. This is certainly relevant to the discussion of masculinity and femininity. Imagine that you walk into a bank hoping to get a small loan for school, a home, or a small business venture. If you meet with a male loan officer, you may state your case logically by listing all the hard numbers that make you a qualified applicant as a means of appealing to the analytical characteristics associated with masculinity. If you meet with a female loan officer, you may make an emotional appeal by stating your good intentions as a means of appealing to the caring characteristics associated with femininity.
What is gender dysphoria?
Gender Dysphoria is a condition of people whose gender at birth is contrary to the one they identify with.
What is gender identity? What is the difference between transgender and transsexual?
Gender identity is a person's deeply held internal perception of his or her gender. Individuals who identify with the role that is the different from their biological sex are called transgender. Transgender individuals who attempt to alter their bodies through medical interventions such as surgery and hormonal therapy—so that their physical being is better aligned with gender identity—are called transsexuals .
What is genocide?
Genocide: the deliberate annihilation of a target (usually subordinate) group, is the most toxic intergroup relationship. We can see that genocide has included both the intent to exterminate a group and the function of terminating of a group, intentional or not.
What is gentrification? Sustainable development?
Gentrification occurs when members of the middle and upper classes enter and renovate city areas that have been historically less affluent while the poor urban underclass are forced by resulting price pressures to leave those neighborhoods for increasingly decaying portions of the city. In the next forty years, the biggest global challenge for urbanized populations, particularly in less developed countries, will be to achieve development that occurs without depleting or damaging the natural environment, also called sustainable development.
What is global stratification?
Global Stratification: a comparison of the wealth, economic stability, status, and power of countries as a whole. It highlights worldwide patterns of social inequality.
What does it mean to live in an heteronormative society?
Heteronormative: The United States is a heteronormative society, meaning it assumes sexual orientation is biologically determined and unambiguous.
What is heterosexism?
Heterosexism: Herek (1990) suggests is both an ideology and a set of institutional practices that privilege heterosexuals and heterosexuality over other sexual orientations. Much like racism and sexism, heterosexism is a systematic disadvantage embedded in our social institutions, offering power to those who conform to hetereosexual orientation while simultaneously disadvantaging those who do not
What was DOMA?
In 1996, The Defense of Marriage Act ( DOMA) was passed, explicitly limiting the definition of "marriage" to a union between one man and one woman. It also allowed individual states to choose whether or not they recognized same-sex marriages performed in other states.
What is institutional racism?
Institutional Racism: racism embedded in social institutions or in the fabric of society. For example, the disproportionate number of black men arrested, charged, and convicted of crimes may reflect racial profiling, a form of institutional racism.
What is a meritocracy?
Meritocracy: an ideal system in which personal effort-or merit-determines social standing or is an ideal system based on the belief that social stratification is the result of personal effort—or merit—that determines social standing. Social standing is influenced by multiple factors, not just merit. -When you study hard, go to college, then grad school like dental school after you graduate you start making lots of money. One of the reasons you pushed yourself to work so hard is to make good money and be part of a high social class.
Does everyone in the US have the same standard of living?
No, the standard of living is based on factors such as income, employment, class, poverty rates, and housing affordability.
How do our parents factor into our social standing?
Parents tend to pass on their social standings on to their kids. People inherit not only social standing but also cultural norms that accompany a certain lifestyle. They share it with family and friends too. This social standing becomes a comfort zone, a familiar lifestyle, and an identity.
What is the difference between pluralism and assimilation?
Pluralism is represented by the ideal of the United States as a "salad bowl": a great mixture of different cultures where each culture retains its own identity and yet adds to the flavor of the whole. Assimilation describes the process by which a minority individual or group gives up its own identity by taking on the characteristics of the dominant culture.Assimilation is antithetical to the "salad bowl" created by pluralism; rather than maintaining their own cultural flavor, subordinate cultures give up their own traditions in order to conform to their new environment. Sociologists measure the degree to which immigrants have assimilated to a new culture with four benchmarks: socioeconomic status, spatial concentration, language assimilation, and intermarriage. When faced with racial and ethnic discrimination, it can be difficult for new immigrants to fully assimilate. Language assimilation, in particular, can be a formidable barrier, limiting employment and educational options and therefore constraining growth in socioeconomic status. Amalgamation is the process by which a minority group and a majority group combine to form a new group. Amalgamation creates the classic "melting pot" analogy; unlike the "salad bowl," in which each culture retains its individuality, the "melting pot" ideal sees the combination of cultures that results in a new culture entirely.
What is the difference between prejudice and racism?
Prejudice: refers to the beliefs, thoughts, feelings, and attitudes someone holds about a group. A prejudice is not based on experience; instead, it is a prejudgment, originating outside actual experience. -Racism: A set of attitudes, beliefs, and practices that are used to justify the belief that one racial category is somehow superior or inferior to others. While prejudice is not necessarily specific to race, racism is a stronger type of prejudice used to justify the belief that one racial category is somehow superior or inferior to others; it is also a set of practices used by a racial majority to disadvantage a racial minority. The Ku Klux Klan is an example of a racist organization; its members' belief in white supremacy has encouraged over a century of hate crime and hate speech.
What is the distinction between psychology and sociology? (the book breaks it down quite nicely)
Psychologists are focused on how the mind influences that behavior, and sociologists study the role of society in shaping behavior.
What is racial profiling?
Racial Profiling: the use by law enforcement of race alone to determine whether to stop and detain someone.
What is the scapegoat theory?
Scapegoat Theory: Developed initially from Dollard's (1939) Frustration-Aggression theory, suggests that the dominant group will displace its unfocused aggression onto a subordinate group. History has shown us many examples of the scapegoating of a subordinate group. An example from the last century is the way Adolf Hitler was able to blame the Jewish population for Germany's social and economic problems. In the United States, recent immigrants have frequently been the scapegoat for the nation's—or an individual's—woes. Many states have enacted laws to disenfranchise immigrants; these laws are popular because they let the dominant group scapegoat a subordinate group.
