Fall MTX- Concepts

all 73 of em (now 74?)

Agents of socialization

People, groups, and institutions that influence how we learn our culture. Examples include family, school, peers, religion, media, and work.

Albion Small

An early American sociologist who supported the 1904 World's Fair, where Filipino Igorot people were displayed in a “human zoo.” The example illustrates how early sociology could reflect colonial and racist assumptions.

Anomie

A condition of normlessness or weakened social rules, leaving people without a clear shared understanding of what is expected. Durkheim and Merton are associated with different uses of the concept

Autonomous sociologies

Sociological traditions that develop their own questions, theories, and methods rather than depending on dominant Western frameworks.

Beliefs, values, and norms

Beliefs concern what is true; values concern what is right or wrong; norms are shared expectations for behaviour. These are learned through socialization.

Biosocial research

Research examining connections between biological processes and social experiences, such as how social conditions relate to bodily processes.

Bugs vs. features

whether or not smth works as its supposed to (there can be good bugs and bad features, more determines function not associated morality)

Bureaucracy

An organizational form involving formal rules, established roles, hierarchy, and standardized procedures. It is associated with the rationalization of modern life.

Collective conscience and collective effervescence

Collective conscience is the shared sense of right and wrong that helps hold a society together. Collective effervescence is the strong, unifying emotion people experience together during a shared group event or ritual.

Colonialism

The domination and exploitation of people and territories by an outside power. Colonialism shaped sociology's development and influenced how colonized peoples were represented.

Conflict paradigm

An approach emphasizing competing interests, unequal power, and struggles over valued resources such as wealth, power, and prestige. —> "Who benefits? Who has power? Who is disadvantaged? How do inequalities/classifications produce conflict and social change?"

Power + inequality + competing groups --> conflict/change

"four Cs:" conflict --> classifications --> contestation --> change

Karl Marx

Connected sociologies

Sociological traditions that exchange ideas and inform one another without one tradition dominating or erasing the others.

Core definitions of sociology

Sociology studies social life: how people shape society and are shaped by social relationships, groups, and forces. TMS emphasizes society's influence on individuals and the study of social facts.

Criminalization

The social and political process through which an act, trait, or condition comes to be defined and treated as criminal.

Cultural competency

The ability to understand and navigate the expectations and practices of a culture. Socialization helps people become culturally competent.

Culture

Shared ideas, objects, practices, and bodily patterns that give meaning to people's lives and vary across groups and places.

Culture-as-rationale thesis

The idea that we learn culturally specific arguments that we can use to explain or justify why we believe something is right or wrong.

Culture-as-value thesis

The idea that values widely accepted in our cultural environment become part of our own moral outlook and influence what feels right or wrong.

Data in sociology

Systematically collected observations or evidence used to answer research questions and assess claims.

Disproportionate representation

Disproportionate representation takes place when a particular group appears in unusually large numbers in a statistical finding--like Indigenous women and patterns of violence, missing persons, foster care, etc. etc.

 

Identifying statistical patterns like these can highlight the presence of sociological phenomenon, bringing them up to that level instead of letting them be considered isolated, individual events.

 

Social variables --> statistical pattern --> recognition/brought to light --> sociological investigation

 

*doesn't always have to be negative statistics!

Deviance—> 2 types, 3 processes

Behaviour or beliefs that violate social expectations and attract negative sanctions. What counts as deviant can vary across cultures and historical periods. —> Deviance is behaviours and beliefs that violate social expectations and attract negative sanctions. There are two primary subcategories: social deviance (violation of norms) and criminal deviance (violation of laws; crime). The two can overlap but don't always.

Stigmatization is the process by which physical traits or social conditions become widely devalued.

Criminalization involves collectively defining a trait or condition as criminal.

Medicalization involves collectively defining physical traits or social conditions as an illness.

Division of labour

The division of tasks and responsibilities among people or roles. In modern organizations, these divisions can become specialized and hierarchical. —> Large goals broken down into smaller smaller tasks (think bureaucracies--> divisions of labour so every employee is expendable, can be easily replaced and only have to do small tasks for efficiency)

Embodiment and culture

Culture is not only a set of ideas; it can also be expressed in bodies, habits, capacities, and physiological processes shaped by social experience.

Ethnocentrism and cultural relativism

Ethnocentrism assumes one's own culture is superior. Cultural relativism means recognizing cultural differences without automatically judging them by one's own standards. Martineau's sociological sympathy encourages understanding others on their own terms.

Forms of authority

Ways authority is understood and accepted (Weber is related??)

Forms of sociological explanation

different ways to explain social behaviour, including differences in the level of analysis and in the emphasis placed on social structure versus individual agency. There are several approaches rather than one single definition.

Gig work and McDonaldization

Gig work (postmodern) involves short-term or task-based work arrangements. McDonaldization (modern) describes the spread of efficiency, calculability, predictability, and control through technology into more areas of social life.

Homophily

The tendency for people to form connections with others who are similar to them in some way. Similarity in social networks can affect what people learn and do.

Ideology

A system of ideas and assumptions through which people interpret and justify how society works.

Institutional discrimination

Discrimination that is built into the practices, rules, or operation of institutions, producing persistent advantages for some groups and disadvantages for others.

Institutionalization

the process by which a concept, belief, norm, role, or repeated behavior becomes embedded, standardized, and taken-for-granted within an organization, social system, or society

Intersectionality

 An approach that examines how multiple social identities and systems of inequality interact. These experiences cannot always be understood by considering each identity separately.

Macrosociology

The study of large-scale social phenomena, such as institutions, economies, social structures, and broad societal trends.

Microsociology

The study of social life at a small scale, especially everyday interactions, small groups, and the development of the self.

Mills' sociological question

C. Wright Mills asks us to connect personal troubles with public issues by examining how biography relates to history and wider social structures. (so… sociological imagination?)

Modernity and modern thought

Modernity refers to a social order associated with large-scale institutions, complex coordination, and rationalized organization. Modern thought emphasizes systematic explanation and rationality. —> Modern thought involves a belief in science as the sole source of truth and the idea that humans can rationally organize societies and improve human life. (rational-legal mode of authority, identity is discoverable, people are organized into nation-states).

Nation-states

 large territories governed by centralized powers that grant or deny citizenship rights

Objectivity and positivism

Objectivity aims to limit the influence of a researcher's personal assumptions on conclusions. Positivism, associated with Auguste Comte, argues that society can be studied systematically using scientific methods. Standpoint theory challenges the assumption that researchers can be entirely detached from their social positions.

Paradigms (name em ig?)

These are lenses that direct attention towards different aspects of the same social phenomenon, contributing towards whether we view certain things as bugs/features and so on.

 

These are all heavily interpretation-based. That is to say, they influence how we as sociologists interpret findings. There are three primary ones:

 (Broad theoretical frameworks that guide how sociologists interpret social life and decide what needs explaining. Examples include structural functionalism, conflict theory, and symbolic interactionism.)

Postmodern thought

A perspective skeptical of fixed, universal explanations and rigid identities or hierarchies. In TMS, postmodern sensibilities are discussed alongside flexible identities and resistance to fixed arrangements; they do not mean that modern institutions have simply disappeared. —> Postmodern thought is the rejection of absolute truth (whether supernatural or scientific) in favour of countless partial truths, and a denunciation of the narrative of progress. (personal experience = source of truth, no ultimate authority, identity always fluctuating).

Gig work is very postmodern in nature.

Premodern thought

Ways of understanding and organizing life that rely more heavily on tradition, custom, and religious explanations of authority than on modern rationalized systems. —> Premodern thought is the belief in supernatural sources of truth and a commitment to traditional practices. (traditional mode of authority, pregiven identity).

Primary vs. secondary deviance

Primary deviance is an initial act of rule-breaking. Secondary deviance develops when being labelled deviant affects a person's identity or subsequent behaviour. The label can influence how others treat the person and how the person sees themself.

Public sociology

Sociology that engages with people outside academic settings and contributes to public discussion and efforts to improve society.

Qualitative and quantitative methods

Qualitative methods study meanings, experiences, and descriptions; quantitative methods use numerical data and statistical analysis. The appropriate method depends on the research question.

Rationalization and rationality

Rationality involves reasoning in relation to goals or principles. Rationalization is the process of organizing social life according to efficiency, calculability, predictability, and control. Weber also warned that increasing rationalization could contribute to the “disenchantment of the world.”

Research ethics

Principles guiding responsible research, including respect for participants, justice, and beneficence (considering benefits and minimizing harm). Researchers must consider how their methods affect the people they study.

Research questions

Specific questions a study seeks to answer. They guide what data researchers collect and how they evaluate the evidence.

Social constructionism and social constructs—>TYPES

A social construct is a shared interpretation of reality that varies across time and place. Social construction is the process through which people attach meanings to objects, develop concepts, and connect ideas. —> On a related note, signifiers are things that symbolize a given meaning that's been donned thanks to a society. i.e., rings are signifiers because society has dictated that they symbolize marriage.

 

Types of social constructs:

Signifiers (see above)

Categories: Subsets of things that we believe are sufficiently similar to one another to be considered the same (ex. "pets" = subset of animals, "blue" = subset of the spectrum, etc)

Binaries: categories we see as opposites or in opposition (ex. Good/evil, friends/enemies, legal/illegal)

Associations: ideas that have nothing special in common except for the fact that they're connected by a third idea (ex. Rainbows and flags = LGBTQ, roses and diamonds = love, red and green = Christmas)

Sequences: ideas arranged into a specific chronological order (ex. Outline-->draft-->edit, relationship progression)

Hierarchies: ideas placed into ranked relationships (ex. Mammals>insects, young>old, etc)

Social facts

Durkheim's concept for phenomena produced collectively that exert influence over individuals. They are social rather than merely personal, and they shape how people behave. —> "products of human interaction with persuasive or coercive power that exist externally to any individual"

Social inequality

Unequal access to valued resources, opportunities, power, wealth, or prestige. Sociologists investigate how these inequalities are created, justified, and reproduced through social arrangements.

Social institutions

Enduring, widespread patterns of interaction through which society addresses recurring human needs, such as family, education, work, and the economy. Institutions can also reproduce advantages and disadvantages. —> Social institutions are widespread and enduring patterns of interaction with which we respond to categories of human need.

Social organizations often make up social institutions.

 

Ex. A school, a social organization, is part of the social institution of Education, along with teachers/crossing guards/school supply companies/etc.

 

Some more examples: Work, Family, Economy, the State, Health.

The term social structure refers to social organizations as a whole and their interlocking nature.

 

Social institutions are often designed to favour some kinds/types of people over others --> Institutional discrimination.

 

Structural position --> the features of our lives that determine our mix of opportunities and constraints.

 

Widespread institutional discrimination produces social stratification, a sorting of social groups into enduring hierarchies. High-status social identities and often well-served by our social institutions whereas low-status are generally not.

 

All of these contribute to the production of social inequality. Most social institutions are nearly inescapable--they exist all around us.

Social location and subject position

the set of social traits that informs an individual's (you included) views/perspective on the world.

Factors discussed:

• age

• assigned sex

• gender

• ethnic background

• class/background

• neighbourhood

• ability/health

• relationship to the social mainstream

John notes that social location paves the way for experiences that influence your perspective.

Different people can interpret the same event or question differently because they occupy similar social locations.

Ex. P4 of W2 reading asks whether television does a good job of representing diversity. Different hypothetical locations provide different possible answers.

Social privilege, discrimination and intersectionality are all mentioned.

 

Know that social location does not equal the place in which you live, nor does it equal simply your personal history. It's your combination of socially significant traits and positions that may be affected by those factors but is more closely defined as one's identity within society or societies.

Social network analysis

The study or mapping of relationships among people, groups, or organizations to understand how information, resources, and influence move through those connections.

Social organizations

Formal groups or entities that coordinate people's activities toward particular purposes. Organizations such as schools operate within broader social institutions.—> Social organizations are formal entities that coordinate collections of people in achieving a stated purpose.

Ex. A school is a social organization as it organizes people for the service of educating children.

 

Social organizations are part of social institutions.

Social stratification

The structured ranking of groups into unequal social positions, resulting in enduring differences in access to resources, opportunities, and power.

Social structures

Interconnected institutions and enduring patterns of social relationships that shape people's opportunities and constraints. These structures can reproduce existing inequalities.

Socialization (3 ways?)

The lifelong process through which people learn the beliefs, values, norms, and practices of their cultures and subcultures. —> Socialization is the lifelong learning process by which we become members of our cultures. (think, (consciously or subconsciously) letting society imprint on us during the entirety of our lives. This allows us to become culturally competent- able to understand and navigate our cultures with ease.

 

 

Interpersonal socialization involves active efforts by others to help us become culturally competent members of our cultures.

Self-socialization involves active efforts WE MAKE to ensure we're culturally competent members of our cultures.

Media socialization is the process of learning how to be culturally competent through our exposure to media.

Sociological imagination

The ability to connect individual experiences with broader social and historical forces. Mills emphasizes understanding the relationship between personal troubles and public issues.

Sociological paradox

a paradox of sociology: the forces sociologists want to explain are not always directly observable, so they must reason from observed behaviour and patterns to the social processes behind them. TMS also explores the paradox that people are individuals while simultaneously being social beings. —> The sociological paradox is essentially that what we are searching to explain through sociology is not something that is directly observable. (W2 Ch.2 drive-thru example: he watched someone go through the drive thru but he couldn't directly observe "this person chose the drive-thru because of the social expectations surrounding motherhood")

Sociological questions and grammars

Sociological theory helps us decide what questions to ask about behaviour and provides specialized terms and a “grammar” for constructing explanations. In Schaffer's chapter, this is about learning to move from observations to sociological explanations, not merely memorizing vocabulary.

Sociological sympathy

Harriet Martineau's idea of setting aside one's own point of view to understand other people as they understand themselves. It challenges ethnocentrism and encourages careful understanding before judgment.

Sociological theory

An organized explanation of social phenomena that helps sociologists ask questions, interpret patterns, and explain relationships between social facts. Theory should be informed by evidence and open to testing or revision.

Sociology and morality

Sociology examines how moral beliefs develop socially rather than assuming that our sense of right and wrong is entirely individual or universal. TMS explains this through two ideas: culture-as-value and culture-as-rationale thesis. The important distinction is that we may feel something is right or wrong first and then draw on culturally familiar reasons to explain why.

Sociology and patterns

patterns in social life that sociologists look for AS OPPOSED TO treating everything as isolated, individual events. Think, "zooming out."

Patterns can be related to:

• age

• gender

• class

• ethnicity

• race

• religion

• sexual orientation

• ability

• social institutions (education, religion, family)

• social interactions

i.e.,

• "pink tax" a.k.a. gendered pricing

• Smartphone design + gender

• "Driving while Black/brown"

• Male nurses + gender stereotypes

Given a situation, recognize that a sociologist would ask, "what's the broader social pattern here?" (Sociologists look for recurring patterns in social behaviour and seek to explain why they occur. Schaffer emphasizes that theory helps connect observed patterns to the social forces and processes that produce them.)

Standpoint theory

The theory that our understanding of the world is shaped by our social position. Our identities and experiences influence which research questions we ask, which methods we use, and what we notice in the evidence. Associated with Dorothy Smith.

Status

A socially recognized position a person occupies in a group or society. Status can be associated with different expectations, levels of prestige, and access to resources.

Stigma and stigmatization

Stigmatization is the social process through which a trait, identity, or condition becomes devalued. What is stigmatized can change across cultures and historical periods.

Structural functionalism

A sociological paradigm that views society as a system of interconnected parts that work together to produce social stability. A key criticism is that this perspective can overemphasize stability and underplay conflict and social change.—> "How do parts of a society work together to maintain or reproduce the social system?"

Society --> structures/functions --> stability/order

Ex. The education system

How does it feed into itself? How is it cyclical?

Macro-social in nature

Emile Durkheim

Subcultures

Groups within a broader culture that share distinctive ideas, practices, or meanings. People can participate in multiple subcultures.

Subjectivity

The personal and socially shaped perspective through which someone experiences and interprets the world. Schaffer connects the study of subjectivity with microsociological attention to the self and people's experiences.

Symbolic interactionism

A sociological approach emphasizing how social interaction depends on meanings and symbols that people develop and communicate. These interactions help produce and reproduce social order. —> "How do people create and interpret meaning through everyday interactions?"

Individuals --> interaction --> meanings --> social reality

Micro-oriented, personal

Max Weber

Symbolic structure

A network of socially constructed ideas and meanings connected to one another. These connections influence how people interpret objects, events, and actions, and they can vary across cultures.

The normal and the normative

explanation for Durkheim's distinction between normal phenomena, which are typical or commonly occurring, and pathological phenomena, which are relatively rare or atypical. Here, “normal” is a statistical description, not a claim that something is morally good. Something can be common without being good, and something rare is not automatically bad.

Strain theory

Strain theory is the idea that deviance is caused by a tension between widely valued goals and people's ability to attain them. (people try to achieve goals they perceive as necessary through deviant means)

Ex. Eighteen yr. old getting an apartment via basic low paying job

Conformity: accepts institutionalized means and cultural goals (takes retail job w/ hope believing you'll ascend corporate ladder and eventually earn enough)

Ritualism: accepts institutionalized means but rejects cultural goals (takes retail job, works hard but with no hope of affording an apartment)

Both of the above are nondeviant way of dealing w/ strain.

Innovation: rejects institutionalized means but accepts cultural goals (you still aim to get an apartment but do something deviant to get there, like stealing or exotic dancing in the evening-either social or criminal deviance, or even both)

Retreatism (and rebellion) is the rejection of valued goals and a decision to opt out of the strain to achieve them--don’t totally opt out of society, instead works to change societies by replacing existing goals with different ones

**if you reject the apartment idea and choose to live in a collective living commune, you're a retreatist that's embraced an alternative lifestyle. If you try to convince everyone else that apartments suck and they should abandon that social norm too, you're a rebel.