Sociology of Power, Identity, and Capital

Practice flashcards covering definitions and core concepts from sociology lectures on power, identity, capitalism, and social stratification.

What is 'The Vehicle Fallacy'?

Thinking that power only works through visible tools like police or laws, when it also works through ideas, habits, schools, families, and everyday norms.

What is 'Double-consciousness' according to W. E. B. Du Bois?

The idea that Black people see themselves through their own eyes and also through the eyes of a racist society, creating a divided self.

What does Silvia Federici mean by 'The Patriarchy of the Wage'?

The idea that capitalism gave men paid wages and made women’s reproductive labor unpaid, making women economically dependent on men.

What is 'The Waving Window' described in Hochschild’s 'Time Bind'?

The emotional moment when parents wave goodbye to their children while leaving for work, showing how capitalist work life changes emotions and family time.

What is 'Escape Agriculture'?

James C. Scott’s idea that communities used flexible farming (choosing crops hard for the state to tax or seize) to avoid state control.

How does Bourdieu define 'Habitus'?

The learned habits, tastes, and ways of acting that come from our social class; it feels natural but is socially produced.

In Paul Willis’ study, who are the 'lads' and 'ear’oles'?

The 'lads' are working-class boys who reject school authority and value manual labor; 'ear’oles' are students who obey teachers and school rules.

What is the difference between 'Laissez-Faire' and 'Managerial' family styles?

Laissez-faire style gives children more freedom with less control; managerial style involves parents carefully organizing children’s time and activities.

What is Steven Lukes’ 'Third Dimension of Power'?

Power that shapes people’s desires, beliefs, and ideas so they accept a system without conflict, sometimes wanting what keeps them unequal.

According to Frantz Fanon, why is language important for the colonized?

Speaking the language of the 'civilizing nation' is an attempt to get closer to power, which creates alienation from one's own culture and body.

How does Aksu Bora describe the role of hygiene in domestic labor?

Middle-class employers use hygiene to mark themselves as superior and 'modern,' often using it as a form of moral instruction for workers.

What is Robert Michels’ 'Iron Law of Oligarchy'?

The idea that organizations, even democratic ones, tend to eventually be controlled by a small elite group.

What is 'Primitive Accumulation' according to Marx and Federici?

The violent beginning of capitalism where people were separated from their land and means of production.

What does James C. Scott mean by 'Hidden Transcripts'?

Private speech and practices (like jokes or gossip) where subordinate groups criticize power away from the eyes of the powerful.

What is 'The Exercise Fallacy'?

Thinking that power is only something people active 'exercise' in visible actions, ignoring how it works through norms and habits.

What is the 'Dilemma of Difference'?

The paradox where naming a group as different can both help (by highlighting inequality) and harm (by reproducing stereotypes).

What is 'Secondary Primitivism'?

Groups that choose to move away from states and adopt 'primitive' practices as a strategy of state evasion after experiencing state control.

What do 'Bled-el-makhazen' and 'Bled-es-siba' mean in Scott’s theory?

'Bled-el-makhazen' is land controlled by the state; 'Bled-es-siba' is land outside state control, showing how geography helps avoid domination.

What was the 'Accabussade' or ducking stool?

A punishment used to discipline disobedient or outspoken women, part of the 'taming' of women during the rise of capitalism.

What are 'Talismanic objects' in Arlie Hochschild’s work?

Objects that represent a dream of a better home life (like unused tools) that workers cannot find time to use because of work demands.

How does Herbert Gans view the relationship between race and class?

Race in America works as a sign (an 'enforcer') of class and status to protect the existing class hierarchy.

What is 'Potestas' in Spinoza’s concept of power?

Power over others through command, law, authority, or force, distinct from 'potentia' (the capacity to act).

What is the 'Rule of Anticipated Reactions'?

When people change their behavior because they expect negative reactions or punishment from power before any order is given.

What is a 'Shatter Zone'?

A geographical space (like mountains or borders) where people escape state control, taxation, or forced labor.

What does 'Habitus as an Amor Fati Operator' mean?

The process where people come to love or accept the class position and limited possibilities society gives them as 'normal.'

What is 'Panopticism' according to Foucault?

A disciplinary model where people treat themselves as if they are always being watched, causing them to internalize control.

What was Robert Owen’s 'Silent Monitor'?

A system for grading workers' behavior using visible signs, showing how observation and shame can act as discipline.

What is Paulo Freire’s 'Culture of Silence'?

A state where oppressed people are unable to name their own problems and instead accept the ideas of the dominant group.

What is 'Tertiary Dispersion'?

The movement of people into remote areas specifically to escape political pressure, taxation, or labor control.

What is the 'Microtome' of the white gaze in Fanon’s work?

The way the white gaze 'cuts' and fixes the Black body into racial categories and stereotypes.

What does 'Hysteresis' mean in Bourdieu’s theory?

When a person's habitus lags behind changing social conditions, causing them to act on dispositions formed in a past that no longer exists.

Why did valley states prefer 'Wet-rice agriculture' according to Scott?

Because it is easier to count, tax, and store than other crops, and requires settled labor that is easy for the state to control.

What is 'Good Sense' according to Gramsci?

The critical and realistic part of a person's beliefs that can become the basis for political awareness against domination.

What is 'Analytical Partitioning' in Foucault's work?

The division of space into desks, rooms, and ranks to observe and compare individuals constantly.