sociology midterm 1

Basic ideas

• Humans are inherently social (social organization is fundamental to our species)

• We inherit knowledge (and are shaped, constrained by the society we’re born into)

• Society has somewhat stable organization (and therefore can be described and analyzed systematically)

Sociology

studying the ways in which individuals are shaped by communities

Social facts

• objective forces that can be studied like physical facts

• Anything produced collectively by ppl that exerts a social force upon us

• Produced by humans

• larger than indiv

• powerful influences on indiv

Agency

the capacity of individuals to act independently and make their own choices. It highlights that people are not just passive products of social forces; they can think, decide, and sometimes resist or change social norms.

Features of social facts

• smth that exists bc of people

• shapes us

• patterns in society are social facts

• can use social structure synonymously with social facts

Social reproduction

what are the systems that actually stasis

Sociological sympathy

• essential for objective analysis

• the capacity to understand and share the feelings of others within a social context, acting as a foundational mechanism for human connection, social cohesion, and moral judgment.

Sociological research methods

Quantitative (claims to objectivity; correlations to explain patterns of behavior) & qualitative (understanding ideas, feelings, behaviors; and patterns in these things)

• interviews and observation

• surveys and quantitative comparison

Sociological theory of the self

the self is a “process” rather than an inherent object

• Shaped by outside forces that themselves change

• Product of interaction ---- context-dependent

• The self is a social fact bc it is established outside ourselves and through social

Cooley – the looking glass self

-Sense of self emerges bc we try to imagine how others see us

- powerful regulator of our behavior

- key: patterns in expectations à patterns of behavior

Specific and generalized others

The sociological imagination

a mode of analysis — Analyzing how concrete, local observations are shaped by abstract social structures (social facts)

• logically observed problems have abstract causes that arent changeable without a sociological imagination

Human nature

sociologists are skeptical of this

Sociological questions

Inverted quarantine

• a situation where individuals try to protect themselves from social or environmental risks on their own, instead of those risks being solved at a broader, societal level.

Socialization

• learning beliefs, values, norms

• a sense of truth

• a sense of right and wrong, should

• shared expectations of behavior

Culture

• shared ideas that govern interaction

• a cumulative product that saves us from so much thinking and reasoning

Social construction

the process of building shared ideas that are social facts

Types of social constructs

• Signifiers 

• Categories

• Binaries

• Associations

• Hierarchies

Symbolic structure

overlapping constructs that create shared meaning

Anomie

• a condition in which society’s rules and expectations no longer effectively guide people’s behavior.

• Durkheim linked anomie to social problems, especially higher rates of suicide, because people lack the moral guidance and social integration that help regulate behavior.

Becker: musicians metaphor

• “Saturday night musicians” 

• Particular repertoire of songs

• Key: chords, scales

• This background skill & repertoire allows musicians to meet & play well

Becker’s definition of culture

“shared understanding”

The cultural process

• Natural variation of human social life

• Norms and scripts don’t cover everything

• Improvisation - culture is merely a “point of reference”

• Culture is continuously created

Structure and agency in interaction

what do these 2 readings say abt it?

Imagined communities

• most members don’t know or associate with others

• the community is abstract and exists in the mind

Importance of mass media

Social identity

Features of humans that are 

• Given social importance

• Categorized 

• Shape behavior

• Arrayed in a hierarchy 

• Tied to advantage and disadvantage       ex: sexual identity 

 how individuals define themselves based on group memberships (like gender, race, class, or occupation).

Stereotyping

Status hierarchy

stigmatized features of identity

Social capital

“actual or potential resources” linked to long-standing social networks (group memberships)

• status by association

Cultural capital

Three forms:

• Embodied (knowledge, skill)

• Objectified (products of embodied)

• Institutional (the degree)

Reproduces class structure 

Cultivation requires “time free from economic necessity”

Cultural capital = concerted capital

Class differences in parenting styles

Working class parents: 

• Focus less on eliciting their children’s feelings, opinions, and thoughts

• Focus much less on organized activities

Symbolic interactionism

• social reality isn’t behavior per se, but the meaning we give to it

• interpretations of behavior arise only thru interaction

Impression management

A performance for an audience — isnt always conscious — basic consideration of others

• specific behavior/process within dramaturgy

• techniques used to control how others see you

Dramaturgy

Theory of social life

the idea that people act like performers on a stage, managing how others see them in everyday life.

Theater metaphors 

• Roles

• Scripts

• Props –objects, other signals 

• Front stage and backstage – social media and blurring boundaries 

• Improvisation - agency

social rules

Shared expectations in a society about how people should behave in different situations. These rules guide everyday actions and help maintain order.

folkways

Informal, everyday norms that are not strictly enforced. Violating them isn’t serious but may be seen as rude or odd.
Example: saying “thank you” or holding the door open.

mores

Stronger norms based on moral values about right and wrong. Violating them is seen as serious and can bring strong disapproval.
Example: lying, cheating, or stealing.

taboos

The most extreme norms—behaviors that are considered deeply unacceptable or forbidden. Violating them often leads to intense social rejection.
Example: incest or cannibalism.

symbolic interaction theory

A sociological perspective that focuses on how people create meaning through social interaction, using symbols like language, gestures, and signs.
It’s associated with thinkers like George Herbert Mead.

impression management

The process of controlling how others perceive you by adjusting your behavior, appearance, or communication.

Definition of conservatism

a political ideology focused on preserving and defending existing hierarchies, especially when they are challenged.

Connection to concept of hierarchy

• constant challenges from people in subordinate positions” toward “their superiors in… hierarchical institutions”

The “private life of power”

- “Behind the riot in the street or debate in parliament is the maid talking back to her mistress, the worker disobeying her boss. That is why our political arguments…can be so explosive: they touch upon the most personal relations of power”

robins issues

• conservatism exists fluidly at all scales

• Conservatism has an emotional/psychological component but is also structural and about real institutional politics

Basic characterization of fascism and connection to Robin, Wade Ch.4

• Pleasure of violence/hostility, domination

• Pleasure in perceived superiority 

• Main idea: fascism as a politics of restablishing hierarchies of human value 

Fascism as an empowering culture

• Thrill of dominance

• Thrill of violating norms

• Impunity: freedom from restraint

Natural difference is essential 

• Some form of inherent superiority necessary to participate in a project of power

Comparisons to historical fascism 

• Very much the same in terms of everything above 

Fascism =
👉 A highly authoritarian, nationalist system that enforces hierarchy through state power and mass mobilization

Robin connection =
👉 It can be understood as an extreme form of defending threatened power structures and hierarchy

“white space” and theory of social interaction

• Post-civil rights integration, social mobility

• Diversifying many settings previously occupied only by whites 

• Where black people aren’t “expected”

• actual social mobility and objective economic progress does not stop racism, racial prejudice and discrimination, but this in turn has economic consequences

Social power and interaction

• Power in society → power in interaction

• Humor as a form of power in interaction and evidence of broader social power 

- Yanking chains

- Inside humor

Gender, sexual harassment, and theory of social interaction

• Sexual harassment law requires complaint to be voiced — the way harassment operates here suppresses complaints 

• Sexual harassment in interaction operates at a level that the law and policy doesn’t reach

Social power and interaction

social power is the ability of individuals or groups to influence others’ behavior, meanings, or outcomes, and it is produced and expressed through everyday social interaction.

Sexism

• production of unjust outcomes

• beliefs about natural gender difference

Androcentrism

about gender performance rather than sex — social reality is gendered

Patriarchy and the traditional family

a social system in which men hold primary power and authority over women and other genders in both public and private life.

• women had no legal rights

Evolution of gender norms —- household and workplace

• breadwinner/homemaker marriage: requires separation of work and home 

• Economic change → change in family division of labor : household inequality persists 

• Ideology of intensive motherhood - full-time parenting also gendered and devalued 

• Workplace interactions lead to patterns of economic inequality based on androcentric biases

“Doing gender”

gender is not something you simply are—it is something you constantly perform through everyday behavior and interaction.

sex is an agreed upon biological classification

gender as an “achieved status”

• People are socially recognized as “male” or “female” based on how well they perform gendered expectations

• Gender is something that is “accomplished” in social life, not just biologically given

research design

the blueprint for how the research is carried out

research findings

what the research actually reveals

micropolitics

everyday “small power struggles” in social settings

the “chilly climate”

a subtle but persistent atmosphere of inequality that makes some people feel unwelcome or less confident