Sociology Midterm 1

Social Construction

def: an issue that is constructed into a social problem socially by people defining conditions as undesirable.

Focuses on/ investigates types of claims and counter claims, how claims makers organize, and how particular claims gain authority

Assumptions: No universal condition is inherently bad, but it is labeled as such by people in a given society

Claims: about the social problems, assertion about positive and negative aspects

Claims makers: those who seek to impose a particular definition of reality

Questions: causes, effects, characteristics

Structural Functionalism

Thinking of society as a car (the components are the different social systems) and how the parts do or don’t maintain order

Assumption: parts are interrelated and exert pressure to the system

Key terms: Norms, values, roles, institutions

Modes of inquiry: How might a problem contribute to society, How might a problem be sustained by structures, and how do societies develop and evolve

Critiques: assumes consensus, ignores that some groups have their own needs, ignores conflict between groups, ignores the roles of power, and who has it

Manifest Function

intended purpose of social change

Latent function

unexpected consequences of social change

Herbert Spence

Structural Functionalist theorist

Thought of society as integrated systems (human body)

Competition leads to slow evolutionary improvement

Social order is a product of human rationality

Emile Durkheim

Structural Functionalist theorist

believed we have to have a shared morality to move forward

Solidarity: common sentiment (pre-contract is needed to build trust)

Collective consciousness: beliefs and feelings held in common

Robert Merton

Sub-theory under Structural Functionalism

Strain theory: theory of differential access

“approved route”

what if there is no access? people will turn to illegitamite means which turns into crime

Conflict Theory

Believes that society doesn’t work for everyone, there are contradictory interests and inequalities between social groups which creates conflict and change

Something becomes a social problem when one group feels its values or expectations are being violated, which leads to false values and alienation

Those in power maintain control through institutions, economy, access to resources, media, etc.

Assumes that: humans are rational acting to max self-interest and resources are limited

Due to the social stratification system (heirarchical, superimposed classes, unequal distributions)

Ways to analyze society through theory: Who is suffering from the problem (characteristics of group and why it continues)? Could some group be profiting? If the social problem is addressed, does one group get more (in theory and practice)?

Other theorists: Ida B. Wells, W.E.B Dubois

Critiques: consensus theory believes that people are just and will distribute resources, ignores how some social institutions may be benefitting society, doesn’t give people agency

Karl Marx

Conflict Theorist (sub-theory on capitalism)

He believed everything came down to a struggle of classes and that until unequal structures change, social problems can’t be erradicated

Sociological Imagination

Idea came from conflict theorist C. Wright Mills

It describes the kind of insight given through sociology and the awareness and connection between individual experience and broader society. History is important to this and we should use it to fight social injustice.

Symbolic Interactionist theory

Views society as the product of individuals interacting. Focuses on how people percieve and define events that influence their life. Society isn’t an overarching structure but the combination of millions separate interpretations.

Assumptions: humans are symbol manipulating, there are underlying forms or patterns of social life, the social world is interactive

research questions: how do people become involved in problematic behavior? How to people come to define issues as social problems?

Attitudes + Ideologies = behavior

Critiques: ignores social structures, ignores power, ignores history

Herbert Mead

Symbolic Interactionist theorist

Believes and assumes that meaning emerges through interactions, human beings are distinctly symbol-manipulating, the social world is interactive, and there are underlying patterns or forms of social life

Intersectionality

Every person has many identities that are in different levels of power

Extreme, Relative, and Human poverty

Extreme: lack of income necessary to satisfy basic food needs

Relative: lack of income necessary to satisfy basic non-food needs

Human: lack of basic human ability (malnutrition, illiteracy, etc.)

Social Mobility

movement of individuals, families within or between layers of social stratification

(less SM= more inequality)

Wealth Inequality

Unequal distribution of income and wealth

Social Problem: houselessness (from the 4 perspectives)

Social Constructionalism perspective: looks at the different ways poverty is talked about and advocated for changes responses, and environmental and governmental factors change what actually gains traction

Structural perspective: Decline in low cost housing, increase in poverty, deindustrilization, and deinstitutionalization

Symbolic perspective: these explanations are often used to understand differences between racial and ethnic group success rates. This view ignores everything else

Conflict theory perspective: poverty is not natural and is caused by flaws in society (mainly racism)

Cynthia Bogard

Social Constructionalist who looked at the different views of the impoverished in D.C. vs. New York.

People in D.C. advocated more for people in poverty, and believed that their circumstances were due to unfair systems. Didn’t look down on the impoverished as much as in New York, where they were believed to be lazy.

William Julius Wilson

Structural perspectivist who looked at deindustrilization as the cause of poverty.

Explains the shift from manufacturing jobs to lower-paying service based jobs and the difference between that and the technological business

Skills mismatch leads to social isolation

Oscar Lewis

Spiritual perspective

“culture of poverty”, on notion that the stratification is based on ability and their cultrue

failure of people

Ivan Light

Spiritual perspective

Compared asian american businesses and african american businesses (trust and rotating credit association vs. competition)

Doug Massey and Nancy Denton

Conflict theorists

Argue with Wilson, and claim that poverty is all due to race and racism

Melvin Oliver and Thomas Shapiro

Conflict perspectives

Its a combination of factors and the credit factors (think about wealth and income)

What makes a social problem?

1. Contradicts some other condition and is defined as incompatible with the desired quality of life

2. Is caused, facilitated, or prolonged by factors at multiple levels of social life

3. Involves inter-group conflict

4. requires social action to be resolved

MPI

Multidimensional Poverty Index

International measure of acute multidimensional poverty

Dimensions: Health, Education, Standard of Living

Range is from 0-1 (lower you are the better you perform on the index)

How is poverty measured in the US?

poverty threshold/ status

determines poverty based on pretax income data with a poverty threshold

Through this, they determine who gets benefits off of this

SPM

Supplemental Poverty measure

A different and more 21st century oriented way of looking at poverty

takes more into account peoples resources, locations, and other expenses

does not replace the official poverty index

Challenges to reporting poverty and gathering data

Different timelines of poverty: continual vs episodic

Self reports of income, and not taking everything into account (other expenses)

Allard and the access to opportunities

geography determines what kind of opportunities people have access to (proximity to jobs, school, and services)

can be caused by racial segregation

can lead to increased exposure to stress, violence, etc.

less mobility and accessibility especially in suburban areas

Gans and the function of poverty

Low wages and decreased unions make affluent lives easier.

Some groups benefit while others pay significant costs

determining causation does not justify the inequality