SOC 1025 FINAL EXAM

Aggregates

• Collection of people in same place at same time due to chance

• Ex. Shoppers in a mall

Social Categories

• People who share a similar status but do not identify with one another

• Lack of mutual influence beyond shared category

• Ex. Ethnicities

Ach’s Experiment

• Group of 7 people (6 of whom are actors) are shown lines and must identify which is longest

• The actors say the wrong line to see how the real participant responds

• 33% would give answers consistent with the actors

• 25% were correct every time but admitted it felt wrong

Primary Groups

• Strong norms and statuses that are not formally written

• Frequent interactions cause role fulfillment both verbally and non-verbally

• Interactions are largely emotion based

• Ex. Families

Secondary Groups

• Larger than primary groups

• Weak emotional ties for goal oriented relationships over short period of time

• Primary groups can be formed within a secondary group (Friends forming in a classroom)

In Groups

• Groups to which a person belongs and feels a sense of identity

• Point of reference to meet the standards of a group

Reference Group

• People against whom individuals evaluate themselves

• Provide normative function to enforce standards

• Ex. A favourite band

Out Groups

• Groups that a person does not belong to

• May feel hostility or competitiveness against them

Social Boundary Maintenance

• Activities used to maintain a certain way of life that distinguishes members in a group

• Boundaries to separate insiders from outsiders

• Establishes stronger identity for those within, distinct from “other”

Reference Group Reinforcement

• Practices used to orient individuals towards adopting a certain reference group

• Portray the in group as correct (internal persuasion) and out groups as wrong (external persuasion)

• Mennonites do not recruit but do heavily reinforce why they are the best within their own communities (give illusion of choice to people born into it)

Internal Reinforcement

• Tactics used by in groups to drive purpose within the group and encourage following their standards

• Mennonites frame their social reality through the bible which encourages their lifestyle as the correct way

External Reinforcement

• Tactics used by in groups to dismiss out groups as an unsuitable alternative

• Mennonites condemn worldly things and create a less pure and good other

• Those who leave Mennonites are “lustful for worldly things”, making it a moral failing rather than a difference of opinion to join the “other”

Social Networks

• Set of individuals connected through their exchanges of material or emotional resources

Finding a Job

• Strangers or acquaintances tend to offer superior career advice because they come from more diverse networks

• Immediate families and friends will have more overlapping circles, less valuable insight

Dyad

• Social relationship between two social units

• Collective responsibility and intense absorption into relationship

• Ex. Romantic Partners

Triad

• Social relationship with 3 social units

• Less intimate and individualized

• Allow both mediation and exploitation of conflict

• Ex. 3 person friend group

Formal Organizations

• Secondary groups with explicit objectives

• Structured to maximize efficiency

• Ex. Universities give degrees, conduct research, facilitate businesses, etc.

Social Control

• How social systems regulate thoughts, actions, appearances, and emotions

• Sanctions that encourage conformity to social norms

Internal Social Control

• Regulations through socialization

• Strongest and most significant form of social control

• Social control becomes self control as the commitment to conformity becomes ingrained regardless of the presence of authority

• Ex. Religious guilt

External Social Control

• Punishments or rewards to reinforce social behaviours

• Used in response to whether internal social control succeeded in creating conformity or not

• Ex. The law

Informal Social Control

• Carried out casually by ordinary people to inform an individual about how their social actions adhere to norms

• Ex. Positively reinforced through laughter, smiles, etc.

• Negatively reinforced through frowns, insults, etc.

Formal Social Control

• Social behaviour reinforcement carried out by authorized agents

• Ex. Police, teachers, employers

Status Based Relativity

• How aspects of one’s identity define what acts are acceptable

• Ex. An adult vs a baby shitting themselves

Courtesy Stigma

• Stigmatization that occurs through association with someone who is stigmatized for their actions

Stigma Management

• How people overcome or conceal their behaviours that would have a stigmatizing effect

Functionalist Perspective on Deviance

• All cultures contain deviance

• It serves to create solidarity for conformists

• Sets boundaries and values conformity

• May be innovative if initially deviant behaviour becomes popular (Ex. MLK Jr.)

Strain Theory (Functionalist)

• Society promotes legitimate goals and means to achieve them
  1. Conformity (Accept means and goals)
  2. Innovation (Reject the means but accept the goals)
  3. Ritualism (Accept the means but reject the goals)
  4. Retreatism (Reject the means and goals)
  5. Rebellion (Create new means and goals)

Differential Association Theory (Interactionist)

• Association with deviants causes deviant attitudes which causes deviant behaviour

• Especially common in white collar crime (not done out of necessity but because its part of what the company does)

Labelling Theory (Interactionist)

• Deviance is not a quality but a label

• Questions who assigns these labels, to whom, the consequences, and who may resist them

• Deviant labels can become a self-fulfilling prophecy or a master status

Primary Deviance

• Hidden behaviours that would only be considered deviant if someone reacted to them

Conflict Perspective on Deviance

• Laws are a tool of the powerful to maintain advantages

• Behaviours synonymous with poor people are criminalized

• The social harm caused by deviance is the secondary concern to who performed it

Social Bond Theory (Conflict)

• Weak Social bonds facilitate potential for deviance

• Based on the ID (social bonds control selfish instincts)

• Attachment to others, Commitment to conformity, Involvement in non-deviant behaviour, and Belief in conformist values

Convergence Culture

• Flow of content across mediums and migration of media audiences

• Medium matters less now because everything overlaps from one form of media to another

• Ex. Concerts in Fortnite

Functionalist Perspective on Media

• Media fulfills the need for interaction and quick relaying of information

• Provides cohesion, coordination, socialization, social control, entertainment, status, and consumption

Transparasocial Relationships

• Parasocial relationships where the recipient of all the attention makes it FEEL as though it’s reciprocated

• Ex. Taylor Swift saying she loves all her fans

Narcotizing Effects

• Media provides so much information that people become numb and are unable to respond to it

Conflict Perspective on Media

• Media favours the ruling class through their messages and concentration of ownership

• Media companies do not focus on dominating their specific fields but rather having assets in as many different fields as possible (vertical integration)

• Offers diverse opinions but nothing that contradicts the core values of a nation

Media Monitoring

• Historically meant monitoring the content featured in media

• Now refers to how media is used by the public

• Both because data is valuable and for safety concerns

Interactionist Lens of Media

• Media constructs its own reality that influences how people perceive the world

• Audience takes an active role in interpreting media to reflect their personal beliefs

• Consider production and consumption (intended and interpreted message)

Impression Management

• People use social media to influence the impression they give towards others (because it can be more manufactured compared to IRL)

• Especially prominent in families that highlight the achievements of children online

• More common from mothers due to greater expectations and judgement for parenting ability

Poststructuralism

• The simulated reality of social media has come to define reality

• People manufacture or become trapped in bubbles where they are shielded from objective reality

Collective Behaviour

• Spontaneous behaviour of a group in response to a common influence

• Uncoordinated, unclear goals, and short lived

• Ex. Fads and Rumours

Collective Action

• People acting together to bring about or resist political, social, or economic change

• Sustained effort with clear goals

• Ex. Protests and strikes

Routine Collective Action

• Organized activities following patterns within social structures to bring/resist change

• Non-violent

• Ex. Voting, unions, peaceful protests

Non-Routine Collective Action

• Groups act outside of norms, often spontaneously and short lived

• May be violent

• Ex. Riots, Flash Mobs, Rebellions

Collectivity

• Large number of people mutually transcend established patterns

• Most likely to occur with a common stimulus

• Ex. A fire causes people to panic

Conventional Crowds

• People who came together for a specific event and share a common focus

• Crowd cannot exist without event and vice versa

• Governed by norms that hold them together

• Ex. Crowd at a concert

Expressive Crowds

• People releasing emotions in conjunction with others experiencing similar emotions

• May deviate from normal conventions but generally not destructive

• Ex. Sports fans in the streets after a win

Acting Crowds

• Collectives so intensely focused on a specific objective they may erupt into disruptive behaviour

• Ex. Mobs, Riots, or Panicked crowds

Contagion Theory

• The anonymity of a crowd decreases inhibitions and personal responsibility

Circular Reaction

• The social unrest present in crowds is amplified through a circular reaction by interacting with other emotionally charged people

Emergent Norm Theory

• Crowds develop their own meanings of a situation

• New norms emerge to fit the needs of the crowd that may violate traditional norms

Breakdown Theory (Functionalist)

• Social movements emerge in response to non-functional aspects of society

Absolute Deprivation

• Destitution to the point one can barely survive

• Not very strong at motivating people to make changes

Relative Deprivation

• Feeling deprived of resources relative to someone else’s abundance

• Ex. Someone in poverty may be able to survive but having Elon Musk as a comparison makes it evident that society is broken

• Stronger motivator for social change

Solidarity Theory (Conflict)

• Social movements emerge when members can mobilize their resources, resist control of authorities, and frame their discontent

Crisis of Legitimacy Theory

• Social movements occur when their is a lack of faith in the government to rightfully govern

Urbanization

• The growth of urban areas, often at the expense of rural areas

• Emerges parallel to population growth due to industrialization and economic growth

• Benefits economy, population health, and diversity

• Harms ease of transport, crime, and environment

Population Explosion

• The rate at which the population increases by a billion has increased rapidly

• Many compared this to a bomb and believed it would devastate our natural resources

• Explosions are also short term, the population will stabilize or decline again

Africa

• The only continent still experiencing a population boom

• Many others are stable or have begun declining

Malthusian Theory

• Two Facts
  1. People must eat
  2. People are motivated by sexual urges

• One False Assumption
  1. Food grows slowly while population grows fast and geometrically

• Only positive checks (wars, famine) and preventative measures (abortion, infanticide) can slow population growth

Malthusian Trap

• There is a cycle of population growth followed by a positive check that evens the population out

Criticisms of Malthusian Theory

• Nothing suggests overpopulation will lead to positive checks

• Starvation is not due to underproduction of food its due to unequal distribution

• Sexual urges do not always grow population (contraceptives exist)

• Incorrectly predicted how Europe’s population would grow

Demographic Transition Theory

• Societies progress from high fertility and high death rates to low fertility and mortality rates
  1. Preindustrial Stage (Both are high)
  2. Early Industrial Stage (Birth rates are high but death rate declines)
  3. Mature Industrial Stage (Birth rates begins to decline as death rate continues)
  4. Post Industrial Stage (Fertility Rates are in balance with death rate)

• Inaccurate final stage as fertility rates have been below replacement level

Second Demographic Transition Theory

• Correctly argued that fertility rates would get to below replacement level

• Predicted based on emerging contraception, gender revolution, and cultural shifts

Post Materialism

• Higher order needs drive behaviour when basic needs are easily met in a society

• Ex. Valuing artistry

Low Fertility Trap

• Older populations mean less fertility

• Weaker economy means people are less able to support children

• Lower fertility socializes people to not want children

Urban Heat Island Effect

• Urban areas are warmer than rural areas

• Little greenery to cool air, concrete retains heat, high amounts of exhaust

BioTechnology

• Modifying biological processors for human benefit

• Concern over how this may impact the ecosystem

• Ex. Microbes can be engineered to consume oil spills but they may harm the microbes that naturally do this

Human Ecology

• The natural environment provides 3 main uses to humans
  1. Provides natural resources essential for survival
  2. Serves as a waste repository
  3. Houses our species

• These functions must exist in equilibrium

Treadmill of Production

• Increasing profits are inherent to capitalism

• There is therefore an ever increasing demand for products (regardless of consequences)

Disposable Society

• Disproportionate amount of waste generated by Western countries

• Businesses thrive off of waste because that is also a business