Studied by 18 people
Key terms & concepts from Ch 1-6 of WADE, as well as lecture and E-readings.
Social fact
Products of human interaction persuasive power that exist externally to any individual
Sociological imagination (C Wright Mills)
Ability to see relationship between individual experience and larger society
Looking-glass self (Cooley)
Idea of self based on how we think we’re perceived by others
Self-narrative
Notion of ourselves between fact & fiction
Self-fulfilling prophecy
When you create a version of yourself that isn’t necessarily true, but has so much self-belief put into it that it becomes part of your “self”
Social Fact
Development of self (Mead)
Self is developed while we grow, not something we are born with (“I” is unsocialized self, “me is unsocialized”)
Theory of Mind
Recognition that others’ minds exist, & we can try to imagine others’ mental states
Social Construct
Influential & shared interpretation of reality that will vary across time & space
Mead’s Stages of Child Development
Imitation
Play stage (3-5) - Kids begin to pretend to take on roles, and see themselves in relation to others
Game Stage (7+) - Kids begin to develop a sense of “generalized other” (people outside the “I”)
Egoistic Suicide (Durkheim)
Individual is isolated from social groups due to failure of social institutions, which puts more stress on the individual as opposed to having support from social groups (social isolation)
Social integration
Ties to community
Preventative and protective from egoistic suicide
Enabling constraints
Concept that we enable ourselves to be constrained by rules for the sake of a predictable and cohesive society
Socialization
The process where individuals internalize culture of given society in order to function in that society
Agents of socialization
Primary: Family, peers
Institutions: Schools, religion, mass media, wok, military
Primary socialization
Socialization that occurs during infancy and childhood — most intense period of cultural learning
Secondary socialization
Socialization later in life
Anticipatory socialization
Socialization in which one acquires skills, knowledge, values, and orientations for future roles (ex: high school preparing for college)
Self-socialization
Active efforts we make to ensure that we are culturally competent members of our cultures
Re-socialization
Drastic form of adult socialization
Process of learning beliefs/behaviors due to/according to institutional values
Ex: Prison or the Military
Media socialization
Socialization gained through media (books, movies, video games, the internet, etc.) (Ex: the Anglo brothers)
Embodied/embodiement
Culture becoming physically present and detectable in the body itself
Embedded in habits and practices
Perform identity without even thinking about it
Social ties
The connections between us and other people
Social networks
Set of relations held together by ties between individuals
Strong social ties
Direct ties (people an individual knows)
Weak social ties
Indirect ties (people an individual knows through other people, aka a friend of a friend)
Why are weak social ties important?
They provide indirect knowledge and information
“Its not who you know, ut who knows who you know”
Homophily
Notion that we tend to interact with those similar to us
Embededness
Number of ties & connections
Social capital
Value of networks & connections
Bonding (Putnam)
Getting to know people
Bridging (Putnam)
Meeting new people
Putnam’s “Bowling Alone” Thesis
Trend that people used to bowl in leagues in US, but now people bowl alone illustrates transition to more individualistic mindset in US & social disconnection/isolation
Social construction
General process in which humans create values & perspectives of the world around us
Social construction of reality
Notion that we construct our reality
Culture
Differences in shared groups ideas
Ways of thinking of the world around you
Notion of understanding to make social constructions real
Beliefs
Ideas about what is true vs false
Values
Notions of what is right vs wrong
Norms
Shared expectations for behavior
Subcultures
Subgroups within societies that have distinct cultural ideas, objects, practices, and bodies
Ethnocentrism
The practice of assuming one’s culture is superior to another
Cultural relativism
The practice of noting differences between your and other’s cultures without judgement
Ideologies
Shared ideas about how human life should be organized
Collective action
Collaborative effort of people to act
Collective identities
Socially constructed categories/subcategories of people in which we place ourselves, or others place us in
Social Identity Theory
The idea that people are inclined to form social groups, incorporate group membership into their identity, take steps to enforce group boundaries, and maximize positive distinction and in-group success
Groups
Social group consisting of 2+ people with a common identity who regularly interact with each other (shared culture)
Wade’s Social Identity Process
Invent - establish feature as basis of identity (ex: Sexuality)
Divide - decide what makes people different within subcategories (ex: race)
Stereotype - Give subcategories different symbolic meanings (ex: gender)
Perform - Do social identities in accordance with stereotypes (ex: age)
Rank - Place more value on some subcategories compared others (ex: body type)
In-group bias
Preferential treatment of members of one’s own group, and mistreatment of others
Ethnocentrism v. in-group bias v, prejudice
Ethnocentrism → attitude towards culture
In-group bias → attitude towards social groups
Prejudice → attitude towards individuals
Stigma
Personal attribute that is widely devalued by members of one’s society
Controlling images
Pervasive negative stereotypes which are meant to justify/uphold inequality
Prejudice
Attitudinal bias against individuals based on their membership in a social group
Status
High or low esteem
Social status
Esteem based on which social groups on is a member of
Status elite
People who carry many positively regarded social identities
Social interaction
On going interaction/being human and enacting on the world
Social rules
Culturally-specific norms, policies, and laws that guide our behavior
Folkways
Loosely enforced norms
Mores
Tightly enforced norms that carry moral significance
Face/facework (Goffman)
The constant maintaining of the positive social value one gains based on the line others think they have taken during an interaction
Impression management
Continuous effort to control how one is perceived by others
Front stage/backstage
public spaces in which we are actively performing facework vs. private spaces in which we are preparing ourselves for facework (kinda similar to kinetic v. potential energy)
Roles/role playing
Relative positions within a social interaction one performs
Cultural scripts/lines
Patterns of act in which one demonstrates the way they view a social situation and the participants within it (including themself)
Interaction rituals
Avoidance process - one avoids participating in anything that may risk the loss of face
Corrective process - one defines loss of face as incident, then attempts to diminish/recitfy the situation
Tacit cooperation - Joint effort by participants of a social interaction to maintain and save the face of themselves and the other participants
Social sanctions
Reactions by others meant to promote social conformity
Social control
Mechanisms that create normative compliance in individuals
Breaching
Purposefully breaking a social norm to test how others would respond
Taboos
Social prohibitions so strong that the idea of violating can be sickening
Policies
Rules that are made and enforced by organizations
Laws
Rules that are made and enforced by city, state, or federal governments
Organizations
Formal entities that coordinate collections of people in achieving a stated purpose
Division of labor
Different, inter-related roles and jobs
Bureaucracy
Administrative policies and procedures which define roles and hierarchies
Institutions
Widespread and enduring patterns of interaction with which we respond to categories of human need (ex: healthcare, religion)
Inescapability of institutions
Concept of institutions being so ingrained in our everyday lives and provide our basic needs, making us participatory of them whether we like it or not (ex: not agreeing with the food system in US, but still needing to eat regardless)
Institutionalized ideologies
Concept that depicts the way we accept social instituons and the ideas they socialize us into with little resistance because that is the only way we have known them to be
Pre-modern thought
Belief in supernatural sources of truth and commitment to traditional practices
Modern thought
Belief that science is the sole source of truth and that humans can rationally organize societies and improve human life
Post-modern thought
Rejection of the notion of absolute truth in favor of partial truths, and denunciation of the narrative of progress
Modes of thought
Source of truth
Mode of authority
Nature of identity
Rationalization
Process of embracing reason and using it to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of human activities
The Industrial Revolution
New modes of product & profit, as well as new concentrations of power result in new social problems
The Democratic Revolution
Breakdown of monarchies and belief that one ruler ordained by God should rule society — moves to idea that people should control their own society
The Scientific Revolution
Rise of rationality, the scientific method, positivism, and belief that society operates by laws that are observable
Mechanical Solidarity
Social cohesion through similarity and bonding
Organic Solidarity
Social cohesion through diversity and mutual dependance
Anomie
Widespread normlessness or a weakening of alienation from social rules
Social structure
Whole set of interlocking social institutions
Structural position
Feature of our lives that determine our mix of opportunities and constraints
Institutional discrimination
Widespread and enduring practice that persistently disadvantages some kinds of people while advantaging others
Social stratification
Persistent sorting of social groups into enduring hierarchies
Agency & structure
Notion discussing how we need society because it provides structure, power, and agency
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Flashcard (20)