SOC 101 - Quiz 1 (Ch 1, 3, 4)

Agents of socialization

People or groups that affect our self-concept, attitudes, or other orientations toward life 

E.g. Family 

Anticipatory socialization  

Learning part of a future role because one anticipates it 

E.g. Medical students prepare to be a doctor by pretending to have competence and confidence, working long hours, etc. 

Beliefs

An idea that a culture agrees upon, not necessarily a fact, are shared definitions of reality, and they change from society to society, and time to time. 

E.g. English speakers and Spanish speakers perceive colours differently. 

Bourgeoisie

Karl Marx’s term for capitalists, those who own the means to produce wealth 

Capitalist

Synonymous with “bourgeoisie”, those who own the means of production

Class conflict

Marx’s term for the struggle between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie 

Conflict theory

A theoretical framework in which society is viewed as composed of groups competing for scarce resources 

E.g. One group controls the means of production and exploits those that do not 

Charles Horton Cooley

American sociologist that studied the emergence of human identity and coined the term “looking-glass self” which consists of imagining how we appear to others, interpreting their reactions, and based on the reactions of others, developing ideas about ourselves. 

Counterculture

A group whose values, beliefs, and related behaviours place its members in opposition to the broader culture 

E.g. A motorcycle gang that stresses freedom and speed but also add the values of hating women and selling drugs and prostitution 

Cultural capital

A set of habits and dispositions that give middle- and upper-class children an advantage over children from the working class 

Cultural diffusion

The spread of cultural characteristics from one group to another  

E.g. Mainly from the West to other parts of the world but also seen in architectural designs, food (bagels, falafel) 

Cultural lag

William Ogburn’s term for human behaviour lagging behind technological innovations 

E.g. We continue to visit doctors’ offices despite us having the technology to simply find a diagnosis online 

Cultural leveling

The process by which cultures become similar to one another, and especially by which Western industrial culture is imported and diffused into developing nations 

Cultural relativism

Understanding a people from the framework of its own culture 

Culture

The language, beliefs, values, norms, behaviours, and even material objects passed from one generation to the next 

Degradation ceremony

A term coined by Harold Garfinkel to describe an attempt to remake the self by stripping away an individual’s self-identity and stamping a new one in its place; a ritual designed to strip an individual of his or her identity as a group member 

E.g. Newly recruited soldiers being given buzzcuts and stripped from everything that made them a civilian (clothes, etc.) 

Emile Durkheim

Studied how the most personal of individual behaviours is shaped by social forces and showed how social integration is a key factor in deterring suicide 

Ethnocentrism

The use of one’s own culture as a yardstick for judging the ways of other individuals or societies, generally leading to a negative evaluation of their values, norms and behaviours.  

Feminist theories

All three types of feminist theories – Marxist, liberal, and radical – hold that women are oppressed by gender roles that are products of social, historical, and cultural factors 

Folkways

Norms that are not strictly enforced 

Functional analysis/structural functionalism

A theoretical framework in which society is viewed as composed of various parts, each with a function that, when fulfilled, contributes to society’s equilibrium; also known as functionalism and structural functionalism 

E.g. Tuition is increased to recruit better quality staff (manifest function) and as a result, there is an influx of new students and so the university’s programs and campus are expanded (latent positive function) 

Game stage

Ages 6-13, characterizes by the ability to recognize patterns in behaviours of others, implies knowledge of the generalized other and take part in reflexive role-taking 

Gender socialization; gender roles

The behaviours and attitudes considered appropriate because one is a female or male 

Generalized other

The norms, values, attitudes, and expectations of “people in general”; a child’s ability to take the role of the generalized other is a significant step in the development of self 

Erving Goffman

Studied the total institution and showed how it can tear down individuals and mold them into something else entirely. 

In-group

Groups toward which one feels loyalty 

Out-group

Groups toward which one feels antagonism 

Language

A system of symbols that can be combined in an infinite number of ways and can represent not only objects but also abstract thought 

Looking-glass self

A term coined by Charles Horton Cooley to refer to the process by which our self develops through internalizing others’ reactions to us 

Functions

The beneficial consequences of people’s actions that maintain equilibrium 

Manifest functions

The intended consequences of people’s actions designed to help some part of a social system  

Latent functions

The unintended consequences of people’s actions that help keep a social system in equilibrium  

Dysfunctions

Consequences that undermine equilibrium  

Karl Marx

Presented capitalism as a new type of class-based oppression through conflict theory, focuses on the relationship between the bourgeoisie and proletariat, characterized by class conflict which can only end if the working class work together and start a revolution to create a classless society 

Material culture

The material objects that distinguish a group of people, such as their art, buildings, weapons, utensils, machines, hairstyles, clothing, jewelry 

George Herbert Mead

A symbolic interactionist that focuses on primary socialization which consists of the preparatory stage (before age 3, learning a language), the play stage (ages 3-6, imitation those around us but not having an understanding of it), and the game stage (ages 6-13, able to play and understand multiple roles) 

Robert Merton

Further developed functional analysis and used the term “functions” to describe beneficial consequences of people’s actions that help keep a group in equilibrium. 

Mores

Norms that are strictly enforced because they are thought to be essential to core values. 

Non-material culture/symbolic culture

A group’s ways of thinking (including its beliefs, values, and other assumptions about the world) and doing (its common patterns of behaviour, including language and other forms of interaction) 

Norms

The expectations or rules of behaviour that develop out of values 

Origins of sociology

European social observers began to use scientific methods to test their ideas in the 19^th century, named in 1838, no one noticed sociology for a long time because for many years, life and society was constant and unchanging 

Factors: 

1. Bourgeois (capitalist) revolutions: French revolution gave way for the bourgeoisie to be in power 

2. Industrial revolution: People that once lived only in their village met people who live by different rules since moving away from their village and working in a factory. Different rules and new technology led to transformations in people’s beliefs, values, and ideas 

3. Imperialism: Europeans were exposed to new cultures 

Play stage

Ages 3-6, children imitate others and show little understanding of patterns

Primary groups

A group associated by intimate, long-term, face-to-face association and co-operation 

Secondary groups

Compared with a primary group, a larger relatively temporary, more anonymous, formal, and impersonal group based on some interest or activity, whose members are likely to interact on the basis of specific roles 

Proletarian/proletariat

Marx’s term for the exploited class, the mass of workers who do not own the means of production 

Protestent ethic

Weber’s term to describe the ideal of a self-denying, highly moral life, accompanied by hard work and frugality 

Reference group

The groups we use as standard to evaluate ourselves 

Resocialization

The process of learning new norms, values, attitudes, and behaviours 

Sanctions

Expressions of approval or disapproval given to people for upholding or violating norms 

Sapir-Whorf hypothesis

Edward Sapir and Benjamin Whorf’s hypothesis that language creates ways of thinking and perceiving 

Significant other

An individual who significantly influences someone else’s life 

Self

The unique human capacity of being able to see ourselves “from the outside”; the picture we gain of how others see us 

Social integration

The ways that different groups come together to form a whole in society 

Social location

The group memberships that people have because of their location in history and society 

Socialization

The process by which people learn the characteristics of their group: the attitudes, values, and actions thought appropriate for them 

Society

A term used by sociologists to refer to a group of people who share a culture and a territory  

Sociology

The scientific study of society and human behaviour 

Spirit of capitalism

Weber’s term for the desire to accumulate capital as a duty – not to spend it, but as an end in itself – and to constantly reinvest it 

Subculture

The values and related behaviours of a group that distinguish its members from the larger culture; a world within a world 

Symbolic interaction

A theoretical perspective in which society is viewed as composed of symbols that people use to establish meaning, develop their views of the world, and communicate with one another

Symbols

Something to which people attach meaning and then use to communicate with others 

Taboo

A norm so strong that it brings revulsion if violated 

Taking the role of the other

Putting oneself in someone else’s shoes; understanding how someone else feels and thinks and thus anticipating how that person will act 

Theory

A general statement about how some parts of the world fit together and how they work; an explanation of how two or more facts are related to one another 

Total institution

A place in which people are cut off from the rest of society and are almost totally controlled by the officials who run the place 

Values

The standards by which people define what is desirable or undesirable, good or bad, beautiful or ugly; attitudes about the way the world ought to be 

Verstehen

A German word used by Weber that is perhaps best understood as “to have insight into someone’s situation” 

Max Weber

Believed that there is a link between people’s ideas (religion) and the rise in capitalism and that we should focuson the ways people interpret their own behaviour, opposes Marx