Intro to Sociology - Study Guide Chapters 5 and 6

a collection of people who share some attribute, identity, with one another, and interact with each other

What is a Group?

provide the values, norms, and rules that guide people’s lives

What are Social Groups?

a temporary gathering of people in a public place, whose members do not identify with each other and will not remain in contact

What is a Crowd?

Aggregate - collection of people who share a physical location but do not have lasting social relations

A crowd is an example of a what?

usually involve the most face to face interaction and cooperation and the deepest feelings of belonging

What is a Primary Group?

larger and less personal, usually organized around a specific task or activity

What is a Secondary Group?

the web of direct and indirect ties connecting an individual to other people

What is Social Network?

strong ties vs weak ties, bonding vs bridging, our strongest ties are usually to those who are like us

Social Capital and Social Ties include?

a sense of anomie - normlessness

What can disconnect from groups create?

are patterns of interaction between groups and individuals

What are Group Dynamics?

form and fall apart and influence other members

Group Dynamics include the way groups do what?

group a person identifies and feels loyalty toward

What is an In-Group?

group that a person feels opposition, rivalry, or hostility toward

What is an Out-Group?

group that provides a standard of comparison against which people evaluate themselves 

What is a Reference Group?

the sense of solidarity or loyalty that individuals feel toward a group to which they belong

What is Group Cohesion?

the tendency of very cohesive groups to enforce a high degree of conformity among members, creating a demand for unanimous agreement

What is Groupthink?

the influence of one’s fellow group members or individual attitudes and behaviors - conformity happens because of acceptance (positive sanctions), rejection (negative sanctions)

What is Social Influence (Peer Pressure)?

mildest form of conformity; actions to gain reward or avoid punishment

What is the Compliance type of conformity?

conformity to establish or maintain a relationship with a person/ group

What is the Identification type of conformity?

strongest from; an individual adapts the beliefs or actions of a group and makes them his or her own

What is the Internalization type of conformity?

groups almost always outperform an individual but rarely perform as well as it could

What are the benefits of Teamwork?

because organizing takes time and social loafing increases

Why does a team become less efficient as the size increases?

the degree to which a person identifies with a group

What is a Social Identity?

the ability to control the actions of others

Define Power?

backed by the threat of force

How is Coercive Power influential?

supported by persuasion

How is Influential Power influenced?

traditional authority, legal-rational authority, and charismatic authority

What are the 3 types of Authority?

based in custom, birthright, or divine right and is usually associated with monarchies and dynasties

What is Traditional Authority?

authority bases in laws, rules, and procedures

What is Legal-Rational Authority?

authority based in the perception of remarkable personal qualities

What is Charismatic Authority?

task or goal oriented - less concerned with people’s feelings than with getting the job done

Explain an Instrumental Leadership?

is concerned with maintaining emotions and relational harmony within the group because this will lead to a positive work environment and improved productivity

Explain an Expressive Leader?

type of secondary group designed to perform tasks efficiently - impersonal but efficient and provide basic necessities

What is a Bureaucracy?

George Ritzer

Who coined the term McDonaldization?

describes the spread of bureaucratic rationalization and the resulting increase in efficiency and dehumanization

What does the term McDonaldization mean?

is a behavior, trait, or belief that departs from a norm and generates a negative reaction - defining something as deviant requires us to examine the group norms and how the group reacts to the behavior

What is Deviance?

deviance serves a function in our society - according to Durkheim, deviance serves a positive social function by clarifying moral boundaries and promoting social cohesion

Describe a Functionalist perspective on Deviance?

deviance is a result of social conflict - powerful maintain their power by marginalizing and criminalizing the people who threaten their, power-inequality is reproduced in the way deviance is defined 

Describe a Conflict Theory on Deviance?

explains that there are goals in society that people want to achieve, but they cannot always reach these goals - this creates stress (strain) because people are aware of the goals but do not have the means t achieve them

Describe Structural Strain Theory?

Robert Merton

Who developed Structural Strain Theory?

accept the goals of society and the means of achieving those goals

Describe a Conformist within Strain Theory?

accept the goals of the society, but they look for new, or innovative ways of achieving these goals

Describe an Innovator within Strain Theory?

aren’t interested in the goals of the society but they do accept the means of achieving those goals

Describe a Ritualist within Strain Theory?

don’t accept the goals of society or the means of achieving those goals

Describe Retreatism within Strain Theory?

don’t accept the goals of the society or the means of achieving those goals, so they create their own goals using new means 

Describe a Rebel within Strain Theory?

states that we learn deviances from interacting with deviant peers

Describe Differential Association Theory?

Edwin Sutherland

Who developed Differential Association Theory?

states that deviance is caused by external judgments (labels) that change a person’s self-concept and the ways others respond to him or her - Becker suggests that labeling cane lead to a self-fulfilling - a prediction that causes itself to come true

Describe Labeling Theory?

Howard Becker

Who Developed Labeling Theory?

describes any physical or social attitude that develops a person or group’s identity, and which may exclude those who are developed from normal social interaction

What is a Stigma?

Ervin Goffman

Who coined the term Stigma?

stigmatized individuals may try to pass as if they are part of the mainstream

What is Passing?

is the violation of a norm that has been codified into law

What is Crime?

shunning, banishment, and corporal punishment

Other cultures practice these types of punishments?

True

True or False: Can deviance be positive?