sociology 101 exam 1

What is the social perspective?

understanding human behavior by placing it within its broader social context; stresses social context in which people live and examines how these context influence peoples lives

What does society mean?

a group of people who share a culture and territory

social location

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

scientific method

use of objective, systematic observations to test theories

What was the first events that set the stage for sociology?

Industrial Revolution (1st) and social upheaval of political revolution (2nd), impearlism (3rd); all led to questioning of traditional answers (scientific method)

Auguste Comte

wondered what holds society together, believed in applying the scientific method to understand the social world (positivism), founder of sociology, “armchair philosophy” - drawing conclusions from informal observations of social life

Herbert Spencer

second founder of sociology, disagreed with Comte, believe sociology should not guide social reform, believed in “survival of the fittest” (social Darwinism), believed it was wrong to help the poor, did “armchair philosophy”

Karl Marx

believed the engine of human history is class conflict (capitalists vs workers), economic determinism, conflict theory

What is the conflict theory?

* a theory which society is viewed as composed groups that are competing for scarce recourses
* elites use power to control weaker groups
* key to human history is class conflict (bougie vs poor)
* macro theory

Emille Durkhiem

social integration, believed human behavior cannot be understood only in terms of the individual, and should examine social forces in peoples lives

What is social integration?

the degree to which members of a group or a society are united by shared values and other social bonds

Max Weber

disagrees with Marx claim that economics is the central force in social change (weber believed religion was central force), belief systems encourages followers to embarce the beliefs of the religion

Protestant ethic and spirit of capitalism

1. self-denying approach to life
2. desire to invest capital to make more money

W.E.B Dubois

* first great american sociologist
* \

Talcottt Parsons

* developed abstract models that showed how parts of society work together harmoniously did nothing to stimulate social activism

C. Wright Mills

* urged sociologist to get back to social reform
* warned that the nation faced an imminent threat to freedom (coalescing of interest of power elite)

What is a Theory?

a general statement about how the world fits together and how they work

symbolic Interactionalism

* things or objects that we attach meaning to
* key in understating how we view the world and communicate with others
* each symbols represent a different behavior
* micro theory - small scale sociology ( explores and individual and their daily relationships)

Functional analysis

* idea that society is a whole unit made up of interrelated parts working together
* macro theory - analyses the social systems and populations on a larger scale
* structure (how society fits) vs function (what parts contribute to society)
* manifest vs latent functions
* dysfunctions

what is a manifest function?

an actions that is intended to help some part of society

what is a latent function?

unintended consequences that help a system adjust

what is a latent dysfunction?

consequences that are unintended

What is the relationship between research and theory?

theory guides research/research informs theory

Research model steps

1. select topic
2. define problem
3. rewiew literature
4. form hypothesis
5. choose research method
6. collect data
7. analyze results
8. share results

Research Methods

* Surveys
* select sample (individuals intended to represent population) and have a population (target group of study)
* Random sampling -everyone in a population has the same chance of being in the study\]
* probability vs non probability sampling
* neutral questions
* participant observation - researcher participates in a research setting while observing what is happening in the setting
* secondary analysis - analysis of data collected by other researchers
* Documents -written sources that provide photos, movies, data etc
* Experiments
* causation - change in one variable by another variable
* experimental group- the group of subjects in an experiment who are exposed to independent variable
* control group - subjects ingroup not exposed to the independent variable
* independent variable-causes change in another variable
* dependent variable-a factor that is changed by an independent variable
* unobtrusive measures - a way to observe pepe so they do not know they are being studied

STR: Numbers dont lie

* Sampling
* Reliable Measures
* Valid Measures
* Operationlization

material culture vs nonmaterial culture

1. tangible objects that distinguish a group of people such as art, buildings, weapons, hair, etc
2. a groups way of thinking such as beliefs and values and patterns of behavior and interaction

culture shock

disorientation that people experience when in contact with a fundamentally different culture

ethnocentrism

the use of ones own culture as a yardstick for judging the ways of other individuals or societies leading to negative evaluations of their values and norms

cultural relavism

not judging a culture but trying to understand it on its own terms

Components of culture

* symbol - something that meaning is attached to
* gesture - movements of the body to communicate with others, not universal
* language
* Sapir Whorf hypothesis: challenges common sense, states language created ways of thinking and perceiving
* values - standard in which people find desirable or undesirable
* norms - expectations of right behavior
* sanctions - expressions of approval of people following norms or disapproval when people violate norms
* folkway - norms that are not strictly enforces
* mores - norms that are strictly enforced because they are essential to core values and well being of the group
* taboo - a norm so strong that it brings extreme sanctions (prision, death, etc)

subcultures

groups of people who occupy some small corner in life ti develop specialized ways of communicating, values ad behavior are distinguishable

counterculture

a groups whose values and beliefs are related behaviors place its members in opposition to the broader culture

real vs ideal culture

1. peoples ideal values and norms worth aiming for ex: sucess
2. the norms and values people actually follow

cultural lag

william ogburns term for human behavior lagging behind technical innovations; groups marital culture changes first with nonmaterial culture lagging behind

cultural diffusion

spread of cultural traits from one group to another

cultural leveling

the process when different cultures become similar; western cultures diffused to other nations

STR: Winning is everything

Competition as central to our culture \\n Culture working against people Wall Street experiment and Prisoner’s Dilemma

STR: Children are our most precious commodity

social indicators \n cultural inconsistency \n real and ideal culture concerning children \n power and social policies

Cultural ecology

theoretical perspective explaining the relationship between human culture and the physical environment (the example in class was the Hindu reverence for cows

Socialization

the process by which we learn the ways of our society

Sigmund Frued

* id: our inborn basic drives
* ego: balancing forces between the id ad demands of society
* superego: the conscience; internalized norms and values of our social groups
* opposing forces of biology and society

Piaget

* stages of maturation
* children go through processes as hey develop their ability to reason
* biological maturation and social experience

Mead

rejects biology and believed personal development is based solely on socialization

taking the role of the other

\-putting yourself in someone elses shoes

Cooley

* looking glass self
* refers to the process by which our self develops through internalizing others reactions to us

What are some agents of socialization?

family, schools, peers, religion, mass media, etc

resocialization

the process of learning new norms. values attitudes and behaviors

total institutions

a place almost entirely controlled by those who run it, people are cutoff from rest of society

STR; Beauty is only skin deep

cultural inconsistency in regards to physical appearance \n cultural capital \n advantages of beauty \n appearance norms \n looking glass self

STR: Whats in the name

Identity \n Impression Management \n Labeling Theory

Social structure

* patterns
* framework
* inter-realationships
* gives directions and sets limits to our behavior

Social status

* ascribed status
* a positon an individual inherits at birth or recieves involuntarily later in life
* achieved status
* positions that are earned
* master status
* cuts across the other statuses that an individual occupies
* status symbols
* indicators of status

roles

* role conflict
* conflict that someone feels between roles because expectations attached to one role are at odds with those attached to another role
* role strain
* conflicts someone feels within a role

tonnies

* gemeinschaft
* a type of society where life is intimate, everyone knows everyone
* gesellschaft
* society dominated by impersonal relationships, individual accomplishments and self-intrest

dramaturgy

* impression management
* peoples efforts to control the impressions that others receive of them
* front stage
* places where people give performances
* back stage
* places where people rest from there performances

the social contruction of reality

* social construction of race\]the fear of violent crime
* the use of background assumptions and life experiences to define what is real

STR: Love knows no reason

The social organization of the heart \n Norms of homogamy \n Endogamy

STR: Stress is bad for your well being

Task oriented stress \n Social Strain \n The benefits of Stress

STR: The golden years are tarnished years

Age structure \n Age as master status \n Misconceptions on Aging

aggregate

individuals who temporarily share the same physical space but don’t see themselves as belonging together

catagory

people, objects, and events that have similar characteristics and are classified together

primary vs secondary group

1. a small group characterized by cooperative. intimate, long term. face-to-face relationships
2. l larger. temporary. anonymous group based on some interest and activity

ingroup vs outgroup

1. a group toward which one feels loyality
2. a group toward which one feels antagonism

reference groups

a group whose standards we refer to as we evaluate ourselves

social networks

social ties radiating outward from the self that link people together

electronic communities

iron law oligarchy

the tendency of formal organizations to be dominated by a small self perpetulating elite

bureaucracies

stable:

disciplined:

reliable:

webber and the rationalized society

Iron cage beauracracoes

* red tape
* bounded rules that defy logic
* alienation
* lacks connection for the product of labor

group dynamics

* dyads
* duo, smallest possible group
* triads
* group of three people

\
* stability and intensity
* as a smaller group grows larger, it becomes more stable, but intensity or intimacy decreases
* diffusion of responsibility

leadership

* intramental
* tries to get the group moving towards goals
* expressive
* individual who increasesharmony and minimized conflict in a group

groupthink

narrowing a thought of a group of people, leading the perception that there is only one correct answer

deviance

the violation of norms

stigmas

“blemishes” that discredit an persons claim to a “normal” identity

Symbolic interactionist and Micro perspectives

differential association theory

\-people eho associate with some grous learn an “exess of definitions” of deviance increasing the likely hood deviancey \n control theory (Reckless; Hirschi)

\-inner and outter control wprk agianst our tendencies to deviate \n labeling theory

\-the significance of labels and how they help us set on paths that propel us into deviance or divert us from it \n techniques of neutralization: rejecting labels

functionalism and deviance

functions of deviance \n anomie (Merton) \n modes of adaptation \n strain theory

\-large group of memvbers desire a cultural goal but withholds from some the approved means of reaching that goal, one adaption to strain is crime \n illegitimate opportunity structures

\-opputunnities for crimes that are woven into the texture of life

Criminal Justice

retribution \n deterrence \n rehabilitation \n incapacitation

Second Thoughts Reading: Violence in on the Rise in the United States

Fear of violence \n U.S. violence vs. violence elsewhere in the world \n Victimization studies \n Recent trends in violent crime \n Randomness of violent crime? \n Social construction of reality \n Television viewing \n consequences of misperceptions

Second Thoughts Reading: There Ought to Be a Law

Social Control (formal and informal) \n Social Engineering \n Moral Entrepreneurs \n Law suits \n The law and social control

Second Thoughts Reading: Honesty is the Best Policy

Deviant lies \n Normal lies \n Techniques of neutralization \n Primary deviance \n Secondary deviance \n Is honesty the best policy