soceity : definitions , power , and social control concepts

Explain how a society is defined.

A society is a group having something in common, with physical and mental space.

Explain physical vs. mental space in society.

Physical space has geographical borders; mental space comes from beliefs, language, customs, and traditions.

Explain how roles, values, norms, and beliefs shape society.

Roles create expectations; values define what should happen; norms define how; beliefs shape values and norms.

Why can cultural identifiers create conflict?

Identifiers are interpreted through social context, so differences can conflict with how people classify others.

Explain cross-cultural vs. intra-cultural comparisons.

Cross-cultural compares across cultures; intra-cultural compares similarities and differences within a culture.

Explain the nature vs. nurture debate.

It asks whether cultural identifiers and related behaviors come from being born or from being learned.

Explain Weber's two types of power.

Coercive power forces obedience through punishment; consensual power gets obedience because people believe it is right.

Explain the three forms of decision-making power.

Action makes decisions; preventing stops others from deciding; not recognizing removes issues from the decision-making agenda.

Explain how social control maintains social order.

Social control uses positive and negative mechanisms to maintain order; those with power use sanctions to get conformity.

Explain how society achieves conformity.

Power uses social control, sanctions, norms, and values to establish what is socially acceptable.

A law requires obedience through punishment. What type of power?

Coercive power because people are forced to obey under threat of punishment.

People obey because they believe the rule is right. Explain.

This is consensual power because people obey because they believe it is right.

How can laws demonstrate coercive power?

Laws can force people to obey because breaking them can result in punishment.

How are traditional, rational/legal, and charismatic authority different?

Traditional follows what has been done; rational/legal uses authority; charismatic depends on trust.

How does power influence roles, norms, and ideologies?

Power helps determine how roles, norms, and ideologies, or related beliefs, are defined.

How can preventing be used as power?

It prevents others from making decisions, such as restricting rights through laws.

How can not recognizing be used as power?

It removes decision-making by convincing others that an issue does not need a decision.

Explain positive vs. negative sanctions with their purpose.

Positive sanctions reward behavior; negative sanctions punish behavior to influence conformity.

Compare formal and informal social control.

Formal control uses written rules and laws; informal control uses unwritten enforcement mechanisms.

Explain how social conformity works at macro and micro levels.

Macro conformity includes wearing clothes in public; micro conformity includes not using a phone in class.