Economic Sociology Terms Chapters 2&3

Social Construction

A concept or idea that exists because a group of people collectively agree that it exists, rather than because it has any inherent, objective reality.

Culture regulates our infinite desires by defining what to want and how to pursue it.

Culture/Social construction organizes society by:

Acting-above individuals
Acting-within individuals

Meaning: Acting-above individuals

Coordination our actions and aspirations and creating social order

Meaning: Acting-within individuals

creating the perception that the order around us is natural

Hedonic Reversal

Hedonic reversal refers to the phenomenon where an experience initially perceived as negative becomes pleasurable, often due to a shift in perception or a feeling of mastery over the experience

Here refers to foods like coffee, chili

World-Openness

People can become very different despite their similar genetics

(Social) Role

a set of expected behaviours, responsibilities, and norms associated with a specific position or status within a society

The Sick Role (characteristics)

The Sick Role has 4 Characteristics:

1) “Normal” Expectations Suspended (if legitimised by a doctor)
2) Innocence

3) Duty to See Sickness as Undesired

4) Duty to Seek Competent (Professional) Help

Thomas Theorem

If men define situations as real, they are real in their consequences

What are the features of Social Cosntruction

• Inter-subjectivity: exists both personally (in our minds) and collectively (with others)

• Social reality depends on shared meanings and collective agreements

Explain the Tenskwatawa Case! What is it connected with?

The idea that physical reality can disprove false beliefs.

         Tenskwatawa, a charismatic religious leader, inspired Native American warriors by claiming they would be invulnerable to bullets during the Battle of Tippecanoe on November 7, 1811. He ordered an attack against the American forces led by Governor William Henry Harrison. However, the attack partly failed, and many Native warriors were killed. This battle weakened the Native confederacy and diminished Tenskwatawa’s influence.

Explain the Elixir Poisoning Case! What is it connected with?

The idea that physical reality can disprove false beliefs.

         Alchemists and societies constructed the idea that drinking certain elixirs could grant eternal life, despite the toxic effects. This belief gave meaning and value to substances like mercury or radium, which were actually harmful.

         So, the “elixir of immortality” wasn’t a natural truth but a social idea that influenced behavior — leading people to consume dangerous poisons in pursuit of a culturally constructed goal (immortality).

Deviance

actions or behaviours that violate social norms

Why do norm violations exists and persist?

1. Relapse into nature (basic instincts overriding social norms)

2. Reaction to dearth (a scarcity or lack of something)

Cultural Goals

the socially desirable objectives and aspirations that a society defines as important for its members to achieve

Institutionalised Means

The established, formalised, and generally accepted ways of achieving societal goals or fulfilling needs within a social system

What are the Types of Individual Adaptation?

1. Conformity

2. Innovation

3. Ritualism

4. Retreatism

5. Rebellion

Explain all the types of individual adaptation!

1. Conformity

• Accept both cultural goals and approved means.

• Example: Work hard, follow rules, and pursue success.

2. Innovation

• Accept cultural goals but reject or find new means.

• Example:  you come up with illegal ways to become rich – you still achieve your goal but in an illegal way

3. Ritualism

• Reject cultural goals but accept institutionalized means anyway.

• Example: Give up on success but still follow rules and routines.

• they are fine to work usual job but they end up not achieving everything society wanted them to achieve – when people stay at the same job for whole life as they are comfortable there and don’t strive to become better and get even better salary – doesn’t harm anyone contrary to innovation

4. Retreatism

• Reject both cultural goals and institutionalized means.

• Example: Drop out of society, like drug addicts or hermits.

• they don’t live the way society tells you to – completely disconnected from society people – people who struggle with substances and health conditions

5. Rebellion

• Reject both existing goals and means and create new ones.

• Example: Revolutionaries who want to change society’s values and rules.

• mix in a sense that they reject cultural goals and means but they come up with their own way – better way , people who have anarchist perspective – not mainstream

  Minus – cause you reject cultural goals and + cause you come up w your own

Chapter 3

What is the paradoxical two-sided relation between discipline of sociology and the modern world

1. modern thinking is essential for sociology, without the modern idea that society is a man-made construct, sociology couldn’t exist

2. Sociology was developed as a way to address and manage the problems that came in modern life, so it handles modern issues

How does the modern society differ from traditional society

1. science and tech

2. universal and sustained education

3. division of labor

4. market expansion

5. political power shifts

6. urbanization

7. individualism

Modernisation

“The social consequences of an increase in the ratio of inanimate to animate power”

Modernisation Ratio

R = inanimate power / animate power

What are the interconnected characteristics of the modern society?

1. Specialization

2. Change of Inequality

3. Egalitarianism

4. Literacy & Education

Feudal Hierarchy

Feudal hierarchy was a social and political system in medieval Europe where land ownership and social status were closely linked. At the top was the king, who theoretically owned all the land, and below him were various levels of nobles, knights, and peasants, each with specific obligations and privileges. This system was based on a pyramid structure, with power and land flowing downwards from the king.

Autonomous Individual

Someone capable of self-governance and making their own decisions, free from undue external influence or coercion

Specialisation (Individual) = Division of Labor

Specialisation of the tasks people perform

more division of labor = longer chain of interdependence

-       Specialisation (Institutional)= Differentiation

more specialised institutions = focus on distinct functions

Chain of Interdependence

"Chain of interdependence" refers to a system where various entities (individuals, organisations, ecosystems, etc.) rely on each other for resources, support, or functionality.

more division of labor = longer chain of interdependence

Egalitarianism

Belief = all human beings are equal and deserve equal rights

Marx Class Structure

1. Bourgeoisie

this is the capitalist class, that owns the means of production = factories capital, land

2. Proletariat

the proletariat refers to the working class, specifically those who do not own the means of production and must sell their labor power (their ability to work) to survive.

Weber Class Structure

Max Weber's class structure differs from Karl Marx's by incorporating multiple dimensions of stratification beyond just economic factors. Weber identified class, status, and power as separate but related sources of stratification. He saw class as rooted in market situation, while status was tied to social honour and prestige, and power to political influence. 

EGP Class Scheme

The EGP class scheme, developed by Erikson, Goldthorpe, and Portocarero, is a framework for categorizing individuals into social classes based on their market and work situations, primarily within occupational structures. It's widely used in sociology, particularly in studies of social mobility and class analysis. The scheme typically includes up to ten categories, but can be simplified into broader groupings like the service class, small business owners, and skilled laborers.

 

It’s a way sociologists group people by the type of job they have and how much control they have at work.

 

Service class → Jobs where you decide a lot yourself and usually get a salary (e.g., doctors, engineers, managers).

 

Intermediate class → Jobs with some independence, but you still follow rules or a boss (e.g., teachers, technicians, clerks).

 

Working class → Jobs where you follow instructions closely and have little control, often paid by the hour (e.g., factory workers, shop assistants).

 

Basically:

More control + more skills = higher class in EGP.

Less control + less skills = lower class in EGP.

Nation-State

the modern world is ruled by state authority

Nation state has 2 key powers:

1. Monopoly of Violence

   only the state can legitimately use force

   The "monopoly of violence" refers to the idea that a state has the sole legitimate right to use physical force within its territory. This concept is central to the definition of a modern state, as articulated by Max Weber, who argued that a state's defining characteristic is its claim to this exclusive right. While the state is the primary entity with this monopoly, it can be challenged by other actors, including organized crime or non-state armed groups. 

2. Territorial Control

   The state exercises supreme authority over its geographical area

“Imagined Communities“

"Imagined communities" refers to the concept, popularised by Benedict Anderson, that a nation is a socially constructed community, imagined by the people who perceive themselves as part of that group, even if they will never meet the vast majority of their fellow members