Sociology Unit 2

sociology 3e textbook

Socialization

Learning culture over time. Process through which individuals internalize the norms, customs, values and ideologies of their society.

Personality

How people come to know us.

Nature vs Nurture

Debate of our humanity

Nature: Genetics/ epigenetic/ biology influences our development

Nurture: Nature and Environment

Harry and Margaret Harlow (1962)

Studied Rhesus monkeys (social isolation)

• wire crate mother: uncomfortable but had milk

• Cloth Crate mother: comfortable with no food

• Monkeys would be frightened and would prefer cloth mother, even without food

• Takeaway: People need to be held/ physical contact with mother, food has no influence. Life without comfort mother causes significant developmental issues. 

• The need to eat did not outweigh need for touch, closeness, and proximity 

• Once beyond 6 months; could not develop normally 

• Length of isolation is important; people in isolation do not develop normally. 

Danielle and Genie 

Social Isolation: 

Genie: isolation, extended past other girls; no interaction/ no engagement led to her being developmentally delayed everywhere.

Danielle: toddler found–feral child (can’t communicate; animalistic; primal) couldn’t carry a conversation (couldn’t talk); not potty trained. with help was able to get slightly better.

• Socialization is essential for human development.

• Without early social interaction, humans cannot fully develop language, empathy, or normal emotional behavior.

Anna and Isabel

Anna: no contact until 5/6. Hard time learning language xyz

Isabel: was isolated with deaf and mute mother but was able to quickly learn how to speak/ interact. 

Anna had no contact found when 5or 6; isabel was separated with her mother. Being isolated in years of life hurts social development and cognitive function. Anna was feral while isabel was able to learn but was stuck in a child’s mindset. Isabel was able to learn even though she was with her deaf mute mother

Identical Twin Studies

Helpful in the nature vs nurutre debate

Jack+ Oscar 

Nurture clearly influenced their beliefs and attitudes (Jewish vs. Nazi upbringing).

• Nature strongly influenced their personalities, behaviors, and mannerisms, which remained similar despite opposite environments.

Id, Ego, Superego

• ID: thinking only about yourself; in-born; primal urges; self focusing; unconcious desires

• Superego: thinking about the best “goodness” thing; (societal norms and values). Want to fulfill societal norms and standards we have learned over time. Superego is conscious  

• Ego: the balance between the two(ID/superego); is subconscious 

Jean Piaget (1936 google date): cognitive theory of development

Theory: How we think and understand

1. Sensory motor: everything is taken in through sensory inputs; object permanence

2. Preoperational: understanding symbols, develop language and learning it (lots of vocab); only know own perspective

3. Concrete Operational: Based off of things that you see happen. More complex concepts; time, aging, measurement compared to real concrete things

4. Formal operational: abstract concepts and critical thinking; make abstract things

Kohlberg’s theory of moral development

Only researched boys

• Preconventional: focus on rewards and punishments; focus on receiving good and receiving negative. More focused on self and outcomes.

  • sick family doesn’t steal medicine because they dont wanna go to jail for stealing

• Conventional: viewing things from a very clear cut social expecttions. Formal law. View our close knit relationships to see what they think about the situtation. how you view moral issues is based on information you gather from people around you.  

  • steal medicine to be a good husband for sick wife. 

• Post-conventional: understanding of moral issues is more on abstract concepts, critically thinking, and broader context/ consequences

  • Steal medicine to save a life. 

• Boys: justice and clear cut good/ bad

• Girls: look at why behind behavior/ still believe in some justice 

Social behaviorism; 4 stages of development of the self (mead)

Social behaviorism: social experience develops a person’s behaviors

Sense of self: social experience develops an individual’s personality

Imitation stage: No one stage: cant take role of anyone; imitation with no understanding of meaning

Play stage: One other in one situation: can engage in play. 

Game stage: Many others in one situation: engaging in games/ sports. understand roles of other people in the game/ sport. 

Generalized other stage: Many others in many situation: generalized other allows a person to fit into many roles (world view)

Cooley: looking glass self is based on social interaction because interactions with people are different. 

Looking Glass Self (cooley)

• t’s not about what others actually think — it’s about what we believe they think.

• Our self-image is shaped by social interaction and perception, not by isolation.

• Act how we think other people think we should act. 

Agents of Socialization

Family: most important/ first. first contact with the world. Influential throughout life. long term contact. You are given race, class, gender from family and taught by family with how to act with these traits.

School: new authority figures. lots of friend time. discipline. long time spent in schoool. first experience with bureaucracy. Learn signals and expectations.Sportsmanship, fairplay, sharing, and hidden cirriculum: The hidden curriculum socializes students to function in society — especially in the workplace. working in groups, obey authority. 

Peer groups: always have them once you leave your family. friends. adolescent and teenage years they develp. Made because teens+ want their own groups. 

Mass Media. pervasive(non stop+ everyone gets it) Bidirectional (people respond AND post)

Bureaucracy

a formal organizational structure characterized by a rigid hierarchy, division of labor, standardized rules and procedures, and impersonal relationships, designed for efficient, rational administration

Major Traits of Bureaucracy

• Division of labor based on specialization

• Technical competence

• Hierarchy of authority 

• Organizational affairs based on a cyst of rules and procedures

• Written records of organizational activities maintained

• Relationships within the org are impersonal 

• HIGHER U GO LESS PEOPLE; MORE THOS EPEOPLE AT TOP HAVE MORE POWER RESPONSIBILITY 

• BOTTOM HAS A LOT OF PEOPLE WITH LOW POWER AND LOW AUTHORITY 

Life Course

Life course is culturally defined. Life course broken down into:

• Childhood

• Birth to 12 yo. 

  • Learning formalized information 

  • Learning norms and behaviors 

  • Dependent 

  • Dont expect them to work–but that is expected in other cultures 

• Adolescence

  • 13 to 19

  • Biological changes

  • More decision making 

  • Liking people: intimacy 

  • Weird see saw between adulthood and childhood 

  • Upper class can stretch adolescence 

• Transitional adulthood (newest)

  • Relatively new concept

  • People dont have a lot of success–extension–finding purpose–many still in school; trade school, uni, med, 

  • Low financial independence 

• Early adulthood

  • 28-40

  • Married, home purchace, buy something, finishing advanced degrees 

  • Men: done in steps–education, career, mariage, etc

  • Women: doing it all at once: job, family, marriage

  • Starting/ establishing big moments

• Middle adult hood

  • Menopause (early 50s)

  • Perimenopause (mid 30s)

  • more established, completed major tasks, clear priority set developed

• Old age 

  • 68 and on 

  • Healthcare allowed this

  • Men coming back after war are baby boomers 

Resocialization and Total Institutions

• Resocialization has 2 parts

  • Letting go of the old culture; breaking down old identity 

  • Building of new identity that aligns with total institution

• What is a total institution 

  • Separated from rest of society

  • Controlled by an administrative staff

  • Everything is standardized: same food, hair, xyz

• What does it mean to become institutionalized

  • Cannot leave total institutions without having difficulty to function in mainstream life. 

Example: JAIL, military

Status

Ascribed: Assigned at birth; given statues

Achieved: Gain status with work/ behavior (M.D.; pedophile)

Master: An overall status of how people perceive a person. 

Thomas Theorem

Perspective on Social interaction; behavior reflects how you define a situation

Think of reality like Play-Doh:

• People mold and shape reality based on their perceptions and beliefs.

• The shape may look different for each person, but it’s real to them — and affects how they behave.

• So, just like Play-Doh can be shaped differently in everyone’s hands, social reality is flexible, shaped by how people define it.

• People’s definitions of reality guide their behavior, and that behavior creates real consequences, even if the original belief wasn’t objectively true.

• micro level: your own small perception determines how you view your society

Thomas Theorem–  if a situation is real in someones head then it is real and their behavior reflects that. Kid that thinks monsters are in dark so they hide from monsters

Goffman

Society is a Theatrical performance

“All worlds a stage, and all the men and women merely players, they have their exits and entrances, and one man in his time plays many parts“

Parts: 

Costume, prop, stage, demeanor. 

Non verbal communication

Communication using boyd movements, gestures, and facial expressions rather than speech. Body language. We expect that verbal + non verbal comms match up 

Social Interaction and group life.

Social Interaction and group life

1. Cooperation

   1. Two people work together to achieve a shared goal; mutual benefit and teamwork 

2. Conflict

   1. 2 people(things) work against eachother to receive greater share of reward 

   2. Politics

3. Social Exchange

   1. Individuals voluntarily do something in order to receive something in exchange. 

4. Coercion 

   1. Tricking. When people are forced to behave in a certain way, often through pressure, threats, or manipulation.

      The opposite of cooperation.

      Creates conflict and resentment rather than unity.

      Example: A boss threatens to fire workers unless they work overtime.

5. Conformity

   1. When people adjust their behavior or beliefs to match the group’s norms or expectations.

      Promotes social stability, but can also discourage individuality.

Primary vs secondary chart

	Primary	Secondary
Nature of Relationship	Small groups of people  Closest to you  Most consistent contact with  Face to face interaction  Informal  Emotional connections/ informal/ face to face interactions	Formal relationship Impersonal  Contact is environment specific
Function	Socialization  soc/ emotional support	Working related Uniting for a common goal  Coworkers  Profs, doctors, etc
Examples	Closest friends Family  Significant other or spouse	Coworker  Church friends Mentor

Reference Groups

• A social group that is used as a point of reference in making evaluations and decisions 

• Used to help us evaluate ourselves and acquire attitudes, beliefs, norms, and values

• Influence self esteem and behavior 

• Can utilize w/o belonging (anticipatory socialization: doing things that a group does before youre in it)

• Can be positive or negative

• A reference group is a group that individuals compare themselves to and use as a standard for evaluating their own attitudes, values, and behaviors.

In group

A social group toward which a member feels respect and loyalty

Out Group

A social group toward which a person feels a sense of competition or opposition

Social Network

Social Network

• NOT ONLY TECHNOLOGY BASED

• A web of social relationships that joins and brings ppl and groups together

• Large 

• Technology → increased interaction and flow of info 

Functions

• Provides a sense of belonging 

• Provides social support

• Useful for entering the job market 

Formal Organization

Secondary group

Accompanies the transition from pre industrial to industrial society

• Formal organizations emerged with industrial society to efficiently manage large groups of people, specialized labor, and complex social tasks that pre-industrial societies handled informally.

Deliberately created to achieve one or more goals

Bureaucracies: formal orgs based on rationality and efficiency 

Problems with bureaucracies

Dehumanizing social environment

• Inefficiency and wastefulness (Parkinsons law–toilet seat example)

• Peter principle–employees rise to their level of incompetence (promoting people who shouldnt be promoted) good worker, becomes bad boss. stays boss cuz he is too good of a worker. 

• Goal displacement–non profit–board of directors changes its direction for profit 

• Bureautcratic inertia/ ritualism– blockbuster couldve signed with netflix but didnt; focus on status quo  

• Trained incapacity – “tunnel vision”--workers cant think outside of that

Ex:

mcdonaldization: individual is alienated from their work; no choice, power, or creativty.

• 4 points.

• efficiency—get job done quick

• predicatability— same thing across al parts

• calculability— number of people/ burgers sold…quantity over quality 

• Social Control—over consumers

Oligarchy

Run everything based on their interests; An oligarchy is a form of government in which power is held by a small, privileged group of people.

Status vs role 

Status is title 

Role is duties associated with status 

Status is how you’re viewed; role is the part you play(role is tasks and responsibilities of that status)

Role exit

Leaving roles and responsibilities; no longer completivng actions to maintain a status

Socail Interaction

How people we’re around(interact and exchange w) determine our behaviors andvalues that shape us.

Role strain vs role conflict

Role Strain: issues in one status with multiple roles infleunces each other (research vs clinical hours)

Role Conflict: multiple statuses clash (premed x boyfriend)

Crime vs Deviance 

Crime has Consequences and is legally bound 

Deviance is straying off of social norm 

What is stigma and how does it affect a person’s master status?

• Convict label: affects where you live, what jobs you get, and other parts of ur life. 

• Stigma is a "mark of disgrace or shame" that leads to negative attitudes, stereotypes, and discrimination against individuals or groups, causing them to feel shame, isolation, or rejection

Medicalization of Deviance

• Trouble makers are bad: who responds to bad behavior? 

  • Authority figures: parents, counsoler, teacher, po po, older sibling, Religious leader. 

  • We expect someone to punish 

• Sick

  • Medical professionals = authority 

  • Consequence: treatment/ cure to make healthy 

• Instead of moral/ legal situation mental health is now a medical issue 

  • Someone who overeats is different from someone who has an eating disorder/ food addict 

  • Doctors are clear in telling people to get help for addiction problems–used to be a moral issue/ personal weakness 

Thomas Szaz

He thinks mental health is a myth—just a “different normal”—how we expect people to behave in society. 

• When someone has a bad kidney–it is not functioning properly, but if someone is not behaving properly they are not necessarily sick 

  • Refuse treatment, go to psych ward instead of jail,ChatGPT said:

    Thomas Szasz argued that mental illness is not a medical disease but a label society uses to define behaviors that deviate from social norms. Diagnoses may reflect societal judgments rather than objective medical conditions, raising questions about the ethics of treatment and involuntary intervention.

Think about doors it will open for white collar crime

• Trade one evil for another 

• White collar crime vs street crime 

• Rich people can afford representation and can plan crime better 

• Violent crime has clear victim

• Property crime high than violent crime

• Sometimes crime goes unreported

Institutionalized

• Come out of a place and you cant function because institutions have their own practices and xyy; they internalized institution practices so they have trouble living outside of it 

  Concept	Focus	Example
  Total Institution	The structure/place itself	A prison or military boot camp
  Institutionalized	The person affected by being in the institution	A long-term inmate who struggles to adapt outside prison

Aspects of school being an agent of socialization 

Create and experience different peer groups; choose friends; receive feedback on what is acceptable/ non acceptable

spend a lot of time in schoo; with hidden cirrciulum (soft skills: leadership, group work, communication)

Social Exchange

When an interaction both sides expect to give and receive something 

Coercion

Forcing someone to give something; feeling forced to do tasks because you are in subordinate position 

Informal vs formal social control

• Informal: Nasty looks

• Formal: Arrested or speeding ticket 

Proportional difference between violent crimes and property crime/ why property crime happens more often 

• People can do them 

• Violent crimes are person to person and have a clear victim

• Burglary is higher because no one really gets hurt 

• Property crime can be done out of desperation

  • Burgalry

  • Larcenceny 

  • Motor vehicle theft 

• Violent Crime

  • Murder

  • Rape

  • Robbery

  • Aggravated Assault 

• Outcomes of being caught are very different (car theft vs murder)

• Violent Crime over time in US

  • Domesitc violence 

• Private organizations that make money off of prisons r real

Recidivism by type of crime

(reoffenders after they go to prison for what they do. 

Sex offenders labeled as such they decrease how much they rape because it is their master status now 

Recidivism of US prisoners (about 40% will be back in prison) 

Retribution

Society’s revenge on offender but punishment is equal to crime

Deterrence

Scare someone from doing it again/ punish so bad it prevents

Rehabilitation

Improve the environment; based on social science to help treatment and improve the individual

Societal Protection

taking criminals off of the streets–temporarily or full term(capital punish)

Primary vs secondary deviance

Primary deviance: not serious; response? If someone acts outside of the norm, they are not negatively labeled 

Secondary–take on label and its pretty common they’ll be deviant again