SOCI UPENN 1st Exam Nne

Why do sociologists use an agreed upon set of methods?

Set strategies or methodological procedures are used to ensure systematic analysis of social phenomenon

What does your research method depend on?

• Topic

• What you want to know

• Resources

Experiments

Control the environment to isolate effects of one item

Strengths of Experiments

-Allow you to be precise (confidence that the of causal effect of isolated variable)

Weaknesses of Experiments

• Can't typically be done ethically (for most topics)

• Situations are artificial (would subjects act the same way in the real world?)

• In reality, we are never influenced by a single factor at a time

Audit Studies

A method of assessing discrimination

Weaknesses of Audit Studies

Often limited to entry-level events

Examples of Audit Studies

• Devah Pager's "Mark of a Criminal Record" (examined call back rates varying only criminal record and race)

• Discrimination in real estate(Department of Housing and Urban Development)

• Claudia Golden and Cecilia Rouse: Orchestrating impartiality-The impact of blind auditions on female musicians

Natural experiment

Compare before and after some unexpected shock unrelated to the outcome you are interested in

Limitations of Natural Experiments

Shocks are, by definition, unpredictable

Surveys

Set of questions subjects respond to

Strengths of Surveys

-Can get a lot of data from many people

- Relatively quick and convenient
- Can obtain nationally representative sample
- Can assess correlational relationships

Sample

A representative group of the larger population

Two types of Surveys

Random

Non-Random

Random Survey

Select from sampling frame of total population so that every member has an equal chance of being chosen(Generalizable)

Non-random Survey

Snowball or convenience sampling(Less generalizable)

Weaknesses of Surveys

• Can be hard to identify sampling frame (group of people from population that you will sample from)

• - The stronger the sampling frame the greater the generalizability of the findings
  - May be hard to get people to respond
  - Nonresponse bias: Who responds is often non-random
  - Questions can be leading, rigid in options, narrow in scope, etc.
  - Social desirability bias

Social desirability bias

Respondents shift their answers in ways they think will make them look good to others

Participant Observation (Ethnography)

Researcher directly observes and participates in the social world they're studying

-"hang out" in a space until people get used to your presence and then systematically take notes and observations
- Often coupled with in-depth interviews

Strengths of Ethnography

• Get detailed info about how people act in a certain context

• - Gain subjective understandings of the world
  - Help avoid social desirability bias among participants
  - Provide vivid portraits of lived experience of others
  - Can study the meaning of events to people
  - Can observe patterns that could be anticipated

Weaknesses of Ethnography

• Can be time consuming and expensive

• - Difficult to gain access, acceptance
  - Can only study a small # of people - Not generalizable ( labor intensity limits it to small non-random samples)
  - Hard to make comparisons
  - Researcher impacts data collection
  - Hard to replicate

Historical Content Analysis

Use existing sources ( hisitorical records, newspaper stories, TV shows, transcripts of political testimony, etc.)

Strengths of Historical & Content Analysis

• Can look for patterns or theme that might not be evident otherwise

• Show how a topic is presented in the media

• - Study issues in the past through historical records

Weaknesses of Historical & Content Analysis

• Limited by available data, can't control quality of data

• - Many people before the 20th century were not literate
  - In politically charged situations people destroy data
  - Records are often profoundly local rather than national, representativeness not clear

Variables

Observable characteristics that can have more than one possible value (determined by unit of analysis)

Independent variable

A measured factor believed to have a casual impact on the dependent variable

(X / Cause)

Dependent Variable \n

What you are trying to explain (Y/Effect)

Control Variables

The variables that we hold constant to look at the effects of the other variable(used to establish causal relationships between variables)

Mediating variables

The impact of X on Y operates (at least in part) through D

Ex: parental education--> parental income--> child income

Moderating variables

The impact of X on Y depends on Q

Ex: the link between education and income varies by gender

Selection

When the relationship between X and Y is driven by the type of people who enter into X, rather than the casual effect of X

Operationalization

How we define or measure variables

Validity

Research project measured what it intended to measure

Reliability

Measures are consistent

What is an important aspect of developing a critical eye

Being aware of how information was collected

What do you have to consider to differentiate between correlation and causation?

• Timing of variable

• Direction of relationship

• Spurious variables

Spurious relationships

a situation in which variables are associated through their common relationship with one or more other variables but do not have a causal relationship with one another(AKA selection)

Example of Reverse Causality

• Brain Drain

• - Relationship between health and income

• Wages are higher in cities with larger immigrant populations

Agency

The choices that individuals make and the actions they ultimately

Social sturcture

The boundaries people confront as they makes decisions; often limits the choices people can make, for some more than others

Examples of Social Structure

• rules

• - resources
  - statuses
  - roles
  - groups
  - networks
  - institutions

Examples of Individual Agency

• actions

• identities

Macrosociology

focuses on large scale societal structures including groups and institutions as well as social forces such as norms

Norms

the formal and informal expectations for behaving in any given situation

Resources

the things we have or acquire such as money, education, and status

Social status

A person's or groups's socially determined positions within a large group or society

Social Role

the set expectations concerning the behavior and attitudes of people who occupy a particular social status

Groups

two or more people with similar values and expectations who interact with one another on a regular basis

Networks

a series of social relationships that link a person directly to other individuals and indirectly to even more people

Social institutions

Complex groups of interdependent positions that, together, perform a social role and reproduce themselves over time

Socialization

the process of learning to behave in socially acceptable ways

How do functionalist and conflict theories differ on a macrosocial scale?

theories differ in focus and view of where norms, roles, and statuses came from

How are functionalist and conflict theories similar on a macrosocial scale?

both take wide view of human behavior

Microsociology

focuses on individual identities and small-scale interactions with others

Symbolic Interaction

emphasis on subjective meaning of human behavior(focus on the words and gestures that people use and the meanings they create about the world)

What motivates behavior?

Self-concept(we seek psychological reward of positive interactions with others)

Total institutions

Place of work and residence where a great number of similarly situated people, cut off from the wider community for a considerable time, together lead an enclosed, formally administered period of life(ex: universities)

Looking-Glass Self

the way our perception of how others see us affects our sense of self

Generalized Other

the values and norms of the larger culture, that are used to guide your actions

What aspect of college is key to understanding college drinking?

context( at some colleges almost no student binge drink while at other nearly four in five student do-- levels of binge drinking remain stable at the same college over time)

Types of Norms

Injunctive

Descriptive

Injunctive norms

What we think should be done to receive others' approval and avoid disapproval

Descriptive norm

What others do; the behaviors they do/not engage in

Conflict theory

Sees groups in society as fundamentally and systematically in conflict

more powerful groups have more say over social norms, what is labeled "normal" vs. "deviant"

What is the central argument of Boswell & Spade?

it's important to look for variation among fraternities, and across contexts where fraternity members interaction

- elements of context related with greater risk
- comparison of settings
- socialization vs. selection

Low-risk house

• even gender distribution

• - friendly atmosphere ( interaction between men and women)
  - clean women's bathrooms

High-risk houses

• skewed gender ratios

• - gender segregated
  - filthy bathrooms
  - outward disrespect of women
  - strictly flirty interactions

Bars

• music not as loud + places to sit (main difference from frats)

• - people less explicitly discuss hooking up

How do Boswell and Spade explain socialization in frats?

• sexist views are learned in frat settings

• frat men pressure others to take women unseriously

How do Boswell and Spade explain selection in frats?

• those with more aggressive views on sexuality are more likely to accept rape myths and predisposed to heavy alcohol use

How does hook up culture perceive men? \n(Boswell & Spade)

Men hook up for an easy score(less likely to press for sex with someone they want to continue relationship with)

How does hook up culture perceive women? \n(Boswell & Spade)

women hook up looking for a relationship, more likely with someone they like and care about

Risk factors for sexual violence in frats

-women unknown to brothers (faceless victims)

• context (high-risk/ low-risk/bars)

• heavy alcohol consumption

When was the Industrial Revolution?

The 1800s -1900s(period of movement to cities and rapid social change)

Sociological Imagination

The ability to connect personal issues, problems or experiences to larger social structures

What did early sociological theorists argue?

society can be systematically studied, just like the physical world, through reason and observation

Social fact

any phenomenon that exercises control over the lives of individuals due to its being accepted as a norm by a large number of people

Types of social fact

Material Social Facts

Non-material Social Facts

Material Social Fact

institutionalized norms and laws in a society that exist either in the form of written codes, or are directly observable

Non-material social facts

The unwritten codes, of conduct, best practices, etc. that are not written down anywhere, and that are not visible directly, but felt or experienced

Where does gender inequality come from?

-Occupational segregation

- Behavior choice
- Gender roles
- Discrimination
- Structural conditions in labor market

Has there been progress made in bridging gender equality?

Gender roles and inequity rapidly changes for a time, but the trends have leveled off ( the great stall)

Occuapation Segregation

some jobs are more common among some genders rather than others

(Ex: almost all people in nursing were women and almost all people working in construction were men)

Trend in Occupation Segregation

It has fallen in America, but not by a substantial amount (it is still very pronounced)

Decidedly unidirectional ( increasing entry of women into traditional male occupations, but not vice versa)

Why do people theorize men don't enter women dominated fields?

-Lower pay

• Greater stigma for gender crossing/ blur boundaries among men

How does occupational segregation impact immingration?

creates a cap on integration and pay equity, creating demand for female migration

Gender Roles

norms and expectations that society assigns to people based on their sex (shape how people act, speak, dress etc.)

Where does occupational segregation come from?

Gender Roles( this determines what people choose to study and do in adulthood)

Gender essentialist view of gender

societal gender roles reflect women's natural predisposition towards caregiving

Functionalist view of gender

Jared Becker

Society is more efficient when men specialize in market work and women in the family

Social constructionist view of gender

gender roles arise from interpersonal and social group interaction

Conflict view of gender

gender roles reflect patriarchal advantages of men over women

What perspective provides the prevailing view of gender roles?

The essentialist view( women are less likely to work outside the home and when they did worked in less career-oriented/ more flexible fields with proximity to home and childcare)

Why was intensive parenting not present in the past?

• families were larger

• - women had a lot more other chores
  - parenting norms were different

What has catalyzed the rise of intensive parenting?

rising inequity and declining social mobility raise the "stakes" of parenting

(makes childbearing more time-consuming and expensive)

Intensive parenting

parents are more intensely protective of time with children

institutional discrimination

across jobs with similar skill levels, lower pay in female-intensive fields

Within occupations, women earn less than men with similar skill/experience

What have audit studies of unconscious bias found?

people ( men and women) evaluate materials submitted with a female name less favorably than those with a male name

men preferred for more male dominated occupations and women preferred for female dominated occupations

How have changes in the labor market influenced the gender equality?

Deindustrialization's shift away from manufacturing has boosted women's work and wages

However large wage differentials between the service industry and skill jobs were a drag on equity