Soc 185C cultural theory: final

mechanical solidarity

characteristic of pre modern society (preindustrial societies) comes from likeliness, rooted in everyone doing the same things

• small societies almost no specialization due to hunter and gathers society and agricultural societies

• some theorists argue that these societies had stronger social bond and cohesion

organic solidarity

society as an organism

• modern society are like a human being (different body parts function to form a unit)

• solidarity that comes from interdependence

• Increases division of labor allows for society to be reliant upon one another function

• we need each other more than ever, reliant upon people that you’ve never met

social fact

are marked by “any manner of action capable of exercising over the individual exterior constraint”

ex. crime, institutions, norms, values

collective conscious

affirms and reaffirms the collective sentiment

anomic suicide

when regulation is too low (a lack of moral regulation; norms)

• modern society is chronically anomic, no longer regulated by the group

• isolation is caused by division of labor in modern society, losing when there is less regulation = how regulated are you by the group

egoistic suicide

when integration is too low (modern society tends to increasingly individualistic)

• higher rate of suicide between single, window, and divorced people than among married people with children

• result from pathological weakening between the bonds and the social group

• community = “protective” against suicide in a statistical fashion

fatalistic suicide

when regulation is too high (high regulation from the group, overly regulated)

• enslaved labors, no hope or control for one own life’s existence

altruistic suicide

when integration is too high (individual life gives to the social group)

• death benefits the group in some way

the color line

hierarchical organization attitudes, system of meanings, and social structures revolving around race (structural barrier)

• not biological - seen as social mechanism to distribute power, wealth, and dignity unequally

• global level (macro): white colonizing nation of the west and the colonized of Asia, Africa, and the Americas

• structural level (maso): within the US, manifested through redlining, Jim Crow segregation, and deep disparities of education and employment

• interpersonal level (micro): daily indicate/expectations of hierarchy system - whose humanity was recognized in public spaces

the veil

metaphorical in which skin color becomes a social distancing mechanism (physiological manifestation)

ex. how black americans experience life

• alters vision: sees the white world clearly, but also sees how it devolves them

• being seen: white people are not seeing the individual underneath

• isolation: marginalized individual is separated from dominate culture sense of humanity

double consciousness

split or separation of the self

• internal conflict from subordinate groups in an oppressive society

• described as: sense of self through the eyes of others (how a person is perceiving you)

ex. occurs from being both black and American

standpoint epistemology

what we know is affected by our stand point in society

matrix of domination

interlocking nature of a wide variety of statuses like race, class, gender, nationality, sexuality that make up our particular standpoint - opportunity for resistance

• underscore the idea that society is made up of society is multiple standpoints not just one essential standpoint - in contrast to earlier sociologists that power operates from top down

• adds complexity to it, not only opportunity in one way of power

• overall social organization within the intersection where they originate, develop, and are contained

black feminist thought

located in the everyday and literary tradition of black women

• centers the lives of black women

controlling images

stereotypes of racism, sexism, and poverty are assumed to be natural and inevitable - shape and organize that reflects and reinforce

Phenomenology

studies how individuals actively construct their own social reality through their subjective, lived experiences and consciousness

• reflects the idea that society is an objective, external fact but instead it explores how people make sense of the world

lifeworld

all the existing assumptions that are experienced and made meaningful

• the take for granted back drop — intercepted would that is also experienced by others

intersubjectivity

the idea that we share the same consciousness

ex. in a similar situation and making the same sense of it

social construction

the shared consciousness or intersubjectivity

ex. being in an elevator (turn towards the door and stay quiet)

• sounds similar to Durkheim’s collective consciousness that acts down upon the person but this focuses on the individuals creating it and participating in them (why norms and practices change overtime)

habitualization

process by which frequently repeated human actions become cast into established patterns and routines

primary socialization

crucial first stage of learning where individuals, primarily children, learn the core norms, values, beliefs, and behaviors of their culture — shapes a person’s basic identity and establishes the foundation for all future social development and interactions

“I”

(the individual response/agency) spontaneous subject that active or unpredictable response to the __

• spontaneous reaction to a new source of information separates from the general opinion

“Me”

(society/social self of rules) operates in the past tense, accumulated past events that reflect similar experiences

• knows the opinions or unwritten rules through collective expectation

Content

an interaction might refer to the drive, purposes, interests, inclinations that individuals have interacting with one another

• motivation might be social, biological, psychological, sociological

Form

Blasé attitude

adopting a new approach to social life

• produces a dulling of differences and emotional graying of reactions, which protects the individual

Stranger

is a synthesis of nearness and distance or indifference and involvement (contrasting forces)

• the__ is near or close to us insofar as we share with the __ general and personal qualities (same nationality/race/gender) because these similarities connect us to others

• We share no unique qualities with them — is often not viewed as a person, but as a token who possesses certain characteristics yet the unique position of the __ allows him to provide services that are otherwise unfit for the in-group to perform

• high level of objectivity, often called a bond pawn

habitus

an acquired system of generative schemas, the __ makes possible the free production of all the thoughts, perceptions, and actions inherent in the condition of its production

field

a spatial metaphor that defines the structure of the social atmosphere

• affects the element of social capital (how a person fits into a situation) not universal but difference based off a person’s __ (complexity of the theory comes in)

Cultural capital

non-economic resources (knowledge, tastes, skills, dispositions, and credentials) that provide social advantages because they are recognized as legitimate in particular social context (fields)

economic capital

resources that are directly monetary or convertible into money (income, wealth, property, financial assets) and that provide material advantages in social life