Sociology EXAM 1

Sociology

study of human social life, groups, and societies, stressing the social contexts/structures that influence human behavior and how human actions relate to these contexts and structures

micro

Levels of analysis

• macro

• _____

Macro

focuses on broad social structures that shape society as a whole

• large amounts of info to draw conclusions abt populations

• ex. when looking at homelessness you compare one city to another

micro

______

• focuses on close-up social interactions in specific situations

  • ex. wed’d look at how a teacher interacts with the students of different backgrounds

Functionalism

Social groups are functioning units with each smaller part affecting the larger whole

• macro

• see the world functionally where everyone has a role

• ex. Somebody has to work as a trash collector; not everyone can be a doctor

• can be manifest or latent

Manifest

________ functions

• a part of the functionalism perspective

• obvious intentended consequences of a social system

  • ex. college is a place of learning and you are expected to learn

Latent

_______ functions

• unintended and unrecognized consequences of a social system

  • ex. you go to college for learning but you also make friends and maybe a lover

symbolic interactions

Four theoretical perspectives

• functionalism (macro)

  • latent and manifest

• conflict theory (macro)

• ________ ____________ (micro)

• feminist theory (macro and micro)

Conflict theory

________ ______

• society is composed of groups that engage in fierce competition for scarce resources

• look at how different social groups compete over things

  • ex. a business owner has access to millions of dollars; why don’t they share it w/ employees who made that money

  • ex. When men control economic life→woman have few alternatives to a bad marriage→divorce rate is low. a higher divorce rate shows power shifting between men and women

Symbolic interactionism

_________ _______________

• Society is composed of symbols that people use to establish meaning, develop their views of the world and communicate with one another

  • ex. money is just a slip of paper, but we as a society have assigned value to it

Feminist theory

_________ ______

• Builds on conflict theory and symbol. interactionism to focus on gender and the connection between gender, race, and social class

• arose from people wanting to hear from more than one member of society

functionalism

Criticism of _____________

• overemphasizes stability supports the way things are without addressing change

conflict theory

Criticism of ________ ______

• ignores areas without conflict; lots of areas of life where we are not fighting for scarce resources

symbolic interactionism

Criticism of ________ ____________

• ingores difficulty of changing social arrangements

feminist theory

Criticism of ________ ______

• not always objective (oftentimes goes straight to women or one other specific group without considering anything else)

social structure

_______ _________

• The enduring patterned relationships between various elements of society outside of our immediate reach, beyond our individual control

  • ex. schools, family, social class, culture, a college

human agency

_____ _______

• Actions of individuals or groups in society

• choices you make and the things you do

personal troubles

________ _________

• Private problems that occur within the immediate personal life and the range of an individual's relations with others

public issues

______ ______

• Matters that transcend the local environment and affect large numbers of people across society.

sociological imagination

Mill’s believes that while it is really great to recognize social structures and human agency, we need to utilize them both in the ____________ ___________

sociological imagination

____________ ___________

• the ability to look past human actions to understand the connection between human agency and social structures

• identify structure→position within said structure→the level of agency they have

victim

blaming the ______

• Believing the victim of a social problem is to blame for the social structural position while ignoring the impact of social structures, affecting the way we attempt to solve social problems (the ramifications of social struct.)

  • ex. Malcolms mother was a victim of racism and unpaid life insurance but the world told her she wasnt a good mother

race

background and ideas on ____

• used to describe a variety of human categories; usually based on things we see from far away

• There has been disagreement about which physical differences should be used to measure race and whether physical differences are actually meaningful

• biological ____ does no exist by it still has important social effects

race

____

• A socially constructed category composed of people who share biologically transmitted traits that members of a society consider distinctive and important

Ethnic group

______ _____

• A group with unique cultural traits and a sense of community (“we” feeling) and ascribed membership

prejudice

__________

• holding preconceived ideas about a person or group; to prejudge

• can be either positive or negative

• race→__________ today: research shows we might show __________ today by favoring people in our groups, not working against those in other groups

discrimination

____________

• behavior that denies members of a group resources or rewards that are available to others

Racism

______

• The belief that on the basis of their genetic inheritance some groups are naturally superior to others

• used to justify the unequal distribution og a society’s rewards

institutional racism

_____________ ______

• patterns of discrimination based on race that have become part of the social practices and institutions (organizations or foundations) of society

stigma

______

• negative label that greatly changes a person’s self-concept and social identity

self-fulfilling prophecy

____-__________ _________

• when labels applied to people lead them to act in ways that confirm that label

• can be a good or bad thing

Doing race

_____ ____

• Engaging in behavior at the risk of race assessment (either positive or negative)

• based on normative conceptions and attitudes about what is “appropriate”

  • what they wear, how they act, how they speak

  • ex. malcolm got mad at other black people who changed the way the talked when he worked at the soda fountain bc they weren’t acting “traditionally black”

in groups

___ ______

• the members of groups we belong to

out groups

___ ______

• members of groups we don’t belong to

18%

• __ of multiracial people and 28% of people of color on campus experienced negative conduct becasuse of their ethnicity

• less than 1% of whites on campus experienced this

Anomie

_______

• strain put on an individual’s behavior when accepted values (dating or becoming rich) conflict with means for acheiving them (having a strict family; being poor)- this strain can prompt deviant behavior

• think an animal pushed into a corner with no other option

• ex. Malcolm stealing food when he was younger

conformist

__________

• Accepts both generally held values and the conventional means of realizing them, whether or not they meet with success

• ex. Malcolm’s mother was a __________ because she sought out a means for a job even if she was continuosly fired for being black

innovator

__________

• accepts socially approved values but uses illegitamate or illegal means to acheive them

• ex. malcolm along with the people he assoc. with in Harlem

Rebel

_____

• rejects socially approved value and the means to acheive them with new ones as a way to reconstruct the social system

• very difficult to find a real _____ because rejecting ideas and being recognized for it requires prominence→ means they need to not _____ in order to _____

• ex. amish

white-collar crime

_____-_______ ______

• crime commited by a person of respectability and high social status in the course of his/her occupation

• ex. a large company filing for bankruptcy and telling all higher level employees to sell their stocks and preventing their lower level employees from selling their own stocks

corporate crime

__________ _____

• crime commited by a corporation or by individuals acting on behalf of a corporation

• ex. a car company knew that their cars had issues but they didnt recall them for a decade and 124 people died; they were charged and had to pay

poor

• It is common for ____ black people to have run-ins with the police at an early age

• makes it likely they will eventually get arrested and enter the system

• once in the system it is harder for them to keep jobs and makes participating in illegal activities more likely

Graham’s

_______’_ rules for his children

• Never run while in view of a police officer/security

• Don’t go on pleasure walks in any residential neighborhood after sundown

• ask your white friends to hail cans for you so that you are not left behind by cab drivers

overcrowding

Conditions/effects in prison

• ____________

• danger of physical or sexual abuse

• Protect society from criminals

• contribute to crime by transferring violent subcultures to communities

relative deprivation

_______ _________

• Discontentment that people feel when they compare their situation to similar others who are better off

social change

______ ______

• Change in social structures over time (a lot of people working hard together over time can cause this)

social movements

______ __________

• large numbers of people who organize to promote or resist social change

• ex. same sex marriage, abortion, civil rights

recruitment

_____________ through networks

• People are recruited to movements through pre-existing networks with current movement members

• ex. Malcolm’s family were the ones that brought him into the Nation of Islam

frame alignment

______ _________

• Interactive process in which movement leaders frame/define their movements in a way that reaches potential followers and motivates them to join the movements

• Basically, frame their movement to fit the client]

  • ex. Malcolm told people leaving the christian churches about how their religion was better suited to them as it talked about the oppression received by the black man

social movement

______ _________

• the acts of those who are considered “outsiders” or “challengers” who lack access to institutional channels 

conventional politics

___________ __________

• Usually described as involving those who participate in institutionalized activities (voting) and are traditionally seen as “insiders” or “polity members” with access to the political system.

Power

______

• the ability to realize one’s will even if others resist it

• it can be physical or related to eprceived social structures

power elite

the _____ ______

• leaders of three domains of power (military economic and political) in America who make decisions having national or international consequences

• their actions can have inter/national consequences

• once at the top of power it is very easy to get to the top of another power

• low→ high positions is very difficult; people often inherit power

voting

______ is one of the only ways we can have an effect and have a direct ability to change who is in power