Sociology Final

Economy

Social institution that organizes goods and services

Historical Materialism

How/what we produce and how much/what we consume defines us as a society

Economic Revolutions

Agricultural, Industrial, and Information

Primary Sector Economy

Generates raw materials directly from the environment

Agricultural Revolution

• ⅔ of countries today function on agri-society (developing nations)

• Today, farming/agriculture is profitable due to corporate agribusiness

Secondary Sector Economy

Transforms raw materials into manufactured goods

Industrialism Transformations

• Development of new forms of energy (Steam, electricity)

• Centralization of work (Factories, urbanism)

• Manufacturing/mass production

• Specialization (Division of labor)

• Wage Labor (Selling yourself for a wage)

Salary System (Simmel)

Workers paid for the sum total of their services, not for direct service

In “Wealth of Nations”, Smith…

argued that the barter system should be replaced by money

Bartering → Currency

bartering disadvantages those who can’t trade/can only trade unequally, currency makes things more even for everyone

Labor Unions

Worker organizations that seek to improve wages and working conditions via collective bargaining and strikes

Labor unions built…

the middle class, but also suffered from bureaucratic inertia and organized crime infiltration

Tertiary Sector Economy

Generates services rather than goods; productive system based on service work and the use of information

Information Transformations

• Tangible products becoming ideas (Manipulating symbols)

• Mechanical skills becoming literacy skills (Reading/writing)

• Decentralization of work (Where you are physically is less important)

• Computers/automation are deskilling labor, making work abstract, limiting interaction, increasing employer control, and allowing companies to relocate/outsource jobs

• Generative AI

Primary Labor Market

White-collar, high-salaried, high-benefit, service-oriented work (Lawyers, doctors, engineers, accountants, etc.)

Handy

Corps/orgs will eventually just be contracts

Secondary Labor Market

Most service-oriented work provides little income/benefits and fewer rewards than factory work, including self-employment (Another form of “pink-collar” work)

Underground Economy

Involves income not reported to the gov’t (From babysitting/garage sales to gambling, loan sharking, and drug dealing

The pandemic wiped out the…

gig/service sector economy at unprecedented levels

Tertiary Labor Market

Volunteerism

Contingent Work (Gig Economy)

Part-time, temporary, contract, on-call work; can be low wage/dead end work, but some is lucrative; by keeping workers contingent, businesses don’t have to provide benefits

Underemployment (Overqualification)

Workers with low salaries, fewer benefits, and disappearing retirement

Education (Covid)

Those without HS degrees had higher unemployment than college grads

Gender (Covid)

Hit men the hardest due to pay disparity; laying off men, who earn more, saves money

Industry (Covid)

Gutted by Covid closures; when most of the economy is driven by consumer spending, and consumers are forbidden from spending, catastrophe ensues

During Covid, most primary workers transitioned to…

telework/working from home

Overall unemployment is low, but…

it remains high for less educated, blue-collar workers

Global Division of Labor

⅔ of the world is agricultural, ⅕ or ¼ is industrialized, and the last 10-15% is post-industrialized

Product Passage

Increasing numbers of products pass through several countries before ending up in one’s market

Multi-National Corporations

Dependency & Modernization Theory

Dependency Theory

Multi-nationals exploit natural resources and employ by low wages

Modernization Theory

Multi-nationals industrialize countries and post-industrialization makes life better for them

The models/algorithms underpinning AI tools get smarter by…

analyzing large-scale data, which needs to be accurate/precise

Largely unregulated army of humans turns…

data into “AI feedstock”

Capitalism

Economic system where natural resources and the means of production are privately owned

Capitalist Principles

• Private Ownership of Property

• Pursuit of Personal Profit

• Free Competition/Consumer Choice

Socialism

Economic system where natural resources and the means of production are collectively (governmentally) owned

Socialist Principles

• Collective Ownership of Property

• Pursuit of Collective Goals

• Gov’t Control of Markets

Communism

Hypothetical economic system where all members of society are socially equal and gov’t is largely absent

The US is a combination of… (Economy)

welfare and state capitalism

Welfare Capitalism

Economic system that combines market-based economics with gov’t programs to provide for basic needs

State Capitalism

Economic system that combines private ownership of business, but they work closely with the gov’t in business

Politics

Social institution that distributes power, sets societal goals, and make decisions

Partisanship

How a society does politics

Government

Formal organization that directs the political life of society

Sociology is interested in how…

people cede power/authority to the gov’t

Authority

Power that people perceive as legitimate

Traditional Authority

Power legitimized through respect for long-established cultural patterns, lends itself to monarchy

Charismatic Authority

Power legitimized through extraordinary personality that inspires devotion/obedience, lends itself to authoritarian/totalitarian political systems

Authoritarianism

Denies pop participation in gov’t

Totalitarianism

Extensively regulates all aspects of people’s lives

Rational-Legal Authority

Power legitimized by legally enacted rules and regulations, lends itself to democracy

Democracy

Power is exercised by the people; supports rational-legal, but can be manipulated by authoritarian/totalitarian leaders

The US is a combination of… (Gov’t)

representative democracy and constitutional republic

Representative Democracy

Places authority in the office and elected leaders

Pure Democracy

Majority rules, regardless of minority rights

Constitutional Republic

Majority rules, but the rights of the minority are protected

US Elements of Gov’t Systems

Monarchy (elected officials from the same families), authoritarianism (efforts to deny pop voting participation), and totalitarianism (hidden curriculum)

Voter Apathy

Many people who can vote, don’t

Voter participation is higher in…

Rep demographics (Older, wealthier, white)

Pluralist Model: Functionalist (Power)

Power is dispersed among many different competing interest groups

Special Interest Groups (SIGs)

Organizations of people interested in some economic/social issue; employ lobbyists as professional advocates

Political Action Committees (PACs)

Organizations whose aim is to raise and spend money on the election/defeat of certain political candidates

Campaign Finance Reform

Limited what individuals/corporations could give to particular candidates (hard money) and PACs (soft money)

Power-Elite Model: Conflict (Power)

Power is concentrated among the rich

SIGS, PACs, and Super-PACs…

keep those at the top in power without opposition

The candidates of the two-party system are…

handpicked by the power elite, which makes it corrupt

Citizens United vs FEC

Corporations are considered “natural persons” and may spend unlimited amounts of money

Restricting what corporations and organizations can spend…

“chills political speech”

McCutcheon vs FEC

Struck down individual limits to candidates/parties

Now, Super-PACs are growing, and PACs can…

say whatever they want with impunity (unlike official campaign ads)

Terrorism

Acts of violence/threat of violence employed by individuals/groups as a political strategy

Terrorists paint violence as a…

legitimate political tactic; terror is a way to harm a stronger foe

Terrorism is employed by both…

groups and gov’ts (State Terrorism)

Democracy rejects terrorism, but…

is especially vulnerable to it because of civil liberties/freedoms

The “war on terror” is unwinnable because…

no country can agree on a definition

Revolution

The overthrow of one political system in order to establish another

Revolution Traits

Rising expectations, unresponsive gov’ts, radical leadership, and establishing legitimacy

Family

Social institution that unites individuals into cooperative groups that oversee the bearing/raising of children; traditionally is people related by blood, marriage, or adoption

Marriage

Legally sanctioned (marriage license) relationship designed for economic cooperation and childbearing

Pre-Industrial Family

Extended family was the norm and emphasized arranged marriages; also called family of orientation (central to socialization)

Arranged Marriages

Either Endogamous (people in the same social category) or Exogamous (people in different social categories)

Polygamy

Form of marriage uniting 3+ people

Polygamy is usually…

Polygyny (1 male and 2+ females) and rarely Polyandry (1 female and 2+ males)

Patri/matrilocality

Living with the husband’s/wife’s family

Patrilineal descent was the norm in…

agrarian societies; some evidence of matrilineal descent in horticultural societies

Industrial Family

Nuclear family becomes the norm (Family unit of 1-2 parents and their children); also called family of creation; people left extended families to seek work in industrial urban centers

Laws prescribing monogamy didn’t come about…

until industrialism

With rates of divorce/remarriage…

people engage in serial monogamy; non-monogamy exists but is illegal

High-level Marital Satisfaction

Neolocality (Away from both sets of parents) and Bilateral Descent (Tracking descent from both parents)

Functionalism (Family)

Family is the backbone of society

Functionalist Traits (Family)

• Socialization: Most important agent is the family

• Regulation of Sexual Activity

• Social Placement

• Material/Emotional Security

Regulation of Sexual Activity (Family: Functionalism)

Incest taboo forces families to connect to other families; incest more about connection than genetics

Social Placement (Family: Functionalism)

Your entry point into stratification comes from ascribed status

Conflict Theory (Family)

The family unit perpetuates inequality from 1 generation to the next

Property/Inheritance (Family: Conflict)

Reproduces class structure in each generation; children inherit both wealth and poverty (debt)

Patriarchy (Family: Conflict)

Families transform women into sexual/economic property for men

Race/Ethnicity (Family: Conflict)

Emphasis on endogamy shores up the racial/ethnic hierarchy; interracial/inter-ethnic marriage is more common today, but still a minority

Symbolic-Interaction (Family)

Individuals construct family life; families are an ongoing process

Social Exchange

Dating/marriage are forms of negotiation