sociology exam 3

power and authority

power and authority

• the state and legitimate violence

  • legitimate power is authority

  • illegitimate power is coercion

  • the state claims a monopoly on legitimate violence

• nature of the state--functionalism vs. conflict theory

  • weber states the state claims both the exclusive right to use violence and the right to punish everyone else who uses violence-is crucial to understanding of politics

  • violence is the ultimate foundation of any political order

• traditional authority

  • authority based on custom

  • custom dictates basic relationships

• rational-legal authority

  • authority based on law or written rules and regulations

• charismatic authority

  • the threat of charismatic leaders

    • authority resides in ability to attract followers, pose threat to political order because they are not tied to tradition

  • the routinization of charisma

types of governments

• monarchies

  • a form of government headed by a king or queen

• democracies

  • direct vs. representative

    • direct: a form of democracy in which the eligible votes meet together to discuss issues and make their decisions

    • representive: a form of democracy in which voters elect representives to meet together to discus issues and make descions on their behalf

  • citizenship

    • birth in a country imparts basic rights

• dictatorships

  • when an individual seizes power

• oligarchies

  • when a small group of individuals hold power

• theocracies

• totalitarianism and authoritarianism

  • total: exerts almost total control over people

US political parties and elections

• voting patterns

  • who votes and why

    • educated people (college grads) are more than twice as likely to vote

    • women are more likely to vote than men

  • social integration

    • the more that people feel they have a stake in the political system, the more likely they are to vote

    • people who have been rewarded more by political system feel more socially intergrated

    • they vote because they believe the election makes a difference in their lives

  • alienation

    • those who gain less from the system

  • apathy

    • indifference and inaction of the part of individuals or groups with respect to the political process

• lobbyists and special interest groups

  • the influence of money in the political process

  • PACs

    • political action committees

      • an organization formed by special interest groups to solicit and spend funds to influence legislation

  • soft money

  • foreign lobbying and foreign interests

  • the costs of campaigns

who rules the united states

• Pluralism (functionalism)

  • the diffusion of power among many interest groups that prevents any single group from gaining control of the government

• Power Elite (conflict theory)

  • believes a countries important matters are not decided by lobbyist

  • decisions that have the greatest impact on citizens is the power elite

    • power elite=top leaders at corporations, generals of army, seniors in congress etc.

• which is right?

  • both? debate still continues

corporate interests vs. high minded ideology

economic systems

• Economic development and inequality

  • disproportionate exchange of power between agriculture farming families and the power elite as trade expanded and as industrialization occurred

• conspicuous consumptions

  • veblen’s term for a change from the thrift, savings, and investments of the protestant ethics to showing off wealth through spending and the display of possessions

• the primary, secondary, and tertiary sectors of the economy

• the birth of the information age

  • 6 characteristics are

  • a large service sector with people working in it

  • a vast surplus of goods

    • extensive trade

    • variety of goods for the average person

    • information explosion

    • interconnected global village

capitalism

• private ownership of the means of production

  • individuals own land, machines, and facotry

• market competition

  • owners decide what to produce to compete with others

• maximization of profits

  • owners sells products for more than they cost

• laissez-faire capitalism

  • government does not interfer with market

• welfare capitalism

  • market restraints

  • current US capitalism

• push for unrestricted competition

• surplus labor

• ideology of capitalism

  • believe market forces should determine product and price

• creation of markets where no markets existed

• major critiques of capitalism

  • violates peoples basic right to be free from poverty

  • social inequality

• major strengths of capitalism

socialism

• democratic socialism

  • both state and individual produce and distribute goods and services

• social democrats

• ideology of socialism

  • considers profits immoral

  • believed profit is excess value withheld from workers

• major critiques of socialism

  • violate peoples basic right to make own decisions and purse opportunity

• major strengths of socialism

convergence theory--mixed economy

• the view that as a capitalist and socialist economc systems each adopt features of the other, hybrid or mixed economic systems will emerge

corporate capitalism

• interlocking directorates

• multinational corporations

• global capitalism

mass media

• Mass media is one of the most powerful social institutions in our society. \n It constructs our reality, our sense of who we are and what we think we know. \n The overwhelming majority of Americans get their news from corporate owned mainstream news sources, be they on-line, print media, television, etc. 57% of Americans get their news from network television, 25% percent from radio and 20% percent from newspapers. More Americans than ever are getting their news on-line, but those online news outlets are largely owned or funded by the same large media corporations. Corporate media (CNN, FOX, ABC, NBC, CBS, New York Times, Washington Post, etc.) have one primary goal and that is PROFIT. They are selling a product, news and information, but their purpose is the maximization of profit, and this informs how news is delivered, what news is delivered, and who is part of the news story. News stories in America are dumbed down, homogenized stories, striped of context and background, sold to the public in the most inoffensive way, and paid for and sometimes censored by corporate owners and advertisers. Rarely do the mass media subject the dominant political economy to serious scrutiny and criticism. Problems are presented in the media as the products of deviant individuals or groups within the context of an otherwise healthy social system--the systemic origins of chronic problems are rarely explained or even acknowledged. This is why some people have a hard time with the social sciences--were systemic forces are examined--and the findings often challenge peoples interpretations of their world view--and people do not like their world view challenged--although one cannot consider oneself truly educated if they are not exposed to a variety of views and perspectives

Amerocentrism

The American Ethnocentricity a bias from a uniquely American point of view \n Americans have an Amerocentric lens with which we tend to view the world and have hard time seeing the world in any other way. \n The Mass Media plays a large role in perpetuating our Americentric ignorance

Important terms to understand media

• Fox Effect

• Fake News

• Filter Bubbles

• Echo Chambers

• Confirmation Bias

• Backfire Effect

types of families

• types of marriages

  • monogamy

    • only one wife or husband

  • polygamy (polygyny and polyandry)

    • a form of marriage in which men have more than 1 wife

      • polyandry: wife have more husband

  • serial monogamy

• families of procreation and orientation

  • procreation: a family is formed when first child is born

  • orientation: family in which a person grows up

• extended and nuclear families

  • nuclear: consisting of a husband, wife, and children

  • extended: relatives live with parents and their children

systems of decent

• patriarchal ----> egalitarian

• patrilineal ----> bilateral

• polygynous ----> monogamous

• family ties through ----> family ties through

• blood relations conjugal relation

symbolic interactionalism

• people place emphasis on personality

• love brings unlimited emotional satisfaction

conflict theory: gender and power

• women take on traditional household tasks to ensure the success of their husbands (reproductive labor)

• male dominance

• industrialization brought major change to husband-wife relationships

functionalism and functions of the family

• incest taboo helps families avoid role confusion

  • look outside families for partners

• strain on families can create emotional overload

• 6 basic needs

  • economic production

  • socilization of children

  • care of sick and aged

  • recreation

  • sexual control

  • reproduction

Mate selection

• Marriage and homogamy

  • the tendancy of people with similar characteristics to marry

• marriage squeeze

• marriage gradient

• filter theory

Family dynamics and children

• children and the u-curve of marital happiness

  • marital happiness occurs as child gets older

• social class and childbirth and child rearing

  • working class parents are more likely to set limits for their children while middle class tend to expose their children to activities that will develop skills

• empty nest syndrome: myth or reality

• one-parent families

  • higher poverty rate than 2 parent families

  • single families of mothers tend to be in poverty more due to pay gaps

• families without children

  • freedom

  • a person with a college degree is less likely to have children

• postponing marriage

• cohabitation

  • unmarried couples living together in sexual relationship

• sandwich generation

  • people who are responsible for 2 generations: their kids and aged people

divorce

• high divorce rates as a positive

• measuring divorce

  • usually depends on location

• children of divorce

  • more likely to have behavioral problems

  • more likely to be depressed and insecure

• absent father and serial fatherhood

  • men with less income will stay in contact with their children

Education

• credential societies

  • the use of diplomas and degrees to determine who is eligible for jobs, even when diploma or degree is irrelevant

• functionalism: social benefits of education

  • cultural transmission of values

    • the process of transmitting vales from one group to another; often refers to how cultural traits are transmitted across generations; in education; ways in which schools transmits societies cultures and core values

  • social integration

    • stabilizes political system

    • form of national identity

  • gatekeeping

    • the process by which education opens and closes doors of opportunity

• conflict theory: social class reproduction

  • hidden curriculums

    • the unwritten goals of schools, such as teaching obedience to authority and conformity to cultural norms

  • testing

    • cultural biases

  • unequal funding

    • richer communities have more to spend

• symbolic interactionism

  • children’s early interaction in classroom will determine path

  • a child journey is determined on the 8th day of kindergarten

  • race and ethnic basis

• the rise of mediocrity

• grade inflation, social promotion, functional illiteracy

  • higher grades given for the same work

  • passing students on to the next level even though they haven’t mastered basic material

  • refers to highschooler grads who have difficulty with basic math and reading

• violence in school

  • schools are becoming safer

religion

• the sacred and the profane

  • durkhiem’s terms for this set apart or forbidden that inspire fear, awe, reverence, or deep respect

  • common elements of everyday life

• functionalism: the functions of religion

  • the dysfunctions of religion

    • persecution and war and terrorism

    Conflict theory

  • opium of the masses

    • religion is the opium of the people

    • for oppressed workers religion is a drug

  • legitimation of inequality

    • existing social arrangements

    • religion legitimates the social order

Types of religious groups

• cults, sects, churches, ecclesia

  • church: moral community of leaders

  • cult: a new religion with few followers whose teachings and practices put it at odds with the dominant culture and religion

  • sect: a large religious group that feels hostility from society

  • ecclesia: integrated in dominant culture; difficult to tell where one begins and the other ends