SOC Midterm 2

Sociological Elements of Education

•Incorporating new members into society \n •Sorting people into various occupations \n •Increasing economic development

Current rate of High School graduation

High 80%

Reasons For Socialization at School

Socialize young people into the habits, attitudes, and practices of contributing members of a community, religion or nation

Habits taught in school

* how to line up


* be quiet on demand
* be neat
* fit in with the social system
* follow rules
* respect authority
* obey
* compete
* achieve success

Hidden curriculum

the unstated standards of behavior or \n teachers’ expectations

Moral Education

Ethics and cultural values taught in schools. Explicit in religious schools, indirectly at public schools.

Citizenship Building

Teaching about the country’s founding fathers, and participating in ceremonies like the Pledge of Allegiance

Human capital

The stock of knowledge, skill and habits which they can use to do productive labor later in life

Credentialism

The requirement of certain specific degrees or certificates before you can be considered for a particular job

Soft skills

Skills that enhance job prospects such as knowing how to dress, act and present oneself at work, and being able to work well with other people. Soft skills gained through interactions with adults at school.

College Disparity

\n More students attend college than before, but research shows that college students in the U.S. do not study as hard as they used to, and they don’t learn as much as educators claim and employers demand. College students are not making the expected gains in critical thinking, complex reasoning, or the ability to communicate in writing

Education leads to…

increase the level of productivity; it increases efficiency and allows production of more complicated products

Importance of Human Capital

Greater human capital in a society may also make it more attractive for foreign capital investment. The returns to investment in education are lower for higher levels of schooling and when a country becomes less underdeveloped

The U.S. no longer leads the world in the amount of education received or in educational achievement

True

Education seen as an BLANK force in society

equalizing

The Morrill Act in 1862

Established the land-grant college system, providing each state resources to build a state university

The G.I. Bill in 1944

Paid for veterans’ college including a living allowance; 7.8 million former soldiers used it

People with more education are more likely to work full time in higher-status jobs and less likely to be unemployed than people with less education

True

Human capital theory

Argues that education provides knowledge and skills that employers reward because it makes workers more productive; soft skills may also play a role

Allocation theory

Sees education as channeling people into positions and institutions that offer different opportunities; the role of the school system is to sort people out so that employers can assess who is likely to be successful

Health Effects of Education

Less likely to smoke, tend to live longer

Life expextance difference between educated

5 years for women, 3 for men

Why is education associated with better health and longer life?

* Working conditions
* Having insurance
* Better access to health information
* Better interaction with doctors

Educational homogamy

Individuals are more likely to marry others \n with similar education levels

Women marriage habits

* Wait longer in order to pursue education
* Marry older to not get divorced

Educated outlook on marraige

Educated people give marriage less importance and marry older because it is not a primary goal.

Inequality in Education

\n Children of different social classes are likely to attend different schools, receive different kind of instruction, study different curricula, and leave school at different rates and times

Current Educational Paradox

The historical belief in equal opportunity coupled with the reality of high and growing inequality. Students from higher-social-class backgrounds tend to get better grades and to stay in school longer

Effects of Social Class on Education

* Where we go to school
* Neighborhood, which relates to the funding of schools
* Less funded education and less prepared teachers and curriculum
* Affording College

Reasons children from higher SES preform better

* Affluent parents more present in developing child’s educational interests
* Stress the importance of problem solving and negotiation
* Exposed to wider vocabulary
* Likely to go to private school with more advanced tracks

US Rankings

17 in reading, 23 in science, 32 in math

Educational Outcomes by Race

African American, Latino and Native American students tend to fare worse in educational outcomes than white or Asian American students

When factors such as parents’ socioeconomic status, access to resources, and others are taken into account, the racial gap diminishes or disappears

True

Segregation in Schools

More than 40 percent of blacks and \n Latinos in 2010 were attending hyper-segregated schools where minority students comprised more than 90 percent of the student body. And more than half of these hyper-segregated schools have poverty rates above 90 percent.

Gender Differences in Education

Women less likely to receive education in countries with large agricultural and/of Muslim populations

US Gender Differences in Education

* Boys have better math scores and girls have better reading
* Girls get better grades overall
* Equally likely to take AP classes
* Girls more likely to graduated high school and attend college
* Girls more likely to earn MA or PHDs
* Girls more likely to spend time on homework and not get in trouble
* Men more likely to study stem and women study social science/humanities

The Population Bomb

1968 book where Paul Ehrlich argued that the population was growing too fast.

Thomas Malthus

18th century scientist who argued that population growth would lead to misery

Current day population growth

Experts are now not only concerned with rapid population growth in some countries, but also not enough population growth in others

Demographers

Social scientists who study populations and population trends, and help us understand challenges such as the aging population.

Census

a count of everyone (or everything) residing in a particular location

\n Why is it useful to know about the population in a given geographic area?

1. Estimate future social trends helpful for planning (e.g., how many schools, etc.)
2. Determining political boundaries (e.g, each district in House of Representatives has approximately 600,000 people)
3. Trends can have a huge effect on national and regional economies (e.g., labor demand, consumption, healthcare costs)

pop. change =

births – deaths + immigration - emigration

Fertility

The birthrate is typically measured by the number of live births per woman of childbearing years

Mortality

the death rate

Migration

the movement into and out of a region or country

Population-based trends social demographers \n study

1. Racial and ethnic composition
2. Marriage and the family
3. Employment issues
4. Life expectancy

First Demographic Transition

The transition in a country or region from a period of high fertility and high mortality to a period of low fertility and low mortality

Process of First Demographic Transition

* Mortality and Fertility are high, fertility slightly higher leading to slow population growth
* Mortality declines first leading to an increase in the population
* Then fertility declines (does not reverse)
* Post-transition both are now low and will lead to slow population growth once again.

Total fertility rate

The number of children an average woman has in her lifetime. Ideal = 2.1

US Total Fertility Rate

Peak: 3.7

Current: 1.64

Replacement Fertility

The number of children per woman necessary to replace the population; about 2.1

Age pyramids

Plot that show the size of the population in each age group for men and women; lower age groups are at the bottom

Why do the U.S. and Japan continue to have some population growth given that fertility rates are at or below replacement?

Immigration and population momentum

Immigration

Adds people to the total population size

Population momentum

Occurs because the cohort of women of childbearing age may still be large or growing even though the fertility rate declined.

Calculating Fertility Rate

women\*children per woman=children born

Declines in infant mortality

Causes fertility decline because couples need to \n have fewer children if more of them survive

Economic development

Causes the fertility decline because the education of women deemphasizes child-bearing and leads parents to have higher aspirations for children.

Birth control

Growing acceptance that people can (and should) exercise control over their fertility; also technological advances in birth control leads to fewer unintended children

Childrearing

Fertility declines may be due to the costs and benefits of \n having and raising children.

Agrarian Children

Children are a net benefit to parents because they help generate income and they are also a safety net for \n parents in old age

Industrialized Children

There are fewer benefits for having children and potentially more costs

Norms and values

Fertility decline may be a consequence of new norms and values, particularly associated with the second demographic transition.

Second demographic transition

Increases in divorce, premarital sexual activity, increased cohabitation, and out-of-wedlock childbearing

Epidemiology

The study of health-related events in populations, their \n characteristics, their causes, and their consequences

Epidemiological Transition

The transition of a population from health conditions primarily involving infectious disease to health conditions primarily involving chronic disease

How to decrease infectious disease

Results from cleaning and protecting water supplies, immunization campaigns, better healthcare and nutrition for infants, children and mothers

Living with chronic diseases leads to…

demands on the healthcare system

Baby Boom

The period following World War II from 1946 to 1964, during which the U.S. experienced a temporary spike in fertility

Cohort

Persons born during the same time period

Problems with a large aging population

* The number of younger working people for each person 65 and older is shrinking so there are fewer people who will share the cost of healthcare for the elderly
* Fewer individuals will be contributing to Social \n Security and Medicare, yet there are more people using the benefits of these programs

Self-employment

In a market dominated by large companies, self-employment may be expected to decline

Traditional forms of self-employment

small shopkeepers, restaurants, etc.

New forms of self-employment

professional freelancers (consultants, artists, designers, writers), and informal self-employment (in-home childcare, day labor)

Reason for increase in self-employment

Restructuring of the U.S. economy: companies are outsourcing work to self-employed people

“Age of the market”

Markets are the foundation of economic life today. Markets are increasingly penetrating areas of social life that were once considered outside the market domain

Market

Markets are places where buyers and sellers exchange goods and services

Social networks

Composed of ties between people: family/kinship ties, friends, colleagues, classmates, etc.

Sociologist vs. Economic Views on markets

Economists view markets as ruthlessly impersonal. Sociologists argue that connectivity between people is an important part of how market exchange happens

Role of social ties in Markets

* Markets need social ties to establish the trust necessary to carry out economic exchanges.
* Social networks are needed to spread information related to markets

Karl Polanyi

Argued that economic action is embedded in social interactions

Mark Granovetter

Argued that a person’s chances of getting a job are influenced by who they know; interestingly someone’s first-degree connections are less important than second- \n degree connections (friends of friends) for securing a job

Classical Economics

The buyer and the seller are should not \\n matter; buyers simply look for the best quality product at the lowest price

Gary Becker

Argued that because markets treat everyone the same, common types of discrimination (e.g., racial and gender) will eventually disappear. Debunked by sociologists

Power Influences in Markets

* Larger firms can often get better deals on the same product
* Auditing firms can be manipulated by large firms in order to get favorable reports
* High frequency traders in financial markets have advantages because of the technology and resources they possess

Government Involvement in Markets

Governments set many of the rules for markets, and they are essential for their proper functioning. Most os these rules are not formal because markets are not formal (dating market) but are meant to prevent monopolies.

Organization

A group engaged in a specific activity that has an \n identifiable purpose or goal and that has an enduring form of association that is independent of the people involved in it at any one moment

Why do organizations persist?

* People involved have an interest in the organization’s survival
* An organization’s brand has value and can be used for other purposes
* Organizations develop bureaucracies, where rules are written down and defined roles are clear

Bureaucratization

Creation of rules and order that provides strength and stability to an organization but can also create foundational problems if done wrong.

Weber on Bureaucracies

Analyzed the formal aspects of bureaucracies but not the informal ways in which they work and theorized that the move to a bureaucratic form was necessary response of an organization to the complexities of modern markets and government. Did not look at the faults of individuals in a bureaucracy.

Negatives of Bureaucracies

They create stifling routines and boring jobs and make it more difficult for organizations to be creative and innovative, and to adapt to changes in markets

How are organizations specialized?

* Organizations must have features that are suitable for their environment if they are to stay alive and prosper
* Organizations that survive and thrive over time have created an internal culture that is a good match to their environment, one that makes it possible to change as the external environment evolves

Niche

Distinct segment of the market or social process for their services or products.

Organizations over time

A well-established sociological finding is that over time successful organizations in the same field will tend to look a lot like each other

Organizational isomorphism

refers to the process whereby organizations in the same field tend to become increasingly similar to each other over time

Coercive isomorphism

Organizations are pressured to comply with certain legal requirements

Normative isomorphism

Organizations respond to pressures exerted over its legitimacy

Mimetic isomorphism

Facing uncertainties, organizations look at what other organizations are doing and copy them

Labor process

How jobs are organized and controlled by managers from above