Sociology

Sociology

* Study the terms among people living together in society
* People’s behaviours and interactions
* Groups of people

Structural Functionalism - Emile Durkheim

* The theory that everything in society serves a purpose in society
* One thing cannot function without the other
* Indispensable

Emile Durkheim was centered on the belief that society functions logically and protects the interests of its members

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Conflict Theory - Karl Marx

* The theory that there is disparity of wealth and power
* People with power and money are able to receive better resources
* Those who do not have power have a harder time keeping up
* Karl Marx said that this will cause disuption between social classes

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Feminist Sociology - Dorothy Smith

* Society has fit the needs of men
* Uses conflict theory and theoretical perspective to analyze
* Gender inequalitiies and difference in power

Dorothy Smith

* Believes that sociologists should develop the discipline of sociology so that it can target all members of society

Symbolic Interactionism - George Herberd Mead and Max Weber

* The understanding of symbols and interactions are what determine how people in a society socialize
* For example, a nod of the head means yes in certain cultures and no in others
* Another example, if a band finished playing a song and the crowd doesnt cheer or clap, that’s a symbol that they did not enjoy the music and that the band should not go back for an encore

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George Herberd Mead

* symbols are the key understanindg to how we view the world and communicate
* w/o symbols, we would not know how to interact with others

Theory of Bureaucracy

* The Max Weber Theory of Bureaucracy proposes that all business tasks must be divided among the employees

Macrosociology

Studying large social systems

Microsociology

Studying smaller groups and individuals

Social Institutions

* a social system that is made and designed to fit the needs of all its members
* Made up of norms, values, and roles

Purpose

* provide agents of socialization
* transmit important and beliefs and attitudes into the population

Examples

* family
* culture
* work
* places of wroship, religion

Norm

Rules that should be followed and customs that are usually followed in a social institution

Values

Standards of what is morally acceptable and considered “right”

Roles

What an individual is expected to do in a social institution

Functions of Social Institutions

1. To satisfy the basic needs of society’s members
2. To demonstrate values and beliefs
3. Establish patterns of social behavour
4. Deine roles for individuals

What conflict theory says about social institutions

* Social instiutions exist to meet the needs
* But in reality it can only meet the needs of the 1% (the rich)
* Private education and private healthcare

What structural functionalism says about social instituions

* they’re necessary in society
* model social norms
* provide positive reinforcement for appropriate behaviour
* if you file ur income tax u avoid penalties

Social Institutions that appear all over the world

1. Family
2. Government
3. Economy
4. Religion
5. Education

Educational social institution

Functionalist theory

* contribtes to common good or healthy society
* Prepares students to work and support themsleves
* Helps economy

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Conflict theory

* only serve the privileged few
* those who can afford technology and the nwest resources
* private schools are oftne fancier because the rich provide the funding

How the theories on educational instituion differ

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* Functionalism is the ideal model of education
* Conflict theory is more realistic approach (unconscious approach)
* Functionalism looks to the present whereas Conflict theory looks to the future
* Conflict theory takes into account the perspective of the underprivileged
* Conflict theory believes that education simply trains students to become employees instead of employers
* Functionalism theory focuses on school as function of society to help things run more smoothly (rules and regulations; being on time, etc)

Sociolization and roles

* students learn about punctuality and respect for authority and others

Discipline and obedicance

* students come to accept and respect hte authority adn teacher and rules of the school
* students needs to have self control
* students have to learn responsibility for their own actions

Knowledge and skills

* studnets study and complete assignments
* they learn stuff in the curriculum

Competition and collaboration

* students are encourage to participate in extracurricular activities
* contributes to classroom activies to foster collaboration and teamwork

Traditional school

* you follow guidlines passed down from the ministry of education
* system of testing
* rewards, punishment, competitive atmosphere

Marxist free school

* very collaborative
* work with people with students to develop their individual learning programs
* the student is the one that gets what they wanna learn
* teachers main role is to guide the studnet
* no formal testing and believes that students should not be graded against each other

Behavioursit school

* consultive
* teachers consult with students determine what should be learned
* measures how much student learns from a starting point and not how much they compare to other students
* lots of positive encouragement and reinforcement
* students to pre-test followed by teaching and learning

social belonging

* based on the solidarity of the group which is baically the similarities that brings groups together

Dyad

a group consisting of two members, most intimate

Informal groups

less personal relationhips, less intimate gathering where there are no formal rules

Secondary group

* impersonal or formal gathering of people in which the individual’s role is measured by his or her contribution to a common goal or purpose

Since people text online now, the type of communication can also be part of someone’s primary or secondary group

Ingroup

* formed when members identify with one another
* sense of belonging that bonds them
* they don’t necesarrily have to behave in a hostile way towards out groups

outgroup

* when ur not part of the ingroup
* if ur not on the basketball team ur part of the outgroup
* this doesn’t mean team members view other as inferior, just means that there are people who are not on the team

The Labelling Theory

the rules and reactions of others, not the act itself, best defines deviance

* deviance: departing from usual ways
* eg. if a student skips class a couple ties and it punished by the teacher + labelled a “skipper,” then that student may become a persistent skipper thereafter
* Secondary deviance
* how the others interpret and label the person determines whether a person will now persistently violate a norm
* An actual deviant
* the behaviour is continued regularly

Agression

* any action that is intended to injure, harm, or inflict pain among another living being or froup of beings
* frustration is often the precursor for agression
* Agression = the inadequate release of frustration by the individual

Bullying + its dangers

* occurs in many forms
* verbal, physical, social
* even theft - like stealing someone’s clothes
* cyber
* doing, saying, acting
* hurts someone and makes them feel bad on purpose
* Bullying is about POWER and AGRESSION but also about RELATIONSHIPS

Dangers of victims

* depression
* social anxiety
* stress
* low self esteen
* academic problems
* agressive behavhiours
* suicidal thoughts

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Dangers for perpatrators

* not knowing different between right and wrong
* substance abuse
* agression
* acadmeic problems
* sexual harassing someone
* gang involvment
* difficulties w rerlationships
* being bullied

Things that affect the behaviour of individuals are

* class
* power
* living conditions

Cyber bullying

* using social media to hurt someone
* sending threats, mean comments
* posting bad pics
* tricking someone, embarassing someone

IT gets better

* worldwide campaign was inspired in the US
* in 2010, the media began reporting a number of tean suicides
* highly successful campaign that provides help and support systems + inspired other campaigns

Differential association

The theory that individuals learn the values, attitudes, techniques, motives for criminal behaviour through interaction with others

* eg. if you associate with people who accpet criminal bheaviour then you will learn to do so as well, and your values will be influenced