Sociology 101 Midterm Exam

False consciousness

internalizing the ideology of the dominant group (Marx)

Karl Marx

believed that economics was the basis for our social stratification

Class consciousness

achieved when we recognize our own interests, how we’re oppressed, and who our oppressors are.

C. Wright Mills

individual circumstances are connected to social institutions and patterns.

Does Sociology accept Conventional Wisdom?

No.

• remain critical of all social institutions and practices

structural functionalism

believes that societies parts are all in harmony with each other

• governments must appeal to ruling class (harmony)

• like organs in a body

most undemocratic part of our “democracy”

campaign financing

Conflict

dissimilar goals

Deviance

from the conflict perspective is a result of societies failure to meet the need of individuals

• not all need to be rehabilitated

culture

shared knowledge that affects our reality.

• includes technology, symbols, language, etc.

nonmaterial culture

attitudes, ideas, and beliefs

sanctions

the way society enforces rules

Values

basis of our norms

Power elite model

small, interconnected group of leaders who dominate the political, economic, and military institutions in society

• C. Wright Mills

Social control

targets the poor, mentally ill, deviants, and political dissidents

Legal system

from the conflict perspective, it serves the needs of the ruling class.

• Order believes we are all equally powerful and equally represented.

Direct social control

used to punish or neutralize people or organizations that deviate from the norm

Eugenics

an example of direct social control used to control the human race through hereditary factors

school funding

primary determinant of educational quality

Property tax

mostly local funding and control

• some federal

Tracking

Low track students are tracked into slow learning groups, which widens the learning gap and results in a negative stigma for students self perception

Ethnocentrism

taught in our schools overtly and covertly that the right way is the American way