SHS101 Exam 3

Social Group

Any collection of at least two people who interact with some frequency and who share a sense that their identity is somehow aligned.

Dyad

2 people, 1 connection

Triad

3 people, 3 connections

Exchange Theory

Relationships persist when people believe the rewards outweigh the costs

In a study by Steffens et al. (2015), recent retirees who lost two group memberships after retirement were ____ times more likely to die young compared to retirees who maintained two group memberships.

6

Social Aggregate

A collection of people who happen to be together in a particular place but dont significantly interact or identify with one another

Social Category

People sharing a common characteristic such as race, gender, or occupation without necessarily interacting or identifying with each other

Social network

A set of formal and informal social ties that link people together

“If groups are pipelines of exchange, networks are _____________”

the map of all pipelines combined

Three degrees of influence according to Christakis and Fowler

Behaviors, emotions, and decisions

Social Stratification

The categorization of people within society into hierarchical rankings based on factors like wealth, income, education, family background, race, and gender.

If you start at the bottom, what are your chances of working your way to the top?

Vertical social mobility

The ability of individuals to change vertical positions within a system of social stratification

“Closed” systems of stratification

Based on ascribed status; vertical social mobility is virtually impossible

“Open” systems of stratification

Based on achieved status; Vertical social mobility is possible

Estate system

Closed system; social position determined at birth; Feudal systems: nobility clergy, commoners, peasants

Slavery system

Closed system; social position determined at birth; individuals are owned as property (chattel slavery)

Caste system

Closed system; social position determined at birth; India’s Varna system, South Africa’s Apartheid system

Class system

Open system; social position determined by merit, $, education, etc.

According to the US Federal reserve, which is more unequally distributed in the US?

Wealth

According to the US Census Bureau, the top 20% of US earners receive about what % of all income?

52%

According to 2023 US Federal Reserve data, the top 10% (decile) of Americans hold ___% of all wealth?

67

By some 2017 estimates (Forbes 2017), the top 3 wealthiest Americans held more wealth than the bottom 50% of the population

True

NCES: How much more does the avg. 25-34-year-old with a BA/BS earn per year than someone with only high school diploma?

About $25,000 more

According to the US Federal Reserve, how many times greater is the median wealth of white families compared to black families?

6 times greater

According to the US Federal Reserve, which group has the highest median household wealth in the US (2022)?

Asian households

Chetty et al. (2015): out of 100 US kids born in the bottom 20% of income distribution, how many will make it to the top 20%?

9

Based on page 1 of the article by Chetty et al. (2015), what is the “growing public perception of income mobility” that the researchers are addressing with this research?

There is a growing public perception that upward vertical mobility—a child’s chance of moving up in the income distribution relative to her parents—is declining in the US

Economic capital

The financial assets, money, wealth, investments, and property that individuals and groups possess, which can be invested and used to produce wealth, profit, or other valued advantages

Libido Sciendi

Desire for knowledge

Autodidact

Self taught person

Social Capital

The network of social relationships, social connections, acquaintances, and group memberships that provide access and opportunities to wealth, profit, or other valued advantages.

Cultural Capital

The knowledge, skills, education, language use, tastes, and cultural competencies that individuals and groups possess, which can be recognized, valued, and used to gain access to wealth, status, or other valued advantages

What are the 3 forms of cultural capital?

Institutionalized, objectified, and embodied

Embodied cultural capital

The knowledge, skills, and behaviors a person develops over time through socialization

Ex: the difference between there, their, and they’re

Objectified cultural capital

Physical objects that have cultural value and can signal status or knowledge

Ex: books

Institutionalized cultural capital

Official recognition of cultural competence through credentials like degrees or certifications

Ex: diploma

Medical Sociology

The systematic study of how humans manage issues of health and illness, disease and disorders, and healthcare for both the sick and the healthy

Realist approach in medical sociology

Assumes an objective social and biological reality exists ‘out there’ independent of our beliefs; Argues that we can discover objective patterns in health and disease through systematic, scientific research using measurable (often quantitative) data

Ex: life expectancy and obesity

Sociological imagination

Individual choices are shaped by larger social forces

Constrained choice theory

Individuals make choices, but those choices are structured—and often limited—by social, economic, political, and institutional contexts

The social realist

Diseases are real. What causes them? Individual choices? Social forces?

The social constructivist

Health/disease are not purely biological facts but are subjectively constructed through human interaction, human definitions, and language

The sick role

To be recognized as legit sick, you have to perform sickness in social expected ways

Rights: not blamed for condition and exempt from normal social roles

Responsibilities: try to get well and seek medical help

Medicalization

The process by which everyday life becomes defined and treated as a medical problem

Ex: pregnancy and alcoholism

Race

A socially constructed category rooted in the belief that there are fundamental differences among humans associated with phenotype and ancestry

Even though race is a(n) __________ category, the consequences of race are _________

socially constructed; objectively real

How can race be socially constructed?

Even though differences in skin color do exist, the categories we use to define races are socially constructed

________ is/are the behaviors, personal traits, and social positions that society attributes to being female or male

Gender

__________ is the physical or physiological differences between males and females, including both primary sex characteristics (the reproductive system) and secondary characteristics such as height and muscularity.

Sex

What was Hochschild’s research method in The Second Shift?

Ethnography, involving in-depth interviews and observation of couples to understand the negotiation of household labor.

What is “the second shift”?

How much time is spent on house duties and childcare

Who typically takes on the responsibility of the second shift?

Women

How much additional work does the second shift represent when quantified?

About a month