midterm vocab/concepts

sociology

the study of society, explains the relationships between the individual and society

social patterns—how do we participate in the same structures but experience them differently?

many different theories, but no definite answers—sociology is a social science so it can be very unpredictable and irrational

social structures

we participate in patterns of interaction. social structures are templates that assign us roles and train us on how to act depending on the situation. “unspoken rules”

enlightenment thinkers

science > religion; sparked social sciences and asking of sociological questions

french revolution

freedom & equality from the monarchy. gave regular people the opportunity to question the structures and institutions around them.

industrial revolution

urbanization, changed nature of work. led to creation of social structures to organize society amid new developments & opportunities.

emile durkheim on specialization

when people only specialize in certain skills they rely on each other and the rules. feels like we have a choice, but we don’t actually…creates order in society

karl marx

believes all social structures are secretly working to control people and keep the system in place. believes it only benefits the elite and the proletariat is getting exploited, but eventually they will gain class consciousness and rebel.

c wright mills

men are “cheerful and willing robots” —> to beat this we must gain the sociological imagination

sociological imagination def & 3 questions

connecting biography (who you are) with history (what has happened in the world to shape ur experience). 3 questions: how can we understand this historically; what led to this? how do social structures influence our experience? who holds the power to control this/and who benefits from the way things are

Individualism

american society holds people individually accountable for their problems when they are usually a combination of social factors

Private troubles

purely individual problems you have to deal with

Public issues

something that many are also dealing with because we are joined together

Society

an organized collection of individuals and institutions bounded by space in a coherent territory, subject to the same political authority, and organized through a shared set of cultural expectations and values

Status

social position an individual holds within a group or social system

Role

set of expectations about the behavior assigned to a particular social status

Socialization

how we are taught the social norms and rules, become aware of ourselves as part of a group. Formal and informal.

ascribed status

receive involuntarily (such as inherited privilege and power)

Achieved status

we attain through talent and effort, but does depend on ascribed status

Master status

when a status is perceived to be so important that it overshadows all others–controlling position in society

Erving goffman’s theory of dramaturgy

impression management where we learn to change our behavior to match what people expect of us

Role conflict

trying to play different roles with different expectations

Role exit

leaving a role central to one's identity

Nature vs. nurture

not one or the other, sociologists believe we are shaped by our contexts. Structural functionalism

Conflict theory

inspired by Marx, society is held together by conflict. Social order and resistance are a result of conflict among groups.

stanford prison experiment

tested how people react to power, authority, and confinement. participants were randomly assigned to prisoner or guard and lived in a mock prison for 6 days. Guards became abusive and cruel, prisoners were under emotional stress and anxiety.

milgram experiment

tested how far people would go to obey authority and break their personal morals. Participants were “teachers” who had to shock their “learners” (who were secretly actors) when they answered a memory question wrong. There were no actual electric shocks, but the teachers believed they were shocking their learners up to a lethal voltage and mostly obeyed the researcher and administered them anyway.

Culture

languages, values, customs, and material objects that are passed from person to person and generation to generation

charles horton cooley

“looking glass self”; people think about themselves the same way they believe others think of them. We construct what we know about ourselves (our identity) through what we think society thinks of us.

george herbert mead

the self is a social product. His theory of the life course says: At 2-3 years, children become conscious that they exist During play stage at 4-7 years, their primary group is their family and they start understanding social roles During game stage at 7+ years, school starts and they start incorporating societal pressures into their understanding of themselves

Primary group

smallest group you are part of where you know everyone (usually family), came together for expressive reasons—emotional support, love, companionship

Secondary group

larger groups with less emotional claim to your identity such as co-workers, classmates; came together for instrumental reasons—common goals

Groupthink

members try to preserve group harmony despite individual perspectives

Family (definition according to law)

people connected by blood, marriage, or adoption

Traditional functions of marriage as an institution

ensure paternity and legitimacy for heirs, regulate sexual behavior, take care of children, divide labor

Nuclear family

2 parents, 2.5 kids, pets, seen as the “ideal” family. A very new idea that only began after industrialization → socially constructed

How did industrialization affect family dynamics?

less need for children as we move away from agriculture toward urban centers (more small living situation and no need for children to help on farms). Beginning of the male breadwinner + female stay-at-home mom dynamic. More labor as there’s no extended family to help

Social construction

not natural, created by people

Heteronormativity

promoting heterosexuality as the normal/preferred sexual orientation

Changes in US family makeup

married couples and traditional nuclear family dynamic is becoming less common

Cohabitation

people sharing a bed and home…used to be associated with the poor and is now becoming more common with upper class/educated families too

Social construction of courting

traditionally emphasizes heterosexual mandate and dynamic of man chasing woman, but is now changing due to online dating, influence of the internet, women’s rights movement, LBGTQ+ rights, texting/phones, religious/economic influences, educational changes.

History of marriage in the US

women considered property, guided and enforced by religion and later the state, strong traditions, less romantic love and more arranged/political marriages

Companionate marriage

husband + wife are companions, good marriage = following your role as a wife/husband and parent, not much focus on love/passion

How did women’s rights movements in the 1960s-70s affect marriage?

marriage becomes more about individual satisfaction (sexual revolution). More pressure for equality of roles. Women enter the workforce.

Individualized marriage

need for fulfillment, romantic love. Rise in divorce. Focus on feelings rather than just doing your role as a partner.

DOMA (defense of marriage act)

defined marriage as a union between a man and a woman.

Obergefell v. Hodges

SCOTUS ruling that made same-sex marriage legal across the nation

Deinstitutionalization of marriage

trend of no set roles or criteria on how to act/be in a marriage. More up to negotiation and decided by each couple.

Symbolic role of marriage

it is a status, a norm, a privilege. Embedded in heteronormative, cultural storytelling. Not seen as a choice, but seen as an essential part of one’s path. Part of the American dream.

Why do weddings still happen?

cultural pressure to get married funds the wedding industry. It’s recession proof, as people will always be getting married. Expenses like rings, gowns, receptions, cakes, etc. seen as essential.

Deviance

breaking or refusing to follow a social rule. May or may not be illegal, and can be acquired through association or membership in a group.

Formal sanctions

government regulation such as prison, institutionalization, etc. deviance acts bad enough for formal sanctions are considered crime

Informal sanctions

disapproving looks, comments, exclusion from groups, lack of respect, labels

Emile durkheim on deviance

deviance is good for society as it clarifies moral boundaries, affirms cultural norms/values, increases group solidarity, and encourages social change if needed (makes us question rules)

Why is deviance considered socially constructed?

because it changes over time and culture. It is determined by the people in power over a certain place during a period of time

Folkways

routine, unspoken conventions of behavior. If you break one, people feel uncomfortable, but there are rarely laws against them.

Mores

norms with strong moral significance. Essential to proper functioning of a group. If you break one, you make the group upset, angry, or afraid; often they are made into laws. (i.e. stealing, punching)

Taboos

prohibition viewed as essential to society. They are unthinkable, cause others to feel disgust or repulsion, and are always made into laws. (i.e. incest, cannibalism, rape)

Erving Goffman’s “Stigma”

stigma is an attribute that changes you “from a whole and usual person to a tainted and discounted one”

Howard Becker's labeling theory

people in power get to decide who and what is deviant, and they also get to avoid the label of deviant. Steps are primary deviance, social reaction, and secondary deviance

Primary deviance

the first “deviant” action being done, very common.

Social reaction

depends on who you are and what power you have. Usually ends up in a label being placed unless you have power or privilege

secondary deviance

beyond the first act, one’s identity becomes focused on the deviant behaviors. The deviant label becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. It becomes their master status (both internally and externally) and they act in ways that are expected of their label.

How have we gotten people to conform throughout history?

violence, punishment, and psychological means of control such as religion.

Panopticon

circular prison with one guard tower in the center. Needs less guards, as prisoners self-regulate because they believe the guard could be watching them at any time.

Foucault’s Mettray prison

the least act of disobedience is punished severely. Constant supervision through subtle, hidden surveillance; routines; permanent observation and perpetual assessment; to produce DOCILE BODIES

Docile bodies

Foucault’s theory that the goal of modern systems is to produce docile bodies—weak, submissive people who follow orders without question

Modern surveillance & ranking

surveillance—phones, life 360, ring doorbells Ranking—grades, test scores, IQ, BMI we are willingly in a panopticon! This form of discipline produces knowledge of individuals and induces modes of behavior (we think we are in control but we are actually scared into conforming—cheerful & willing robots?)

Cliques

organized around inclusion & exclusion of people; internal hierarchy with people aspiring to the top; provide protection, elevate status, teach outsiders a lesson

Conformity

we desire to be included, we volunteer our conformity by imitating others and succumbing to peer pressure

Gender

agreed upon social norms assigned to each sex category and enforced through socialization. verb, not an adjective—in our culture we discuss what to DO to be feminine/masculinity→ doing gender

Sex

agreed upon criteria—decided by doctors—for placing people into a sex category. There are more than two sexes, but the binary is created and justified as “natural”

West & Zimmerman’s “Doing Gender”

gender is the activity of managing our conduct to match the attitudes/activities appropriate to one’s sex. Doing gender involves complex, socially guided, perceptual, interactional, and political activities that present certain pursuits as expressions of masculinity/femininity.

Social construction of gender

cultural definitions of traits associated with being a “man” or “woman”. Children are socialized through family, media, friends, school, etc. to learn these norms/rules and the consequences of deviating. The criteria shift based on time period, culture, or even group/demographic such as race, class, ethnicity, age, etc. certain stereotypes endure that society portrays as innate/natural/biological, but cultural interpretations of these stereotypes change.

Intersex

people born with anatomy that doesn’t conform to strictly male or female. More than 2-4% of the population is born intersex, and even within the category there is a lot of variation. It has been LABELED as a problem by doctors that needs intervention when it could just be a normal variation of human bodies.

Cisgender

people who agree and identify with what a doctor says about your sex at birth

Harry Benjamin’s “The Transsexual Phenomenon”

new medical diagnosis of transsexuality (if they qualified based on his list of criteria) and offered new surgical and hormonal options to transition.

Transsexual

a person who does not identify with their assigned sex and wants to transition their bodies to fit their identity. Historically a medical definition placed UPON people who qualify under a set list of criteria.

Transgender

a person who does not identify with their assigned sex, but may or may not wish to fully transition. Accounts for variation in identities. Historically a term from the community, self-defining and empowering, resisting the medical label.

Intersectionality

all identities work together to create a person’s reality and experiences

crossdressing/drag

people wish to express their identities in different ways at different times. May not want to alter their gender identity permanently.

genderqueer/nonbinary

a broad umbrella term for those who don’t always fit into the binary. Can be under the trans umbrella but may not identify as trans.