Fall MTX- People

All know--> main point/theory/contribution + any necessary distinctions that arise from the main point/argument

 Anna Julia Cooper

Know: Intersectionality and the experiences of Black women.
Main point: Race and gender inequalities must be understood together; the experiences of Black women can be overlooked when these inequalities are considered separately.

Auguste Comte

Know: Positivism; naming sociology as a discipline; “stasis” and “kinesis.”
Main point: Society can be studied scientifically. Social statics concerns social order and stability, while social dynamics concerns social change.

—> Stasis ---> how society remains stable, unchanged

Kinesis ---> how and why society changes

 C. Wright Mills

Know: Sociological imagination; personal troubles vs. public issues.
Main point: To understand individual experiences, connect biography to history and personal circumstances to wider social structures. A problem affecting one person may reflect a broader social issue.

Charlotte Perkins Gilman

Know: Gender inequality and patriarchal social arrangements.
Main point: Social institutions and gender roles can restrict women’s independence and reinforce inequality.

Confucius

Know: Moral leadership and leading by example.
Main point: Leaders should guide people through virtue and good example rather than relying primarily on laws and punishment.

Dorothy Smith

Know: Standpoint theory.
Main point: Knowledge is shaped by people’s social positions. Sociology should consider whose experiences and perspectives are represented in research.

Edwin Sutherland

Know: Differential association theory.
Main point: Criminal behaviour is learned through social interaction, including learning techniques and attitudes that favour lawbreaking.

Émile Durkheim

Know: Social facts; scientific study of society.
Main point: Social facts exist beyond any one individual and influence behaviour. Society can be studied systematically to understand social order and patterns. —> Durkheim's suicides:

When either integration (social cohesion) or regulation (social control) is too high or too low, suicide rates increase.

Egoistic suicide takes place when social cohesion is low in a society, so individuals are left out or lonely.

Altruistic suicide takes place with high social cohesion: people are dedicated to a society and may sacrifice themselves for it (think cults).

Fatalistic suicide takes place when social regulation is high, when people's freedom is so limited and their lives are so controlled that they may believe death is the only way out.

Anomic suicide takes place when regulation rates are too low--> institutions fail, leading people into a normless life that they may believe is without purpose or meaning.

 

(ex. Catholics have a low suicide rate)

(Emile) Durkheim's "normative" explains that "good" or "bad" things don't always line up with things that are "normal" versus "not." As in,

Normal/normative = typical/expected/common, NOT "good"

Pathological (things that suggest societal dysfunction) = atypical/rare, NOT "bad"

 

Ex. Crime can be normal because of its prevalence in everyday society, and it can reinforce social norms (reminds everyone of what the rules are). See p.29.

Gresham Sykes and David Matza

Know: Techniques of neutralization:

• Denial of responsibility

• Denial of injury

• Denial of the victim

• Condemnation of the condemners

• Appeal to higher loyalties

Main point: People may justify deviant behaviour by using these rationalizations to neutralize feelings of responsibility or guilt.

Harold Innis

Know: Staples approach to Canadian development.
Main point: Canada’s development was strongly shaped by staple resources and the economic systems built around extracting and exporting them. —>Staples theory, argued by Harold Innis, is the idea that the availability of Canadian resources ("staples") shaped Canada's economic and social development.

Ex. Fish, fur, minerals, wheat, etc

Harriet Martineau

Know: How to Observe Morals and Manners; sociological sympathy.
Main point: Society should be observed systematically, while researchers try to understand people’s experiences and values rather than judging them solely by their own standards, “understand people as they understand themselves.”

Horace Miner

Know: St. Denis: A French-Canadian Parish; ethnographic research.
Main point: Miner studied a French-Canadian parish, illustrating the overlap between sociology and anthropology and the importance of studying communities in their social and cultural contexts.

Howard Becker

Know: Labeling theory.
Main point: Deviance is not simply an inherent quality of an act or person; social reactions and the application of labels help determine who is considered deviant.

Ibn Khaldun

Know: Systematic study of society and historical change.
Main point: Societies and ruling groups develop and decline over time; understanding these patterns requires examining social relationships and historical circumstances.

 Ida B. Wells-Barnett

Know: Evidence-based investigation of lynching and racial injustice.
Main point: Lynching was not simply a response to crime; it was used to maintain White supremacy and racial control. Evidence and statistics exposed the false justifications for it.

Jane Addams

Know: Public sociology; social reform; Hull House.
Main point: Sociological knowledge should be applied to real social problems and used to improve people’s living conditions.

John Porter

Know: The “vertical mosaic”; The Vertical Mosaic (1965).
Main point: Canadian society was not an equal mosaic of cultural groups. Racial, ethnic, and religious groups occupied unequal positions in the social hierarchy.

—> Vertical mosaic, a term coined by John Porter, describes a hierarchy of racial, ethnic and/or religious groups produced by systemic discrimination. i.e., The "mosaic" is vertical rather than equal.

 

Associated terms:

Cultural mosaic = Canada as a society where racial/ethnic/religious groups maintain distinct identities

Melting pot = Immigrants are expected to undergo a rapid assimilation into the new society

These two are, of course, opposites.

 

Essentially, ethnicity is a MAJOR factor is social ranking/hierarchy.

Julian Go

Know: Sociology, colonialism, and imperialism.
Main point: Sociological theories developed within particular historical and imperial contexts. Ideas presented as universal may reflect Eurocentric assumptions and may not explain every society equally well.

Karl Marx

Know: Class conflict; capitalism; bourgeoisie and proletariat.
Main point: Capitalist society is structured by conflict between those who own the means of production (bourgeoisie) and those who sell their labour (proletariat).

Marianne Weber

Know: Gender inequality; marriage; domestic labour.
Main point: The breadwinner–homemaker arrangement reinforces women’s unequal position, including through the undervaluation of unpaid domestic work.

Max Weber

Know: Protestant work ethic and capitalism.
Main point: Religious ideas and cultural values can influence economic behaviour. Weber connected certain Protestant values—such as disciplined work and restraint—to the development of modern capitalism.

Robert Merton

Know: Strain theory and five adaptations:

• Conformity: accepts cultural goals and legitimate means.

• Ritualism: abandons or lowers the goals but continues following the rules.

• Innovation: accepts the goals but uses illegitimate means.

• Retreatism: rejects both goals and means.

• Rebellion: seeks to replace existing goals and means.

Main point: Strain can arise when society promotes valued goals but people lack equal access to legitimate means of achieving them.

Tham Seong Chee

Know: Limits of applying Western sociology to other societies.
Main point: Concepts developed in Europe and America may not fit other societies. Imposing them without considering local contexts can distort how those societies are understood.

Thorstein Veblen

Know: Critique of the rationalization of education.
Main point: Education can become mechanical and focused on credits and grades rather than knowledge and intellectual development.

W. E. B. Du Bois

Know: Quantitative research; The Philadelphia N e g r o (1899).
Main point: Systematic evidence—including statistics and other research methods—can reveal how racism and unequal social opportunities shape people’s lives.

William Julius Wilson

Know: Social disorganization and concentrated poverty.
Main point: Deviance must be understood in its social context. Poverty, limited employment, weakened community institutions, and disrupted social networks can contribute to neighbourhood-level problems.

Willy Martinussen

Know: Types of sociological explanations; structure vs. agency; levels of analysis.
Main point: Sociological explanations can be classified using two dimensions: the level or complexity of the phenomenon being studied, and whether the explanation emphasizes social structures or the agency of individuals. His framework helps organize different ways of explaining social events.