Sociology Exam 3

Sociology

The systematic and scientific study of human behavior, social groups, and society

Sociological Imagination

Quality of mind that provides an understanding of ourselves within the context of the larger society

The Sociological Perspective

Observes society through a lens without personal opinions. It generalizes the causes and actions of individuals into patterns and categories

Critical Thinking

Objectively asserting ideas, statements, and information

Scientific Method

1. Issue
2. Lit Review
3. Hypothesis
4. Research Design
5. Collect Data
6. Analyze Data
7. Conclusion
8. Publish/Pose New Questions

Normative Aspects of Culture

- Norms
- Folkways
- Mores
- Taboos
- Laws
- Prescriptive Norms
- Proscriptive Norms

Norms

Expectations and rules for proper conduct that guide the behavior of group members

Folkways

Informal rules and expectations that guide people's everyday behavior

Mores

Important norms that people consider essential to the proper working of society

Taboos

Prohibitions against behaviors that most members of a group consider to be so unacceptable they are unthinkable

Laws

Formal rules enacted and enforced by the power of the state, which apply to members of society

Prescriptive Norms

Encouraged norms

Proscriptive Norms

Prohibited norms

Interactionist Theory

- Symbolic Interaction
- Dramaturgical
- Ethnomethodology

Symbolic Interaction

Looks at the importance of symbols in human
interactions

Dramaturgical

Looks at the world as a stage, and each individual as playing
role(s)

Ethnomethodology

Looks at the underlying rules of social interaction

Functionalist Theory

Interrelated parts which contribute to society's stability (macro)
- Value Consensus
- Manifest Function
- Latent Function
- Function
- Dysfunction

Value Consensus

Widespread agreement on a group's goals, and the way
to achieve them

Manifest Function

Intended (spoken) consequences

Latent Function

Unintended, unrecognized or unexpected effects

Function

Positive consequence of a part for the whole system

Dysfunction

Negative consequence of a part for the whole system

Conflict Theory

- Dominant/Elite
- Oppressed
- Illusion of Consciousness

Ritualism

Ridgid adherence to the rules without regard for the organization
- Goal Displacement

Parkinson's Law

Argues that inside the bureaucracy, work expands to fill the time available for its completion

"Survival of the Fittest"

- Spencer used the phrase before Darwin
- The evolution of society and the survival of those within it were directly linked to their ability to adapt to changing conditions

Gerontology

The multidisciplinary study of aging

Four Areas of Aging

1. Chronological Aging
2. Biological Aging
3. Psychological Aging
4. Social Aging

Chronological Aging

The amount of time that has passed from your birth to the given date
- How old are you?

The Demographic Revolution of the 20th Century

1900-2000
- When Life Expectancy sky rocketed

Life Expectancy

The average age of death in a population

Leading Causes of Child Morality in 1900 AD

Infectious Diseases
- Diarrheal Diseases
- Diptheria
- Measles
- Pneumonia
- Influenza
- Scarlet Fever
- TB
- Typhoid Fever
- Whooping Cough

Leading Causes of Child Mortality in 2014 AD (Children aged 1-4 years)

- Accidents (unintentional injuries)
- Congenital malformations, deformations, and chromosomal abnormalities
- Assault (homicide)

Leading Causes of Child Mortality in 2014 AD (Children aged 5-14 years)

- Accidents (unintentional injuries)
- Cancer
- Intentional Self-Harm (suicide)

US Percentage over 65

- 1790: 2%
- 1900: 4%
- 2000: 13%
- 2015: 14.5%
- 2019: 16%

Baby Boomers During the Demographic Revolution

The oldest baby boomer is 58 and the youngest baby boomer is 40, baby boomers have NOTHING to do with the Demographic Revolution

Super Aging

A country where more than 1 in 5 people are aged 65 or older

Super Aging Japan

The highest percentage in the world with a population of over 65, the first country to super-age
- 28.2% of the total population is 65+

Japan's Death Spiral

1.3 children to every 2 adults, not close to replacing their 2 parents
- It started declining in the 90s
- They don’t allow immigration

China's One Child Policy

- Tax people with more than one child
- Forced abortions and sterilizations
- Sex-selective abortions
- 4 2 1 problem, a child is expected to take care of 6 adults, enforced by law
- Switched to three children policy

2020 Leading Causes of Death

1. Heart Disease
2. Cancer
3. COVID
4. Accidents

Biological Aging

The physical changes that accompany the aging process

When do we start the aging process?

- When you’re born
- When you stop growing
- When you’re past the reproductive period

Lack of Activity

- We move less as we become adults
- Adults are less flexible
- Not because we are older, but simply because we’ve stopped

Alzheimer’s Disease

The biggest risk of getting this disease is aging, it is not a normal part of the aging process

Telomeres

Structures made from DNA sequences and proteins found at the ends of chromosomes. They cap and protect the end of a chromosome like the end of a shoelace

Psychological Aging

The psychological changes, including those involving mental functioning and personality, that occur as we age

Continuity Theory

Argues that once our sense of self has formed, the ego is the personality that you carry with you throughout your life
- Your core personality stays the same throughout your life
- Has to do with adaptive responses
- Only applies to healthy aging

Erikson's Developmental Theory

8th stage Egointegrity v. Despair
- Your ego identity develops throughout your entire life during eight specific stages

Robert Butler's Life Review

A universal and spontaneous review of one’s life and how they lived

Social Aging

Everything else that’s not biology or psychology

Robert Butler's Ageism

- Discrimination against older people
- One-way street
- Healthcare providers who patronize older people or who medically abuse them
- Patronizing language
- Name-calling
- Lying about your age
- Assuming that young people are computer geniuses and older people are technologically behind

Robert Butler's Ageism: Patronizing Language

- Sweetie, dear, honey, he’s so sweet, isn’t she cute
- Thinking older people doing things that are associated with younger people is adorable or surprising
- Mild cursing, having, or referring to sex

Robert Butler's Ageism: Name-calling

Geezer, gramps, old fart, dirty old man, little old lady, old bag, biddy, old fogey, cute

Robert Butler's Ageism: Stereotypes

Memory loss

Social Institutions

An interrelated system of social roles and social norms, organized around the satisfaction of an important social need or social function. Organized patterns of beliefs and behavior that are centered on basic social needs.

Family

A group of two or more persons related by birth, marriage, or adoption who live together
- The oldest and the original Social Institution

Marriage

A socially approved economic and sexual relationship that is assumed to be permanent
- Contains a component of social approval

Marriages We Don't Approve Of

- Incestuous
- Under age

Nuclear Family

A group of people who are united by ties of partnership and parenthood that consists of a pair of adults and their socially recognized children
- One generational
- Cultural emphasis

Family of Orientation

The family that a person is born into and/or raised within

Family of Procreation

The family that a person creates through having and/or adopting children

Nuclear Family: Cultural Values

- Material Comfort
- Individualism

Naming and Kinclaiming

- Patrilineal
- Matrilineal
- Bilineal

Patrilineal

The naming and the kinclaiming is from the father’s side of the family

Matrilineal

The naming and the kinclaiming is from the mother’s side of the family

Bilineal

The naming and the kinclaiming is from both sides of the family
- We practice this

Extended Family

When three or more generations live together in one household.
- The traditional make-up of: grandparents, parents and children

Power/Authority

- Patriarchy: Given to the father/oldest son
- Matriarchy: Given to the mother/oldest daughter
- Egalitarian: Shared power structure, what we practice

Marriage Types

- Monogamy
- Polygamy

Polyandry

- Having multiple husbands
- Disproportionate female-to-male ratio
- Female infanticide
- Usually, brothers marry one wife
- Tibet

Polygyny

Having multiple wives

Reasons for Divorce

- Adultery
- Abuse
- Abandonment

Functionalists in Family

- VC: Essential to Society
- MF: Continues the heritage line
- LF: Fictive Kin
- F: Socialization
- D: Child Abuse

SES

Socioeconomic Status
- Income
- Education
- Occupation
- Address

Conflict Theory in Family

- SES
- Gender
- Parent/Child

Mate Selection Theories

- Theory of Homogamy
- Theory of Complimentary Needs
- Sociobiologist
- Matching Hypothesis

Theory of Homogamy

- Social Theory
- Argues that we select mates who are socially similar to ourselves

Theory of Homogamy: Five Areas

- If family and friends support your relationship, your relationship is significantly more stable
1. Age
2. Education Level
3. Race and Ethnicity
4. SES
5. Religion
- Very by culture and subculture

Theory of Complimentary Needs

- Psychological Theory
- We select mates who are our psychological opposites
- Weak in areas where we’re strong
- Strong in areas where we are weak

Sociobiologist

Every single thing about mate selection has to do with spreading your genetic material
- She's younger, he’s older and has resources
- Raising a child to pass on their material

Matching Hypothesis

Argues that we select mates who are about as attractive as ourselves

Education

- Emerged as a formal social institution during the Industrial Society
- Prior to this, your family taught you everything you need to know

Functionalist View on Education

- VC: Education is a building block in our society
- MF: Culture Survival
- LF: Social Network
- F: Society Advances
- D: Over Conformity

Marx's View on Education

- Carl Marx was a huge proponent of free compulsory education
- He thought that once you had everybody literate, they would rise up and overthrow the government

Conflict Theorist View on Education

- Keeps the status quo in place
- Critical of the “hidden curriculum”
- Credentialism

Hidden Curriculum

What the elite want you to know
- What type of math do you know
- What books are you reading

Credentialism

The ever-increasing requirement to have certain degrees/credentials/certifications/license

Interactionist Views on Education

Dramaturgy: What we learn about our roles and who we are from education is tremendous

Schools as Bureaucracies: How

- Formal rules and procedures
- Strong division of labor
- Meritocracy
- Hierarchy
- Impersonal

Schools as Bureaucracies: Good

- Efficient at producing graduates
- Consistent
- Specialization
- Fair/Level/Structure
- Trains you at a young age how to behave in a bureaucracy

Schools as Bureaucracies: Bad

- Alienation
- Dehumanization
- Decrease in quality
- Cheat to meet standards
- Teaching for a test, not to learn
- Over Conformity
- Ritualism
- Separation within the system
- Parkinson’s law

Profane vs Sacred: Profane

Every day, ordinary, or common places, events, and actions that we don’t think very much about

Profane vs Sacred: Sacred

Actions or events that are considered special or extraordinary

Symbols in Religion

Inside each religion, there are different physical representations of the supernatural

Rituals

Formalized actions that attempt to connect humans to the supernatural that are designed to remove humans from the profane and direct attention toward the sacred
- Praying, chanting

Rites of Passage

Represent a change inside of a religious community that happen all the time, but only once per individual
- Bat Mitzvahs, births, deaths

Four Ideal Types of Belief Systems

Created by Weber
1. Animatism-forces
2. Animism-beings
3. Theism-Supreme
4. Ethical-philosophical

Animatism-forces

The belief in supernatural forces and that they control the universe