introduction to sociology: units 4-6

Macrosociology

Analysis of social life that focuses on broad features of society, such as social class and the relationships of groups to one another; usually used by functionalists and conflict theorists (e.g., social class, functional analysis, conflict theory).

Microsociology

Analysis of social life that focuses on social interactions; typically used by symbolic interactionism (e.g., relationships, roles, status, symbolic interactionism).

Social Structure

The framework of society that surrounds us; consists of the ways that people and groups relate to one another; this framework gives direction to and sets limits on our behavior (guides our behavior) (e.g., Professor v. Student, Parent v. Daughter, Coach v. Player, Manager v. Employee).

Macrosociology & Microsociology

What are the two levels of sociological analysis?

Culture

A group’s language, belief, values, behaviors, and even gestures.

Social Class (Macro Analysis)

A large group of people who rank close to one another in property, power, and prestige (e.g., income, education, occupation).

Status

The position that someone occupies in a social group, also called social status, (may carry prestige).

Status Set

All the statuses or positions that an individual occupies (e.g., college student, mother, daughter, wife, employee, homeowner, registered voter).

Ascribed Status

A position an individual either inherits at birth or receives involuntarily later in life (e.g., race/ethnicity, sex, social class).

Achieved Status

Positions that are earned, accomplished, or involve at least some effort or activity on the individual’s part (e.g., college graduate, nurse, ex-spouse, bank robber, registered voter).

Status Symbols

Indicators of a status; items that display prestige (e.g., diamond rings, technology, Chanel bags, cyber trucks).

Master Status

A status that cuts across the other statuses that an individual occupies. Some master statuses are ascribed (e.g., sex (male or female), disabled, wealthy, student).

Status Inconsistency

Ranking high on some dimensions of social status and low on others; also called status discrepancy.

Roles

The behaviors, obligations, and privileges attached to a status. You occupy a status, but you play a role (e.g., Status (Student); Role (Attend class, do homework, pay attention).

Groups

People who interact with one another who believe that what they have in common is significant; also classed as social groups (values, interests, and norms) (e.g., democrats, sports team, drama club, dorms).

Social Institutions

The organized, usual, or standard ways by which society meets its basic needs. They set the context for your behavior and orientations to life (e.g., family, education, government, religion, economics).

1. Family

2. Education

3. Economics

4. Government

5. Religion

Functionalist Perspective

1. Replacing members (Reproduction) -> ________

2. Socializing new members (Learn basic expectations) -> _______

3. Producing and distributing goods and services (Basic resources/needs) -> ________

4. Preserving order (Protecting from the potential of chaos) -> ________

5. Providing a sense of purpose (Attempts to answer questions about meaning) -> ________

Conflict Perspective

Believe social institutions are originally designed for survival needs but are not harmonious. They argue that wealth is concentrated in a small elite group, which seeks to preserve the status quo.

Symbolic Interaction

Interested in how people view things and how this, in turn, affects their behavior and orientations in life (e.g., stereotypes in everyday life, personal space, eye contact, body language).

Dramaturgy

An approach by Erving Goffman analyzing social life as drama, focusing on impression management and role dynamics (e.g., front stage, back stage, role conflict, role strain).

Role Strain

Refers to the stress an individual faces when failing to meet the expectations of a specific social role (e.g., a person who recently got a promotion feels imposter syndrome and in over his head).

Role Conflict

Refers to the stress an individual faces when facing conflicting demands from multiple social roles (e.g, a father feels conflict between being a good employee and a good dad. He feels guilty for being away from his children but also needs to work to feed his kids).

Ethnomethodology

The study of how people use background assumptions to make sense out of life or how people do things by Harold Garfinkel. Breaking assumptions (e.g., bargaining with a cashier, addressing your parents as Mr. and Mrs., not wearing pants on the metro).

The Construction of Reality

The use of background assumptions and life experiences to define what is real. (e.g., construct reality, subjective interpretation).

social interaction.

Exam Prep Question: Microsociology focuses on…

parolees and where they fall within the U.S. social class system.

Exam Prep Question: Bernard is a sociologist focusing on macrosociology. He is most likely to analyze…

ascribed status.

Exam Prep Question: The position an individual either inherits at birth or receives involuntarily later in life is called…

Deviance (General)

The violation of norms (or rules or expectations) (e.g., driving over the speed limit, murder).

Deviance (Sociology)

Refers to all violations of social rules, regardless of their seriousness (e.g., woman with a beard, polygamy, sex worker).

True. Because groups have different norms, which is deviant to some may not be deviant to others. This applies not just to cultures, but also to other groups within the same society.

T/F: To be considered a deviant, a person does not have to do anything. Why or why not?

Crime

The violation of rules that have been written into law. An act that is applauded by one group may be despised by another (e.g., child marriages, legal restrictions on women driving in some countries).

Stigma

Refer to the characteristics that discredit people (violations of appearances, abilities or involuntary memberships). “Blemishes” that discredit a person’s claim to a “normal” identity (e.g. those with learning disabilities, children of incarcerated/ex-incarcerated, mental health).

Social Order

A group’s usual and customary social arrangements, on which its members depend and on which they base their lives.

social chaos.

Without norms, we would have…

Social Control

A group’s formal and informal means of enforcing its norms.

Sociobiology, Psychology, Sociology

What are the three competing explanations of deviance?

Sociobiology

Explain deviance by looking for answers within individuals (e.g., genetic predisposition - men more violent, women less violent).

Psychology

Focus on abnormalities within the individuals. They examine what is called personality disorders: The view that a personality disturbance of some sort causes an individual to violate social norms (e.g., bad toilet training =/= murderer, suppressed anger =/= sniper).

Sociology

Search for factors outside of the individual (e.g., social influences - neighborhoods, peer groups, family and external factors - socialization, subcultures, social class).

Differential association, control theory, and labeling theory

What are the three symbolic interactionist perspectives?

Differential Association Theory

Edwin Sutherland’s concept that associations with different groups expose individuals to definitions of deviance, increasing the likelihood of becoming deviant (e.g., volunteering leads to conformity to society’s norms, families, neighborhoods, subcultures, and friends make a huge difference in whether people lean toward deviance or conformity).

Control Theory

Walter Reckless's theory positing that inner controls (personal morals and conscience) and outer controls (influences from family and friends) help prevent deviant behavior.

Control Theory

Travis Hirschi's theory stating that stronger societal bonds enhance inner controls (personal morals and conscience), based on attachment, commitment, involvement, and beliefs, which help prevent deviant behavior.

Labeling Theory

The significance of reputation, how reputations or labels help set us on paths that propel us into deviance or divert us away from it. How would labels shape the way you see yourself (e.g., a thug, thief, bad, cheater, talented, intelligent)?

5 Techniques of Neutralization

Sociologists, Gresham Sykes and David Matza, studied on boys who rejected negative label, creating the following methods:

1. Denial of responsibility (Accident or Victims)

2. Denial of injury (No one got hurt or just having a little fun)

3. Denial of victim (Avengers, people deserve what they got)

4. Condemnation of the condemners (No right to judge me)

5. Appeal to higher loyalties (I had to help my friends)

Symbolic Interactionist

Analyzes how people's definitions of situations influence their conformity or deviation from social norms, emphasizing group membership (Differential Association), the balance of conformity and deviance (Control Theory), and the impact of reputations (Labeling Theory).

True

T/F: Can deviance, including crime, be functional for society?

Social order, social unity, and social change

What does deviance contribute, encourage, and promote?

natural

Crime is a _______ outcome of the conditions that people experience, not some alien element in our society.

Strain Theory

Robert Merton’s concept explaining that societal pressure for cultural goals (like success and wealth) can create strain when institutional means to achieve these goals are lacking; one response to this strain is crime, as individuals seek alternative methods to attain these goals.

Robert Merton’s Strain Theory of Deviance

Street Crime

Encouraging the poor to desire material possessions, influenced by constant advertising for products like iPhones, cars, and jewelry.

Illegitimate Opportunity Structure

Crimes influenced by societal pressures for material possessions (e.g., robbery, hustling, pimping, prostitution, and drug dealing).

Conflict Theorists

Exam Prep Question: Who regard power and social inequality as the main characteristics of society?

Reactions to Deviance

The influx of prisons and prisoners (e.g., private prisons), the decline in violent crimes (e.g., tough laws, employment), death penalty (e.g., racial disparities), and heightened police caution and discrimination.

Medicalization of Deviance

The process by which behaviors or conditions that were once seen as morally or socially problematic are redefined as medical issues.

Medicalization

The transformation of a human condition into a medical matter to be treated by physicians.

Thomas Szas

Mental illnesses are neither mental nor illnesses. They are simply problem behaviors (e.g., ADHD, depression).

Polygamy

Societies where men have more than one wife.

Societies where women have more than one husband.

Polyandry

Family

A group of two or more people who consider themselves related by blood, marriage (or adoption).

Nuclear Family

Husband, wife, and children.

Extended Family

A nuclear family plus other relatives.

Family of Orientation

The family in which a person grows up.

Family of Procreation

The family formed when a couple’s first child is born.

Household

Consists of all people who occupy the same housing unit.

Marriage

A group approves mating arrangements usually marked by a ritual.

Endogamy

The practice of marrying within one’s own group.

Exogamy

The practice of marrying outside one’s own group (e.g., race, ethnic group, religion).

Bilineal

Descent traced on both the mother’s and the father’s side where property passes to males and females.

Patrilineal

Descent traced only on the father’s side where property passes only to males.

Matrilineal

Descent traced only on the mother’s side where property passes only to females.

Patriarchy

A social system in which men dominate the women, which is found in all societies.

Matriarchy

A social system in which women dominate men.

Egalitarian

A social system authority is more or less equally divided between men and women.

Functionalists

To survive, a society must meet basic needs. The family plays an important role in supporting society's well-being. It is a universal institution that serves essential functions. These include producing goods, teaching children, caring for the sick and elderly, providing recreation, managing sexual behavior, and ensuring reproduction. Each of these functions shows how families are closely linked to society as a whole.

Incest Taboo

Rules that forbid sexual relationships or marriage between closely related individuals. It helps prevent role confusion within families and encourages people to find partners outside the family, creating a wider support network.

Conflict Theorists

View the family as a site of power struggles. They believe that disagreements over housework stem from competition for limited resources like time and energy. Many women, even in dual-earner families, often manage a "second shift" of child care after work, leading to dissatisfaction in marriages. This imbalance contributes to the rising divorce rate.

Symbolic Interactionists

Examine the meanings people assign to their experiences, like husbands' views on housework. Research indicates that men are doing more housework and childcare, while both genders are spending more time on parenting and women less on housework. Jesse Bernard found that differing perceptions of marriage between husbands and wives can lead to dissatisfaction. Over the past 50 years, the meanings of housework, family, marriage, and divorce have evolved.

Emotional - A feeling of sexual attraction

Cognitive - A feeling we describe as being “in love”

What the two components of romantic love?

Homogamy

The tendency of people with similar characteristics to marry one another, usually resulting from spatial nearness. People living near one another (in close proximity) tend to marry.

Interracial Marriage

An exception to these social patterns. In the US, about 7% of the population marries someone from a different race. At the same time, these marriages are becoming more acceptable.

Child Rearing (Child Parenting)

Traditionally, this was primarily the mother's responsibility, but this has shifted as more mothers work outside the home. Childcare arrangements are similar for both married couples and singles, with the key difference being the father's involvement while the mother is at work. Grandparents often help cover childcare needs when fathers are unavailable. Currently, one in four children is in daycare, but only a small fraction of U.S. daycare centers provide high-quality care, largely due to low wages for daycare workers.

Social Class

Significantly influences child socialization. According to Melvin Kohn, working-class parents emphasize conformity to societal norms, while middle-class parents prioritize curiosity, self-expression, and self-control. Upper-middle-class families often hire nannies for individual attention and customized activities.

prolonged education and the growing cost of establishing households.

More U.S. children are leaving home later, or returning after initially leaving home; this is due to…

widowhood.

Women are more likely than men to face the problem of adjusting to…

Fictive Kin

Refer to the non-related individuals who help the family out in hard times.

African Americans.

A marriage squeeze (fewer unmarried males than unmarried females) exists among…

African Americans

What women are more likely to remain single, marry men with less education or who are unemployed and divorced?

Asian-American Families

Many families have adopted the nuclear family pattern of the United States. At the same time, they have retained Confucian values, which provides a distinct framework to family life: humanism, collectivity, self-discipline, hierarchy, respect for the elderly, moderation, and obligation.

One-Parent Families

Increase due to both the high divorce rate and the sharp increase in unwed motherhood. Children from these are more likely to drop out of school, become delinquent, be poor as adults, divorce, and have children.

A weak relationship, financial constraints, or demanding careers are among the reasons identified. More education, careers for women, effective contraception, abortion, the costs of rearing.

What reasons are not for having a child?

Latinos

Who are much less likely to remain childless than whites and African Americans?

Blended Families

One whose members were once part of other families (e.g., two divorced persons marry and bring their children into a new family unit).

Same-Sex Marriages

Have the same problems of heterosexual marriages: housework, money, careers, problems.

permanence; remaining together “as long as it works out.'“

Marriage assumes _________, while cohabiting assumes __________.

Unmarried Mothers

This refers to mothers in cohabitative relationships and has risen along with cohabitation.

Grandparents as Parents

More __________ are fulfilling the parental role as more parents are working.

Sandwich Generation

Families who are taking care of their children and their parents at the same time, often this responsibility is taken on by the daughter.

Incest

Sexual relations between relatives, such as brothers and sisters or parents and children. It occurs most frequently in families that are socially isolated.