Soci101 - Midterm 2

Breaching Experiment

Intentionally breaking the unwritten social rules of society so as to examine people's reactions

The myth of race (Omi and Winant)

It argues that race is a social construction

Micheal Omi and Howard Winant suggest that race is not static but is fluid

Racial categories are developed through political and social interaction

Cultural of poverty

The belief that poor people adopt certain practices that are different from those in the middle class

Social Regulation

The number of rules guiding your daily life. What you can expect from the world on a day-to-day basis

Stratification

Max Weber

Said it stems from a combination of class and status

Disciplinary Techniques

Modes of monitoring, examining and regulating that are diffused throughout society

The "gaze" expands to the workplace and shapes behavior

Latent functions

Covert or unintended functions

ex) for the education system some examples are

• socializing young people with their peer groups

• learning expectations for interpersonal connections

• de-facto daycare

Jeremy Bentham

_______ made a system that perfected a system that made monitoring, and therefore discipline, more effective

"The gaze" - observation exposes unequal power relationships; those watching and those being watched

Forcault believed that discipline is more effective than deterrence : those who fall in-line are less likely to break rules

Social Integration

The level to which one is connected to the social group or community

Primary Deviance

The first act of rule breaking that may incur a label of "deviant"

Functionalist view of Stratification

• Certain tasks are vital for society

• Vital tasks require specialization and receive greater rewards

• Non-vital tasks receive low rewards as most anyone can fill these roles

Social Learning Theory

Individuals learn to be deviant

Behaviors are learnt through interaction with others

The interaction teaches meaning and norms associated with the behavior

ex) Getting addicted to weed

Cultural Capital

The cultural and social class resources that people inherit and learn to use to their advantage

Discreditable Stigma

A hidden "mark" that has the potential to spoil one's identity

Horizontal Mobility

Changing social status within the same class level

Formal Sanctions

Social control through rules or laws that prohibit deviant or criminal behavior

Panopticon

A prison design, guard tower in the center, didn't know if the guards were in the tower or not

Since the prisoners can't see you, they will be on their best behavior and monitor themselves

Beyond prisons, this can be seen in cameras

Based on Jeremy Bentham's ideas

Life Chances

Opportunities that increase one's social position linked to the class into which you were born, geographic location, family ancestry, race, ethnicity, age and gender

Othering

Seeking to characterize a minority group as fundamentally different from the majority group

Establishing them as alien or a threat

Discrimination

Harmful or negative acts against people deemed inferior on the basis of their racial category

Labeling Theory

Individuals subconsciously notice how others see or label them. Over time these labels form the basis of their self identity

David Rosenhan shows us that the social setting can shape how individuals interpret behavior and such interpretations can lead to stigma

Discredited Stigma

A "mark" that is obvious and spoils one's identity

Vertical Mobility

Movement up, or down, the social hierarchy system

Peter Blau and Otis Duncan found that most mobility is horizontal and vertical mobility jumping class boundaries is very rare

Functional alternatives

Different/similar social patterns and policies that provide positive functions without the dysfunctions

Deterrence theory

The notion that crime results from a rational calculation of costs and benefits

e.g don't do the crime if you can't do it all the time

Prejudice

Thoughts and feelings about an ethnic or racial group

Positive uses (functions) of poverty

Herbert Gans said

• Societies get rid of things that are not functional

• Why does poverty persist? It is dysfunctional for many people (poor)

• It must perform some function for society (Gans lists 13 ways)

• Gans argues that we can have functional alternatives

• Concludes that these are not embraced as they would affect the non-poor. Therefore poverty is for the benefit of the non-poor

Optional Ethnicities

Mary Waters -

White people can

1. Select a specific ethnicity

2. Be "White" or American

3. Choose any European ancestry

Peter Callero and conformity

• individuals tend to follow the rules of society

• those individuals with a stronger connection to a group (organization/society) are more likely to obey authority

• Group ties (cohesion) facilitate success in challenges to authority

• Shared experiences (students at Oregon State Penitentiary class) enhance social cohesion

• Emile Durkheim argued that structure in society is needed to provide individuals with a consistent set of rules (norms) to follow. This aids in stability and cohesion

Conflict perspective on stratification

• Who benefits from the stratification of society?

• Wages and benefits are kept low through social policy

• Competition for scarce resources (college education, jobs) lead to stratification

Secondary Deviance

Subsequent acts of rule breaking that occur after primary deviance and can change people's expectations of the individual

Chambliss Saints and Roughnecks

The Saints were just as, if not more, deviant than the Roughnecks

Social class (status) impacts perception of deviant behavior by individuals

Differing responses to similar behaviors exposes power differentials in society

Social reactions to perceived deviant behaviors can impact the outcomes

Social Control

Mechanisms that create normative compliance in individuals

e.g. drug testing employees

Racism

The belief that members of separate races possess different and unequal traits

Racialization

Formation of a new racial identity around a formerly unnoticed group of people

Informal sanctions

Social reactions to widely known, usually unspoken rules of social life

e.g. walking on the "wrong" side

Scientific Racism

19th century theories of race that coincide with a quest for explanations and classifications of race

Stigma

A negative social label that not only changes our behavior toward a person but also alters their own self-identity

Symbolic ethnicity

An alignment with a national identity yet without risk of stigma

Race

A group of people who share a set characteristics, typically, but not necessarily, physical

Social Deviance

Any transgression of socially established norms

e.g. clean up after your dog

Ethnicity

Cultural values and norms that distinguish the members of a given group from another. Often voluntary, self-defined and fluid

Social Darwinism

The application of biological natural selection to explain social hierarchy

Those at the top are the "fittest" for the structure of society

Strain Theory

Robert K. Merton

Values and norms are known to everyone in society

Strain theory argues that society does not give all its members equal ability

Conformists: Goals/Values = accept, Means/Norms = Accept

Ritualists: Goals/Values = reject, Means/Norms = accept

Innovators: Goals/Values = accept, Means/Norms = reject eg. drug dealers

Retreatists: Goals/Values = reject, Means/Norms = reject eg. off the grid people

Rebels: Goals/Values = reject (change the goals), Means/Norms = reject

Assimilation

the process of foregoing one’s cultural traditions and replacing them with the behaviors and practices of the new dominant culture

White collar crime

Any offense committed by a professional against a corporation, agency, or other institution. Embezzlement, fraud, price fixing, food/environment contamination etc.

White-collar crime is a non-violent crime where the primary motive is typically financial in nature. White-collar criminals usually occupy a professional position of power and/or prestige, and one that commands well above average compensation.

Elite-mass dichotomy

A system of stratification where a governing elite holds broad power over society

Elite mass-dichotomy is necessary because : (The Vilfredo-Pareto principle)

• 80% of all effects come from 20% of all causes, this applies to nature and society

• most of all advancement (economic and political) comes from 20% of the population

• Explanation for social stratification

Meritocracy

Status and mobility based upon individual attributes, ability and achievement

De facto segregation

A subtle process of segregation other than from official policy; (housing, employment, etc.)

Civil court

Torts : lack of stigma

Stipulation: A condition placed upon a business (low stigma)

Desist order: A stop action for violations of stipulations (low to moderate stigma)

Injunction: Command to not engage in an action (moderate stigma)

• Restitution: Restoring the original condition; fines and lawsuits

Stanley Milgram study

Series of experiments that demonstrated people’s tendency to obey commands from an authoritative figure, even if said acts were harmful

Vilfredo Pareto

The Vilfredo Pareto principle:

• 80% of all effects come from 20% of all causes. Pareto argued that this ratio holds in nature and society

• With regard to stratification - most all social advancement (economic and political) comes from 20% of the population

White denial

A lack of perception as to the existence of prejudice, discrimination, and racism in society

Systemic discrimination

Racism that permeates systems of economy, education, criminal justice, political, medical/health, etc. institutions

Criminal as normal (Emile Durkheim)

Emile Durkheim

• All societies have some form of crime, crime is normal for society

• Crime is an affront to the common consciousness

• Crime both reinforces and challenges the common consciousness (helping change social norms)

• crime is healthy for society as it helps the society (norms) to shift, progress

• Lack of crime (deviance) stagnates society and is therefore pathological

Eugenics (H. H. Goddard)

Controlling fertility to influence inherited traits.

Eugenics and Immigration Exclusion Act of 1924

H.H Goddard contracted to test immigrants at Ellis Island. The majority were deemed to be inferior

Micheal Foucault and discipline

“The gaze” : Micheal Foucault

Foucault points out that over time punishment went from being public to private or from being visible to being hidden. The focus was taken away from the public to the individual.

Discipline works best for society. Those who fall in-line are less likely to break the rules.

Manifest functions

Overt or intended functions of an institution

Education system:

• Developing a knowing populace

• Providing skills to participate in society

• Assimilate to a national identity

Kenneth & Mamie Clark study

Conducted experiments to examine the effects of segregation on young children

They conclude that

• Segregation internalizes a sense of inferiority among minority children

Criminal court

Criminal Court

• Crimes

Go to jail (high stigma)

• Retribution: Exacting a punishment; incarceration

GUILTY (Civil court)  <-  O.J Simpson  ->  NOT GUILTY (Criminal court)

Pluralism

The presence and engaged coexistence of numerous distinct groups in one society

Anomie

A sense of norm-lessness. Too little regulation

White privilege

The uncritical acceptance of white skin

Gunnar Myrdal

Differences in how Blacks and White prioritize issues of equality
· Whites tend to focus on keeping social distances but little concern towards economic equality
· Blacks value economic and legal equality but car little about social distance
· Inferiority -> Prejudice -> Discrimination -> (cycle)