Intro to Sociology: Exam 2 Vocab

Social structure

External forces, mainly social hierarchies, norms, and institutions, that provide the context for individual and group action

\-Ordering of behavior and relationships in relatively predictable patterns

Role

The expectations for behavior attached to the status

* Status: Parent
* Role: Take care of child, provide for basic needs, mentor and guide

Role theory

A sociological idea that emphasizes the importance of the roles individuals take on in shaping their behaviour

Role conflict

When two or more discordant demands are placed on individuals, rendering them unable to fulfill their own or others’ expectations

Role strain

The stress caused by the demands of a single role

Life course

The transitions individuals make as they age through life; Ex: childhoodd, adolescence, transition to adulthood, etc

Social hierarchies

Any relationship between individuals or groups that’s unequal and provides members of one group more status and power than others

Status group

A term invented by Max Weber to describe any group that forms a common identity and develops ways of distinguishing insider from outsiders

Master status

Cuts across multiple statuses; can’t seem to shake it; ppl perceive it (“hits them first’) before anything else, even if that’s not your primary status for that setting (e.g disabled doctor)

Status inconsistency

Incongruent statues that defy role expectations

Ascribed status

Statues that you’re born with; Ex: Siblings/ various family statues, race, and sex, etc.

Achieved status

Statues that you earn

Schemas

The ways that individuals form ideas and categories that provide framework for understanding and interpreting the world.

Privilege

The ability or right to have special access to opportunities, rewards, or recognition

Social closure

The process by which organized groups seek to establish or maintain privileged access to rewards or opportunities

Social movement

The process by which organized groups seek to established or maintain privileged access to rewards or opportunities.

White-collar jobs

Jobs that don’t require physical labor, in which employees work in office or at desks, as opposed “blue collar” jobs that involve physical labor

Post-industrial economy

When the agricultural and manufacturing industries employ only a small percentage of all workers, and professional service industries (health, education, etc.) are dominant forms of employment

Institutionalization

The process by which a social practice becomes an institution

Organizations

A social group or social network that’s unified by a common institutional structure, such as a government agency, a school, a business firm, the military, a religion, and may others.

Culture

System of belief and knowledge shared by members of a group or society that shape individual and group behavior and attitudes

* A way of life

Norms

Expectations for behavior

Folkway

Norms that stem from and organizes casual interactions

More

Norm that structures the differences between right and wrong

Law

Norm that is formally inscribed at the state or federal level

Social network

The ties or connections between ppl, groups, and organizations

Symbol

Something that communicates an idea while being distinct from the idea itself

Value

A judgment about what’s naturally important or meaningful

Habitus

\-introduced by Bourdieu

\-Refers to the diverse ways in which individuals develop intuitive understandings and engrained habits reflecting their class background and upbringing

Tool kit

The view that culture is a set of ideas or strategies that ppl learn throughout their lives and can deploy strategically in different situations

Language

A comprehensive system of words or symbols representing concepts and meanings, which is often (but not always) spoken

Material

The physical objects or “things” that belong to, represent, or were created by a group of people within a particular culture

Non-material culture

The “ideas” of culture that influence behavior and direct socialization.

Cultural universal

A cultural trait common to all humans and societies

Mainstream culture

The widespread culture throughout a society that applies in part or whole to all members of the society

Subculture

Subset of mainstream that doesn’t go against mainstream values/norms

\-Ex: Amish or motorcyclist

Counterculture

Founded for the purpose of rejecting dominant cultural values/norms

Ethnocentrism

Using your own culture as the “yardstick” to measure others

Cultural relativism

Viewing the behavior of ppl from the perspective of their own culture; seeing traits by the role they play in the culture in question

Culture shock

The difficulty ppl have adjusting to a new culture that differs markedly from their own

National culture

The norms, behaviors, beliefs, customs, and values shared by the population of a sovereign nation

Cultural capital

Our education, tastes, and cultural knowledge and our ability to show sophistication (or a lack of) in our speech, manners, and other everyday activities

Embodied cultural capital

\-Non-material

\-Things like accents, etiquette, language, mannerisms, etc

Objectified cultural capital

\-Material

\-Things like the make/model of your car, art on your wall, the brand/style of suit you wear

Institutionalized cultural capital

\-Includes material and non-material things

\-Things like awards, honors, exclusive club or society memberships

Cultural appropriation

The act of taking or using things from a culture that is not your own, especially without showing that you understand or respect this culture

Cultural appreciation

Appreciating another culture in an effort to broaden their perspective and connect with others cross-culturally

Deviance

A violation of cultural norms

Social group

A collection of individuals formed around some kidn of social identity or for some specific purpose

Symbolic boundary

The distinctions ppl make between themselves and others on the basis of taste, socioeconmic status, morality, or toher differences

Statistically deviant

Behavior that’s different/unusal but not a violation of social norms

Socially deviant

Behavior that violates the written or unwritten rules of society

Social control

The institutions, norms, and rules through which societies attempt to shape and control individuals. Behaviors that violates social rules is typically punished eithir formally or informally

-Ex: Shaming criminals by publishing them in the newspaper

Socialization

The way we are taught to behave in society or particular social settings and come to understand expectations and norms

Civil disobedience

A form of protest in which protesters refuse to comply w/ laws they believe are unjust, usually associated w/ the use of nonviolent tactics

Stigma

A negative characteristic or credential attached to an individual that implies disgrace or any other attribute widely regarded as disgraceful

Moral behavior

Behavior that’s guided by a belief about what’s right and proper to do

Opioid epidemic

The rising number of deaths due to overdoses of opioid drugs, which has been shown to be concentrated in certain communities and among certain people

War on drugs

The US’ effort to reduce the sale and consumption of illegal drugs by increasing police surveillance and punishment of drug offenders

Strain theory

Merton’s theory builds of anomie (Durkheim) and structural strain:

* Disjunction between culture (goals) and social structure (means)

Conformity

Achieves the goals of society and uses non-deviant ways to do so

Innovation

Uses illegal/ deviant means (ways) to reach societal golden standards due to not having proper access/ being limited

* Ex: A person stealing food to feed their family

Ritualism

Someone who accepts the means, but never achieves the goal

* Ex: Senior who’s in the 5th year of school accepts/ takes classes to graduate, but never really graduates
* Can come w/ informal sanctions like being judged

Retreatism

\-People who reject the goals of societal and don’t use any means to achieve it

* Ex: Flower Children

Labeling theory

A theory of deviance that stresses that many kinds of behaviors are deviant solely cause they’re labeled as such

Differential association theory

Deviant and criminal behavior results from associating w/ ppl w/ attitudes favorable to deviant or criminal behavior

* The greater association w/ ppl whose behavior is deviant, the greater the likelihood that own behavior will be deviant

State deviance

Deviant behavior by governments or government agencies

Socioeconomic status (SES)

Composed of one’s income, occupational status/prestige, and education (in years)

Prestige

The symbolic value attached to a personal attribute or achievement

Inequality

The unequal distribution of valued goods and opportunities in society

High-end inequality

Economic inequality that arises from the highest earning households and/ or firms pulling away from everyone else

Income

The receipt of money of money or goods over a particular accounting period (hours, weeks, etc.).

* May include wages from a job, benefits from gov’t program of pension, or investments

Wealth

The net value of all assets owned by an individual or family, including the value of their home, minus their debts

Middle Class

A group of ppl who occupy the middle positions in terms of income and status in economic systems

Class

Refers to a group of ppl who share similar social and economic position in society

Subjective definition of class

* Categories are ordinal (CAN BE RANKED)
* No clear distance between each category
* -Ppl often have a skewed perception of their own position in the social structure w/ self-categorizing

Objective definition of class

*(PREFERED BY SOCIOLOGITS)*

\-Categories are interval-ratio (ranges where the stuff in between matter like temperature, credit score 500-800)

\-Means there’s a measurable distance between each step

* Multiple dimensions of class can be measured through SES, takes into account status inconsistencies

Immobility

A situation where ppl are unable to move from one economic or social class into another

Social mobility

The movement of individuals from one social position into another

Meritocratic Ideology

\-The American Dream that anyone can make it if they just work hard enough

* Implies that ppl who aren’t rich aren’t working hard enough; implies ppl who aren’t rich do work hard
* Neglects structural factors and is overly individualistic

Food insecurity

A condition in which an individual or family doesn’t have the means to assure an adequate amount of food

Homelessness

An extreme form of poverty defined by a lack of permanent shelter to live

List a few causes of poverty

1) Growing gap between rich and poor

2) Wages stagnating for those w/ lower edu

3) Labor marker (ie, unemployment)

List a few consequences of poverty

\-Children are often the ones that suffer the consequences of poverty

* Perform worse at school
* Live in poverty as adults
* Have connection to the child welfare system

What are some ways we can reduce inequality?

1. End racial segregation
2. Increase minimum wage
3. Invest in education

* High quality early education can increase economic mobility

Has the gap between the rich and the poor in the U.S. has ***increased/decreased*** in the last 2-3 decades?

Increased!!

Is the gap between the rich and the poor in the U.S. is ***bigger/smaller*** here than it is in many other democratic/capitalist/industrialized nations in the world?

Bigger!!

Race

\-NOT “skin color”

\-A system for classifying ppl who are believed to share common descent, based on perceived innate physical similarities

\-Social construct

Ethnicity

\-Perceived cultural similarities

\-Nationality (e.g, Haitian, French, Indian)

\-Religion (e.g., Jewish, Muslim)

Racism

Prejudice and/or discrimination against individuals who are members of particular racial or ethnic groups

Individual discrimination

Action carried out by an individual or small group that harms, excludes, or disadvantage members of certain group

Structural/ Institutional discrimination

Occurs when the actions or policies or social institutions exclude, disadvantage, or harm members of particular group

\-Doesn’t need to be intentional

\

Prejudice

Negative beliefs or attitudes held about entire groups based on subjective, selective, or inaccurate info

Prejudiced discriminator

\-Someone who’s prejudice and discriminatory

\-”All weather bigot”

Unprejudiced discriminator

\-Not prejudice, but will discriminate if socially pressured

Prejudiced non-discriminator

\-Ppl who work at places that have discriminatory polices or shop owners who are racist behind close doors, but then talk ad joke with the group of ppl that they’re racist to

Unprejudiced non-discriminator

\-Doesn’t discriminate and isn’t prejudice

\-”All weather liberal”

Defining Racism/sexism

Systems that advantages/privileges the dominant/ majority group in society

Differences between prejudice and racism

Prejudice:

\-Points that fingers at “bias”

\-Individual

\-intentional

Racism:

\-widens our lens to the “unintentional

\-Focuses on impact/effect

\-Societal/ systematic

Antiracism

Process of actively identifying and opposing racism

\-Like walking down the escalator which is difficult to do but possible