Sociology Exam 2

Social Stratification

A society's categorization of its people into groups based on factors such as wealth, income, race, education, and gender

The Means of Production

All of the tools, technology, labor, and resources required to produce goods and services in a society

• Pizza place - labor, building, ingredients

The Relations of Production

Social and economic relationships people have with each other in the process of producing goods and services, they describe who owns productive resources

Bourgeoisie

The ruling class who own the means of production

Proletariat

The working class who lack their own means of production and so must sell their labor to the bourgeoisie

• Revolution . . . proletariat holds all of the power, they can make it stop

Karl Marx Means of Production Diagram

Base/Superstructure Diagram

The Base

The economic foundation of a society, consisting of both the means and relations of populations (how goods are made and who owns or controls the means of making them)

The Superstructure

Includes all the elements of a society not related directly to production (such as culture, art, religion, politics, media - our ideas)

Base and Superstructure Relationship

Base shapes (and maintains) Superstructure

Superstructure maintains (and shapes) Base

• Ideology - Power structure, reinforcing the existing power structure

  • Gender Ideology - Women were domestic, stay-at-home Shift during WWII - Base changed/Shaped → Superstructure changed (no longer there), Idea of family changed

Max Weber - 3 Component Theory of Stratification / 3 Dimensions

Economic Class

Social Status

Power

• Power = Economic Situations + Social Standing

Power

The probability that one actor within a social relationship will be in a position to carry out their own will despite resistance

Economic Class

Refers to one’s position in a stratified hierarchy based on the economic capital one possesses (MONEY)

Social Status

Refers to one’s position in a stratified hierarchy based largely on symbolic (as well as social and cultural) capital one possesses

Economic Class Differs from Social Status

The difference is “new money”

Closely related in the US

Socioeconomic Status (SES)

Combination of a person’s economic class and social status often measured as a combination of education, income, and occupation

Poverty (Non-defination)

1. Ketchup

2. Defining Poverty

Poverty

State of being extremely poor, or having very little of something

The Poverty Line

Calculated by multiplying the cost of a minimal diet by 3

• Food is 1/3 of what is spend from income

Problems with Poverty Line Measure

• Poverty is not a constant state

• Doesn't account for regional differences

• Over time, proportions of family income devoted to various expenses change

The Twice Poverty Line

A more accurate measure of whats needed simply to get by - calculated by multiplying the poverty line by 2

Ethnicity

A socially defined category of people who identify with each other based on a shared social experience of ancestry

• Food, Clothes, Expressions

• Tradition - background

Race

A system of classifying people who are believed to share common descent - based on perceived innate physical characteristics of large groups of people

Barbarian

A person who is perceived to be primitive or uncivilised - comes from the Greek ‘barbados’ which mimics the way they describe foreign languages as soundings

Early Racial Categories

• Europaeus

• Asiaticus

• Americanus

• Afer

Homosapiens Europeanus was described as active, acute, and adventurous, whereas other categories were crafty, lazy, or careless

Analysis of DNA

Race is not a biological fact - we create the groups . . . Thomas Theorem

The Thomas Theorem

Because people believe something, and define it as real, then it becomes real in its consequences

Racism

Prejudice and discrimination against individuals who are members of particular racial or ethnic groups, usually drawing up negative stereotypes about the group, and arising out of a power hierarchy

• Power: white > black → no reverse racism

• Directional - power

Prejudice

Negative beliefs or attitudes held about entire groups (internal racism)

Discrimination

Behavior that harms, excludes, or disadvantages individuals on the basis if their group memberships - behavior (extenal racism)

Implicit Bias

The unconscious attitudes and stereotypes that can influence our actions towards others based on their race, gender, or other perceivable characteristics

Shooter Bias

A from of implicit racial bias mainly refer to the tendency among the police to shoot black civilians more often than white civilians, even when they are unarmed

White Privilege

The inherent advantages possessed by a white person on the basis of their race in a society characterized by racial inequality and injustice

Audit Study

A type of experiment commonly used to measure bias and discrimination in which resumes, job applicants, etc., are matched on all characteristics the same except the one being studied, and then sent into real-world simulations

• Resumes same - white vs. black name

Sex

Whether a person is classified as male or female based on anatomical or chromosomal criteria

• Biological

• Male / Female

Intersexed

Possessing both male and female genitalia and sex characteristics

Gender

The ways that social forces create differences between mens and womens behavior, performances, treatment, and opportunities, and the characteristics of men and women that reflects these forces

• Social functioning / meaning - social construct - social roles

• Man / Women

• Boy / Girl

Doing Gender

The idea that gender, rather than being an innate quality of individuals, is a psychologically ingrained social construct that actively surfaces in everyday human interaction

Accountability

System through which individuals are judged in terms of their failure or success to meet gendered social expectations, and it continues throughout our lives

Hegemonic Masculinity

The dominant, culturally idealized form of masculinity that legitimizes mens dominance in society and the subordination of women and other forms of masculinity

Essentialism

The view that members of a group share a fundamental, inherent, innate, and fixed quality of characteristics

• Layman view of gender

Deceptive Distinctions

The gender differences that arise out of the roles that individuals occupy, rather than from some innate force

Ambivalent Sexism

Theoretical framework that suggests that sexism is made up of both hostile and benevolent components which serve to justify the social hierarchy

Hostile Sexism

Sexism based in open hatred and negative evaluations of women along with the belief that women are naturally inferior to men

Benevolent Sexism

The attribution of positive traits to women that nonetheless, justify their subordination to men

Functions of Families

• Economic and emotional support

• Socialization and care of children

• Control of sexuality and reproduction

• Continued support along the life course

Socialization

The social process through which individuals develop an awareness of social norms and values and achieve a distinct sense of self

Primary Socialization

The socialization we experience in the house

Secondary Socialization

The process through which we learn how to behave in specific groups and social situations such as school or the workplace

Social Reproduction

Process through which social positions, social practices, values, and norms are perpetuated from generation to generation

Concerted Cultivation

A middle-class parenting style that actively fosters and assesses children’s talents, opinions, and skills, resulting in an emerging sense of entitlement

• Stronger Impact more advantageous, everything is within an institution (better for that) - structure

Help-Seeking Behavior

A learned and deeply ingrained position leading one to actively seek out support and advice, often resulting in social advantage

• Component of Concerted Cultivation

Accomplishment of Natural Growth

A parenting style common among the working-class and poor wherein children are given the freedom to structure their own lives, often resulting in an emerging sense of constraint

3 Possible Function of Education

• Socialization Theory

• Allocation Theory

• Correspondence Principle

Socialization Theory

Education transmits knowledge, skills, and values that persist in adulthood and that employers believe increase productivity

Allocation Theory

Education channels people into positions or institutions that offer different opportunities for counting to think, learn, and earn

Correspondence Principle

Children receive different types of education based solely on their social standing rather than their inherent abilities. This serves to maintain class boundaries

• Most cynical, most sociological

Hidden Curriculum

The often unstated standards of behavior that teachers and administrators expect from children within the education system

Educational Tracking

The separation of students into persisting academic groups based on perceived ability

• Dragon, Tiger, Cardinal, Clown

Social Control

Formal and informal mechanisms used to increase conformity

3 Levels of Power

Open force

Ability to apply illusion

Organization can convince you that their goals are your goals

Total Institution

Institutions in which all aspects of an individual’s life are formally controlled

Ex. Prison, mental hospital, military, student athletes

The Panopticon (Jeremy Bentham)

Circular prison with cells arranged around a central tower, from which prisoners could at all times be observed

Panopticism (Michel Foucault)

Systematic and ordering and controlling of human populations through subtle and often unseen forces

5 Types of Social Punishment

Shaming

Shumming

Banishing

Incapacitation

Corporal Punishment

2 Theories of Punishment

Utilitarianism (Deterrence)

Retributivism (Retribution)

Utilitarianism (Deterrence)

Theory of punishment that relies on threat of harsh punishment to discourage people from committing crimes

• Why do we punish? - To stop people from committing crimes

• Who do we punish? - Person with largest impact/effect

• How much should we punish? - a lot

• Problems - Punishment outweighs crime, emphasis not on perpetrator but on those who have the largest impact

• looking Forward

Future looking towards outcomes

Retributivism (Retribution)

Theory of punishment that emphasizes moral condemnation for crimes already committed

• Why do we punish? - Individual wrongdoing, Justice

• Who do we punish? - Person who commited crime

• How much do we punish? - Matches crime

• Problems - 2 can commit the same crime and receive different punishment, ignore power (who sets laws/punishment)

• Looking backwards (religious)

Past looking towards justice

What holds society together? - Durkheim

• Social solidarity

• Collective conscience

Create rituals with those around us - shared interaction with shared attention (concerts) - religious view

Ritual

Social action devoted to the manipulation of cultural meaning

• Move object (anything we can focus our attention on) from one category to another

Collective Effervescence

The feeling of exhilaration and emotional intensity that arises when a group of people engages in a shared experience, often a ritual or other collective activity

Interaction Ritual

The common day-to-day ritual of face-to-face social encounters

Ritual Chains

Focused interaction that generates group emotion linked to symbols, which then generate further interaction (inside jokes)