SOCI 101 Exam 2

norms

expectations or rules of behavior

social deviance

any transgression of socially established norms

informal deviance

minor violations of social norms that may or may not be punished

crime / formal deviance

violation of laws enacted by society

social control

mechanisms that create normative compliance in individuals

formal social sanctions

mechanisms of social control by which rules or laws prohibit deviant criminal behavior

informal social sanctions

usually unexpressed by widely known rules of group membership; the unspoken rules of social life

stigma

a negative social label that changes others’ behavior toward a person and therefore alters that person’s own self concept and social identity - “a spoiled identity” by Goffman

Total Institution

• Controls all the basics of day-to-day life

• No barriers exist between the usual spheres of daily life

• all activity occurs in the same place and under the same authority

• ex: military, prisons, boarding schools, nursing homes

Michel Foucault - Discipline and Punish: The birth of the prison (what is it)

• 2 images

• public torture and execution of “damiens the Reigicide”

• institutional life of Mettray Penal Colony

argument: social control throughout history

• from punishing the body to disciplining the soul

• the emergence of the disciplines: psychology, psychiatry, education, sociology, medicine

• more effective as tool of social control

• it’s about power, not progress

The Panopticon

• centralized watch tower (can’t see in it), where they can see all prison cells on perimeter circle

• cannot tell if being watched —> always being watched

Panopticonism

social theory that posits that the dominant social institutes of modern life result in a totalizing state of surveillance that becomes internalized by subjects

• the constitution of the subject (become a subject through surveillance)

Functionalism on Social Control

• norms and deviance promote social order and cohesion

• glue that holds society together

Conflict Theory on Social Control

• norms and deviance promote consent

• constructed and enforced by elites to justify the ‘status quo’ of inequality

Symbolic Interactionism on Social Control

• normative / deviant behavior policed via interactions

• labelling theory; stigmatization

Power

the ability to carry out one’s own will despite resistance

• difficult concept to observe - but still there

Dimensions of Power - Steven Lukes, 1974

• 1st dimension (simple) - the ability for person / group ‘a’ to get person / group ‘b’ to do what ‘a’ wants (behaviorist)

• 2nd dimension (complex) - the ability for person / group ‘a’ to influence the agenda in a way that constrains the decisions of other groups / people (antibehaviorist)

• 3rd dimension (hegemonic) - the ability of person / group ‘a’ to dominate the agenda by creating a rationalized ideology that reinforces their power

  • ex: low turnout in us among youth, poor, and minorities

where there is power there is resistance.

Strain Theory - Robert K. Merton

• deviance occurs when society does not give all of its members equal ability to achieve socially acceptable goals

Social Construct

an idea - created and maintained by individuals and groups

• have real consequences

critical sociology

social constructs often reveal how power is distributed in a society

Race

• complex of social meanings constantly being transformed by political struggle

• concept which signifies and symbolizes social conflicts and interests by referring to different types of human bodies

• ascribed - cannot be picked

ethnicity

a social definition based on real or presumed cultural characteristic

racism

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

scientific racism

nineteenth century theories of race that characterize a period of feverish investigation into the origins, explanations, and classifications of race

critical race theory (CRT)

• legal theory that asserts that race is not naturally but rather is socially constructed in order to oppress nonwhites

• argues that racism is inherent in U.S. legal institutions

• 
  

racialization

the formation of a new racial identity by drawing ideological boundaries of difference around a formerly unnoticed group of people

white privilege

a set of privileges granted to white people and withheld from people of color in the same social, political, or economic spaces

Institutional racism

institutions and social dynamics that may seem race-neutral but actually disadvantage minority groups

color blind racism

view that racial inequality is perpetuated by a supposedly color-blind stance that ends up reinforcing historical and contemporary inequities, disparate impact, and institutional bias by ‘ignoring’ them in favor of a technically neutral approach

nativism

movement to protect and preserve land or culture from the allegedly dangerous and polluting effects of new immigrants

• activates white fears of the ‘other’ for political gain

prejudice

negative attitudes, feelings, or beliefs about an ethnic or racial group

discrimination

harmful or negative actions against people deemed inferior on the basis of their racial category and without regard to their individual merit

straight line assimilation

robert park’s 1920 model for how immigrants assimilate: they first arrive, then settle in, and finally achieve full assimilation

• stresses the loss of primordial ties to their homeland —> assimilation

primodialism

clifford geertz’s term to explain the strength of ethnic ties because they are fixed in deeply felt or primordial ties to one’s homeland culture

pluralism

the presence and engaged coexistence of numerous distinct groups in society

• after failure of assimilation programs, the de facto policy in use

segregation

the legal or social practice of separating people on the basis of their race or ethnicity

• formerly de sure but modern segregation is de facto

genocide

the mass killing of a group of people based on racial, ethnic, or religious traits

liberal feminism

works within the structure of mainstream society to integrate women into that structure - title IX, equal rights amendment

radical feminism

holds that oppression of women is the most fundamental form of oppression - ‘smash patriarchy’

socialist feminism

draws on both radical feminism and Marxism to critique patriarchy and its roots in the capitalist system - gender pay gap, ‘male-breadwinner’ model

cultural feminism

aims to create a vanguard of feminist intellectuals to do research and advocate for gender equality - ‘women’s studies program’

judith butler - gender as ‘performative’

• queer theorist influenced by Foucault

• not merely a category, but an active and structured performance

queer theory

• field of critical theory that examines and seeks to deconstruct gender and sexuality norms

• social constructionist orientation that challenges essentialist views of gender and sexuality

p essay q

in distinction to Marx’s historical materialism, Bourdieu critically examines how culture is a fundamental feature of class conflict and inequality. Briefly provide a Bourdieuan account of ‘social class reproduction’. How do concepts or processes like cultural capital, embodiment, and habits contribute to social inequality.

habitus

set of embodied predispositions