1/10/25 - Modern Sociology

Modern Sociology

• the Chicago School - first department of sociology in the US

• Chicago faculty founded the American Sociological Foundation aka American Sociological Association

• Jane Adams is one of the best known female sociologists and charter member of the ASA

W.E.B DuBois

• founded the second deparmtment of sociology at Atlanta University

• activist, sociologist, author, teacher, and African American writer

• 1897 - made several discoveries of Black southern household and how slavery still affected their lives

• Notable work - The Philadelphia Negro and The Soulds of Black Folk

Key Terms

• Theory -set of logically interrelated statements that attempts to describe, explain, and occasionally predict events

• Functionalist perspectives - based on the assumption that society is a stable, orderly system

• Manifest functions - are intended and/or overly organized by the participants in a social unit

• Latent function - an unintended functions that are hidden and remain unacknowledged

• conflict perpectives - groups in society are enganged in a continuous power struggle for control of scarce resources

• feminist approach - directs attention to women’s experience an the important of gender as an element of social strucutre

• Macro level analysis - examines whole societies, large scale social strucutres and social systems

• Micro level analysis - focuses on small groups rather than a large scale social structures

CHAPTER 2

Sociology and Scientific Evidence

• Sociology involves debunking fallacies in everyday life

• 2 different approaches to answer questions

  • normative - uses religion, customs, habits, and traditions to answer important questions

  • empirical - attempts to answer questions through a systemic collection of date, scientific method

• sociologists also use common sense approach to conduct their research

Sociological research

• research is the process of systematically collecting info for the purpose of testing an existing theory or generating a new one

• two types of research approaches

  • deductive approach - straight, usual method, start with theory

    • generate hypotheses

    • lead to observations collect data

    • formation of generalizations

    • support theory, modifications or refute

  • inductive approach - starts with observations, collect info and data and then generate theory for analysis

    • specific observations suggest generalizations

    • generalizations produce a tentative theory

    • theory is test through hypotheses

    • hypothesis may provide suggestions for additional observations

  • quantitative research

  • qualitative research

Conventional Research model - Quantitative Format

step 1 select and define the problem

• when you research define the topic

• challenge a topic that has been discussed immigration, housing, education

Step 2 review previous research

• review previous literature or research see what others have said on the topic

• reviewing other research, helps you get clarification and your research can be more focused

step 3 formulate a hypothesis (if it applies)

• a statement of the relationship between two or more concepts

• hypothesis states your prediction of the research topic

independent variable - presumed cause to determine a dependent variable

• example of invariable (presumed cause) - age, gender, race, ethnicity

• something the researcher controls or changes

dependent variable - assumed to depend on or be caused by the independent variable (effect)

• something the researcher observes or measures

step 4 - develop the research design

• what is your unit of analysis

• examples

  • study social science - individuals

  • social groups - families or cities

  • organizations - clubs and labor unions

• cross sectional - based on observations that take place at a single point in time focuses on a specific moment

• longitudinal - what happens over a period of time or several different points in time; focus on processes and social change

step 5 - collect and analyze the data

• decide which population will be observed and questioned

• how are you going to collect this data? by what means?

• random sampling - every member of entire population being studied has the same chance of being selected

• probability sampling - participants are chosen b/c they have specific characteristics

• validity - study or research instrument that accurately measures what it is supposed to measure

• reliability - study or research yields consistent results

Qualitative Research Model

step 1 - research beings with a general approach rather than a detailed plan

• more flexibility

• move the how or what instead of why

step 2 - researcher has to decide when the literature review and theory application should take place

• may have to redefine existing studies that are being conducted

step 3 - study presents a detailed view of the topic

step 4 - access to people or other resources that provide the crucial data

step 5 - appropriate research method(s) are important for acquiring useful qualitative data

Key terms

field research - the study of social life in its natural setting; observing and interviewing people where they live, work and play

1/15/25 Chapter 3

What is Culture?

• our society is becoming more and more diverse

• US is more racially diverse as it grows

• Diversity index measures how many different types of species are in the community (you are looking at different people and how those two people will be form different racial and ethnic groups)

Importance of culture

• is essential for individuals but fundamental to survive in society

• important for our survival and for communication

Key Terms

• Nature - biological and genetic makeup

• Nurture - our social environment

• Instinct/Drive - an unlearned biologically determined behavior pattern common to all members of a species

Material Culture

• physical or tangible creations that member of a society make, use, and share

  • examples oil, raw materials, ore, trees

  • raw materials get transformed into usable items

• Tangible - things that are accessed by physical touch

• Buffer against our environment

  • clothes we wear

  • shelter to protect us

• Share things that important to us

Non Material

• abstract or intangible human creations of society that influence people’s behavior

• intangible - not physical; you cant touch or feel the material

• Examples

  • ideas, language, rules of behavior

  • beliefs mental acceptance or conviction that certain things are true and real

• Key term

  • cultural universals - customs and rituals that occur across all society

Components of culture

• symbols - anything that meaningfully represents something else

  • they can produce loyalty, hate, love, animosity…etc.

language - set of symbols that expresses ideas, enables people to think and communicate with one another

• verbal and non verbal

• contains phonemes, morphemes, syntax, semantics

• people can communicate and distinguish themselves from other people

• examples AAVE African American Vernacular English

Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis

• language shapes the view of reality of its speakers

  • difference sin grammatical and verbal structure

  • distinctions between certain words

Language and gender

• many languages are gendered

• women are described as babe, doll, birad

• men dude, stud, hunk

Language - Race and ethnicity

• creates perception of race and ethnicity by preconceived notions

• worlds like

  • black hearted

  • black market

  • good guys wear white hats

• derogatory terms

• race vs ethnicity

Values

• Collective ideas about what is right/wrong, desirable/undesirable

• Only a criteria or a set of guidelines

• Values determine what you prioritize and guide your decisions

• core American values

  • individualism - people are responsible for themselves and what they can benefit from. Success or failure

  • Achievement and Success - personal achievement gives you success, we are all encouraged to be better than others

  • Activity and work - people who are hard-working are praised, while people who don’t are lazy ~ puritan work ethic/education

  • Science and technology - need for something faster, efficient, rapid advancement of technology

  • Progress and material comfort - what makes us comfortable not the basic necessities

  • Efficiency and practicality - how well does something work and is it realistic?

  • Equality - everyone wants equal opportunity

  • Morality and Humanitarianism - helping others; those less fortunate

Key Terms

• Value contradictions - values that conflict with one another or mutually exclusive

• Ideal culture - refers to the value and standards of behavior that people in society profess to hold ~ American dream

• Real culture - refers to values and standards of behavior people actually follow

Societal Norms

• perceived informal, mostly unwritten rules that define acceptable and appropriate actions in society

• Norms - established rules of behavior standards of conduct

  • Formal norms are written down and involve specific punishments (Bill of Rights, Constitution)

  • informal are unwritten standards of behavior that people follow

• folkways - informal everyday customs that may be violated without serious consequences

• William Graham Sumner is the one who coined the word “folkways”

  • believed that folkways developed out of basic human need

  • folkways function at an unconscious level

  • folkways turned into mores (are a particular cultures strongly held norms with moral and ethical connotations)

Key Terms

• Cultural lag - a gap between the technical development of a society and its moral and legal institutions

• Diffusion - transmission or social practices from one group to another

• Subculture - category of people who share distinguished beliefs, values and/or norms that set them apart

Socialization -Chapter 4

What is socialization?

• life long process of social interaction through which individuals acquire self identity, and the physical, mental, and social skills to survive

• an individual learns to adjust to a group or society and behave in a manner that is accepted by society

• Socialization takes part in two categories

  • primary socialization - takes place from birth to adolescents

  • secondary socialization- remainder of your life

teaches people what is expected of them, either through norms, or customs; forms of social control

• social control is how society maintains order and ensures that society complies

  • Informal control - customs, beliefs, religions, and mass media

    • Joseph Stalin

    • Man Zedong

    • Russia

  • Formal control - norms, rules, and laws that regulate society

    • government

    • criminal justice system

    • police force

What does it mean to be human?

• To be human is to be loved by God. Body and soul

• Includes human consciousness and being conscious of being and self

• Rene Descartes I think, therefore I am

• Nature vs Nurture

• Every human being is a product of biology, society and personal experiences

• continuity vs discontinuity

Lawrence Kohlberg

• American psychologist and expanding on Piaget’s framework

• Focused on the moral development of children, adolescents, and adults

• Stages of Moral development - where child development happens

  • Rules are fixed and absolute

  • judging actions according to individual needs

  • conforming and being nice

  • respecting authority

  • considering individual rights

Stages of moral development

• Level 1 (0-10)

  • Stage 1 Obedience and Punishment

    • children are aware that evil behavior = punishment; good behavior = unwanted consequences

    • rules are absolute and fixed

  • Stage 2 Individualism and Exchange

    • individualistic point of view

    • actions based on their individual needs

• Level 2 Conventional Morality (10 to adulthood)

  • Stage 3 Developing good interpersonal relationships

    • concerned with how you are received by peers

    • emphasis on conformity

    • how choices influence relationships

  • Stage 4 Maintaining Social Order

    • consider society as a whole

• Carol Gilligan - worked under Kohlberg believed his research was biased only working with boys

Abraham Maslow

• American psychologist

• self - actualization theory, person aware of full potential

• believed each person has a hierarchy of needs

Chapter 5 Society, Social Structure, and Interaction

Social Structure

• complex framework of societal institutions and social practices that make up a society

• how society interacts with each other

• gives us the ability to interpret social situations

• help make sense of our environment

• helps us create boundaries

• Social marginality - the state of being part insider and part outsider in social structure

• out of marginality comes stigma (physical or social attribute or sign that devalues a person)

Component of Social Structure

• status is a socially refined position in a group or society characterized by certain expectations, rights, and duties

• status set comprises of all statuses a person occupies

• status is equated to high and low rank - compare a principle to a homeless person

• Think about it Who am I?

• Ascribed statues - social position conferred at birth

• Achieve status - social position that a person assumes voluntarily as a result of person choice, merit, or direct effort

• Master status - most important status a person occupies

• Status symbol - material sings that inform others of a person specific status

Caste System

• India’s caste system is the oldest social structure stratification in the world

• contains

  • priests and teachers

  • warriors and rulers

  • farmers, traders and merchants

  • labourers

  • outcastes

• criticized on being backwards - hard to move up in the caste

Portuguese Caste System

• Casta - lineage in Spanish and Portuguese

• Sistemas de Casta - racial classification system in New Spain mexico

  • espanols

  • castizo

  • morisco

  • mestizo

  • mulatto

  • indio

  • negro

• up to 40 classifications of race/religion

Components of society :roles

• Role is a set of behavioral expectations associated with a given status

• Role expectation is a group or society’s definitions of the way a specific role should be played

• Role conflict - demand is place on the person by two or more statuses

• Role strain - occurs when the incompatible demands are built into a single status that a person occupies

• Role exit - occurs when people disengage from social roles that have central to their identity

Groups

• social group consists of two or more people who interact frequently and share a common identity and a feeling of independence

• Primary group - small less specialized group in which members engage in face to face to interactions

• Secondar sources - large, more specialized group in which members engage in more impersonal, goal oriented relationships

Different Societies

Hunter Gatherers

• simple technology for hunting animals and gathering vegetation

• subsistence technology - tools and methods available for basic life

• 12,000 BCE and 1500 AD

• nomadic lifestyle

• no formal society structure or social institutions

Horticultural

• based on the technology that supports the cultivation of plants to provide food

• typically non nomadic

• rely on simple tools to produce food

• sedentary - remain settled for longer periods of time

• emerged in more fertile areas

• gender roles are equal

• religion in ancestor worship

Pastoral society

• based on technology that supports domestication of animals and provides food

• nomadic/semi-nomadic

• herding livestock rather than agriculture

• very little reliance on agriculture

• religion is based on gods/goddesses

Agrarian Society

• technology of large scale farming, animal drawn or energy power plows and equipment to produce food

• social inequality is high

  • landlords and peasants

  • gender inequality

• inheritance becomes important

  • think of primogeniture in western societies

  • some African societies are matrilineal

• social hierarchy develops

Industrial Society

• based on technology and mechanized production

• England’s industrial revolution

• new technology, new transportation and new production of means

• majority of the population lives in large, urban areas

• society is based on the workplace

• families become non-nuclear

• gender inequality

Post Industrial Society

• technology supports a service and information based economy

• your manufacturing is becoming service based

• agricultural and manufacturing are more efficient’

• educations is essential and crucial

How does society keep it together?

• Durkheim believes that pre-industrial societies are held together by morals and beliefs

• division of labor forms social solidarity

• two types of social change

  • mechanical change - refers to the social cohesion where people feel united in their shared values

  • organic solidarity - refers to social cohesion where each person has a distinct job and their own personality

• gemeinschaft and gesellschaft to characterize social solidarity and he was concerned with what happens when a “loss of community” happens

• gemeinschaft - traditional society that’s focused on family and personal bonds

• gesellschaft - large, urban society where social bonds are impersonal, nothing in common, relationships with people are calculated and rational

Key Terms

• social construction of reality - process by which our perception of reality is largely shaped by the subjective meaning we give our experiences

• nonverbal communication - transfer information between persons without the use of words

• personal space - the immediate area surrounding a person that is private

Chapter 6 - Groups

Charles Horton Cooley

• Michigan American sociologist

• came up with looking glass self

• primary group - small, less specialized, close family, friends, lover

• secondary group - larger more specialized, impersonal and goal oriented relationships

William Graham Sumner

• American sociologist and economist

• ingroup and outgroup

• ingroup - a group which a person belongs and feels a sense of identity

• outgroup - a group which a person doesn't belong and a person may feel hostility or competitiveness

Key Terms

• Reference group - strongly influences a person’s behavior and social attitude; the individual compares themselves, providing evaluation

  • helps explain why our behavior and attitudes sometimes differ from our membership group

• Networks - is a web of social relationships that links one person to another, through them, with other people they know

  • six degrees of separation

Group dynamics

• processes and behaviors that occur within and between social groups

• people form groups to make two distinctive needs

  • instrumental - task oriented needs cant always be met by one individual person - groups work cooperatively to meet the goal

  • expressive - emotional needs, especially involving self expression and support from family, friends and peers

• groups help members do their jobs that are difficult or impossible to do alone

Group size

• most important feature

• small group is small enough for all members to be aquatint with each other and to interact

• georg simmel- German sociologist, comes up with two features of a small group that doesn’t exist in larger groups

  • dyad - group composed of two members active participation is crucial

  • triad - a group composed of three members

• as your group increases you’ll start to see a difference of opinions

Leadership

• the ability of an individual or group of people to influence or guide

• primary group - informal leadership

• secondary roles - more avert - chain of command

Leadership styles

Authoritarian

• these leaders make all major group decisions and assign tasks to member

• focus on instrumental tasks, goal or task oriented

• positives

  • good communication and collaboration

  • make decisions and provide structured guidance

• negatives

  • can be labeled as dictatorial

  • stifle creativity

• authoritarian leaders - Hitler, Stalin, Richard Nixon

Democratic

• encourages group discussions and decision making through consensus building

• most effective leaderships style

• encourages group members to participate

• positives

  • most ideas are creative

  • improved group morale

  • high productivity

• negative

  • indecisive

  • poor decisions making

  • security issues

  • minority voices overridden

Laissez faire

• minimally involved in decision making and encourage group members to make their own decisions

• positives

  • they don’t flaunt their power or position

  • allow followers to have autonomy

  • give their team support when needed

• negatives

  • can hinder growth

  • lack of defined rules and responsibilities

• warren buffett and steve jobs

Solomon Asch

• polish social psychologist - Ash Conformity Experience

• lived during Hitler’s peak, propaganda and indoctrination

• Gestalt approach

  • brain structures the perception of our world in patterns or wholes

• Purpose of the Arch Experiments - to see how peoples own opinions are influenced by a group

• line experiment

Numberg War Trials

• WWII US, Soviet Union, Great Britian and France joined together to form International Military Tribunal

• Purpose - to prosecute Nazi Germany for crimes against peace, humanity, war crimes and conspiracy to commit any other crimes

• After math - 19 convicted, 12/19 executed, 3/19 got life, other 4 received 10-20

Stanley Milgram and Milgram Experiment

• how far are you willing to do something because someone in a position of authority said so?

Formal organizations

• high structured secondary group

• thee types

  • normative - pursue a common interest; gain personal satisfaction; being part of a prestige group

  • coercive organization - association your forced to join

  • utilitarian organization - they can provide something for you

Bureaucracies

• most universal form of government

• characterized by hierarchy of authority, labor, and explicit rules and procedures

• Max Weber

  • Industrial Revolution

  • he believes that bureaucratic was rational

• characteristics

  • division of labor

  • hierarchy of authority - lower offices being under control by superior offices

  • rules and regulations - establishes authority within the organization; clear cut standards to determine performance

  • qualifications - based on employment

  • impersonality - you don’t have personal feeling do not interfere with organizational decisions

• problems

  • inefficient and rigidity

  • resistance to change

  • racial and ethnic, social and gender inequality

Chapter 7 - Crime and Deviance

What is Criminology?

• Scientific study of the non legal aspects of crime and delinquency

• Criminologists are trying to understand why people commit crime or deviant acts; what types of behavior are deemed deviant? Who defines it? Why people become deviant? and how society deals with deviants

What is deviance and who defines it?

• Deviance - is any behavior, belief, or cognition that violates significant social norms in the society or group in which it occurs

• an act becomes deviant when it is social defined as deviant

Key Terms

• degree of seriousness - ranges from mild transgressions to more serious

• crime - is a behavior that violates criminal law and is punishable with fines, jail terms, other negative sanctions

• juvenile delinquency - refers to the violation of law or the commission of a status offense by young people

• social control - systematic practices that social groups develop in order to encourage conformity to norms, rules and laws that discourage deviance

Emile Durkheim

• believes that deviance is inevitable and a natural part of society

• argus that deviance is a basis for change; defines and clarifies important societal norms

• anomie - social instability that comes from an absence of social norms here

Important functions of deviance

1) Deviance clarifies rules

2) Deviance unites a group

3) Deviance promotes social change

Robert Merton

• American sociologist

• Strain theory

  • people feel strain when they are exposed to cultural goals they don’t have access to

  • when people are denied access they seek the goals through deviant means

5 ways people adapt

1. Conformity occurs when people accept culturally approved goals and pursue them the right way

2. Innovation occurs when people accept society’s goals but adopted disapproved mean to achieve success

3. Ritualism when people give up societal goals but still stick to socially approved means to achieve success

Opportunity Theory

• 1960s - Cloward and Ohlin saw that deviance happens when the opportunity presents itself

• illegitimate opportunity structures - circumstances that provide an opportunity for people to acquire things they cant achieve through legit channels

3 types of gangs

1. Criminal gang - devoted to theft and other illegal tomfoolery to get money

2. Conflict gangs - they seek to acquire a reputation of fighting over territory; the values include courage and toughness

3. Retreatist gangs - unable to gain success through legit or illegitimate means

Differential Association Theory

• Edwin Sutherland

• States that people have a greater tendency to deviate from social norms with who they associate with

• Criminal behavior is learned

Differential Reinforcement Theory

• Ronald Akers take influence from Edward Sutherland and B.F. Skinner - Differential Reinforcement Theory

• Theory suggests that both deviant behavior and conventional behavior are learned

Rational Choice Theory - a theory that states that individuals use rational calculations to make rational choices and achieve outcomes that are aligned with their own personal objectives

Control Theory - Social theory

• Travis Hirschi based his theory on deviant behavior is minimal when there are strong families, schools, peers, and churches

• social bond theory holds that the probability of deviant behavior increases when a person’s bonds to society are broken and weak

• 4 types

  • attachment to other people

  • commitment to conformity

  • involvement of conventional activities

  • belief legitimacy of conventional values and norms \

Labeling theory

• deviance is a social construct - process in which social control agents label certain people deviants and said deviants accept the label

  3 stages

  • primary deviance - refers to the initial act of rule breaking

  • secondary deviance - occurs when a person who has been labeled a deviant accepts the new identity and continues with deviant behavior

  • tertiary deviance - when a person who has been labeled deviant, seeks to normalize the behavior by labeling it non deviant

How is Crime Classified?

• Two types

  • Felonies - serious crime that ranges form 1 year to life, some death

    • level of degrees 1st, 2nd, 3rd

  • Misdemeanors - minor crime that is punishable by less than a year in jail

    • 3 classes Class A, B, C

UCR - major source of information on reported crimes in US

• compiled by the FBI and indexes the 8 major crimes