quiz 1 soc200

Ch. 2 Notes

2.1 Approaches to Sociological Research

An interpretive framework seeks to understand social worlds from the point of view of participants, which leads to in-depth knowledge or understands about the human experience

In scientific research, we formulate hypotheses to include an independent variables (IV), which are the cause of the change, and a dependent variable (DV), which is the effect, or thing that is changed.
To produce reliable and valid results, sociologists develop an operational definition, that is, they define each concept, or variable, in terms of the physical or concrete steps it takes to objectively measure it. The operational definition identifies an observable condition of the concept.

2.2 Research Methods

primary source data collection such as survey, participant observation, ethnography, case study, unobtrusive observations, experiment, and secondary data analysis, or use of existing sources.
Field research refers to gathering primary data from a natural environment. To conduct field research, the sociologist must be willing to step into new environments and observe, participate, or experience those worlds. In field work, the sociologists, rather than the subjects, are the ones out of their element.
A case study is an in-depth analysis of a single event, situation, or individual. To conduct a case study, a researcher examines existing sources like documents and archival records, conducts interviews, engages in direct observation and even participant observation, if possible.
Hawthorne effect—which occurs when people change their behavior because they know they are being watched as part of a study.

2.3 Ethical Concerns

must establish value neutrality, a practice of remaining impartial, without bias or judgment, during the course of a study and in publishing results (Weber, 1949). Sociologists are obligated to disclose research findings without omitting or distorting significant data.
Code of ethics: Maintain objectivity and integrity in research, Respect subjects’ rights to privacy and dignity, Protect subject from personal harm, Preserve confidentially, Seek informed consent, Acknowledge collaboration and assistance, Disclose sources of financial support

Methods

Sociological Process

Trying to maximize the reliability (how likely the results will be replicated if reproduced) and validity (how well the study measures what it’s designed to measure)

Ask a question/define the problem (what is the issue)
Review the literature (what have people already said about this topic)
Hypothesis: testable suggestion of how I think this idea works
Methodology: how to test if I’m right, how I’m going to measure (design/conduct study, draw conclusion, report results)
Data collection: ex. Ethnography, survey, interview, experiments, secondary data analysis

Data Collection

Ethnography

Participant observation, or the study of human behavior within a culture
Ex. Lucy Suchman- computer company wanted to test their new printer, so they just observe people using the printer to see what any questions or issues might arise or maybe even new inventions
Ex. taking a class and taking notes about the class, putting in the work that the class requires, interviewing teachers and students about experiences
Criticism: Takes a lot of time and money

Survey

Cheap and collects a ton of data
Ex. gender, race, grade, major, age, scale of 1-10 how good of a teacher am I? = not a survey
Has to be anonymous
Criticism: you can’t ask follow up questions

Interviews

Takes time and money but not as much as ethnography
Get better data than from surveys, can ask follow up questions
Don't ask yes/no questions because that doesn’t give any good information

Experiments

Did my intervention change anything
Hard to do in sociology b/c a lot of it is observational
Natural experiments: ex. looks at rates of the subject
What incentives people to act, how do they act?
Ex. people need bed nets in Africa so the experiment is if they give them discounts to the bed nets, will they still buy them and will they still use them?
Testing variations: time of day, first and second lecture differences

Secondary Data Analysis

Uses pre-existing data/research to find an answer to a question that was different from that original work

Doesn’t require a lot of time and money, most of the data is free
Criticism: b/c it limits the types of questions you can ask

Recap

Name 3 sociological methods for examining a research question
Explain what reliability and validity mean in the methods context.

Ch. 4, 5, 6.1-6.2 Notes

Ch 4.1 Types of Societies

Society: a group of people who share a common community or culture
Hunter-gatherer societies demonstrate the strongest dependence on the environment of the various types of preindustrial societies. As the basic structure of human society until about 10,000–12,000 years ago, these groups were based around kinship or tribes.
Pastoral societies rely on the domestication of animals as a resource for survival. Unlike earlier hunter-gatherers who depended entirely on existing resources to stay alive, pastoral groups were able to breed livestock for food, clothing, and transportation, and they created a surplus of goods.
While pastoral and horticultural societies used small, temporary tools such as digging sticks or hoes, agricultural societies relied on permanent tools for survival. (more technology)
feudal societies: these societies contained a strict hierarchical system of power based around land ownership and protection. The nobility, known as lords, placed vassals in charge of pieces of land. In return for the resources that the land provided, vassals promised to fight for their lords.
Information societies, sometimes known as postindustrial or digital societies, are a recent development. Unlike industrial societies that are rooted in the production of material goods, information societies are based on the production of information and services.

Ch. 4.2 Theoretical Perspectives on Society

Durkheim called the communal beliefs, morals, and attitudes of a society the collective conscience
Durkheim also believed that social integration, or the strength of ties that people have to their social groups, was a key factor in social life.
Mechanical solidarity: a type of social order maintained by the collective conscience of a culture. Societies with mechanical solidarity act in a mechanical fashion; things are done mostly because they have always been done that way.
In industrial societies, mechanical solidarity is replaced with organic solidarity, which is social order based around an acceptance of economic and social differences.
Anomie: situation in which society no longer has the support of a firm collective consciousness
Economically, he saw conflict existing between the owners of the means of production—the bourgeoisie—and the laborers, called the proletariat.
Capitalism: a way of organizing an economy so that the things that are used to make and transport products (such as land, oil, factories, ships, etc.) are owned by individual people and companies rather than by the government, as the “dictatorship of the bourgeoisie.”
False consciousness is a condition in which the beliefs, ideals, or ideology of a person are not in the person’s own best interest. Class consciousness, the awareness of one’s rank in society.
Weber’s analysis of modern society centered on the concept of rationalization. A rational society is one built around logic and efficiency rather than morality or tradition
The culmination of industrialization, rationalization, and the like results in what he referred to as the iron cage, in which the individual is trapped by institutions and bureaucracy.
Mead’s development stages: The first stage is when children learn through imitation. The second stage is the play stage in which children act out social roles during playtime. The third stage is the game stage in which children become involved in organized games and learn how to relate to others. The last stage is generalized other: a special case of role-taking in which the individual responds to social gestures, and takes up and adjusts common attitudes. By role-taking people adjust and adapt in exchanges based on social gesture-response action sequences.

4.3 Social Constructions of Reality

Habitualization describes how any action that is repeated frequently becomes cast into a pattern, which can then be performed again in the future
institutionalization, the act of implanting a convention or norm into society.
Merton explains that with a self-fulfilling prophecy, even a false idea can become true if it is acted upon.
Roles: patterns of behavior that we recognize in each other that are representative of a person’s social status (behavior that’s expected of a person holding that status)
Status: describe the responsibilities and benefits that a person experiences according to their rank and role in society (social hierarchy)
Ascribed: those you do not select, such as being someone’s daughter, elderly person, or female
Achieved statuses: obtained by choice, such as high school dropout
Role-set: array of roles
Role strain and role conflict when 1 or more roles are contradictory (ex. Your child vs. your full time job)
Role performance is how a person expresses his or her role

Chapter 5

Finally, children develop, understand, and learn the idea of the generalized other, the common behavioral expectations of general society. By this stage of development, an individual is able to imagine how he or she is viewed by one or many others—and thus, from a sociological perspective, to have a “self” - Mead
Moral development is an important part of the socialization process. The term refers to the way people learn what society considered to be “good” and “bad,” which is important for a smoothly functioning society.
Some experts assert that who we are is a result of nurture—the relationships and caring that surround us. Others argue that who we are is based entirely in genetics. According to this belief, our temperaments, interests, and talents are set before birth. From this perspective, then, who we are depends on nature.
A peer group is made up of people who are similar in age and social status and who share interests.
In the process of resocialization, old behaviors that were helpful in a previous role are removed because they are no longer of use.

6.1 Types of Groups

People who happen to be in the same place at the same time but who do not interact or share a sense of identity—such as a bunch of people standing in line at Starbucks—are considered an aggregate, or a crowd.
Another example of a nongroup is people who share similar characteristics but are not tied to one another in any way. These people are considered a category
The primary group is usually fairly small and is made up of individuals who generally engage face-to-face in long-term emotional ways. This group serves emotional needs: expressive functions rather than pragmatic ones. (ex. Your significant others)
Secondary groups are often larger and impersonal. They may also be task-focused and time-limited. These groups serve an instrumental function rather than an expressive one, meaning that their role is more goal- or task-oriented than emotional. (a classroom or office)
An in-group is the group that an individual feels she belongs to, and she believes it to be an integral part of who she is. An out-group, conversely, is a group someone doesn’t belong to; often we may feel disdain or competition in relationship to an out-group.
A reference group is a group that people compare themselves to—it provides a standard of measurement. (ex. KIm Kardashian)

6.2 Group Size and Structure

Leadership function refers to the main goal of the leader, which may be instrumental or expressive. An instrumental leader is one who is goal-oriented and largely concerned with accomplishing set tasks.
In contrast, expressive leaders are more concerned with promoting emotional strength and health, and ensuring that people feel supported.
Sociologists recognize three leadership styles. Democratic leaders encourage group participation in all decision making. They work hard to build consensus before choosing a course of action and moving forward.
In contrast, a laissez-faire (French for “leave it alone”) leader is hands-off, allowing group members to self- manage and make their own decisions.
Finally, authoritarian leaders issue orders and assign tasks with little to no feedback from group members. These leaders are often instrumental leaders with a strong focus on meeting goals.
Conformity is the extent to which an individual complies with group norms or expectations
Bystander effect, a situation in which people are less likely to interfere during an emergency or when a social norm is being violated if there are others around.

Socialization & Social Control

Culture

Culture: shared habits, behaviors, values, and beliefs
Subcultures: smaller cultures within a larger one
Ethnocentrism: the belief that your own culture is superior than other ones
vs. cultural relativism: not judging a culture to our own standards of what is right or wrong or normal
Ideal culture vs. Real culture (ex. american dream vs. actual values, norms, beliefs)
Sanctions enforce social norms, positive and negative (like a reaction to an action)
- Ex. high five to a baby when they eat their food right

Norms

Norms: formal (rule) or informal (what should be known, ex. Don’t go walking around barefoot in public)

Mores: determines what is considered morally acceptable or not (ex. stealing)
Folkways: developed by social conventions or traditions and without the sanctions possessed by other morally significant norms (ex. Bless you, hold the door for someone)
Taboos: universally negative, strong, enforced norm that isn’t talked about (ex. Incest, cannibalism)
Etiquette: what is expected in polite society, understand what the norms are (ex. Don’t slurp your noodles to be polite)
Roles: patterns of behavior that you recognize in people, their place in society, their appearance and our relationship with them will vary (ex. Student in class)
Symbolic power: unconscious modes of cultural, societal domination that occur within society.
Social control (maintain social order) and deviance (violating social norms)
Stigma: social attribute that is discrediting for a person or group (identity, (ex. Mental health, race)
- Keeps people down (assert power over them)
- Keep people in (enforce social norms)
- Keep people away/out (avoid disease)
Breaching: the act of breaking or failing to observe an established social code of conduct (intentionally is to learn people’s reactions)

Recap

Describe three ways that stigma is used as a form of social control
What is culture?

Ch. 7 Notes

Ch 7.1 Deviance and Control

According to William Graham Sumner, deviance is a violation of established contextual, cultural, or social norms, whether folkways, mores, or codified law
Whether an act is labeled deviant or not depends on many factors, including location, audience, and the individual committing the act
As discussed earlier, we typically learn these social norms as children and evolve them with experience. But the relativity of deviance can have significant societal impacts, including perceptions and prosecutions of crime. They may often be based on racial, ethnic, or related prejudices.
All societies practice social control, the regulation and enforcement of norms. The underlying goal of social control is to maintain social order, an arrangement of practices and behaviors on which society’s members base their daily lives. Think of social order as an employee handbook and social control as a manager.
The means of enforcing rules are known as sanctions. Sanctions can be positive as well as negative. Positive sanctions are rewards given for conforming to norms. A promotion at work is a positive sanction for working hard. Negative sanctions are punishments for violating norms. Being arrested is a punishment for shoplifting. Both types of sanctions play a role in social control. Informal sanctions emerge in face-to-face social interactions.
Formal sanctions, on the other hand, are ways to officially recognize and enforce norm violations. If a student violates a college’s code of conduct, for example, the student might be expelled.

Ch. 7.2 Theoretical Perspectives on Deviance and Crime

Sociologist Robert Merton agreed that deviance is an inherent part of a functioning society, but he developed strain theory, which notes that access to socially acceptable goals plays a part in determining whether a person conforms or deviates.
5 ways people respond to this gap between having a socially acceptable goal and having no way to pursue it: conformity, innovation, ritualism, retreatism, rebellion
Social disorganization theory asserts that crime is most likely to occur in communities with weak social ties and the absence of social control.
Marx believed that the bourgeois centralized their power and influence through government, laws, and other authority agencies in order to maintain and expand their positions of power in society.
Power elite: a small group of wealthy and influential people at the top of society who hold the power and resources.
Labeling theory examines the ascribing of a deviant behavior to another person by members of society.
Primary deviance is a violation of norms that does not result in any long-term effects on the individual’s self-image or interactions with others.
Secondary deviance occurs when a person’s self-concept and behavior begin to change after his or her actions are labeled as deviant by members of society.
Secondary deviance can be so strong that it bestows a master status on an individual. A master status is a label that describes the chief characteristic of an individual
Differential association theory, which suggested that individuals learn deviant behavior from those close to them who provide models of and opportunities for deviance.
Control theory states that social control is directly affected by the strength of social bonds and that deviance results from a feeling of disconnection from society. Individuals who believe they are a part of society are less likely to commit crimes against it.

Ch. 7.3 Crime and the Law

societies have legal codes that maintain formal social control through laws, which are rules adopted and enforced by a political authority.
Nonviolent crimes aka property crimes involve the destruction or theft of property but do not use force or the threat of force.
Street crime: offenses committed by ordinary people against other people or organizations, usually in public spaces.
An often overlooked category is corporate crime, or crime committed by white-collar workers in a business environment, ex. Embezzlement
Victimless crime: Crimes are called victimless when the perpetrator is not explicitly harming another person.
A self-report study is a collection of data gathered using voluntary response methods, such as questionnaires or telephone interviews.
A criminal justice system is an organization that exists to enforce a legal code. There are three branches of the U.S. criminal justice system: the police, the courts, and the corrections system.

Page 2017 Notes

Commercial bail bonds in the US: after arrest, the court either releases individuals on their own recognizance or requires them to post monetary bail to ensure that they show up in court (getting the defendant to go to court)
The majority of people are in jail b/c they can’t afford bail, bond companies refuse to bail them out, or the court won’t allow them to post bail because of violations
The industry’s aim is to make money, not help people
Agents, desperate for business in a cutthroat industry, leverage clients’ unmet needs for information and support to get a leg up on the competition.
When people need a bail bondsman, they’re usually in desperate circumstances. But these are also increasingly desperate times for the bail industry itself.

Crime and Deviance

Deviance: violating established social, cultural, contextual norms, legally or not
Crime: behavior that violates the law
- You can be deviant and behave legally
Felony: serious offenses which include murder, rape, robbery, and aggravated assault which are punishable by more than one year’s imprisonment
Misdemeanors: less punishable than a felony, usually jail for 1 year or less
Violent crime: actions which involve force or threat of force = aggravated assault, murder/homicide, rape, and robbery

The Police

are the main point of contact with society based on their judgement

Traditional models: using force and arrest to deter criminal behavior, reinforces an us vs. them mentality
Community policing:

The Courts

Right to speedy trial
Given public defender that might not be as good, aren’t enough of them either
Able to see who has enough money to get a good lawyer
Plea bargains allow the person who’s been arrested to serve a reduced sentenced or drop other charges if they plead guilty in order to avoid a trial
Anticipatory stress: waiting/unknown of not knowing what’s going to happen = more detrimental
Prosecutors: a person who institutes legal proceedings/charges against someone, making the key decisions in the courtroom, not the judge

Corrections & Prisons

U.S. has <5% of world’s population, but 25% of world’s prison population
Recidivism: a reoffending criminal

Theory Outlook

Structural functionalist: deviance and crime are important to society because it leads to social control. Need to make an example of people who do violate laws and social norms
Conflict theorist: the people at the top get to decide what is a crime and what isn’t
Symbolic interactionist: how we label people and how we interact with them, what that means. Crime and delinquency are learned from our environment

Theories of Deviance

Strain theory: there’s strain between what you want (and the method to obtain it) and what is socially acceptable

conformity, innovation, ritualism, retreatism, rebellion

Social disorganization: weak social ties and lack of social control leads to society has lost the ability to enforce norms within certain groups
Cultural deviance: people changing and conforming to different cultural norms
Unequal systems: wealthy people (power elite) hold the power through production, government, and non-economically
Labeling theory: if you label someone as deviant, they will start to believe it, those in power enforces this label and affects self-image and actions
Differential association: learning and modeling deviant behavior that you see in other people that are close to you, less about personal choice but about the differences in socialization. Different friends might say different things about norms
Social learning: new behaviors can be acquired by observing and imitating people, more about observation rather than who you’re associating yourself with
Control theory: feelings of disconnection from society