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Chapter 1:

• What is sociology?

• Study of how individuals are both shaped and shape society

• Duality at the heart of sociology

• People are both affected by society and people shape society

• Ways that sociology relates to other social sciences

• Sociology is much broader 

• Focuses on the bigger picture

• Other disciplines are more limited but detailed

• Agency

• An individual's ability to act independently of the constraints of systems

• Social Structure

• The framework of society, shaped by its institutions (government, schools, economy, families, religion) and people’s positions within those institutions

• Social structures are norms, values, institutions, and how they shape us. Invisible forces that shape human behavior

• The sociological eye

• The ability to look beneath the surface of a situation and discern social patterns

• The sociological imagination

• Introduced from C. Wright Mills. 

• The ability to connect what is happening in your own life and in the lives of other individuals to social patterns in the large

• A personal trouble

• A personal trouble is a problem that an individual experiences whose source is the individual’s actions.

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• A public issue

• When many people have the same problem because of a public or social problem 

• Core commitments of sociology

1. Use the sociological eye to observe social patterns

2. Taking action when noticing the inevitable patterns of injustice

• Benefits of sociology

• Sociological knowledge helps us understand and influence society 

Chapter 2:

• What is theory?

• A certain lens we use to understand society that tries to explain logically the relationship or correlation between two or more aspects of social life

• Macro level

• Examining large-scale social structures, like institutions

• Micro level

• Examining individuals roles in institutions on a very small scale

• Structural functionalism

• The very first sociological theory in the US, macro-level

• Modern societies consist of interdependent parts called social institutions that work together for the good of the whole society

• Individuals work for the larger society's interests rather than their own

• Institutions cooperate to socialize us into adhering to the same set of cultural norms and values 

• Most good citizens are people that follow the social norms

• Social institutions

• Education, family, economy, religion, health care, media

• Stability and cohesion

• A good society according to structural functionalism is stable and harmonious 

• Structural functionalism asks “how does a society remain stable?” 

• Manifest and latent functions

• Manifest functions are why social institutions are here

• Latent functions are the unintended consequences that institutions do that aren’t their core functions

• Dysfunction

• ANYTHING that upsets the stability of society (through structural functionalist perspective) 

• Some dysfunctions persist, like crime

• Institutions innovate their structures to stop dysfunctions

• Strengths and limitations of the structural functionalist perspective 

• Strengths: macro-level explanation for institutions and purpose

• Limitations: people’s functions equate their worth as people, inequality is justified and important in it’s eyes, understates the roles of power and conflict in society, accepts the status quo, blames the victim, lacks historical context

• Conflict perspective

• Founded by Karl MArx

• macro-level

• Society is made up of groups competing for power and limited availability of societal and economic resources 

• Sees that social rewards are unequally distributed 

• Emphasizes the role of coercion of power

• Social order is not maintained from harmony, but domination and power

• Inequality is inherently unfair

• Power struggles between conflicting groups drive social change 

• The power elite

• Introduced by C. Wright Mills 

• At the top of society, a very VERY small amount of people have the most power 

• Means of production

• Things we use to produce things (technology, materials, people)

• Two classes

• Introduced by marx

• Bourgeoisie - Owners of the means of production 

• Proletariat - Workers, who sell their labor and ability to work for wages. Exploited for profit.

• Alienation

• Alienation from productivity - mindless work, removed from the work 

• Alienation from product of labor -what you’re making isn’t for you, it’s for the bourgeois

• From one’s potential - you’re limited by your work from doing greater things

• From other members of the proletariat - you compete with others in your class for success

• False consciousness

• The idea that people do not understand inequality and their class position 

• True consciousness

• Marx theory.. Having an accurate understanding of your position, connected to the social imagination, realizing that your systems are exploitative, understanding your privilege 

• Understanding your exploitation 

• Symbolic interactionism

• Micro-level theoretical perspective that focuses on the individual is constructed through socialization

• Key tenets

• Most interaction involves interpretation 

• The meaning of objects and actions are contextual 

• Societies are categorized by shared meaning (middle finger= fuck you, saying good morning even if you’re in a bad mood and it has not been a good morning)

• Social constructionism

• People construct their own understanding of things, people, and events.. Regardless if it’s accurate

• Symbol

• An object in which meaning is agreed upon (US flag represents the US, toxic waste sign signals waste)

• Self

• A person’s understanding of themselves  

• Socialization

• The process where we learn about society and our roles in it

• Cooley’s Looking-Glass Self

• The process in which we imagine how we look to others and how they are judging us, and then perceive ourselves based on that judgment 

• Deals with perception and how we react to that perception

• Goffman’s Dramaturgical approach

• We imagine life as a play, where we play an idealized character of ourselves on the “front stage” aka in public spaces and interactions 

• We are more true to ourselves in private spaces, or “back stage” 

• Impression management: when a person manages how they present themselves to others

• Performance breakdown

• When others don’t buy our performance of an idealized version of ourselves

• Saving face

• Ignoring the performance breakdown and finishing the interaction still “in character” 

Chapter 3:

• Relationship between theory and data

• Data either supports or refutes theory

• Research process

• The scientific method

• Develop question, study existing research, develop hypothesis, develop research design, collect data, analyze data, report data and publish

• Basic research vs. applied research

• Basic research is conducted for the sake of expanding a knowledge base. It’s audience is other academics. Its slightly inaccessible to the everyman. Its also theoretical.

• Applied research is data conducted for a solution. The audience is those affected by a system/problem as well as decision makers (often government or policy makers). Its practical.

• Quantitative vs. qualitative approach

• Quantitative research collects data based on numerical information, surveys, experiments, observations, and content analysis. Great for measuring social phenomena and identifying patterns and trends

• Qualitative research collects data from interviews, discussions with focus groups, case studies, and ethnographies. Great for studying social interaction and understanding meanings, perspectives, in-depth situations. 

• Surveys

• Series of questions that have set answers 

• Given to a large group of population (representative sample)

• Analyzable

• Observation

• Watching the subject while conducting research

• Participant-observation

• Working directly with and engaging with participants in an immersive experience

• Balances power in an experiment

• Ethnography

• A person-first approach to research 

• Qualitative data 

• Reliability

• A consistency and stability of research findings

• Control group

• A group that does not experience the treatment in a study

• Content analysis

• A method of studying text and its cultural, social, and political context

• Validity

• The accuracy of research results

• Generalizability

• Patterns and relationships in the sample holding true for the broader population

• Random vs. purposive sampling

• Random sampling: a random sample unbiasedly picked

• Purposive sampling: picking a specific group you want to know more about to study

• Mixed methods

• Using multiple methods 

• Three levels of analysis

• Macro: large scale social processes and structures (ex: how immigration impacts America)

• Meso: intermediate social processes and structures (ex: how immigration impacts business in Vermont)

• Micro: group interactions and individual experiences (ex: how a group of farmers is impacted by immigration)

• Sociological research and social constructionism

• Sociological research should be done from different perspectives (teacher vs student views, doctor vs patient views)

• More perspectives mean a better complete understanding in the research

• Sociologists should study people that are often misrepresentations 

• Research ethics

• Informed consent

• Minimal risk

• Reduced coercion 

• Belmont report and three principles - 

• principle of respect for persons - gives participants autonomy, informed consent, ability to withdraw from the research, protects confidentiality 

• principle of beneficence - minimizes the risks of the experiment, assures benefits to the participant, maintains integrity of study

• principle of justice - fairness, inclusion 

• Informed consent

• Tells participants that they can leave

• Lay out what the research will be used for

• Institutional Review Board (IRB) - who you give the research applications to to review if your research violates or protects the ethical rights of participants

Chapter 4:

• Culture definition

• A lens through which people see the world

• Mainstream

• Accepted by the majority of people and enforced by socialization 

• Subcultures

• Coexists with mainstream culture, but a different segment

• Countercultures

• Cultures that is in OPPOSITION to mainstream culture

• Non-material culture

• Norms

• Values

• Symbols

• Language 

• Values

• refer to specific characteristics or acts a group cherishes; what is right or wrong, good or bad

• Norms
  - serve as rules or regulations to uphold acceptable or appropriate behavior in a given culture

TYPES OF NORMS

• Laws

• - norms asserted by the government

• Folkways 

• - Rules and routines for many routine interactions

• Mores 

•  Norms that are widely observed within a society with great moral significance.. Ensure the stability of society, dont cheat, pay your taxes, often turned into laws 

• Taboos 

• strongest form of norms that is completely unacceptable

• Sanctions 

• A reaction to a person’s behavior that either encourages or discourages them from following social norms.. (formal or informal, negative or positive)

• Formal sanctions are enforced by institutions or the government 

• Ex: receiving a diploma at graduation, getting a fine for a parking violation, receiving a bonus at work for working hard

• Beliefs

• The ideas that people hold to be true

• Hidden curriculum

• In schools, the subtextual curriculum that teaches kids proper protocols and routines

• Ex: raising hands, respecting authority, making friends, managing school-work and play

• Material culture

• Artifacts: tools, clothing, artwork

• Architecture: Buildings, monuments, and other structures

• Technology: Machines and gadgets

• Cultural conformity

• Individuals align their values, beliefs, and behaviors with the dominant culture 

• When people make sure their values, beliefs, and behaviors are the same as those in dominant culture

• Assimilation

• Process by which individuals or groups adopt the cultural traits of another group

• Cultural appropriation

• Members of a dominant culture adopt elements of a minority culture in a disrespectful or exploitative way

• Ethnocentrism

• The belief that one’s own culture, ethnic group, or nationality is superior to others

• Judging other cultures by your own cultural standards 

• Multiculturalism

• Respect for cultural diversity 

• Cultural relativism

• Opposite of ethnocentrism 

• Judging a culture by its own standards 

• Cultures cannot be ranked as worse or better than another

• Cultural capital

• the non-economic social assets that individuals possess, which can help them achieve success in society. 

• It’s cultural knowledge and skills, cultural objects people own and display, peoples education status

• Culture as a toolkit

• Depending on the context, we choose certain cultural equipment

• Culture provides a set of tools that people use in their everyday life, such as language, non-verbal communication, appearance, etiquette and mannerisms, and routines and daily activities