Untitled Flashcards Set

Reading: Textbook Chapter 11 

Key terms

• Politics – The ability of people or groups to gain access to government and use its power to influence society.

• Democracy – Political system in which people can directly vote for their representatives or even on specific rules or policies.

• Lobbying – Contacting elected representatives to argue for a particular position.

• Activists – People who believe normal methods of exerting political influence are insufficient or illegitimate.

• Social movements–Groups organized to push for social change through contentious means. Also called protest movements.

• Revolutionary movements – Social movements that lead to the fall of governments

• State – Ultimate authority within some geographical territory, with a monopoly on the use of force within that area.

• Monopoly of force – Having the only legitimate claim to use force.

• States and Europe welfare states. 

• Taxation – Using the force of government to collect funds that are used to pay for services

• Welfare states–States where a large part of the budget is spent on social services.

• Policy – Rules, laws, and services provided by a government.

• Axis of politics – How states are made, acquire power, and use power to further goals through policy.

• Democratic society – Citizens or residents get to vote on who runs the state.

• City state – Government controls a single city and the surrounding area.

• Direct democracy – People vote directly on policies through a referendum

• Representative democracy – People influence the state and its policies by voting for representatives.

• Competitive democracy – Voters have genuine options and alternatives when voting.

• Aristocracy – Government ruled by royalty (e.g., kings and queens).

• Formal policies-those written in the law 

• Informal policies-widespread methods of regulating behavior that are not written into law 

• Political parties-networks of people and organization that represent particular interests or positions 

• Median voter model: predicts that government offer policies that reflect the preferences of voters in the center 

• Salience-degree to which people care about an issue 

• Elite theory-predicts that governments offer policies preferred by elites 

• Pluralism theory-predicts that government policies will reflect the balance of power between various interest groups

• Electoral college system – System in which presidential votes are tallied at the state level, rather than from a simple national count of all votes.

• Suffrage – The right to vote 

• Electorate – Group of people allowed to vote.

• Poll tax – Fee charged for voting.

• Literacy test – Test of reading ability administered to determine who was allowed to vote.

• Grandfather Clause – Laws passed in Southern states restricting voting to only those individuals whose grandfathers could vote.

• Black codes – Laws that barred African Americans from holding certain jobs.

• Voting Rights Act of 1965 – Federal law that barred states from discriminating against Black voters.

• Liberal-political position that supports more taxation so governments can provide a wider array of services 

• Social conservatives-voters who emphasize religious values and oppose changing social roles

• Ideologies-systems of ideas 

• Liberal states-governments that are fairly permissive in economic affairs 

• Corporatist states- governments in which various factions are part of state entities that determine social policy 

• Social democratic states-states with relatively high taxes that are used to pay for generous social services 

• Feminist movement- social movement aimed at improving the status of women and reducing gender-based discrimination 

• Serfdom-practice in which peasants were legally attached to estates and served the landowning mobility 

• Biases-inclinations or prejudices for or against something 

• Positive sociology-analysis attempts to be face based and objective 

• Normative analysis-analysis attempts to judge whether policies are good or bad 

• Institutional politics – Influencing politics in official and sanctioned ways.

• Contentious politics – Efforts to influence politics outside of the official and accepted system.

• Grassroots – Structure where control of a social movement is local, and members don’t answer to a central leadership.

• Social movement sector – Individuals and organizations that organize protests and work to change public opinion on issues.

• Social movement outcomes – Effects of social movement efforts.

• Authoritarianism – Governing style that relies on strict obedience to leaders.

• Nationalism – Belief that governments should put national interests first by closing borders and waging trade wars 

Key Points 

• Politics is all around us. Governments regulate many things we encounter every day, from schools to hospitals to businesses.

• Politics is a group process. People come together to vote, judge politicians, and influence the state.

• Governments often come into conflict with each other, which leads to war and conflict. Wars often lead to the growth of social services afterward.

• Politics is about policies and people both inside and outside government who influence the state.

• Political sociology is the study of the state, its policies, and the people who influence the state and are affected by it.

• A state is an organization that has a legitimate monopoly on the use of force within a territory.

• States fund their programs through taxes, which are required payments from citizens to the state.

• The rules and programs that states develop are called policies. ᇟ Modern national governments tend to spend much of their money on national defense and social welfare.

• One mission of political sociology is to study the “axis of politics,” or how states are made, acquire power, and use it to create policy and pursue their goals.

• Democratic societies are defined by the ability to vote for political leaders. ᇟ Direct democracy is when people vote for specific policies. Representative democracy is when people vote for representatives, who then create policies.

• When people vote on a specific policy, it’s called a referendum. ᇟ Median voter theory says that democratic governments produce policies defined by the “voter in the middle.”

• Elite theory says that more privileged groups of people have more influence in society, including politics.

• Pluralism theory says that policy reflects a balance of interests from different groups to society 

• The electorate is the group of people who can vote. ᇟ Some societies have universal suffrage where all, or nearly all, people can vote. Other societies restrict voting.

• Political actors often fight over who is allowed to vote. You can see the fight over voting rights throughout African American history.

• In previous eras, state governments used poll taxes, literacy tests, and grandfather clauses to restrict voting. Today, state governments restrict voting with criminal convictions and identification laws.

• Social systems—such as the criminal justice system or the market—affect who can vote. 

• Public opinion research is the study of a population’s attitudes. 

• There is rarely a single “will of the people.” Voters have a wide range of views. - 

• People have biases—strong opinions that don’t change even in the face of contradictory information.

• People also have limited information; they aren’t always well informed about policies.

• Positive sociology describes the world as it is (like people’s views on government). Normative analysis tries to judge what is good or bad.

• Sometimes, people need to go outside the system to promote social change. ᇟ Institutional politics involves using normal methods of influence, like voting. ᇟ Using disruptive methods, like protest, is called contentious politics. ᇟ Social movements use tactics like protest to push for social change. Their groups are called social movement organizations.

•  Movement organizations are often responsible for promoting new ideas that eventually are adopted by governments.

Week 7: Economic Sociology 

Reading: Chapter 14 in textbook

Key Terms 

Gender discrimination- different treatment based on gender 

Gender pay gap-systematic difference in average pay between men and women 

Gendered segregation of work- concentration of men and women into different jobs

Gender-typed jobs-jobs perceived to be more appropriate for either men or women but not for both 

Economic sociology- field dedicated to understanding how social factors are connected to what we buy, how we run, businesses and who works in which jobs 

Economic institutions- rules and systems we use to organize economic life 

Division of labor – System in which people specialize in particular jobs and rely on one another for other items they need.

Economic inequality – Differences in income and jobs.

Poverty line – Official U.S. measure of the amount of money needed to provide a minimally-sufficient level of food and shelter.

Human capital theory – Theory that income is based on a worker’s skills.

Human capital – Skills and knowledge that can be sold on the job market

College premium – Extra money earned by those with a college degree 

Discrimination theory–Theory that income differences are due to discrimination against certain groups by employers.

Taste-based discrimination – Employers or customers treat members of one group better than others, regardless of their productivity.

Statistical discrimination – Employers pay less to all members of a certain group because on average that group is less productive.

Social closure – Efforts to exclude members of other groups from desirable jobs.

Black Codes – Laws that banned newly freed slaves from entering desirable trades.

Corporation – Group of people organized together by business owners in order to generate a profit.

Formal institutions – Institutions governed by official laws and written policies about what they are allowed to do.

Informal institutions – Institutions guided by unwritten rules about what is expected.

Social norms – Unwritten rules guiding behavior.

Political activists – People who organize around a political issue.

Stakeholders – People who have financial or political investments in a corporation 

Bureaucracy – A structure providing clear lines of authority and discipline, written rules, and expert employees.

Open system – An organization with loose boundaries that allow people and ideas to enter or leave.

Money – A method of recording value in a particular society.

Fiat currency – Coins or other items that a government declares is money.

Commodity currency – Money that is itself a commodity (for instance, a coin made of silver) or that represents a commodity.

Inflation – A type of money’s loss of value. ᇟ Bitcoin – Digital form of currency that is not tied to any government or nation

Economic inequality – A situation in which economic resources are unevenly distributed among people.

Income – All money earned in a year.

Wealth – Total value of all assets you own

Current Population Survey – Yearly study of the U.S. population conducted by the federal government.

Median annual household income – Amount at which half of households make less than that income and half make more.

U.S. Census Bureau–Federal organization that conducts a census of all households every ten years and sets key definitions such as the poverty line.

Poverty rate – Percentage of people who are classified as poor.

Poverty threshold – Income level below which a family would not be able to afford basic needs such as food and shelter.

Financialized economy – Economy in which a large proportion of wealth is generated by financial transactions by banks and investment firms.

Political economy-large-scale analysis of markets and the social systems they exist within

Creative destruction-displacement of older businesses and forms of employment as innovative businesses enter the marketplace and improve goods and services 

Contradiction within a market economy- political instability created due to exploitation of workers

Socialist economy- economy in which workers collectively own economic organizations and there is a little or no private industry 

Revolutionary politics-politics aimed at overthrowing an existing government or economic system 

Capitalist economy-economy in which people privately own businesses and seek to make profits

Key Points

• There are consistent differences in pay based on gender, race, and other characteristics 

• The fact that men and women tend to be concentrated into gender-segregated jobs explains part of the pay gap, as men’s jobs, on average, provide higher wages.  - Economics can’t be separated from the larger society.

•  Modern societies are based on a division of labor. We depend on one another to produce items we need; few people can make everything they need to survive.

• Sociologists study how labor is divided and rewarded. People often receive different pay for identical work, and the best and highest-paid jobs are not equally available to all groups.

• Some researchers emphasize our skills and knowledge (our human capital) when explaining income inequality; they argue that workers are paid differently because they have different levels of useful skills and education. If some groups have less access to college degrees, for instance, members of that group will systematically make less.

• Other scholars argue that discrimination by employers explains income differences. Employers may be unwilling to hire or promote members of some groups because of their gender, race, or other factors. Employers may discriminate because they actively dislike members of some groups or because they believe some groups are less productive workers.

• Another possible source of income inequality is the ability of some groups to exclude others from desirable jobs. By making it hard to enter a field, workers in that job keep their own wages higher than they would be otherwise.

•  Modern economies are dominated by corporations. They are both formal—with sets of laws and written policies that determine what they do—and informal, since corporations have internal norms that are unwritten but widely shared.

• Corporations have many stakeholders. Employees, executives, shareholders, government regulators, communities, and activists may all try to influence how corporations behave.

• Corporations are a form of bureaucracy. They have written rules, employees with specific skills, and executives and managers with authority to discipline other employees. They differ from units like families or friendship groups, which don’t generally have rigid structures.

• Money is another key economic institution. It’s the way a society measures and exchanges value.

• Money can affect the meaning we give to things and the way we interact because it attaches a specific value to an item or behavior. We can also use money to express social relationships, such as giving more expensive gifts to certain people to indicate their status in our lives.

• The richest Americans control a larger and larger proportion of all income and wealth, leading to growing economic inequality. The richest 1% of Americans earn about 20% of all American income and own up to 43% of all wealth.

• The federal government sets an annual poverty line that determines who is defined as poor. Racial and ethnic minorities are more likely than Whites to be poor.

• Poverty has declined nationally since the 1950s. However, 40 million Americans still live in poverty.

• Wealth is increasingly tied to the financial sector. In general, the wealthiest Americans no longer own factories or land; they invest money in the stock market. Their income is created by managing money.

•  Political economists take a broad view of markets, looking at their overall impact on societies.

• Scholars such as Adam Smith viewed the rise of capitalist economies as positive changes, since they led to more wealth overall.

• Joseph Schumpeter acknowledged that economic changes can harm some businesses or groups of workers as their industry is replaced, but argued that overall, societies benefit from economic innovations.

• Karl Marx was much more skeptical of capitalist economies. He focused on exploitative working conditions and argued that the pursuit of profit meant that businesses will always mistreat workers.

• According to Marx, this exploitation made market economies unstable, as workers would eventually rise up and demand a different type of system.

• Capitalist economies do tend to lead to economic inequality and even exploitation. However, overall standards of living in capitalist economies tend to rise over time

Week 8: Deviance and Crime 

Reading: Chapter 13 in textbook 

Key Terms

Deviance–Behaviors that violate social norms.

Norms–Expectations for behavior. ᇟ Folkways –Norms about customs, traditions, and etiquette.

Mores–More seriously protected norms that reflect the morals and values of a social group.

Laws–Most seriously protected norms; codified and require specific enforcements.

Social control–Ways societies try to influence members’ behavior to maintain social order.

Moral panics–Overheated, short-lived periods of intense social concern about an issue.

Moral entrepreneurs–People who try to influence societies toward increased awareness of and concern over the violation of social norms.

Stigma–A phenomenon in which a person is discredited and/or rejected by society because of an attribute they have.

Labeling Theory- theory that deviance is created through reactions to an act

Functionalist theories of deviance-theories that focus on potential social purposes that deviance serves 

Social Cohesion-degree to which we identify with and maintain social rules and connections 

Normative-accepted and expected behavior 

Anomie-asocial lack of morals and expectations for behavior that can lead to deviance

Strain-stress that results from anomie 

Strain theory-functionalist theory that describes five adaptations to strain-conformity, innovation, ritualism, retreatism, and rebellion

Opportunity theory of deviance-functionalist theory that says delinquency is a function of opportunity and access to delinquent behavior 

Conflict theories of deviance-theories that ask about how rules and norms are shaped by power relations in society 

Worldview-set of shared values, beliefs, and understandings about how the world should be 

Hegemony-type of domination in which the powerful obtain the consent or support of the subordinated 

Differential association-theory that deviance is learned through intimate personal contacts 

Control Theory- theory that claims deviance arises from a weakening of social connections 

Criminology- study of crime and criminal behavior

Crime-act that violates the penal code

Penal code-written laws that govern behavior in a particular jurisdiction 

Violent Crime-crimes like homicide, robbery, assault, and sexual assault which involve the use of physical force 

Street Crime-violent crimes and property crimes that are more common in public spaces and often involve the police 

White collar crime-crimes like fraud, embezzlement and other unethical acts or business practices that are typically not carried out on the street or in public spaces and don't use physical force 

Criminal- person who violates the penal code

Social network–Group of people linked together in a specific way.

Social bonds –Connections and attachments to people and institutions in mainstream society.

Crime prevention through environmental design (CPTED) –Strategy to reduce crime through the design of buildings and physical space.

Broken windows theory–Theory of policing that argues that small signs of disorder

Homicide rate–Number of homicides per 100,000residents.

Culture of violence–The idea that the United States has a unique heritage in which settlers had to resort to violence to protect their property and themselves, creating a longstanding norm of violent behavior.

Relative deprivation–A feeling of falling behind while other people do better and better. Merton argued that this feeling creates strain, leading to crime.

Key Points 

• Determining what is deviant relies on social agreements between community members. 

• Lines between deviant and non-deviant behavior are upheld through enforcement of social norms.

• Social norms vary in degree of importance and how severely violations are punished. 

• Societies enforce norms through processes of social control. 

• One way to exert social control is through moral panics. 

• Deviance is a relationship between individuals and larger social landscapes

• When a so-called deviant act occurs, there are multiple overlapping ways to explain it. Thus, there are many theories of deviance and crime. Their usefulness varies depending upon the context, but all seek to understand deviance.

• Functionalist theories focus primarily on the social purposes of deviance. They seek to understand why people engage in deviance.

• Conflict theories of deviance focus primarily upon power relations in society, and the ways in which the powerful understand deviance in ways that benefit themselves. They seek to understand how norms, rules, and laws are created and shaped through processes of social, political, and economic power.

• Not all deviance is negative; deviance can solve problems through innovation.

•  A sociological perspective on crime and violence expands beyond the focus on individual characteristics and considers the features of environments and societies that make crime more or less likely.

• Murder is the crime that is measured most precisely because it’s tracked by both police departments and health departments.

• A large portion of all violent crime is committed by a small network of individuals. ᇟ Individuals’ ties to other people and institutions have a large impact on their involvement with violence.

• Violence has fallen steadily over the last several centuries of human history. ᇟ The rate of homicides and all violent crimes in the U.S. has been cut in half since the early 1990s.

• In 2018, there were 5 homicides per every 100,000 residents. 

• The homicide rate in the U.S. is more than twice as high as in many nations in the developed world, including Canada, Japan, Germany, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and many others.

• Three possible explanations for the high rate of violence in the U.S. are our historical culture of violence, the large number of guns, and the high level of inequality.

• There is no single answer as to why violence fell in the United States, but several factors played at least some role, including the growth of police,improvements in policing tactics, the rise of incarceration, and the end of the crack epidemic.

• Other factors, like the decline in alcohol consumption and lead poisoning, may also have played a role in reducing violence but don’t yet have sufficient evidence to come to a clear conclusion.

•  The U.S. imprisonment rate is higher than any other country in the world. More than 2 million Americans are in prison or jail, and almost 5 million are on probation or parole.

• About 60% of African American men born near the end of the 1960s will go to prison at some point in their lives.

• Research shows that more police on the street does tend to reduce violence, but also has substantial costs.

• Slave patrols were the first institutions of law enforcement in the American south, providing an example of how Black Americans’ attempts to achieve freedom and full citizenship have often been labeled “criminal.”

Week 9: Health + Environmental Sociology 

Key Terms 

 Biodiversity–The variety of species in an ecosystem. ᇟ Human exemptionalist perspective–View that humans are different from other living beings and do not face environmental limits on our economic growth.

Rural sociology–Subfield focuses on people in rural areas and their connections to the environment and natural resources.

Human ecology–Subfield that focuses on the social organization of urban communities and similarities to other organisms.

National Environmental Policy Act(NEPA)–1970 law requiring federal agencies to consider the environmental effects of policies and legislation.

Environmental Protection Agency–Federal organization created to oversee implementation of NEPA.

New Environmental Paradigm (or New Ecological Paradigm)–Perspective that considers potential limits to economic growth and encourages developing a stable economy balanced with nature.

Conjoint constitution–Society affects the natural environment, and environmental change affects the quality and scope of society.

 Civil society–People working individually or collectively through community groups and social movements.

Treadmill of production theory–Suggests that societies driven by economic expansion are in conflict with nature.

Old-growth forest –One with mature trees that have been relatively undisturbed by human activity.

Metabolic rift perspective–Theory focused on the interchange of matter and energy between human societies and the larger environment as economies grow.

Growth imperative –Need for constant economic growth.

Social metabolism–Exchange of resources and material between society and the environment.

Ecologically unequal exchange theory–Focuses on unequal resource exchanges and ecological interdependencies within the global economy 

Environmental state-governments include environmental protections as a basic responsibility 

Nongovernmental organizations-non-profit groups that work independently of governments 

Ecological modernization theory-view that teh dynamic nature of capitalism allows economic growth and related technologies to be directed towards environmental reforms 

World society theory- perspective that global institutional structures bring about environmental protections 

Reflexive modernization–View that through development, environmental protection becomes more common.

Risk society–Risk is spread broadly throughout a society.

Anthro-shift–Sees the society-environment relationship as dynamic, determined by how governments, the market, and civil society interact and how much they prioritize environmental issues.

Risk–Actual and perceived exposure to environmental dangers and natural disasters.

Climate change–Warming of the Earth and increases in extreme weather events)

Total emissions–How much carbon we add to the atmosphere.

Per capita emissions–Carbon emissions per person.

Commons–Resources available to everyone.

 Emissions per unit of GDP–Eco-efficiency, or carbon emitted to create economic value.

Paris Agreement–Global agreement to take steps to address climate change 

 1.5 degrees Celsius–Scientific consensus of the amount of global warming societies can adapt to.

Desertification–Land turns into desert. ᇟ Climate denial–Intentionally promoting scientific misinformation about climate change.

Tragedy of the commons –Since everyone has access to the common resource, individual people may act selfishly and use too much of it.

Disproportionality–Inequalities in the production of environmental harms.

Hyperpolluters–Those disproportionately responsible for environmental harms 

Earth day-annual event to protest environmental pollution and celebrate the planet 

Environmental justice movement-focuses on the unequal distribution of environmental harms and environmental goods by race and class

Frontline communities-those that experience environmental pollution and harm first and most severely

Fridays for future-group coordinating tactic of skipping school on fridays to protest inaction on climate change  

Reading: ASE Chapter 16: Environmental Sociology – p. 675-690 only: “Introduction” and “Theoretical Perspectives on Society and the Environment”

• Early sociologists often overlooked the natural environment, focusing instead on social issues and causes of behavior.

• In the 1970s, environmental sociology arose as sociologists began to place more attention on how societies and the environment interact.

• Public concern about the environment grew in response to a number of ecological disasters and growing pollution.

• Societies have often treated the environment as though humans are exempt from any limits on our economic growth or use of resources.

• Environmental sociologists called for an approach that acknowledges limits on available resources and the need to live in balance with the environment

• There are multiple ways to think about the relationship between societal development and environmental protection.

• Pessimistic theories see economic growth as in conflict with environmental protection. 

Optimistic theories think economic growth is possible with environmental protection. 

The anthro-shift argues that the relationship between economic growth and environmental protection changes based on other social characteristics.

• The anthro-shift says that the relationship between society and the environment is determined by risk and perceptions of risk.

• Different measures of carbon emissions highlight different relationships. Per capita emissions focus on inequality and how much carbon is produced by each person in a country. Emissions per unit of GDP measure how much carbon a nation produces for the value it creates in its economy. Total emissions allow us to see our overall impact on the atmosphere.

• Scientists agree that we should limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius to avoid devastating impacts on societies around the world. We are not currently on track to stay within this limit.

• While countries signed on to the Paris Agreement, it does not enforce any specific limits on carbon emissions or commit nations to reducing carbon emissions.

• Climate denial involves intentionally spreading misinformation so people are unsure about the severity of climate change or whether humans cause it.

• Climate change represents a tragedy of the commons, as every nation has access to the atmosphere and releases carbon, even though the overall result hurts everyone.

• A small group of hyper polluters in any industry are often responsible for a large proportion of all pollution.

• In recent years, social movements have introduced protest campaigns to bring more attention to climate change. Participation has grown rapidly.

• Activists use a mixture of insider and outsider tactics to influence government environmental policy.

• Environmental justice activists emphasize that race, ethnicity, and class affect who experiences the most severe effects of environmental degradation.

• Young activists have been at the center of recent climate change movements