Sociology Final Exam #1

Chapter 7: 

  • Social Stratification - The structured inequality between groups in society based on access to material or symbolic rewards. 

It is Intersectional, The effects of how gender, race, ethnicity, religion, and class all interact with each other and provide the experiences, inequality, or life outcomes for individuals.


Income - The money made from paid wages, salary, or investments

Wealth - The total value of assets and money; The money and material goods that a person owns.

  • Socio-economic Status - A combination of a person's Income, Wealth, Occupation, Cultural tastes, Leisure Activities, and Education.

Systems of Stratification - 

  1. Closed Systems: Does not allow for change in social position; Does not encourage or permit relationships between levels of stratification

  2. Open Systems: Based on achievement of individuals; Allow for movement and interaction between stratification and classes

Caste Systems: Closed Systems

Class Systems: Classified as open systems; This system exists in the U.S. 


Upper Class vs Super-rich - 

Upper Class:

  • Affluent Members of society, those who inherit wealth, own businesses or many stocks 

  • Separated by “old money” and “new money” 

  • Doctors, Lawyers, Professors etc

Super-Rich: 

  • These are board members, owners of networks, publishing companies, sport franchises. 

  • 1% of the population owns 33.3% of the country’s wealth 

  • Connected through businesses and exclusive private schools where their children are sent.

* Upper Middle Class - College educated with advanced degrees; own large expensive homes; drive expensive vehicles

* Lower Middle Class - Complete a two-year associates degrees from community or tech colleges; or a four year bachelor's degree; Make enough income to pay the bills but do not build wealth or savings; May own small homes or rent.

* Working Class - Individuals and their children often do not go to college, live paycheck to paycheck and must save and plan for vacations; may own a modest home but often rent; employment is often manual labor and physically demanding.


Chapter 8 - 

  • Sex - The BIOLOGICAL and ANATOMICAL differences between male and female

Biologically constructed based on genitals, chromosomes, and reproductive organs.

  • Gender - Social concept taught and continually created through interactions with others. 

Gender is a spectrum ; Cisgender, Intersex, Transgender 


Patriarchy vs Matriarchy - 

  • Patriarchy (rule by fathers) - a social pattern in which males dominate females 

  • Matriarchy - a social pattern in which females dominate males, EXTREMELY RARE


THE SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF GENDER: 

Learned through the expected gender roles through socialization and interaction of others 

  • Gender Socialization- learning to be a man or a woman in a particular place and time.

Gender Stratification - Unequal distribution of wealth power and privilege


The Glass Ceiling and the Maternal Wall: 

  • Glass Ceiling - Unofficial barrier to advance to upper levels of organization

Invisible, not openly acknowledged.

  • Stronger when women become parents; maternal wall increases gender wage gap. 


Chapter 9 - Sex as Biological & Cultural Issues 

The Sexual Revolution and Feminism - Only person to have right over a woman's body was a woman.

  • Sexuality - An individual's ability to experience sexual feelings and attraction.

Sexual behavior and attitudes about sexual behavior are often influenced by culture; Attractiveness is culturally defined.

  • Gender Stratification - Society teaches men to assess women on their sexual attractiveness; social norms encourage women to wear attractive clothing and be attractive to men. These are also based on class and race.


What Determines Sexual Orientation: 

  • Biological Factors - Largely fixed at birth; studies focus on genes, hormones, epigenetic research

  • Cultural Factors - Diversity of sexual expression around the world suggest cultural influence; patterns of socialization have an impact 

Berdache- Dressing and acting like a woman and may even marry a man.


Chapter 10 + 11 - Race + Ethnicity 

  • Race - The social construction of current societies; a concept conceptualized into our reality at the crossroad of social structure and cultural representation. 

NO BIOLOGICALLY PURE RACES. Through migration and reproduction, we have a physically diverse planet.

  • Racialization - The process of selecting the symbolic and racial meaning of groups, social practices, and/or relationships that were previously racially unclassified. This process is enacted across micro and macro levels of social analysis.

  • Minorities - Refers to any category of people identified by physical or cultural traits, that a society subjects to disadvantages.

Characteristics include: Distinctive identity, power, social disadvantage, and numbers. 



Prejudice & Discrimination: 

  • Prejudice - Rigid beliefs, thoughts, feelings, and attitudes someone holds about a group by race, gender, or class.

(is often taught, the belief still exists outside of experiences, experiences can confirm prejudice.)

  • Discrimination - Unequal treatment of a group of people based on race, gender, or class.

(Jim crow, don’t ask don’t tell, Irish need not apply)


  • Racism - The maintenance of the power and domination of the social hierarchy is already instituted and can be carried out by an individual or group based on the situation.

  • Institutional Racism - Systems and structures that have procedures or processes that disadvantage racial minority groups; usually occurs in organizations as discriminatory treatments or unfair policies based on race.


  • Ethnicity - belief that a group of people are descendants of a common ancestor and that within that common connection the individual is part of a larger collective of individuals. 

Ethnicity is the construction of language, culture, appearance, ancestry, religion, and region of origin. It is also the combination of culture and identity and the creation of social boundaries. 


  • Culture - Shared beliefs, values, and practices that people learn. The items of it include symbols, stories, rituals, language, art, ceremonies, religion, music, and views. This is constructed and reconstructed over time.


  • Ethnic Identity - The negotiation between insiders and outsiders, how people view you and how you view yourself. These social boundaries are determined by choices as well as social constraints. Example: Black Caribbean American


Ethnic Paradox - Immigrants in order to keep their ethnicity are forced to let parts of it go.


Assimilation - When an individual who settles into a new place adopts new customs.

  • Language

  • Geographic Location

  • Socioeconomic Status 

  • Intermarriage 


Segmented Assimilation - Theory that suggests that there are some different pathways to assimilation for second generation immigrants. t

  • Assimilation into dominant culture easily and not preserving culture


Panethnicity - Product of boundary formation around ethnic, tribal, religious, or national groups with idea of cohesion.

  • Formation of panethnic identity is unique to each group 

  • Is not just part of a racialization process 

  • Ethnic groups can be racialized


Chapter 12- Economy & Politics 


  • Politics - The social institution that guides a society’s decision making about how to live

  • Economy - The social institution that organizes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services.


Power & Legitimacy: 

  • The State - Human community that claims monopoly of legitimate use of physical force within a given territory.

  • Legitimate power - Exercised in a manner supported by the community. 

  • Illegitimate power - Exercised without support of the community.


Political economy - The closely linked economic and political life of a nation or world region 

Democracy - A political system in which power is exercised by people as a whole 

Authoritarianism - Political system that denies popular participation in government 

Monarchy - Political system in which a single family rules from one generation to the next


The Capitalist Model - Economic system in which natural resources and the means of producing goods and services are privately owned.

The Socialist Model - Economic system in which natural resources and the means of producing goods and services are collectively owned.

Mixed Systems - All countries have elements of both systems 

E.g, State Capitalism - Government works closely with large private owned companies; Welfare Capitalism - Government provides extensive welfare programs, funded by high taxes.


Communism - Private ownership of property eliminated to create social, economic equality. 

Facism - Authoritarian system of materialistic nationalism; formalized scapegoating paired with privately owned production.


Family Life: 

  • Basis of early marriages. 

Preindustrial U.S. Families - Native American societies used family to organize transitions, no other social institutions.

Slavery & Families - Could not enter legal contracts; slave owners allow or disrupt informal marriages. 


Different parenting between working-class and wealthier families. 

  • Concerted cultivation approach - Proactive engagement with and guiding of children; middle-class parenting. 

  • Working class parents with fewer resources; more authoritarian.


Family of Procreation often includes: Spouse, Mother in Law, Father in Law, Brother in Law, Children.


Divorce: Today's divorce rate is about 3 times what it was a century ago; 20% of marriages end within 5 years. 

  • The U.S. has the highest divorce rate in the world. 


The Moynihan Report - 1965 the African American family is in crisis, 20% of children are born to single mothers.

  • African American families today - 70% of African American children are born to be single mothers.


Education: Transmits culture, history, teaches skills for productive workers.

Education institutionalized: Encoded in laws, policies, common practices.


Redlining: When the government keeps minorities from investing in their community by buying property.


Ethnocentrism: is the belief that one’s own culture or group is superior to others. It involves judging other cultures based on the standards of one’s own culture.


Social Construction: What society determines you/it are.


Social Forces that can influence life expectancy: Healthcare, environment, education, diet, etc. 


Sex = Nature

Gender = Nurture


Factors that make up socioeconomic status: Income, education, & occupation


Creating a gender identity: Doing hair & makeup, buying certain clothes.