module 6 flashcards

  • Marriage: legally recognized social contract between two people, traditionally based on a sexual relationship and implying a performance of the union

  • Family: socially organized group that forms an emotional connection and serves as an economic unit of society

  • Family of orientation: family into which a person is born

  • Family of procreation: one that is formed through marriage

  • Functionalism: uphold the notion that families are an important social institution that play a key role in stabilizing society 

    • Take on status roles in a marriage or family

  • Conflict theory: point out that U.S. families have been defined as private entities, which can leave to family matters only those within the family. Many people in the US are resistant to government intervention in the family. Highlight the role of power in family life and contends that the family is often an arena where power struggles can occur

  • Symbolic interactionism: view the world in terms of symbols and meanings assigned to them. The family itself is a symbol. Believe that the family is a group of role players or “actors” that come together to act their parts in effort to construct a family. 

  • Technology inequality: not everyone has access to technology

  • Evolutionary model of technological change: breakthrough in one form of technology leads to a number of variations.

  • Disruptive technology: a product, service, or process that has a major effect on the operation of an entire industry, and/or may create new industries or new markets.

  • Media consolidation: a process by which fewer and fewer owners control the majority of media outlets

  • Functionalism: the obvious manifest function of media is the entertainment value. Media also helps us pass along norms, values, and beliefs. sees the contribution that technology and media provide to the stability of society, from facilitating leisure time to increasing productivity

  • Conflict theory: focuses on the creation and reproduction of inequality—social processes that tend to disrupt society rather than contribute to its smooth operation. Powerful individuals and social institutions have a great deal of influence over which forms of technology are released, when and where they are released, and what kind of media is available for our consumption, which is a form of gatekeeping.

  • Feminists perspective: media reinforces stereotypes, eg. popular culture consists of white, thin, beautiful women

  • Symbolic interactionism: Media creates and spreads symbols that become our basis for our shared understanding of society

  • Quiz questions:

    • Americans are not marrying younger than before

    • Family of orientation: family in which we grow up in

    • Cohabitation before marriage has had little effect on the success of a marriage

    • Sex, race, and age afffect the rate of singlehood

    • Divorce rates are steadily declining

    • A group of two or more persons related by birth, marriage, or adoption and residing together in a household is the definition of family used by the U. S. Census Bureau. 

    • Symbolic interaction can be used to explain how mass media and social media shapes the reality we experience

    • The digital divide is the uneven access to technology among different races, classes, and geographic areas.

    • The use of social media to create an online persona by only posting images that match your ideal self exemplifies the social construction of reality that can occur in forms of new media.

    • The fact that your cell phone is using outdated technology within a year or two of purchase is an example of planned obsolescence. 

    • The knowledge can be directly attributed to the digital divide, because differential ability to access the internet leads directly to a differential ability to use the knowledge found on the Internet.

    • Conflict theory would argue that norms of traditional, heterosexual, middle-class families are promoted in mass media

    • Functionalists would support social media because teens/young adults claim it makes them feel more connected to their friends and significant others.

    • Technophiles tend to be more pro-technology, while luddites view technology as a symbol of the coldness of modern life.