SOC 100 midterm study guide PDF

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Professor Kristen Costello...

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Chapter 1 The Sociological Imagination What is the social imagination, and why is it worth acquiring? ➔ The ability to look at something, and to a sk a question as to why it is happening, going beyond common sense or stereotypes ➔ Capacity to think systematically about how the things we experience as personal problems are really social issues ➔ Helps us to ask hard questions and seek answers about the social worlds we inhabit ➔ Challenges our basic impulses to see aspects of life as inevitable or natural ➔ Provides insight into stereotyping and active discrimination ➔ Facilities more active and effective participation in the world around us Social Contexts: Sociology as the Study of Social Contexts What are social contexts and why do they matter? ➔ Social contexts refer to the range of social environments that surround individuals and influence ➔ Involves study of the diverse contexts within which society influences individuals ➔ Distinguishes between social interaction and social structure What are social contexts and why do they matter? ➔ Social contexts refer to the range of social environments, including economic, political and cultural, that surround individuals and influence our lives ➔ Families, communities, religion, groups, schools, and historical time periods all shape who we are ➔ We develop our identity inside of these social contexts. Identities are often referred as another type of social context. Our lives are shaped by who we think we are and who other people think we are. Sociology is the study of social contexts ➔ Sociology distinguishes between social interaction and social structure ➔ Social interaction- the way people act and modify their behavior because of others ➔ Governed by norms- unspoken rules of society governing acceptable behavior ➔ Social structure- the external forces (laws, government policies, traditions) that influence our lives ➔ Social structure is shaped by social hierarchy which are social positions that grant some individuals and groups greater social power ➔ Social institutions also govern social structure- these are long standing practices and beliefs that have been codified into larger powerful entities (education, marriage, families, the market)

Historical contexts Sociology and Historical Contexts ➔ Involves difference in economic opportunities based on the social and economic growth ➔ A strong influence of global environment

Chapter 2 Common themes Marx Marx’s analysis of modern societies ➔ Capitalism would soon become the dominant global economic system ➔ Understanding the conflict between members of bourgeoisie and proletariat is important Relevance of Marx’s model of society and social change today ➔ Early theorist of globalization ➔ Claimed socialist revolution most effective after long period of capitalist growth in development. Durkheim ➔ Much of Durkheim's work was concerned with how societies could maintain their integrity and coherence in modernity; an era in which traditional social and religious ties are no longer assumed, and in which new social institutions have come into being. His first major sociological work was The Division of Labour in Society (1893). In 1895, he published The Rules of Sociological Method and set up the first European department of sociology, becoming France's first professor of sociology. In 1898, he established the journal L'Année Sociologique. Durkheim's seminal monograph, Suicide (1897), a study of suicide rates in Catholic and Protestant populations, pioneered modern social research and served to distinguish social science from psychology and political philosophy. The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life (1912) presented a theory of religion, comparing the social and cultural lives of aboriginal and modern societies. ➔ Durkheim was also deeply preoccupied with the acceptance of sociology as a legitimate science. He refined the positivism originally set forth by Auguste Comte, promoting what could be considered as a form of epistemological realism, as well as the use of the hypothetico-deductive model in social science. For him, sociology was the science of institutions, if this term is understood in its broader meaning as "beliefs and modes of behaviour instituted by the collectivity" and its aim being to discover structural social facts. Durkheim was a major proponent of structural functionalism, a foundational perspective in both sociology and anthropology. In his view, social science should be purely holistic; that is, sociology should study phenomena attributed to society at large, rather than being limited to the specific actions of individuals.

Max Weber Interpretative Sociology ➔ Asked “What motivates behavior?” ➔ Introduced interpretations of individual actions ➔ Proposed typology of different kinds of social actions differentiated by motivations that guide them ➔ “The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism” ➔ New theory about why capitalism appeared earlier and grew faster in some parts of the world than others ➔ Appearance of strict forms of Protestantism ➔ Status Groups: People with similar kinds of attributes or identities such as those based on religion, ethnicity, or race ➔ *Social Closure: Various ways that groups seek to close off access to opportunities by other groups* W.E.B Dubois ➔ One of the NAACP founders ➔ Theoretical contributions provide powerful insights relevant to all disadvantaged groups and group conflict everywhere ➔ Key Concepts: Racial inequality was not rooted in biological differences but manufactured by American society and every aspect of African American’s life shaped by limited opportunities Chapter 4 Social Self ➔ Symbolic interaction or interactionism ➔ Social self is the only kind of self there can be ➔ Self is not a thing, but a process of interaction ➔ Individual is shaped through communication with self and others The Looking Glass Self ➔ We know ourselves through the “looking glass” of others that mirrors back to us impressions that we create ➔ Looking for approval is a motivational, fundamental human instinct ➔ Positive approval contributes to our sense of self and social belonging Mead ➔ Significant Others (Mead): Individuals close to us have a strong capacity to motivate our

behavior- more than spouse or lover Social media Presentation of Self in the Digital Age ➔ Manipulated in Facebook, Twitter, texting and other social media to gain approval of others ➔ Employs same communication techniques found in other media, including print and electronic exchanges ➔ Changes some details of interaction patterns, but many features remain Labeling Labeling Theory ➔ Label “deviant” surfaces when there is a person or group that can serve as an object of the label “deviant” ➔ An individual or institution that can put the label on and make it stick ➔ Scheff: Studied self-fulfilling prophecy in mental hospitals, proposed patient diagnosis rests on a variety of legitimate, labeling institutions consisting of doctors, nurses, and institution. Concluded that patients learn the best way to be released is to acknowledge judgement of others Conformity Conformity Experiments Asch’s Classic Three Line Experiment: ➔ Demonstrated the influence of social context Milgram ➔ Induced subjects to deliver what they thought were painful, even fatal, electrical shocks to a stranger who had given the wrong answer Chapter 5 Social Structure What is social structure? ➔ Structural foundation keeps structure upright and shape, constrain, and enable all activities. Similar to what social structure does ➔ When social structures break down, so does social order. A powerful recent example of this was during hurricane Katrina, when lootings and crime skyrocketed in New Orleans What are the two key components of social structure? ➔ Roles and social hierarchies found in any society in which some groups or individuals are elevated above others ➔ Norms and institutions made up of laws, rules, organizations, and the government in

which individuals navigate Roles How do social roles and social hierarchies shape our life choices? ➔ Society as a whole is impacted by social hierarchies because they generate tensions and conflicts between dominant and subordinate groups ➔ Dominant Group- Seeks to monopolize opportunities or claims on rewards ➔ Subordinate Group: Subjected to inferior status and limited opportunities Social Hierarchies What two critical reasons make social hierarchies an important component of a society’s structure? ➔ Standing in social hierarchies has major impact on lives and life choices ➔ Hierarchies shape social lives and relationships in varied ways Group Size and Social Hierarchies ➔ In what ways does population change matter? ➔ Changes in overall size of different social roles is a critical source of overall social change and impact on individual lives ➔ Relative size of groups ➔ Immigration ➔ Changes in mix of racial and ethnic groups Power ➔ Definition: Power is a key sociological concept with several different meanings and considerable disagreement surrounding them. The most common definition comes from Max Weber, who defined it as the ability to control others, events, or resources; to make happen what one wants to happen in spite of obstacles, resistance, or opposition. Power is a thing that is held, coveted, seized, taken away, lost, or stolen, and it is used in what are essentially adversarial relationships involving conflict between those with power and those without. ➔ In contrast, Karl Marx used the concept of power in relation to social classes and social systems rather than individuals. He argued that power rests in a social class’s position in the relations of production. Power does not lie in the relationship between individuals, but in domination and subordination of social classes based on the relations of production. Norms Norms and Rules ➔ Difference between norms and formal rules? ➔ Norms: Unwritten rules of society

➔ Rules: explicit guidelines for behavior ➔ Violations of rules can carry explicit sanctions Why are the institutions of government critically important to the overall social structure? ➔ Schools ➔ Government ➔ Religion ➔ Economic Institutions of Society ➔ Legal System Institutionalization ➔ Old-fashioned: to put someone in an institution for old people, a mental hospital etc. ➔ To make something a normal, accepted part of a social system or organization Institutions ➔ Institutions are stable patterns of behavior that define, govern, and constrain action Organizations and Institutions as Context ➔ Kinds of groups joined and contacts formed create variety of opportunities ➔ Participation in organizations shape personal and public identities available to us ➔ Schools, religious groups, and clubs all shape the experiences, insights, and opportunities we have Socialization ➔ The lifelong process of inheriting and disseminating norms, customs, values and ideologies, providing an individual with the skills and habits necessary for survival Chapter 6 Culture The Many Meanings of Culture ➔ 18th and 19th Century: Rise of world travel, exposed cultural differences between Europeans and non-Europeans ➔ End of 19 Century: Anthropologists viewed differences between groups of people as learned and socially produced ➔ Early 20th Century: Culture defined as entire way of life of people Basic Conclusions on Culture ➔ A characteristic not of individuals but of groups ➔ A way of understanding differences between groups and similarities within groups ➔ An aspect of social life that is different from nature or biology

Defining Culture- Sociological Perspective ➔ A system of meaning and symbols ➔ A set of values, beliefs, and practices ➔ Shared forms of communication Culture as a Set of Values, Beliefs, and Practices ➔ People develop certain sets of assumptions about the world and their place in it. Future choices and opinions always guided by past experiences. Culture as a tool kit- acquired set of ideas and skills from the cultural environment they live in, and apply in their own lives. Defining Culture- Sociological Perspective ➔ 1) A system of meaning and symbols ➔ 2) A set of values, beliefs, and practices ➔ 3) Shared forms of communication Language Symbols Cultural Universals Hegemony Ethnocentrism

Cultural Capital What is cultural capital, and in what ways have American elites become cultural omnivores? Bourdieu/Cultural capital ➔ Includes education, tastes, cultural knowledge and attitude ➔ Involves scarcity ➔ High status through cultural consumption

Cultural Reproduction of Class Short-Term Class Reproduction ➔ Everyday interactions confirm relative statuses Long-Term Class Reproduction ➔ Advantages associated with wealth ➔ Childrearing

Culture as Industry Cultural Industry Perspective ➔ People passively accept what they are given by corporate media ➔ Cultural Democracy- Big companies display what they want you to know...