SOC EXAM 1 Notecard - VAN HEUVELEN PDF

Preview

Summary

VAN HEUVELEN...

Description

Sociology: Systematic or scientific study of human society and social behavior, from large-scale institutions and mass culture to small groups and individual interaction Goal of Soc:Understand how individual lives are related to, & in turn affect, the social structure we live in The Sociological Imagination: (C Wright Mills in 1959) The ability to connect intimate aspects of an individual’s life to seemingly impersonal historical forces, enables us to grasp history and biography and the relations between the two within society Three Questions for Sociological Research: (1)What is the structure of society as a whole? (2)What is unique about the time period in which we are currently living?(3) Who is successful? Personal Troubles: based on individual’s biography open to individual social experiences & actions Public Issue: the way individual troubles are connected to the larger social structure Social Institutions: Complex group of interdependent positions that together perform a social role that reproduce themselves overtime (eg college as a social institution) Structure:Relationship between two components → Schemas & Resources. They are generalizable and transportable across immediate situations Social Identity: The part of our identity that is based on membership in a particular group Structure: Things beyond control that enable and/or constrain our actions in the world Social Institution: Networks of structures in society working to socialize groups of ppl in them Agency: The actions of individuals and groups in society and the choices we make (chose UofI) Structuration: The two way process by which we shape our world through individual actions (agency), and by which we are shaped by the social structure. It is both Structure +Agency Theory:Guiding principles or abstract models attempting to predict or explain the abstract world Positivist Sociology: Human behavior should be studied using methods of natural sciences Paradigm: a general image of reality Manifest Function: Obvious, explicit, intended, commonly recognized purposes of a social structure Structural Functionalism: Theory that various social institutions and processes exist to serve important & necessary functions that keep society running. Best way to analyze society is to identify the roles that different aspects play. Functions can be manifest (explicit)or latest (hidden) Latent Function: Less obvious, unintended, hidden purposes of a social structure Conflict theory: Society is composed of groups & interests competing for power and resources Marxist conflict theory: Social reality is fundamentally reducible to class relations that are created from a capitalistic system. Focus on problem of alienation or meaninglessness in lives Non-marxist conflict theories: Retains focus on power, conflict, and domination. Argues that all meaningful conflict need not flow from economic class. Conflict everywhere. Feminist theory: extension of feminism into theoretical discourse Postmodernism: A movement from the mid to late 20th century that marked a departure from modernism Midrange theory: A limited way to explain a specific set of phenomena Microsociology: Main focus of sociology; focuses the nature of everyday human social interactions Macrosociology: Focuses on the study of large scale interactions; populations and social structure Symbolic interactionism: Society is based on social interactions & the creation of meaning through these interactions Ethnomethodology: Breaching experiments: examines social reactions when norms are violated Dramaturgy: Social life as a theatrical performance that depends upon location, time, and audience Socialization: The process through which individuals internalize the values, beliefs, and norms of a society and learn to function as its members (eg Doing society) Limits of socialization: Humans are not blank slates. Biology influences your behavior Theories of Socialization (Mead) Self: The individual identity one has for themselves. I: one’s sense of agency, action, power (subjective).Me: self as distinct object to be perceived by others and the I (obj.) Agents of Socialization: Family, Schools, Peers, Media Resocialization:Process by which one’s sense of social values, beliefs, and norms are reengineered,

often deliberately, through an intense social process Total institution:An institution in which people are totally immersed and that controls all the basics of day-to-day life. Dyer reading: “the means of socializing men out the civilization role and into the soldier role has become more institutionalized as a result of centuries of experience. Status and Social Interaction→ Status: a recognizable social position that an individual occupies. Role: duties and behaviors associated with a particular status (ie student→ read, write, play) Role theory→ Role strain: the incompatibility among roles connected with a single status. Role conflict: tension caused by competing demands between two or more roles pertaining the different statuses Types of Status→ Ascribed status: involuntary example: socioeconomic status, gender Achieved status: voluntary example: college grad, type of job you have Master status: one status within a set that stands out(example: female engineer) Status set: all statuses one holds simultaneously Values and norms: Values: moral beliefs & Norms: how values are put into action Example: Value: Cleanliness, Norm: wash hands after riding public transportation What is social deviance?: Deviance: Any transgression of socially established norms.(i.e.talking to yourself) Norms: How values/society tell us to behave. Crime: violation of laws enacted by society Social Control: the set of mechanisms that create normative compliance in individuals Normative compliance: the act of abiding by society’s norms, or simply following the rules for group life What is social deviance?: Social cohesion: how well people relate & get along on a day to day basis Functionalist approach→ Mechanical solidarity: sameness of the individual parts. Organic solidarity: social cohesion based on difference and interdependence. Collective conscience: a set of assumptions about how the world by which people abide (social norms) Types of punishments:Mechanical solidarity: collective punishment.Organic: social sanctions & rehab Paradox of deviance: Deviance and the act of collective punishment holds us together Deviance: Values, norms and this deviance do not remain fixed over time. Structuration: interplay between structure and agency Vuolo:Moral entrepreneur: individuals who use their strength of their positions to encourage others to follow their moral stances(rule creators, rules reflect proper morality,help label rule breakers as outsiders) Deviance, concept, is a fundamental component of social order. Deviance, applied to specific cultural object, is contested. Deviance, applied to a specific cultural object, is a process through structurization. Strain theory: Deviance occurs when a society does not give all its members equal ability to achieve socially acceptable goals Anomie: lack of the usual social or ethical standards in an individual or group Labeling theory:The belief that individuals subconsciously notice how other see or label them Primary deviance: the first act of rule breaking that may incur a label of ‘deviant’ and thus influence how people think about and act toward you Georg Simmel: known for creating social theories that fostered an approach to studying society that broke with the scientific methods used to study the natural world Secondary deviance: subsequent acts of rule breaking that occur after primary deviance and as a result of your new deviant label/people’s expectations of you Crime reduction → Deterrence: theory that crimes results from rational calculation of costs and benefits. Recidivism: person who has been in the criminal justice system reverts to criminal behavior Social Group: dyad(group of two) triad(group of three) → Mediator: resolves conflict. Tertius gaudens: profits from disagreement of others. Divide et impera: purposefully breaks up other two Social Integration: the principles by which individuals or actors are related to one another in a society Embeddedness: degree to which ties are reinforced through indirect paths within a social network...