Objectives of first 3 weeks( chapter one)
What is Sociology?
Systemic study human society, at the heart is using the distinctive point of view called the sociological perspective.
Describe the components of the sociological perspective (Peter Berger). Explain how sociologists see
1) the general in the particular
Looking at single interactions between each other, and applying them to society as general patterns. studies the social forces that impinge on our lives.
2) the strange in the familiar
question the assumptions we are makin
What is sociological imagination (C.Wright Mills)
Identify conditions in society that encourage people to think sociologically. -> public vs. personal issues
personal vs public
Things that seem like personal problems may actually be public issues, like if one person is unemployed it is a personal issue, maybe hes not qualified etc. However if in a whole city there's a larger amount unemployed then employed then its a public issu
Aging and culture: Gerontocracy
Ageism
Gerontocracy: a form of social organization in which elders have the most wealth, power and prestige occurs in pre-industrialed -> This social structure has been diminishing
-culture also plays an importance in how we understand what growing old is
Ageism
Benefits/Application of the Sociological Perspective (5)
(1) Helping us assess the truth of commonly held assumptions "common sense"
(2) Prompting us to assess both the opportunities and the constraints that characterize our lives
(3) Empowering us to participate actively in our society -> better we understand
Importance of Global Perspective
is the study of the larger world and our society's place in it.
Identify and describe benefits of applying the sociological perspective to daily life at micro(local) and macro(global) level. (4)
Reasons why global perspective is so important
(1) Societies the world over are increasingly interconnected
(2) Many social problems that we face in the United States are far more serious elsewhere
(3) Thinking globally is a good way to learn more about o
Origins of sociology
-Industrial technology: Technological changes of the Middle Ages brought people to work in small-scale manufacturing. This change in the system of production weakened cultural traditions.
- The Growth of Cities: Both pushes and pulls were involved in this
Sociology as science
Auguste Comte: first coined the term sociology (1838).
1)Theological phase: up to the end of the European Middle Ages people took a religious view that society expressed gods will
2)Metaphysical phase: people saw society as natural rather than a supernatu
Positivist sociology
the study of society based on systematic observation of social behavior
-Structural Functionalism
Gender and research, four types
Overgeneralizing: Using data collected from one sex and
applying the findings to both sexes
Gender blindness: The failure to consider the impact of
gender at all
Double standards: Using different standards to judge males
and females
Interference: a subjec
interpretative sociology
studies the process whereby human beings attach meaning to their lives; focused on the process of social interaction
-symbolic interaction
critical sociology
the study of society that focuses on the need for social change
-social-conflict theory
Androcentricity and Gynocentricity:
Approaching the topic from a male-only or female-only perspective
The Structural-Functional Paradigm
-Critically Evaluation
-Level of study
-Complex system which interrelated parts which work together to promote solidarity and stability
-Critical evaluation: it is a conservative approach to the study of society, which tends to ignore tension and conflict in social systems. Favoured a lot in t
The two basic components of this paradigm are, importance of:
Social structure: or a relatively stable pattern of social behaviour
Social function: consequences of a social pattern for the operation of society
Auguste Comte:
(structural functionalism) pointed out the need for social integration during a time of rapid change, coined the term sociology
Herbert Spencer:
(structural functionalism) compared society to the human body "survival of the fittest
Emile Durkheim:
(structual funtionism) Believed in functionalism and the scientific method; saw society as a set of independent parts that maintain a system but each separate part has a function
Robert Merton
Manifest functions: consequences of social structure both recognized and intended.
Latent functions: unrecognized and unintended consequences of social structure.
-There may be undesirable effects on the operation of society, or social dysfunctions.
-> as
The Social-Conflict Paradigm
-Critical evaluation
-Level of study
-framework for building theory that sees society as an arena of inequality that generates conflict and social change. Social differences, rather than social integration, are the focus.
Critical evaluation: raises concern that social unity is ignored, and
W.E.B. De Bois:
(social conflict theory) guided by the SCA to raise the standing of black people.
Karl Marx
(social conflict theory) championed the workers against those who owned the factories
The Symbolic-Interaction Paradigm
-Critical evaluation
-Level of study
Society as the product of the everyday interactions of individuals. People interact in terms of shared symbols and meaning.
Critical evaluation: this view it must be stressed that the focus is on how individuals personally experience society. This approac
Max Weber
(symbolic interaction)emphasized understanding a particular setting from the point of view of people in it.
Cultural shock
the personal disorientation accompanying exposure to an unfamiliar way of life
Cultural diversity
having a variety of cultures in the same area
Technology and culture
Knowledge that people use to make a way of life in their surroundings -> more complex a society's technology the easier it is for the society to shape the world for themselves
Cultural change
a major shift in the norms, values, attitudes, and mindset of the entire organization.
-caused by inside and outside forces
Sapir-Whorf thesis
the idea that people see and understand the world through the cultural lens of language
Ideal/real culture
values and norms are by themselve s "ideal," because they're just ideas in our heads, but they become "real" when behavior is applied to them.
Distinction between
high culture
popular culture
subculture
counter culture
cultural integration
High culture- refers to cultural patterns that distinguish a society's elite
Popular culture- designates cultural patterns widespread among a society's people
Subculture- defined as cultural patterns that set apart some segment of a society's population.
Ethnocentrism
belief in the superiority of one's own ethnic group
Factors influencing the emergence of a global culture
The flow of goods, information, and people
The internet, mass media, international banks
{is uneven; it cannot be assumed that people everywhere want and can afford various goods and services}
{while certain cultural traits are found universally around th
Sociobiology
-critical analysis
a theoretical approach that explores ways in which human biology affects how we create culture
This approach has been criticized, based on historical patterns, of supporting racism and sexism. Further, to date, there is lack of scientific proof of these a
Culture and human intelligence
Human intelligence is what sets us apart from other species. Human culture and biological evolution are linked. Over evolutionary time, instincts have been gradually replaced by culture and by our ability to fashion the natural environment.
cultural relativism
the perspective that a foreign culture should not be judged by the standards of a home culture and that a behavior or way of thinking must be examined in its cultural context
Symbols (element of culture):
This component underlies the other four.
- A symbol is anything that carries a particular meaning recognized by people who share culture
- Symbols serve as the basis for everyday reality. Symbols vary within cultures, cross-culturally, and change over tim
Language (element of culture)
Is a system of symbols that allows people to communicate with one another. Language is very important in the transmission of culture.
Cultural transmission:
is the process by which one generation passes on culture to the next. Oral cultural tradition has been critical throughout human history.
Values:
Are defined as culturally defined standards of desirability, goodness, and beauty, which serve as broad guidelines for social living beliefs are supported by values, or specific statements that people hold to be true
Norms:
Norms are rules and expectations by which a society guides the behaviour of its members. Norms can change over time, as illustrated by norms regarding sexual behaviour.
Mores
refer to a society's standards of proper moral conduct (taboos, like incest).
Folkways
are a society's customs for routine, casual interaction (acceptable greeting)
Structural-Functional Analysis on culture, doctrine? values? whats most looked for and studied? Murdock?
-philosophical doctrine of idealism, which holds that ideas are the basis of human reality.
-Cultural values direct our lives, give meaning to what we do and bind people together
-Cultures are understood as organized systems devised to meet human needs. T
Social Conflict Analysis on culture
-is the social conflict generated by inequality among different categories of people in a culture.
-Karl Marx, using the philosophical doctrine of materialism, argued that the way we deal with the material world (in our case through capitalism) powerfully
Socio-biology Analysis on culture
-Theoretical paradigm that explores ways in which human biology affects how we create culture.
-Sociologists argue that Charles Darwin's theory of natural selection, which is based on a four stage process, applies to human evolution as it does to all othe
Jean Piaget cognition
The Sensorimotor Stage: is described as the level of human development at which individuals experience the world through only their senses. This stage lasts for about the first two years of life.
The Preoperational Stage: was described by Piaget as the le
Nature vs nature, names involved
Charles Darwin's
theory of evolution, claimed that all human behaviour was instinctive.
-In the early part of this century, psychologist
John Watson
challenged this perspective and developed an approach called behaviourism, claiming that all human behavio
Social isolation
-Harry and Margaret Harlow using rhesus monkeys
-experimental situations with "artificial" mothers for infant monkeys they determined that while physical development occurred within normal limits, emotional development and social growth failed to occur.
-
Agents of socialization
The Family: is identified as the most important agent of socialization. The process of socialization within this institution is discussed as being both intentional and unconscious. The social life of the family has been shown to have a considerable bearin
Socialization through Life Course
Childhood: In industrial societies, childhood lasts roughly the first twelve years. It is a period characterized by freedom from responsibilities.
{Some historians suggest that in medieval Europe, childhood as we know it did not exist. Such research is us
Cohort
A population group unified by a specific common characteristic, such as age, and subsequently treated as a statistical unit.
Death and dying
Elisabeth Kubler-Ross (DANRA)
denial, anger, negotiation, resignation, and acceptance.
Total Institutions, who identified the three distinct qualities?
A total institution is a setting in which individuals are isolated from the rest of society and manipulated by an administrative staff
Erving Goffman has identified three distinct qualities of total institutions:
(1) They control all aspects of the daily
Re-socialization
radically changing an inmates personality by carefully controlling the environment
Freud basic needs
Eros: or a need for bonding.
Thanatos: the death instinct, which relates to an aggressive drive.
Freuds personality model
Id: rooted in biology and representing the human being's basic drives, which are unconscious and demand immediate satisfaction.
Ego: representing a person's conscious efforts to balance innate pleasure-seeking drives with the demands of society
Superego:
Horton Cooley's looking glass
a self-image created by how we think others see us.
Mead
(1) I: The self as subject by which we initiate social action--the I,
(2) Me: the self as object, or objective part, concerned with how we perceive ourselves from the perspective of others�the Me.
Meads stages of development
prep stage
Children imitate and begin to understand symbols such as languages and gestures.
The play stage
Children role-play and pretend to be another person
The Game Stage
Children, at 8 or 9 begin to understand others roles and responsibilities, making
Lawrence Kohlberg identifies three stages of moral development
Pre-conventional: moral reasoning is tied to feelings of pleasure and avoidance of pain.
Conventional: specific cultural norms dominate moral reasoning
Post-conventional: more abstract ethical principles are involved.
Carol Gilligan
research focuses on a systematic comparison of moral development for females and males.
-Her work indicates that the moral reasoning of girls and boys is different. Girls tend to use a care and responsibility perspective, while boys tend to use a justice
Eric Erickson
Infancy: the challenge of trust (versus mistrust)
Toddlerhood: the challenge of autonomy (versus shame and doubt)
Pre-school: the challenge of initiative (versus guilt)
Pre-adolescence: the challenge of industriousness (versus inferiority)
Adolescence: th
Macro-sociology
Micro-sociology
MACRO-examining large scale of society, patterns. EX. USA of race couples
MICRO-examing small scale patterns of society, you cant say its happening everywhere
EX. of race couples.
Status:
achieved/ascribed status
status set
master status
A status: is a social position that an individual occupies.
- Each involves certain rights, privileges, obligations, and expectations that are widely recognized.
- Statuses guide the behaviour of people in different social situations, and are an important
Role: role set, role strain, role conflict
The concept role refers to behaviour expected of someone who holds a particular status. Generally, a person has many more roles than statuses, as each status typically has multiple roles attached.
Role Set- Robert Merton introduced the term role set to id
Social Interaction
The phrase social construction of reality describes the process by which people creatively shape reality through social interaction.
Thomas Theorem
W.I. Thomas observed that situations that are defined as real become real in their consequences.
reality is soft as it is being shaped but can become hard in its effects -> someone acts in a worthy way and therefore becomes worthy
Ethnomethodology
(Garfinkel)-Based on the symbolic-interaction paradigm
literally "the methods of the people," this approach to studying human interaction focuses on the ways in which we make sense of our world, convey this understanding to others, and produce a mutually
Social Interactionist perspective
agrees with both behaviorists that environment plays a central role in children's language development, and nativist that children possess an innate predisposition to learn language. It's all about genetics and parental teaching. Stress the child's own in
Society as product of social interaction
describes the process by which people creatively shape reality through social interaction.
Idealization of actions
Erving Goffman suggests that we attempt to idealize our intentions when it comes to our performances. Ex. Doctors making rounds
Emotions as social construction
Emotions:
The social construction of feeling, purpose of emotions is for supporting social life
-Biological side- people express 6 basic emotions, happiness, sadness, anger, dear, disgust and surprise, all relatively same expression over cultures meaning
language as social construction
The Gender Issue Language conveys meaning on more than one level. Language defines men and women differently in at least three ways.
1) Language and Power First, there is the control function of language. One example of this is when men attach female pron
humour as social construction
Playing With Reality: The issues raised here concern the real "character" of humor
The Foundation of Humor: Humor is a product of reality construction meanings--a contrasting of the conventional and the unconventional. Conventional what people expect in t
Contributions of Goffman
-dramatical analyse
-stigma
-re socialization (institutions)
Dramaturgical Analysis: Goffman
the study of social interaction in terms of theatrical performance. Central to this analysis is a process called the presentation of self, meaning an individual's effort to create specific impressions in the minds of others. Presentation of self, or impre
Dramaturgical Analysis: Performances
Erving Goffman referred to the conscious and unconscious efforts of people in conveying information about themselves as performances (way we dress, manners). Performances will vary by setting or by the physical location in which they occur.
-An Illustrati
Dramaturgical Analysis: Nonverbal Communication
This concept refers to communication using body movements, gestures, and facial expressions rather than speech. Types of body language-- smiles, eye contact, and hand movements. Most nonverbal communication is cultural-specific.
-An illustration: Star say
Gender and Performances
It is important to take into account how societies link human traits to being female or male when studying personal performances.
Demeanor: refers to general conduct or deportment. It tends to vary by an individual's power.
Use of Space: The use of space
Embarrassment and Tact:
As hard as we may try to craft perfect performances, slip-ups do occur and may cause embarrassment--or the discomfort following a spoiled performance. Oftentimes audiences will ignore flaws in performances, using tact to enable the performance to continue
Criminal Justice System
Police
Courts
punishment
Police: The police represent the point of contact between the public and the criminal justice system. They are responsible for maintaining public order by uniformly enforcing the law.
Courts: The courts determine a person's guilt or innocence. Plea bargai
Punishment Retribution
Deterrence
Rehabilitation
Societal Protection
1) Retribution refers to an act of moral vengeance by which society inflicts on the offender suffering comparable to that caused by the offense.
2) Deterrence is the use of punishment to discourage criminality. Deterrence emerged as a reform in response t
Community Based Correction:
probation
parole
-The release of an offender from detention, subject to a period of good behavior under supervision.
Both are supervisory activities, but Probation is a function of the court, and Parole is a function of the executive agency
sentencing circles
A type of sentencing in which victims, family members, community members, and the offender participate in an effort to devise fair and reasonable sanctions that are ultimately aimed at reintegrating the offender into the community.
Plea bargaining
(criminal law) a negotiation in which the defendant agrees to enter a plea of guilty to a lesser charge and the prosecutor agrees to drop a more serious charge
Outgroup
Ingroup
them"�those perceived as different or apart from one's ingroup.
"Us" - people with whom one shares a common identity
Primary group
Secondary group
A primary group is a small social group whose members share personal and enduring relationships. Relationships in such groups have a personal orientation. Ex. Family, best friends
Secondary groups: are large and impersonal social groups whose members purs
White collar crime (Sutherland)
The concept white-collar crime, or crimes committed by people of high social position in the course of their occupations, was defined by Edwin Sutherland in the 1940s. While it is estimated that the harm done to society by white-collar crime is greater th
Reference group
a social group that serves as a point of reference in making evaluations and decisions
corporate crime
Corporate crime ranges from developing dangerous products to deliberately polluting the environment.
the illegal actions of a corporation or people acting on its behalf
organized crime
The work of a group that regulates relations among criminal enterprises involved in illegal activities, including prostitution, gambling, and the smuggling and sale of illegal drugs.
criminal recidivism
later offenses by people previously convicted of crimes
Bureaucracy
Bureaucracy is an organizational model rationally designed to perform complex tasks efficiently. The telephone system in the United States is discussed to illustrate a bureaucratic system.
Characteristics of Bureaucracies
Max Weber identified six basic characteristics or elements of the ideal bureaucracy.
-Specialization: assigns individuals highly specialized jobs
-Hierarchy of offices: arrange workers in a vertical ranking of offices -> pyramid
-Rules and regulations: guide a bureaucracies operation, ideally operating in a completely predictable
-Technic
PROBLEMS OF BUREAUCRACY (4)
Bureaucratic Alienation: Alienation is a problem within bureaucracies as they tend to dehumanize those they serve through their impersonal operation.
Bureaucratic Ritualism: Bureaucratic ritualism signifies a preoccupation with rules and regulations to th
Thinking critically about sexuality ( also in global perspectives)
Sexual practices vary culturally from one society to the next.
The incest taboo: refers to a norm forbidding sexual relations or marriage between certain relatives.
A number of explanations are provided; biological, preventing confusion among kin, and int
Theoretical analysis of sexuality:
Structural functional perspective
What is the importance of sexuality for society? Society depends on sexuality for reproduction. Society uses the incest taboo and other norms to control sexuality in order to maintain social order
Has sexuality changed over time? How? Yes, as an advance i
Theoretical analysis of sexuality:
Symbolic inter-actionist perspective
Symbolic-Interaction Approach:
What is the importance of sexuality for society? Sexual practices vary among the many cultures of the world. Some societies allow individuals more freedom than other in matter of sexual behaviour
Has sexuality changed over t
Theoretical analysis of sexuality:
Social conflict perspective
Social Conflict Theory:
What is the importance of sexuality for society? Sexuality is linked to social inequality. Canadian society regulates women's sexuality more than men's, which is part of the larger pattern of men dominating women
Has sexuality chan
Understanding social issues and controversies in Canada and some global comparisons
In the Case of:
prostitution
Pornography
Teenage pregnancy
**needs to get added to
Teen Pregnancy
Teens are biologically mature but many are not emotionally mature. The United States has one of the higher rates of teen pregnancy.
Pornography refers to sexually explicit material that causes sexual arousal.
Prostitution is the selling of
Organizational Environment:
refers to outside factors such as technology, economic and political trends, population patterns and other organizations that affect the operation of organizations.
...
Impact of class, race, ethnicity, and gender on aging
Connection between individual and society
(punishment criticised by Sutherland?)
Thinking critically about sexuality ( also in global perspectives)
Merton strain theory:
Conformist:
Innovator:
Ritualistic:
Retreatest:
Rebel:
Conformist: Goals- accept Means- accept
Innovator: Goals- accept Means- reject
Ritualistic: Goals- reject Means- accept
Retreatest: Goals- reject Means- reject
Rebel: Goals- creates new goals Means- creates new goals
Structural-Functional Analysis
sexuality
* Culture and social institutions regulate with whom and when people seek to reproduce
* Controlling, regulating, monitoring society
* This regulation has positive consequences because it is functional
* Absence of this regulation would threaten family li
Social-Conflict and Feminist Analysis
* Feminism, a social-conflict approach focusing on gender inequality, links sexuality to the domination of women by men
* Sexuality reflects inequality:
* Female prostitutes arrest more than male "johns"
* Streetwalkers more vulnerable than other prostitu
Symbolic Interaction Analysis
* Social Construction of sexuality:
* Changes in thought towards virginity and sex education
* People look at sexual phenomenons differently
* Global Comparisons:
* Different societies attach different meanings to sexuality
* Sexual practices vary from cu
Verstehen
understanding, understanding social behavior by putting yourself in the place of others