What is a social group?
2 or more people who identify with and interact with one another
What is a social category?
people with a common status (graduates, marines)
What is a crowd?
loosely formed collection of people in one place (concert, movie theater)
What is a primary group (according to Charles H. Cooley)?
small social group whose members share personal and lasting relationships (close friends, family)
What is a secondary group (according to Charles H. Cooley)?
a large and impersonal group whose members pursue a specific goal or activity (work or school group)
What is group conformity?
groups influence the behavior of their members
What is an in-group?
social group toward which a member feels respect and loyalty
What is an out-group?
social group toward which a person feels a sense of competition or opposition
What is a social network?
a web of weak social ties (facebook)
McDonaldization of society
the organizational principles that underlie McDonald's dominate our entire society
What are the basic organizational principles of the McDonaldization of society (according to George Ritzer) ?
efficiency, predictability, uniformity, control
deviance
the recognized violation of cultural norms
crime
the violations of a society's formally enacted criminal law
social control
attempts by society to regulate people's thoughts and behavior
criminal justice system
the organizations-police, courts, and prison officials-that respond to alleged violations of the law
biological theory of deviance
genetic factors especially defective genes are a strong predictor of adult crime and violence.
psychological theory of deviance
psychological explanations of deviance focus on individual abnormality-to a personality that controls deviant impulses.
sociological theory of deviance (social foundations of deviance)
-deviance varies according to cultural norms
-people become deviant as others define them that way
-both norms and the way people define rule breaking involve social power.
structural-functional theory of deviance (according to Emile Durkheim)***
**deviance is a necessary part of social organization
strain theory of deviance (Robert K. Merton)
the extend and type of deviance depend on whether a society provides the means to achieve cultural goals
labeling theory of deviance
deviance results not so much from what people do as from how others respond to those actions
differential association theory of deviance (Edwin Sutherland)
a person's tendency towards deviance depends on the amount of contact with others who encourage or reject conventional behavior
the control theory of deviance (Travis Hirschi)
social control depends on people's anticipating the consequences of their behavior.
social-conflict theory of deviance
people we tend to define as deviants are typically not as bad or harmful as they are powerless
stigma
a powerfully negative label that greatly changes a person's self-concept and social identity
medicalization of deviance
the transformation of moral and legal deviance into a medical condition
white-collar crime
crime committed by people of high school position in the course of their occupations
victimless crimes
crimes without complaint, violations of law in which there are no obvious crimes
why do we punish wrongdoers?
retribution, deterrence, rehabilitation, societal protection
retribution
an act of moral vengeance by which society makes the offender suffer as much as the suffering caused by the crime
deterrence
the attempt to discourage criminality through the use of punishment
rehabilitation
a program for reforming the offender to prevent late offenses
societal protection
rendering an offender incapable of further offenses temporarily through imprisonment or permanently by execution
social stratification
a system by which a society ranks categories of people in a hierarchy
the principles of social stratification
1. a trait of society, not simply a reflection of individual differences
2. carries over from generation to generation
3. universal but variable
4. involves not just inequality but beliefs as well
closed systems social stratification
allow little (or no) change in social position (caste system in India)
open systems of stratification
permit much more social mobility (class system)
social mobility
a change in position within the social hierarchy
the social class structure in the US
the upper class, the middle class, the working class, the lower class
how does social stratification affect our lives
health, values and attitudes, politics, family and gender
relative poverty
The lack of resources of some people in relation to those who have more
absolute poverty
A lack of resources that is life-threatening
blame the poor" perspective
poor are mostly responsible for their own poverty
blame the society" perspective
society is primarily responsible for the poverty
structural-functional theory of stratification (Davis Moore)***
**Social stratification has beneficial consequences for the operation of society
social-conflict theory of social stratification (Karl Marx)
social stratification benefits some people and disadvantages others
symbolic-interaction theory of social stratification
people's social standing affects their everyday interactions
conspicuous consumption
buying and using products because of the statement they make about social position
Authoritarian leadership
focuses on instrumental concerns, takes personal charge of decision making and demands that group members obey orders
democratic leadership
more expressive, making a point of including everyone in the decision-making process
laissez-faire leadership
allows the group to function more or less on its own