New Zealand Sociological Perspectives Final

Front 1

What is Sociology?

Back 1

• The study of human social life, groups and society…having as its subject matter our own behaviour as social beings. This study is extremely wide, ranging from the analysis of passing encounters between individuals in the street up to the investigation of global social processes

Front 2

What is "The Sociological Imagination"?

Back 2

Coined by C. Wright Mills
The term for understanding and analysing the relationship between private troubles and public issues

Front 3

What is a society?

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In general, a group of people who share a common culture, occupy a particular territorial area and feel themselves to constitute a unified and distinct entity

Front 4

How does Emile Durkheim view society?

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views society as a real object (social structure) existing in its own right in relation to, but distinct from, individuals

Front 5

How does Max Weber view society?

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views society as an abstract model that individual actors use to make sense of their social lives

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How does Karl Marx view society?

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views society as a misleading concept, or an illusion, because it detracts from seeing other forces (e.g. political, economic) as the key shapers of social life

Front 7

Name all three elements that constitute a society

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1. Share a common culture
2. Occupy a territorial area
3. Feel unified and distinct from other societies

Front 8

How was the Industrial Revolution characterized?

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changes in technology, industrial capitalist production, urban settlement, and widespread socio-cultural changes in societies

Front 9

What was the most important thing to come out of the French Revolution?

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New forms of popular democracy

Front 10

How was the Enlightenment characterized?

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a new intellectual climate that promoted the benefits of science and social engineering for a more ‘enlightened’ future

Front 11

Ways in which modernity is different from pre-modernity

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o modes of production and political economic consequences (Marx)
o More individualistic
o Greater mobility, mass societies than communal pre-modern settings; e.g. ideas of privacy
o Specialised roles (e.g. occupations)
o More complex institutionally than previous societies
o Sharper public and private divisions e.g. in relation to gender and paid/unpaid work
o Moves from traditional to legal contractual forms of authority and trust -rationalisation (Weber)
o Development of the nation-state
o New ideas of equality, religious tolerance, cultural diversity and liberal democracy— but often related to judgemental distinctions drawn between civilized and non-civilized groups and societies

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How is Aotearoa/New Zealand a meeting of both modern and pre-modern worlds?

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o Semi-peripheral
o Traditional Maori culture merging with modernization brought by British culture
o Agriculture
o Very swift establishment of centralised state, but nation building far more problematic– hence the idea of nation-state does not neatly match ‘society’

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What is Social Stratification?

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the hierarchical social layering of different categories of people within a society based on visible and persistent inequalities, with varying degrees of mobility between the layers

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What is a Personal Identity?

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o Is created by individuals
o Is constructed to look authentic
o Includes a personal name, history, biography, personality
o Is subjective
o Is what makes us different and unique to others

Front 15

What is a Situational Identity?

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o Emerges in face-to-face interactions
o Behaviour in situations is usually agreed upon
o Situational identity is “announced” by clothes, body language, speech
o Can change from situation to situation
o As something we ‘do’

Front 16

7 ways in which social identities can become social divisions between people

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o Gender (man, woman)- pay inequalities, patriarchy
o Sexuality (straight, gay, bisexual, trans-sexual)- heteronormativity, homophobia
o Ability (disabled, non-disabled)- cities geared towards those who are able-bodied
o Ethnicity (Maori, Pakeha)- more access to social resources for Pakeha, ‘vicious cycle of poverty’ for Maori
o Nationality (Chinese, Palestinian)- ethnocentrism
o Occupation (sociologist, student)- higher pay and status
o Religion (Buddhist, Jewish, Muslim)- religious intolerance, even banning by those in power with different beliefs

Front 17

What is the difference between the sex and gender of a person?

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Sex: male or female biological characteristics
Gender: social characteristics/ displays of masculinity or femininity

Front 18

Is a person's gender fixed or can it change over time?

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It can change over time

Front 19

What is the cult of domesticity?

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the concept where women are confined to the home and caretaking and moral righteousness are valorized

Front 20

According to James and Saville-Smith, what are the two images of males that established male mateship?

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o ‘Man Alone’- rugged, independent, but loyal (to his mates)
o ‘Family Man’

Front 21

What is gender socialization?

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the process by which we learn to take up the socially-approved characteristics of the gender we were assigned at birth

Front 22

What are the characteristics of the liberalization of sexuality?

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o Greater tolerance of pre-marital sex
o Recognition of female sexual pleasure
o Contraception and abortion
o Greater public discussion of sexuality
o Greater visibility of sexual minorities
o Decriminalization of commercial sex relationships

Front 23

Why do sociologists argue that sex and sexuality are not natural?

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human sexuality is socially defined, symbolic & meaningful

Front 24

How is sex used for social ends?

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o Expression of love and intimacy
o To consolidate an identity
o To express one’s “true self”
o To mark adult status
o Used as play, performance, or power
o A form of work (e.g. prostitution)
o Boredom
o To express manliness or womanliness

Front 25

What is the sexual double standard?

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Where sexually assertive behaviours are expected or admired in men, but the same behaviours are considered deviant in women. (‘stud’- positive connotations versus ‘slut’-negative connotations)

Front 26

What is heteronormativity?

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the taken-for-granted assumptions about the naturalness of heterosexuality, which underpin representations in everyday life

Front 27

What are the inequalities of domestic labor?

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o Housework is ‘invisible’, because it is not paid
o Women work a ‘double shift’
o Women have less leisure time than men
o Domestic division of labour (i.e. who does housework) remains largely unaltered

Front 28

What are two kinds of occupational segregation in the workplace?

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1. Horizontal segregation- A form of occupational segregation where women or men end up being concentrated in different kinds of work
2. Vertical segregation- Where men tend to be more highly ranked in occupations by prestige, salary, power, etc.

Front 29

What is a dual labour market? (What two elements does it consist of?)

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1. Primary labour market- Privileged, well-paid workers with good work conditions and career prospects
2. Secondary labour market- Less privileged, less satisfying work, less well-paid, less secure

Front 30

What are two elements of the concept of ‘McJobs’?

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1. Deskilling: separates manual & mental work, & removes skills and knowledge from workers to management.
2. Surveillance: the use of new technologies to ‘keep watch over’, ‘supervise’, or ‘control’ workers.

Front 31

What was the baby boom?

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the period called between the end of WWII and the mid-1960s when a large number of people were born into the New Zealand population

Front 32

What is the double standard of aging?

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the term that focuses on the way older men are evaluated positively and older women are evaluated negatively

Front 33

What is social class?

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the socioeconomically-based social division with the potential to shape individual and group social identities and political actions

Front 34

What is Neo-Marxism (20th-century Marxism)?

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A sociological approach that views classes as defined by their group relationship to the ownership and control of the means of production (capital and labour) in the economy.
It studies the economic positions that persons occupy (e.g. what they own and inherit, how they are employed) and how this creates & reproduces a system of opposing class interests based on domination and exploitation.

Front 35

What is Neo-Weberian?

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A sociological approach that views class position as defined by individual life chances in economic market situations. It also views a person’s position in society as influenced by their social status i.e. their life style and ranking.

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Neo-Marxists and Neo-Weberians generally consider New Zealand to have classes because.... even though....

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because since there is a presence of class structure
even though there is no presence of class consciousness

Front 37

Factors that lessens class awareness in New Zealand

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o Weak historical traditions of class consciousness because of settler society origins and British comparisons
o Egalitarianism often still viewed in terms of individual equal opportunity & regard and how this relates to mobility chances
o Inequalities often measured by differing life styles and status groups- not by class differences

Front 38

What is race?

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-It is usually marked by physical appearance, and people of the same race are assumed to have shared socio-cultural attributes.
-It is socially-constructed and used to classify humans into perceived distinct, fixed categories (or ‘races,’ such as Maori, Pakeha, Asian, Pacific Islander, etc)
-The concept of race emerged from social history of class ranking. e.g. Irish people were not considered ‘white’ at first because the majority were poor compared to the rich colonizing British.

Front 39

What are the commonly-perceived characteristics of ethnicity?

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o A recognized collective name
o Shared kinship and common descent
o A common history and ‘sense of place’
o Shared cultural (and possibly physical) attributes

Front 40

Are ethnicity and culture the same thing?

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No!
everyone has a culture (a way of life), but not everyone has an ethnic identity (e.g. A European/Pakeha New Zealander- ‘Kiwi’ culture, but he/she may have trouble saying that British or Irish is his ethnicity (has common descent but not raised there)

Front 41

What is ethnocentrism?

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the term for viewing others in terms of one’s own self and group-cultural and ethnic assumptions, as well as taking on an attitude of superiority towards other groups with perceived socio-cultural differences

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What is racism?

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the ideology (or world view) that assumes biological and cultural attributes of persons are seen as inherently ‘inferior’

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What is racialisation?

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the process of categorising a group as a ‘race’, defining them as a problem, and acting to disadvantage them.

Front 44

Ways racism and/or ethnocentrism affect disadvantaged groups

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o Less access to resources
o Institutional discrimination (places of residence, access to bank loans, etc)
o Racialization
o Formation of racial and ethnic minorities
o Minorities relatively powerless, often because of small numbers, in relation to majority
o Stigmatisation
o Economically and politically marginal, and often socially and spatially separate, from majority
o Racial profiling

Front 45

Issues of ethnicity that New Zealand faces today

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o Britain’s move towards Europe and away from NZ thus reinforcing ‘New Zealandness’
o Maori ‘ethnic revival’, urbanisation, and politicisation– such as the introduction of ideas among some Maori of a distinct Maori nation within New Zealand
o The increasing ethnic diversity of migrant population post-1980s. Decline of majority (i.e. European New Zealanders) in Auckland

Front 46

What does it mean to live in relative poverty?

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When an individual or family lacks the resources required to live a ‘normal life’ in terms of some measure of average means e.g. falling below 60% of average income in New Zealand.

Front 47

Social groups in New Zealand whose population are living in relative poverty

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-Most people on "the dole" (like American welfare)
-Many people who have retired with a pension
-Children in households with larger than average numbers of young persons
-Sole parents, especially women
-Disproportionate number of Maori
-Disproportionate number of immigrant minorities
-Refugees

Front 48

How is social order reinforced?

Back 48

by bearing and rearing children

Front 49

How does the temporal order view families?

Back 49

Inheritance and generation. Our parents & ancestors connect us to the past; our children to the future.

Front 50

What is blood kin?

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is the term that emphasises family based on formal, objective blood or marriage (affinal) ties

Front 51

What is fictive kin?

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the term that emphasizes subjective meaning of family, based on intimate connections & patterns of caring (and not necessarily by blood ties).

Front 52

What is the nuclear family?

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type of family is characterized by a heterosexual conjugal unit based on marriage and co-residence.
Husband, wife, 2 kids.

Front 53

Reasons why individuals may want children

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o Social pressures & expectations to reproduce
o Sign of social maturity & sexual competence
o Family is not complete without children
o Symbolizes unselfishness
o Children as companions & friends
o Continuing the family name
o Ideology of motherhood (motherhood = womanhood)

Front 54

What, according to the structural-functionalist perspective, are functions of family?

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o Socialization of children
o Stabilization of adult personalities
o Regulation of sexuality

Front 55

what is the sociological term for the division of tasks between men and women?

Back 55

Gendered division of labour

Front 56

In the functionalist perspective, what is the specific term for the roles that males, or fathers, play within the family? And how do they play this role?

Back 56

The instrumental role by providing economic support.

Front 57

In the functionalist perspective, what is the specific term for the roles that females, or mothers, play within the family? And how do they play this role?

Back 57

The affective/expressive role by providing domestic services.

Front 58

Marxist perspective believes that only when ______ _____ developed did the monogamous nuclear family appear.

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private property

Front 59

Which theoretical perspective believes that unpaid domestic labour ensures reproduction of capitalist commodity production?

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Marxist

Front 60

Reasons why feminists believe that women are systematically disadvantaged in families

Back 60

1. Fertility control, labour and childbirth management, pregnancy screening and monitoring, conceptive technologies
2. Conceptive technologies such as DI (donor insemination), IVF (in vitro fertilisation), Surrogate pregnancy (traditional/gestational), PGD (pre-implantation genetic diagnosis)

Front 61

Processes of ________ transformed folk sport into modern sport.

Back 61

rationalization

Front 62

Social functions of sport

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o practice of skills required to secure basic needs
o community values
o integration of individuals into groups
o political function by developing individual & collective identities
o a sanctioned outlet for emotion and play

Front 63

elements of the rationalization of sport

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o Rules
o Rule enforcement by official agencies & organisations nationally & internationally
o Training, strategising, testing & measuring
o Competition
o Curtailment (limitation) of play
o Bureaucratization

Front 64

Where did rugby originate?

Back 64

in medieval England from the folk football games

Front 65

The ethic associated with rugby historically is known as ______ _______.

Back 65

muscular Christianity

Front 66

What is rationalisation in sociology?

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identified by Max Weber as a social dynamic that increasingly requires things (and people) to be standardized, calculable, and disciplined into a common way of life.
It is graphically illustrated by McDonalisation.