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144 Cards in this Set

  • Front
  • Back
How does sociology differ from other social sciences?
The difference between sociology and other social sciences is that sociology is the study of human society and social interaction as a whole.
Mechanical Solidarity
Developed by Durkheim, when shared activities, beliefs, and experiences create bonds in society.
Sociological imagination
Awareness of the relationship between the individual and society as a whole today and in the past.
Emile Durkheim
French sociologist, one of the founders of structural functionalism.

Came up with the mechanical solidarity theory, which describes the type of social bonds present in premodern agrarian societies, where shared beliefs created a bond.
Sociology
The scientific study of social behavior and groups. Focuses on social relationships; how those relationships influence people's behavior; and how societies, the sum total of how these relationships; develop and change.
Max Weber
German theorist.
Came up with the ideas of Verstehen, and Ideal type.
Ideal type
A construct or model for evaluating cases or a standard for measuring.
Organic Solidarity
When modern societies are based on interdependence and individual rights, and labor. (Modern ideas.)
Cultural Relativism
The principal of understanding other cultures on their own terms.
Verstehen
"Empathetic understanding" term developed by Weber describing good social research.
Class consciousness
The recognition of social inequality on the part of the oppressed, leading to revolutionary action.
Karl Marx
German economist and philosopher.
Wrote the Communist Manifesto and Das Kapital.
Came up with the "Conflict Theory
Known for modern communism.
Value-free
An ideal where researchers identify facts without allowing their own personal beliefs to interfere.
Praxis
Practical action that is taken on the basis of intellectual or theoretical understanding.
Macro Sociology
Large scale social structures and how it effects the lives of individuals.
Bourgeoisie
Owners, the class of modern capitalists who own the means of production and employ workers.
Micro Sociology
Interactions between individuals and how those interactions construct larger patterns. (Small groups of people.)
Proletariat
Workers, those who have no means of production, and sell labor.
Ethnocentrism
Using one's own culture as a means to evaluate another culture, basically, judging other cultures based on your own culture.
False consciousness
A denial of the truth on the part of the oppressed where they fail to recognize the interests of the ruling class in their ideology.
Culture shock
A sense of disorientation that occurs when you enter a new environment.
The I and Me theory
What creates an individuals individuality.
Culture
The entire way of life of a group of people that acts as a lens through which one views the world, passed on through generations.
Material
A physical object to which we give social meaning to, such as art, tools, clothes, weapons, etc...basically any physical thing that we can create.
Counterculture
A group within a society that openly objects or actively opposes values and norms.
Nonmaterial
A substance we can not create like air, or love.
Norm
A rule or guideline regarding what kinds of behaviors are acceptable and appropriate within a culture.
Subculture
A group within a society that is differentiated by it's distinctive values, norms, and lifestyles.
Social structure
The organized pattern of social relationships and social institutions that together make up society.
Taboos
A norm ingrained so deeply that even thinking about it evokes strong feelings of disgust and repulsion. (Incest, eating bugs....etc.)
Mores
A norm that carries a great moral significance, is closely related to to the core values of a cultural group. Often involves severe repercussions. (Committing rape, stealing, murder.)
Achieved status
A status earned through individual effort or imposed by others. (Example; occupation, hobby, skill.)
Children raised in isolation
Lacks no social skills, lack motor skills, have “animal-like” characteristics.
Tabula Rasa
Having a “blank slate.”
Values
A set of shared beliefs that a group of people consider to be worthwhile or desirable. (What is good, bad, ugly, or pretty.)
Status
A position in a social hierarchy that carries a particular set of expectations. (Example; professor, president, doctor, parent.)
Master status
A status that is always relevant and affects all other statuses we possess.
Laws
Formally defined norm, tells what is permissible and legal.
Ascribed status
An inborn status, usually difficult or impossible to change.
(Example; beauty, disability, color.)
Roles
A set of behaviors expected from someone because of their status.
The social construction of reality
A book about the sociology of knowledge.

Written by Peter L. Berger and Thomas Luckmann.
Folkway
A loosely enforced norm involving common customs, practices, and procedures that ensure smooth social interaction. (Waving hello to someone you know, shaking hands, taking your hat off in church.)
Quantitative
A type of data that CAN be converted into numbers, usually for statistical comparisons.
Self-fulfilling prophecy
An incorrect prediction that directly or indirectly causes itself to become true.
Diffusion of responsibilities
A person is less likely to take responsibility for action or inaction when others are present.
Group-think
The process by which group members try to preserve harmony and unity in spite of their individual opinions.
What country has the highest rate of incarceration?
The United States.
Qualitative
A type of data that CAN NOT be converted into numbers.
The Thomas Theorem
“If we define the situation as real, it is real in our consequences.”
Meaning, the consequences of a situation are due to how they are perceived, rather than the way it really is.
Separated Twins
Represents the nature vs. nurture debate, separated at birth, yet still very alike despite being raised very differently.
Social factors of America's high crime rate
Cultural emphasis on individual economic success.
Large income differences (widest gap in industrial world.)
Guns(easily available and have lax enforcement.)
Stratification
The act or process of arranging people into classes or a system of social inequality and structure.
How many black men will spend time in prison?
1 in 3.
The most commonly used type of gun?
Handguns.
The American Dream
Having sufficient income and benefits so that a family of four can afford healthcare, a home, quality child-care, and college savings.
Pros of death penalty
Some say that this causes POSITIVE deterrence and Justice, and that it costs less. $
Cons of death penalty
Some say that this causes NEGATIVE or NO deterrence, justice, and that it costs more. -$

Irreversible.
Who has the highest rate of child poverty?
The United States.
The Dodd-Frank Act
Created to protect consumers from financial fraud, cut the fees credit card companies issued, and rein in abusive lending and bets on complex securities.

Only a quarter out of 400 regulations has been written or approved.
Goals of incarceration?
Before the 1980's: to rehabilitate.

After the 1980's: punishment, cutting of prison programs, and increased time in solidarity.
United States ranking in income inequality
43.2%
Representative Sample
A sample taken so that the findings from members of the sample group can be generalized into the whole population.
Who is most likely to die from a gunshot wound?
People who live in the industrial world.
The four H's
Housing, healthcare, higher education, help with childcare.
The New Deal
A series of economic policies introduced by President Franklin D. Roosevelt after the Great Depression that left the U.S. economy in a dismal state.

Millions of American's were stuck in poverty.
First wave of feminism
Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Primary focus was women's suffrage, 19th amendment in 1920.
Problems with the poverty line
Identifies only the share of people who fall below the poverty threshold, does not reflect modern expenses and resources, and it is not adjusted for changes in the standard of living over time.
Dynamics of mobility
Structural mobility, post WWII, intra-class, affected by race ethnicity and gender.
Feminization of poverty
Lower wages, divorce laws, childcare costs.
The Dream Gap
Estimated cost of American dream was $55,000
Average two-parent income at minimum wage was $30,160

There is a gap.
Cross cultural comparisons
Comparison of various psychological, sociological, or cultural factors in order to assess the similarities or diversities occurring in two or more different cultures or societies.
Definition of Feminism?
Women and men are entitled to equal rights, women are currently disadvantaged with respect to rights, and has become the "F" word to many.
Second wave of feminism
Betty Friedan and Gloria Steinmen, violence against women, civil rights, equal rights, education, and discrimination.

Civil rights act of 1964
Where does social mobility take place?
In a society where social class is based on an accumulation of wealth.
Socialist/Marxist feminist
Based on Marx critique of capitalism, change is only possible when capitalist system of exploited class is changed.

Pay, job, segregation by sex, and childcare.
Essentialism
Emphasizes innate biological differences, ignoring historical and social context.

Rationalizes and legitimates the social and economic inequalities between men and women.
The Beauty Myth
A book written by Naomi Wolf in 1991, to emphasize myths about beauty.

Examined the ways in which women are hurt by unachievable beauty standards, and used imagery of the "Iron Maiden."
Liberal feminism
Enlightenment principals, change is possible.

Equal rights, education, and employment opportunities for women.
Radical feminist
Sexism is inherent in a patriarchal society, change is only possible if current political structures are replaced by a women-centered world.

Violence against women, pornography, and women's communities.
Beauty myths
Women's bodies are routinely judged, tremendous amount of contempt for women who don't measure up tp standards of ideal beauty, media images influence everyone's opinion of beauty, how women feel about themselves, and how men feel about the women in their lives.
Third wave of feminism
Rebecca walker, multiculturalism, sexual harassment, and sexuality.

Early 1990's.
What "causes" sexuality?
Sexuality is both biologically and socially constructed.
Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act
Act named after a production supervisor at a Goodyear store in Alabama who filed a lawsuit stating that her pay reflected sex discrimination, her appeal was eventually rejected by the Supreme Court, but the ruling ignited legal groups, who saw the court's decision as a setback for women and civil rights. This led to the formation of a bill that bore her name.

It protects against pay discrimination based on age, religion, national origin, race, and sex.
Pornography
Has no redeeming social value, is a representation of our culture’s entanglement of sex and aggression, is a big business and is growing, and decreases satisfaction in partner.

Causes more sexual violence.
Equal Pay Act
An act which prevents discrimination in the payment of benefits or wages based on an individual's gender when women and men perform work involving similar skill sets, efforts, and job responsibilities.

The act became an amendment to the Fair Labor Standards Act in 1963.
Pay gap
The difference between the amounts of money paid to women and men, often for doing the same work.

(A women makes 77 cents for every dollar a man makes.)
Sex education
Causes lower rates of abortion, STD’s, and lower pregnancy rates.
"Glass ceiling"
An intangible barrier within a hierarchy that prevents women or minorities from obtaining upper-level positions.
Cult of thinness
Women are becoming more and more slim, models in the 1950's were 5'4" and weighed 140 pounds, today they are 5'10" and weigh about 110 pounds.
1964 Civil Rights Act
Act that ended racial segregation in education, employment, public facilities and voting facilities throughout the United States.
Rasism
A prejudice that is systematically applied to members of a group.

(Usually based on skin color.)
"Mommy track"
A career path determined by work arrangements offering mothers certain benefits, such as flexible hours, but usually providing them with fewer opportunities for advancement.
Prejudice
A set of beliefs or attitudes that cause us to negatively pre-judge people based on their social location.
Abstinence
Promoted by the government, however, most Americans (even Evangelicals) believe balanced sex education should be taught in schools.
American waves of immigration
1. Colonial immigration
2. Irish, Germans, and Chinese (mid 1800's)
3. Eastern and Southern Europe (early 1900's)
4. Cuba, S. American and Central America, Mexico, Asia (mid 1900-now)
Merton's typology
All-weather bigots
(prejudice and discriminate)

Fair-weather bigots
(prejudice, but do not discriminate)

Fair-weather liberals
(Not prejudice, but discriminate)

All-weather liberals
(do neither)
Is race real?
No, it is made up, but we believe it is real.
The gender of sexuality
Single-most organizing principal of sexuality, “his” and “her” sexuality, doctors assumed women lacked sexual desire, sexual double standard, Gay men and lesbians carry over gendered sexual predispositions,
American Immigration policies
Chinese Exclusion Act
The Johnson-Reed Act
Hart-Cellar Act

Immigration Reform and Control Act:
provided amnesty to undocumented immigrants and attempted to curb future illegal immigration by imposing strict sanctions against employers who hire workers without the legal right to work in the US.
Race
A biological distinction with no basis in any
empirical fact.
American family composition
Fair Housing Act
Banned discrimination from housing.
Tokenism
The practice of making no more than a token effort or gesture, as in offering opportunities to minorities equal to those of the majority.
Hypersegregation
The concentration of people of color in poor urban areas.
Family changes in the mid 1800's.
A new middle class began to emerge, new division of household labor, mother became the primary parent and caretaker of the home.

Love in marriage began to matter; spouses began calling each other “honey” and “dear."

Emerging ideal of a protected childhood, children as innocent, sharp decline in the birth rate.
American family in historical context
A common myth in the history of the American family that the male was the breadwinner, and the female was the homemaker.

It wasn't until the 1920’s did a majority of children come to live in a home where the husband was the breadwinner, the wife was a full time homemaker, and the kids could go to school instead of working for wages.
Discrimination
A set of actions based on prejudice and stereotypes.
Lives of slave families
One third of all slave marriages were broken by sale, half of all slave children were sold from parents, and no law existed to protect slave marriages.

Many families relied on an extended network of kin and “fictive kin," which was non blood relatives, who cared for and protected the children.
Reasons for not reporting a rape to the police?
Embarrassment, lack of understanding of legal definition, not wanting to define the person responsible as a “rapist, not wanting to define themselves as victims of rape, Ideal victim/ ideal crime, and prevalence of rape myths.
Families in Colonial America
Family was an economic unit, little emphasis on familial privacy, community authorities and neighbors supervised and intervened in family life, and
the father was the absolute head of household.

He educated the children, communicated with extended family members, received custody of children after divorce or separation, was primary parent and was legally permitted to punish wife, children, and servants.
Love in marriage
A new phenomenon, began in the United States in the Puritan Era, and was uniquely an American idea.
“The second shift”
Using gender to predict who is spending how much time doing housework.
Same-sex parenting
Children of same-sex families have no significant differences on measures of anxiety, self-esteem, and depression compared to children raised with heterosexual parents, are slightly more likely to identify as gay or lesbian, which is likely due to being raised in more accepting environment.
Interracial marriage
Men and women of different races were not legally permitted to marry until Loving vs. State of Virginia decision, made it legal in 1967.

Only 7% percent of marriages are interracial.
Divorce
Do children make us happy?
Not always, parents are more likely to experience higher levels of depression rather than childless couples.
Division of household labor
Women were reported to be doing the majority of the housework in every nation, while men just "help out" when they do chores.

Women spend two to three hours a week of "mental housework, thinking about how they're going to do it all.
Rape
More than 1 in 3 women have experienced rape, stalking, or physical violence by a intimate partner.

Over the course of a college career, approximately 20% of women experience a completed or attempted rape, 1 in 5 college women have been the victims of a completed or attempted rape.
DOMA
Defense of Marriage Act.

Signed into law by President Clinton on Sept. 21, 1996.

Permits the federal government and each state to deny legal recognition of gay marriages performed by any state.

Allows the federal government to exclude gay married couples from the hundreds of rights, responsibilities and federal benefits enjoyed by heterosexual spouses.
The mommy "myth"
The idealization of motherhood, characterized by ultimate fulfillment as a woman is achieved by becoming a mother, to be a good mother, a woman must like being a mother as well as all the work the goes into motherhood.

A woman’s intense, exclusive devotion to mothering is good for her children, women spend two to three times as much time with children as men do.

“Physical care,” consumes more than half of mothers childcare time, but only a third of fathers.
Same-sex marriages, custody, adoption
Only 10 states make it legal for gay couples to get married.

In 2008, Arkansas voters passed a measure banning unmarried couples from serving as foster parents and from adopting children. Mississippi, Utah, Louisiana, North Carolina, and Michigan have legal restrictions for joint adoptions by gay couples, and are prohibited from becoming foster parents in Utah and Nebraska.
Femme Covert
"A woman was the property of her husband."
Do women define their victimization as rape?
About 48.8% of the women who experienced a completed rape did not define the incident as “rape."
"The rule of thumb"
A rule that derived from English common law, traced back to Sir Frances Buller, in 1782, first recognized in the United States in Mississippi in 1824.

Allowed a man to beat his wife with a stick so long as it is was no thicker than his thumb.
How many rapes were actually reported to police?
Less than 5%.
How many men and women were sexually abused in childhood?
1 in 4 women, and 1 in 7 men.
When did marital rape become a crime?
The first marital rape law was enacted in Nebraska in 1976, making it illegal for a husband to rape his wife.

On July 5, 1993, marital rape became a crime in all 50 states.

In 33 states, there are still some exemptions given to husbands from rape prosecution.
Motivations of animal abusers
Control and intimidation of the human victim, warning, proxy for abuse intended human victims.
History of US education
After the U.S.Revolution, many were concerned that the numerous religious and ethnic groups would make the nation unstable, so they proposed universal schooling to create a uniform national culture.

In 1837, Horace Mann proposed the idea of “common schools” supported by taxes so that everyone could have a free public education.
The functions of education
Rosenthal-Jacobson experiment
Tested a classroom of students in a CA grade school.
Told the teachers which students were exceptional, and the teachers were told to watch the students’ progress but not to let the students or parents know about the test results.

At the end of the year, the students were tested again. The IQ scores of the students labeled as exceptional had jumped 10 to 15 points ahead of the other children.

"exceptional children," were not actually better than the other kids.
Private vs. public schools
1 in 9 American children attend private schools, white students are twice as likely to attend private schools as black students, and private schools often have advantages in educational quality and social capital.
Court cases against racial segregation in class rooms
Brown vs. Board of Education.
Board of Education of Oklahoma City Public School vs. Dowel.
"Consuming kids."
A Multibillion-dollar youth marketing industry that has used the latest advances in psychology, anthropology, and neuroscience to transform American children into one of the most powerful and profitable consumer demographics in the world. American kids, are targeted from birth with sales pitches for everything from junk food to iPods, cell phones, and the family car. Traces the evolution and impact of this unprecedented phenomenon.
Reasons why American's are becoming less healthy
Syndrome of conditioned hyper- eating.

Food and restaurant corporations spend enormous amounts of money researching and creating highly “palatable” foods.

Recently there have been increases in cheese-laden dishes. (Domino's, Taco-bell, etc...)

Fast-food restaurants on every corner.
Obesity epidemic
Body mass index (BMI) of 30 or more.

Obesity has become worse and worse every single year.
Farm Subsidies
Financial assistance paid by the U.S. government to American farmers.

Food subsidies affect food nutritionally, and primary component of livestock diet is grain, rather than grasses.
Amazing facts about health
U.S. businesses lose more than $1 trillion a year in productivity due to chronic illness.

The U.S. is the only industrialized nation that does not ensure health care for every citizen.

Approx half of all U.S. bankruptcy filings were precipitated by medical debt.

Per person, the U.S. spends more than twice the average of other industrialized countries on health care.

Low-income adults are 50% more likely to suffer heart disease than top earners. Those second from the top are almost 20% more likely than those at the top.
The Whitehall study
The original Whitehall study of British civil servants began in 1967 and showed a steep inverse association between social class, as assessed by grade of employment, and mortality from a wide range of diseases.
The Sociological Perspective
A way at looking at the world through a sociological lens. "Seeing the world in a whole new light."
Functionalism
Where aspects of our society are interdependent, and rely on each other to function. It does not challenge the way things are, but works together to achieve a common goal.
Conflict theory
A paradigm that sees social conflict as the basis of society and social change, and emphasizes a materialist view of society, a critical view of the status quo, and a dynamic model of historical change.
Symbolic interactionism
A belief that society is the product of interaction and communication between people and using gestures, symbols and, sounds to achieve this interaction.
Socialization
When an individual acquires an identity and learns the norms, values, behavior, and social skills appropriate to his or her social position. Becoming socialized with the people around them.