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38 Cards in this Set

  • Front
  • Back
structure
Structure describes a pattern of social relationships and behaviors that work as a system to organize social life
agency
Agency describes the power individuals have to participate in, reinforce, create, and change social structures
sociological imagination
The ability to see connections between our personal lives and the social world in which we live. allows us to distinguish between personal troubles and public issues and juxtapose biographies to history.
social construction theory
concepts and categories that appear to be static or fixed and often completely biological (ie gender, race, sexuality) are defined by human beings through their interactions with one another in particular social and cultural contexts
critical constructionism
role of elite interests in constructing social problems. discusses problems in the popular domain. attempts to give voice to the less powerful in society.
Social Class and Marxism
Social class is dictated by one’s wealth, occupation, income and education. It is a social relation. The Marxist view is that social class is rooted in the labor process. Social power given to the capitalist includes the right to command labor, and the right to the product of labor.
Capitalism and its characteristics
System of wage labor an commodity production for sale, exchange, and profit rather than for the immediate need of the producer. Characteristics include economic motivation through profit, determination of prices and wages through supply and demand, absence of governmental intervention, and competition.
Alienation and its various aspects
According to Marxian theory, alienation refers to the separation of things that naturally belong together. The proletariat experience alienation from: the product of their labor, the process of their labor, other workers, and from their Gattungswesen, or species being.
Externalities
Externalities are “spill over” effects that arise from the production or consumption of a good. In these cases in a competitive market, the full cost or benefit of consumption or production is not accounted for. In these cases a third party often suffers by another parties decision they did not consent to. For example, Monsanto is in agreement with many soybean growers to use their Round Up resistant seeds. However, farmers who don’t use Round Up resistant seeds get their corn cross-pollinated with Monsanto’s and are then technically breaking patent laws.
Oligopsony
A system in which a small number of buyers controls a large number of sellers. This system is important because of the power the buyers can exert over the sellers (setting prices). In addition, although price setting is illegal, it happens often in the system because the sellers HAVE to sell their product; there is nowhere else to sell it to. Examples include potatoes, chicken farmers, and tomatoes.
Paradoxes of Food
Food provides pleasure/satiety, but can produce displease/nausea/vomiting. Food is required for vigor/energy/health, but can introduce illness/disease. Food is required for the continuation of life, but entails the death of the organisms consumed.
Taylorism and its characteristics
Division of complex tasks into discrete tasks. Creation of a sequenced pattern. Build sequence into a system of machine control. On-site observation to ensure control. Individualized performance evaluation.
Industrialization
industrialization: manufacturing
less hand labor more machines
increase in division of labor
large factories, a lot of migration
not producing in the US anymore, its all offshore
Post-industrialization: service economy
larger economy of service
automated and computerized production
higher standard of living
Bureaucracy
A large scale organization composed of a hierarchy of offices. Tenants include:
Calculability - reduce everything to a measurable quantity
Efficiency - reduce inputs, maximize outputs
Predictability- create uniform product
Control - using technology to replace humans

Attempts to achieve something/a product using as little resources and time but with greatest efficiency.
Rationalization and its characteristics
When things become rearranged to focus solely on efficiency. Efficiency in this sense applies to the industry or company, not the customer. For example, it is rational for a supermarket to set up self-checkout lines to cut costs on hiring workers. Once more, exodus of responsibility is placed upon the consumer to cut costs.
SLAPPS/Veggie libel laws and specific examples
SLAPPS (Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participants)
Food SLAPPS
veggie libel laws
1991-1992 veggie libel laws in 13 states
must prove statements are true
1996 Tex cattle-ranchers
April 16, 1996 Mad cow disease
10.3 million dollars suit
prices of cattle dropped
Mclibel
England 1980
“Whats wrong with McD’s”
exploiting children, workers
damaging rainforests
sent spies to see who organized
names and addresses
5 individuals sued
demonstrate it was true
1994 2 1/2 years longest trial in Britain
2/3 of SLAPPS are dropped before the trial
Most Veggie Libel/SLAPPS lawsuits are not filed for the purpose of the corporation to win, they are used as a means to scare future veggie libel law “offenders” out of talking badly about the corporation. The defendants often have a large monetary loss and often have to devote more time than they have to the case. This forces them to eventually give the case up which is why ⅔ of the cases are dropped before trial or settled out of court.
Lobbying characteristics and goals
Any legal attempt made by individuals or groups to influence government policy or action. Lobbying has 3 main elements:
Promoting the views of interest groups
Attempting to influence laws, rules, and/or policies
Communicating with government officials
Major component in how elected officials learn about various research on a subject and also allows officials hear from experts on the subject and finally helps officials to make necessary decisions
Revolving door describes the ease and regularity in which public officials move to the private sector and vice versa, where in one industry they operate for the good of humanity and in the other to maximize profit. Conflicting points of interest may result.
Cattlemen v.s Oprah Winfrey
“It has stopped me cold from eating another burger”
Supposedly the cattle for prices dropped; However to further investigation found out it had already started declining before statement
Farmers were suing $10.3 million, $7 million
1998 Trial Began
Chiquita Banana v.s Cincinnati
- “Using pesticides in irresponsible ways
- Bribed local officials
- Rather than dealing with the charges Chiquita lawyers accused reporters of obtaining telephone records
- News paper rapidly fire reporters published an apology and paid a $10 million settlement fee
What is the relationship between class and obesity?
Low social class begets obesity. Because poor people cannot afford nutritious, healthy food, they instead reach for highly processed fast food. These low-quality foods offer more caloric bang for their buck, but at the severe cost of their health. People of low social class may also not have access to healthy foods, and difficult working conditions (i.e. manual labor, or working 2 jobs) may not allocate enough time to cook their own healthy meals.
what are the benefits and downfalls of routinization of fast food?
The benefits include increased efficiency, uniform product, increased control, and the power to dictate wages, hours, and working conditions. Downfalls include low wages (often below minimum wage when first-starting off and if under 20), a lack of fulfillment in completing a routinized task, and a general sense of futility and alienation as described in Marxian theory. Additionally, the routinization leads to a more centralized supply of food which then exposes consumers to an increased likelihood of mass outbreak of food pathogens, having had the exodus of responsibility placed upon the individual fast food chain to sufficiently cook their hamburgers.
How have the demands of the fast food industry shaped potato production and the meat industry?
Before companies like McDonald’s started using an assembly line in the kitchen and making cheaper/faster products, potato production was essentially like any other vegetable. It was farmed normally and distributed to grocery stores and restaurants across America. The french fries were made from whole potatoes in the restaurant. Ray Kroc then switched to frozen french fries. This was because mass production of french fries became possible due to technological advances. The frozen french fries appealed to Kroc because they ensured uniformity and cut labor costs (could be produced in a factory rather than in the restaurant). French fries became the most profitable item on the menu.Now, fast food restaurants supply 90% of the 30 lbs/year of frozen french fries that Americans eat. There are only three main companies that produce and supply the bulk of frozen french fries (JR Simplot, Lamb Weston, McCain). They compete to have lower prices to market to fast food companies lowering wholesale costs and making the retail of french fries larger. However, the potato farmer only gets about $.02 of every $1.50 spent of french fries. (Try and drive down the prices, but the increasing productivity benefits the processors and fast food chains more) In the past 25 years, Idaho has lost about half of its potato farmers because it costs $1,500/acre to farm potatoes, so if you buy 400 acres you’re $1/2 million in the hole before you sell any potatoes. If you made $5 per hundred weight of potatoes, you’d make a profit but some years they only sell for $1.50/hundred weight. Oligopsony and fallacy of composition. Every cow is designed to be the same, raised in the same cheap way. This makes the meat cheaper for fast food restaurants and encourages meat producers to continue to produce as many cows without thinking of the consequences. Cattle farmers themselves don’t recieve adequate compensation for the amount of meat consumption that branches from the sale of meat in fast food restaurants.
What are the social costs of low wages? How does the fast food industry keep workers ‘in their place’?
Social costs include a large disparity of income and living conditions between those running the firm and those working for the firm. Workers feel alienated from their end-product, and feel no sense of pride in their low-waged job that is highly routinized. Most robberies/crimes committed against a chain are by former employees that were disgruntled over how they were treated. Workers are kept in their place through techniques such as "stroking", whereby they are positively reinforced with complements in order to maximize their efficiency. Also implicitly made aware that their jobs and simply and they themselves are easily replaceable. Workers are treated as sub-human by customers that feel no obligation to respect them.
What labor issues do farm workers face? What actions have been taken to ameliorate these problems?
Labor issues include lack of wage/hour standards, few labor protections for children/youth, sub-standard housing, unsafe transportation, exclusion from unemployment insurance, prevention of collective bargaining, forced labor abuses, lack of workers’ compensation protections, heat stress, and pesticide exposure. Actions to better these problems include unionization (United Farm Workers, Coalition of Immokalee Workers) to strengthen collective bargaining, and campaigns supporting firms that employ more legitimate work ethics (Campaign for Fair Food).
How do catering companies manipulate and extract labor from workers according to Brian Halpin's guest lecture? What keeps the workers from doing anything about it?
Today’s economy lends to hiring temporary workers and laborization practices are a source of cost cutting. The workers are undocumented and the management uses scheduling tactics to keep up with fluctuating demand (change schedule around without telling the worker, so they put in work but don’t get paid). Undocumented workers put up with poor management because of (1) fear of deportation, (2) lack of job options, (3) a need for a job to survive. Workers are protected by labor laws but either don't know of them or aren't bold enough to take legal action.
What are slaughterhouse conditions like for workers? How does the industry fight job safety regulations?
The work environment is dangerous and unregulated, where individuals work hastily with sharp, fast machines and as a result, are subject to high rates of severe job-related injuries. The industry prevents safety regulation through its policy of voluntary compliance - if the slaughterhouse has less injuries than a given average, then they don’t need to consent to on-site inspections. This provides economic motive for them to falsify injury/contamination records such that they need not consent and can continue with unsafe, unregulated conditions.
what are some of the parallel experiences between fast food workers, slaughterhouse workers, and farm workers?
All workers are easily replaceable, receive low wages, are often non-US citizens which decreases oversight and increases the likelihood of exploitation, and are often teens that are more compliant.
what is the fallacy of composition and how does it apply to potato farmers and cattle ranchers?
The fallacy of composition describes the erroneous belief that what’s good for the individual will be good for everyone. Specifically, while it may be personally beneficial for one farmer to plant as many potatoes as he can in an acre of land, when many farmers do this, it drives down the price of potatoes and proves harmful to all farmers trying to turn a profit. The harder a farmer works to improve their income, the more farmers in general tend to work to improve their income, which offsets the additional effort exerted in the first place.
Explain the plight of chicken farmers.
Although companies such as Tyson provide farmers with birds, feed, antibiotics, and other supplies needed, farmers get into contracts that do not have any guaranteed pay and benefits. In fact, farmers take on all the risks and receive very little rewards. In order to buy a farm, farmers have to take out loans to afford it and usually get into deep debt because their farm cannot earn enough money and a bad flock of chickens can destroy them. Also, the companies can demand for changes and improvements to the chicken houses or else they can cancel or change your contract without any warning.
Discuss Wal-mart’s new initiative and its potential benefits and pitfalls.
Wal-mart’s new initiative is to market more healthful foods and to reduce produce prices. This includes reasonably priced fruits and vegetables and reducing the sugar in soft drinks. Potential benefits are that low income consumers can now afford to buy healthier groceries for the family. A pitfall, as mentioned in lecture, is that cheaper foods come at a cost. Reducing the cost of the product often means reducing the cost in labor. Since Wal-mart sells more groceries than any other company it can also push manufacturers of processed foods to make healthier foods for customers.
Describe Pollan's three food rules and his critique of nutritionism.
) eat food(aka something your great grandparent would consider food-nothing processed) 2)Do not eat too much 3)Try to eat mostly plants-vegetables and fruit
He critiques nutritionism by saying that food’s nutritional value is more than the combination of all the food nutritional values. This is like saying the “whole is greater than the sum of its parts” type of logic. Pollan says because of the way people rely on individual nutrition labels, it has caused many health problems. Pollan thinks that we should rely more on bodily health rather than individual nutrition facts.
What is E. Coli? How does it get into the meat (describe potential points of origin and entry at feedlots, and slaughterhouses)? Why is it so harmful? How has the meat industry shifted blame?
E. coli is a bacterium that can be found in the gut of mammals. Sometimes it is harmless, but other times can cause serious illness and even death. Normally, the strands of E. coli found in cows is harmless to humans because the human stomach, which is a much more acidic environment than a cow stomach, is immune to the weak strands of E. coli that have adapted to survive in a cow. However, due to the corn diet that most cows are now fed, the pH level in a cow’s stomach has increased to a pH more similar to humans. This is caused by acidosis (increased acidity in the blood), which with more and more cows are being diagnosed. The E. coli in the stomach of a cow with acidosis learns to adapt to the acidic environment, and is therefore fit to thrive in our stomachs, which makes it quite detrimental for humans. Cows live in feedlots covered with feces, which is then on there skin and exposed to the meat by the time its cut up at the slaughterhouse. Placed exodus of responsibility on individual fast food chains and consumer to fully cook their meat, externalizing another potential cost for the firms.
What were the characteristics of food poisoning outbreaks ‘in the olden days’? What about now? What contributed to these changes?
Back in the “olden days”, there was a decentralization of operation. A hamburger was made from one cow and it was distributed close to where it was made. If there was an outbreak in food-born illness, it remained close to the location of the distributor of that product. Because of this, many less people got sick from the contamination of one (or one herd) of cows.
Now, there can be thousands of cows in one patty, and the meat can come from all over America. There is a huge distribution of food and mass production, which increase the likelihood that you personally will come in contact with an infected piece of meat. It also increases the likelihood that many other people will become infected, which is why huge amounts of people get sick from one shipment of meat and recalls are nationwide.
List and describe the five themes of food safety politics
Distribution of authority among federal agencies (FDA, USDA, EPA, etc)
Food industry’s promotion of self interest over public health and safety
Food industry’s use of science as rationale
Consumer advocacy groups’ use of food safety to highlight corporate and governmental problems
Differences between how scientists and the public view food safety risks
Compare and contrast science-based and value-based approaches to food safety.
The science-based approaches are not free of values, and the value-based approaches also consider science”. The estimation of a risk is a scientific question. The acceptability of a given level of risk is a political question. Measures benefit/cost vs. dread/outrage.
Describe the Food Safety Modernization Act. What foods does it cover and not cover? What are its benefits? What are potential problems with it?
January 4, 2011. Inspection and Compliance → FDA has to increase frequency of food processing places; focus on high risk food (which can change over time)
Imported Food Safety → 15% of food comes from out of the country; Currently, the FDA inspects one out of one million pounds of imported food; importers would have to use a verification system to show that the food was safe and gives the FDA the power to reject contaminated food
Response → FDA can demand a recall for food products; New system that will better track the products. Doesn’t involve the USDA
Doesn’t apply to slaughterhouses and meat packing plants, or milk.
What are the causes and consequences of food scares?
food scare is defined as an outbreak of collective nutritional anxiety which seizes hold of public awareness and can lead to both significant short and long term anxiety. The type of solutions offered in food scares are usually personal, such as telling the consumer to cook the food better and be more aware of kitchen hygiene.
What are structural obstacles to food industry regulation, be it workplace safety, food safety, labeling, appropriate dietary guidelines, recalls, etc.?
Because the food industry is so involved in politics, its extremely hard to pass any legislation that would effectivly regulate the food industry in a meaningful way. When the food company executives are making the legislation then they aren’t really going to write legislation that would decrease the profits or efficiency of their own companies.