Sociology Exam 1

Front 1

Why is monopoly significant?

Back 1

a symbol of the first chapter. a metaphor for society.
•Like how we play monopoly, we don't all have the same resources.
There are pressures and paths of least resistance

Front 2

Individualism

Back 2

individualism sees social problems as reulting from flaws in individual character. --> factors outside of a persons control. didn't lose a job b/c they were lazy --> societal factors

Front 3

How did individualism spread?

Back 3

18th century- enlightenment- science and reason
19th century- utilitarianism -->rugged cowboy, darwin (survival of the fittest), william james-reflexive self

Front 4

Ideology

Back 4

A set of beliefs, attitudes, and opinions that may or may not be based on scientific evidence.

Ideologies are created by groups

Front 5

Dominant Discourse

Back 5

Either the way most people think and speak about a particular issue or the way that the people in power think and speak about a particular issue

Front 6

David Durkheim

Back 6

1858-1917
The study of the group (sociology) is more powerful in understanding human behavior than either biology or psychology.

Front 7

Johnson's view of how society works...

Back 7

we all participate in multiple social systems
A social system is a collection of roles in relationship to one another, forming a coherent whole.
It's like Monopoly but not everyone starts off with equal privilege

Front 8

Impact of individuals

Back 8

That systems exert strong influence over our behavior but that it is also true we influence the larger systems aw we participate in them.

Front 9

Social systems <--> Individuals

Back 9

we make social systems happen--> we can be apart of changing it
As we participate in it, social systems shape us-->our lives are shaped by socialization and paths of least resistance

Front 10

Page numbers:
Privilege, Individualism, Social System, Suicide, Individual Action vs. Systems action, social position or social location, paths of least resistance

Back 10

Privilege 8, Individualism 9,20 , Social System 13, Suicide 21, Individual Action vs. Systems action 2, 31, social position or social location 34, paths of least resistance 17

Front 11

significance of suicide

Back 11

white males have highest suicide rate, suicide is personal but it is actually shaped by social systems. all behavior is shaped by social systems

Front 12

Culture

Back 12

the way we construct reality within a social system, using ideas and symbols (especially language) to assign meaning... and it's the way we habitually behave in relationship to the meaning we have constructed

Front 13

Beliefs

Back 13

What a society says is true. Society says earth is round, another says it's flat- a belief

Front 14

Values

Back 14

Beliefs that designate what is good/bad, better/worse.
Guide choices.
Guide how we treat others which can be a problem when it's based on identity not behavior.

Front 15

Norms

Back 15

Values that are reinforced with social consequences (rewards, punishments)
Society creates "paths of least resistance"
Norms can be seen as functional, norms can be a basis for privilege, stigmatization

Front 16

Two key perspectives on norms

Back 16

Functionalism- they help society work/succeed
Conflict- they create and preserve inequalities

Front 17

Attitudes

Back 17

Reactions-- often with emotional content-- based on beliefs, values and norms

Front 18

Material Culture

Back 18

The physical expression of our beliefs, values, norms and attitudes

Can be used in problematic ways

Front 19

Ethnocentrism vs. cultural relativity

Back 19

different but perhaps equally as good at fulfilling their separate missions

Front 20

Status

Back 20

the position one holds in a given social system
a position can be permanent: "father", or temporary: "pedestrian"

Front 21

• position ≠ person

Back 21

a judge is not a judge all the time.

Front 22

• Behavior may be more a function of position than personality

Back 22

we behave certain ways when were fulfilling positions

Front 23

Position both empowers and constrains

Back 23

We have to pay tuition, failure is not an option

Front 24

Status per McGinn

Back 24

the degree of honor that a position or group receives within a social system.
High status-great honor, low status-low honor

Front 25

Role

Back 25

Tole= collection of beliefs, values, attitudes and norms that apply to a position holder (in relationship to other position holders)
Roles create paths of least resistance for the position holder
This shapes/influences how we behave

Front 26

Role Conflict

Back 26

Holding multiple positions in overlapping social systems can create role conflict.

Front 27

Role structure

Back 27

the relationship that link statuses- or entire systems to one another- are the main part of what we think of as social structure
every system has a role structure that consists of a mix of statuses and role relationships

Front 28

shared values vs. unequal distribution

Back 28

americans value possessions but not all have means to obtain those possessions...
Results in strain and contradiction that people will try to solve---stolen crystal

Front 29

The larger the gap between the distribution of values and the distribution of opportunities for achieving them, the more likely deviance is to occur

Back 29

example: students who cheat may be following a path of least resistance in their system

Front 30

MARX: Many people believe that the arrangement in which men work outside as family provider and women stay home and don't work is a natural way of arranging family life that has always been around

Back 30

the pattern of wives and mothers working outside the home is are part of long term adaptation by families to an industrialist capitalist world that, like every society before it , require most adults to work for money in order for families to survive

Front 31

Culture shapes the roles associated with various statuses or positions in a social structure BUT

Back 31

culture also shapes the unequal distribution within a structure AND unequal distributions within social structures can shape culture: our beliefs, values, norms, attitudes and material culture

Front 32

Merton's Theory

Back 32

Robert Merton's theory about deviant behavior that results from the conflict between shared values and unequal distributions.

Front 33

Demography:

Back 33

the statistical study of human populations esp. patterns of birth, death and migration

Front 34

Human ecology

Back 34

the study of the relationships that exist among individuals, social systems and the physical environment and the consequences of those relationships. physical arrangements of social systems, even cyberspace

Front 35

PAGES: rate of black suicide and world population: social factors

Back 35

Death: 135
World population: 137-8

Front 36

William James

Back 36

1842-1910
What is self?-material self, social self and spiritual self.

Front 37

John Duey

Back 37

Professor at michigan --> u chicago

Front 38

Charles Horton Cooley

Back 38

1864-1929, the looking glass self
grew up in a2, graduated from umich.

Front 39

George Herbert Mean

Back 39

1863-1931
What is the social basis of individual action?
More interactive, meaning and identity were created from social interactions
taught at umich--> went to chicago

Front 40

Robert Park

Back 40

1864-1944
The self and social roles
Everyone is always and everywhere, more or less consciously playing a role"
undergrad at michigan

Front 41

Erving Goffman

Back 41

1922-1982
Givens definition to the social thoughts of cooley, the interpersonal gestures of mead and the roles of park.

Front 42

Goffman: Dramaturgy

Back 42

The person is a kind of construct, built up from moral rules that are impressed on him from without.
Self is the product of dramatic interaction between actor and audience to each other

Front 43

Language allows us to bridge between others' meaning and our meaning. Then we can construct all kinds of ideas about ourselves.

Back 43

p 132-33

Front 44

Generalized other (known only be their status/role) vs. Significant other (known by their individual behavior)

Back 44

p 135-136

Front 45

Behavior (everything we do) vs Action (intended gestures based on social meanings)

Back 45

p 138

Front 46

Our actions are like those of an actor with an audience: we try to create certain impressions (the question of authenticity)

Back 46

p 138-140

Front 47

Few things are as important or as tricky to grasp as the relationships between people and systems

Back 47

p 142

Front 48

We are objects of culture; we are subjects of culture (it operates on us; we operate on it)

Back 48

p 142

Front 49

Jazz is an analogy for society: individual players have freedom, but they play within existing musical forms. And the music happens among the players as well as with each player

Back 49

p 142

Front 50

Every situation is defined by a reality that exists only as people actively shape and support it

Back 50

p 145

Front 51

Because the methods we use to sustain a social reality are used over and over again, they take on a ritual quality

Back 51

p 147

Front 52

Social inequality is ritualized patterns that contribute to privleging some groups over others

Back 52

p 148-151