Sociology Test 3

Front 1

primary group

Back 1

involves 2 or more people who enjoy a direct, intimate, cohesive relationship with one another (e.g. family, friends, lovers)

Front 2

seconadary group

Back 2

involves 2 or more people who are involved in an impersonal relationship and have come together for a specific, practical purpose (e.g. consumer/clerk)

Front 3

reference group

Back 3

a social unit we use for appraising and shaping attitudes, feelings and actions
- Normative & comparative functions; clues to social change

Front 4

in group

Back 4

a group with which we identify and to which we belong (WE)
- Help shape identity

Front 5

out group

Back 5

a group with which we do not identify and to which we do not belong (THEY)
- Establish boundaries for interaction

Front 6

relative deprivation

Back 6

discontent with what we have & belief in what we should have

Front 7

relationship

Back 7

when an association continues long enough for 2 people to become linked together by relatively stable set of expectations

Front 8

expressive ties

Back 8

social links formed when we emotionally invest ourselves in and commit ourselves to other people

Front 9

instrumental ties

Back 9

social links formed when we cooperate with other people to achieve some goal.

Front 10

dyad

Back 10

2 person groups

Front 11

triad

Back 11

3 person groups

Front 12

compliance

Back 12

(the mildest form of conformity) to gain reward or avoid punishment.

Front 13

identification

Back 13

conformity to establish or maintain a relationship with a person or group.

Front 14

internalization

Back 14

(the strongest type of conformity) an individual adopts the beliefs or actions of a group and makes them her own.

Front 15

coercive power

Back 15

backed up by the threat of force

Front 16

influential power

Back 16

supported by persuasion

Front 17

Max Weber

Back 17

identified three types of authority found in social organizations.

Front 18

traditional authority

Back 18

is authority based in custom, birthright, or divine right, and usually associated with monarchies and dynasties.

Front 19

legal-rational authority

Back 19

is authority based in laws, rules, and procedures.

Front 20

Charismatic authority

Back 20

is based in the perception of remarkable personal qualities in a leader.

Front 21

Sherif

Back 21

Autokinetic Effect (i.e. dark room single point of light)

Front 22

Weber's "Iron Cage"

Back 22

Iron Law of Oligarchy: organizational rule by a few (Robert Michels 1911/66)
Trained Incapacity: specialists develop blind spots for organizational problems
Bureaucracies have turned free people into nothing more than “cogs” in the organizational machines; like being confined in an Iron Cage.

Front 23

What was the primary point we learned from Sherif's study using the autokinetic effect?

Back 23

Findings:
individual judgments not random (1-4 in)
Groups develop characteristic judgments
Judgments tend to converge; change to group view
Individuals tended to claim independence
Confederates affected judgments of naive subjects
Subsequent Findings:
more ambiguity more reliance on group
a belief structure is less likely to change.

Front 24

Weber

Back 24

Ideal types, Hierarchy of positions & the delegation of tasks

Rationality and organization in decision-making maximizes efficiency and productivity (ideal type)

Front 25

George Ritzer

Back 25

McDonaldization

Front 26

Four Characteristics of McDonaldization

Back 26

Efficiency – consumer turned into unpaid labor (e.g. ATM, trash, drink)
Calculability – quantity not quality (e.g. Microsoft, McDonald’s available everywhere)
Predictability – know what to expect
Irrationality of Rationality – unreasonable of rational systems (e.g. family)

Front 27

GROUPTHINK (Irving Janis)

Back 27

GroupThink – a decision making process found in highly cohesive groups in which the members become so preoccupied with maintaining consensus that their critical faculties are impaired

Front 28

Characteristics of GROUPTHINK

Back 28

Members share an illusion of invulnerability that leads to overconfidence, a greater willingness to take risks, and a tendency to ignore contrary evidence
Members demand conformity & apply pressure
Withhold dissent and exercise self-censorship

Front 29

formal organizations

Back 29

groups designed for a special purpose and structured for maximum efficiency.
Examples: federal government, multinational corporations, big universities, big hospitals, big unions, and big farm organizations

Front 30

Voluntary

Back 30

associations that members enter and leave freely (e.g. Parent-Teacher Association, coin collectors’ clubs, League of Women Voters

Front 31

Coercive Organization

Back 31

people become members against their will.
Example: Total Institution (Goffman, 1961)
individuals isolated from rest of society
Exposed to resocialization; new identity
Mortification: separation from friends/family
Made vulnerable to institutional control
forced into demeaning postures

Front 32

bureaucracy

Back 32

a social structure made up of a hierarchy of statuses and roles that is prescribed by explicit rules and procedures & based on division of function & authority.

Front 33

veritcal mobility

Back 33

involves movement from one social status to another of higher or lower rank

Front 34

horizontal mobility

Back 34

entails movement from one social status to another of equivalent rank

Front 35

intergenerational mobility

Back 35

involves a comparison of the social status of parents & their children (i.e. rankings of occupations at roughly same age)

Front 36

intragenerational mobility

Back 36

ntails a comparison of the social status of a person over an extended time period

Front 37

open system

Back 37

(achieved status) where people can change their status with relative ease

Front 38

closed system

Back 38

(ascribed status) people have great difficulty in changing their status

Front 39

kingsley davis and wilbert moore

Back 39

stratification is universal and necessary
society is never totally classless
stratification does not refer to individuals rather it refer to social positions (that need to be occupied)
each position comes with a particular level of prestige and the focus should be on these structures

Front 40

culture of poverty

Back 40

the poor lack effective participation and integration within larger society (Oscar Lewis 1959; Banfield 1970)

Front 41

Critiques of theory

Back 41

Once poor always poor
Ignores factors such as race
Poverty not viewed as a structural feature of capitalism

Front 42

class consciousness

Back 42

subjective awareness of common vested interests and the need for collective political action to bring about change

Front 43

false consiciousness

Back 43

attitude held by members of class that does not accurately reflect their objective position

Front 44

Karl Max

Back 44

class differenation