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SOCY 105 exam #1
exam 1 socy 105 fall 09
44
Sociology
Undergraduate 3
10/12/2009

Additional Sociology Flashcards

 


 

Cards

Term

WHAT IS SOCIOLOGY

Definition

- systematic study of individuals, groups and social structures

 

- offers objective approach to indentifying & understanding the causes of social problems

 

- problems and solutions exist not nly on individual level

Term
SOCIOLOGICAL IMAGINATION
Definition

- (C Wright Mills) links personal to the public/ individual to society. When numerous people in society experience the same problem, that problem exists at the social level; solution must come at social level

Term
OBJECTIVE REALITY
Definition

acknowledging that a social problem does exist; can be confirmed with data collection

Term
SUBJECTIVE REALITY
Definition

how a problem becomes defined as a problem; social construction

Term

IDENTIFYING SOCIAL PROBLEMS

FOUR STAGE SUBJECTIVE PROCESS:

STAGE 1

STAGE 2

Definition

1.) transformation - taking a private toruble and transforming it into a public issue > influential groups, activist, advocates call attention to and define an issue as a social problem

 

2.) Legitimization - creating and implementing a formal response (i.e. creating a new organization/changing state/fed agency to handle problem)

Term

IDENTIFYING SOCIAL PROBLEMS

FOUR STAGE SUBJECTIVE PROCESS:

STAGE 3

STAGE 4

Definition

3.) Conflict - if stage 2 is unable to address problem, activists and victims demand readjustment of the formal response system (ex. protests, public demonstrations, media attention etc.)

 

4.) Overhaul - groups believe they can no longer work within the established system

Term

FOUR PERSPECTIVES

FUCTIONALIST

Definition
  • Emile Durkheim
  • manifest and latent fuctions
  • macro level
  • society is like human body (ex. body organs have specific fuctions but work together)
  • rapid change in institutions such as family, politics, religion threaten social order because it disrupts the balance of society
  • this state of normlessness/anomie society is particularly prone to social problems
Term

FOUR PERSPECTIVES

CONFLICT

Definition
  • Karl Marx
  • marcro level; focus is on conflict in economic system
  • society held together by power of coercion for the benefit of those in power
  • social problems emerge from conflict between groups where the more powerful group usually wins
  • biggest social problem from this perspective is the system itself and the inequality it creates
  • solution must be societal rather individual
Term

FOUR PERSPECTIVES

FEMINIST


Definition
  • defines gender (and race and social class) as a source of social inequality, group conflict, and social problems
  • patriarchal society (one in which men dominate women and justify it through devaluation) is the basis of social problems
  • may adopt other three perspectives but focus is on how men and women (and those of different races and social classes) are situated in society differently and unequally
Term

FOUR PERSPECTIVES

INTERACTIONIST

Definition
  • George Herbert Mead
  • society is teh organized and patterned interactions among individuals
  • the self is a mental and social process, the reflective ability to see others in relation to oneself (vice versa)
Term

SOCIAL CLASS

INCOME

Definition
  • money earned from work
  • usually measured as a median household income
  • 2007 median household income (PPP): $50,233
  • income distribution: top 20% holds 50% of all US income, bottom 20% holds 3%
Term

SOCIAL CLASS

WEALTH

Definition
  • usually defined as the value of assets owned by household
  • measured as: gross assets > net worth = assets - debt
  • wealth is more stable within families and across generations than are income, occupation, or education
  • can be used to secure and produce wealth

more unequally distributed and concentrated than income

wealth gap between whites/ non-whites about 80,000 due to home ownership

Term

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE POOR?

ABSOLUTE POVERTY

RELATIVE POVERTY

Definition

absolute poverty - a lack of basic necessities (food, clothing, shelter, income)

 

relative poverty - a situation whre people are falling behind the average income/ lifestyle enjoyed by the rest of society

Term
POVERTY RATE
Definition

# of poeple per 100 that live below poverty thresshold (how much a family needs to live above poverty line)

 

(2006) 12.3% (36.5 million)

Term

FOUR PERSPECTIVES ON SOCIAL CLASS

FUNCTIONALIST


Definition

functionalist - not everyone can/should be equal; inequality is necessary for social order; based on value of one's work/talent; social institutions (educational) sort everything into proper place

 

 

Term

FOUR PERSPECTIVES ON SOCIAL CLASS

CONFLICT

Definition

conflict -inevitable inequality; inequality a system of power domination systematically maintained by those trying to keep their advantage; based on things like class/race/ethnicity age

- Karl Marx saw one's class as solely determined by economic stance in society  > either worker or owner of the means of production

- Webber: social class a combination of wealth, power and prestige

Term

FOUR PERSPECTIVES ON SOCIAL CLASS

FEMINIST

Definition

welfare state is arena of political struggle with system of power and domination

- US welfare system policy shaped by drive to maintain male dominance and patriarchal family form

- Abromovitz (1996) - media/politicians create image of welfare system abusing moms > deserving poor (widows with children) and undeserving poor (single and divorced mothers)

 

Term

FOUR PERSPECTIVES ON SOCIAL CLASS

INTERACTIONIST

Definition

- class differences are communicated through symbols > meaning of symbols is constructed/constrained by social forces > reproduce social inequality

 

- Culture of Poverty - a set of norms, values, and beliefs that encourage and perpetuate poverty; poor are socialized differently and pas these values on to their children

-Cycle of Pover: poor parents ahve poor children, who turn into poor adults, etc.

 

-Criticisms: no evidence to support notion that poor have different set of values and beliefs

Term

INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION


Definition

economic shift from agriculture to industry that occurred in the late 18th to early 19th century; family production replaced with market production where capitalist owners paid workers wages to produce goods

Term
SERVICE REVOLUTION
Definition

in late 1960s US economy shifted from a manufacturing to service economy, dominated by service and information occupations

Term
DEINDUSTRIALIZATION
Definition

a widespread systematic disinvestment in manufacturing/production capacities; often replaced with instable low paying jobs/ no job  > significant loss of revenue, cut of public services

Term

KNOWLEDGE AS PROPERTY

2 Types of knowledge:

Socialized

&

Scarce (non-socialized)

Definition

socialized knowledge - known by most adults; not private property; little power or influence

 

scarce knowledge - known by special groups can be privatized (license, degrees, legal barriers etc.); confers large amount of power and influence

Term

KNOWLEDGE AS PROPERTY

Knowledge classes

Definition

when a group organizes to monopolize the general fund of marketable skills

 

examples: electricians; scientific professional

Term

CAPITAL, LABOR & KNOWLEDGE DISTRIBUTION

TYPE 1

Definition

capital, labor, knowledge

 

all productive resources held by one group

"robinson crusoe economy"

all workers have own tools (capital), create own work (knowledge) and execute physical task (labor)

* cannot be a class society

Term

CAPITAL, LABOR & KNOWLEDGE DISTRIBUTION

TYPE 2

Definition

capital    knowledge

labor

 

example: scientist entrepeneurs

Knowledge class knows and creates, but pays others to do menial tasks

labor is doubly disenfranchised

Term

CAPITAL, LABOR & KNOWLEDGE DISTRIBUTION

TYPE 3

Definition

capital

knowledge    labor     

 

example: 19th cent capitalist workshops\

-skilled craftsworkers conceived and execute tasks

-employers (owners, patrons) supply capital

Term

CAPITAL, LABOR & KNOWLEDGE DISTRIBUTION

TYPE 4

Definition

capital     labor

knowledge

 

-Cooperative

-laborers own business (capital) but managers and engineers/scientists monopolize knowledge

-conflict of power: laborers legally control workplace, but professionals wield strong influence over how business is run

Term

CAPITAL, LABOR & KNOWLEDGE DISTRIBUTION

TYPE 5

Definition

Capital

Knowledge

labor

 

- 3 district classes, each monopolize their own productive resources

-triangular class exploitation:

owners of capital can exploit both knowledge (skilled workers) and labor (unskilled workers)

-knowledge class can exploit labor class

Term

RACE

FUNCTIONALIST

Definition

 

¡Says the differences between racial and ethnic groups are largely cultural.
¡The solution is assimilation - a process where minority group members become part of the dominant group, losing their original group identity.

 

Milton Gordon: Seven Stages of assimilation: cultural, structural, marital, identify (nationalism), behavioral (absence of discrimination), civic (absence of value/power conflicts)

Term

RACE

CONFLICT

Definition

-Focuses on how the dynamics of racial and ethnic relations divide groups while maintaining a dominant group.

 

-Dominant group may be defined according to racial or ethnic categories, but can also be defined according to social class.
-Instead of relationships based on consensus (or assimilation), relationships are based on power, force, and coercion.
-Ethnocentrism and racism maintain the status quo by dividing individuals along racial and ethnic lines
-Edna Bonacich’s theory of ethnic antagonism
Ethnic antagonism emerges from a labor market, split along ethnic and class lines

Term

RACE

FEMINIST

Definition

-Critical Race Theory (CRT)


-Examines multiple and simultaneous systems of oppression including categories of race, class, sexual orientation, nation of origin, language, culture, and ethnicity.
-Traditional feminist scholarship concentrated on experiences of the dominant group (white middle class women)
-Black feminist scholars encouraged the expansion of feminist theory to encompass a broader and more accurate depiction of how inequality is experienced at the crossroads of multiple categories of identity

Term

RACE

INTERACTIONIST

Definition

-Race is a social construct.
-We learn about racial and ethnic categories through our social interaction.
-Our perceptions and beliefs perpetuate racial categories and racial inequalities.
--Reinforced by broader system of rewards and punishments

Term

DE JURE SEGREGATION

 

vs.

 

DE FACTO SEGREGATION

Definition
legalized  vs. choice
Term
Sex vs. Gender
Definition

sex - fixed bio/physiological difference

 

vs.

 

society determination (boys/girls/man/woman)

Term
how many genders?
Definition
society focuses on 2 but 17/1000 poeple identify as neitehr
Term
non-heteronormative
Definition
queer, umbrella term for all people who do not indentify w/ traditional sex/gender
Term

intersex

vs.

transgender

 

 

two-spirit

Definition

poeple who naturally develop primary/secondary sex characteristics that do not fit into traditional medical male/female 1/1000 births

vs

poepl who perceive themselves as members of sex/gender other than one assigned @ birth > law vary from state to state

 

two spirits- native american gay/lesbian convention > tradition of berdache in many native american cultures > viewed as sacred

Term
Occupational sex segregation
Definition

women continue  to dominate tranditionally female occupations despite educational and occupational gains

 

Term
horizontal segregation
Definition

separation of women and men into non-manuel and manual labor sectors or separation in the workplace

* reinforced socially through school

Term

veritcal segregation

 

Definition
elevation of men into the best-piad, most desirable occupations
Term

Feminists' Movements

Three waves

1

Definition

Mid 19th Century, within abolitionist movement

Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott

addresss to Great Britian Abolitionist convention 1920

19th Amendment

Term

Feminists' Movements

Three waves

2

Definition
mid 20th century, Civil Rights movement, 1964 Civil Rights Act, Title VII equal opportunity in the work
Term

Feminists' Movements

Three waves

3

Definition

1990s, multiple sources of oppression

-gender inequality in a global context

women of third/fourth world countries

-efforts to address gender inequality beyond male/female construction

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