Term
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Definition
| Says that it is the person that is the problem…not taking into account other factors. Ex: Saying poor people should get a job. There may be other factors involved. |
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Term
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Definition
| The assumption that social problems are a result of social conditions alone. This suggests that we are robots, controlled by society. Ex: An absent father leads to a juvenile kid. Not always the case. |
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| The Functionalist Perspective |
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Definition
| Society is a system made up of interrelated elements, each performing a function and contributing to the whole. Problems are a result of parts of this system not functioning. |
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Term
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Definition
| Society consists of different groups who struggle with one another for what they consider valuable (money, power, wealth, resources, etc.) Think of Karl Marx’s idea of class struggle between the bourgeoisie and proletariat (working class). |
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| The Symbolic Interactionist Perspective |
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Definition
| It focuses on everyday social interaction among individuals, rather than on large scale societal structures. |
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Term
| What are the conditions of Capitalism? |
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Definition
1.) Private ownership of property
2.) The pursuit of maximum profit
3.) Competition based on the economic principles of supply and demand.
4.) Lack of government intervention. |
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Term
| What are the Principles of Socialism? |
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Definition
1.) Democratic - Full reliance on the wishes of the public.
2.) Egalitarianism - Commitment to equality.
3.) Community - cooperation and a sense of belonging.
4.) Public ownership of the means of production.
5.) Planning for common purposes to assure society that chaos, institutional coordination, and undue favoritism will not occur. |
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Term
| What are Karl Marx's Contributions to sociology? |
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Definition
1.) Elaboration of conflict perspective.
2.) Theory of social change based on antagonisms (oppositions) between the social classes.
3.) The insight that power originates in social production.
4.) Concerns with the social origins of alienation.
5.) The belief that the basis of social order is the production of economic goods.
6.) The social class that owns the means of production has the use of non-economic institutions (family, religion, government) to maintain its control. |
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Term
| What are the interlocking directorates? |
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Definition
When executives or directors from one corporation sit on the board for another corporation.
There are two types of this: Direct - when one person is on the board of directors of another company. Indirect - When two companies each have someone on a board of a third company. |
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Definition
| government ruled by a few. |
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Term
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Definition
| The economic and social constraints on political decision makers that promote the status quo. (the current state of affairs) |
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Term
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Definition
| Poor of an earlier generation who had hopes of breaking out of poverty because of the plentiful unskilled and semiskilled jobs available. |
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Term
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Definition
| Poor who are displaced by new technologies or whose jobs have moved away to the suburbs, to other regions of the country, or other countries. |
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Term
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Definition
| Tax is same for the rich and the poor. |
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Term
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Definition
| Tax rates increase with the income. The higher rates are then redistributed and some of the money goes to the poor through welfare, Medicare, housing subsidies, child care, and food stamps. |
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Term
| Deficiency Theory 1: Innate Inferiority |
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Definition
- Herbert Spencer
- the division of the two groups (wealthy and poor) is because of their ability and effort. |
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Term
| Deficiency Theory 2: Cultural Inferiority |
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Definition
| View that the poor are qualitatively different in values and life styles from the rest of society. |
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Term
| Structural Theory: Political economy of society |
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Definition
| Under capitalism, the distribution of goods and servies is determined by private profit rather than by collective needs. |
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Term
| The functionalist perspective of poverty |
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Definition
-poverty exists to discourage people from neglecting their social duties.
-Davis and Moore argued that societies must ensure that people will fill essential positions and perform important tasks.
- According to Herbert Gans, Poverty exists to perform some positive functions for society such as: the dirty work will be done, it creates jobs, create a market for inferior for goods. |
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Term
| The conflict perspective of poverty |
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Definition
| Poverty exists because some groups are deprived of the opportunity to accumulate the resources that would make it possible to live a minimally acceptable lifestyle. |
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Term
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Definition
| the movement of people from one social position to another. |
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Term
| The interactionist perspective of poverty |
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Definition
| Living in poverty can lead the poor to define situations or interpret reality in ways that make it more difficult for them to improve their condition. |
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