Ch 11 - Social Structure and Demographics

Question 1

sociology

Answer 1

• study of society
• macrosociology - large groups and social structure
• microsociology - small groups and the individual

Question 2

social structure

Answer 2

• system of people within a society organised by a pattern of relationships

Question 3

Theoretical approaches

Answer 3

• no single unified perspective
• functionalism - structure and function of each part of society
• conflict theory - how power differentials are create and how they contribute to order
• symbolic interactionism - how symbols are used in interactions and communications
• social constructionism - how social constructs arise and the reality forms
• rational choice theory - decision making using pros and cons
• exchange theory - interactions in groups, individual behaviors for anticipated rewards and avoids punishment. Also behaves for group approval and avoids group disapproval
• feminist - explain social inequalities based on gender, subordination of women

Question 4

Functionalism

Answer 4

• functionalism - structure and function of each part of society
• parts of society must work together
• function - beneficial consequence of people’s actions; keep balance
  
  • manifest function - intended to help system
  • latent function - unintended positive effect; can arise from manifest functions
• dysfunctions - harmful consequences of people’s actions; cause imbalance

Question 5

conflict theory

Answer 5

• Karl Marx
• how power differentials are created and how they contribute to maintaining social order
• differentials can lead to dominance

Question 6

symbolic interactionism

Answer 6

• how individuals interact and share understanding of words, gestures, and symbols
• symbols - key to understanding world view and communication

Question 7

social constructionism

Answer 7

• how individuals form social reality and how social constructs occur
• how parts of society are defined
• ex - money is just paper but society made it valuable
  
  • work ethic, acceptable dress, gender roles

Question 8

rational choice theory

Answer 8

• decision making by individual, based on benefits vs harms
• exchange theory - choices in groups. still use pros vs cons but also consider group approval
  
  • more likely to behavior for approval of the group
  • exchange theory is a branch of rational choice theory

Question 9

Feminist theory

Answer 9

• attempts to explain social inequalities due to gender
• gender roles, sexuality, financse, social mobility
• objectified - women viewed as sexual objects by men
• glass ceiling - women having a more difficult time then men reaching top level admin positions

Question 10

Social institutions

Answer 10

• well established social structures that dictate behavior and relationships. fundamental parts of culture
• family - reproduce, socialize and protect children
• education - knowledge
• religion - life/death, connect with creator
• government - social order, enforce laws
• economy - money, goods, services
• medicine - heal sick and injured, care for dying

Question 11

Family

Answer 11

• social institution
• influenced by culture, vlaues, beliefs, practices, race
• family defined differently in many places
• patterns of kinship - how the family relates
  
  • many different patterns
• coupling, spouses over time, parenting
• domestic violence
• elder abuse
• child abuse
• mandated reporter - required to report signs of elder/child abuse

Question 12

Education

Answer 12

• social institution
• source of knowledge
• hidden curriculum - transmit social norms, attutudes, beliefs
• teacher expectancy - teachers receive what they expect from students
  
  • believe in students will give greater results
  • self fulfilling prophecy
• education is connected to the medicine institution

Question 13

religion

Answer 13

• social institution
• pattern of social activities organized around a set of beliefs and practices about existence
• religiosity - how religious someone is
• sect - religious group that has broken off of the parent religion
  
  • in extreme cases may be a cult
• secularizes - move away from religion
  
  • the world is secularizing and moving towards science/rationality
• fundamentalism - strict adherence to religion

Question 14

Government and Economy

Answer 14

• both are social institutions
• influence other institutions like education, family, and healthcare
• types of govt - democracy or representative democracy, monarchy, dictatorship, theocracy (power by religious leader)
  
  • most operate under charismatic authority - leader with compelling personality
• capitalism vs socialism
• division of labor - supported by capitalism, tasks are assigned to skilled individuals. promotes efficiency

Question 15

healthcare

Answer 15

• institution of society
• life course approach to health - comprehensive view of patients history beyond immediate symptoms
• sick role - patient not responsible for condition
  
  • less prominent now, more focus on diet, exercise, lifestyle
• 4 tenets of medical ethics
  
  • beneficence - act in patients interest
  • nonmaleficence - do no harm, avoid treatment with greater harm than good
  • patient autonomy - respect patient choices and decisions about healthcare
  • justice - treat patients equally, distribute resources fairly

Question 16

ethnography

Answer 16

study of cultures and customs

Question 17

material culture

Answer 17

• artifacts - material items
• explore meaning of objects
• objects can be syymbolic

Question 18

symbolic culture

Answer 18

• aka nonmaterial culture
• ideas that represent the culture
• mottos, songs, catchphrases
• association of ideas
• culture lag - slow change in symbolic culture
  
  • change sometimes due to material (technology)
    
    • smartphones reduce privacy, young people ok with public personal info

Question 19

language as a part of culture

Answer 19

• used to transmit culture
• spoken, written, signed symbols

Question 20

Parts of Culture

Answer 20

• values - dictate ethical principals and standards of behavior
• belief - something an individual accepts as true
• cultural barriers - cultural differences that impede interactions with others
• norms - societal rules
• ritual - prescribed order of events and routine

Question 21

evolution and culture

Answer 21

• culture may influence evolution
  
  • ex. cattle farming - more milk - mutation for milk digestion is favorable - humans evolve to digest milk after adolesence
• culture used to pass down information from generation to generation
• creates loyalty and allegiance

Question 22

demographics

Answer 22

• stats of populations
• math applications of sociology
• age, gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, immigration status

Question 23

age - demographic

Answer 23

• america is aging
• ageism - prejudice/discrimination based on age

Question 24

gender - demographic

Answer 24

• social construct that is typicall associated with biological sex
• gender discrimination
• gender segregation

Question 25

race and ethnicty demographics

Answer 25

• race - social construct based on phenotypes and superficial traits
• racialization - definition and establishment of a race
• racial formation theory - racial identity if fluid
  
  • political, economical, social factors
• ethnicity - sort people by cultural factors
  
  • language, nationality, religion
• symbolic ethnicity - specific connections to the ethnicity
  
  • connection may not be in everyday life
  • ex. holidays, festivals, rallies

Question 26

sexual orientation - demographics

Answer 26

• heterosexual
• bisexual
• homosexual
• kinsey scale - rate sexuality
  
  • one is totally heterozexual
  • six is completely homosexual
  • most people in between
• LGBT people have specific medical demographics
  
  • high rate AIDS in gay men
  • less STD testing in gay women
  • trans use street hormones

Question 27

immigration - demographics

Answer 27

• intersectionality - when multiple demographic factors combine to cause discrimination
• hard to receive healthcare as immigrant
  
  • language barrier
  • lack of understanding of system
  • fear of deportation

Question 28

demographic shifts and social changes

Answer 28

• changes in population over time
• population pyrmids - used to understand and visualize populations
  
  • ex. age and sex
• fertility, mortality, migration
• social movements
• globalization
• urbanization

Question 29

fertility, mortality, migration

Answer 29

• fertility rate - average number of children born per woman and her lifetime
  
  • in US its trending down but still greater than 2
• mortality rates - number of deaths per unit time
  
  • deaths per 1000 per year
• crude rate - total rate of population, use mortality and fertility
• migration = immigration - emigration
  
  • immigration - movement into new geographic space
    
    • pull factors
  • emigration - movement away from geographic space
    
    • push factors
• immigration increases diversity

Question 30

Demographic transition

Answer 30

• changes in birth and death rates over time from preindustrial to industrial economy
• demographic transition is an example of demographic shift
• stage 1: preindustrial - high birth and death rates
• stage 2: improve healthcare, food, sanitation, wages. Lower death rate
• stage 3: improve contraception, less agriculture, more industry. Lower birth rate
• stage 4: industrialized society, birth and death rates are low

Question 31

Malthusian theory

Answer 31

• exponential growth of population ca outpace growth of food supply
• third world countries industrialize and the population growth causes mass starvation
  
  • death phase in bacterial growth

Question 32

social movements

Answer 32

• promote or resist social change
• relative deprivation - decrease in resources or representatino relative to the past or to society as a whole
• proactive - promote social change
• reactive - resist social change

Question 33

globalization

Answer 33

• integrate global economy with free trade and tapping foreign markets
• decrease geographical constraints
• positives such as food availability year round
• negatives such as terrorism, pollution, civil unrest

Question 34

Urbanization

Answer 34

dense populations creating pull for migration

• creation of cities
  
  • urban societies are linked to health challanges, sanitation, air quality, environmental hazards, violence, infectious disease, unhealthy diet, physical inactivity
• ghettoes - racial, ethnic, religious minorites are concentrated due to inequalities
• slum - extremely densely populated with low quality of housing and sanitation