Chapter 11 - Social Structure and Demographics

Question 1

Social Structure

Answer 1

• A system of people within a society organized by a characteristic pattern of relationships.

Question 2

Conflict Theory

Answer 2

• Power refers to a form of influence over other people
• Conflict theory focuses on how power differentials are created and how these differentials contribute to the maintenance of social order. Further, power differentials can lead to the dominance of a particular group if it successfully outcompetes other groups for economic, political, and social resources.

Question 3

Symbolic Interactionism

Answer 3

• The study of the ways individuals interact through a shared understanding of words, gestures, and other symbols.
• The central idea of symbolic interactionism is that symbols - that is, things to which we attach meaning - are the key to understanding how we view the world and communicate with one another.

Question 4

Social Constructionism

Answer 4

• Focuses on how individuals put together their social reality.
• Social constructs arise from humans communicating and working together to agree on teh significance of a concept or principle. Social constructionism can be applied to intangible concepts or physical objects.
• Because these concepts depend on the society itself, they are subject to change as social norms and opinions develop over time.

Question 5

Key Concept

Answer 5

• Symbolic interactionism reflects on how we use symbols to interact with each other.
• Social constructionism reflects on how we, as a society, construct concepts and principles.

Question 6

Rational Choice Theory

Answer 6

• Focuses on decision-making in an individual and attempts to reduce this process to a careful consideration of benefits and harms to the individual.
• Every outcome in a given social interaction can be associated with particular rewards (money, accolades, honor, prestige, social approval) and with particular punishments (embarrassment, humiliation, stigmatization).
• In this theory, an individual carefully considers all of the possible rewards and punishments of each social action and chooses the option that has the highest benefit-to-harm ratio.

Question 7

Exchange Theory

Answer 7

• Extension of rational choice theory
• Whereas rational choice theory can be applied to an individual independently of social interactions, exchange theory focuses on interactions in groups.
• Exchange theory posits that an individual will carry out certain behaviors because of anticipated rewards and will avoid certain behaviors because of anticipated punishments.
• Exchange theory assumes that a behavior that is met with approval by others will reinforce that behavior and encourage its continuation. On the other hand, behavior that is met with disapproval by others is punished, discouraging its continuation.

Question 8

Feminist Theory

Answer 8

• Attempts to explain social inequalities that exist on the basis of gender. This theory focuses on the subordination of women through social structures and institutional discrimination.
• Gender roles refer to the behaviors expected of a given gender.
• Women are less frequently promoted in the workplace and may have more difficulty attaining top-level administrative positions within a company, a phenomenon often referred to as the glass ceiling

Question 9

Social Institutions

Answer 9

• Social institutions are well-established social structures that dictate certain patterns of behavior or relationships and are accepted as a fundamental part of culture.
• Social institutions regulate the behavior of individuals in core areas of society.
• Common social institutions include the family, education, religion, government and the economy, and health and medicine.

Question 10

Hidden Curriculum

Answer 10

• The lessons that are taught informally, and usually unintentionally, in a school system. These include behaviors, perspectives, and attitudes that students pick up while at school.
• This is contrasted with the formal curriculum.

Question 11

Teacher Expectancy

Answer 11

• Refers to the idea that teachers tend to get what they expect from students.

Question 12

Types of Government

Answer 12

• Democracy allows every citizen a political voice, usually through electing representatives to office.
• Monarchies include a royal ruler, although the ruler’s powers may be significantly limited by the presence of a constitution and parliamentary system.
• Dictatorship is a system where a single person holds power, and usually includes mechanisms to quell threats to his power.
• Theocracy is a system where power is held by religious leaders.

Question 13

Capitalist vs. Socialist Economies

Answer 13

• Capitalist economies focus on free market trade and laissez-faire policies, where success of failure in business is primarily driven by consumerism with as little intervention from central governing bodies as possible. Encourage division of labor, which promotes specialization and efficiency.
• Socialist economies treats large industries as collective, shared businesses, and compensation is provided based on the work contribution of each individual into the system. Profit is distributed equally to the workforce.

Question 14

Life Course Approach to Health

Answer 14

• Maintaining and considering a comprehensive view of the patient’s history beyond the immediate presenting symptoms

Question 15

Sick Role

Answer 15

• He or she is not responsible for the illness and is exempt from normal social roles.

Question 16

Trends in the United States

Answer 16

• Spousal abuse is seen across all social classes. Domestic violence is the #1 cause of injury to American women, and is most common in families with drug abuse, especially alcoholism.
• Education is also susceptible to inequalities across socioeconomic class. Lower socioeconomic status is associated with decreased accessibility and quality of education.

Question 17

Material Culture

Answer 17

• Sociologists explore the meaning of objects of a given society
• Associated with artifacts (objects)
• Ex: the American flag

Question 18

Symbolic Culture

Answer 18

• Also called nonmaterial culture, focuses on the ideas that represent a group of people
• Usually slower to change than materical culture, which can lead to the phenomenon of culture lag.
• Ex of culture lag: American culture still prizes individuality and privacy, the development of smartphones and social media push toward a more community-oriented and less private world.

Question 19

Values, Beliefs, Norms, and Rituals

Answer 19

• Values are what a person deems important in life, which dictates one’s ethical principals and standards of behavior.
• A belief is something that an individual accepts to be truth.
• Norms are societal rules that define the boundaries of acceptable behavior. They govern the behavior of society and provide a sense of social control.
• A ritual is a formalized ceremony that usually involves specific material objects, symbolism, and additional mandates on acceptable behavior. Tend to have a prescribed order of events or routine.

Question 20

Demographics

Answer 20

• Refer to the statistics of populations and are the mathematical applications of sociology. Can be gathered formally or informally.

Question 21

Gender

Answer 21

• Gender is a social construct that corresponds to the behavioral, cultural, or psychological traits typically associated with a biological sex.
• Sex is biologically determined. Gender relates to a set of behavioral, cultural, or psychological traits.

Question 22

Race and Racial Formation Theory

Answer 22

• Race is a social construct based on phenotypic differences between groups of people.
• Racialization refers to the definition or establishment of a group as a particular race.
• Racial Formation Theory posits that racial identity is fluid and dependent on concurrent political, economic, and social factors.

Question 23

Ethnicity and Symbolic Ethnicity

Answer 23

• Ethnicity is a social construct which sorts people by cultural factors, including language, nationality, religion, and other factors.
• Symbolic Ethnicity describes a specific connection to one’s ethnicity in which ethnic symbols and identity remain important, even when ethnic identity does not play a significant role in everyday life.

Question 24

Sexual Orientation

Answer 24

• Sexual Orientation can be defined as the direction of one’s sexual interest toward members of the same, opposite, or both sexes.
• 3 categories:
  
  • Heterosexual: attraction to individuals of the opposite sex
  • Bisexual: attraction to members of both sexes
  • Homosexual: attraction to individuals of the same sex

Question 25

Immigration vs. Emigration

Answer 25

• Immigration is the movement into a new geographic area
• Emigration is the movement away from a geographic area.

Question 26

Fertility Rate and Mortality Rate

Answer 26

• Fertility Rate refers to the average number of children born to a woman during her lifetime in a population. In U.S., fertility rates have trended downward over time; however, the rate is still above 2, indicating that fertility rates are still contributing to population growth.
• Mortality Rate refer to the number of deaths in a population per unit time. Usually measured in deaths per 1000 people per year. Mortality rates have dropped with advancements in health care.

Question 27

Migration

Answer 27

• Migration (immigration and emigration) is a contributor to population growth and can be motivated by both pull factors (positive attributes of the new location that attract the immigrant) and push factors (negative attributes of the old location that encourage the immigrant to leave).

Question 28

Key Concept

Answer 28

• Demographic statistics:
  
  • Fertility rate = children per woman per lifetime
  • Birth rate = children per 1,000 people per year
  • Mortality rate = deaths per 1,000 people per year
  • Migration rate = Immigration rate - Emigration rate

Question 29

Key Concept

Answer 29

• The U.S. population is getting bigger, older (average age has increased), and more diverse (through immigration, mobility, and intermarriage).

Question 30

Demographic Shifts

Answer 30

• Changes in the makeup of a population over time

Question 31

Demographic Transition

Answer 31

• Demographic transition is a specific example of demographic shift referring to changes in birth and death rates in a country as it develops from a preindustrial to industrial economic system.
• 4 stages:
  
  1. Preindustrial Society: birth and death rates are both high
  2. Improvements in healthcare, nutrition, sanitation, and wages cause death rates to drop
  3. Improvements in contraception, women’s rights, and a shift from an agricultural to an industrial economy cause birth rates to drop. Further, with an industrializing society, children must go to school for many years to be productive in society and may need to be supported by parents for a longer period of time than was formerly the case; families thus have fewer children.
  4. An industrial society: birth and death rates are both low
• Key concept: During demographic transition, mortality rate drops before birth rate. Therefore, the population grows at first while mortality rate is dropping, and then plateaus as the birth rate decreases as well.

Question 32

Malthusian Theory (Demographic Transition)

Answer 32

• Focuses on how the exponential growth of a popuation can outpace growth of the food supply and lead to social degradation and disorder.
• A malthusian catastrophe is the prediction that as third-world nations industrialize and undergo demographic transition, the pace at which the world population will grow is much faster than the ability to generate food and mass starvation will occur.

Question 33

Social Movements

Answer 33

• Social Movements are organized either to promote or to resist social change.
• These movements are often motivated by perceived relative deprivation, or a decrease in resources, representation, or agency relative to the past or to the whole of society.
• Social movements that promote social change are termed proactice; those that resist social change are reactive.

Question 34

Urbanization

Answer 34

• Refers to dense areas of population creating a pull for migration.
• In other words, cities are formed as individuals move into and establish residency in these new urban centers.
• Ghettoes are defined as areas where specific racial, ethnic, or religious minorities are concentrated, usually due to social or economic inequities.
• A slum is an extremely densely populated area of a city with low-quality, often informal housing and poor sanitation.

Question 35

What is the difference between race and ethnicity?

Answer 35

• Race is based on phenotypic differences between groups of people.
• Ethnicity is based on common language, religion, nationality, or other cultural factors.

Question 36

What is symbolic ethnicity?

Answer 36

• Symbolic ethnicity is recognition of an ethnic identity on special occasions or in specific circumstances, but not during everyday life.

Question 37

Cultural Barrier and Cultural Sensitivity

Answer 37

• A cultural barrier is a social difference that impedes interaction.
• Cultural sensitivity is the recognition and respect of differences between cultures.