Chapters 1-2 Test Review Flashcards
Four Main Theoretical Traditions in Sociology
Functionalism, Conflict Theory, Symbolic Interactionism, Feminism
Émile Durkheim’s Theory of Suicide (What groups were suicide rates higher?)
suicide rates higher among unmarried men, christians, and seniors
Two social forces influencing suicide
Social Integration: Connection between individuals & the group
- How integrated are you into society?
- Seniors are less integrated
Social Control: Regulating Norms, values, expectations, and individual responsibilities
- Ex late 1800s French society started secularizing & church became less significant (loss of power & social control)
- Jewish people had more of a sense of community/had to protect each other (more social control)
Egoistic Suicide
poor integration of people in society because of weak social ties - eg unemployed or unmarried vs employed & married
Anomic Suicide
when vague norms govern behaviour - high when society lacks a moral code - Example: Person dies by suicide after a stock market crash
Altruistic suicide
when norms tightly govern behaviour - soldiers who give up their lives for their country
Fatalistic Suicide
Excessive control over norms & values, Absolutely no autonomy, no agency, no freedom, Feel helpless - suicide is only way out of society
Example: Prisoner serving a life sentence dies by suicide
Microstructures
patterns of intimate social relations - formed during face to face interaction - families, friendship circles, work associations
Mesostructures
patterns of social relations formed in organizations whose members are often not intimately acquainted and who often do not interact face to face - colleges, bureaucracies, political parties
Macrostructures
patterns of social relations that lie outside and above your circle of intimates & acquaintances & the social organizations you may interact with - include class relations & patriarchy - the traditional system of economic & political inequality between women & men in society
Global Structures
international organizations, patterns of worldwide travel & communication, economic relations between countries
Sociological Imagination
the ability to see the connection between personal troubles & social structures
Functionalist theory
Stresses that human behaviour is governed by stable patterns of social relations
Functionalists analyze macrostructures
Underlines how social structures maintain or undermine social stability
Social structures are based mainly on shared values
Social solidarity binds people together
Reestablishing equilibrium can best solve most social problems
Manifest function (intended purpose)
of schools is to transmit skills from one gen to next
Latent function (unintended purpose)
develops youth culture that conflicts with parents value
Conflict Theory
Argue that macrostructures create division & conflict between dominant and subordinate groups
Social inequality produces conflict, not consensus
Inequitable societies produce conflict
Subordinate groups do not like being subordinate and want to change their status
Oppressor & oppressed stood in constant opposition to one another
Karl Marx
Capitalist societies are defined by the conflict between the owning class & the working class
The bourgeoisie use social structures to maintain their power - while proletarians struggle for equality
Real social change only happens through conflict
If the working class can become conscious of their common exploitation (class consciousness) they will rise up and form a social movement that
Aboloshes private property
Establishes a communist society
Auguste Conte (1798-1857)
coined term sociology - tried to study society on scientific foundations - how it is not how people imagined it
Antonio Gramsci (1891-1937)
Famous Italian communist
Asked why do people accept social inequality?
Classical theories of power and inequality focus on force
Believed ruling classes established their dominance by using force & by funding the development and learning of ideas that seem to embody the values of the whole society but actually are in favour of class dominance
Theory
a tentative explanation for some aspect of social life - how & why facts are related
Research
process of systematically observing social reality to assess the validity of a theory
Values
ideas about what is right or wrong
Machiavelli
The state = force(lion) coined coercive power -legally enforces discipline on groups of people who do not consent to the dominant group” - military, police
Civil Society - Consent (Fox)
The lion method is always overthrown - the tyrant is killed by another tyrant and replaced
You need to be both a fox and a lion to maintain power
Cultural Hegemony
the interests of the dominant group are represented as the general interests of the society - subordinate groups “spontaneuously consent” to their interests and view them as commonsensical
Symbolic Interactionism
Focuses on face-to-face communication/interaction in micro-level settings
Emphasizes that the explanation of social behaviour requires understanding subjective meanings people attach to their social circumstances
Stresses that people help to create their social circumstances & do not just react to them
Human Agency
people do not just react to social circumstances; they actively create subjective meanings
Erving Goffman (1922-1982) Dramaturgical Approach
People are social actors who manage their identities to create desired impressions from their audience (like actors)
Patriarchy
Social structure that subordinates females to male domination (examined in micro, macro, and global structures)