Chapters 5-8 Flashcards
Group
A collection of people who share some attribute, identify with one another, and interact with each other.
Crowd
A temporary gathering of people in a public place; members might interact but do not identify with each other and will not remain in contact.
Groupthink
In very cohesive groups, the tendency to enforce a high degree of conformity among members, creating a high demand for unanimous agreement.
Bureaucracies (+ components)
Secondary groups designed to perform tasks efficiently. (specialization, technical competence, hierarchy, written rules, impersonality, formal written communication)
Types of groups
Primary, secondary, dyads, triads, in-groups, out-groups, reference group.
Primary groups
Involve more face to face interaction, greater cooperation, and deeper feelings of belonging. In these groups, we are closely associated with other members such as family and friends.
Secondary groups
Larger and less intimate than primary; relationships organized around a specific goal.
Dyads
Smallest possible group, only two members.
Triads
Slightly more stable small group with three people, third member can referee conflicts that arise between the other two.
In-groups
Groups that members identify with and feel loyalty toward.
Out-groups
Any group that an individual feels opposition, rivalry, or hostility toward.
Reference groups
Group that provides a standard of comparison against which we evaluate ourselves.
Group dynamics
The patterns of interaction between groups and individuals.
Group cohesion
The sense of solidarity or loyalty that individuals feel toward a group to which they belong.
Social influence
Exerting group control over others’ decisions.
Conformity
Compliance with standards, rules, or laws.
Consequential stranger
Personal connections other than family and close friends.
Deviance
A behavior, trait, belief, or other characteristic that violates a norm and causes a negative reaction.
Primary deviance
In labeling theory, the initial act or attitude that causes one to be labeled deviant.
Positive deviance
Actions considered deviant within a given context but are later reinterpreted as appropriate or even heroic.
Prejudice
An idea about the characteristics of a group that is applied to all members of that group and is unlikely to change regardless of the evidence against it.
Miscegenation
Romantic, sexual, or marital relationships between people of different races.
Minority group
Social group that is systematically denied the same access to power and resources available to society’s dominant groups though they are not necessarily fewer in number than the dominant groups. [characteristics: 1.) Differential power 2.)Identifiability 3.) Ascribed status 4.) Solidarity and group awareness 5.) Marriage within the group
Majority group
Generally privileged.
Racism
Belief that one race is superior and all others are innately inferior.
Secondary deviance
In labeling theory, the subsequent deviant identity or career that develops as a result of being labeled deviant.
Stigma
Coined by Erving Goffman, physical or social attribute that devalues a person or a group’s identity, types:
(physical or mental, moral, tribal).
Labeling theory
Becker, Deviance is determined by the social context.
Theoretical approaches to deviance
functional, conflict, interactionist
Functional
Durkheim, reminds us of our shared notions of wrong and right and promotes social cohesion.
Conflict
Both society’s rules and the punishments for breaking those rules are applied unequally,
Interactionist
Deviance is a learned behavior, people learn it from the different groups with which they associate.
Discrimination
Unequal treatment of individuals based on their membership in a social group, usually motivated by prejudice.
Institutional discrimination
Discrimination carried out systematically by institutions (political, economic, educational, and others) that affect all members of a group who come into contact with it.
Race
A socially defined category based on real or perceived biological differences between groups of people.
Ethnicity
A socially defined category based on common language, religion, nationality, history, or another cultural factor.
Status inconsistency
A situation in which an individual has differing levels of status in terms of wealth, power, prestige, or other elements of socioeconomic status.
Intersectionality
A concept that identifies how different categories of inequality (race, class, gender, etc.) intersect to shape the lives of individuals and groups.
Social stratification
The division of society into groups arranged in social hierarchy.
Class (Karl Marx)
Class is the foundation of society, concern for growing inequality between bourgeoisie and proletariat, system unfair.
Class (Max Weber)
Consists of three components:
Economic (class position)
Social (prestige) (what others think of what you have, how one lives)
Power (ability to do what one wants; influence)
Systems of stratification
Slavery, caste system, social class system
Slavery system
Most extreme, people as commodities, lowest ranking. Prohibited but still exists (Human trafficking).
Caste system
Found in various parts of the world, ascribed status (race, ethnicity)
Social class system
Practiced in capitalist societies, rankings are determined by; wealth, property, power, prestige, socioeconomic status.
Social mobility
The movement of individuals or groups within the hierarchical system of social classes.
upward mobility.
downward (vertical) mobility
Poverty
Can be defined in either relative or absolute terms.
relative deprivation- a comparative approach
absolute deprivation- unable to meet minimum standards
Poverty line
Molly Orshansky (1964), minimum required to not be poor.
Oscar Lewis 1959
Argues that many poor people develop a way of life that keeps them poor in adapting to their deprived condition.
“On being sane in sane places” David Rosenhan
Power of labeling and social context. Power is in the label, so it doesn’t have to be true.
Strain
Society puts pressure on individuals to achieve socially accepted goals though they lack the means.
