DOKO 3 - Short answer questions

Question 1

Begin by defining Individualism.

[Crime is a commonly acknowledged social problem in the United States. Compare and contrast Individualism and the Sociological Perspective as explanations for crime.]

Answer 1

Individualism:

1. believes autonomy, independence and self-relaince are natural;
2. one’s choices determines their destiny;
3. privileges the individual over the group.

Question 2

How would Individualism explain crime? ​

[Crime is a commonly acknowledged social problem in the United States. Compare and contrast Individualism and the Sociological Perspective as explanations for crime.]

Answer 2

Individualism argues that individual choices lead to crime not social forces.

Question 3

How does the Sociological Perspective differ from Individualism?

[Crime is a commonly acknowledged social problem in the United States. Compare and contrast Individualism and the Sociological Perspective as explanations for crime.]

Answer 3

The sociological perspective considers the relationship between individuals and social forces.

Explains crime by considering how social forces effect crime.

Question 4

Use Anderson’s Code of the Street to illustrate your discussion of how Sociology would explain crime.

Begin this discussion by explaining how Anderson explains that the Code came into being. ​

[Crime is a commonly acknowledged social problem in the United States. Compare and contrast Individualism and the Sociological Perspective as explanations for crime.]

Answer 4

Anderson explains that the code came into being through the following steps.

1. begins with middle-class values: status is attained through education and work.
2. structural change occurs: deindustrialization removes jobs.
3. leads to psychological tension. no jobs –> no attained status –> no self-esteem
4. solution: replace middle-class values related to ed and work with new norms of status attainment through violence and aggression.

Question 5

What is the content of the Code?

[Crime is a commonly acknowledged social problem in the United States. Compare and contrast Individualism and the Sociological Perspective as explanations for crime.]

Answer 5

Norms of status attainment through violence and aggression.

Question 6

What happens to someone who doesn’t follow the Code in an area that is dominated by it?

[Crime is a commonly acknowledged social problem in the United States. Compare and contrast Individualism and the Sociological Perspective as explanations for crime.]

Answer 6

People who do not abide by the code become victims.

Question 7

What do PK note about the relationship between crime rates and racialized neighborhoods?

[Explain Peterson and Krivo’s (PK) argument about the relationship between race and crime]

Answer 7

Black neighborhoods have the most crime.

Question 8

What other factor do they offer as an alternative explanation instead of race?

[Explain Peterson and Krivo’s (PK) argument about the relationship between race and crime]

Answer 8

Disadvantage

Question 9

Explain what this other factor [disadvantage] is composed of.

[Explain Peterson and Krivo’s (PK) argument about the relationship between race and crime]

Answer 9

disadvantage is composed of

1. % Poverty
2. % unemployment
3. % college degree
4. % professional/managerial
5. %single mother
6. % low wage jobs.

Question 10

What happens to differences in crime rates by neighborhood type once the alternative explanation is taken into account? ​

[Explain Peterson and Krivo’s (PK) argument about the relationship between race and crime]

Answer 10

The difference in crime by neighborhood decreases when disadvantage is taken into account.

Question 11

What else must be incorporated into their theory to account for remaining differences?

[Explain Peterson and Krivo’s (PK) argument about the relationship between race and crime]

Answer 11

Spatial Effects – adjacent neighborhoods impact each other

Question 12

Finish your answer by defining the “racial-spatial divide” and briefly summarizing the relationship between race, space, and crime.

[Explain Peterson and Krivo’s (PK) argument about the relationship between race and crime]

Answer 12

• Racial Spatial divide: social circumstance where ethnographic racial inequality is combined with segregated and unequal residential locations
• residential segregation –> differences in resources –> violent crime.

Question 13

Explain how Marx viewed the history of human societies.

[marx]

Answer 13

history of human society according to marx: class struggles

Question 14

What are the two groups on which Marx focused, and what does each group own?

[marx]

Answer 14

1. Proletariat – has labor to sell
2. Bourgeoisie – owns means of production

Question 15

To which group do you belong?

[marx]

Answer 15

I am a proletarian

Question 16

What is class consciousness, and who would develop it?

[marx]

Answer 16

Class consciousness: the realization that you are a part of a group that can work together to better their situation.

Proletariat would develop this

Question 17

What did Marx think was good about capitalism?

[marx]

Answer 17

1. increases innovation
2. lowers prices
3. disseminates knowledge

Question 18

How did Marx think that the Capitalism would lead to Communism?

[marx]

Answer 18

1. factories concentrate proletariat
2. communication increases
3. proletariat realize they are being oppressed
4. they develop class consciousness
5. revolution

Question 19

List two ways that you could use Marx’s ideas to thwart the rise of Communism.

[marx]

Answer 19

• decrease communication (inciting racial hated)
• incentivize (stock options)

Question 20

What is color-blind racism?

[Bonilla-Silva]

Answer 20

Color blind racism is the promotion of race-neutrality when it actually helps to maintain existing racial and ethnic inequality.

Question 21

Is Color-Blindness always bad? If so, explain how/why.

[Bonilla-Silva]

Answer 21

Color-Blindness is not bad when everyone, no matter what their race or ethnicity is, has equal opportunities and conditions.

Question 22

Why does Bonilla-Silva focus his interviews on Whites?

Answer 22

• majority of the US population
• most privileged group in the American society.
• Because whites are the majority and have the power in America, it is important to understand how they think of change as a goal.

Question 23

List and briefly describe the four racist frames discussed by Bonilla-Silva.

[Bonilla-Silva]

Answer 23

1. Abstract liberalism uses ideas associated with political and economic liberalism in an abstract manner to explain racial matters.
2. Naturalization explains racial phenomena as “natural occurrences”
3. Cultural racism culturally-based arguments used to explain the standing of minorities in society.
4. Minimization suggest that discrimination is no longer a central factor that affects minorities’ lives.

Question 24

[Opinion] Do you think that color-blind racism is a problem, or an exaggeration? Why?

[Bonilla-Silva]

Answer 24

if equality of conditions + equality of opportunity, then color-blindness would not lead to racial inequality and therefore would not be a problem.

Color-blind racism is a problem, particularly in the US, because there is not equality of conditions for all racial groups.

Question 25

What is race?

[Q5]

Answer 25

a category of people widely perceived as sharing socially significant physical characteristics such as skin color

Question 26

How is it different from Ethnicity?

[Q5]

Answer 26

race is based strongly on physical appearance, whereas ethnicity is based on cultural differences.

Question 27

Describe the evolution of the US Census with regard to the groups measured and how this measurement occurred.

[Q5]

Answer 27

(1) number of racial categories expands over time [1790 census groups measured: white and non-white]

(2) 1960 was first year respondents identified their own race.

(3) Ethnicity becomes measured in 1980 [question of whether someone was of Spanish / Hispanic descent was introduced]

(4) Multiple racial backgrounds become possible in 2000

Question 28

Has the meaning of Whiteness changed over time? If so, explain how.

[Q5]

Answer 28

whiteness has changed over time, for example, Irish, Italian, and Jewish people used to not be considered white

Question 29

To which group do people with ancestry in the Middle East belong according to the Census?

[Q5]

Answer 29

People of middle Eastern decent belong to the “white” category in the census

Question 30

Finish this answer by explaining what it means to say that the measurement of race and ethnicity encounters “hiccups,” and provide two examples from class.

Answer 30

The meaning of the hiccups of race and ethnicity means that they can sometimes be fluid.

Two examples:

1. Identical Twins receive different ethnic club invites at Harvard [perceptions by others can be fluid]

2. Black Immigrants have incentives to identify as non-American (Code switching) [individuals self-perceptions may be fluid]