Exam 1 Flashcards
sociological imagination (coined by C. Wright Mills)
the capacity to think systematically about how things we experience as personal issues are really social issues that are widely shared by others living in a similar time and place as us
social context
influence of society on individuals
identity
the conceptions we and others have about who we are and what groups or categories we are members of
social structure
the many diverse ways in which the rules and norms of everyday life become enduring patterns that shape and govern social interaction
industrialization
the growth of factories and large-scale goods production
urbanization
the growth of cities–> led to various social problems, such as growing levels of poverty and governments and scholars wanted to understand these problems
urban areas
areas with a pop. density of at least 1,000 people per sq mi
Who coined the term sociology?
Auguste Comte
social theories
systematic ideas about the relationship between individuals and societies
Karl Marx: Manifesto of the Communist Party
- explains why class divisions and class struggles explain the movement of history –> “the history of all societies is the history of class struggles”
- lays out the position that the bourgeois, thru competition + private land ownership, are forever exploiting and oppressing the proletariat (working class)
- the sysytem always results in class conflict + revolution and should be replaced by communism, a society without class distinctions
1. abolishing ownership of all private property
2. establishing system of heavy taxation
3. abolishing the right to inherit
4. centralizing communication and transport with the state
5. centralizing credit and establishment of a state bank
6. confiscating all emigrant and rebel property
7. extending the means of production to the state
8. equalizing liability to all levels of labor
9. combining agriculture and manufacturing industries
10. establishing a free public education system - capitalism lacked freedom for most, based on exploitation, an unstable system with crisis tendencies= always has the potential for recession, depression and market crashes
- capitalism doesnt respect rational boundaries–> at some point the forces of production cannot keep growing fast enough to generate enough profit and capitalist have to squeeze its workers
modes of production
characterize the dominant economic system in a society and the classes that the economic system gives rise to
bourgeoisie
who possess special resources (capita)
proletariat
working class
socialist
society in which the productive forces of society are owned by everyone
class struggle
classes of people who are treated so differently by the economic system are inevitably going to be in conflict with one another
Emile Durkheim
social facts: 1) forces external to individual; 2) they constrain us to act a certain way;
3) if we deviate we can expect a sanction; 4) we dont have to think about it, we just “know” the rules
social facts
regularities and rules of everyday life that every human community has
social forces
all the forms of social structure (hierarchies & institutions) that any individual must operate within
socialization
the way we learn how to behave in society
–> people don’t really know why they do what they do
social solidarity
what is it that holds societies together, where the shared morals and connections between mechanical and organic solidartiy
mechanical solidarity
the dominant form of solidarity in “primitive” societies – characterized by minimal division of labor
organic solidarityu
very extensive division of labor and mutual dependence among people (modern societies)
Max Weber
Action:
-social action theory: actions of people in the context of the meaning that they assign to them and the relationship these actions have with the actions of others
-social action occurs as a result of the cooperation and struggle between the individual and the wider society
-in order to explain an action, we must interpret it according to its subjectively intended meaning (ie- what did the person who performed an action mean by his action)
Open and closed Relationships:
-open relationships: participation of certain persons is excluded, limited, and subjected to conditions; against outsiders and there are binding rules to these relationships; need “formal approval” to join
-certain things might cause exclusivity –> economic status political standing, cultural ties, specific interests
“The Types of Legitimate Domination”
1) rational (legal) authority = legally obligated to obey; social contract
2) traditional authority= obeys out of personal loyalty bound by tradition
3)charismatic authority= individual you obey shows exemplary character and they are obeyed by virtue of personal trust gained from his heroism, character, or belief in that individual
interpretative sociology
understanding of social action
power
a person’s ability to acheive his or her objective even if someone else wants to try to prevent it
authority
the capacity to get people to do things because you think that they should abide by the commands of people above thems
status groups
groups of people with similar kinds of attributes or identities such as those based on religion, ethnicity or race
stratification system
inequalities between groups that persist over time
social closure
the various ways that groups seek to close off access to opportunities by other groups
network analysis
the study of how individuals are connected to other individuals and the consequences of those connections
social networks
people who are tied together in ways they dont typically notice
symbolic interactionism
theory of society which focusses on how people interact with one another and the role that symbols play in those interactions
neo-Marxism
the capitalist state coulld and indeed often has, forced powerful economic classes to make “concessions” to the working class
capitalist state
the governing institutions and legal system in a capitalist society
globalization
growing permeability of national borders + the increase in flows of goods, services, and people across national borders
feminist social theory
social theories which place gender relations and male domination at the center of their conceptualization of societies
life course
transitions individuals make as they age through their lives
conurbs
continuous urban regions extending across city + suburban political boundaries
megacities
cities with populations over 10 million people
megaregion
where 2 or more large cities in geographical proximity are linked together through infrastructure and through economic activity
white flight
movement of white families out of central cities and into suburbs
redlining
system used to determine areas ineligible for loans –> black/racially mixed communities outlined in red to signify that they had received the lowest ranking and were thus ineligible for loans
urban ecology
cities’ forms –> process in which diff segments of the population sort themselves into areas of the city in which they thrive (inspired by Chicago)
growth machine
investors and governments work to increase the size of the cities’ population + make it attractive for business
social isolation
lack of interpersonal connections –> higher rates of extreme lifestyles
edge cities
where people work/shop but don’t live
urban renewal
destruction of entire swaths of poor and working class neighborhoods in cities across the country and the replacement of these communities with carefully planned areas
urban ghetto
sections of cities characterized by severe racial/ethnic segregation & deep poverty.
Great Migration
move from South to North
global city
cities with high concentration off transnational firms
Hart-Cellar act (1965)
allowed for increased immigration –> changed racial/ethnic makeup of neighborhoods
globalization
polarization of urban labor markets
George Simmel
- any individual stands at the intersection point of overlapping social circles and societies are built on these social circles
- the way we see ourselves and which social groups we most value, is not necessarily the same was as others see us
- laid the foundation for studying the effects of urbanism on individuals
- constant stimuli –> indifferent blasé attitude
- anonymity of the city allows individuals the freedom to express themselves n new ways and to escape the tendency toward conformity in small towns
Herbert Gans
- studied community life in a diverse array of urban and suburban settings
- found both isolation + alienation in these communities, also strong interpersonal ties between neighbors + active community life in large cities
- called wirth’s assertion into question (agreed that differences between the type of life in nonurban and urban areas but argued that these diffs result from factors like the age, race, occupation, and income of residents- not from urbanism
- we should not think about an urban or suburban way of life but should instead focus on demographic and economic differences between groups in different places,
Louis Wirth
urbanism
- size, density, and heterogeneity—> essential characteristics of cities because of how it alters the lives of individuals and the nature of social interactions within them
- city dwellers interact in largely anonymous, superficial, and transitory ways in their day-to-day exchanges
- attributed to unique “specialization” of urban residents into diff types of occupations and careers, the “differentiation” of urban individuals by socia class, and the “Segregation of urban spaces by race
Jane Jacobs
- believed vibrant neighborhoods that encourage the use of public spaces can foster social connections, interaction, and public safety
- fought her most well-known battle to protect Greenwich village from redevelopment
- mixed-use neighborhoods–> how active street life and pedestrian traffic lead to more “eyes on the street”–> more safety
self
identity developed through social interaction
ethnomethodology (Harold Garfinkel)
the study of people’s methods
collective effervescence (Emile Durkheim)
when audience members egg each other on
civil inattention
ignoring each other to an appropriate degree although noticing that the other is present
self-fulfilling prophecy
something becomes true because people say it is true
role
distinct social category, such as a parent or a teacher and it is associated with it a set of expected behaviors
social structure
external forces that provide the context for individual & group action
norms and institutions + roles and social hierarchies
C Wright Mills: “The Promise”
“neither the life of an individual nor the history of society can be understood without understanding both”
- ->understanding individual/personal life requires an understanding of struggles in a broader context
- ->believed that the role of the scholar is to recognize the difference between the personal troubles of individual members of society and the overarching issues that affect society as a whole
- -> the promise of social imagination is the ability to integrate these 2 spheres of the human experience into a social order based on reason, intelligence and good will toward al
Erving Goffman: Presentation of Self in Everyday Life
- when an individual comes in contact with other people that individual will attempt to control or guide the impression that others might make of him/her by changing and fixing his/her setting, appearance and manner and simultaneously others try to form and obtain info about the individual –> we are all “social actors”
- impression management: all the worlds a stage and we actively try to shape how people view us
Harvey Molotch: Symbolic Interactionism
an individual’s personality, preferences, ideas, etc are constructed and shaped by and through communication with both self and others
- we are not driven by instinct by rather introspection
Stigma and Social Indentity
-examines the world of people considered abnormal by society
-stigmatized people are those that do not have full social accptance and are constantly striving to adjust their social identities
-3 types of stigma: stigma of character= addiction, mental disorder; physical stigma=deformities; stigma of group identity=Muslim or black
-stigma responses=stigmatized people make special efforts to compensate for their stigma (i.e. plastic surgery)
social distance (Simmel)
how close or intimate or apart any 2 individuals or groups are with each other
network anaylsis
identifying the connections among individuals, groups, or organizations
suburban sprawl
the continuing geographic spread of sparse residential areas
brain drain
departure of a significant number of the most educated and skilled citizens, who go to live and work in other countries
brain drain
departure of a significant number of the most educated and skilled citizens, who go to live and work in other countries—> hollowing out of rural areas
generalized other
the social control exercised by common sense understandings of what is appropriate given a specific time and place
