Exam 2 Flashcards
Purposes of subcultures and countercultures
Give a sense of collective identity
Gives people a place where they are empowered
Connects likeminded people
Makes invisible people visible
Allows people to escape identity they are born into
Gives people a place to construct identity
Cultural Capital
Give people something they can convey and turn into something else through networks
Semiotics
The science of signs
Signifier=symbol
Signified=interpreted meaning
Symbolic message
one whose meaning is derived from a pre-existing social convention in order to be understandable
Ex: roses symbolic of romance
Indexical message
one which “points to” an object or is a sample of it
Iconic message
one which resembles some agent of the real world to which it refers, according to some conventionally accepted criterion
Polysemic
signs have multiple different interpretations
Cultural lag
Not all parts of culture change at the same time
Material culture changes first then nonmaterial culture lags behind
Ex: cell phone etiquette
Cultural diffusion
The spread of a culture
Ex: McDonald’s restaurants all around the world or Disney World in Hong Kong
Social Psychology
Emphasizes development of the self
The Socialization Process
We as individuals become social beings
Internalize the expectations of society
Agents of Socialization
- The Family-primary
- The Media-increasingly important
- Peers
- Religion
- Sports
- Schools
Cooley (1869-1929)
Looking Glass Self:
- how we think we appear to others
- how we think others judge us
- how the first two make us feel
Mead (1863-1931)
Theory of social self is based on the perspective that the self emerges from social interactions such as:
observing and interacting with others
responding to other’s opinions about oneself
internalizing external opinions and internal feelings about oneself
THE SELF IS NOT THERE FROM BIRTH BUT IT IS DEVELOPED OVER TIME FROM SOCIAL EXPERIENCES
Mead’s Identity Development
Stage 1
The preparatory stage/imitation stage
1 month-3 years
Children copy the behavior of those around them
Mead’s Identity Development
Stage 2
The Play Stage 3-5 years Children begin to take on the roles of significant people in their environment Role taking begins Children play "house" or role play
Mead’s Identity Development
Stage 3
The Game Stage
Child takes on multiple roles at the same time
Roles are organized in a complex system and child develops comprehensive view of the self
Introduction of the generalized other
Mead’s “generalized other”
As child grows older they internalize attitudes, expectations and viewpoints of society (norms, sanctions)
They have an example of community values and general social expectations
“Me”
The part of the self that is aware of the expectations and attitudes of society
Very large role in adults
“I”
The unsocialized, spontaneous, self-interested component of personality
Very large role in children
Macro-sociology
social structure
Micro-sociology
social interaction