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
Social Institution
An established and organized system of social behavior with a recognized purpose
Total Institution
An extreme example of social institution
Ex: Prison or the military
The time you wake up, what you wear, who you talk to is all structured and controlled and preset by those in power
Social Structures
The organized patterns of social relationships and social institutions that together comprise society
Social Status
Statuses are socially defined not individually defined
Statuses define who and what we are in relation to others
Differs from the concept of identity(self-conception)
Groups
A collection of individuals who:
Interact and communicate with each other
Share goals and norms
Have a subjective awareness of themselves as a distinct social unit
Achieved vs Ascribed Status
Achieved=earned (ex: occupation, marriage)
Ascribed=given at birth (ex: sex, race)
Thomas Theorum of the social construction of reality
The idea that our perception of what is real is determined by the subjective meaning that we attribute to an experience (definition of the situation)
Definition of the situation
Ex: poor test score
one could think it’s the end of the world or they could think “it’s ok it’s just one of four, I’ll get over it”
Ethnomethodology
Studying norms by violating them to reveal people’s standards
See how people react to disruption and what they do to restore normative order
Most of us are socialized to expect certain things to happen in certain places and certain times
Goffman
Impression Management and Dramaturgy
Social interaction is thought of as a performance in a play
We put on a show
Highlight or hide aspects of ourselves to gain desired outcome
Social Exchange Theory
Transactional view of the world
Everything is boiled down to “what will it get me”
Our interactions are determined by rewards/punishments we receive from others
Argues that rewarded behavior will be repeated
Deviance
Violation of norms
Reactions to the act are what make something deviant, not the act itself
Four characteristics of deviant behavior
- Occurs in a social context and is not just individual behavior
- It is culturally relative
- Social rules are created and constructed; not just morally decided upon or enforced
- The audience decides what is defined as deviant
Can labeling be a form of social control?
Yes
Purpose of social control
Formal and informal means of enforcing norms
One important means of social control are negative sanctions, which can range from frowns to capital punishment
Deters people from doing deviant acts
Durkheim says deviance contributes to social order through 3 main functions (name them)
- Deviance clarifies boundaries
- Deviance promotes social unity
- Deviance promotes social change
Merton’s Strain Theory of Deviance
Strain-something has to give
People conform to the social expectation when the goals and the means of reaching them are in balance
When they’re in balance it’s conformity
When there’s a gap it’s deviance
Four Deviant Responses to Strain
- Innovation
- Ritualism
- Retreatism
- Rebellion
Innovation
one accepts the goals of society but uses illegitimate means to try to reach them
Ritualism
one gives up on excelling or advancing in one’s cultural goals but nevertheless maintaining conventional rules of conduct to an almost obsessive degree
NOT INTERESTED IN THE GOALS BUT COMPULSIVELY OBSESSED WITH THE MEANS
Retreatism
one rejects cultural goal and the institutionalized means of achieving them
REJECT THE GOALS AND MEANS
Rebellion
one rejects and seeks to replace goals and means
Cloward and Ohlin Theory
Illegitimate Opportunity Structure
Different social classes embark on different forms of deviance depending on their different opportunity structures
Forms of deviance are an outcome of individual decisions and the available opportunities to act illegitimately
So, if you grow up in a community where you’re surrounded by illegitimate opportunity structures the expectation is that you will most likely engage in them
EX: GROWING UP AROUND GANGS, DRUG DEALING, PROSTITUTION, ETC.
Sutherland’s Differential Association Theory
Symbolic Interaction
Deviance is learned by the influences around us
Control Theory
Two control systems work against people’s inclinations to deviate-inner and outer controls
You have an inner voice and some external pressures.
Inner controls include their internalized morality-their conscience, religious principles, ideas of right and wrong, fears of punishment.
Outer controls consist of other significant people in their lives such as family, friends, and police who influence them not to deviate
Labeling Theory
People are assigned labels that become part of their self-concept which channels them toward conforming or deviant behaviors
People can engage in deviant behavior but they might not see it as deviant and if no one has labeled it as such then it doesn’t exist as deviant
People resist negative labels
Primary deviance=it is labeled already
Secondary deviance=label becomes a self fulfilling prophecy
Sykes and Matza
Techniques of Neutralization
Techniques that people use to resist negative labels and rationalize their deviant behavior
- Denial of responsibility
- Denial of injury
- Denial of victim
- Condemnation of the condemners
- Appeal to higher loyalty
Mass incarceration
Punishment as a form of social control and regulation of the poor
Prisons no longer function to rehabilitate prisoners but to “keep them off the streets”
Collateral consequences of criminal conviction
Loss of right to vote, right to serve on a jury, credibility as a witness
Denial of welfare/public housing, employment
Anomie
As defined by Durkheim
Relative normlessness caused by the breakdown of social influences
According to social control theory, deviant behavior occurs when
Attachment to social bonds breaks down
A strength of the conflict theory in terms of understanding deviance is
It’s insight into the significance of power relationships
A weakness of the conflict theory of deviance is its failure to recognize
That laws protect most people, not just the affluent
