Exam 2 Flashcards
- suicide as a social fact
- defined sociology as the study of social facts
- “ways of thinking and feeling … property of existing outside the consciousness of the individual”
Emile Durkheim
- the reason why people within a society seem to do the same basic things, such as where they live, what they eat, and how they interact
- more secure through time and change
social facts
What are common social facts?
marriage
language
religion
social structures and institutions. these could be the system of law, the economy, church and many aspects of religion, the state, and educational institutions and structures
material social facts
consist of features such as norms, values, and systems of morality
non-material social facts
- the great movements of enthusiasm, pity, or indignation in a crowd
- the are the spur-of-the-moment feelings that power a mob, even overriding some social facts
- strong but short-lived
social currents
set of shared beliefs, ideas, and moral attitudes which operate as a unifying force within society
- diffused over society as a whole
- totally different from the consciousness of individuals, although it is only realized in individuals
collective consciousness
- suicide is caused by social facts
- about society, not about individual
Durkheim’s Social Fact of Suicide
- extent to which people feel as if they are a part of society
- egoistic suicide-low
- altruistic suicide-high
integration
- when a person commits suicide in order to benefit others
- sometimes viewed as a courageous act such as self-sacrifice
altruistic suicide
- deregulation or normlesness
- a condition of instability resulting from a breakdown of standards and values or from a lack of purpose or ideals
anomie
- dissatisfaction, over regulated
- too low of a degree of regulation.. without regulation, a person cannot set reachable goals and in turn people get extremely frustrated
- suicide takes place in a situation which has cropped up suddenly
anomic suicide
- so controlled they cannot seek satisfaction
- held to extreme rules and regulations
- they often live their lives under extreme rules and high expectations
- these types of people are left feeling like they’ve lost their sense of self
fatalistic suicide
Spirit of Capitalism
Max Weber
What are the 2 theories that explain capitalism?
idealism and materialism
assumption that the economy and natural environment are what determine human behavior, shape society, and govern the course of history
- starts from the ground, up
materialism
assumption that people’s behavior is the outcome of how they think about the world and that changes in thought will change society and the course of history
- starts from the top, down
idealism
- sociological interpretation and understanding of the meanings people give to their social world and to their actions through experience
Verstehen
the attitude which seeks profit rationally and systematically
spirit of capitalism
a man does not “by nature” wish to earn more and more money, but simply to live as he is accustomed to live and earn as much as is necessary for that purpose
traditionalism
- Capitalism and Conflict
- Model of Society
Karl Marx
- superstructure: ideas, social institutions
- “mode of production”
- forces of production
- means of production
superstructure
economic categories of people, each class has a place in the economy
Capitalist Relation of Production
conflict in society’s classes is between
dominate class and subordinate
When the ________ became dominant, the capital system began and changed society
bourgeoisie
- class with major ownership of societies productions
- ownership and control
bourgeoisie
- class of wage-earners in an economic society whose only possession of significant material value is their labor power
proletariat
mode of production in which a class of property owners (lords) obtain their living by exploiting a class of direct producers (peasants)
feudal system (feudal system)
workers first become conscious of sharing common grievances against capitalists (thus forming a class “in itself”) and eventually developed an awareness of themselves as forming a social class opposed to the bourgeoisie (thus becoming a class “for itself”), the proletariat
class-in-itself
- the result of the revolt of the proletariat class
- dictatorship of the proletariat
- proletariat must be a dictator
- between capital and communist period
socialism
- ownership of society’s means of production
- deprives no men of appropriate power
- free association of completely free men, where no separation between “private and common interest” existed: a society where “everyone could give himself a complete education in whatever domain he fancied”
Communism
according to Marx, under socialism, government would become:
less necessary, “the withering away of the state”
set of assumption about what is important in society and the dynamics of how the social world works
sociological paradigms
the theory that social institutions and processes in society exist to meet some need of society and thereby keeping it operating and in existence
functionalism
What are the 4 assumptions of functionalism?
- society is made of connected parts
- society has needs
- institutions/patterns of action change because of society’s needs
- things develop in society which perform functions to meet society’s needs
a philosophy which draws an analogy between society and a living biological body
organicism
How do a society’s needs impact the society? (functionalism)
- a society’s needs impact their institutions and patterns of actions
- the functions of society impact the society’s needs
best known for his social action theory and structural functionalism
Talcott Parsons
- a requirement for survival in any social system
- Talcott Parsons
Functional Imperatives of a Social System (AGIL)
What does AGIL stand for?
- adaption
- goal attainment
- integration
- latency (pattern maintenance)
everyone must adjust to material environment
- economy
Functional Imperative: adaptation
members of the social system/institutions are working towards a goal (politics)
Function Imperative: Goal Attainment
harmony in society (laws help provide this)
Functional Imperative: integrations
members of society hold similar values/norms (education continues this pattern)
Functional Imperative: latency (pattern maintenance)
- patterns of action: higher education has become larger and people spend more years in school
- need: jobs require greater skill because of technological change
- functions: the institution of higher education provides society with skilled workers
Functionalist Theory of Education
a method of observing the effects and consequences of social phenomenon without assuming that they have developed to meet society’s needs or that they benefit all of society
Robert K Morton: functional analysis
consequences of all social phenomena which are unfavorable to some parts of society and which lessen its adaption and adjustment
Robert K Morton: dysfunctions
5 examples of the positive functions of poverty according to Herbert Gans
- dirty work
- social service jobs
- “low” culture
- absorb economic and political costs
- creates jobs
other social patterns or policies which achieve the same functions, but avoid the dysfunction
Gans: Functional Alternatives
through the eyes of functionalism, conflict in society cannot be clearly seen
one limitation of functionalism
traditional nuclear family, consisting of a mother and father and their children, was a functional necessity in modern industrial society, because it fills the function of reproducing workers
Parson’s Sex Role Theory
- society is made up of a number of different parts, “parts” being groups, parties, interest groups
- characteristics of society and what happens in it are the outcome of conflict
- society is held together by manipulation and coercion of some dominant group
- because society is ambiguous and ongoing, social change is frequent
Conflict Theory
the process by which you learn how to become a functioning member of society by learning norms, values, and beliefs
socialization
women should focus on cultivating a home that is supportive, warm, and virtuous
The Cult of Domesticity
- relationships between husbands and wives reflect and are structured by the gender inequalities in society
- family is a battleground for the power to make decisions about everything
- the nature of women’s labor within the home places them at a power disadvantage and in an inferior role to men
3 feminist conflict theories on the traditional family
According to the functionalist view, how important was the cult domesticity?
it was necessary for the survival of society
According to conflict theory. the woman’s main responsibility is the
social reproduction of men
women work to keep the man’s day running smoothly
What are the 2 criticisms on Conflict Theory?
- theory may overemphasize the dynamics of conflict in shaping society. if conflict was as frequent, society would fall apart
- both functionalism and conflict may be observed in a society. Whichever one may observe depends on perspective and the sociological question
looks at communication amongst individuals
- microsociological perspective
Symbolic Interactionism - Meaning of Self
the idea that people are free to make their own decisions and create their own meaning
voluntarism
the belief that all events happen in cause-effect relationships
determinism
the way in which people comprehend things/how they feel about them
meaning
“if men define situations as real, they are real in their consequences”
W.I. Thomas
people’s perceptions define their behaviors
definition of the situation
the individual identity of a person as perceived by that person
“self”
one’s opinion of themselves
Cooley’s term “the looking glass self”
3 steps of Cooley’s looking glass self
- we imagine how we appear to others
- we imagine other’s judgments of our appearance
- we develop a self feeling from other’s judgments
gestures that implicitly arouse in the individual making them the same response which the explicitly arouse in other individuals
significant symbols (Meade)
What are the 2 stages of development of the self?
play stage
game stage
Why is the play stage important in a child’s development of the self?
during play, children are learning to make a distinction between the self and another
Why is the game stage important in the development of self?
you learn to recognize and anticipate what many other players are going to do
- helps you function in society
viewpoint of an entire society, and an individual will act in accord to that viewpoint
- shapes action of what is and isn’t okay in social settings
the Generalized Other
2 dimensions of the self
“I” ——-> “Me”
- one’s self of agency, action, power
- is creative, free, unconventional
“I” dimension of the self
- the self as a distinctive object to be perceived by others and by the I
- follows social expectations, follows, rules, is conventional
“me” dimension of the self
“society seems to be a prison”
Howard Becker
theory suggests there is wiggle room and ways to be free out of the “prison” of society
deviance and motivation
What are 2 types of deviant behavior?
- obedient behavior
- rule breaking behavior
anything that breaks socials norms
deviant behavior
What determines whether or not a behavior is deviant?
the perception of others on their behavior
Why is a person’s perception sometimes problematic?
perception does not always match reality (falsely accused)
someone who breaks a rule, is caught, and is punished
pure deviant
someone who hasn’t done anything wrong, but people perceive them as deviant
falsely accused
Summarize what happened to Amadou Diallo
4 non uniformed cops were approaching him, and as he reached in his pocket he was shot, because they perceived the behavior as dangerous
someone who does something deviant in secret, but no one was there to label it as deviant
Secret Deviant
3 steps in becoming a marijuana user
- learn the techniques
- learn to perceive the effects
- learn to enjoy the effects
According to Howard Becker, why is smoking marijuana regularly enjoyable?
because it has been defined by others as enjoyable, so that’s what people perceive it to be
