Exam 3 Flashcards
The recognized violation of cultural norms; causes society to see someone as an outsider
Deviance
Attempts by society to regulate people’s thoughts and behavior (regulate deviants)
Social control
Behavior such as peer pressure, parental discipline, or community pressure to regulate deviant behavior
Informal social controls
What are the social foundations of deviance?
- Deviance varies according to cultural norms
- People become deviant as others define them that way
- Both norms and the way people define rule-breaking involve social power
Who established the Functions of Deviance?
Emile Durkheim
What are the functions of deviance?
- Affirms cultural values and norms
- Responding to deviance clarifies moral boundaries
- Responding to deviance brings people together
- Deviance encourages social change
Who established Strain Theory?
Robert Merton
What are the 5 deviance types according to strain theory?
Conformity, Innovation, Ritualism, Retreatism, Rebellion
Pursuing cultural goals through approved means
Conformity
Using unconventional means to achieve a culturally approve goal
Innovation
Stick to rules so stringently, that a cultural goal cannot be met
Ritualism
Reject cultural goals and cultural means so that in effect one drops out
Retreatism
Reject cultural definition of success and the conventional means of achieving success but go further by forming a counterculture (new goal)
Rebellion
The idea that deviance and conformity result not so much from what people do, as from how others respond to those actions
Labeling theory
Who developed the idea of primary and secondary deviance (in relation to labeling theory)
Charles Lemert
Norm violations that may provoke some reaction from others, but this process has little effect on a person’s self-concept
Primary deviance
Deviant behavior that occurs after and because of the fact that an individual has been labeled as a deviant
Secondary deviance
A powerfully negative label that great changes a person’s self-concept and social identity; discredits a person’s claim to complete respectability
Stigma
The transformation of moral and legal deviance into a medical condition (ex: Alcoholism as a disease rather than a weakness)
Medicalization of deviance
Theory that states social control depends on people’s anticipating the consequences of their behavior
Hirschi’s Social Control Theory
What are the four types of “social bonds” with society according to Hirschi?
Attachment, commitment, involvement, belief
Explain the social bond of attachment
Individuals with strong and stable links to others in society at less likely to violate social norms (and vice versa)
Explain the social bond of commitment
Individuals who are more invested in social activities and institutions (through their resources) are less likely to deviate from social norms and expectations (and vice versa)
Explain the social bond of involvement
Individuals who are actively engaged in conventional endeavors have less time and opportunity to engage in deviant activities (and vice versa)
Explain the social bond of belief
Individuals who strongly believe in the moral validity of social norms are less likely to deviate from them (and vice versa)
A deviant act that is in violation of society’s formally enacted law
Crime
Explain the structure and purpose of the criminal justice system
Composed of the police, courts, and prison officials- to respond to alleged violations of the law
Crime committed by people of high social position in the course of their occupations
White collar crime
Illegal actions of a corporation or people acting on its behalf
Corporate crime
A business supplying illegal goods and/or services
Organized crime
A criminal act against a person by an offender motivated by racial or other bias
Hate crime
Crime that direct violence or the threat of violence against others
Crimes against the person
Crimes that involve theft of money or property belonging to others
Crimes against property
Concept used to refer to actions that have been made illegal but which do not directly violate or threaten the rights of any other individual
Victimless crimes
The structure in place to protect any person charged with a crime (right to counsel, speedy trial, etc.)
Due process
A legal negotiation in which a prosecutor reduces a charge in exchange for a defendant’s guilty plea
Plea bargain
What are the 5 types of punishment?
- Retribution- criminal suffers as victim suffered
- Deterence- discourage criminal activity
- Rehabilitation- program to reform
- Societal protection- permanent imprisonment or execution
- Community based correction- programs operating within society at large
What is the phenomenon where people previously convicted of crimes commit later offenses?
Criminal recidivism
A system by which a society ranks categories of people in a hierarchy
Stratification
Explain the four principles of stratification
1) It is a trait of society, not a reflection of individual differences
2) Carries over from generation to generation
3) Universal but variable
4) Involves not just inequality but beliefs as well
Social stratification based on ascription, or birth (statuses are inherited)
Caste System
Social stratification based on both birth and individual achievement; believed to be open
Class System
Social stratification based on personal abilities and achievements
Meritocracy
The degree of uniformity in a person’s social standing across various dimensions of social inequality
Status consistency
Cultural beliefs that justify particular social arrangements including patterns of inequality
Ideology
What were Plato’s thoughts on stratification?
Every society considers some type of inequality fair
Explain the David and Moore Ideology
-Social stratification has beneficial consequences for the operation of society (has a function and is necessary)
-The greater the functional importance of a position, the more rewards a society attaches to it
-Every society must distribute members in social positions and induce them to perform the duties of those positions
-There must be some way of distributing rewards differentially according to positions
Simplify the name of the system proposed by David and Moore Ideology
System of positions
According to David and Moore Ideology, what are the best-rewarded positions?
1) Positions that have the greatest importance
2) Positions that require the greatest training and talent
Societies must see that less essential positions do not compete successfully with more essential ones
Differential functional importance
Explain Marx’s Ideology
-Culture and institutions combine to support a society’s elite
-Social stratification is rooted in people’s relationship to the means of production
People who sell their labor for wages
Proletariat
People who own and operate factories and other businesses in pursuit of profits
Bourgeoisie
The experience of isolation and misery resulting from powerlessness (how the proletariats feel)
Alienation
What kind of system did Marx envision overthrowing Capitalism?
Socialist System
Why was there no worldwide Marxist revolution?
1) Fragmentation of the capitalist class
2) A higher standard of living
3) More worker organizations
4) Greater legal protections
Explain Max Weber’s Ideology
-Classes are not well-defined categories but rather a continuum with three distinct dimensions (economic, status, and power) to create a composite ranking
Buying and using products because of the statement they make about a social position
Conspicuous consumption
Explain the Kuznet Curve
It is a formula showing that inequality increases during the early stages of capitalist development- then reaches a critical point and begins to decline
Earnings from work and investments
Income
What is the US median household income?
$78, 595
The total value of money and other assets, minus outstanding debt
Wealth
The kind of work a person does, while giving respect to those who do what we consider to be more important works nd less to others with more modest jobs
Occupational prestige
What are some social factors that affect stratification?
Education, ancestry, race, gender
What distinguishes the upper/upper class from the rest of the upper class?
Birth right (blue bloods)
Who is the most influential social class in the US?
Middle class (40-45%)
What distinguishes the upper middle class from the rest of the middle class?
College and graduate school education
What kind of jobs do average middle-class people have?
White collar jobs
What does one’s class affect?
Health, values and attitudes, politics, and education
Movement of individuals within society’s stratification system
Social mobility
How does one achieve upward social mobility?
Marrying up, educating up, or occupation up
How does one fall into downward social mobility?
Dropping out of high school, divorce, losing a job
Upward or downward social mobility occurring during a person’s lifetime
Intragenerational social mobility
Upward or downward social mobility of children in relation to their parents
Intergenerational social mobility
Changing jobs at the same class level
Horizontal social mobility
A shift in the social position of large numbers of people due more to changes in society itself than to individual efforts
Structural social mobility
The lack of resources of some people in relation to those who have more
Relative poverty
The lack of resources that is life threatening
Absolute poverty
What percentage of the US population is impoverished?
11.6%
What is the income poverty line as set by the US government for a household of 4?
$26,500
The trend of women making up an increasing proportion of the poor
Feminization of poverty
What are the ways to explain poverty
- Blame the poor: unjustly believing that the cause of the problem resides in the individuals who experience the problem
- Blame the society
The idea that we need to be recruited into and taught criminal behavior by people in our social networks
Differential association theory
The idea that deviance is more common in dysfunctional neighborhoods
Social disorganization theory
The idea that deviance is facilitated by the development of culturally resonant rationales for rule breaking
Neutralization theory
Widespread and enduring patterns of interaction with which we respond to categories of human need
Social institutions
The entire set of interlocking social institutions in which we live
Social structure
The features of our lives that determine our mix of opportunities and constraints
Structural position
The resources we use to get things we want and need
Capital
Financial resources that are or can be converted into money
Economic capital
The minority of people who control a disproportionate amount of wealth
Economic elite
A capitalist system with little or no government regulation
Free market capitalism
A patchwork of programs intended to ensure that the most economically vulnerable do not go without basic necessities like food, clothing, and shelter
Social safety net
A new class of workers who live economically precarious lives
Precariat
An invisible barrier that restricts upward mobility
Glass ceiling
An invisible barrier that restricts downward mobility
Glass floor
