FINAL EXAM week 1 - 6

Question 1

What are the 4 levels of social structures?

Answer 1

Microstructure
Mesostructure
Macrostructure
Global Structures

Question 2

Describe microstrucutre

Answer 2

intimate- face-to-face interaction- Families, Friendship cliques

Question 3

Describe mesostructure

Answer 3

patterns of relations in organizations who are often not intimate and often do not interact face-to-face- Colleges, Government Structures

Question 4

Describe macrostructures

Answer 4

system of power relations and structures above mesostructures- Patriarchy- male dominance in social and political life.

Question 5

Describe global structures

Answer 5

Economic relations between countries, patterns of worldwide travel and communication.

Question 6

Describes Talcott Parsons views on society

Answer 6

society is well integrated and in equilibrium when the family successfully raises new generations,

the military successfully defends society against external threats,

schools are able to teach students the skills and values they need to function as productive adults,

and religions create a
shared moral code among people.

Question 7

What are the three types of norms?

Answer 7

Norms, Folkways, and taboo

Question 8

Describe folkways

Answer 8

Social Preferences – least severe punishment

Question 9

Describe Mores

Answer 9

Social Requirements- a core norm which is essential for the survival of group or society

Question 10

Describe Taboos

Answer 10

Strongest type of norm- When violated a taboo punishment is severe.- Incest!

Question 11

Examples of High Culture

Answer 11

opera, ballet, classical music, fine art, literature.

Question 12

What are examples of low culture/ mass culture?

Answer 12

Movies, TV shows, Rock, Hip-Hop, Country music, magazines

Question 13

What does Bourdieu suggest about high culture

Answer 13

consumption of high culture tends to be restricted to upper classes.

Appreciating fine points of high culture requires training- money and time!

Answer 14

Infants begin to form a self-image when their demands are denied.

Infant begins to sense that its needs differ from those of its parents, it has an existence independent of others, and it must somehow balance its needs with the realities of life.

Eventually, the child develops a sense of appropriate behaviour and a moral sense of what is right or wrong.

Question 15

What is the self

Answer 15

A set of ideas and attitudes about who you are as a independant being

Question 16

Describe stages of development

Answer 16

1. children learn to use language and other symbols by imitating important people in their lives, such as their mother and father.
   Mead called such people significant others.
2. Second, children pretend to be other people. That is, they use their imaginations to role-play in games, such as “house,” “school,” and “doctor.”
3. Third, about the time they reach the age of seven, children learn to play complex games that require them to take the role of several other people simultaneously.
   Sports
4. Mead called the generalized other. Years of experience may teach an individual that other people, employing the cultural standards of their society, usually regard him or her as funny or temperamental or intelligent. A person’s image of these cultural standards and how they are applied to him or her is what Mead meant by the generalized other.

Question 17

What are the agents of socialization?

Answer 17

Family

School
- Secondary socialization ( first is family)
- Hidden curriculum
Hidden Curriculum teaches: punctuality, respect for authority, the importance of competition in leading to excellent performance, and other conformist behaviours and beliefs

Peer Groups

Mass Media

Question 18

What is role conflict?

Answer 18

takes place when different role demands are placed on a person by two or more statuses held at the same time.

Ex: Woman can be wife, teacher, and mother and be expected too fulfill duties of all

Question 19

What is role strain?

Answer 19

occurs when incompatible role demands are placed on a person in a single status.

Ex: Teacher is expected to dedicate 10 hours a day preparing lesson plans, teaching etc

as well as, direct spring musical

Question 20

Describe Role distancing

Answer 20

giving the impression of just “going through the motions” but lacking serious commitment to a role.

Ex: I am just working at mcdonalds to make some change i am returning to school in the fall

Question 21

What 3 factors allow genocides to occur based on sociologists?

Answer 21

1. . Norms of solidarity demand conformity.
2. Structures of authority tend to render people obedient.
   - As soon as we are introduced to a structure of authority, we are inclined to obey those in power.
3. . Bureaucracies are highly effective structures of authority.
   - Bureaucracy is a large, impersonal organization comprising many clearly defined positions arranged in a hierarchy.

Question 22

What is a social group?

Answer 22

Group composed of one or more networks of people who identify with one naother and adhere to defined norms, roles and statuses

Question 23

What is social category?

Answer 23

Consist of people who share similar status but do not routinely interact or identify with one another

Ex Coffee Drinkers

Question 24

What is Group Conformity?

Answer 24

group members tend to dress and act alike, use the same slang, like and dislike the same kind of music, and demand loyalty, especially in the face of external threat.
Group loyalties may change with changing social circumstances.

Question 25

What is human capital?

Answer 25

investment in education and training. Productivity gains can result from investment in the skills and abilities of people.

Question 26

Describe social capital.

Answer 26

Social capital are peoples networks and connections.
Individuals are more likely to succeed if they have strong bonds of trust, cooperation, mutual respect, and obligation with well-positioned individuals or families. Knowing the right people, and having strong links to them, helps in finding opportunities and taking advantage of them

Question 27

What is cultural capital?

Answer 27

The widely shared, high-status cultural signals (attitudes, preferences, formal knowledge, behaviours, goals, and credentials) used for social and cultural inclusion and exclusion.- your impression management skills, your ability to influence others.

Ability to convince/ persuade someone

Question 28

Describe Marx theories regarding class.

Answer 28

Class is determined by a person’s “relationship to the means of production” or the source of that person’s income.

The source of income is profit if the person owns a factory or a mine. – OWNERSHIP CLASS (BOURGEOISIE)

It is a wage if he or she must work in a factory or a mine. – WORKING CLASS (PROLETARIAT)

Question 29

Describe functionalist theory of davis and moore

Answer 29

• Highlight the inevitability of social stratification
• Emphasize the importance of jobs

1) some jobs are more important than others,
(2) people must make sacrifices to train for important jobs, and
(3) inequality is required to motivate people to undergo these sacrifices.

• incentives like prestige and money encourage people to sacrafice and commit to education to achieve jobs aare more impactful to society

By distributing resources (income, power, prestige, and leisure) unequally, a society motivates each person to aspire to work harder to achieve the best rewards.

None of the jobs regarded by Davis and Moore as “important” would exist without the physical labour done by people in “less important” jobs.

Question 30

What is ethnic groups?

Answer 30

An ethnic group comprises people whose perceived cultural markers are socially significant. Ethnic groups differ from one another in terms of language, religion, customs, values, ancestors, and the like.

Question 31

What do you know about social context and ethnic groups?

Answer 31

Social contexts, and a person’s relations with other racial and ethnic groups, shape a a person’s racial and ethnic identity.

Change your social context and your racial and ethnic self-conception eventually change too!

Question 32

Describe Tumin’s critique on Davis- Moore thesis

Answer 32

1. It stresses how inequality helps society discover talent but it ignores the pool of talent lying undiscovered because of inequality. Inequality may encourage the discovery of talent but only among those who can afford to take advantage of the opportunities available to them.
2. The functional theory of stratification fails to examine how advantages are passed from generation to generation. Inheritance allows parents to transfer wealth to children, regardless of their talent.
   Tumin suggests that social stratification functions to develop some people’s abilities to the fullest while ensuring that others never reach their potential.