Midterm Flashcards
Primary reasons education became compulsory
1) created jobs and helped economy grow
2) created population more compatible with democracy and functioning government
3) helped reduce class differences
Structural functionalism
-Functionalism stresses that human behavior is governed by relatively stable patterns of social relations, or social structures.
-social structures maintain or undermine social stability.
-social structures are based mainly on shared values or preferences.
-Functionalism suggests that re-establishing equilibrium can best solve most social problems.
Society is made of different parts that all work in harmony to maintain balance, everything serves a purpose
Is structural functionalism a micro or macro thery
Macro
Main functions of the education system
Specialization/ssorting, specialization, job training
Conflict theory
Society is composed of different groups with different interests that compete for power and resources
Members of privileged groups try to maintain their advantages while subordinate groups struggle to increase theirs
Decreasing privilege will lower levels of conflict and increase sum of human welfare
Focuses on macro-level structures (e.g., relations between economic classes)
Functionalism on Selection/Sorting
-Various jobs have different levels of prestige and compensation
-Competition for jobs should be meritocratic (based on effort and demonstrated abilities)
-Education provides a means of ensuring meritocracy
-Manifest (intended) function of education is to sort people into open and fair competition
Functionalism on Socialization
-The ubiquity of the school systems enables it to reach members of entire population
-People are taught shared values and ideas (e.g., patriotism, eating healthy, respect, anti-bullying)
-Divisive topics are beneficial as it evokes and re-affirms collective sentiments
-Socialization as another manifest function of education system.
Functionalism on Job Training
-Final manifest function: developing skills/knowledge into people important for work and functioning of daily life
-Human Capital Theory – a well-education population can work more effectively, efficiently, and creatively
-Hence, while public education is expensive, gov’t investment will produce benefits for country
Conflict Theory on Selection/Sorting
-Meritocracy in education is overstated as it only considers equality of opportunity and not equality of condition
-Education not a fair competition as some people has advantages that others don’t
-Education reproduces social inequality by sustaining the distribution of (dis)advantages across various people (latent function)
-Disadvantages can be overt, subtle, and systemic (e.g., refer to education as race analogy)
In other words, one of the latent effects (i.e. unintended consequences) of the education system is reproducing class inequality and then justifying this inequality as fair (because if everyone gets what they deserve in meritocracy, and if education is meritocratic, then if you don’t succeed in society it’s your fault).
Bourdieu’s forms of capital
Economic capital – money, wealth, property (Whether children have adequate housing; quiet spaces to work; access to utilities like heat, light, and water)
Social capital – social networks (Whether the child can ask their parents for help with homework or with navigating education (for example, university applications).
Cultural – tastes, habits, clothes, depositions, mannerisms (Ability to interact positively with teachers (including following teacher expectations like sitting still, or the language a child uses).)
Conflict theorists argue all these forms of capital provide advantages and disadvantages to students. Hence, the notion of meritocracy and equality does not exist and projects the image of failing in school as individualistic.
Conflict Theory on Socialization
Latent effect of education system is socialization students into hidden curriculum
To be docile, obedient, and not question authority
Symbolic Interactionism
- focuses on face-to-face communication or interaction in micro-level social settings. This feature distinguishes it from both the functionalist and the conflict perspectives;
- emphasizes that an adequate explanation of social behaviour requires understanding the subjective (i.e. personal) meanings people attach to their social circumstances;
- stresses that people help to create their social circumstances and do not merely react to them;
- validates unpopular and nonofficial viewpoints by underscoring the subjective meanings that people create in small social settings, increasing our understanding and tolerance of people who may be different than us.
Labelling Theory
maintains how we label something shapes how we view, respond, and handle it (e.g., gun laws, sex and nudity in movies)
rationalization
society moving towards an instrumental rationality and away from religion
Instrumental vs Value rationality
Weber drew distinction between rationality and distinction behind social action
1. Instrumental or means-end rationality - choosing the rational, practical, effective means to reach the desired end which includes considering the conditions and other human beings that affect the ability to achieve the desired end
Politicians should make decisions according to what is best for society
2. Value rationality - making decisions based on ethical value that is seen as worth pursuing for its own sake regardless of its likelihood for success.
Politicians need to get re-elected, even if you think something isn’t best with society, you need to do it to make supporters happy - listen to campaign donors and others iny your party
Feminism
- Society is dominated by patriarchy
Patriarchy, feminists contend, is at least as important as class inequality in determining a person’s opportunities in life, and perhaps more so;
No real biological difference in men and women and male domination is determined by structures of power and social convention - Women are subordinate to men only because men enjoy more legal, economic, political, and cultural rights;
- examines the operation of patriarchy in both micro and macro settings;
- Reduction of gender inequality is good for everyone
The main sources of gender inequality include differences in the way boys and girls are raised, barriers to equal opportunity in education, paid work, and politics; as well as the unequal division of domestic responsibilities between women and men.
Feminism and education
- underrepresentation in positions of power
- gender representation in school activities
- sexual harassment
Critical race theory
- Race is a socially constructed and NOT a biologically grounded category. It is used to oppress and exploit people of colour.
- Racism is a normal, persistent, and defining characteristic of social institutions including politics, the legal system, the economy, and all other societal institutions/structures.
- Progress on racial issues occurs primarily during periods of interest convergence— i.e. when marginalized group interests are taken up by the dominant group only due to it fitting their own interests.
- Intersectionality - Individuals cannot be adequately understood by their membership in separate marginalized communities. In other words, marginalization is intersectional— i.e. membership in multiple marginalized communities compounds or intensifies the negative repercussions an individual faces as a result.
Interest convergence
Ford took steps to hire Black employees but only did so to increase the pool of workers to draw from, thus, making them less susceptible to strikes from worker unions.
Other automotive companies didnt hire Black people until labour shortage
Derek Bell - first tenured Black law prof at Harvard
Argued that supreme court decision to end “separate but equal” policies because it was worried about the US image during the cold war
Intersectionality
Coined by UCLA prof Kimberle Crenshaw in 1989
Statistical interactions - when the effect of one variable relies on another variable (variables are not additive but rather multiplicitive)
Culture
The way that non-material objects—like thoughts, action, language, and values—come together with material objects to form a way of life
two main types of culture?
material and non-material
Non-material culture
- Symbols: anything that carries a specific meaning that is recognized by people who share a culture (ex, emojis, peace sign, etc)
- Values: Cultural Standards that people use to decide what’s good or bad, what’s right or wrong, they serve as the ideals and guidelines that we live by (e.g., morality)
- Norms: The rules and expectations that guide behavior within a society. There are 3 main types of norms:
types of norms
- Folkways: unwritten, informal rules and expectations that guide behavior. Often based on tradition and customs.
For example, shaking hands, what different types of clothes mean, what language to use in what contexts (e.g., Profs don’t swear) - Mores: More official than folkways and are rooted in morality, they tend to be codified or formalized as stated rules and laws of a society but can be more informal
Not stealing, murder, being polite, not lying, not using drugs excessively, loyalty to family, etc. - Taboos: The norms that are crucial to a society’s moral center, involving behaviors that are always negatively sanctioned
Incest, Pedophilia, Cannibalism, Necrophilia, etc
Post-Modernism
A broad and somewhat intentionally difficult to define term, typically applied to the arts and philosophy that is skeptical of ‘objective’ universal explanations of how society and culture operate”
fits within and can be considered one-part of symbolic interactionism. It looks at more abstract/complex/philosophical objects of study with a focus on how things are constructed especially culturally.
Ex: Paul Baudrillards analysis on the death of princess Diana:
People were sad over Dianas death, but this wasn’t actually because they were sad because she died (they didn’t know her personally), but rather they valued her as an idea and what she symbolized to them
Hyperreality: inability to separate reality from its representation
Ubiquity of culture
culture touches and effects all of us and influences us in small ways. We have complete control over culture and it can’t exist without us
Obstinance of culture
Obstinance of culture:
Socialization
the lifelong process of an individual learning the expected norms and customs of a group or society through social interaction
Primary socialization
taught by parents or family
results in path dependency
path dependency (culture)
“when the outcome of a process depends on its past history, on a sequence of decisions made by agents and resulting outcomes, and not only on contemporary conditions”
Globalization
the growing economic, political, and social interconnectedness among societies throughout the world. It has eroded boundaries that separate societies, creating a ‘global village
Liquid modernity
Tech has increased the obstinance of culture
Technological developments and increased cultural diffusion made all cultures in a constant state of flux and change with no way to impose stability on it
what is the primary source of secondary socialization?
Media
3 trends that contribute to people believing media and buying fake news?
- newer generations are more skeptical and think more critically
- increasing use of social media for information
- feedback loop between politicians, media, and news
4 functions of media according to functionalists
Coordinate and share infomration in society
Act as agents of socialization
Engage in Social control by ensuring conformity
Provide Entertainment
Narcotization
A situation in which people become so overwhelmed by the amount of information they receive that they become numb – for example to negative news or tragedies
dysfunction of media according to structuralist
conflict theory view on media
Institutions (news media) and processes (socilaization and social control) can not be understood from viewpoint of society as a whole, but rather, needs to be understood from the perspective of unequal and conflicting groups and classes
Media dispoporttionalty favors the itnersts of the rich in two ways:
Media broadcasts values, beliefs, and ideas that create acceptance of the structure in society, including its inequalities
Ownership of news media is highly concentrated in the hands of a small number of people that serve to gain profit
Hegemony (Antonio Gramsci):
the social, cultural, ideological, or economic influence exerted by a dominant group
created to explain how the ruling class were able to control the working class without force
Symbolic interactionalist view on media
audiences filter and interpret media messages in context of their own interests, experiences, and values
with so many choices due to abundance of media sources and platforms, people increasingly customize their news experience, minimizing their opportunity to encounter information that does not fit with their worldview.
The fragmentation of the news has led to an increased amount of digital tribalism.
tribalism
state or tendency to gather and reinforce ideas belonging to a group, and to do so out of a sense of strong loyalty.
This is seen as a significant cause of the polarization of public discourse and public opinion.
Operationalizing
turning abstract concepts into measurable observations
Dunning-Kruger Effect
“a cognitive bias whereby people with limited knowledge or competence in a given intellectual or social domain greatly overestimate their own knowledge or competence in that domain”
Occurs constantly in society where people have strong opinions about things they lack expertise or knowledge of
measures inflation each month
Consumer price index (CPI)
Matthew effect
advantage accumulates in ways that allow the rich to get richer
Allostatic load
“the cumulative burden of chronic stress and life events”
GINI coefficient
way we measure or operationalize inequality
0 is good, 1 is bad
how did inequality grow in canada? (3 reasons)
Rich became richer
Workers lost bargaining power due to loss of unions (product of globalization)
Corporate Consolidation (big companies forcing smaller ones to sell to them or go out of business) means fewer corporations and, therefore, fewer CEO’s and owners that are richer.
why arent people mad about inequality? (2 reasons)
Most homes gained an extra income (because of women)
Inequality became invisible (because of loans and debts)
Absolute Poverty vs relative poverty vs extreme poverty
Absolute Poverty: lack of resources necessary for material well-being: food, water, housing, land, and health care
Relative poverty: deficiency in material and economic resources compared with some other population
Extreme poverty: 15% of population: Living on less than $1.25 a day
3 reasons envirnomental issues are so serious
They have the greatest potential for catastrophic results.
Our entire economic system is set-up in a way that has resisted and will continue to resist environmental protection.
It’s a global problem that requires a global solution, yet the world remains organized as competing nations more than allies willing to work together
what 3 reasons is there a imbalance in equibrium when it comes to environment?
Growing human population creates strain on environment
greater scientific developments allowing us to exploit resources and change the environment more than ever before (ex: nuclear technology, new drilling techniques like fracking, use of fertilizers and pesticides, etc.)
a human culture/society that has never had to prioritize the environment over the economy before
5 reasons we havent solved the issue of environment
Earth as an externity
Path dependency
Moral foundation theory
Immediacy bias
Misinformation
path dependency (environment)
it is almost always easier to continue on the current trajectory than it is to switch trajectories or start a new one. The key component of this theory, is that this remains true even if the other trajectory is preferable
Externity
situations when the effect of production or consumption of goods and services imposes costs or benefits on others which are not reflected in the prices charged for the goods and services being provided)
5 key components of moral foundation theory
harm/care (individulaizing)
fairness/reciprocacy (individulaizing)
In group loyalty (bonding)
authority/respect (bonding)
purity/sanctity (bonding)
what do liberals value
fairness
what do conservatives value
Authority, Ingroup Loyalty, and Purity
what do liberals and conservatives both value the most
harm
Immediacy bias
simple process by which our brains tend to prefer instant gratification or reward over something potentially of more value in the future
2 theories that help understand corporations
Competition as ‘external coercive law’ – Karl Marx
Bureaucracy a ‘polar night of icy darkness’ – Max Weber
Competition as ‘external coercive law’ – Karl Marx
For companies to survive in the capitalist order, they ought to prioritize profit. If they do not do so, their competition will crush them.
Bureaucracy a ‘polar night of icy darkness’ – Max Weber
Bureaucracy turns people into machines because it creates a structure with positions with duty and obligations, where you have to stay in this position to not upset structure
Takes away thinking and morality bc you have to do the job or get fired
Ex. you give a homeless person a free meal as a waiter - you get fired by the manager who will get fired if they dont fire you
2 aspects of the symbolic interactionalist analysis of the environment
tragedy of the commons
the social contract
tragedy of the commons
Refers to when everyone has access to something and exploits it (ex fishing)
Common: something most people have access to that is not well regulated
If you want someone to take care of something, you ahve to give them ownership fo ti
Three solutions:
1.Unfair share solution - despite minority not respecting the rules, the majority have to pick up and respect the rules
2. Everyone loses solution - the rest of teh group decides not to follow the rules as well
3 Violent enforcement
what are the 3 challenges to health caused by globalization?
Increased travel means greater risk of communicable diseases being spread across regions
Reduces power of government to tax corporations and the wealthy
Reduces working conditions in poor countries
