Midterm Review questions

Question 1

George Herbert Mead’s theory “stages of self development has three distinct stages. The stages in order are:
a. Preparatory; Play; Game
b. Play; Preparatory; Game
c Preparatory; Game; Generalized other
d. Personal Identities Socail Identities; Generalized Other

Answer 1

A. Preparatory; Play; Game

Question 2

The social scientist () set out to develop the “science of man” that would be based on empirical research, and introduce the world to sociology
a. George Herbert Mead
b. Karl Marx
c. Auguste Comte
d. C. Wright Mills

Answer 2

c. August Comte

Question 3

in studying the mass media, which sociological perspective is interested in communication, interpretation, and meaning?
a. symbolic-interactionist
b. post-modern
c. functionalist
d feminist

Answer 3

a. symbolic-interactionist

Question 4

Describe what the term socio-economic status includes from a sociological perspective

Answer 4

the position of an individual/group on the socioeconomic scale - based on combined measure of education, income, and occupation

Question 5

In what ways is social inequality beneficial to society?

Answer 5

functionalist point of view - inequalities are inevitable - leads to meritocracy (condition of advancement based on worth; motivates people to achieve high goals) according to Herbert J Gans poverty means the “dirty work” gets done (low meaning, low paying, undesirable jobs get done - poor benefits the non-poor)

Question 6

Explain what is meant by the term gender/sexual scripts

Answer 6

ideas of how men and women are supposed to interact with each other including how each gender should behave

Question 7

What are the differences between an essentialist view on gender and a social constructivist view of gender?

Answer 7

Essentialist view - differences between men and women is innate; universal; and immutable - decided at birth because of physical differences
Social Constructionist view - gender is a socially constructed idea through conditioning orchestrated by patriarchy

Question 8

Explain the key ideas and concepts of a conflict or critical sociological perspective.

Answer 8

-the role power plays in socail processes
-a small powerful group is at the top of society and the larger less powerful people at the bottom
- the top group try to keep the other people at the bottom
(Karl Marx)
-power in unequally distributed
-everyone is fighting for resources
- challenges status quo
-the powerful create self-serving social policies
-always winners and losers

Question 9

Explain what is meant by media literacy and why it is important.

Answer 9

Media literacy is the ability to recognize, critically access, and make informed choices about messages contained in mass media forms.
-if not trained to unlock meaning we will consume media messages
-understanding true nature of media and being able to critcally access how specific messages are designed and how they are intended to be recieved

Question 10

Examples of things aren’t as they seem

Answer 10

personal choice about what you wear is actually socially learned to wear that (everyone in class wearing similar things) - tv screen is actually millions of red, green, and blue

Question 11

Relationship between macro and micro levelest and examples

Answer 11

micro is individual experiences and choices; macro is the broader social forces - your individual experiences and choices are influenced by social forces but your individual experiences and choices also influence broader social forces. - social movements (bunch of people making similar individual choices) affect broader social forces.

Question 12

What is sociology

Answer 12

the social science exploring broader social patterns and the operation of society and way individuals are shaped by social forces

Question 13

What is the role of the social imagination

Answer 13

ability to see and measue the social patterns as well as linking individual experiences and broader social forces - allows us to better identify and question aspects of society

Question 14

What perspective are these ideas about media from?
-media contributes to social stability
-connects us with others and informs us about local and national events
-makes us more socially aware

Answer 14

Functionalist

Question 15

What perspective are these ideas about gender from?
-Questions notion of gender
-gender is a set of repeated behaviours not internal essence
-we DO gender not HAVE

Answer 15

Post-Modern

Question 16

What perpestive are these ideas about culture from?
-theres contradictions in cultural values and cultural norms
-reflects society’s dominant ideology
-counter-culture
-common culture doesn’t exist

Answer 16

Conflict/critical

Question 17

What perspective are these ideas about media from?
-shows stereotypes
-teaches traditional gender roles
-most differences between men and women are socially constructed

Answer 17

Feminist

Question 18

What perpective are these ideas about gender from?
-how we come to understand gender
-how we develop gender identities
-through socialization with significant other, power of looking glass self, sense of generalized other we come to know if we are male or female

Answer 18

Symbolic-Interactionist

Question 19

Society’s expectations for how we are supposed to act, think and look is…

Answer 19

Norms

Question 20

What is normative?

Answer 20

Behaviours, appearances, and thoughts and correspond to society’s norms.

Question 21

Agency?

Answer 21

Capacity to make choices

Question 22

____ is the opportunities an individual has in life, based on various factors including stratification, inequality, race, ethnicity, and gender, (and more)

Answer 22

Life chances

Question 23

What concept is described as
-things aren’t what they seem
-look for ways society shapes choices

Answer 23

Strange in the Familiar

Question 24

What concept is described as
-broader socail patterns that are reflected in an individuals actions

Answer 24

General in the Particular

Question 25

What is the “Sociological Imagination?”

Answer 25

awarness of the relationship between an individual and the wider society - coinded by C.W Mills

Question 26

what is a tangiable or physical item people create use and meaning for in a culture called?

Answer 26

Material Culture

Question 27

what helps give meaning to the socail world, is intangible and is produced by intellectual or spiritual development?

Answer 27

Non-material culture

Question 28

What are vegans, vegitarians, gen-x, boomers and millenials considered?

Answer 28

Sub-cultures

Question 29

What is a subculture?

Answer 29

a group that differs from mainstream culture by diverging traits involving language, norms, beliefs, and values

Question 30

What is a type of subculture that strongly opposes core aspects of mainstream cultures like - hells angels, the Hippie movement, feminists, and polygamist?

Answer 30

Counter-culture

Question 31

How is language the main faciltator of culture?

Answer 31

Language is a shared system of communication that includes spoken, written, and signed forms of speech and nonverbal gestures. This is how people express themselves and pass on knowledge, norms, and values.

Question 32

What hypothesis claims that language helps shape reality for those experiencing it? What supports this?

Answer 32

Sapir-Whorf hypothesis - Edward Sapir and Benjamin Whorf - language helps create a common meaning for material and non-material things which is similarly understood by people in the same culture. therefore shaping people’s reality and thinking.

Question 33

What theory are the following part of?
Preparatory (babies imitating) Play (children taking on roles of others like playing “house”) and Game (taking into account several different roles) as well as the two parts of ones self the “I” and the “Me”

Answer 33

George Herbert Mead’s stages of self development

Question 34

I vs Me

Answer 34

I is your true self unique to you - the uninhibited and spontaneous self. Me is your socialized self - acts in accordance to societal expectations

Question 35

What theory are the following part of?
-How others identify and label use affects our self-perception
-3 core components; imagine how we appear to others; image how they judge our appearance; incorporate the perceived judgement of others into our sense of self
-Significant others affect us more than the generalized other

Answer 35

Charles Horton Cooley’s Looking Glass Self
- People in our lives act as a mirror (looking glass) where we can see ourselves reflected back

Question 36

What theory views human development as a dynamic process of reprocipical interaction where individuals play an important role in shaping the environment they develop in?

Answer 36

Bio-ecological theory of Human development

Question 37

What concept believes all human behaviour is controlled by biological factors?

Answer 37

Biological determinism

Question 38

What is sociobiology?

Answer 38

The belief that social behavior evolved from the need to reproduce and survive

Question 39

What are the 3 assumptions with the development of self?

Answer 39

1. Humans act towards things on the basis of meaning the things have towards them
2. The meaning of things is derived from social interaction
3. These meanings are handled and modified through an interpretive process

Question 40

Status, role, socail groups and social institutions are components of what?

Answer 40

Social structure

Question 41

What is resocialization?

Answer 41

process of radically altering ones identity by giving up an existing status in exchange for a new one

Question 42

What is Canada’s Class structure? Is Social mobility possible?

Answer 42

An open class system of mainly income based class structure. 3 classes, highest (most “well-off”, makes up the top 30% and the top 1%) Middle Class (most of Canadians reside here; shrinking; 40,200-80,000) Lower Class (bottom 30% making under 40,000; makes up the “working poor”) Yes you can move in between classes.

Question 43

How poverty is connected to education, health, and hardships?

Answer 43

Children raised in poverty have less opportunities with education and less chance of being able to go to post-secondary. Have to forgo some medical needs; You are typically living from paycheck to paycheck

Question 44

What groups are at most risk for poverty?

Answer 44

Single moms; teenagers; immigrants; people with physical or mental disabilities - children; females; and Indigenous people are at most risk

Question 45

What is a closed system?

Answer 45

A system where there is little to no movement between class/stastuses - Caste system as example, based off of inherited social standing that your born into and can’t leave

Question 46

Functionalists perspective on stratification

Answer 46

the inequalities are actual beneficial; leads to meritocracy (advancement based on worth); gives people motivation to achieve higher goals;

Question 47

Conflict Perpective on stratification

Answer 47

very distinct owners and workers; you don’t “own” anything; used by powerful to maintain position; there’s detachment between the worker and their labour as perpectuated under capitalism

Question 48

Non-binary

Answer 48

those whose identity fall out of male or female

Question 49

hypermasculinaty

Answer 49

extreme tradition masculinity in an exaggerated sense. No crying; strong; tough; dominant; independent

Question 50

economic and education experiences per gender

Answer 50

Female economic: lower wage; less likely to climb ladder; mainly in lower waged feids (nurse; kindergarten teacher); Glass ceiling (intangible barriers that prevent women from getting a positon of authority); fear of sexual harassment if they go into a field dominated by males
Education - treated like they’re weak; have problems solved for them; sit in the back of the class silently working; get brief acknowledgment in order to not hurt their feelings.
Male Economic: higher waged jobs (doc; engineer; professor) higher wages in general; more hate if they go into female-dominated career (called a sissy)

Question 51

Intersectional approach to gender

Answer 51

can’t speak of women as general category; educational, economic, family, and occupational differences with race ethnics and classes; focus on intersectionality (the way our individual arrary of multiple identities (sex, race, class) combine to create a distinct whole.

Question 52

What is stratification?

Answer 52

socially-sanctioned patterns (class) of social inequalities that exist in society and distinguishable attributes (race, ethnicity, gender…)

Question 53

Example of Functionalist perspective

Answer 53

Looking at manifest and lantent functions of schooling (learning ABC’s but also a daycare of sorts) as well as how it operates to support other structures. (gives parents time to work; gives children education to eventually move onto an occupation that they choose)