Mod3/4/5

Question 1

Define the Functionalist approach to socialization.

Answer 1

The more we understand norms and values, the more smoothly a group will function: social integration (people are blank slates until socialized)
Karl Mannheim: “theory of generations”; historical and social context in which people live influence an entire generation’s relationship to society and those within that generation share these similarities
Birth cohorts: refer to groupings of individuals born at the same period of time and have thus experienced the same events

Question 2

Define the Conflict Approach, Socialization

Answer 2

Socialization is about power and control
Primary socialization is one way that a powerful group exercises control over a less powerful approach
Poor people praise the rich for success in socialization, blame themselves for their faults without realizing they are a part of a rigged system; ocialization is a top-down process: society exercises power over individual
Socialization helps reproduce society and reproduce capitalism: it reproduces the inequality of social relations akin to capitalism

Question 3

Define the Feminist Approach socialization

Answer 3

Criticizes the functionalist ideas of fulfilling roles
Argue that viewing men and women in relation to the roles that they fulfill negates the role that structural inequalities play in their lives
Socialization is about the structures of patriarchy that they argue shape the values and norms of our culture at a fundamental level

Question 4

Define Charles Horton Cooley’s Looking Glass Self.

Answer 4

we learn who we are from interactions with others; used the term “looking-glass self” to encompass his belief that our self is the result of our social interaction with others
^^^First, we imagine how we appear to those around us, second we interpret others reactions and come to a conclusion about how others evaluate us, lastly we develop our self concept based on how others view us

Question 5

Define Resocialization.

Answer 5

unlearning our previous socialization and causes us to adopt a new outlook on the world and develop a new sense of self

Question 6

Define Total institutions.

Answer 6

institutions which people are monitored 24 hours a day, such as prisons, hospitals, and military barracks

Question 7

Define the Master Status:

Answer 7

society’s way of dealing with the fact that we hold multiple and sometimes conflicting statuses

Question 8

Define ascribed status.

Answer 8

Ascribed statuses: attained at birth (how we are racialized, gender assigned, and age)
Achieved Statuses: come to us largely through our own efforts

Question 9

Define Role strain and exit:

Answer 9

occurs when one or more of our social positions have conflicting demands and expectations placed upon it
Role exit: may involve social dislocation and sudden need to learn and practice new social roles

Question 10

Define the functionalist perspective of social structures.

Answer 10

All social systems have universal, self-maintaining features that enable them to survive, move forward, and achieve their goals
Systems are made of regular people interacting with one another and some people need to take on special roles to keep the system functioning

Question 11

Define mechanical and organic solidarity.

Answer 11

Mechanical Solidarity: sense of group solidarity where there is minimal division of labor (stay focused on group needs)
Organic Solidarity: shift involves more division of modern labor, individual interests

Question 12

Define the Symbolic Interactionism and their perspective of social structures.

Answer 12

People are creating and revitalizing the social structure which would not exist without their intentional co-operative efforts
We all take part in social performance, where we present an ideal

Question 13

Define Weber’s Six Principles of Bureaucracy

Answer 13

Division of labour: everyone performs a specific task
Hierarchy of authority: positions are ranked so everyone know who reports to who
Written rules and regulations: making rules clear and concise for employees
Written documents: documentation and policy to enforce rules
Impersonality: everyone carries out their role without subjective influence
Hiring and promotion based on technical merit: should not be based on favoritism or bias (written documents should outline the requirements for promotion)

Question 14

Define Role Theory, Robert Merton

Answer 14

Argues that different roles that we occupy com with a recipe on how to act within those positions (social script)

Question 15

Define a status set.

Answer 15

all the different statuses a person holds at a given time (fluid and change over time)

Question 16

Define xSocial Stratification:

Answer 16

hierarchical social positions are ranked based on prestige and power (gender, ability, age affect all of these)

Question 17

Define Status Consistency and inconsistency.

Answer 17

all positions in different status hierarchies align (white, straight, Christian, male)
Status Inconsistency: occupies a high position in one hierarchy but low in others (man, but black, gay, or with an impairment)
Master Status (Hughes): special importance for identity and dominates all other statuses (can change depending on the context)

Question 18

Define the xDouble-Consciousness, Web Du Bois

Answer 18

One’s identity and social interactions are embedded in a larger hierarchical society
Race is a stratified factor
Black individuals maintain 2 behavioral scripts: being oneself and seeing oneself through the eyes of white society,

Question 19

Define the conflict theory and culture.

Answer 19

Capitalism is a social and cultural system
Culture provides norms, values and beliefs that perpetuates capitalist ideals
Some groups have more power than others to shape a country’s culture; those with more money shape it more

Question 20

Define Antonio Gramsy, Cultural Hegemony:

Answer 20

those who profit from society can ensure that society keeps reproducing culture and other factors that benefit them

Question 21

Define Symbolic Interactionism and culture.

Answer 21

Culture is a system of symbols and ideas
Culture is created through micro-interactions
Active individuals bring about changes in culture; we are not passive recipients of culture

Question 22

Define Harold Garfinkel’s types of norms.

Answer 22

Folkways (least severe, informal): norms on elevators, stairways, customary niceties that we engage in daily
Mores (intermediate seriousness, formal): tend to be more formalized, institutionalized as rules and regulations (academic misconduct policies, administrative policies)
Taboos (most strict and deeply ingrained, formal): include severe violations of the law and violations of what we consider proper and moral

Question 23

Define the xSapir-Whorf Hypothesis.

Answer 23

language is culture specific, shapes the way we view the world around us

Question 24

Define Cultural Relativism.

Answer 24

culture and its elements should be viewed from the standpoint of the culture itself (suspend your own culture while doing this)

Question 25

Reverse Ethnocentrism:

Answer 25

using a culture other than one’s own as the standard by which one’s culture is evaluated

Question 26

Define anticipatory socialization.

Answer 26

a couple living together before being married, before the socialization occurs

Question 27

Define George Herbert Mead’s three stages of development.

Answer 27

preparatory (separation of I and me is not complete; imitate what they see other people do)
Play: role-play, learn to take on the role of others and start to understand what the role entails
Game: understand their positions within social groups; understand social relations as complex, function in organized groups

Question 28

Define Reciprocal socialization

Answer 28

parents and children socialize one another inversely

Question 29

Define the difference between a social structure and social institution.

Answer 29

he social structure generally refers to the social arrangements that organize a group or society. One way to think about social structures are as hierarchies that organize our social relationships in social institutions. Social institutions are structures that are patterned on the basis of social needs.

Question 30

Define differential socialization.

Answer 30

Differential socialization is the act of treating people (often children) differently in order to perpetuate societal gender roles

Question 31

Define Mead’s Generalized Other.

Answer 31

Generalized other is Mead’s (1962: 154–8) term for the collection of roles and attitudes that people use as a reference point for figuring out how to behave in a given situation.