Prelim 2

Question 1

Why is Durkheim considered one of the first academic sociologists?

Answer 1

Established successful college departments of sociology

Question 2

How and why did Durkheim die?

Answer 2

• Died of a broken heart (a
  stroke)
• WWI broke his heart:
  
  • war was barbaric,
  • his son and students were killed it destroyed him.

Question 3

What are the two types of society included in his theory of the division of labor?

Answer 3

1) Primitive/tradition
2) Modern/complex

Question 4

What are the forms of solidarity in each type?

Answer 4

Primitive/tradition: mechanical solidarity
Modern/complex: organic solidarity

(solidarity is the glue that holds a society together)

Question 5

How is justice for violations of norms or laws served in both types?

Answer 5

Primitive/tradition: harsh punishment

Modern/complex: restitutive/restorative justice (restore order)

Question 6

How is property treated in each society?

Answer 6

Primitive/tradition: common property

Modern/complex: private property

Question 7

What is the foundation for each type of society?

Answer 7

Primitive/tradition: Held together by a strong collective shared religion

Complex/modern: Held together by individualism/cult of the individual; occupation master category of human identity

Question 8

What is the mechanism of social change in Durkheim’s theory?

Answer 8

the division of labor

(Hordes become tribes become cities become nations…….each step involves a new division of labor)

Question 9

What is the master category of human identity in a modern/complex society?

Answer 9

a person’s occupation

Question 10

How did Durkheim use the stability of suicide rates in his use of sociology to understand what was commonly thought of as a deeply individual and psychological experience?

Answer 10

Suicide rates are relatively stable, year after year; rate stays the same. Must be the result of structural patterns, collectively shared experiences.

(Durkheim’s theory disagrees that suicide is a deeply individual and psychological experience, but claims its rather the result of sociological conditions.)

Question 11

By studying suicide statistics Durkheim discovered an interesting relationship pattern between different religious groups. What was the pattern?How did Durkheim explain the pattern using sociology?

Answer 11

Jewish—most connected, lowest suicide rate
Catholic—also very connected, next lowest rate
Protestant—least connected, more individualistic, highest rate

Explained this pattern via connectedness (more connected = lower suicide rate);

using two basic social structural conditions: 1) social integration and 2) regulation

Question 12

What are the two basic structural conditions in Durkheim’s study? Briefly define each condition.

Answer 12

1. social integration: how connected is a person to groups
2. social regulation: how strong or weak are the rules that govern behavior

Question 13

What are the 4 types of suicide? Describe each one, include an example for each.

Answer 13

Hint: (FSACEEAN)
1. fatalistic:
- too much regulation
- not enough individual freedom
example: slavery

2. altruistic:
   - too much integration
   - not enough individual freedom
   example: cults
3. egoistic
   - too little integration—isolated
   - too much individual freedom
   example: elderly shut-in
4. anomic (normlessness):
   - too little regulation
   - too much individual independence
   example: newly rich lottery winners

Question 14

The suicide table can be connected back to Durkheim’s model for the division of labor in society. How are the types of suicides connected to Durkheim’s two society model?

Answer 14

• fatalistic and altruistic more common in primitive/traditional society
• anomic and egoistic more common in modern/complex societies

Question 15

What are the three characteristics of social facts?

Answer 15

1. External to individuals
2. Coercive—guide and constrain
3. Objective—can be observed, measured and studied

Question 16

What is the example of a social fact that I used in my discussion of this material? Include a description of how I would probably be controlled if I violated the norm in the example referred to in the above question?

Answer 16

Professor picks out same general uniform for the day, button up and pants, established by society for the role he plays/serves (teaching at uni).

Everyone wheres same/similar uniform; if violated this norm, might get security called and would get in trouble by administration and probably affect permission to teach until he goes back to norm.

Question 17

What is the short definition of “collective conscience?”

Answer 17

a collectively shared framework of meanings

Question 18

Which U.S. CEO connected to which mega-corporation used Oldenburg’s 3-place theory as the foundation for their corporate mission?

Answer 18

Howard Schultz; CEO of Starbucks

Question 19

Why does Oldenburg have to make up the name “the third place” in his theory?

Answer 19

We do not have a word for this place; can be different for each person, unlike generic terms like home and work.

(We look for it wherever we can find it; traditional sociological theories didn’t adequately address the importance of these neutral, inclusive spaces in fostering social bonds and civic engagement)

Question 20

What are the 3 places in their proper order? Why are they in this order? Briefly describe what happens in each place.

Answer 20

In order (hierarchy) by dependence and time (where we spend the most time)

1. Home:
   - sleep, eat, and wait until it is time to go to the other 2 places
   - roles and roleplay here can be very stressful (parents exerting traditional authority over children, children resenting
   traditional authority of parents, wives and husbands feuding, sibling rivalry over everything…stress builds up).
2. Work:
   - spend a lot of time there
   - Also the source of strain (supervisors supervising, the supervised resenting being supervised, and boredom…..stress builds up).
3. The Third Place:
   - We look for it wherever we can find it
   - Different by person (e.g. shopping mall, scheduling activities like exercise class, etc.)

Question 21

Why is a healthy third place so important according to Oldenburg, and Durkheim before him?

Answer 21

Without suitable third places to relieve stress, we have to turn elsewhere to treat our stress, including drugs and alcohol, and prescription anxiety meds and compulsive online activities and more.

Leads to cult of individual (more individualism) and less/loss of community, which leads to more isolation, loneliness, stress, and so forth.

Question 22

What are the 3 ideal characteristics of a healthy third place? Briefly describe the logic of each one.

Answer 22

1. Convenient location:
   - preferably within walking distance,
   - cars are lonely isolation machines and sources of stress and anger
2. Free or very inexpensive:
   Money should not be a gatekeeping aspect.
3. Conducive to free and easy conversation:
   Talking reduces stress built up in place 1 and 2, stress melts away, we relax, we unwind.

Question 23

How are residential college campuses interesting examples of Oldenburg’s theory of social places?

Answer 23

They are “live-work-play” communities, walkable, everything within reach, expensive to attend, but also inexpensive to experience the day to day.

Question 24

What was the example I used of a healthy third place here at Cornell? Briefly explain using the 3 ideal characteristics of a healthy third place in your answer.

Answer 24

Daily ritual of gathering to watch the sunset on Libe Slope:
1) accessible by walking
2) free
3) very conducive to free and easy conversation

Question 25

How is status attainment connected to Durkheim’s theory of society?

Answer 25

Occupations, according to Durkheim, are the
master category of individual human identity in a modern/complex society. Society (collective conscience) also includes a hierarchical ranking system for prestige (or “social ranking”), a type of social status. People experience prestige according to the hierarchical social ranking of their occupation.

Question 26

Why is occupational attainment about more than just financial success?

Answer 26

Societal rankings are not just monetary, they also involve things like STATUS, HONOR, and RESPECT.

(Where an occupation is ranked is a collective representation of the collectively shared attitudes, opinions, and beliefs of society. We grant respect and honor to individuals in higher ranking occupations like medical physicians and professors and lawyers and business executives, and teachers and up and down the occupational ladder. The rankings over time.)

Question 27

What is a common synonym for “inequality”, often used by scholars connected to research in the sociological process called status attainment?

Answer 27

Stratification

Question 28

We read a chapter in a study that was responding to another controversial study. What was the title and major finding of the controversial study?

Answer 28

Title: “The Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life”

Major Finding: If inequality is result of IQ, a genetic factor, then inequality is just the natural order, some people are smart and some people are not smart. Genetics cannot be changed.

Question 29

Why was this finding insulting to American sociologists?

Answer 29

Since the late 1950s an entire school of research, the status attainment model, has devoted itself to explaining economic outcomes and how many factors go into status/prestige, income, and occupational outcomes in the U.S.; seemed to downplay the role of social and environmental factors in shaping individuals’ lives

Question 30

What is the status attainment model? Be able to briefly describe the model including the sociological logic of any 3 of the independent variables included in the model.

Answer 30

The ‘school’ of sociological research that covers the
many factors that go into achieving status/prestige, income, and occupational outcomes in the U.S.

1) Parent’s Income:
- affects available resources growing up that can affect what type of school you can afford to go to, the type of food you buy, the study materials you can get (tutor, act/sat prep, etc.)

2) Neighborhood Effects:
- school quality, social networks/connections, crime

3) Race/Ethnicity:
- school you get into, jobs you get, etc.

Question 31

What are the two types of factors included in the model?

Answer 31

1) family of origin influences
2) social environment (neighborhood institutions)

Question 32

What is a replication study?

Answer 32

a study for which any outcome would be considered diagnostic evidence about a claim from prior research

Question 33

What are the two statistical datasets used by the authors of both studies?

Answer 33

1) Armed Forces Qualifying Test (AFQT) (includes an IQ test)
2) National Longitudinal Study of Youth (NLSY)

Question 34

What are the important distinctions between a politician who has won an election versus a politician who is campaigning for election?

Answer 34

Once elected, a politician gets to disappear from the public stage and retreat behind closed doors into the veil of secrecy.

While campaigning, however, the candidates must appear in public and perform various public rituals such as speeches or shaking hands in a local diner.

(Public performances become a key to eventual victory)

Question 35

What is Alexander’s definition of a “collective representation?” (use the edited/abridged definition from the agenda lecture notes

Answer 35

a symbolic vessel filled with what citizens
hold most dear…..a broad expression of the moods and meanings of the nation’s democratic life…..and more…”

a symbol of the civil sphere and some extracivil realms (organized around issues such as gender, family, religion, class, ethnicity, and race) that form its boundaries

Question 36

How, according to Alexander, did Barack Obama, get elected to the Presidency?

Answer 36

Obama became a collective representation

Question 37

What was the “October surprise” that finally helped Obama “breakthrough” and win the election? Explained in the Agenda memo.

Answer 37

The global economy began to experience a series of shocking collapses related to the U.S. real estate market that led to “the great recession” and U.S. voters trusted Obama more than his opponent, John McCain, to lead them during an economic crisis.

Question 38

In class I described this as a struggle between two __________ (fill in the blank). How does this struggle unfold?

Answer 38

Vessels;

There are 2 candidates (2 vessels) that get filled with ingredients from collective concience.

They struggle to prevent each other from filling their vessels or they try to fill the vessels with damaging keywords (fear, distrust, anger, resentment).

Public/voters fill keywords into or ignore vessels; supporters try to contaminate opponent’s vessel; relationship mediated by media, big money, and celebrities.

Question 39

What is the Chicago School of Sociology? Briefly, dates, research method, theory history.

Answer 39

• 1892-present
• a tradition in sociology centered in Chicago; where American sociology emerged
• sociological analysis of everyday life in neighborhoods via participant-observation and interviewing people about their thoughts and experiences, as well as Durkheimian principles
• various theory-periods from natural ecology to evolutionary modeling, the concentric ring phase of development, and rise of symbolic interactionism.

Question 40

Why was Chicago a good city to develop the new social science of sociology?

Answer 40

Chicago long considered the essential American “melting pot” where social classes and ethnic/races mixed in a rapidly growing urban setting

Many of the neighborhoods of Chicago hold the meanings of sociological life in American society.

Question 41

Who is Dr. Elijah Anderson? Where does he currently teach? How is he related to the American
Sociological Association?

Answer 41

1) Respected sociologist and active scholar

2) Teaches at Yale

3) Former VP of ASA

Question 42

What is the structure of the society described by Anderson, social classes, economy, history?

Answer 42

Structure:
- At the heart of the code is the issue of respect and honor.

• Street (enforces the code) vs decent (forced to follow the code)
• Decent vs. Street people

Social Classes: poor/working class; decent above street because have more “American values”

Economy: a lack of jobs that pay a living wage and little to no institutional support

History:
systemic racism, segregation, and the long-term effects of poverty which led to street code being necessary to survive

Question 43

Anderson often notes that most of the residents of the community are ___________________
(fill in the blank).

Answer 43

decent

Question 44

Who are the various groups in the community? (Code of the Streets)

Answer 44

Street code people or decent

Question 45

How does Anderson compare and contrast the groups in the community? (Code of the Streets)

Answer 45

Intentions in interactions between the two group (polarization; different ideologies, values) -> code switching

■ Street: children run out and learn about defending their honors
- resort to getting money in different ways
- minority

■ Decent/working poor (also is the majority):
- have internalized the values of American systematic system
(Values: non-violence, church goers)
- However, some children will still follow street code

■ E.g. theme of violence, the decent people are discouraged from fighting
(only consider to be the last resort) don’t want to deal with the environment unless forced to

Handling situations:
○ Community members gain respect by wearing expensive clothes but can also lost respect through fights (use of violence)

■ One individual will take items from another individual (clothings -> something valuable as a trophy)

○ Money doesn’t seem to play a important factor as a lot of people are unemployed

■ Lack of opportunities due intense segregation (the best are the working poor)
■ Everyone play competitive game between honor and respect

Question 46

Yet, something happens in the shared public spaces that effects everyone? How and why does this system of norms take precedence?

Answer 46

It’s a survival mechanism.
Kids and adults expected to adhere to these unwritten rules to gain respect, protect themselves, and avoid conflict.

Public spaces are where individuals from different backgrounds/values intersect, creating need for a common understanding to maintain order and safety.

When institutions fail to provide stability and security, community creates its own system of norms, communicated and enforced through daily interactions, ensuring everyone knows what behavior is acceptable and what isn’t.

Question 47

How is the system reproduced across generations?

Answer 47

Reinforcing racial stereotypes via media

■ Vicious cycle:
People within the community face rejection from outside the inner city and therefore receive a lack of fresh/economic opportunities > perpetuates the vicious cycle (no economic stratification, status or prestige)

Question 48

How do the youth of the community experience the system?

Answer 48

Tension between decent and street
c. Decents need to learn the code of the streets for their own safety and were even encouraged to know it by their guardian

d. Guardians do not want them to be violent but the decents are forced to put on a show so that they are not/ do not “disrespected” = “Code Switching”

e. As a form of “disrespect”, kids would get violent and take clothing as trophies

a. Girls fight over beauty and gossip
b. Used to bring then men in their lives into the fights when “disrespected” but girls are becoming a lot more violent
c. Girls are not likely to fight to death like the boys, won’t bring a gun.

Question 49

What is the relationship between members of the community and the police?

Answer 49

Bad relationship/distrust which can be contributed
to historical context such as slavery
■ Police don’t usually respond to call;
one reason man residents feel they must be prepared to take extraordinary measures to defend themselves and their loved ones against those who are inclined to aggression.

• reprimand the community members

Represent the dominant white society and not caring to protect inner-city residents.

Question 50

Do some of the youth practice “code switching?” How, when, why?

Answer 50

Yes;

Practice “code switching” as almost a survival
mechanism in response to their environment
■ In the street, the youths express more aggression and speak differently
■ In another setting—with teachers, or part-time job, the youth can be polite

Question 51

How is blame for this system commonly misguided, according to Anderson? (last few paragraphs)

Answer 51

society tends to blame the victims—the residents of these communities—rather than addressing the structural and institutional factors that contribute to their circumstances.

Question 52

How does environmental sociology use the sociological imagination to explore the intersection of the environment and society?

Answer 52

Using sociology to explore the institutional consequences of various environmental influences, such as the location of toxic waste or the consequences of climate change in sociological terms.

Question 53

What is the environmental disaster studied by Eric Klinenberg?

Answer 53

1995 Heat Wave in Chicago

Question 54

Who was Joseph Laczko? Briefly describe his life and death and the institutional organizations involved in his situation.

Answer 54

• A 68 year old Hungarian white male
• Died during the heatwave
  ○ Poor and lived alone
  ○ Street hoarder (took many things off streets and kept them at home)
  ■ Only provided with the services he
  needed (state-sponsored services and cooling) after he already passed away

Question 55

Why aren’t heatwaves covered by the mass media?

Answer 55

Media likes big public spectacles and heat waves are silent and invisible killers (little evidence left behind); cannot be as visibly portrayed on television as other natural disasters

Question 56

Was there a public debate over the causes of the deaths in the city?

Answer 56

Yes; government claimed that people died of natural causes and some deaths weren’t “really real” and were going to happen anyways

Question 57

How were the deaths counted? What was the total number of deaths according to Klinenberg? How was this number calculated?

Answer 57

Edmund Donoghue made criteria for identifying a heat related death so investigators and medical examiners could have uniform conclusions; undercounted

739 deaths

Calculated by comparing deaths from previous comparable time intervals to see if more people than usual died during the (current) time interval being examined

Question 58

How and why did influential politicians in the city try to evade responsibility or coverage of the disaster?

Answer 58

○ Chicago already had a bad reputation from violent protests and economy falling apart.

The image and conditions of Chicago were being improved by the government, and they didn’t want to gain a negative reputation again, especially as they were set to hold the new 1996 Democratic Convention (last one that was a disaster)
■ A former mayor had bad reputation after a blizzard

Claimed deaths were from natural causes and not “really real” and wouldve happened anyways

Mayor created committee to investigate who issued report saying heatwave was rare event and tried to avoid topic of deaths from heat waves and title avoids mentioning heatwave

Question 59

How do average heat wave deaths compare to the death rates of other environmental disasters like earthquakes and floods?

Answer 59

heat waves cause the most deaths than all of the “extreme meteorological events” combined in the U.S.

Question 60

What sociological frameworks were helpful to Klinenberg?

Answer 60

1: Based of off Mauss and Durkheim, extreme events reveals social facts
2: Extreme events show the true workings of institutions

Question 61

Why were the neighborhoods of North Lawndale and Little Village important to his study?
Describe the structural historical conditions in each neighborhood and the differential deaths in
each neighborhood.

Answer 61

Compared communities to observe how specific social and ecological conditions influence health and welfare of local residents

North Wandale was predominantly African American and “abandoned”
● African Americans had the highest
rate of death in the heatwave among any “ethnoracial group.”

■ Little Village was predominantly Hispanic
● They had a strong community
○ Had among the least amount of deaths from heatwave

Question 62

Why were their surprises regarding gender in his study?

Answer 62

There are more elderly women as women have a longer life expectancy than males
■ Because of this, it would be expected that more elderly women would die in the heatwave
■ It was discovered that elderly men had a higher chance of dying in the heatwave than women

Question 63

How did his study affect city policy during the next heat wave?

Answer 63

future actions taken by the government were much stronger
■ They opened cooling centers and sent people to check on the elderly

Question 64

What was his next study? Who funded the study? What did he call the group he studied? What were his major findings?

Answer 64

Social Isolation

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

Singletons

Rise of singleton (1-person households); he doesn’t think this is a dangerous thing and believes “singletons” get their necessary access to social connection in other ways

Question 65

What is “public sociology?”

Answer 65

sociology specifically intended to be used for the common good of society