Review Sheet - Final Exam

Question 1

Durkheim and structural-functionalist paradigm:

Answer 1

Culture is a positive aspect of society that brings us together. How culture operates to meet human needs. You could say Super Bowl is a part of structural functionalism. Ignores minorities. Ignores diversity. That we all wants to be a part of something. Ignores social change.

Question 2

Marx and social-conflict paradigm:

Answer 2

Culture maintains inequality. Emphasized how capitalism is integrated in culture and society. Ignores the way that cultural patters integrates members of society.

Question 3

Symbolic-interaction paradigm:

Answer 3

Symbolic interaction is a micro-level orientation, a close-up focus on social interaction in specific situations. At the micro-level, a sporting event for example is a complex, face-to-face interaction. Symbolic interaction does not focus on race, gender and sexuality in the same way.

Question 4

Weber and interpretive sociology:

Answer 4

Focuses on the need to understand the meanings of symbols and social interactions. The study of society that focuses on discovering the meanings people attach to their social world. People’s understanding of their actions and their surrounding. Qualitative data.

Question 5

Critical sociology:

Answer 5

Based on the idea that all research is political. Critical sociology, by contrast, is the study of society that focuses on the need for social change. “Should we have this much inequality?” or “Should society exist in its present form?

Question 6

Scientific sociology:

Answer 6

Based on Structural Functionalism. The sociology of scientific knowledge (SSK) is the study of science as a social activity, especially dealing with the social conditions and effects of science, and with the social structures and processes of scientific activity.

Question 7

Caste vs. Class:

Answer 7

Caste Systems are based on birth (ascription); permit little or no social mobility; shape a person’s entire life, including occupation and marriage; are common in traditional, agrarian societies. Class Systems are based on both birth (ascription) and meritocracy (individual achievement); permit some social mobility; are common in modern industrial and postindustrial societies.

Question 8

Meritocracy:

Answer 8

The concept of meritocracy refers to social stratification based on personal merit. A pure meritocracy has never existed, but in such a system social position would depend entirely on a person’s performance, reflecting both ability and effort. Such a system would have ongoing social mobility, blurring social categories as individuals continuously move up or down in the system, depending on their latest performance.

Question 9

Income vs. Wealth:

Answer 9

Income is only one part of a person’s or family’s wealth, the total value of money and other assets, minus outstanding debts. Wealth—including stocks, bonds, and real estate—is distributed even more unequally than income.

Question 10

David-Moore thesis:

Answer 10

The functional analysis claiming that social stratification has beneficial consequences for the operation of society. the greater the functional importance of a position, the more rewards a society attaches to it. This strategy promotes productivity and efficiency because rewarding important work with income, prestige, power, or leisure encourages people to do these jobs and to work better, longer, and harder. In short, unequal rewards (the foundation of social stratification) benefit society as a whole.

Question 11

Blame the individual:

Answer 11

The culture of poverty thesis states that poverty is caused by shortcomings in the poor themselves (Oscar Lewis).

Question 12

Blame society:

Answer 12

Poverty is caused by society’sunequal distribution of wealth and lack of good jobs (William Julius Wilson).

Question 13

Feminism (3 types):

Answer 13

Liberal - seeks change only to ensure equality of opportunity. Socialist - supports an end to social classes and to family gender roles that encourage “domestic slavery.” Radical feminism - supports an end to the family system.

Question 14

Intersection theory:

Answer 14

The key insight of intersection theory is that there are multiple systems of stratification based on race, class, and gender, and these systems do not operate independently of one another. On the contrary, these dimensions of inequality intersect and interact. Obviously, women are already treated unequally but women from hispanic background is treated even more unequally.

Question 15

Structural functional analysis of gender:

Answer 15

Society encourages gender conformity by instilling in men and women a fear that straying too far from accepted standards of masculinity or femininity will cause rejection by the opposite sex

Question 16

Social-conflict analysis of gender:

Answer 16

Capitalism creates a hegemonic masculinity. It creates a social, political, and institutional institutions in which creates violent masculinity. The women will continue to hit the glass ceiling in a capitalistic society.

Question 17

Symbolic interactionism and gender:

Answer 17

If you watch women and men interacting, you will probably notice that women typically engage in more eye contact than men do. When men and women engage one another, as they do in families and in the workplace, it is men who typically initiate the interaction. That is, men speak first, set the topics of discussion, and control the outcomes. With less power, women are expected to be more deferential,meaning that they show respect for others of higher social position. In many cases, this means that women (just like children or others with less power) spend more time being silent and also encouraging men (or others with more power) not just with eye contact but by smiling or nodding in agreement.

Question 18

Ethnicity:

Answer 18

Ethnicity is based on ancestry, language and culture. Not socially constructed.

Question 19

Nativism:

Answer 19

The policy of protecting the interests of native-born or established inhabitants against those of immigrants. Type of prejudice that targeted white ethnic Americans wo WASPS could maintain economic and political power.

Question 20

Xenophobia:

Answer 20

intense or irrational dislike or fear of people from other countries.

Question 21

Bogardus Social Distance Scale:

Answer 21

Was used to measure social distance from ethnic and racial groups different from yourself in the 1920’s-1950’s. . Suggests that we have seven scales: co-workers, neighbors, friends, spouses, peers etc.

Question 22

Assimilation:

Answer 22

The process by which the minorities learn the majorities behavior.

Question 23

Pluralism:

Answer 23

Pluralism is a state in which people of all races and ethnicities are distinct but have equal social standing.

Question 24

Methods to reduce prejudice:

Answer 24

Integration
Media representation
Education
Diversity training (in the workplace).

Question 25

Intergroup contact hypothesis:

Answer 25

The intergroup contact hypothesis was first proposed by Allport (1954), who suggested that positive effects of intergroup contact occur in contact situations characterized by four key conditions: equal status, intergroup cooperation, common goals, and support by social and institutional authorities.

Question 26

Theories of prejudice:

Answer 26

• Scapegoat Theory: Claims that prejudice results from frustration among people who are disadvantaged.
• Authoritarian Personality Theory (Adorno) claims that prejudice is a personality trait of certain individuals, especially those with little education and those raised by cold and demanding parents.
• Culture Theory (Bogardus) claims that prejudice is rooted in culture; we learn to feel greater social distance from some categories of people.
• Conflict theory claims that prejudice is a tool used by powerful people to divide and control the population.