SOC 111

Question 1

Everything important about my main man Karl Marx

Answer 1

Believed that conflict, especially class conflict was necessary to produce social change and a better society (conflict perspective) (also realism)

Saw the transition from a feudal mode of production to a capitalist mode of production

Most important changes were economic - emphasis on capitalism being at the root of conflict and poverty

Emphasis on class conflict - struggle between the capitalist class and the working class (bourgeoise and proletariat)

Bourgeoise - own the means of production

Proletariat - those who must sell their labour to earn a living

Wanted communism - didn’t get it

Against private property
Theory of Surplus Value / labour value theory / relations of production

Influenced critical theory

Question 2

Everything important about my main man Max Weber

Answer 2

Also under the conflict perspective - also under interpretivism

Developed anthropocentric sociology of subjective meaning and empirical reality
Anthropocentric- an analysis with human beings and civilization at the forefront

disagreed with Marx that economics were THE driving factor in social change

Believed sociology should be ‘value free’ - bias free

Developed ‘Ideal Types’ - mental constructs in societal domains
Ideal types of legitimate authority (Charismatic, Traditional, Legal-Rational

Rational bureaucracy, rather than class struggle (marx) is the driving factor in social relations

Social rationalization

thought people were constrained by social organization

Verstehen - ability to see the world as others see it

thought that cultural factors influenced development of capitalism

interpretive understanding / causal explanation

Question 3

Three main parts of sociological research?

Answer 3

Literature Review / Theory / Methodology

Question 4

Theory of Surplus Value

Answer 4

Marx
In capitalism workers are paid less than the value of the goods they produce

Question 5

Critical Theory

Answer 5

Marx
is any approach to social philosophy that focuses on reflective assessment and critique of society and culture to reveal and challenge power structures

Question 6

Define Epistemology

Answer 6

The study of the origins and nature of knowledge

Question 7

Everything important about my man Emile Durkheim

Answer 7

Fell under the functionalist perspective

Understood social change in terms of solidarity
Due to urbanization and industrialization created a very specialized division of labour, causing individuals to be interdependent (since everything was so specialized)

Lead to Anomie - social control becoming ineffective as a result of the loss of shared values and a sense of purpose

Two types of solidarity: Mechanical (Religion, community, tribes) and Organic ( interdependence, division of labour)
Idea that societies are based on social facts

Solidarity based on the rational participation of the individual

integration and regulation (suicide studies)

influenced by comte

Question 8

Auguste Comte

Answer 8

Positivism - belief that the world can best be understood through scientific inquiry

Coined the term sociology

focused on applying scientific methods to sociological research

Question 9

Social Facts

Answer 9

Durkheim

Term for patterened ways of thinking, acting, and feeling, that exist outside any one individual

explained by other social facts

EG) Social norms, population distribution

Question 10

Four types of Suicide

Answer 10

Egoistic Suicide (low integration)
happens when people have fewer interactions with other people, unmarried, no kids, protestant

Anomic Suicide (low regulation)
Suicide is related to unclear social norms, vast social change or disruption in the social order, such as economic change, one wants things but doesn’t have the means to achieve them

Altruistic Suicide (high integration)
People are self-sacrificing to the extreme for the good of the group, common in wartimes
Sacrifice one for the good of the many

Fatalistic Suicide (high regulation)
Outcome of too much regulation, person is so controlled and cannot see a future for themselves, subject to a form of despotism

Question 11

Societal rationalization (Weber)

Answer 11

By rationalization, weber was referring to an ongoing process in which social interaction and institutions become increasingly governed by methodical procedures and calculable rules.
Thus, in steering the course of societal development, values, traditions and emotions were being displaced in favour of formal and impersonal bureaucratic practices.
Weber generated a broad range of ideal types. He recognized that in western culture, compared to other cultures, means-end rational action” was overemphasized

Means-end Rational
When the end, the means and the secondary results are all rationally considered and weighed. For example, tailoring your attitudes and behaviour to succeed in a job interview.

Value Rational
Social action is determined by a conscious belief in the value for its own sake the value may be ethical, aesthetic, religious or another form of behaviour. You may decide that for your job interview, you will not compromise the value you place on truthfulness.

Question 12

Inductive vs Deductive

Answer 12

Deductive Model: Theory → Data
Theory
Hypothesis
Observation
Confirmation

Inductive Model: Data → Theory
Observation
Pattern
Tentative Hypothesis
Theory

Question 13

Research Design

Answer 13

Experimental design
Emphasis on causation
Demonstrate that a causes b
Requires controlled environment
Requires experimental group and control group
Ensure no researcher bias
Independent variable
The factor that has a causal impact
Causes the dependent variable to change
Dependent variable
Factor that varies in response to independent variable

Cross-Sectional design
More than one case
Patterns of association
Reliability, replication, validity
Variables not manipulated
Structure
Useful for measuring attitudes, especially effective with random sampling
Used to eliminate researcher bias

Longitudinal Design
Data is collected more than once
There is a time order; can update data
Panel study
Interviewing same group of people over time
Cohort Study
Category of people over time, not exact same individuals
Or multiple interviews/ focus groups/ texts, participant observation over time (qualitative)

Case Study Design
Often a single person or defined location
May also be a person or event
Intensive examination of a small setting, often qualitative research

Question 14

Culture and Society

Answer 14

Culture
Is the knowledge, language, values, customs and material objects that are passed from person to person and from one generation to the next in a human group or society

Society
Is a large social grouping that occupies the same geographic territory and is the subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations

Question 15

Sapir-Whorf hypothesis

Answer 15

Linguistic Determinism
The structure of a language telling us how to think/ see the world
English revolves around past present and future

Linguistic relativism
Because language determines our perceptions of reality people who speak different languages will see the world differently

Question 16

Symbolic interactionist perspective-

Answer 16

Blumer and Mead

A micro-level analysis that views society as the sum of all people’s interactions… symbols make communication with others plausible because they provide people with shared meanings and people create, maintain, and modify culture as they go about their everyday lives

Involved behaviour as a result of defining the situation

Question 17

Postmodern perspective

Answer 17

Francios Lyotard / Baudrillard

A Eurocentric lens conditions our view of all cultures and the culture of our age produces a social world that is not real but simulated
One questions all major social theories– nothing is sacred
Questions the possibility of a truth external to ourselves
Nothing is real.

Hyperreality

Question 18

Verstehen

Answer 18

Ability to see the world as others see it (Weber)

Question 19

Conflict perspective

Answer 19

relates to consumerism and consumption of commodities

Question 20

Define socialization

Answer 20

The lifelong process of social interaction through which individuals acquire a self identity and the physical, mental and social skills needed for survival in a society

Question 21

Define culture

Answer 21

the knowledge, language, values, customs and material objects that are passed through generations

Question 22

Who was Charles Horton Cooley, and what were his 3 main points?

Answer 22

He was an early sociologist in child socialization –> influenced GHM

Symbolically mediated interaction –> determines ones relationship between self and society

The social self –> the experience of self is an emotional response to the evaluation of others

The looking glass self –> the imagination of our appearance to another person, imagining the persons judgement of that appearance, some sort of self feeling, pride or mortification

Believed the self was connected with the social

Question 23

What were GHMs four basic premises on socialization?

Answer 23

1) A human being comes to form a self which enables him to interact with himself in large measure as he interacts with others

2) Such self-interaction is interwoven with social interaction and influences that social interaction

3) Such interaction with others (symbolic interactionism) is the means by which human beings can form social or joint acts

4) the formation of join acts constitutes the social life of human society
The reflexive self - both subject and object

Question 24

What were three key developments in GHMs theory of socialization?

Answer 24

The play stage –> one takes the attitudes towards oneself within a particular environment and becomes an object to oneself

The game stage –> more elaborate, adopts different roles, formation of collective rules, begins to be able to see from other perspectives

The generalized other –> form generalizations about other groups and assume others are making the same generalizations about us, demonstrates our interconnectedness to the other members in our society

Question 25

What is the reflexive self? (and whose idea is it?)

Answer 25

Idea from GHM, that there is reflexivity in development

when one takes the attitudes of other individuals towards oneself within a particular environment, one can become an object to oneself

Question 26

Describe four things GHM emphasized in his basic framework

Answer 26

interaction and interpretation
role playing and the generalized other
taking the role of other participants in a given social act
responding to role taking by forming prospective line of action

Question 27

What is the Orb Web model, and who created it?

Answer 27

William Corsaro

Newer symbolic interactionist perspective
children develop standards of an adult world and a world of kids their own age
kids take adult behaviours and modify them
believed kids got cultural knowledge primarily from peers

Question 28

Fuckin Freud bruh (cant escape him)

Answer 28

theory of psychoanalysis, theory of unconscious desires, theory of psychosexuality, primal urges etc.
Theory of Drives
id, ego, superego

Id and ego work as opposites
Id operates on the pleasure principle
Ego is conscious and operates on the reality principle, develops from the id

Superego is conscience and sense of guilt, generated by family values and ones upbringing, formed by societal and cultural influences

Wanting a chocolate bar:
Id –> steal the food cuz i want it lol
Ego –> no don’t do that, wait until we have enough money to buy it
Superego –> stealing is bad :(

Question 29

What are agents of socialization? (4)

Answer 29

Those that teach us what we need to know in order to participate in society
Family
School
Peers
Mass media

Question 30

What is gender socialization?

Answer 30

Aspect of socialization with messages and practices concerning roles and behaviours of men and women

Question 31

What is anticipatory socialization?

Answer 31

Process by which knowledge and skills are learned for future roles –> prepping for law or med school

Question 32

What is workplace socialization? (4 phases)

Answer 32

most important type of adult socialization
four phases

Career choice
Anticipatory socialization
Conditioning and commitment (adjusting to new role)
Continuous commitment (maintaining ones commitment to the role)

Question 33

Define resocialization (2 types)

Answer 33

Process of learning a different set of attitudes and values from those in ones previous background

Voluntary –> new status of our own free will (new job)
Involuntary –> new status of not our own free will (prison sentence)

Question 34

Define deviance and its two types

Answer 34

Behaviours, beliefs or conditions that violate cultural norms in a society

Formal deviance –> defined by the government
Informal deviance –> violations that are controlled by a society but not the government (mom hates my tat)

Question 35

Define crime

Answer 35

formally defined act that describes the act and associated punishment

used to be punished by ostracism

social phenomenon

Question 36

Define social control and its two types

Answer 36

systemic practices developed by social groups to encourage conformity and discourage deviance

Informal –> ones own opinion, what Karens try to do

Formal –> laws, police, courts etc

Question 37

What makes a crime a crime?

Answer 37

intentional act in violation of criminal law committed without defense or excuse and is penalized by an authority (the state)

Question 38

Explain the differential association theory, and what perspective it belongs to

Answer 38

Symbolic interactionist perspective –> Edwin Sutherland

The proposition that individuals have a greater tendency to deviate from societal norms when they frequently associate with others who prefer deviance to conformity

Question 39

Explain the labelling theory and what perspective it belongs to

Answer 39

Symbolic interactionist perspective –> Howard Becker

There are two elements in defining deviance –>
–> some act in a manner contrary to the expectations of others
–>others disapprove and try to control this behaviour –> involves labelling people as deviants

Labelling depends on the power and status of those being labelled.

Primary deviance –> labelling it such causes stigmatization –> can cause a deviant self-image if one feels they have been rejected from “ normal society” –> secondary deviance

Question 40

Explain strain theory and what perspective it belongs to

Answer 40

Functionalist perspective –> Robert Merton

People feel strain when they are exposed to cultural goals that they are unable to obtain because they do not have access to culturally approved means of achieving those goals
ex) not having a car in regina makes it way harder

Question 41

Fully explain opportunity theory and what perspective it belongs to

Answer 41

Functionalist perspective –> Cloward and Ohlin

Illegitamite opportunity access structures –> for deviance to occur people must have accesses to circumstances to acquire what they cannot get through legitimate channels (stealing to feed ones family, no opportunity to make enough money to pay for it)

diff subcultures
Criminal –> economic gain –> theft, drug dealing

Conflict –> territory, focus on toughness and status

Retreatist –> those who avoid mainstream society and adopt alternative lifestyles

Question 42

Explain control theory and its perspective

Answer 42

Functionalist –>

social structure affects rates of deviance
ex) impoverished communities cannot exert effective social control over criminal activities and suicide

Question 43

Explain social bond theory and its perspective

Answer 43

Functionalist –> Travis Hirschi

deviant behavior increases when a persons ties to society are weakened or broken

Bonding consists of:
Attachment to others
commitment to norms
involvement in normal activities
belief in the established norms

Question 44

What theory was Michael Focault and what did he determine?

Answer 44

Postmodern perspective
Idea of panoptical surveillance in prisons –> prisoners would have to watch their own behaviour

3 ways that docile bodies were produced
Hierarchical observation –> actions are placed on a scale
Normalizing judgement –> national standards for practices and programs
Examination –> combines first two, one is visible and must be judged

Question 45

Define social stratification

Answer 45

The hierarchical arrangement of large social groups based on their control over basic resources

Question 46

Define Life chances

Answer 46

The extent to which individuals have access to important societal resources such as food, clothing, shelter, education and health

Weber

Question 47

What are the two broad types of stratification and what are three example systems of stratification?

Answer 47

Closed –> boundaries between levels in the hierarchy are rigid and position is set by ascribed status –> things out of control (gender, race)

Open –> boundaries are flexible and can be influenced by achieved status –> things under control (education (kinda))

Slavery –> closed system, no control

Caste system –> closed system –> status is determined at birth based on parents status
–> in India
–> marriage is within ones caste
–> system weakens with industrialization

Class system –> open system –> based on control of resources and type of work done
–> boundaries less distinct
–> status comes partly from achievment

Question 48

Define horizontal and vertical mobility

Answer 48

Horizontal –> movement within a class system

Vertical –> movement between the class structure

Question 49

Discuss the two classical perspectives on social class and capitalist societies

Answer 49

Marx –> related to the means of production

emphasized economic basis of class system
noted relationship between peoples place in class structure and their values
demonstrated classes have opposing interests

Weber –> related to ones wealth prestige and power

no one factor determines ones place
access to resources is crucial to determining life chances
places those with same level of wealth in same class (entrepreneurs and rentiers)

Question 50

Define alienation in this context

Answer 50

feeling of powerlessness and estrangement
results from exploitation of workers resulting in their activities not being their own

Question 51

Differentiate between wealth prestige and power

Answer 51

Wealth → the total monetary resources one has
Prestige → the respect with which others regard a person or status position
Power → the ability of people or groups to achieve their goals despite opposition from others

Question 52

Explain socioeconomic status and Webers insights into it

Answer 52

Refers to a combined measure used to classify individuals, families and households in terms of factors such as income, occupation and education, and education to determine their position in the system of social stratification

–>Emphasized that people behave according to both their economic interests and values
–>Added to Marxs insights developing a multidimensional explanation of the class structure and identifying additional classes

Question 53

Explain the 6 classes in the Weberian model of stratification, and the 3 criteria it is based on

Answer 53

Ones class is based on education, the occupation of the family head, and family income

Upper class –> 3% of Canadians, a small number are the upper-upper class, ensure children stay in class

Upper Middle class –> highly educated professionals, high authority and job independence, class that is most influenced by education (doctors, lawyers)

Middle class–> lower level management, semi-professional, traditionally secure although escalating housing costs are impacting this, impacted by outsourcing, children may be highly educated but have less opportunity than parents

Working class –> 30% of Canadians, semiskilled machine operators and service sector, pay scale is varies, unionized jobs may pay more than middle class, “women jobs”

Working poor–> 20% of Canadians, just above poverty level, unskilled or seasonal jobs, living paycheck to paycheck, overrepresentation of single mothers, minorities, FN, recent immigrants

Underclass–> very poor, rarely employed, caught in never ending cycle, emphasizes connection between class and health, same ppl are overrepresented

Question 54

Explain the Marxian - Conflict model of class structure, and the 4 criteria for placement in it

Answer 54

By Erik Olin Wright
Four criteria for placement:

Capitalist Class → ownership of the means of production
Managerial Class → control of the labour of others
Small-business Class → purchase of the labour of others
Working Class → sale of one’s own labour

Question 55

Explain the differences in viewing education from a functionalist and conflict perspective

Answer 55

Functionalist –> education is the gateway to social mobility

Conflict –> education perpetuates poverty, schools are agencies for reproducing the capitalist class system

Question 56

Explain the statistics associating poverty with age and gender, race, disability etc

Answer 56

IF YOU ARE NOT A STRAIGHT WHITE MIDDLE AGED ABLE MAN YOU ARE MORE LIKELY TO BE POOR

Poverty rate for children under 18 is 9.5%
Canada has a slightly higher child poverty than global average

About 2/3rds of those in poverty are women
Women are at greater risk in all categories
Dramatically high for single mothers

1/5 FN in poverty
Half of people with disabilities

Question 57

Explain both the economic and structural sources of poverty

Answer 57

Economic –> min wage does not allow a worker to keep a family above the poverty line

Structural –> shift from industry based to information based, automation, closure of many factories

Question 58

Define and explain job deskilling

Answer 58

A reduction in the proficiency needed to perform a specific job that leads to a corresponding reduction in the wages for that job

Shift from manufacturing to service resulted in the loss of higher paying positions and their replacement with lower paying positions

Question 59

Define global stratification

Answer 59

the unequal distribution of wealth power and prestige on a global basis

Question 60

What did Zygmunt Bauman do (prolyl not on exam)

Answer 60

Distributive justice
Wealth does not often reach those who need it

Question 61

What is the difference between GNI and GDP

Answer 61

GNI → gross national income
Comparative way to measure an economies wealth compared to others
Per capita means strong economies like India and China are misrepresented because they have such a high population

GDP → gross democratic product
Total amount of product a country produces

Question 62

What are the four classifications of economies based on income?

Answer 62

Low Income Economies
–>Most affected → women and children
–>Global feminization of poverty whereby women are more impoverished than men
–>Indigenous people → 5% of the worlds population → 15 % of the worlds poor → 30% of the worlds extremely poor

Lower middle-income economies
–>Significant proportion of the people live in the poverty, as defined as $USD 1.25/day in purchasing power
–>Transformation to a market economy
–>High rates of inflation
–>Growing gap between rich and poor
–>Homeless children
–> low life expectancy

Upper middle-income economies
–>Somewhat higher standard of lying
–>Export diverse good and service ranging from manufactured goods to raw materials and fuels

High income economies

Question 63

Are life expectancy and gender inequality getting better?

Answer 63

Yes to both but its still bad, 2/3rds of the worlds countries have = numbers of boys and girls in schools, girls may be higher in some

Question 64

What is the modernization theory?

Answer 64

A perspective that links global inequality to different levels of economic development and suggests that low-income economies can move to middle- and high-income economies by achieving self-sustained economic growth

Question 65

What is the dependency theory?

Answer 65

Andre Gunder Frank
That global poverty can at least partially be attributed to the fact that low-income countries have been exploited by the high-income countries
–>Rich countries have a vested interest in maintaining a dependent status of poor countries → using them to gather raw materials to be manufactured in the rich countries
–>Therefore poorer countries cannot expand through a certain level due to their dependence

Question 66

What is the world systems / world analysis theory?

Answer 66

Immanuel Wallerstein –> believed that the division of labour is both occupational and geographical where surpluses go to the core

That how a country is incorporated into the global capitalist economy, is the key feature in determining how economic development takes place in that nation, the capitalist world economy is a global system divided into a hierarchy of three major types

Core → dominant capitalist centers characterized by high levels of industrialization and urbanization
–>High capital intensity, high manufacturing, high wages

Peripheral → those nations that are dependent on core nations for capital have little or no industrialization, and have uneven patterns of urbanization
–>Consigned to producing raw materials at low wages

Semiperipheral → more developed than peripheral nations but less developed than core nations

Question 67

What is the New International Division of Labour Theory?

Answer 67

Commodity production is being split into fragments that can be assigned to whichever part of the world can provide the most profitable combination of capital and labour

Low-income nations provide low wages to companies who make more profits

Question 68

What is the “flying geese” model of development?

Answer 68

This process involves one country → Japan → leading other less developed countries into more prosperous times

Factors such as labour costs cause production to shift from advanced to less advanced economies

This boosts the standard of living of the less advanced economies, raises wages, and, in turn, leads to a shift in production to countries that are even less developed
Step 3: ???
Step 4: Profit
Contradicts some of the earlier theories
Careful cuz ppl might make Wish.com ripoffs

Question 69

What is mass media and what are the 4 main things it effects?

Answer 69

Any technologically based means of communicating between large numbers of people distributed widely over space and time

Traditionally, the mass media have involved one way communication in which a single sources sends out a message to a large number of people who passively receive that message

Affects:
Socialization
Culture
Gender
Ethnicity

Question 70

What are the 5 functions of the media according to a functionalist perspective?

Answer 70

Surveillance –> news, weather

Interpretation –> political sites

Socialization –> transmitting culturally relevant info

Entertainment

Status conferral function –> attaining high status via social media

Question 71

What are the three points in the conflict perspective on mass media?

Answer 71

Helps the dominant class control society
reinforces the capitalist ideal
encourages mass consumer sulture

Question 72

Discuss the relationship between mass media and mass deception (long)

Answer 72

Early critics include Max Horkheimer and Theodor Adorno

During the 1940s the culture industry turned artistic expression into just another marketable commodity used to keep people passively entertained and politically apathetic
–> The culture industry has been responsible from the mass deception and control of the public

Mass media is less about learning about the world but rather about consumption

The mass culture industry provided workers with a way or escaping the boredom and routine of their lives

People can come home after work and absorb media products without engaging with others or thinking critically about their lives under capitalism

Question 73

Discuss the issue of media concentration

Answer 73

Chomsky

concentrated capitalist control means that stories critical of capitalism will not appear in the media
mass media profits from capitalism
advertisers would not want it to be critical of corporations
Canadian senate has realized that its bad –> Rogers

Leads to media bias –> discredits stories that don’t promote message

Question 74

Define hyperreality, who coined it, and what perspective they belong to

Answer 74

Postmodern perspective –> Jean Baudrillard

A situation in which the distinction between reality and simulation has become blurred.

We are saturated in media that have become a central part of our lives and that we help to define our experiences and our understanding of the world.

Manufactured images and representations are part of our reality and in turn reflect the way we interpret subsequent images

Question 75

Explain the propaganda model, who its by, what perspective

Answer 75

Chomsky –> conflict perspective
Propaganda is the means to manufacture the public content essential for government to carry out its policy intentions.
In order to win approval, oversimplifications are generated and broadcast to make government policy appealing to the public
The public is unable to determine the best course of action so they must be guided by those who own and control the nation

Question 76

Explain the theory of representation in the media and who started it and what persepctive

Answer 76

Stuart Hall –> Marxian perspective

This power to be the world’s interpreter impacts meaning, language, knowledge and culture as we have come to understand these terms

Stereotypes may be manipulated to support one’s interests
–>Whoever does not support the interpreters adopted view is depicted in a negative, categorical way
–>Representation is crucial in generating that hostility

Significance of the terms: Identity

Advertisers attempt to generate messages in which audience members will identify
As an audience member if you identify with the characters depicted on screen you will take notice of them and the message they convey. They come alive
Media manipulation → you have been grabbed and this was the intention → to draw you into their world of interest
Relates to Durkheim’s idea of solidarity → an idea doesn’t have much power unless a significant number of people are agreeing with it

Question 77

Define cultural imperialism

Answer 77

A process by which powerful countries use the media to spread values and ideas that dominate and even destroy other cultures (ex the American diet)
Local cultural values are replaced by those of a dominant country

Question 78

What changes did industrialization bring?

Answer 78

Changed the system of production and distribution of goods

Workers sold their labour instead of working for themselves

The capital went to those who owned the companies not those doing the labour

Question 79

Define secondary sector production

Answer 79

Processing raw materials into finished goods

Resulted in the simplifying of tasks

Question 80

Define Taylorism

Answer 80

management system designed to increase productivity by breaking work into specialized tasks and minute operations
Resulted in job deskilling –> shifted control from workers to management

Question 81

Define Fordism

Answer 81

Mass production through automation
Incorporated scientific management (Taylorism) into manufacturing

Developed the assembly line –> results in alienation

Question 82

What are the three characteristics of a post industrial economy?

Answer 82

Information displaces property as central focus of economy

workplace culture shifts away from factories and towards a diversity of settings

traditional boundaries of work and home are set aside

Question 83

What is contingent work?

Answer 83

Part time work –> more vulnerable

Question 84

Define capitalism and what it is characterized by

Answer 84

An economic system characterized by private ownership of the means of production, from which personal profits can be derived through market competition and without government intervention

Private ownership of the means of production
Pursuit of profit
Competition
Lack of government intervention
Private property
Based on the right of individuals to own income producing property

Question 85

Define socialism and what it is characterized by

Answer 85

An economic system characterized by the public ownership of the means of production, the pursuit of collective goals and centralized decision making

Public ownership of the means of production
Pursuit of collective goals
Centralized decision making
No private property

Question 86

What is an Oligopoly?

Answer 86

when a select few companies control an entire industry

Music industry –> four companies

Question 87

Explain the idea behind centralized decision making

Answer 87

Socialism

Economic needs are based on the needs of society
Central planners set wages and prices
Production units have little voice in decision making process

Question 88

Define and differentiate between Faith, Sacred, Profane, and Rituals

Answer 88

Faith → unquestioning belief that does not require proof or scientific evidence

Sacred → term used to describe those aspects of life that re extraordinary or supernatural

Profane → term used for the everyday secular or worldly aspects of life

Rituals → people often perform religious ritual → regularly repeated and carefully prescribed forms of behavior that symbolize a cherished value of belief, person or experience

Question 89

Explain the conflict view on religion

Answer 89

Marx saw religion is an example of an ideology –> a view of the way the world ought to be
–> supports status quo
–> offers legitimacy to ruling class
–> promotes strife between groups

Question 90

What is a false consciousness

Answer 90

when workers believe they have something in common with a ruling class

Question 91

What was Webers response to Marx in regard to religion

Answer 91

The protestant ethic and the sprit of capitalism

Believed religion influenced the start of capitalism but still reinforced social stratification

Question 92

What are the four categories of religion?

Answer 92

Simple Supernaturalism → the belief that supernatural forces affect people’s lives either positively or negatively

Animism → the belief that plant animals and other elements of the natural world are endowed with spirits or life forces that have impacts on events in society
–>Associated with early hunting and gathering societies

Theism → the belief in a god or gods
–>Monotheism → one god
–>Early horticulture societies started this → Judaism, Christianity and Islam
–>Polytheism → multiple gods
–>African indigenous groups, Hinduism

Transcendental Idealism → a nontheistic religion, based on belief in divine spiritual forces, such as sacred principles of thought and conduct, rather than a god or gods
–>Buddhism does not have a god

Question 93

What is the functionalist perspective on religion?

Answer 93

Religion found in all societies because it met basic human needs and served important societal functions

The central feature of all religions is the presence of sacred beliefs and rituals that bind people together in a collective

Provides social control and support for government

Question 94

What is the feminist perspective on religion?

Answer 94

Focus on the relationship between religion and women inequality

In almost all religions men are in the position of power

However early religions had mainly female gods

many women object to organized religions patriarchal nature

Question 95

What is the postmodernist perspective on religion?

Answer 95

The question on if the world is becoming more secular and less religious or whether we are seeing a renewal of religious belief.

Question 96

What is the secularization perspective on religion?

Answer 96

Belief by some that as the world becomes more rational and bureaucratized, and as knowledge becomes more science based the influence of religion will decline

Religion has become much less important in Canada and almost all western industrial countries except the USA

At the same time, religion is becoming even more important in other parts of the world → even in countries that are modernizing
Some point to this as evidence to disprove the secularization theory

Secularization continues in much of the industrialized west → people in many low-income countries turn to religion
Has been a resurgence of religiousness in those countries

Globalization can lead to a strengthening of religious faiths as people try and avoid globalization

Question 97

How does the type of society relate to its religiosity?

Answer 97

The level of a countries development affects is religiosity of its people

Agrarian societies tend to have the highest

Followed by industrial and post industrial