SOCI Exam Flashcards
What is Role Allocation?
Refers to the methods by which individuals are allocated (distributed to) status-roles. It describes how individuals acquire their status-roles, how they become incumbents in status-roles.
What is Status?
It is a position in society. One status is professor; another is a student.
What is a Role?
Is the rights and obligations associated with a status (social position). A professor’s role includes the right to give exams and the obligation to grade fairly.
What is a Status Role?
Is a position in society with rights and obligations attached.
Role Conflict is…?
A situation in which a person occupies two or more social roles that make incompatible demands on that person. Examples are professor and father; CEO and wife.
How are individuals allocated to status- roles?
1.) QUALITIES (race,sex,lineage)
2) PERFORMANCE (high school graduation, number of quarterback sacks)
Allocations to roles by QUALITIES occur how?
System of Ascription.
- Training may begin as soon as qualities are known.
- Allocation at birth or soon thereafter is common.
What are the consequences of early Allocation.
- Less individual flexibility
-Lower status anxiety
-Lower societal productivity
-Less societal flexibility
-Less social disorder
Why are the consequences of early Allocation bad?
People who live in societies that allocate primarily by ascription are relatively satisfied with their lives, particularly if they are unaware of life in other societies.
Allocation to roles by PERFORMANCE occurs how?
In a system of Achievement.
-Training must wait until ability and motivation are known.
-Allocation during late teens and early adulthood is common.
Consequences of later Allocation?
- Higher status anxiety
-Higher productivity
-More individual Flexibility
-More societal flexibility
-Higher level of social disorder.
Why are there consequence to later Allocation?
Because roles are (more or less) rationally allocated by talent (among those who get a chance to perform), so there is some competition (that may be seen as unfair by the “losers,” especially if the losers were not permitted to perform or compete).
Which system of Allocation is used in the United States?
A combination of both
systems of allocation is
used.
A system of Achievement
which is mediated by
Ascription is the system
of role allocation used in
the United States
What are the two classes by Karl Marx?
the bourgeoisie and the proletariat.
How many classes are there?
No real number
How many classes did we talk about in class and what are they?
Six.
1.) Upper Upper
2.) Upper Middle
3) Middle
4) Working
5) Lower
6) Lower Lower
Upper Class
-1-3% of the population
-Property orientation
-More than 1/2 million dollars annual income, although income is not the focus.
Upper Middle Class
-5-7% of the population
-Occupation orientation
-$100,000-1,000,000 or more annual income
Middle Class (Middle Middle and Lower)
-30-35% of the population
-Occupation orientation
-white collar and pink collar workers
-$40,000-150,000
Working Class
-30-35% of the population
-Occupation orientation
-Skilled occupations: blue collar workers $25,000-150,000
Lower Class
-15-20% of the population
-Income, poverty orientation
-Often the “working poor ”Semi-skilled workers, unskilled workers, and occasional welfare recipients $35,000 or less
Lower-Lower Class
-5% of the population
-Welfare, poverty orientation
-Characterized by hopelessness
Upper Class socialization/rules?
Value placed on competition, Instrumental Value of Manners, social network, name and lineage,
Concerted Cultivation, Threat of Love Withdrawal, all employed in the socialization process.
“Old Money” versus Nouveau Riche Punishment:
Early in life, threat of love withdrawal; later threat of separation from the family.
Opportunity: Limitless but carries an obligation (old money); limitless and to be used for self-
fulfillment (new money)
Middle Class socialization?
Value placed on Education, Gratification Deferral, Competition and (IVM) manners; Concerted Cultivation employed in the socialization process.
Punishment: Primarily, Threat of love Withdrawal;
Opportunity: Seen as almost limitless with effort and Gratification Deferral
Working class socialization?
Value placed on some Education, Friendship, Independence; Natural Growth all typically employed in the socialization process.
Punishment: Mixture love withdrawal and physical punishment
Opportunity: Seen as limited, but with satisfying possibilities for those who work diligently.
Lower Class socialization?
Value placed on Friendship, Early Independence; Natural Growth typically employed in the socialization process.
Punishment: Tends to be physical, with verbal demands for conformity
Opportunity: Seen as limited, but some possibilities for the lucky
Lower Lower Class socialization?
Value placed on friendship, early independence; Natural growth typically
employed in the socialization process.
Punishment: Tends to be physical, with verbal demands for conformity
Opportunity: Seen as hopeless
What is stratification?
Is the arrangement of society into social classes
All societies must solve the functional prerequisite of
———?
Adaption.
All societies must adapt to the
environment.
How do societies solve the functional prerequisites of adaptation?
By motivating
people to do the work necessary to produce and distribute goods so as to feed, clothe, and provide
shelter.
How can people be motivated to do the work necessary for the production and distribution of goods.
To solve the functional prerequisites of adaptation, members of the society must be motivated to do the work necessary for the society to survive. To solve this problem, rewards must be used, and unequal rewards must be used.
What work is most likely to get the highest rewards?
Work that is difficult, distasteful, and necessary.
How do class differences undermine opportunity?
1) Differences in socialization produce different values of ,education, gratification deferral, friendship and competition, manners and manipulation, and independence at an early age.
(2) Different styles of punishment produce different abilities for acting within the norms and values transmitted. The styles of punishment are emotional punishment (e.g., the threat of love withdrawal), physical punishment, and some combination of these two approaches. These styles of punishment are significantly influenced by class position.
(3) Real differences in opportunity exist and thus significantly influence the possibility of achieving goals. Opportunity is the result of class; the chance to become educated and to work are both significantly influenced by class position.
(4) The presence of successful role models influences achievement motivation. Occupational role models are determined by class position.
Why are classes difficult to change?
(1) successful parents can pass along the benefits of their success to their children; and
(2) the higher classes acquire resources that make their class positions more secure.
Hypothetically how could classes be avoided?
-Parents cannot favor their children.
-No one can accumulate goods or resources to gain an advantage over others.
What does sat score measure?
S.E.S
(social economic status)
THIRD major Hypothesis?
ALL SOCIETAL INSTITUTIONS HAVE POSITIVE CONSEQUENCES FOR THE CONTINUATION OF THE CLASS STRUCTURE.
FOURTH major Hypothesis?
SOCIAL CLASS POSITION IS THE VARIABLE THAT MOST SIGNIFICANTLY INFLUENCES LIFE CHANCES, OPPORTUNITY, AND ROLE ALLOCATION.
What is wealth?
Money that is saved or stored (including property and stock).
What is income?
A value of money that is designated to be earned at any given point in time. It usually is a specific amount of money that is acquired in cycles of period.
To be in the top 1% in 2020 you would need a net worth of.
Around 11,000,000
Median wealth in U.S households by RACE and ETHNICITY?
White family’s have substantially more wealth than black & Hispanic families.
Median wealth in U.S households by EDUCATION attainment?
College graduates have much more wealth than those without a college agree.
Shares of wealth in the U.S by wealth percentiles?
The wealthiest Americans own an increasingly share of wealth.
Is the United States still a land of opportunity?
YES!!!
Can anyone become wealthy?
yes
Can everyone become wealthy?
no
Must someone be poor?
yes
What functional prerequisites produced the system of stratification?
Adaptation
What functional prerequisites are more difficult to solve because of stratification?
-Tension management
-Integration
-Goal attainment
-Adaptation
Some institutions in each society justify the “way things are”. What do we call this?
These are called legitimating ideologies.
What is global stratification?
The layering of nations, and of groups of people within a nation.
What is social stratification?
It is important to emphasize that social stratification does not refer to individuals. It is a way of ranking large groups of people into a hierarchy according to their relative privileges.
What is happening to the children in Brazilian Slums (favela) ?
Not enough food—this you can take for granted—as well as broken homes, alcoholism, drug abuse, murder, torture and a lot of crime.
What is colonialism?
A theory that helps explain the current world order.
What is Colonialism theory?
Refers to one country making colonies out of other countries.
What is environmental sociology?
Emerged about 1970, as a sub discipline of sociology that focuses on the relationship between human societies and the environment.
What is underlying today’s environmental decay?
The Globalization of Capitalism.
What major polluters of the earth have been especially harmful?
Burning fossil fuels for factories, motorized vehicles, and power plants
Fish can no longer survive in some lakes in Canada and the northeastern United States because of….?
Acid Rain
An invisible but infinitely more serious consequence of harmful pollutants are…?
The greenhouse effect
Unequal power has led to?
Environmental Injustices, minorities and the poor being the ones who suffer the most from the effects of pollution.
One result of environmental movements?
Green Parties
Prejudice
a negative attitude toward an entire category of people, often an ethnic or racial group.
Stereotyping
Unreliable generalizations about all members of a group that do not recognize individual differences within the group.
Discrimination
An action that arbitrarily denies opportunities to some while advantaging others.
Racism
a belief system that one racial group is inferior, therefore, unequal treatment is justified.
Ethnocentrism
The tendency to assume that one’s culture and way of life are superior to all others.
Institutional Discrimination
Denial of opportunities and equal rights to individuals or groups that results from the normal operations of society.
Segregation
People are excluded or kept from particular activities, neighborhoods, or other events in a community because of their race or ethnicity.
Socializing family members to be committed to norms and values having to do with what?
-Achievement
-Competition
-Education
-Courtesy
-Gratification Deferral
-Property
-Physical aggression
-MANNERS
-INVESTMENT VALUE
-MORAL VALUES
-Public behavior
Individual and Self Reliance
As social economic status goes up….
instrumental values goes up
As social economic status goes down…
Moral values go up
What is social class?
A group of people who share similar wealth, income, education, occupation, power, and/or lifestyle.
What are the most industrialized nations?
-USA
-CANADA
-JAPAN
-GREAT BRITAIN
-FRANCE
-GERMANY
-SWITZERLAND
-AUSTRALIA
-NEW ZEALAND
Roles are rationally allocated by…?
Talent
The opportunity
to perform is still significantly
influenced by…?
Social class, sex,
age, race, and ethnicity.
Socializing family members
to be committed to norms
and values have to do with..?
- achievement
- competition
- education
- property
- physical aggression
The bourgeoisie?
The owners of the
means of production
The proletariat?
Those who have only
their labor to sell for survival
Concerted cultivation means???
Parents actively foster and assess
children’s
– Talents
– Opinions
– Skills
– Reason with their children
– Schedule activities outside the home
– Intervene outside the home
– Hover over their children
Children’s development seen as???
– Unfolding spontaneously, naturally
– Requiring food, shelter, basic support
– Needing less direct intervention
– Needing few if any adult-organized activities
Accomplishment of natural
growth parents must?
– Talk less to their children
– Use language to direct, order
– Have clearly marked adult-child boundaries
Sociologist look for…
Latent Functions
What are latent Functions??
thrust of sociology as a
debunking science.
