Social structures Flashcards
Society
Live in the same delineated area and for the most part have the same culture
Social structures
Organizational systems within society that center around
characteristic, definable patterns of relationship between people and institutions
Functionalism
Study of every part of society and how they all function
Early functionalist view society as an organism with each part working together for the good of the whole, and each party matters ultimately in the good of the whole
Function
Benefits created by a person or entity’s actions
Dysfunction
Negative or harmful effects brought by a person or entity’s actions
Manifest functions
Functions with intended consequences
Latent functions
Functions with unintended consequences
Conflict theory
That people and different groups are constantly in conflict as they are competing for different goods and resources
Scarcity creates this conflict
“Resources” include material, social and political
Societal structures further protect resources by keeping the same people in power and preventing others from advancing (maintain social order)
Symbolic interactionism
Study of way people interact through the shared understanding of symbols
Symbols
Anything to which we attach meaning
Can be words, gestures, body language, sounds
Social constructionism
How people in a society develop jointly constructed understandings of the world
Social constructs
The result of societies agreeing upon the significance of something
For example, gender, money, honor, justice, etc. these things have no inherent “worth”, but we have decided they do in our society
Education
Process of giving or receiving formal instruction
However, has many latent functions, including socialization, giving of status from achievement of degree, stimulation of students
Family
Related in some significant way, either by blood, adoption, marriage, law, or have some degree of responsibility in relation to each other
Function like small units of society
Egalitarian family
When both parents have equal power
Patriarchy
Men have the most authority
Matriarchy
Women have the most authority
Kinship
Less to blood relationship and more who we consider belonging to our family
Ex: family friends who have been around for so long we call “aunt”
Kin
Can also refer to people who are actually “of kin” by blood
When group is derived equally from parents, referred as bilateral descent
When derived more from either paternal or maternal, called patrilineal or matrilineal respectively
Religion
Patterns of beliefs, practices, organizational forms that seem to a dress the meaning of life while creating a sense of community
Four type of religious organizations: churches, sects, state religion, cults
Churches
Thoroughly integrated in society
Interested in the mundane and daily in addition to the sacred and holy
Typically organized by a codified set of rules
People allowed to join later in life, although many are born into a certain church
Sects
Religious organizations noticing not integrated into society
Split from larger more defined religious organizations
Members born into sect or else must convert
Extreme: may withdraw from society and practice beliefs in a more controlled setting
Example: Mormonism
State religion
Religious organization that includes most members of a society and is officially recognized
Sometimes doesn’t tolerate other religions
Not necessarily a theocracy
Theocracy
The government is run by religious figures and is based on religious principles
Cult
Relatively small religious organization with beliefs and practices that are typically far outside of what society regards as normal or acceptable
5 major world religions
Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism
Government
The system by which a state or community is run
Economy
Wealth and resources of a state or community, with particular attention paid to finite amount of goods and services that are produced, distributed, traded, and consumed
Rational-legal authority
When a government is based on legal rationality, legitimacy and bureaucracy
Capitalism
An economy based on resources and methods of production or trade which are privately owned and used to generate profit
State capitalism
Companies are for the most part, privately run, but govt runs some major institutions, like schools and military
Welfare capitalism
System in which companies are privately run but govt have a network of social welfare programs
Traditional authority
Power that is based down through tradition and custom
Healthcare
Institution that practices medicine and aims to maintain and improve the health of individuals and society as a whole
Medical ethics
System of moral judgments and values that apply to the practice of medicine
Four primary tenants of medical ethics
Beneficence
Justice
Non-maleficence
Respect for autonomy
Food deserts
Areas in which fresh food is difficult or impossible to find
Culture
The amalgamation of beliefs, norms, and values that certain groups or people share
Refers to the collective lifestyle of a group of people
Material culture
Physical objects that have been made or are used by a particular culture
Included: jewelry, architecture, artwork, tools, clothing, money, food
Symbolic culture
The symbols and ideas used by a particular culture
Language
Complex system of symbols that allow people to communicate with each tiger and share what is going on in their heads
Allows for transmission and maintenance of culture
Linguistic relativity hypothesis aka Whorfian hypothesis
Our perception or reality is shaped by the structure and content of our language
Belief
Something people hold and accept to be true
Value
Held as important in life, enough so that it influences the way people make decisions and behave
Norms
Rules (spoken or unspoken) define what is and isn’t acceptable as far as behavior, beliefs, attitudes, values
Ritual
Ceremony consisting of series of actions that are performed in particular order and reflect the values of the culture
Ethnocentrism
Evaluation of other cultures based upon preconceptions and ideas that come from standards and customs of one’s own culture
Cultural relativism
Idea that persons beliefs and activities should be viewed and understood through context of own culture
Culture shock
Disorientation felt by someone suddenly subjected to or immersed into an unfamiliar new culture
Culture lag
Tendency of material culture to evolve and change faster than symbolic culture
Cultural diffusion
Process by which a cultural phenomenon spreads through a culture and outward into different cultures
Cultural assimilation
Process by which a particular groups culture begins to resemble that of another
Measurements of assimilation
Geographic distribution
Intermarriage
Language acquisition
Socioeconomic status
Cultural or ethnic if enclaves
Slows cultural assimilation
For example, a neighborhood having a high song of people from a district culture or ethnicity
