socialchange Flashcards
I: Surface Culture - The What
- Food
- Visual Arts
- Drama
- Literature
- Language
- the VISUAL elements of culture that are easily identifiable, easily shared, and easily accessed
- tend to be tradition-based
II: Deep Culture - The Why
- Courtesy
- Concept of Time
- Personal Space
- Rules of Conduct
- Eye-Contact
- elements of culture that are perhaps not so easily identifiable,
- more ingrained into society
- tend to be behavior-based
II: Deep Culture - The Why
- Concept of “self”
- Concept of Past and Future
- Notions of Modesty
- Social Interaction Rate
- Attitudes Towards Elders
- the elements of culture that are perhaps not as easily pointed out, more ingrained into society
- tend to be behavior-based
what are the five core soical motives of conformity
- Belonging
- Understanding
- Controlling
- Enhancing Self
- Trusting
what is the core need of social motive
belonging
Belonging
People are motivated to affiliate and bond with each other.
Understanding
To belong, people are motivated to create an accurate-enough shared social understanding in order to belong and function in social groups
Controlling
The urge to compete and succeed in navigating our surroundings, fostering a sense of initiative, agency, and avoiding feelings of ineffectiveness
Enhancing Self
Hoping that others will see you as socially worthy, fits the core social motive of enhancing self.
Trusting
Viewing the world as benevolent enables people to participate in many group activities without undue suspicion or vigilance.
Conformity
is a change of behaviour as a result of real or imagined group pressures or norms.
social comparison - that is, our tendency to compare ourselves to others around us to validate our behaviour and opinions
Normative social influence:
Normative social influence: The need for social acceptance and approval.
example: dressing a certain way
laughing at a joke u don’t find funny bc everyone else is laufhgin
Informational social influence:
Informational social influence: The need for certainty. When we are in ambiguous situations, we engage in social comparison.
example: seeking directions from locals
following evatuuation instructions in an emergency
What factors influence conformity?
- Group Unanimity
- Group size
- Private vs. public responses
- Self-esteem/confidence
- Cultural dimensions
- Social identity
Group Unanimity:
When the entire group (except the participant) unanimously agrees on a response, it increases conformity. Introducing even a single dissenting voice in the group can significantly reduce conformity.
group size
Larger groups tend to have a greater influence on conformity than smaller groups. Asch’s experiments showed that conformity increased when the number of confederates (actors pretending to be participants) went from 2 to 3, but further increases in group size did not lead to more conformity.
Private/Public
Research suggests there is less conformity if respondents and their answers remain anonymous.
Confidence and self-esteem:
Research suggests women may be more likely to conform in situations involving surveillance, while men may conform less. Younger individuals tend to conform more than older, more experienced people. Groups with stronger bonds and a greater sense of belonging among members tend to exhibit higher levels of conformity.
Culture
collectivist cultures that emphasize group harmony and belonging tend to have higher rates of conformity compared to more individualistic cultures
Social Identity:
As group membership becomes more important, individuals tend to see themselves less as unique individuals and more as prototypical members of the group. This “depersonalization” process leads them to conform to the group’s norms and behaviors.
THE ASCH STUDY
Solomon Asch (1907-1966):
Solomon Asch (1907-1966):
Classic conformity study, published in 1951 ( has been repeated many times with many different variables)
Hypothesis:
When people know the answer (or norm) to a situation, would they still conform even if they knew the group was “wrong”?
Study:
Created the line judgement task involving one participant and eight “confederates”
Distortion of Perception
reported they saw what the majority saw
Distortion of Judgment:
decided perceptions were inaccurate
Distortion of Action:
knew the group was wrong but didn’t want to seem different
A negative effect of normative conformity
a phenomenon that occurs when the desire for group consensus overrides people’s common sense desire to present alternatives, critique a position, or express an unpopular opinion
Recognizable signs groupthink is happening
Illusion of Invulnerability:
Members ignore obvious danger, take extreme risk, and are overly optimistic
Recognizable signs groupthink is happening
Collective Rationalization:
Members discredit and explain away warnings contrary to group thinking
Recognizable signs groupthink is happening
Illusion of Morality:
Members believe their decisions are morally correct, ignoring the ethical consequences of their decisions
Recognizable signs groupthink is happening
Excessive Stereotyping:
The group constructs negative stereotypes of rivals outside the group
Recognizable signs groupthink is happening
Pressure for Conformity:
Members pressure any in the group who express arguments against the group’s stereotypes, illusions, stress, time pressure, commitments, viewing such opposition as disloyalty
Recognizable signs groupthink is happening
Self-Censorship:
Members withhold their dissenting views and counter-arguments
Recognizable signs groupthink is happening
Illusion of Unanimity:
Members falsely perceive that everyone agrees with the group’s decision; silence is seen as consent
Recognizable signs groupthink is happening
Mindguards
Some members appoint themselves to the role of protecting the group from adverse information that might threaten group complacency. This might take the form of a highly authoritarian leader
How do you prevent groupthink?
Appoint a devil’s advocate to criticize or question group decisions
Have committee decisions be anonymous/secret ballot
Alternative solution teams
Diverse Group: people of varied backgrounds
Promote the norm of whistle-blowing
Legally protect whistleblowers
Travel
Karl Marx (1818-1883)
- believed that alienation refers to the separation of things that naturally belong together
- alienation was a systematic result of capitalism:
production, the product, human nature, workers
Max Weber (1864-1920)
- social values of grace and compassion would be replaced by cold utilitarian values
- people provoke social change when they feel isolated from society
Melvin Seema (1918-2020)
five elements to alienation:
- Powerlessness
- Meaninglessness
- Normlessness (anomie)
- Isolation
- Self-estrangement
a major source of alienation is
adolescence
what is adolescence
critical period of development characterized by significant physical, cognitive, and emotional changes
PSYCH: how do you change during adolescence
- Physically, adolescents undergo rapid maturation, including hormonal changes that influence mood, behavior, and identity formation
- Cognitively, adolescents develop more advanced reasoning and problem-solving skills, as well as an increased capacity for abstract thinking
- Emotionally, adolescents experience heightened sensitivity, mood swings, and a greater focus on peer relationships and social status.
ANTHRO: how do you change during adolescence
- Across different societies, the transition from childhood to adulthood is often marked by specific rituals, traditions, and expectations.
- The role of adolescents within a given culture, as well as the societal norms and values they are expected to uphold, can vary significantly.
- Anthropologists also study how adolescent behavior and identity are influenced by factors such as gender, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status
SOC: how do you change during adolescence
- Sociologists examine how adolescents navigate the transition to adulthood, including their interactions with social institutions (e.g., education, family, peer groups, media)
- Sociological research also explores the role of adolescents in shaping social change and how adolescent culture and subcultures emerge and evolve
formal deviance
deviating against established norms rules or legal frameworks
informal deviance
violate implicit social norms, expectations, or cultural standards
deviance
any violation of the norms of society
what considers someone a deviant
- dedicated to a deviant act
- stigmatized by society
causes of deviant behaviour
- clarifies moral boundaries
- promotes social unity
- promotes social change
strain theroy
- difficulty idenify with the norms of society
- one’s goals and their means to accomplish such goals do not coincide
conformists
- accpantace of goals and measn of reachign goals even if undable to accomplish
- use socially acceptable means of reaching goals
innovators
- seeking alternative means of reaching goals
- violating acceptable norms
ritualists
- abandoming goals while upholding nors
- going through the motions
retratists
- reject goals nad means of achignv goals
- e.g turn to drugs and aclchool
rebels
- attempt to subistitue new set of goals
why does devicance happen
the inequality between those who have (capaliste class) and those who don’t have (working class)
some people devate out of nessciety
control theory
- deviance is a natural occurrence
- focus is on why people conform]
- impacted by learned behaviours and conformity at a young age
innor controls
- morals
- consiscne
- reglion
- impacted bu soicela bonds
outer controls
- friends
- family
- police
transmittion theroy
- devaince is a learned behavoiur
- learned through assciatoni wiht deviate indivuaials
- all individuals conform
labeling theory
- fouces on how people come to identify as deviant
- deviance is relative
primary devince
- goes mostly undetected
- temporary, trivial
secondary deviance
- mutiple occrueance
- indivial is lableed a deviant
five ways of rejecting labels
- denying responsibility
- denying injury
- denying the vition
- condmieng authroies
- appealing to higher loyalties
3 factors to social control
internalization
informal social control
formal social control
recidivism
being rearrested
retribition
eye for eye
rehabitiltion
r
resocialize offenders to create conforming
deterrence
create fear so that others won’t break the law
incpationssion
remove offenders from ciruclation
