Society And Groups Flashcards
anomie
a condition wherein familiar explanatory norms seem inadequate or unavailable.
culture
describes a group’s shared norms (or acceptable behaviors) and values,
society
describes a group of people who live in a defined geographical area, and who interact with one another and share a common culture.
Social institutions
are mechanisms or patterns of social order focused on meeting social needs, such as government, economy, education, family, healthcare, and religion.
Sociologist Gerhard Lenski
defined societies in terms of their technological sophistication.
As a society advances, so does its use of _______, which is defined as the application of science to address the problems of daily life.
Technology
Hunter-gatherer societies
As the basic structure of human society until about 10,000–12,000 years ago, these groups were based around kinship or tribes.
Pastoral societies
rely on the domestication of animals as a resource for survival.
Horticultural
formed in areas where rainfall and other conditions allowed them to grow stable crops. They were similar to hunter-gatherers in that they largely depended on the environment for survival, but since they didn’t have to abandon their location to follow resources, they were able to start permanent settlements. T
While pastoral and horticultural societies used small, temporary tools such as digging sticks or hoes, agricultural societies relied on permanent tools for survival.
This is also the age in which people had the time and comfort to engage in more contemplative and thoughtful activities, such as music, poetry, and philosophy. This period came to be known as the “dawn of civilization” by some because of the increase of leisure time and the development of the humanities. Craftspeople were able to support themselves through the production of creative, decorative, or thought-provoking aesthetic objects and writings.
feudal societies.
These societies contained a strict hierarchical system of power based on land ownership and protection. The nobility, known as lords, placed vassals in charge of pieces of land. In return for the resources that the land provided, vassals promised to fight for their lords.
Industrial Society
In the eighteenth century, Europe experienced a dramatic rise in technological invention, ushering in an era known as the Industrial Revolution. What made this period remarkable was the number of new inventions that influenced people’s daily lives. Before the Industrial Revolution, work was largely person or animal-based, and relied on human workers or horses to power mills and drive pumps.6
Post-Industrial Society
Information societies, sometimes known as postindustrial or digital societies, are a recent development. Unlike industrial societies that are rooted in the production of material goods, information societies are based on the production of information and services.
social solidarity
(the social ties that bind a group of people together such as kinship, shared location, and religion)
social facts
(the laws, morals, values, religious beliefs, customs, fashions, rituals, and all of the cultural rules that govern social life).
Émile Durkheim’
o him, society was greater than the sum of its parts. He asserted that individual behavior was not the same as collective behavior and that studying collective behavior was quite different from studying an individual’s actions.
collective conscience.
Durkheim called the communal beliefs, morals, and attitudes of a society the collective conscience.
Preindustrial societies, Durkheim explained, were held together by _______ a type of social order maintained by the collective consciousness of a culture.
mecanical Solidarity
In industrial societies, mechanical solidarity is replaced with _____, which is social order based around an acceptance of economic and social differences.
organic solidarity
anomie
Anomie—literally, “without law”—is a situation in which society no longer has the support of a firm collective consciousness, and wherein established norms are weakened.
mechanical solidarity:
a type of preindustrial social order maintained by the collective consciousness of a culture
organic solidarity:
a type of industrial social order based around an acceptance of economic and social differences
Alienation
Individal is isolated form society, work, and sence of self.
rationalization
A rational society is one built around logic and efficiency rather than morality or tradition. T
Normative organizations, also called voluntary organizations,
are based on shared interests. As the name suggests, joining them is voluntary and typically done because people find membership rewarding in an intangible way.
Coercive organizations
are groups that are forced to join. These may include prison or a rehabilitation center
utilitarian organizations,
which, as the name suggests, are joined because of the need for a specific material reward. High school and the workplace fall into this category—one joined in pursuit of a diploma, the other in order to make money.
All formal organizations are, or likely will become, bureaucracies.
Weber utilized the ideal-type to conceptualize bureaucracies as having a hierarchy of authority, a clear division of labor, explicit rules, and an atmosphere of impersonality (1922).
Hierarchy of authority
refers to the aspect of bureaucracy that places one individual or office in charge of another, who in turn must answer to her own superiors. For example, at your college or university, the Board of Trustees is the governing body of most institutions of higher education. The president (or chancellor) answers to the Board, and the divisions arranged under the president have their own leaders, who in turn manage other subordinate employees.
A clear division of labor
refers to the fact that within a bureaucracy, each individual has a specialized task to perform. For example, psychology professors teach psychology, but they do not attempt to provide students with financial aid forms. In this case, it is a clear and commonsense division.
explicit rules
refers to the way in which rules are outlined, written down, and standardized. For example, at your college or university, the student guidelines are contained within the Student Handbook
Finally, bureaucracies are also characterized by impersonality
which takes personal feelings out of professional situations.
Democratic leaders
encourage group participation in all decision making.
laissez-faire leader
) is hands-off, allowing group members to self-manage and make their own decisions.
authoritarian leaders
issue orders and assigns tasks.
A large, impersonal, secondary organization is referred to as ________.
a formal organization
Skill
Identify the components of McDonaldization
Skill
Explain how conformity is impacted by groups
