sociology exam 2 Flashcards
capital
the resources that we use to get things we want and need
economic capital
financial resources that are available or converted into cash investments
soical mobility
the opportunity to move up or down in the economic hierarchy
proletariat
people employed by theirs who worked for a wage.
bourgeoise
owned the means of production
the people who employ the workers
means of production
Resources that could be used to create wealth. EX: land, factories, and money to invest.
labor
The work people can do with their bodies and minds
class consciousness
an understanding that they are members of a group with a shared economic interest
socialism
An economic system based on shared ownership of the resources used to create wealth that is then distributed by the governments for the enrichment of all.
service and information economy
an economy centered on jobs in which workers provide services or work with information
glass ceiling
.An invisible barrier that restricts upward mobility
glass floor
.an invisible barrier that restricts downward mobility
colorism
prejudice against and discrimination toward people with dark skin compared to those with light skin, regardless of race
why are foraging societies more egalitarian
Because the people relied on each other to succeed, and a person could only own as much as they could carry, unlike today. Social stratification came about when people discovered agriculture. Insecurity of if the food would be available led people to stockpile food and trade it for other goods.
what factor led to the creation of soical stratifications
wealth, power, and prestige.
what kind of economic system is capitalism
an economic system in which private individuals or businesses own capital goods.
What is Marx’s theory of capitalism and what is the dark side of capitalism that he reveals
Capitalism is an economic system based on private ownership of the resources used to create wealth and the right of individuals to profit personally. Marx predicted that workers would revolt against their employers and that capitalism would ultimately collapse. The dark side was that the rich were getting richer, and the poor were getting poorer.
What is “alienation” in Marx’s theory
why does he argue that workers in capitalist societies feel alienated toward their labor?
Alienation is the feeling of dissatisfaction and disconnection from the fruits of ones labor. He argues that since neither the profits or products of their work belong to them, they will feel disconnected
What is the crisis of capitalism predicted by Marx and what did he predict it would lead to
It is a coming catastrophic implosion from which capitalism would never recover. He believed it would lead to a shift from capitalism to socialism.
What were the characteristics of the Gilded Age? How are those characteristics related to free market capitalism?
The wealthiest people held a majority of the wealth. Free market capitalism allows people to garner immense levels of wealth
less taxes on the rich and 1980s we use less pay and monoploy in power
What are labor unions? What do they try to accomplish and why are they often resisted by capitalists?
Labor unions are bands of employees that fight for better working conditions and benefits. Capitalists resist these movements because it often keeps money our of the pockets of the elite.
What was the New Deal and what kind of changes did it create in American society? (Explain transfer payment, social safety net, the living wage, welfare capitalism, and other related concepts.)
jobs held by mostly black people were exempted from the new minimum wage laws.
Why were the new middle class in the New Deal era mostly white
Many of the policies excluded black people and only benefitted white people.
Why is the contemporary U.S. economy referred to as the New Gilded Age? What led to the emergence of this New Gilded Age?
We are entering the 2nd period of unusually high economic inequality. The process in getting rid of socialist policies through government, such as decreasing taxes, has led to this.
Worse paying conditions monpoloy of power
What is a gig economy and how does it impact people
Jobs that are not “real” or offer full-time benefits. Such as Door Dash and Uber. These jobs have very few worker benefits. Workers are working harder than ever, and getting less than ever.
What does the term “precariat” refer to? Who are at risk of becoming members of the precariat?
The precariat is a new class of workers who live economically precarious lives. Working-class individuals who are only making enough money to support their needs are at risk.
What is the reason for increasing poverty rates in the U.S.? Who are the “working poor”?
People in the labor force who earn poverty-level wages. Jobs are under-paying to maximize their bottom lines
What is the “protestant work ethic” and how is it related to Americans’ lack of care for the poor?
It is the idea that one’s character can and should be measured by one’s dedication to paid work. People think people who arent working hard are morally bad.
What is the process of “legitimation” and how does a racialized Protestant work ethic legitimate economic inequality?
Legitimation is a process by which a potentially controversial social fact is made acceptable. In this case, linking poverty to bad ethics and ascribing bad ethics to low-status groups makes it seem as if the suffering of the poor is inevitable or even good. A racialized Protestant work ethic, then, is used not only to explain economic inequality but to legitimize it.
How is poverty traditionally viewed in the U.S.?
manly people viewed poverty traditionally as moral failing
as a reflection of personal failure
Why does the author argue that poverty affects us all? Provide 2 reasons.
because the majority of Americans will live in poverty for at least a year over half of the Americans have less than 1% of the wealth
Why does the author argue that poverty is caused by structural failures rather than individual failures?
the system failed to provide enough resources, wage for people to thrive in
Why is poverty a moral problem?
there are extreme wealth inequalities and those with money no matter how they got it make themselves out to be hard working self made people and that poor people are just lazy immoral criminals that are undeserving of their help
they don’t know what to do how much money that they have and also low wage workers are struggling to put food on the table.
What does it mean that race is a modern social construction
there is no scientific biological reason behind it it changes overtime and not an accurate marker all people are 99.9% similar and there are different # of races in different countries
race
a socially meaningful set of artificial distinctions falsely based on superficial and imagined biological differences
ethnicity
an identity based on collective memories of a shared history and distinctive culture
colonialism
a practice in which countries claim control over territories, the people in them, and their natural resources, then exploit them for economic gain
genocide
Deliberate extermination of a racial or cultural group
ideology
shared ideas about how human life should be organized
trail of tears
The Trail of Tears was an ethnic cleansing and forced displacement of approximately 60,000 people of the “Five Civilized Tribes” between 1830 and 1850 by the United States government.
What did slavery look like before the invention of race?
-lack of culture
-marriage between Egyptians and blacks were normal
-adopted as kin after a few years
-dehumanized
What was the original perception of Europeans of indigenous people? What did they do to the indigenous lands and populations?
Uncivilized savages. killed indigenous people, treated them as though they were less than human, and took their lands.
What were the objectives of European colonizers? Why did they enslave Africans?
early conquests, claims, and colonies, early state-sponsored colonists, economic immigrants, religious immigration.
Who were European indentured servants? What was their relationship with the African Slaves
poor men, women and children who were willing to work 4-7 years to pay off their passage and debt soon became primary source of labor for colonies
What were the slave codes of the 17th century? Why were they created?
slave codes spelled out the legal differences between African slaves and European indentured servants. Created to emphasize that slaves were not allowed to own property of their own. created out of fear that came about rumors of African and Europeans planning an outburst
At what point and for what purpose was the idea of race created? How is it related to the Declaration of Independence?
Dec. of Independence states that all men are created equally yet there was enslavement. The writers of document profited directly/ indirectly from it.
How was American slavery in the 18th century different from previous forms of slavery?
Slavery was a part of the economic and social fabric of society, brought in a lot of profit. Until the 18th century slaves humanity was never called into question
What is scientific racism? Provide some examples.
use of science to justify racial inequality. (looking at facial/body parts and differentiating it from the whites)
institutional discrimination,
the denial of opportunities and equal rights to individuals and groups that results from the normal operations of a society
racism
a term that refers to a society production of unjust outcomes for some racial or ethnic groups
residential segregation
the sorting of different types of people into separate neighborhood
hypersecretion
residential segregation so extreme that many people’s daily lives involve little or no contact with people of other race
achievement gaps
disparities in the academic accomplishments of different kinds of students
tracking
placing students in different classroom cause of ability
adultification
a form of bias in which adult characteristics are attributed to children
cross-institutional advantages and disadvantages
a phenomenon in which people are positively or negatively served across multiple institutions
advantage: Children who grow up in safe and healthy neighborhoods with strong services and amenities, for example, are also likely to get good educations and be relatively free of police oversight.
disadvantage: They’re structurally positioned such that they have fewer opportunities
cumulative advantages and disadvantages,
Advantage or
disadvantage that builds over the life course.
intergenerational advantages and disadvantages,
passed from parents to children
advantage: parents able to pass down money, housing
disadvantage: parents not able to
structural violence
institutional description that injures the body and mind.
What are the mechanisms of racial and ethnic residential segregation, both past and present?
The emancipation of enslaved Black people in the United States prompted a Great Migration. Beginning in the early 1900s, 6 million newly free Black people left Southern plantations for the North. Many of them settled in growing urban centers-white neighborhoods didn’t let black people sign to move in.-sill today they make it hard and some do not want there neighborhoods to be devise -price of house goes down that preserve neighborhood homogeneity: steering, redlining, and housing policies that disproportionately constrain the choices of people of color.
How is policing of schools racially charged and how does it contribute to the “school-to-prison pipeline”?
a practice of disciplining and punishing children and youth in school that routes them out of education and into the criminal justice system.Being labeled increases the likelihood that a child will engage in criminal activity, while being pushed out of school exposes students to networks that might introduce them to it. Being suspended just one time doubles the likelihood that a student will drop out of school altogether, which is a primary risk factor for imprisonment as an adult
How does residential segregation facilitate the unequal distribution of benefits and harms
the unequal distribution of the benefits and harms of our societies. If different kinds of people live in different neighborhoods, goods and services can be delivered disproportionately to White people.
What is environmental racism
the practice of exposing racial and ethnic minorities to more toxins and pollutants than White people
How does unequal access to resources and environmental racism explain the higher rates of contracting and dying of Covid-19 for people of color?
living conditions common in ZIP codes with higher percentages of Black people increased the likelihood that they would contract the virus
How is residential segregation connected to inequitable education (explain inequality between schools and within schools)
nearly half of school funding in the United States comes from taxes paid by local property owners. The more valuable the property, the higher the taxes, which means that children living in expensive neighborhoods get expensive educations and children living in poor neighborhoods get poor ones. More money means more qualified teachers, smaller class sizes, better supplies and equipment, more field trips, and so on.
How is the criminalization of marijuana related to racism and anti-immigration sentiments?
in these same low income neighborhoods, Black and Hispanics men are more closely surveillance by police. In the past several decades, the policing of marjaina possessions, in particular, has led to mass incarnation and deportation.
How are mass incarceration and deportation race-related?
Both mass incarceration and mass deportation are forms of governing that operate on masses, groups, classes, and races rather than individuals. They rely on racial profiling and rigid rules designed to remove the ability of judges or other officials to take individual or contextual circumstances into account.
What is the difference between sex and gender?
sex - biological differences that divide us into male or female or intersex
gender- the cultural meaning that we attributed to our biological differences
Why is it argued that gender is socially constructed and not a biological reality? Provide all the relevant arguments.
structure inequalities-volience-material effects on gender on the lives of people in the real world -argues that people live in two diffrent worlds physical worlds and symbolic worlds -we only know the physical world through the interpretations that we make of it, and conversely there is no world meaning o
biological determinism
belief that biology determines differences between men and women based on characteristics
essentialism
is the notion of that their is a notation of biological determinism happening for example to believe that their is a difference between men and woman resides in the body.
What is dualism and what are potential problems with dualistic thinking?
create the categorized system that allows us to believe in the naturalness and femaleness and maleness -we tend to think in terms of two options (ether/or) -we utilize the most simple category system-one or another. Common sense tells us there are “two sides to every argument”
What is a gender box structure and what does it say about the relation between sex, gender, and sexuality?
both unnessary and inaccurate in understanding and describing human experience. -what makes someone feminine and make some masculine-example a girl playing hockey, a guy that likes cooking-we might think someone is gay or lesbian because of how they dress, act, or do
How is sexuality (sexual orientation) socially constructed? Provide an example.
The social processes define sexuality and give rise to classifications such as homosexuality and heterosexuality. In other words, the gendered roles and power structures influence sexual expression.
What is heteronormativity?
describes how social institutions and policies reinforce the presumption that people are heterosexual and that gender and sex are natural binaries.
Why do sociologists argue that even our dualistic sex categories (male/female) are socially constructed? Who are intersex people?
Feminine and masculine notions are created by human beings/ culture to give meaning to biological differences. Gender is learned, not natural
Who are transgender people and what do their experiences tell us about the malleability of sex and body?
transgender’s people are individuals who tell change their gender from male to female or female to male.
patriarch/property marriage,
men the heads of households and women as their human property and equal to children and slaves
, breadwinner/homemaker marriage
a model of marriage that involves a wage-earning spouse supporting a stay-at-home spouse and children
family wage
an income, paid to a man, that is large enough to support a non-working wife and children
heteronormative
is the belief that institutionalized heterosexuality should be the standard for legitimate intimate relationships
mononormative
promoting monogamy, or the requirement that spouses have sexual relations only with each other
pro-natal
promoting childbearing and stigmatizing choosing to go child-free
partnership unions
a relationship model based on love and companionship between equals
sexism
individual and institutional discrimination against people perceived to be biologically female
androcentrism
granting greater reward respect value and power to masculine compared to feminine activities
hegemonic masculinity,
the form of masculinity that constitutes the most widely admired and rewarded kind of person in any given culture
second shift
the unpaid work of housekeeping and childcare that faces family members once they return home from their paid jobs
glass escalator
an invisible ride to the top offered to men in female-dominated occupations
male flight
phenomenon in which men abandon feminizing arenas of life”
How did industrialization change family relations and created the ideology of separate spheres?
men left the home to sell their labor for wages while women stayed home to perform unpaid domestic work.
How did the capitalist economy’s need for workers contribute to the end of the breadwinner/homemaker marriage?
Many White men were too poor to support a family alone, and men of color were largely denied a family wage.
Why is it that only the poorest and richest families are likely to leave one parent at home?
The poor families cannot afford things such as daycare, whereas the rich families can afford to not have both parents work
What is the “ideal worker norm” and how do gender norms put women at a disadvantage in the workplace? What is the “mommy track”?
the idea that an employee should devote themselves to their jobs wholly and without the distraction of family responsibilities. Women have to take care of household and their children. Mommy track- a workplace euphemism that refers to employers expecting less from mothers and in turn passing them up for raises or promotions
Why are many families adopting a specialized division of labor rather than a shared division of labor?
Because work and home are still gendered.
How does the ideology of intensive motherhood put pressure on women both at home and at work?
trying to balance being both a good mother and good worker
What is the feminization of poverty and what is the reason for it?
feminization of poverty -a concentration of women, trans women, and gay, bisexual, Because women are more likely than men to take time out of the workforce to care for children, the average woman accumulates less job experience than the average man. Men tend to be favored in both male-dominated and female-dominated occupations.
What is an androcentric pay scale and how is it related to job segregation?
androcentric pay scale-a positive correlation between the number of men in an occupation relative to women and the wages paid to employees. people working in female-dominated jobs make between 5 and 21 percent less than people working in male-dominated jobs.87 Job segregation accounts for 49 percent of the gender wage gap.
Why do sociologists describe the state of gender inequality in the Western world as a stalled revolution?
a phrase that refers to a sweeping change in gender relations that started but has yet to be fully realized
distinction
active efforts to affirm identity categories and place themselves and others into subcategories
social identity theory
the socially constructed categories and subcategories of people in which we place ourselves or are placed by others
positive distinction
the claim that members of our own group are superiors to members of other groups
in-group bias
preferential treatment of members of our own groups and mistreatment of others
minimal group paradigm
the tendency of people to form groups and actively distinguish themselves from others and most trivial of reasons
sexual minorities
people who are say lesbian bisexual or otherwise is known as no heterosexual
What major changes in the organization of everyday life over the last few centuries led to changes in how people understand and experience sexuality?
pre- and post-natal hormone levels and genetic makeup. Social factors include ideas regarding gender roles conveyed by family, authority figures, mass media, and other influential people in a child’s life.
What is the difference between sex education in the U.S. and Netherlands?
the Netherlands also aims to raise awareness about gender roles in relation to teenage sexuality
How do cultural assumptions about masculinity in America deprive boys of intimacy with their male friends or loving and respectful relationships with girls?
because men are taught to hide their emotions more and that they are taught to always be strong and not cry when thinks are tough
Sometimes boys don’t talk about their feelings with there guy friends because they think that it is too weird but they go to their girl friends to ask more for advice.
