Aira Joy B. Canlapan Sociology 101 Prof.

Alton OHara

Final Exam
1. The three major sociological perspectives are SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONISM, FUNCTIONAL ANALYSIS and CONFLICT THEORY. a. Symbolic Interactionism has an emphasis on micro-level, which means small-scale or face-to-face interaction. It examines how people use symbols to develop and share views of the world. Also uses styles, patterns and symbols to establish meaning. b. Functional analysis has an emphasis on macro-level or large-scale patterns of society. It examines the functionality and how the interrelated parts work together to contribute for the societys stability. It may also see how these parts are dysfunctional or have negative consequences. c. Conflict theory also emphasizes on macro-level or large-scale patterns of society. It sees the struggle for scarce resources by groups in a society. It also examines how elite groups use their power to control the weaker groups. 2. Ethnocentrism is a generally used word to describe human behavior between different cultural bodies or by judging another culture by the standards of ones own culture. Ethnocentrism affects the society by creating in-group royalties but on the other hand, it can lead to discrimination and false assumptions about ones cultural differences. We tend to make generalizations about other peoples culture and norms using our own. These generalizations are often made without consciousness that we've used our culture as a yardstick for judging others. Because of this it can cause us to misjudge other people. But functionalists would argue that ethnocentrism in control is functional for a society. It is because the society needs agreement and has a shared identity. The only way a society can collaborate is when it shares basic values. Ethnocentrism may contribute in several ways to the society and social functioning. It may either be positive or negative. 3. Charles Horton Cooley postulated the concept of looking-glass self to explain a formation of self-image via reflection and that a person grows out of society's interpersonal interactions

and the perceptions of others. He summarized his idea into Each to each a looking-glass, Reflects the other that doth pass. We imagine how we appear to those who are around us, interpret other peoples reactions and develop a self-concept. 4. The idea of the Social Construction of Reality refers to how we construct our views of the world where it underlies our actions. Impression management denotes the work on maintaining the anticipated impression. Impression management can be seen in a dramaturgical model. Theres an important distinction between "front stage" and "back stage" behavior. As the term suggests, "front stage" actions are visible to the audience and are part of the performance. People engage in "back stage" behaviors when no audience is present. For example, I work as a server in a fast food. In front, I dispose myself to be more smiling and happy compared to when Im inside the kitchen. I try to be formal and professional outside but Im totally casual inside. Impression management affects behavior because people dispose themselves to be more proper outside. It also affects reality because sometimes, you are faking yourself and managing to keep yourself look better in the superficial point of view. 5. McDonaldization of Society refers to the process by which ordinary aspect of life are rationalized and efficiency comes to rule them, including things as food preparation. It affects social and economic dynamics because McDonalds severely controlled the appearance of each of its outlets, as well as their menus, equipment, procedures, advertising, suppliers, and polices. McDonaldization is the principle by which the fast-food restaurants are coming to dominate more and more sectors of the society. It also maps the macro structures of modern social organization. Our economy has also been affected with the McDonaldization to the point we depend on cheaply made, non-innovative products. While settling for convenience we have sacrificed class and quality. Small businesses are also killed because of this large companies built like McDonalds and later came up to the rise of Wal-Mart, the largest supermarket chain in the world. 6. The Thomas theorem or definition of situation is a fundamental concept of the Symbolic Interaction theory of deviance which was formulated by W. I. Thomas. It says that If men define situations as real, they are real in their consequences. It is a kind of collective

agreement between people on the characteristics of a situation, and from there, how to appropriately react and fit into it. Establishing a definition of the situation requires that the

participants agree on both the frame of the interaction and on their identities or the person they will treat each other as being for a given situation. Situation ethics is a religion based theory regarding the application of ethical principles to various situations. It is not geared to rules and regulations. This system of ethics refuses to be circumscribed by rules or laws. It says there is nothing right or wrong. Situation ethics is a means for men to justify themselves, claiming that their sins are done out of love, while leaving God utterly and completely out of the picture. It seeks to remove Gods standard while leaving it up to man to decide what is right or wrong. They would claim that men have evolved and have become enlightened to the point that the laws in the Bible are of no use to us anymore. It impacts behavior because only the individual has the ability to choose what is right or wrong in his present situation. In reality, moral behavior is relative, not absolute. 7. Salience Principle is categorizing people on the basis of what appears initially prominent and obvious - that is, what is salient - about them. The choice of salient characteristics is culturally determined. For example, gender, hair color and skin color are mostly seen as salient characteristics. This principle leads to stereotyping and false assumptions to other people. The negative part of this states that stereotypes are often interchangeable from one social class to another, one racial/ethnic group to another, from a racial or ethnic group to a social class, or from a social class to a gender. For example, stereotype that blacks are lazy and now recently transferred to Italians, Irish, Polish and Hispanics. It has been applied generally to all people perceived as lower-class. Salience principle relate to negative stereotypes by explaining the observed behavior of a member of the stereotyped group serving, incorrect and faulty generalizations. This turns into prejudice, discrimination and racism. 8. Gender roles and expectations are what they consider to be socially appropriate for individuals of a specific sex in the context of a specific culture, which differ widely between cultures and over time. Gender role modeling is essential to the society because it shapes a human being to be the person he is supposed to be. Take our parents as examples. Our fathers give us a model of a patriarch and provider of the family. Mothers are the nurturing ones and light of our homes. Gender role expectations also involve culture. For example, in the preindustrial Europe, the practice of medicine (other than midwifery) was generally seen as a male privilege. However, in Russia, health care was more often seen as a feminine role. The

results of these views can still be seen in modern society, where European medicine is most often practiced by men, while the majority of Russian doctors are women. The argument about Gender identity formation is between biology and culture. The biology

argument suggests that we are predetermined to behave in sex appropriate manner. Women are said to be physically weaker than men. Women are more verbal, where men are more oriented to actions. Women are more diplomatic, men are more direct. Women are more nurturing, men are more instrumental (task oriented). The culture argument suggests that we learn gender appropriate behaviors from those around us - conventional wisdom. Thus women are weak because of thousands of years of evolution in which they did not consistently perform tasks as physically demanding as men. Women are verbal and scheming because men have afforded themselves the social, political, and economic resources. Women have to align themselves with a powerful man to achieve in those arenas. Women are nurturing because they have been delegated nurturing responsibilities. We become who we are by social learning and socialization. But it also depends on the choice the person chooses to take. Lets see the children raised by gay or lesbians. They grew up with a person who is said to be against the norm and people might say that theres a tendency that the child will grow up the same way too. But research state that most do not become gay or lesbian. It is based on the personal preference. 9. Sexual politics are ideas and activities that are concerned with how power is shared between men and women, and how this affects their relationships. It is involved in many parts of our lives. The common means of social control is against women. By being continually

reminded of their inferior status in their interactions with others, and continually compelled to acknowledge that status in their own patterns of behavior, women may internalize society's definition of them as inferior so thoroughly that they are often unaware of what their status is. Inferiority becomes habitual, and the inferior place assumes the familiarity -and even desirability -- of home. Even if a woman encounters no one else directly in her day, visual status reminders invade her environment. As she moves through the day, she absorbs many variations of the same status theme, whether or not she is aware of it. Male bosses dictate while female secretaries bend over their steno pads. Male doctors operate while female nurses assist. This affects even on relationships because the value of such a prerogative is that it is a form of power. In interactions between the sexes, as in other human

interactions, the one who has the right to initiate greater intimacy has more control over the relationship. Superior status brings with it not only greater prestige and greater privilege but also greater power. 10. Sexual revolution is the change and dramatic shift in traditional values related to sex, and sexuality. Sex became more socially acceptable outside the strict boundaries of heterosexual marriage. If impacts the society because of the transition of the old values related to sex to new sexual attitudes and behaviors. Before people see pre-marital sex as immoral and against the norms of the society. Unmarried cohabitation is also seen to be against the norms because of living together and having sex outside marriage. Homosexuality was deprived because of the same sex relationships happening inside the society. And after the sexual revolution, these became more accepted in the society. Socially, people have a different outlook on these issues. Their attitudes and behaviors became more liberal and open minded. But with that, there are still consequences of the sexual revolution like STDs and teen pregnancy. Sexual revolution also impacted technology because of the rise of pornography and mass media. Technology gave people a view that pornography is normal within the society. It also leads to the growth of science, creating better healthcare manufacturing contraceptives, production of condoms and immunology to prevent STDs. The impact of technology in sexual behaviors is that they are more confident that they will not catch any disease even if they have multiple partners. The attitudes of people, technologically and socially, were altered because of sexual revolution. 11. The transition issues involved with aging affect people by biological, social and environmental factors. Life course can be divided into childhood, adolescence, young adulthood, the middle years and the older years. Childhood is more than biology. Everyones childhood occurs at some point in history and is embedded in particular social locations, especially social class and gender. Although a childs biological characteristics (small and dependent) are universal, the social experiences are not. Because childhood varies from culture to culture. Adolescence marks passage into adulthood. The body changes biologically and even other tribes have initiation rites like circumcision to boys for them to achieve manhood. Socially, they develop their own subcultures with distinctive clothing, hairstyles, language, gestures and music. Young adulthood or transitional adulthood is the stage wherein people postpone adult responsibilities like going to college. They are mostly freed

from the control of their parents, yet still cannot support themselves. At some point, they come to ease into adult responsibilities. They become more serious about career, marriage and etc. The Middle years can be seen as the period of having a family but may later result to divorce. This stage usually consists of conflicting pressures like too little time, too many demands, even too little sleep. Something has to give, and attempts to resolve this dilemma are anything but easy. The later part of middle years involves health issues and mortality because most people felt their body change in these years. This stage isnt stressful for everyone for most find it to be more comfortable period. They anticipate the next stage of life, the older years. The older years can contemplate death as a remote possibility. People feel that time is closing in on them. Aging affects our life choices because when youre young all you ever see is a world full of joy and make choices regarding your own happiness. When you come into the stage when you become older, youre choices change to have a self-fulfillment and tend to be more serious on things. The later stages make you more drawn into the right choices for you to have a happy life before you die. 12. Major issues confronting family forms in the U.S today: a. Female-headed household - It was initially used to mean an increase of women among the poor and an increase of female headed households among the poor households. Female headed households are most susceptible to poverty because they have fewer income earners to provide financial support within the household. According to a case study in Zimbabwe, households headed by widows have an income of approximately half that of male-headed households and female headed households have about three quarters of the income of male headed households. Additionally, lone mother households lack critical resources in life, which worsens their state of poverty. They do not have access to the opportunities to attain a decent standard of living along with basic needs such as health and education. Lone mother households relate to gender inequality issues as women are more susceptible to poverty and lack essential life needs in comparison to men. While the theory may be striving to resolve the issue of poverty among these female-headed households through empowerment, critics continue to suggest that its failure to dispose of the image of women as a victim while focusing on women-headed

households - or the impoverished female population - in general has resulted in such ineffective approach. b. Married-couple families financial is one of the biggest issues married-couple families encounter. Because of finances, married couples may have the tendency to fight on how to separate the payments of bills. It is a common marriage problems met by married individuals today, especially already those with kids. When there is insufficient money for the family, handling of the expenses can cause a lot of relationship problems. The problem is even more serious if the man or woman, or both, do not have a job and there are children who need support. c. Step-families - The stepfamily cannot and will not function as does the intact family. It has its own special set of dynamics and behaviors. Once learned, these behaviors can become predictable and positive. The tendency of many is to overly the expectations and dynamics of the intact or natural family onto the stepfamily. Others simply deny there is a problem. d. Gay and lesbian households - The major challenges faced by same-sex couples, and the avenues available to recognize their family relationships through access to marriage, civil unions, domestic partnerships, and reciprocal beneficiary status. Because same-sex marriage is not widely accepted, they arent considered to be part of the society. Including the children they tend to raise in their household. Children of gay men and lesbians are vulnerable to teasing and harassment, particularly as they approach adolescence, when any sign of difference is grounds for exclusion. The society is still close-minded on the issue of same-sex couples and makes life difficult for them. e. Singles confront the issue of high insurance cost because of being unmarried and high tax deductions. It is because that single individuals dont have deductibles like children. 13. In the Philippines, formal education is easy to achieve because the cost of attendance is not that big compared to the United States. In four years and approximately $6000, you could finish college. But the problem is many graduates have mismatch on their degree and the jobs they find after graduating. Many college graduates from the Nursing course end up working in call centers because of the scarcity of nursing jobs in the Philippines. Its the choice they chose to take than without having any job at all. Whats worse is that this job is

just contractual, so what happens after your contract ends? Youre stuck at home. Thats why on my point of view, take the course you are good at and where you see yourself successful after graduating. Im skillful on chemistry thats why I chose to follow the path to be a Pharmacist. My choice is supported by my parents and career opportunities say that Pharmacists are in demand in communities. When I graduate, I will make sure that my educational background will not mismatch my future job. I will not let my education go to waste by any mismatch on my career. 14. The national health care debate is about the reformation of the health care system of United States and provide health coverage for all the constituents. Thus, this reflects the values of fairness, equity and compassion of the U.S society. In implementing nationwide health care, it gives fair compensation to all regardless of their employment status or financial situation. The opposing side would argue about whos to pay the bill and that will cause taxpayers to pay more. But a recent survey was conducted by the American Hospital Association that showed some Americans said they would be willing to pay higher taxes. I could see that the values of the U.S society show equity because of the people wanting to help others. With this, we could share the blessing to those people who are uninsured and help them pay whatever health coverage they need. 15. Democracy is the form of government wherein people have an equal say in the decisions affecting in their lives. It is said to be the peoples power controlling the government but a downfall to this is an unaware electorate. An electorate is said to be a group of people entitled to vote in an election. But an informed electorate is a prerequisite for democracy. If voters do not know what is going on in politics, they cannot rationally exercise control over government policy. Most people got their news in the newspapers, TV and radio. Basically the media gives them the current system of our government. Theres actually a difference in news habits among Americans because people tend to know news on various means of media based on their different social background and characteristics. People of the higher class, use more high technology to have news like the internet and TV while people of the lower class, are into radio and newspapers. What the news and media show us is the reality of whats happening to our government and nation. The nation is about to shatter because of the ignorant voters who voted for the wrong one. Ignorant men dont know what good they hold in their hands until they've thrown it away. When they did not have what was promised

to them, they go into rage and ends up regretting on why they voted for the said candidate. People nowadays should be informed well before voting so that they would know better after putting a candidate into a certain position of power. The news shows us the reality of politics and its up to us on how we could make this better.

Sources Wikipedia.com Who Should Pay for Health Care? Retrieved from http://www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/features/jan-june04/uninsured_119.html

Delgado: Health Care System Must Reflect the Values Of American Society Retrieved from http://www.rollcall.com/features/Mission-Ahead_HealthCare/ma_healthcare/-35534-1.html

Gay and Lesbian Adoptive Parents: Issues and Concerns Retrieved from http://family.findlaw.com/adoption/same-sex-adoption/same-sex-parentissues.html

Situation Ethics: Verses The Authority Of God Retrieved from http://bibleecho.com/assets/files/22_may30_10.pdf

The McDonaldized Economy

Retrieved from http://hannonreport.blogspot.com/2009/03/mcdonaldized-economy_15.html McDonaldization Retrieved from http://what-when-how.com/junk-food-and-fast-food/mcdonaldization/ Essentials of Sociology: A Down-to-Earth Approach (8th Edition), James M. Henslin