SOC 1021E REVIEW

Intro Class
 Sociology focuses on
 “Patterned Group Behavior”
 Peter Berger
 “To see the General in the Particular”
 The Sociological Imagination
 Biography: Human Agency
 Milieu: Gemeinschaft (Tonnies)
 History: Society / Structures
 Anthony Giddens
 Structuration Theory: Human Agency / Social Structure
 Duality of Structure: Social Action / Social Structure
Lecture 1

 Definition of Sociology
 The systematic study of social behavior in human soci
eties
 Also, know the “Goals” of sociology
 Auguste Comte (1838)
 “A new way of looking at the World”
 Positivism
 Scientific way of understanding society through scien
tific methods
 Definition of Theory and Concept
Structural Functionalism

 Macro-level Orientation
 Focus on “Equilibrium”: Change is “No Good”
 Every activity (yes, crime too) has Functions
 Manifest Functions/ Latent Functions
 Eufunction (positive) / Dysfunction (negative?)
 Understand the Critiques of S-F
 Emile Durkheim
 Anomie (normlessness)
 Division of Labour (Mechanical -> Organic Solidarity)
 Suicide
Conflict Theory
 Macro-level Orientation
 Arena of “Inequality”, “Conflict”
 Poor / Rich ; Dominant / Minority
 Society only benefits a few
 Karl Marx
 Capitalism is a social ill
 Alienation (4 ways)
 Those who own “means of production” vs. workers
 Bourgeoisie vs. Proletariat
 Class conflict -> Class consciousness -> Class Struggle
 False consciousness : Blaming the individuals
Other Paradigms
 Symbolic Interactionism
 People’s own “Definition of the Situation”
 W. I. Thomas
 “What we define as real, is real in its consequences”
 Cooley (Looking Glass Self)
 Mead (Me and I)
 Max Weber
 “Verstehen” = to understand
 Rationalization of Society: Tradition to Rationality
 Bureaucracy
 Feminism
 Actually a Conflict Theory Perspective
 Gender Inequality: socially constructed
 Maternal / Liberal / Radical / Socialist Feminisms
Methods
 Ethics: Milgram Study
 Five Ways of Knowing the World
 Personal / Tradition / Authority / Religion / Science
 Scientific Methods: procedures
 Terms
 Operational Definition
 Variable (Independent / Dependent / Control)
 Hypothesis
 Causality / Correlations (could be spurious)
 Sample / Sampling Methods
 Validity / Reliability
 Survey Methods: Pros and Cons
 Research Designs
 Qualitative / Quantitative / Secondary Analysis / Content Analysis
 Inductive / Deductive approach
 Cross-sectional Research / Longitudinal Research
Culture

 Intimate / Personal / Social / Public Distance

 Values / Beliefs
 Prescriptive (should do) / Proscriptive Norms (should not do)
 Folkways / Mores / Laws (Codified)
 Subculture / Counterculture
 Cultural Diffusion
 Cultural Lag
 Ethnocentrism / Eurocentrism / Androcentrism
 Cultural Relativism
 Cultural Materialsim
 How Culture is studied / understood by different paradigms
Socialization
 Primary Socialization
 Secondary Socialization
 Anticipatory Socialization (where will you be?)
 Resocialization (criminals)
 Adolescent Socialization
 3 set of Discontinuities - Benedict
 Know the “Agents” of Socialization
 School
 Hidden Curriculum: unspoken norms
 Media: Digital Divide
 Socialization “reproduces” gender, race, and class distinctions
 Social Reproduction of Class : Melvin Kohn
 How Socialization is understood by different paradigms
Socialization
 Behavioural Theories : Bandura
 Cooley: “Looking-glass self”
 Mead: “Me” (social) and “I” (spontaneous)
 Development of Self: imitation / Play / Game
 Significant Others (imitation) / Generalized Others
 Goffman
 Presentation of Self : Impression Management
 Piaget’s 4 stages
 Sensorimotor / Preoperational / Concrete operational / Formal operatio
nal
 Freud
 Id: basic instincts
 Superego: internalized Values
 Ego : socially developed / mediator
Gender
 Gender Identity
 Gendered Order
 Patriarchy
 “Tough Guise” film
 Know the Stats! (e.g. gendered wage gap)
 How Gender is studied / understood by different pa
radigms
 Especially by Feminism
 “The New Eugenics”
 Reprogenetics
 Control of sex, genes
Family
 Nuclear / Extended family
 Endogamy / Exogamy
 Homogamy / Heterogamy
 Know the Concepts!
 E.g. Patri - / Matri- / Neo-locality : Residential
 Marriage
 Polygamy: Polygyny / Polyandry
 Also the Stats!
 Cohabitation
 Parenting Styles
 Indulgent / Authoritative / Authoritarian / Neglectful (indifferent)
 Lone-parent families
 How Family is studied / understood by different paradigms
Second Term
Religion

 Definition of Religion
 Any culturally transmitted system of belief used to orient people and
set meaning for the sacred
 Durkheim = ‘Functionalist’
 Functional role of religion – it’s a group behavior that gives us group
experience; maintains groups coherence and solidarity
 Sacred (group) vs. Profane (individual)
 Method of social organization - gives sense of the ‘power of the grou
p’
 ‘collective effervesence’: energy formed by gather of people (stadiu
m effect)
 Functions of Religion: Integration, Regulation, Empower, Inter
pret, Represent
Religion

 Weber
 Religion: born out of a need to explain suffering and diffi
culty – “why is my life so miserable?”
 “Elective Affinity” – Protestantism ‘marries’ Capitalism
 “Routinization of Charisma” – to make them believe
 Marx
 Religion as a ‘tool’ of the Rich and Powerful: it controls t
he mind of the proletariat - thou shall not challenge!
 “An Opiate to the people”: he hated religion
Religion

 Extrinsic vs. Intrinsic religious orientation

 Using religion vs. Living religion
 Types of Religious Organizations
 Ecclesia, Church, Denominations, Sects, Cults
 “Where is this religion predominant?”
 Stats on religious attendance: on the decline
 But, Luckmann’s (1967) “invisible religion”
 Two Theories
 Bibby (consumerism) and Bellah (civil religion)
Deviance

 Definition of Deviance
 Any behavior that is perceived to violate social norms
 Mostly regarded ‘abnormal’; morally devalued
 Functionalist
 Durkheim: offense to “collective conscience”
 Deviance can be functional: shortcomings in society
 Symbolic Interactionist
 Deviance is socially constructed: Labeling theory
 Becker: social groups create deviance – ‘outsiders’
 “Deviance is not a quality of the act itself, but rather a conseque
nce of the application by others of rules and sanctions to an offe
nder”
Deviance

 Conflict Theorists
 Definition arise out of special interest: it’s a ‘power gam
e’ – those who have power get to define
 Pluralism: competition between various social entities o
ver defining deviance
 Role of “Moral Entrepreneurs”
 Critical School (or Radical): economic elites have power
 Feminist Theorists
 Imbalance between men and women within the criminal
justice system
 Know the stats
Deviance

 Cesare Beccaria (1764): Father of Criminology

 Biological Psychological Theories
 Sheldon’s ‘somatotypes’
 Testosterone and crime
 Freudian theory – id, ego, superego
 Functionalism: Strain Theory (Merton)
 Definition of Anomie:
 Feeling of normlessness or an absence of social regulation of behavior;
also caused by the discrepancy between social goals and legitimate me
ans
 Modes of Adaptation: Conformists / Innovators / Ritualists / Retreati
sts (Rebellion)
 “Contraculture” (Cohen): reject middle-class values/goals
Deviance

 Social Learning Theory

 Differential Association (Sutherland): you learn both deviant and co
nforming definitions
 Techniques of Neutralization (Matza and Sykes)
 Denial of Injury, Denial of Victim, Denial of Personal responsibility, Con
demning the Condemners, Appeal to Higher Loyalties
 Labeling theory
 Lemert: Primary Deviance  Secondary Deviance
 “Dramatization of Evil”: deviance amplifying process
 Social Control Theory
 Why do we commit crimes  Why don’t we?
 Hirschi: Social Bonds theory (attachment, commitment, involveme
nt, belief
Deviance

 Two components to Crime

 Actus Reus (the act) and Mens Rea (the intent)
 Types of Crime
 Trend in Crime (some stats)
 Gender and Crime
 Race and Crime
 Types of Punishment
 Retribution, Deterrence, Rehabilitation, Societal P
rotection
The Economy & Work

 Understand the historical ‘flow’ of the economy system

 Agricultural revolution  Industrial Revolution  Post-Indust
rial (revolution)
 Characteristics of the Post-industrial economy
 Ex) Information Technology (computer) and its implications
 Sectors of the Economy
 Primary (raw)  Secondary (transform)  Tertiary (service)
 Underground economy
 Global economy and its implications
 Ex) trade, globalization…
Economy & Work

 Economic Systems
 Capitalism
 Private ownership; free competition
 Welfare capitalism vs. State capitalism
 Socialism
 Collective ownership; collective goals; governmental control
 Know the Pros and Cons of each system
 The Three Schools on Capitalsim
 Functionalist: capitalism benefits
 Conflict: capitalism harms
 Symbolic Interactionist: how capitalism gets created
Economy & Work
 Dual Labour Market
 Primary vs. Secondary labour market
 White collar vs. Blue collar jobs
 Formal Organizations
 Tend to develop into bureaucracies
 Etzioni: 3 types of organizations
 Coercive: use of force – prison
 Utilitarian: allocation of economic assets – industrial groups
 Normative: manipulation of normative values – religion
 “Dual structure”: any of these can be combined
 Bureaucracy’s Characteristics: “Ideal type”
 “McDonaldization” (Ritzer)
 Basic Principles: efficiency, calculability, predictability, automated control
 were
Economy & Work

 Weber on Work
 Rationality: the acceptance of rules, efficiency, and practical re
sults as the ‘right way’
 ‘Rationalization’ of society
 The aim is efficiency: McDonaldization
 people < cost-efficiency
 Marx on Work (factory labour)
 Through labour, we realize who we are in nature and in history
 But….under Capitalism,
 Labour is “Alienated “
 4 Dimensions to Alienation: from the product, from productive la
bour, from human species, from fellow humans
Social Stratification

 Horizontal (income) vs. Vertical (position) Mobility

 Intragenerational vs. Intergenerational
 Three Schools on Social Stratification
 Functionalist: ‘meritocracy’ (personal merit)
 More important jobs get paid more
 Conflict: social class structure ‘reproduces’
 Capitalists vs. Proletariat
 Weber: power is ‘multifaceted’ – “plurality of people”
 Based on economic class, status group, party
 Socio-economic Status; middle-class
Race and Ethnicity
 “Deemed” characteristics of Minority groups
 Subjective vs. Objective minority identity
 Your identification vs. theirs
 Societal responses to minority groups
 Continuum from rejection to acceptance
 Study Immigration Statistics
 “Chain Migration” : one calls for another
 Stereotype vs. Prejudice (often leads to discrimination)
 Racism: a specific race is superior or inferior
 6 types of Racism: Red-necked, polite, subliminal, institutional, systemic, cult
ural/ideological
 Three Schools on Minority groups
 Functionalist: ethnic identification has some purpose
 Conflict: self-justification for the rich and powerful
 “Race consciousness” to overcome oppression
 Symbolic Interactionist: given at birth; relatively permanent
Demography
 4 components to Demography
 Fertility, Mortality, Migration, Morbidity
 Immigration (into) vs. Emigration (out of)
 Malthusian theory of Population Growth
 Desire to make babies vs. increasing food
 Demographic Transition Theory
 Population pattern shows it all (fertility vs. mortality r
ate): 4 stages
 “Ecological Fallacy”: ignores the individual
 Urban Ecology
 Ex) Park & Burgess’ Concentric zones