Exam 2 Study Guide - Introductory Sociology | SOCL 2001, Study notes of Introduction to Sociology

Download Exam 2 Study Guide - Introductory Sociology | SOCL 2001 and more Study notes Introduction to Sociology in PDF only on Docsity! Sociology Unit 2 Stereotypes –generalization applied to every person in a particular category. There are racial stereotypes, gender stereotypes, age stereotypes (generations). White Privilege is the unspoken benefits that white people have in society over other races. Race is a socially constructed category of people who share biological traits (skin color and facial features). It has been scientifically proven that there are no specific races. All humans carry 99.9% of the same DNA. Ethnicity is a set of people who identify with a certain national or cultural heritage. They could have issues with ethnocentrism, they have unique cultural groups. The Amish is a good example of an ethnic group. Minority is a group of people who may be subject to differential treatment because of physical or cultural differences that a society subordinates. This doesn’t mean that it is a mathematical minority—there are more women in our country than men, but women are still considered a minority. 2010 Racial/ Ethnic Population Percentage: 2050 Projections? White (non-Hispanic): 64% 46% Latino: 16% 30% African American: 13% 15% Asian: 5% 9% Native American/ Other: 1% >1% Prejudice is unfair generalization about an entire category of people. It is pre judging someone. It is based on a preconceived notion; it’s a decision you make about something or someone without evidence. It can be positive or negative. A positive prejudice could be blacks are good at athletics or hiring someone based on their stereotype of being successful. Social Distance Scale was developed by Emory Bogardus in 1925 to measure prejudice and to measure people’s willingness to partake in things with other racial groups. It is used to measure the prejudice. If you agree with number 1, then you agree with all of those above it. Theoretical Explanations of Crime and Deviance Robert Merton’s Strain Theory says that people engage in deviance when there is a strain between goals and means. Social inequality could lead people to behave deviantly. Those from a low socioeconomic status may be more susceptible to committing a crime because they are not able to have access to resources as much. Conformist is a person who is not a deviant. He accepts goals and means and works hard to achieve success. Innovator accepts the goals but rejects the means (cheats on exams, reaches success through illegitimate means, drug dealer, robs a bank). A ritualist rejects goals but accepts the means. These people work hard and do what is expected, but this person probably sets low goals that are easy to reach The retreatest rejects goals and means (alcoholic or dropout—doesn’t care about success and doesn’t try for it). The rebellion wants to replace the goals and the means. This is the most dangerous and the threatening. Different Associations Theory says that people learn deviance through association with deviant peers. “You are who your friends are”. Peer pressure can lead to certain behaviors just due to association with people you are around. People around deviant people are more likely to have deviant behavior. Broken Window Theory says that people are more likely to commit greater crimes if they can get away with the first offense. For example, this guy broke a car window. A few days later, he returned to the car and almost everything was gone from the car. Another example is that marijuana is a gate way drug. If you do weed and don’t get caught, you may branch out and do other drugs. Labeling Theory says that deviance is a consequence of external judgements that modify a persons self-concept. If others react to us as a deviant, then we may view ourselves as deviant as well. If someone keeps calling you a thief or a criminal, then you will internalize the label (looking glass self), and are more susceptible to become a thief. Example: in Hurricane Katrina, there were two reports in the same area about people stealing food. In the picture with the white kids they were “finding” break and water, whereas the black kid was “looting”. Deviance is any behavior (drinking too much), belief (goths), or situation (unwed mother) that violates social norms. Deviance is usually accompanied by negative social stigma. Deviance is defined by varied people. Social situations and social structure can define devince. It also is relative, as in it varies from time to time, place to place, or group to group. Ear rings on men is more normal than it was back in the day. You can get away doing some things at a football game than you could in a church. Deviance isn’t defined the same today as it was in the past. Crime is a violation of a law that is punishable with fines, jail time, and other sanctions. Sociologists who study crime are called criminologists, and they study crimes, why people commit crimes, and how to stop this behavior. Crime rates in the United States have decreased since 1990s, the trend has been toward lower crime rates. The reason why it is assumed that crime has increased is because of the influence of the media. Social Control is techniques and strategies that regulate behavior (examples include frowning, hugging, praising, arresting, frowning, yelling). The purpose is to reduce or eliminate deviant behavior. This is a form of social control because we want to live up the expectations of our families, friends, teachers, and the rest of society. We care what these people think of us. The poverty line of a family of four is $21,834. If you make less than this, then you have access to government assistance. There are two different types of Poverty. The first is absolute poverty, which is where you can’t afford basic necessities. The other type is relative poverty, where you cant maintain the average standard of living. This can be determined geographically (living up north can sometimes be expensive than living down in the south(. Social Mobility: Horizontal Mobility is moving from positions at the same class level. Vertical Mobility is moving up or down class hierarchy. This can be getting an education that leads to a better paying job, or losing your job and having to move down. Intragenerational mobility is the extent to which someone experiences upward or downward mobility over the course of your life, this is vertical mobility. Intergenerational mobility is when you are worse off or better off than your parents. If you parents are blue collar workers and then you become a doctor, or vice versa. Example Exam Question: Nicholas was a legal secretary. He decided to continue his education and earn his law degree. Nicholas is now a criminal attorney. Nicholas has experienced………..vertical mobility. The Davis-Moore Thesis says that every society must fill important positions. Some positions are more important than others. The most qualified must fill the most important positions. Society must offer greater rewards to motivate the most qualified to fill the most important positions. (Prestige and wealth comes with becoming a doctor because of all of the hard work in school and the responsibility that the job entails. You only want the best and most qualified people to become doctors, whereas it does not matter who the garbage man is). Pretty much there needs to be some kind of incentive to do all of the work to have the more important positions. Adultolescents are grown up children who depend on their parents for support. There are about 4 million of these people who live with their parents after graduating college. Gender is socially constructed differences between females and males. It is LEARNED. It is socially and culturally constructed. Sex is biological characteristics Gender is learned attitudes and behaviors. Gender Role is attitudes and activities that are appropriate for each sex. Gender Identity is perception as male or female(what you think you are). Stereotypes are expectations on how people will act based on their sex Sexism is the belief that one sex is superior to the other; usually towards females Patriarchy=male dominated society. Male is the natural default: for example, Women’s Deodorant, Deodorant. Female is marked as women’s whereas male deodorant is just deodorant. There are many things that influence our ideas on the role of gender. We learn gender through family. Gender is very prominent in society; “is it a boy or a girl?” is a commonly asked question. It’s a defining factor. Boys and girls act differently based on certain things. With language, if a boy gets hurt, we say be a big boy and don’t cry; if a girl gets hurt you comfort her. Boys and girls have different gender specific toys (also blue vs. pink). Boys and girls also differ in their household chores (boys do outside chores, women are domestic). With our peers, males are more masculine. Males generally don’t care about appearance and worry about things like sports. Females are in turn more feminine. They care about other things, like appearance. Teachers influence our ideas about gender because of a gender bias, where there can be favoritism of one gender over the other. Boys can sometimes get away with acting out because of the common phrase “boys will be boys”. Boys also get more instructional time. The mass media influences our beliefs because men tend to be more dominant. Men are more in charge; also they work or play outside more than women. Women take on more domestic tasks; in ads they are young, beautiful, and seductive. Women are not alone in having issues with body image. Women desire men who are tall, strong, and have so many other qualities, that more men are reporting body dissatisfaction than a decade ago. Women want to be thin, and men want to be muscular. Heightism is being treated differently for being too tall or too short. It is a prejudice or discrimination based on height. Women seem to only want tall men. There are thousands of tweets from women hating on short guys. Advertising tries to portray certain areas of women to better sell their product. For example, in the Bacardi example of the woman’s stomach, what’s the point of the woman’s bare midriff? Advertisements for jeans and perfume tend to be more overtly sexual. Sex sells. Advertising in this way causes us to reflect on our own bodies. Gender Inequality A pay gap is income difference between males and females. Women generally make less money for the same amount of work as men. Women earn 77 cents to every $1 of a man’s wage for the same jobs. Even if they have the same credentials and do the same work. There are three main reasons for this. The first is women choose fields that are lower earnings, for example women are more going to enter into learning and healthcare. The second is the glass ceiling which is an invisible lid on a woman’s climb up the employment latter. It is an intangible surface inhibiting women and minorities from reaching the top of the employment latter. The third one is that women are more likely to make work adjustments for their children. Women are more expected to stay home with sick children and to take them to the doctor. Sexual Orientation Homosexuals—atracted to people of the same sex (gays and lesbians) Heterosexuals—attracted to people of the opposite sex Bisexuals—attracted to members of both sexes Asexuals—lack interest in sex. Theoretical Analysis addressing Gender Inequality A functionalism perspective would support gender inequality. Both sexes have roles that are important for the survival of the family. Men need to go out and make the money to cause stability while women stay home and take care of the house and the family. This is functional. A functionalist would also support traditional gender roles. Talcott Parsons developed a model for the nuclear family (husband, wife, children). In this model, the husband performs the instrumental tasks of economic support and making decisions, while the wide takes on more expressive tasks of providing affection and emotional support. There is a lot of debate on whether this model works or not. The divorce rate is higher today than it used to be. The social approach sees that gender inequlity is built into the society. While is benefits men, it socially and economically disadvantages women. Employers may see men as less risky hires. Men’s domination is a result of power difference in our society. The feminist approach says that men and women should be valued equally. Women should be able to have more control over their lives. Inequality can be remedied by changing everyday attitudes in our social institutions. Generally, a lot of people agree that women should be more equal, but when asked, most people say they are not feminists. There is a negative stigma attached to the feminist perspective. Liberal Feminism seeks change only to ensure equal opportuinity of both sexes. Society says that women need to be more maternal and caring, which leads to females entering careers like teaching. This is a trap that most women are not even aware of. Radical feminism contends that patriarchy (reason for women’s inequlity) is against gender inequality and so it strives to end the family system. Radical feminism seeks a gender-free society. Multiracial feminism focuses on gender, race, and social class. It wants a socialist economy, for equal pay and rights to women and minorities.