Sociology 120 Final Exam

Deviance

Norm violations ranging from minor infractions, such as bad manners, to major infractions, such as serious violence.

Sociological View of Deviance

The violation of cultural rules and norms is relative. What people consider deviant varies from one culture to another and from group to group within society

Crime

The violation of a society's formally enacted criminal law

Social Control

Attempts by society to regulate people's thoughts and behaviors

Criminal Justice System

The organizations-police, courts, and prison officials-that respond to alleged violations of the law

Stigma

A powerfully negative label that greatly changes a person's self-concept and social identity; Erving Goffman used the term to refer to characteristics that discredit people

Biological Theories of Deviance

Focuses on individual abnormality and explain human behavior as the result of biological instincts

Psychological Theories of Deviance

Focuses on individual abnormality and sees deviance as the result of "unsuccessful socialization"

Cesare Lombroso

Theorized that criminals possessed ape-like traits; Research now links criminal behavior to certain body types and genetics

Containment Theory

Psychologists Reckless and Dinitz linked delinquency to a weak conscience

Durkheim's View of Deviance

Durkheim claimed that deviance was a normal element of society that:

1. Affirmed cultural norms and values

2. Clarified moral boundaries

3. Brought people together

4. Encouraged Social Change

Strain Theory

Developed by Robert Merton; Explains deviance in terms of a society's cultural goals and the means available to achieve them; Five types of Deviance

1. Conformity

2. Innovation

3. Ritualism

4. Retreatism

5. Rebellion

Illegitimate Opportunity Theory

Proposed by Cloward and Ohlin, it stresses that some people have easier access to illegal means of achieving goals

Differential Association Theory

Proposed by Sutherland, it links deviance to how much others encourage or discourage behaviors

Control Theory

Proposed by Hirschi and Reckless, it states that we are all propelled toward deviance, but an effective system of inner controls (conscience, fear of punishment, etc.) and outer controls (police, etc.) discourage deviance.

Labeling Theory

States that labels tend to become part of the self-concept, which helps to set people on paths that propel or divert them from deviance

Medicalization of Deviance

The transformation of moral and legal deviance into a medical condition, replacing the labels good and bad with sick and well. Sociologists such as Szasz disagree, claiming they are problem behaviors, not mental illnesses.

White-Collar Crime

Coined by Edwin Sutherland, it refers to crime committed by people of high social position in the course of their occupations; It is often considered less serious than other crimes, but kills more people and costs more per year than street crimes.

The Conflict Perspective on Deviance

States the group in power imposes its definitions of deviance on other groups; The working class then commits highly visible crimes and the ruling class directs the justice system, punishing the poor while diverting its own criminal activites

Reactions to Deviance

Results in negative sanctions, with acts ranging from frowns to capital punishment; There are four types of reactions:

1. Retribution

2. Deterrence

3. Rehabilitation

4. Incapacitation

Deterrence

Attempt to discourage criminality through the use of punishment

Retribution

An act of moral vengeance by which society makes the offender suffer as much as the suffering caused by the crime

Rehabilitation

A program for reforming the offender to prevent later offenses

Incapacitation

Rendering an offender incapable of further offenses temporarily through imprisonment or permanently through execution

How are most U.S. court cases resolved?

Plea Bargaining

Crimes Against the Person

Also known as violent crime, it includes murder, aggravated assault, forcible rape, and robbery

Crimes Against Property

Burglary, larceny-theft, auto theft, and arson

Social Stratification

A system by which a society ranks categories of people in a hierarchy, so that some people have more money (property), power, and prestige than others

Social stratification is found in all societies (T/F)

True, but it varies according to what is unequal and how unequal it is

What are the 4 major systems of social stratification?

1. Slavery - Not based on race, but debt, punishment, or defeat; Not necessarily passed on to children

2. Caste - Status is determined by birth and lifelong

3. Estate - Feudal Europe

4. Class - Combines elements of Cast and Meritocracies

What are the two general forms of social stratification?

Caste and class systems

Social Mobility

The change in position within the social hierarchy

Social standing of individuals remains relatively stable over their lifetime (T/F)

True, though some people, especially in high-income countries may experience considerable social mobility

Class Systems

The most open of the social systems, it combines elements of both caste and meritocracies (individual achievement)
Industrialization encourages the formation of class systems
Common in modern industrial and postindustrial societies

Caste Systems

In this system, status is determine by birth (ascription) and is lifelong, with little social mobility
People marry within their own group and develop rules about ritual pollution
These systems are common in traditional agrarian societies

Socioeconomic Status

A composite ranking based on various dimensions of social inequality

Conflict Theorists on Social Stratification

Argue that stratification comes about because resources are limited, and groups struggle against one another for them; This divides societies into classes, benefitting some people at the expense of others and causing social conflict

Gaetano Mosca

Argued that stratification is inevitable because every society must have leadership, which by definition means inequality

Social Class According to Karl Marx

Asserted that property determined social class; Stressed that property determined people's lifestyles, shaped their ideas, and established their relationships with one another

Social Class According to Max Weber

Agree with Marx for the most part, but argued that three elements determined social class: Property, Power, and Prestige; Stated that conflict exists between people at various positions on a multidimensional hierarchy of Socioeconomic status (SES)

Structural-Functionalists on Social Stratification

States that social stratification exists because it is functional; In a caste system, people are rewarded for performing the duties of their position; In class systems, unequal rewards attract the able people to the most important jobs and encourage effort

Davis-Moore Thesis

Davis and Moore hypothesized that in order to attract the most capable people to fill its important positions, society must offer them higher rewards; Claims that stratification has beneficial consequences for society

Melvin Tumin

Criticized the Davis-Moore Theory; He argued that if it were correct, society would be a meritocracy, with all positions awarded on the basis of merit

Gerhard Lenski

Suggested a combination of the functionalist and conflict perspectives: Argued that functionalists are correct in societies that have only resources and do not accumulate wealth, but in societies with a surplus, the conflict theorists are right.

How do elites maintain stratification?

The ruling class uses an ideology that justifies current arrangements and controls information and can even result to brutal force; The social networks of of the rich and poor also perpetuate social inequality

Symbolic Interactionists on Social Stratification

States that we size up people by looking for clues to their social standing; Most people tend to socialize with others whose social standing is similar to their own

Conspicuous Consumption

Buying and using products because of the "statement" they make about social position

Blue Collar Occupations

Lower-prestige jobs that involve mostly manual labor

White-Collar Occupations

Higher-prestige jobs that involve mental activity

Global Stratification

Patterns of social inequality in the world as a whole with the world's nations divided into 3 categories:

1. High Income Countries

2. Middle Income Countries

3. Low Income Countries

High Income Countries

22% of world pop.
Receive 80% of global income
High standard of living
People lead comfortable lives
Includes 66 nations (Russia, Japan, U.S., U.K.)

Middle Income Countries

58% of the world pop.
Receive 18% of global income
Standard of living average for the world as a whole
Includes 72 nations (India, China, Brazil)

Low Income Countries

19% of world pop
Receive 2% of global income
Low standard of living
Includes 57 nations (Central & East Africa, and Pakistan)

4 Main Theories of Global Stratification

1. Colonialism

2. World System Theory

3. Dependency Theory

4. The Culture of Poverty

Colonialism

Shaped many of the least industrialized nations
In some instances, the most industrialized nations divided the nations without any regard for tribal or cultural considerations
Nations enrich themselves through political & economic control of others

Dependency Theory

Stresses how the least industrialized nations became dependent on the most industrialized nations
The first nations to industrialize turned other nations into their cash cows
Reform of the entire economy is needed to make sure it operates for all

Dependency Theory Critics

Overlooks the 6x increase in global wealth since 1950
The poorest countries have had weak, not strong ties to rich countries
Rich nations are not responsible for cultural or political corruption that can block economic development in poor nations

The Culture of Poverty

Proposed by John Kenneth Galbraith
States that it was the least industrialized nations' own cultures that held them back

World System Theory

Proposed by Immanuel Wallerstein
Since the 1500's, the economic ties between nations have been expanding and tie most of the world together
Composed of the Core, Semiperiphery, and Periphery nations

Core Nations

The world's high income countries, which are home to multinational corporations

Semiperiphery Nations

The world's middle income countries, with ties to core nations

Periphery Nations

The world's low income countries, which provide low-cost labor and a vast market for industrial products

Two Reasons for Continuing Global Stratification

Neocolonialism
Multinational Corporations

Neocolonialism

The dominance of the least industrialized nations by the most industrialized nations
A new form of global power relationships that involves not direct political control, but economic exploitation

Multinational Corporations

A large business that operates in many countries

Modernization Theory

A model of economic and social development that explains global inequality in terms of technological and cultural differences between nations with 4 stages:

Traditional Stage
Take-off Stage
Drive to Technological Maturity
High Mass Consumption

Gender

Refers to the meaning a culture attaches to being female or male
The personal traits and social positions that members of a society attach to being female or male
Defines what is masculine and feminine

Gender Stratification

The unequal distribution of wealth, power, and privilege between men and women

Nature Vs. Nurture

Refers to whether differences in the behaviors of males and females are caused by inherited (biological) or learned (cultural) differences
Most sociologists take the side of nurture

Sex

Biological distinctions between males and females, consisting of both primary and secondary sex characteristics

Sexism

The belief that one sex is innately superior to the other
Sexism is built into the operation of social institutions

George Murdock

Surveyed premodern societies and found that all of them have sex-linked activities
All societies surveyed give greater prestige to male activities
Patriarchy appears to be universal

Patriarchy

A form of social organization in which males dominate females
Some degree of patriarchy is found almost everywhere, it varies throughout history and from society to society

Gender Roles

Also known as sex roles, these are the attitudes and activities that a society links to each sex

Gender Identity

Gender becomes part of our personalities through socialization

Gender Stratification in the Workplace

A majority of women are in the paid labor force, but 40% hold clerical or service jobs
Women earn 78% as much as men
Gender difference results from differences in jobs, family responsibilities, and discrimination

Gender Stratification in Family Life

Pregnancy and raising children keep women out of the labor force
Most unpaid housework is performed by women

Gender Stratification in Education

Women earn 58% of all associate's and bachelor's degrees
Women make up 47% of law school students and are an increasing share of graduates in professions dominated by men

Gender Stratification in Politics

A century ago, no women held any elected office in the U.S.
The number of women in politics has increased significantly
The vast majority of elected officials are still men
Women make up only 14% of the U.S. military

Females as a Minority Group

The main theory of how women became a minority group focuses on the physical limitation imposed by childbirth

Structural Functionalists on Gender Stratification

In preindustrial societies, distinctive roles for males and females reflect biological differences between the sexes
In industrial societies, marked gender inequality becomes dysfunctional and gradually decreases
The Parsons Theory

The Parsons Theory

Sought to establish the societal necessity for masculinity and femininity
Says that society has two major functions: Production and Reproduction
This required Instrumental roles (Fathers) and Expressive Roles (Mothers)

Conflict Theorists on Gender Stratification

An important dimension of social inequality and social conflict
Gender inequality benefits men and disadvantages women
Friedrich Engels

Friedrich Engles

The capitalist economy, the nation-state, and the nuclear family emerged as a result of the development of private property
The nuclear family emerged to transmit property across generations

The nation-state emerged to pass on legacies

Exploits everyone

Symbolic-Interactionists on Gender Stratification

Individuals use gender as one element of their personal performance as they socially construct reality through everyday interactions
Gender plays a part on shaping almost all out everyday experiences

Intersection Theory

Analysis of the factors of race, class, and gender which combine to cause special disadvantages for some categories of people

Feminism

The support of social equality for women and men, in opposition to patriarchy and sexism
First wave began in early 1900s
Second wave began in the 1960s
Liberal Feminism
Socialist Feminism
Radical Feminism

Liberal Feminism

Seeks equal opportunity for both sexes within the existing society

Socialist Feminism

Claims that gender equality will come about by replacing capitalism with socialism

Radical Feminism

Seeks to eliminate the concept of gender itself and create an egalitarian and gender-free society

Violence Against Women

Foot binding occurs in China
Burning of the living widow with the dead husband's body in India
Witch burning in Europe
Female circumcision
Sexual Harassment
Conflict theorists point out that men use violence to maintain their power and privilege

Sexual Harassment

Comments, gestures, or physical contacts of a sexual nature that are deliberate, repeated and unwelcome

Race

Refers to inherited biological characteristics
Meaning and importance vary from place to place
Societies use racial categories to rank people
Socially constructed categories that a society defines as important
There are no "pure" races

Ethnicity

Refers to cultural heritage
Reflects common ancestors, language, and religion
Importance varies from place to place over time
Can be played up or down
Societies may or may not set categories of people apart based on differences in ethnicity

Minority Groups

Any category of people distinguished by physical or cultural differences that a society sets apart and subordinates
Originate with the expansion of political boundaries or migration

Prejudice

A rigid and unfair generalization about a category of people
An opinion or attitude
Extensive
You can be prejudiced, and not discriminate
Individual Discrimination
Institutional Discrimination

One measure of prejudice is the _________.

Social Distance Scale

Stereotype

A type of prejudice that is an exaggerated description applied to every person in some category

Discrimination

Refers to actions by which a person treats various categories of people unequally
Involves actions

Individual Discrimination

The negative treatment of one person by another

Institutional Discrimination

Discrimination built into a society's social institutions
Often occurs without the awareness of either the perpetrator or the object of discrimination

Theories of Prejudice

Psych. theories stress authoritarian personalities and frustration toward scapegoats
Socio. theories stress increase/decrease of prejudice in different social environments
Scapegoat Theory
Authoritarian Personality Theory
Culture Theory
Conflict Theory

Scapegoat Theory

Claims that prejudice results from frustration among people who are disadvantaged

Authoritarian Personality Theory

Proposed by Adorno, it claims that prejudice is a personality trait of certain individuals, especially those with little education and those raised by cold and demanding parents

Culture Theory

Proposed by Bogardus, claims that prejudice is rooted in culture
We learn to feel greater social distance from some categories of people

Conflict Theory

Claims that prejudice is a tool used by powerful people to divide and control the population

Functionalists on Race

Stress the benefits and costs that come from discrimination

Symbolic Interactionists on Race

Stress how labels create selective perceptions and self-fulfilling prophecies

Global Patterns of Intergroup Relations (From Least, to the Most Humane)

Genocide
Population Transfer
Internal Colonialism
Segregation
Assimilation
Multiculturalism (Pluralism)

Genocide

The systematic killing of one category of people by another

Population Transfer

Indirectly: Making life so unbearable for a group, that they voluntarily leave
Directly: Forced removal (Think indian removal)

Internal Colonialism

A country exploits its minority groups to the country's benefit

Segregation

The physical and social separation of categories of people

Assimilation

The process by which minorities gradually adopt patterns of the dominant culture
Can be either forced or permissible
Forced: The minority is not allowed to practice their customs anymore
Permissible: Minorities adopt the dominant groups patterns

Multiculturalism (Pluralism)

Racial and ethnic categories have roughly equally standing, but are each distinct

Race and Ethnic Relations in the U.S.

Groups from Largest to Smallest:

European Americans
African Americans
Latinos
Asian Americans
Native Americans

Family

Two or more people who consider themselves related by blood, marriage, or adoption
Universally governs mate selection, reckoning descent, and establishing inheritance and authority

Nuclear Family

Consists of the husband, wife, and children
Industrialization gave rise to the nuclear family
d

Extended Family

Grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins in addition to the nuclear unit
Preindustrial societies recognize the extended family
d

Family of Orientation

The family in which an individual grows up

Family of Procreation

The family formed when a couple have their first child

Marriage

A legal relationship, usually involving economic cooperation, sexual activity, and childbearing

Endogamy

Specifies that people marry within their own group

Exogamy

Specifies that people marry outside their own group
Incest Taboo

Incest Taboo

A norm forbidding sexual relation or marriage between certain relatives
Exists in all societies

Patrilineal Descent

Descent is traced only on the father's side and property is passed only to males

Structural Functionalists on Family

Examines functions and dysfunctions of the family
Say the family is universal because it fulfills six needs that are essential to every society:

Economic Production
Socialization of Children
Care of the Sick and Aged
Recreation
Sexual Control
Reproduction

Conflict Theorists on Family

Examine how marriage and family perpetuate inequalities, especially the subservience of women
Look at power struggles in marriage, such as over housework
Perpetuates gender roles
Ensure the continuation of the class structure by passing on wealth

Symbolic Interactionists on Family

Examine how contrasting experiences and perspective of men and women are played out in marriages
Stress that the grasping perspectives of wives & husbands will lead to a better understanding of behavior

The Family Life Cycle

Love and Courtship
Marriage
Childbirth
Child Rearing
Family in Later Life

Mate selection follows predictable patterns of age, social class, race, and religion (homogamy)
Childbirth and rearing patterns also vary by social class

Diversity and Trends in U.S. Families

The primary distinction is social class, not race or ethnicity
The number of one parent families is increasing, most of which a headed by women
Postponement of the first marriage, as well as cohabitation have been steadily increasing

Divorce and Remarriage

U.S. has the highest divorce rate
Most divorced fathers do not maintain ongoing relationships with their children
Financial problems are usually greater for former wives
Most divorced people remarry
Nearly 50% of marriages end in divorce

Remarriage

The rate of divorcees who remarry has slowed
If you remarry, it does not mean that you have the same chance of getting divorced when you remarry

Two Sides of Family Life

Familial Abuse such as spouse battering, child abuse, marital rape, and incest can occur
However, families can produce intense satisfaction for spouses and their children

Religion

A social institution based on setting the sacred apart from the profane
Present in all societies

Emile Durkheim on Religion

Identified 3 essential characteristics of religion:

Beliefs that set the sacred apart from the profane
Rituals
A moral community

Identified 3 major functions of religion:

Provides social cohesion (Unites)
Encourages conformity
Meaning & purpose to life

Structural Functionalists on Religion

Functions:

Questions of ultimate meaning
Providing emotional comfort
Social solidarity
Guidelines for everyday life
Social control
Adaptation
Support for government
Fostering social change

Dysfunctions:

War
Religious persecution

Conflict Theorists on Religion

Examine relationship of religion to social inequalities
Highly critical of religion
A "drug" that helps them escape from their misery
Karl Marx

Karl Marx on Religion

It is the "sigh of the repressed creature," the "opium of the masses"
By diverting their thoughts to future happiness, attention is removed from suffering here
Reduces the possibility they will rebel against their oppressors

Symbolic Interactionists on Religion

Focus on the meanings of religion for its followers
Examine religious symbols, rituals, beliefs, religious experiences, and the sense of community provided by religion
People use religion to give everyday life sacred meaning

Peter Berger

Claimed that people are especially likely to seek religious meaning when faced with life's uncertainties and disruptions

Max Weber on Religion and the Spirit of Capitalism

Disagreed with Marx that religion impedes social change
Saw religion as primary source of change
Protestantism gave rise to the Protestant ethic, which stimulated the "Spirit of Capitalism"
The result of all of this was capitalism

Type of Religious Organizations (FromWell to Least Integrated)

Ecclesia (State Religions)
Church
Sects
Cults
All religions began as cults, but all varieties of religions began that day
Ecclesias are rate

Characteristics of Religion

In the U.S., membership varies by religion, social class, age, and race or ethnicity
The major characteristics are diversity, pluralism and freedom, competition, commitment, toleration, fundamentalist revival, and the electronic church

Secularization of Religion

A change in religious focus from spiritual matters to concerns of this world
Key to understanding why churches divide

From Cult to Church

A cult or sect changes to accommodate its members' upward social class mobility and becomes a church
Those members who are not upwardly mobile tend to splinter off and form new cults or sects
Cultures permeated by religion also secularize

Charles Mackay

Used the term "Herd Mentality" to explain why people did what they did in crowds

Gustave LeBon

Said that a "collective mind" develops, and people are swept up by suggestions

Robert Park

Said that collective unrest develops, which fed by a circular reaction, leads to "collective impulses"

Herbert Blumer

Identified 5 stages that crowds go through before becoming a crowd:

Social Unrest
An Exciting Event
Milling
A Common Object of Attention
Common Impulses

Contemporary View of Collective Behavior

View crowds as rational
Minimax Strategy - Richard Berk
Turner and Killian analyze how norms emerge that allow people to do things in crowds they otherwise would not do

Richard Berk

Developed the Minimax strategy
People try to minimize their costs and maximize their rewards, whether they are in crowds or not

Crowd

A temporary gathering of people who share a common focus of attention and who influence one another

Mob

A highly emotional crowd that pursues a violent or destructive goal

Riot

A social eruption that is highly emotional, violent, and undirected

Forms of Collective Behavior

Mobs
Riots
Panics
Moral Panics (Mass Hysteria)
Rumors
Fads
Fashions
Urban Legends
Conditions of discontent or uncertainty provide fertile ground for collective behavior, an each form provides a way of dealing with those conditions

Panic

A form of collective behavior in which people in one place react to a threat or other stimulus with irrational, frantic, and often self-destructive behavior

Moral Panic (Mass Hysteria)

A form of dispersed collective behavior in which people react to a real or imagined event with irrational and even frantic fear (i.e. a threat to "morals")

Rumors

Unconfirmed information that people spread informally, often by word of mouth

Fads

An unconventional social pattern that people embrace briefly, but enthusiastically
More unconventional than fashions

Fashions

Social pattern favored by a large number of people
Reflect basic cultural values which make them more enduring

Urban Legends

Stories with an ironic twist that sound realistic
Serve as moral warnings

Propaganda

Information presented with the intention of shaping public opinion

Public Opinion

Widespread attitudes about controversial issues

4 Types of Social Movements

Alternative Social Movement
Redemptive Social Movement
Reformative Social Movement
Revolutionary Social Movement

Mass media are gatekeepers for social movements
Make use of propaganda to further their causeMoral Sh

Alternative Social Movements

Seek limited change in specific individuals

Redemptive Social Movements

Seek radical change in specific individuals

Reformative Social Movements

Seek limited change in whole society

Revolutionary/Transformative Social Movements

Seek radical change in the whole society

Explanations of Social Movements

Deprivation Theory - Kornhauser
Mass-Society Theory
Moral Shock Theory
Resource Mobilization Theory
Structural-Strain Theory

Mass -Society Theory

Proposed by William Kornhauser
Society is high impersonal and bureaucratic
This leads to feelings of isolation
Social movements attract socially isolated people who join for a sense of identity
Those who are most isolated do not join social movements

Deprivation Theory

Social movements arise among people who feel deprived of something, such as income, safe working conditions, or political rights

Moral Shock Theory

Individuals join because of moral shock
They want to right certain wrongs in society

Resource Mobilization Theory

The success of a social movement is linked to available resources, including money, labor, and the mass media

Structural Strain Theory

A social movement develops as a result of 6 factors:

Structural Conduciveness
Structural Strain
Growth and Spread of an Explanation
Precipitating Factors
Mobilization for Action
Lack of Social Control

Clearly stated grievances lead to social movements

Stages in Social Movements

Emergence (Defining the issue)
Coalescence (Entering the public arena)
Bureaucratization (Becoming formally organized)
Decline (Due to failure or, sometimes, success)

Relative Deprivation

A perceived disadvantage arising from some specific comparison

Social Movement

An organized activity that encourages or discourages social change

Claims Making

The process of trying to convince the public and public officials of the importance of joining a social movement to address a particular issue

Sociology 120 Final Exam

Sociology 120 with Chumakov at University of Tennessee - Knoxville

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