Sociology

how individuals define themselves in relationship to groups with which they affiliate

a group of social positions, connected by social relations, performing a social role; also defined in a narrow sense as any institution in a society that works to socialize the groups or people within it.

a sense of aimlessness or despair that arises when we can no longer expect life to be predictable

• See our intensely personal, private experience of life as typical of the period and place we live
• "the ability to connect the most basic, intimate aspects of an individual's life to seemingly impersonal and remote historical features"

• Micro - Personal (such as troubles) - focuses on a single person. i.e. one person out of 1000 being unemployed
• Macro - Society (issues) - focuses on society as a whole i.e. a large number of people unemployed in a single area

• Study of the roles people play, such as actors performing roles in a play, and the script itself
• The script dictates how the narrative unfolds - social structure

• 1) Social Structure
• 2) Social Action
• 3) Functional Integration
• 4) Social Power
• 5) Culture

• meaningful action that is influenced by ppl's understandings of situations that confront them as well as their expectations of their consequences of their actions
• Not social actions: Basic bodily functions

A->B->B->A->B..etc

• Interdependence among the parts of a social system in a society
• i.e. US employers depend on the education system to pre-qualify workers

The capacity of social actors to get others to do what they want or the position where you can benefit from people/things and their actions

• Macro Level phenomenon
• influences how we think and act, interpret actions, see the world

• common sense is knowledge from life experience and the key ideas are shared
• it differs from soc bc soc uses scientific method and is always informed by prior research
• in some instances, common sense may contradict sociological findings

• 1. Humans are social animals
• 2. human behavior is largely shaped by the groups to which people belong
• 3. Human behavior is shaped in these communities through social interaction between groups
• 4. socializing institution
• 5. Social identity

Acts -> interprets -> acts -> interprets... etc

The process by which the content of your culture is instilled in someone and becomes a member of society (but different than assimilation)

• Values - what's important
• Norms - Rules
• Expectations - what we are allowed to do
• Beliefs

• Cooley
• -each person has a sense of self/a distinct identity
• -we acquire sense of self by seeing outselves reflected in other ideas, attitudes, behaviors toward us and imagining what they think of us
• -it is a social construction and can't exist outside of society

• Mead
• focuses on role taking as being essential to socialization
• distinction between "i" and "me"
• social interaction focuses on self-monitoring
• necessary to anticipate people's response to our actions
• concept of the generalized other

• Notion of internal dynamics
• id - primitive part - biological drives
• ego - rational part - mediates between id and reality
• superergo - obedience and rules in society - culture

• introduces child to intimate, personal relationships
• Birth order often impacts amount of attention children receive -> affect personality

• first experience to equal status relationships
• develop norms, values about friendship
• lead to development of new social structure
• socializes you into subculture

• Television - most important medium of influences
• Stereotypes - tend to shape expectations and understandings of ppl and situations
• Shapes world view, how we see things, what we interpret

• become one of the primary agens that take kids away from homes anf family
• introduces children to broader societal structures and reinforces male and female voices

how people engage and participate in society

• set of relationships among the group of people linked together directrly or indirectly through various communications or dealings
• ex. clubs, family, church, roommates

refers to any position in the social structure

• A status a person is born into
• i.e. royalty, gender, race, etc

• a status someone acquires through effort
• i.e. careers

• could be ascribed or achieved
• tends to shape a person's identity throughout his or her life
• i.e. religion, disability, etc

• a social position that dominates in a particular social context
• i.e. captain of sports team