Sociology Test 2

a person's typical patterns of attitudes, needs, characteristics and behavior

Isabelle and Genie's cases. Romanian orphanages. Describe.

Harlow's research on rhesus monkeys. Describe.

Studies of Identical twins raised apart. Describe.

a distinctive identity that sets us apart from others, continues to change and develop throughout our lives

• 3 phases: 
• 1)Imagine how we present ourselves to others
• 2)Imagine how others evaluate us
• 3)Develop some sort of feelingsabout ourselves as a result of the interacts.

Self develops from an individual's "imagination" of how others view us.

Charles Horton Cooley

model developed of how self develops - George Herbert Mead

• 1)preparation stage - imitate the world around them, begin to understand symbols
• 2)play stage - become aware of social relationships -> pretend to be other people, "role" playing
• 3)game stage - 8 or 9 years, consider several tasks and relationships simultaneously, grasp not only their own social positions but those around them

viewpoints, attitudes and expectations of society as a whole that a child takes into account in their behavior

invidiuals who are most important in the development of the self

• self begins at priviledged central position in a person's world
• - young children picture selves as focus of everything
• - as people mature -> self changes and reflects greater concern about reactions of others

• Irving Goffman
• -suggested that many daily activities involve attempts to convey impressions of who we are
• -individuals learn to slant presentation of self to create distinctive appearances and satisfy particular audience

ex - aces and bombers

the altering of one's presentation of self  to create distinctive appearances for different audiences

• people resemble performers in action 
• ex: clerk might try to appear busier than actually is if supervisor present

the efforts people make to maintain the proper image and avoid public embarassment

• Cooley stressed process by which we create a self
• Mead focused on how self deveops as we learn to interact with others.
• Goffman emphasized ways in which we consciously create images of ourselves for others

• 1) sensomotor - young children use their senses to make discoveries
• 2) Preoperational - children begin to use words & symbols to distinguish objects and ideas
• 3) operational - children engage in logical thinking
• 4) formal operational - adolescents beome capable of sophistcated abstract thought and can deal with ideas and values in a logical manner.

Family, school, peer groups, mass media, workplace, religion, state (government)

expectations regarding the proper behavior, attitudes, and activities of males and females

a means of dramatizing and validating changes in a person's status

the process of socialization continues through all stages of the life cycle.

coined to describe the prolonged ambiguous status that young people in their 20s experience

processes of socialization in which a person "reherses" for future positions, occupations, and social relationships

ex: high school students beginning to consider what colleges they may attend

the process of discarding former behavior patterns and accepting new ones as part of a transition in one's life

ex: reform schools, therapy groups, prisions, political indoctrination camps

coined by Goffman to refer to an instution that regulates all aspects of a person's life under a single authority.

ex: prison, the military, mental hospital, convent

an aspect of the socialization process within some total institutions, in which people are subjected to humiliating rituals

ex: person entering prison stripped of all clothing and belongings

stressful period of self-evaluation in which they realize that they have not achieved basic goals and ambitions and have little time left to do so.

adults who simultaneously try to meet competing needs of their parents and their children

• Preretirement - anticipatory celebration
• Near Pharse - established date of departure
• Honeymoon Phase - euphoric peroid where person does things they never had time for before
• Disenchantment Phase - sense of letdown or depression as retirees cope with new life
• Reorientation Phase - development of more realistic view of alternatives
• Stability Phase - person has learned to deal with life in a reasonable and comfortable fashion
• Termination phase - no longer able to engage in basic, day-to-day activities or self care

ways in which people respond to one another whether face-to-face or over phone or computer

any of the full range of socially defined positions within a large group or society, from the lowest to the highest

assigned to a person by society without regard for the person's unique talents or characteristics.

comes to us largely through our own efforts

status that dominates others and thereby determines a person's general position in society

set of expectations for people who occupy a given social position or status

occurs when incompatible expectations arise from two or more social positions held by the same person

the difficulty that arises when the same social position imposes conflicting demands and expectations

ex: officers of Navajo nation Police department Peacemaking, worry about appearing too soft or "taking care of their own" and also feeling strain of being considered "too Navajo" or "not Navajo enough"

the process of disengagement from a role that is central to one's self-identity in order to establish a new role and identity

ex: ex convicts, divorcees, recovering alcoholics, etc

• 1) doubt - person experiences frustration, burnout or unhappiness with accustomed status
• 2) Search for alternatives 
• 3)Action stage or Departure 
• 4) Creation of new identity

any number of people with similar norms, values, and expectations who interact with one another on a regular basis

a small group characterized by intimate, face-to-face association and cooperation

a formal, impersonal group in which there is little social interaction or mutual understanding

any group or category to which people feel they belong

a group or category to which people feel they do not belong

any group that individuals use as a standard for evaluating themselves

a temporary or permanent alliance geared toward a common goal

a series of social relationships that links a person directly to others, and through them indirectly to more people

organized patterns of beliefs and behavior centered on basic socail needs

• 1) replacing personnel
• 2)Teaching new recruits
• 3)Producing and distributing goods and services
• 4)Preserving order
• 5) Providing and maintaining a sense of purpose

group designed for a special purpose and structured for maximum efficiency

a component of formal organization that uses rules and hierarchical ranking to achieve efficiency

• 1) Division of labor - specialized experts perform specific tasks
• 2) Hierarchy of authority - each position is under the supervision of a higher authority
• 3) Written rules and regulations
• 4) Impersonality - dictate that officials perform duties without giving consideration to people as indivuduals
• 5)Employment based on technical qualifications

a condition of estrangement or dissociation from the surrounding society

workers become so specialized that they develop blind spots and fail to notice obvious problems

overzealous conformity to offical regulations

coined by Robert Merton

every employee within a hierarchy tends to rise to his or her level of imcompetence

the process by which a group, organization, or social movement becomes increasingly bureaucratic

describes how even a democratic organization will eventually develop into a bureaucracy ruled by a few

a bureaucracy ruled by a few

workers are motivated almost entirely by economic rewards

emphasizes the role of people, communication, and participation in a bureaucracy

in socieities where there is minimal division of labor, a collective consciousness develops that emphasizes group solidarity

a collective consciousness resting on the need a society's members have for one another

close-knit community

typical of rural life, small community where individuals have the same background and life experiences, social change limited

impersonal mass society

community that is characteristic of modern urban life, most people strangers, social control rests on laws and legally defined punishments, social change important aspect of life

• Preindustrial societies :
• hunting-gathering society
• Horicultural society - plant seeds and crops, tools, objects
• agrarian society - plow invented, cultivate fields generations
• industrial society - nonanimal sources of power to labor tasks
• Postindustrial - economic system engaged in processing/control of information, output of services
• Postmodern - technologically sophisticated society that is preoccupied with consumer goods and media images

information about how to use the material resources of hte environment to satisfy human needs and desires

consist of organized workers who sahare either the same skill or the same employer

• 1) Changes in the type of industry
• 2) Growth in part time jobs
• 3) The legal system
• 4) Globalization
• 5) Employer Offensives
• 6) Union rigidity and bureaucratization

the print and electronic means of communication that carry messages to widespread audiences

ex: radio, television, movies, internet

the flow of content across mulitple media, and the accompanying migration of media audiences

not initiated by the media, people initiate it

the phenomenon in which the media provide such massive amounts of coverage that the audience becomes numb and fails to act on the information, regardless how compelling the issue.

created by Paul Lazarsfeld and Robert Merton

media entertain, socialize, enforce social norms, confer status and promote consumption. They can be dysfunctional to the point that they desensitize us to serious events and issues

the media reflect and even deepen the divisions in society through gatekeeping, or control over which material reaches the public; media monitoring, the covert observation of people's media usage and choices; and support of the dominant ideology, which defines reality, overwhelming local cultures

how material must travel through a series of gates (or checkpoints) before reaching the public

used most often to refer to interest groups' monitoring of media content

can also be applied to government monitoring of individuals' phone calls without their knowledge

gap in access of latest technologies to low-income groups, racial and ethnic minorities, rural residents, and citizens of develping contries

a set of cultural beliefs and practices that helps to maintain power social, economic, and political interests

unreliable generalizations about all members of a group that do not recognize individual differences within the group

media imiages of the sexes communicate unrealistic, stereotypical, limiting, and sometimes violent perceptions of women

• 1) Women are underrepresented, which suggests that men are the cultural standard and women are insignificant.
• 2) Men and women portrayed in ways that reflect and perpetuate stereotypical views of gender. Women often shown in peril, rescued by men
• 3) Depictions of male-female realationships emphasize traditional sex roles and normalize violence against women

examine the media on the micro level to see how they shape day to day social behavior. They have studied shared TV viewing and staged public appearances intended to convey very self-serving definitions of reality.

someone who influences the opinions and decisions of others through day to day personal contact and communication