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sociology
the systematic study of social behavior in human societies
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microsociology
face to face, individual interactions
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macrosociology
institutions, social organizations
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social structure
- patterns of behavior, how society is organized
- shapes and constrains our choices
- can be understood thru social theory
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agency
- our capacity to think and act
- constrained by structure, but also able to effect change
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Emile Durkheim formally ____
established sociology as a discipline
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anomie
what results when there is a lack of collective consciousness, or no united code of right and wrong
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structural functionalism
- seeks to identify the basic functions that must be fulfilled in all societies
- ex. if something like religion or sports exists in society and persists over time, it must perform some necessary function that is important for the reproduction of society
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most important think Karl Marx thought you needed to know to understand society was ______
its "mode of production"
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capitalism: workers alienated from the ___________
products of their labour
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Max Weber
- rise of rationally organized society
- contemporary society: viewed as shift in power from traditional (customs) to processes of legal-rational authority (bureaucracies)
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formal rationality
calculating most efficient means to achieve a goal
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bureaucracy
institution where power rests in the position, not the person
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verstehen (weber's interpretive approach to theory)
understanding the meanings carried by actors that lead them to make decisions
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microsociology
- focus on individuals and their interactions
- a bottom-up approach focused on communication and interpretation
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intersubjectivity
- individuals orient their behaviour based on what they think (subjectively) others think
- ability to "stand in others shoes" increase as we are better socialized
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conflict theory
- focus on power: top-down domination and resistance from the bottom
- how different groups struggle against each other
- conflict theorists pay attention to power and social control created by socialization
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operationalization
process of translating theories and concepts into hypotheses that are an observable (testable) statement of the main claims of the theory
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variables
- empirical and observable equivalent of theoretical concepts
- must be observable and capable of taking on a range of different values
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quantitative sociology
- deals with numbers
- answers coded into numerical form
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qualitative data/sociology?
would be a survey question w/an open-ended question, researcher would read and try to understand question
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most widely used social scientific research technique?
surveys
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sampling
using a small sample of a larger population to make statements about the large population
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primary data
you design an experiment/survey and you collect the data
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secondary data analysis
- re-analyzing existing data collected by others
- easier than developing new data
- but data may be imprecise for your project
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content analysis
examination of newspapers, magazines, TV shows, case records
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what is socialization?
acquisition of knowledge, skills, and motivations to participate in social life
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human behavior: nature argument
behaviour is determined by biological forces
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human behaviour: nurture argument
behaviour is influenced by the (social) environment
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socialization is a product of ____________
classical or instrumental conditioning
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classical conditioning
stimulus -> response, then becomes associated with a different stimulus
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operant/instrumental conditioning
learning to make a certain response because of the outcome that the response produces
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assumptions for the symbolic interactionist frame of reference (3)
- study interactions with others and environments
- the human infant is asocial at birth
- a socialized being is an actor as well as a reactr
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what is the symbolic interactionist frame of reference?
- development through interaction with others
- different statuses and roles with related expectations
- constantly changing through significant/referent others
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functionalism
- emphasis on the role and importance of socialization
- examine how conformity helps to create adn preserve social harmony
- intergenerational knowledge fosters solidarity and cooperation (passing down of values and norms)
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gender roles
expectations related to masculinity and femininity
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sex roles
expectations related to biology
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the family
- primary source/agent of socialization
- earliest source of emotional attachments
- shape our values and beliefs (trust, limits)
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what kind of factors are family influenced by?
- age at which parents have children
- social class
- ethnicity
- family size
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reciprocal socialization
socialization is a two-way process
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peer group
- often seen as second most important agent of socialization
- allows us to experiment and try on new roles
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anticipatory socialization
- try to anticipate what roles and responsibilities we will have later in life
- ex. household chores, childhood jobs, sports, dance lessons, dating
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resocialization
- events, social movements, technological developments affect our behaviours, relationships, and self-images
- occurs throughout life
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what is culture?
- elements of social life that have meanings social actors can interpret and also convey
- ex. languages, symbols, discourses, texts, knowledge, values, attitudes, beliefs, norms, worldviews, folkways, art, music, ideas, ideology
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structure
- enduring patterns of social relations and social institutions through which society is organized and through which behaviour is carried out
- ex. political and school system, taxes, free market financial system
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orthodox marxist theories
- structural in nature
- nature of society largely determined by the economic mode of production (econoic base of society)
- everything else is known as the "super structure"
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neo-marxist theories
- believe that ideological (super-structural) forces accompany the economic mode of production
- the dominant ideology legitimates and perpetuates the existing order (minimizes criticism of capitalism and maximizes participation in and support of capitalism)
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cultural studies
- culture manipulated by dominant (hegemonic) groups to reproduce inequality, by portraying it as natural and inevitable
- differs from marxism by seeing class conflict as just one kind of ideological dominance
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cultural functionalism
- base their claims on the work of Emile Durkheim
- focus on the integrative aspects of culture
- culture reflects the needs of a society
- culture is a functional social production
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symbolic interactionalist
- culture is a vehicle that transmits meanings to people
- culture is generated by individuals in fact-to-face encounters
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dramaturgical approach
- Goffman
- sending and receiving of signals and messages is central to the overall organization of society
- people are like actors in a play (follow scripts, carry out role performances)
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discourse
- a way of talking (writing, communicating) about something.
- a set of ideas, concepts, and vocabulary routinely used together
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subculture
- subset of cultural traits of the larger society
- incl. distinctive values, beliefs, norms, style of dress, behavior
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nationalism
- often the expression of a nation culture
- form of cultural and political practice that ties symbols and values to the nation-state
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globalization
generally refers to the fact that goods, services, information, people can move more easily from nation to nation
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deviance in statistical terms
- rare or infrequent behavior
- outside of "the norm"
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deviance as a sociological concept
not inherent in certain behaviours or physical features, but how these are treated on society
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enforcing laws is a form of _______
social control
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social control
- the ways in which individuals, groups, and institutions express their disapproval of people and behaviors
- intended to produce conformity and compliance with rules, norms, laws
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socio-legal studies
focuses on how the law operates as part of society
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Strain Theory
- Merton
- deviance as the result of strain caused by mal-integration of cultural and social structures of societies
- aka lack of fit bw the cultural goals people are encouraged to seek and the means available to achieve these goals
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types of deviance created by strain theory
innovation, ritualism, retreatism, and rebellion
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General Strain Theory
- Agnew
- looks at other kinds of strain, like negative conditions (abuse), or loss of something that is valued (bad breakup)
- anything that makes someone feel under pressure
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Robert Agnew studied ______
juvenile offenders
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Cultural Support Theory
- considers how cultural beliefs create and sustain deviant behavior
- we learn how to be deviant from our culture
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3 parts of Cultural Support Theory
- 1. people learn how to engage in crime
- 2. this learning comes about through interaction with others who have already learned criminal way
- 3. learned: criminal technique, motives, attitudes, rationalizations
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Control Theory
- human beings are neither good nor evil
- asks: why don't we all commit deviance?
- focuses on: why we refrain from deviance, the processes that bind ppl to the social order
- social bonds have a controlling effect, deviance result of weak bonds between ind. and the larger society
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Travis Hirschi?
- the social bond
- attachment: affective ties with others, you care about ppl so you don't wanna hurt or embarrass them
- commitment: degree to which an individual pursues conventional goals, more committed to traditional goals, more likely to achieve them
- involvement: degree to which an individual is active in conventional activities, too busy for deviance
- belief: in conventional values and legitimacy of the law
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Transactional character of deviance
- symbolic interactionist
- attention should be directed to situations rather than individuals
- murder is the result of situations in which people feel offended and turn to violence
- driving force is emotional rather than rational
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