Introduction to Sociology (SOC 1301) Final Exam 2023 with complete solution

Sociological findings that point to increased individualism in U.S. society Divorce rates Individualistic religions How sociologists analyze the phenomenon of selfies More me than we More women selfies than men selfies How we pose, who we take selfies with, and why we do it says a lot about ourselves Be familiar with the different ways of combining service and learning [Sigmon's typology] and with the service-learning articles service-LEARNING is where LEARNING goals are primary and service outcomes are secondary SERVICE-learning is where SERVICE outcomes are primary and learning goals are secondary service-learning is where service and learning goals are completely separate SERVICE-LEARNING is where both service and learning goals are connected Applied Sociology vs Basic Sociology Applied Sociology: Uses knowledge to solve problems Basic Sociology: Pure and produces knowledge Society as a sui generis reality The system does not depend on the individual Be familiar with the process of doing a nested analysis The individual is located within a family The family is located within a community The community is located within a country with particular institutional arrangements The country is located within a global world This means that the web of social relationships that connect each level to each other is illuminated by noting that each level, from micro (individual) to macro (global), exists in a specific social context Relationship between income, obesity, and food insecurity The less income someone has, the more likely they are to turn to fast food because it is cheap The fast food then leads to obesity Not being able to provide food for you and your family with the resources you have causes food insecurity Food deserts A lack of access to healthy food Sociological imagination An awareness of the relationship between private experience and the wider society Examples of the sociological imagination Obesity is influenced by income and society A private trouble can be a public issue We are all the cause of traffic In Durkheim's study of suicide, how suicide rates vary across different religious confessions Highest suicide rates are among Protestants and Catholics with Protestants having the higher rate Why Durkheim's suicide study got the results it did Has to do with the way individuals are integrated into society by their religions Social groups that have high degrees of social integration have lower rates of suicide than groups whose members are loosely integrated Durkheim's main variable of interest in studying suicide He wanted to know how social integration effects suicide Altruistic suicide People who kill themselves for the sake of a group such as suicide bombers Two macro-level theoretical perspectives in sociology Conflict Theory and Functionalism Conflict Theory vs Functionalism Conflict Theory: Assumes that social change and conflict are normal, expected aspects of social life Functionalism: Examines how the various social parts work together for the good of the whole by examining their uses (functions) for society, argues that shared social values are the glue that holds society together Manifest Function vs Latent Function Manifest Function: A goal that is explicitly stated and deliberate Latent Function: A consequence of action that is not immediately apparent, but which exists nonetheless and is unintended Ideology and what conflict theorists say about it The way humans interact and conflict theorists believe that people deal with conflict as part of everyday life Be able to apply the various theoretical perspectives to college sports and other situations Pay for play would destroy campus sports as we know it Unfair and untenable It's like a job so the athletes should get paid for all their hard work On the other hand, they are still in school and it is a hobby that involves a lot of work If they don't get paid per se; room, board, and food should be paid for or discounted Sociology as a "social science" It follows a method of asking questions about the social world Constructs theories that answer the questions Tests those theories to see if they hold up to evidence Thus comes to a logical answer to the question that is based on verifiable facts Basic research methods most used by sociologists Ethnographic Approach Survey Secondary Analysis Some advantages and disadvantages of the Ethnographic Approach Advantages -You get a real sample -Real situations -Less experimenter bias because you're in it Disadvantages -The "getting in" process can be difficult when the researcher isn't trusted or accepted by the group being studied Some of the advantages and disadvantages of the Survey Approach Advantages -Easy to get info from -Quick -Isolate who and what you're looking for Disadvantages -Social Desirability Bias -Sampling Issues -Questions are inflexible and scripted Some of the advantages and disadvantages of the Secondary Analysis Approach Advantages -Quick because already been done before Disadvantages -You're not testing it -Experimenter bias Qualitative Data vs Quantitative Data Qualitative Data: Non-numerical data, such as data collected through fieldwork or ethnography and data collected in interviews -It is better for understanding meanings, getting into the mindset of the participants, and understanding an event in-depth Quantitive Data: Numerical data that is often collected through surveys -It is better for theory testing and understanding broad patterns Inductive Research vs Deductive Research Inductive Research: Research concerned with the generation of new theory emerging from the data Deductive Research: Research aimed at testing theory How sociologists view the use of deception in research Okay as long as nobody gets hurt Socialization The process of taking on the values and practices of your culture Primary Socialization vs Secondary Socialization (Resocialization) Primary Socialization: The initial experience Secondary Socialization (Resocialization: Occurs when entering new roles/contexts How sociologists understand culture Culture is a rich, multifaceted, and sometimes contested concept Sociologists don't all agree on one definition It refers to everything that we make as human beings, such as ideas about right and wrong, a new piece of music, a pair of shoes, a social movement, or the latest piece of technology Cultural capital The cultural knowledge that serves as currency that helps us navigate society and alters our experiences and the opportunities available to us Embodied Cultural Capital vs Objectified Cultural Capital vs Institutionalized Cultural Capital Embodied Cultural Capital: Things you know Objectified Cultural Capital: The stuff Institutionalized Cultural Capital: A college degree How sociologists understand the self The self is a process, a dialogue, something that changes all the time based on social interaction and cultural influences It has lots of different components and it never stops developing as long as we live Cooley's concept of the looking-glass self The surrounding social environment that gives us feedback about who we are We change according to feedback from others The change begins with immediate family and then others Mead's role-taking theory Preparatory Stage: -When an infant begins to imitate gestures that people make, such as waving, smiling, or making certain simple motions Play Stage: -A child begins to act out roles that he or she has noticed which include storybook, movie, or cartoon characters Game Stage: -The child learns how to play roles that are simultaneously connected with many others at every moment which include a game of tag or basketball -A child must be constantly aware of how she fits into the group of other players "I" vs the "me" I: A person's impulsive, spontaneous behavior Me: The rules, or "voice" of society Status vs role Status: The social position that someone occupies Role: What you should do Two branches of symbolic interactionism Structural -Interaction guided by statuses and roles -Following social scripts Processual -Interaction is more fluid, especially in situations of role ambiguity -Engaging in improvisation Dramaturgical perspective "front stages" and "back stages" of social interaction Front Stages are the performance -It is what everyone sees because we are in the front of the stage Back Stages are the actions behind the scenes -It is what not everyone sees because it is backstage and only whoever is also backstage witnesses what is happening Other concepts associated with Goffman's dramaturgy --Symbolic Interactionism: -A micro-level perspective focused on human interaction -It is interested in meaningful communication—humans assign meaning to symbols and interpret their meaning within the context of interaction --Impression Management -The process where actors use various techniques to maintain certain impressions of self --Expressive Equipment -Setting (Where the performance is) -Personal front (appearance and manner) --Social Script Shared: -Understandings about social rules --Actor: -Us seen in everyday life --Audience: -Who is watching how we act --Props: -Our belongings or gestures --Script: -How we act in certain situations --Improvisation: -How we act differently at a job interview vs at home -We learn when we do certain things, we win the approval of our audience, (initially immediate family) -We can change based on feedback Material Culture vs Non-Material Culture Material Culture: Tangible items such as buildings and clothing Non-Material Culture: Ideas, values, and norms such as Saturday and democracy Culture Shock vs Ethnocentrism vs Cultural Relativism Culture Shock: Discomfort or disorientation experienced in an unfamiliar cultural setting Ethnocentrism: Belief that all other cultures should be held to the standard of someone's personal culture; all other beliefs and cultures are wrong Cultural Relativism: Understanding different cultures How norms contribute to social order Norms maintain social order What a conflict theorist might say about norms Norms govern society When broken, they may incur consequences or disturb the peace Breaking norms is the best way to break societal change Ethnomethodology The study of the methods people use to make sense of everyday reality Why Ethnomethodology says we find norm violation disturbing It is out of the ordinary and breaking norms can harm people, make people feel uncomfortable, or confuse people Reality is fragile The norm that most rules of etiquette are classified as Folkways Types of norms sociologists recognize Folkways Mores Taboos Sanctions Rewards or punishments Forms of sanctions Formal enforcement Formal means Or the me Functions of deviance Affirms cultural values and norms Promotes unity Encourages social change How a conflict theorist would look at current issues like the public defender crisis and drug sentencing policies It affects more low income people than high income people because they are disadvantaged There aren't enough public defenders out there and that's why some people stay in jail longer than their sentence The balance of power is off Why the U.S. referred to as an "incarceration nation" We have an incarceration rate of 710 inmates per 100,000 residents Typical rate is 115 people Statistic "1 in 31" 1 in every 31 adults are under correctional control Concepts of prisonization, secondary prisonization, and hyperincarceration as well as well as other costs of incarceration at different levels Prisonization: -Must learn the structure and routines that guide daily life -Must learn strategies for coping with victimization Secondary Prisonization: -Non-inmates lives structured by the prison system -Relatives or visitors have to learn the schedule of the prison and only wear clothes the prisoners wear -Become quasi-inmates Hyperincarceration: -High rate of incarceration Parental Incarceration: -1.7 million children have a parent in a state or federal prison at any given time -Behavioral issues and negative well-being outcomes How micro, meso, and macro levels of institutional analysis differ Micro: Interactions Meso: Organization Macro: Policies Institution A set of roles and rules which meet basic social needs What contributed to recent trends regarding gender and higher education Expanding educational opportunities for women Males' perception of non-professional options Masculinity norms and academics Why we see such inequality across U.S. schools Poor areas lack the necessary resources for a good education Rich areas have all the necessary resources and more How our system of education compares to those of other developed nations ("we're # what?") We're #31 U.S. spends less on students that are more economically disadvantaged Characteristics of education that we discussed Community Control High level of local influence Revenue Mass Education Less selective system of education Open for a longer period of time Stratification The structured ranking of entire groups of people in terms of life chances Caste system vs class system in terms of mobility Caste System: -Caste status is hereditary -Individuals are born into a caste from which they cannot move in their lifetime Class System: -Capitalist economies -Considerably more social mobility -Cases of people born poor, but achieved success because they were also beneficiaries of government programs or given support by a more privileged friend or relative Intragenerational VS intergenerational mobility Intragenerational Mobility: The movement of individuals from one class status to another within their own lifetimes Intergenerational Mobility: The movement of children or other family descendents to a class status different from their parents or more distant ancestors How a functionalist would explain stratification (think Davis-Moore thesis) Stratification is a functional necessity Have to fill functionally important positions for good of society To do so, attach sufficient rewards to such positions ALSO, supply and demand matters How Marx defines class A group of people with the same relationship to the means of production According to Marx, how the bourgeoisie exploit the proletariat in an industrial capitalist society The bourgeoisie do not do any work while the proletariat do all the work and yet the bourgeoisie still get more of the money for profit What Gramsci's concept of hegemony adds to Marx's understanding of stratification "domination by consent" The ways those in power use their power to get the less powerful to subscribe to the values and norms of an exploitative system OR the way rich people get poor people to think and behave in a way that will keep the rich rich and the poor poor How Marx would view recent trends regarding productivity and pay for workers and CEOs CEOs make millions while workers are paid less even though they do most of the work Three dimensions of stratification recognized by Weber Class Status group Power group (party) How Weber's three dimensions of stratification are linked to the concepts of occupational prestige and socioeconomic status (SES) Those higher on the occupational prestige rankings earn more because it takes more time and effort to get to that position Those lower on the occupational prestige earn less because the lower jobs are considered low key The nature of inequality in the U.S. today Race Income Trends regarding inequality, wealth, and income evident in the U.S. It's expensive to be poor A person with a mixed race is marked as the lower of their races Non-whites are often more likely to be arrested than someone who is white People who have minimum wage jobs don't have as much money to live on Relative poverty vs absolute poverty Relative Poverty: -Deprivation in comparison to others in your society -Have less than most people in your society Absolute Poverty: -Deprivation of goods and services essential for health and survival, such as food, shelter, and health care -Measured by the poverty line The poverty line A method used by the U.S. Census that measures poverty How the poverty line calculated Thrifty Food Plan (for family of certain size and composition) X 3=Poverty Line (for family of certain size and composition) The percentage of the U.S. population in poverty in 2016 12.7% How the new supplemental poverty measure differs from the currently used poverty line Regional differences in housing Beyond just food --Includes: -Food -Housing -Clothing -Utilities Beyond just income Overall, the SPM found a higher rate of poverty (14% in 2016) Feminization of poverty Women are more likely to be in poverty Other factors THAT affect one's risk of poverty Age Race/Ethnicity Whether someone has children Quality of life "race" vs "ethnicity" Race: A group of people who are socially distinguished (set apart) on the basis of physical characteristics Ethnicity: The culture of people in a given geographic region, including their language, heritage, religion, and customs Race as a social construct, and how the one drop rule illustrates this understanding Your race may determine where you stand in society People of a mixed race often are marked as the lower of their races Sometimes you can't tell which race someone is How census debates also highlight race You are either white or native american, you can't be both The current way the Census constructs race and ethnicity It doesn't combine race and ethnic origin No spot to mark for a person with a mixed race Prejudice vs discrimination Prejudice: Attitudes and thoughts about a person or group of people due to their racial/ethnic group membership Discrimination: Differential treatment and actions of a person or group of people due to their racial-ethnic group membership De jure vs de facto forms of discrimination De Jure: Discrimination based on laws De Facto: Discrimination based on reality Institutional discrimination Patterns of discrimination built into organizational and institutional operations Why sociologists focus on institutional discrimination? Sociologists want to know how poor or great conditions affect different outcomes How Peggy McIntosh understands the concept of privilege An invisible package of unearned assets that can be cashed in each day but about which individuals [often] remain oblivious Intersectionality How multiple group memberships combine to affect stratification How intersectionality is illustrated by the Degraffenreid v. GM case African American men worked in the back African American women couldn't work Non-African American women worked in the front as secretaries How the age structure of the American population is changing The number of people who are 65 years or older is increasing 1 out of 5 people will be 65 or older Why the age structure of the American population is changing Increased life expectancy Decreased fertility Aging of Baby Boomers Areas of society that will likely be affected by the changing age structure More people over the age of 65 working Social security Sex vs gender Sex: --Biological characteristics distinguishing between males and females -Chromosomes -Sex hormones -Anatomical differences Gender: --Cultural characteristics distinguishing between males and females -Clothing -Job expectations How intersex individuals and two-spirit people challenge a binary understanding of sex and gender Born with both male and female parts Have a mixture of both genders How recent research on brain plasticity contributes to our understanding of gender differences Gender is more or less determined by the mind Research findings regarding current inequality between men and women in the U.S Wage gap Comparable worth "Wage gap" and what factors account for it Difference in time spent working -Men spend more time working than women Different occupations Unequal pay in the same occupations -Men make more money than women Comparable worth Classifies male and female jobs and looks at their pay Structures more integrated with increasing globalization (think of the definition I gave) Economics Communication Transportation Technology Social Movements Ideas Schengen and what it has to do with globalization Schengen: Free movement policy It gives people who live in areas with the policy the ability to move freely from country to country Culture jamming Interfering cultures Inequality in the U.S. vs global inequality 50% and 84% in the US 80% and 95% global What has happened to worldwide hunger and extreme poverty due to the Millennium Development Goals Reductions in extreme hunger and extreme poverty Modernization theory vs dependency theory in explaining global inequality Modernization Theory: --The nations of the global south were loaned enormous sums of money by international financial institutions such as the World Bank to invest in large-scale infrastructure projects -International financial institutions are financial institutions established by multiple nations and subject to international law whose shareholders are generally national governments Dependency Theory: --Dependent development would lock these dependent countries into a role in the world economy in which they would always be subservient to the economic power of northern countries, unless they focused their development internally Transnational corporations vs cultural homogenization Transnational Corporations: Corporations that operate and are registered in more than one country at a time and that do not identify with any specific country Cultural Homogenization: The idea that the diversity of cultural practices is lost in the creation of a single, blended, uniform global culture Effects of the gender "health gap" Women are in better health Women work less dangerous jobs Women are more willing to go to the doctor and have more access to health care Why the health gap is more pronounced in the developing world They do not have access to the types of medicine that we have They do not have the types of technology that we have Fistula --A tear between the vaginal wall and bladder or a tear between the vaginal wall and rectum More common in developing countries More common in younger women The option of c-sections make this less of a problem today Women with fistulas get treated like lepers It can cause women to become incontinent Dr. Schwartz's mantra of sociology It's not all about you