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Midterm – Study Guide – Sociology 400 – Spring 2018
WEEK 1 – THE SOCIOLOGICAL IMAGINATION – (Ferrante Ch. 1)
Sociology-the scientific study of society and human social interaction, it is the study of human behaviors
as they are affected by social interactions within groups, organizations, societies, and the planet.
Social Interaction-Everyday events in which the people involved.
1. Take one another into account
2. Consciously and unconsciously attach meaning to the situation,
3. Interpret what others are saying and doing, and then respond accordingly.
Social forces- The human-created ways of doing things that influence, pressure, or force people to
behave, influence, pressure, or force people to behave, interact with others, and think in specified ways
(e.g., Globalization, racial or ethnic classes, technology, institutions)
Benefits of the Sociological Perspective:
-The sociological perspective helps us assess the truth of “common sense.”
-The sociological perspective helps us assess both opportunities and constraints in our lives.
-Sociology also encourages us to see individuality in social context.
Social facts (defined by sociologist Emile Durkheim)-ideas, feelings, and ways of behaving “that possess
the remarkable property of existing outside the consciousness of the individual.” From the time we are
born, the people around us seek to impose upon us ways of thinking, feeling, and acting that we had no
hand in creating.
Institution-a relatively stable and predictable arrangement among people that has emerged over time
with the purpose of coordinating human interaction and behavior in ways that meet some social need.
(e.g. – marriage, the family, religion, schools)
C.W. Mills – “The Sociological Imagination”-the ability to connect impersonal and remote historical
forces to the most basic incidents of an individual’s life. The sociological imagination enables people to
distinguish between personal troubles and public issues.
Troubles-personal needs, problems, and difficulties that can be explained in terms of individual short
comings related to motivation, attitude, ability, character, or judgment.
Issues-a matter that can be explained only by factors outside an individual’s control and immediate
environment.
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WEEK 2 – THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES AND METHODS – (Ferrante Ch. 1)
Industrial Revolution and the Nature of Work-Industrialization transformed individual workshops into
factories, craftsmen into machine operators, and hand production into machine production.
Industrial Revolution and the Nature of Interaction-New modes of travel connected people to one
another in reliable, efficient, less time-consuming ways. Increased opportunities for personal
mobility and boosted the freight traffic between previously remote areas.
Karl Marx’s Theories- conflict is the major force that drives social change. Class conflict derived from
opposing interests of the exploited and exploiting classes:
-Bourgeoisie (owners of means of production)
– Proletariat (individuals who must sell their labor to the bourgeoisie)
Emile Durkheim’s Theories-interested in solidarity (bonds between individuals) and social interactions.
– Suicide-the act of severing relationships.
Max Weber’s Theories-interested in “social actions” which are actions that people take in response to
others.
-Traditional vs. modern responses
-Traditional – actions pursued because they were pursued in the past
– Modern (instrumentally rational) – a goal is pursued by the most efficient means at any cost
and irrespective of the consequences.
Global Perspective-globalization is not new, although the scale of global interdependence changed
dramatically with the Industrial Revolution, which gained momentum about 1850. The lives of people
around the world are intertwined; social relationships do not stop at national borders.
Sociological Theory-is a set of core assumptions and core concepts that examine how societies operate
and how people in them relate to one another and respond to their environment.
Each theoretical perspective* offers:
-A focus
-Vision of society
-Key terms/vocabulary
-Central question to guide analysis
-* not necessarily mutually exclusive
Functionalist Theory: Overview:
Focus- order and Stability (and disruptions to order and stability)
Vision of Society-system of interrelated parts
Key Terms-function, dysfunction, manifest, and latent
Central Question- 1. Why does a part exist?
2. What are the intended and unintended consequences of a part?
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The Functionalist Perspective-asserts that our lives are guided by social structures.
-Manifest functions- a part’s intended or anticipated effects on order and stability.
-Latent functions-unintended or unanticipated effects on order and stability.
-Manifest dysfunctions-anticipated disruptions to order and stability.
-Latent dysfunctions-unintended, unanticipated disruptions to order and stability.
Conflict Theory: Overview:
Focus-conflict over scarce and valued resources
Vision of Society-dominant and subordinate groups in conflict over scarce and valued resources
Key Terms-Means of production, façade of legitimacy, bourgeoisie, proletariat
Central Question-Who benefits from a particular pattern or social arrangement and at whose
expense?
The Conflict Perspective-conflict is an inevitable fact of social life. Conflict is the most important agent
for social change.
Marxist Terms of Conflict:
-Bourgeoisie-the owners of the means of production (land, machinery, buildings, tools) who
purchase labor.
-Proletariat-a class composed of workers who own nothing of the production process and who
sell their labor to the bourgeoisie.
Symbolic Interactionist Theory: Overview:
Focus-social Interaction
Vision of Society-web of social interaction
Key Terms-social interaction, shared meanings, interpretation
Central Question-What meanings do people attach to their own and other’s actions?
Symbolic Interactionist Perspective-focuses on how people make sense of the world, how they
experience and define what they and others are doing, and how they influence and are influenced by
Others.
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Research-a fact-gathering and fact explaining enterprise governed by strict rules.
Sociological Research Methods-Techniques that sociologists and other investigators use to formulate
meaningful research questions and collect, analyze, and interpret data or observations. No research
methodology is inherently better than the others. Rather, sociologists have to weigh the trade-offs
associated with different approaches. Good research requires choosing the method best suited to the
research question and the subject.
-Questionnaires (surveys)
– Interviews
-Observation (participant and non-participant)
-Existing documents and data (secondary sources)
-Experiments
Scientific method-An approach to data collection in which knowledge is gained through observation and
its truth confirmed through verification.
Objectivity-A state in which the researcher’s personal, subjective views do not influence the outcomes
of the research.
Dependent variable – the behavior to be explained or predicted.
Independent variable – the variable that predicts the dependent variable.
Hypothesis – trial prediction of the relationship between independent and dependent variables.
All variables must be operationalized; that is, the researcher must give clear, precise, instructions about
how to observe or measure them.
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Reliability- the extent to which the operational definition gives consistent results. A measure is
considered reliable if upon repeating the measure a researcher gets essentially the same result.
Validity- the degree to which an operational definition measures what it claims to measure. A measure
is considered to have validity when the operational definition is really measuring what it intends to
measure.
WEEK 2 AND 3 – CULTURE – (Ferrante Ch. 2)
Culture-The way of life especially the general customs and beliefs of a particular group of people at a
particular time.
Components of Culture:
Symbols – anything that carries a particular meaning recognized by people who share culture.
Not understanding the symbols of a culture leaves a person feeling lost and isolated. Symbolic
meaning may also vary within a single society.
Language – a system of symbols that allows people to communicate with one another.
Language allows for the continuity of culture. Words mirror cultural values. Common
expressions embody the preoccupations of the culture.
The Sapir-Whorf Thesis (Linguistic relativity hypothesis) – people perceive the world through the
cultural lens of language.
Material culture is all physical objects that people have borrowed, discovered, or invented and to which
they have attached meaning.
Nonmaterial culture is intangible human creations that we cannot identify directly through the senses.
Nonmaterial culture consists of nonphysical creations. A person cannot hold or see nonmaterial
culture. Three of the most important of these creations are beliefs, values, and norms.
Beliefs are conceptions that people accept as true, concerning how the world operates and where the
individual fits in relationship to others.
Values are general, shared conceptions of what is good, right, appropriate, worthwhile, and important
with regard to conduct, appearance, and states of being.
Norms are written and unwritten rules that specify behaviors appropriate and inappropriate to a
particular social situation.
Folkways are norms that apply to the mundane aspects or details of daily life.
Mores are norms that people define as critical to the wellbeing of a group. Violation of mores results in
severe forms of punishment.
Transmission of Culture- Culture is learned. Language is a tool for transmitting culture.
-Cultural transmission – the process by which one generation passes culture to the next.
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Cultural Diffusion is the process by which an idea, an invention, or some other cultural item is borrowed
from a foreign source. People borrow both material and nonmaterial culture from other societies. (e.g. –
the use of the English language in countries around the globe, presence of Italian food in countries other
than Italy.
Home Culture as the Standard-The home culture is usually the standard that people use to make
judgments about the material and nonmaterial cultures of another society. Most people come to learn
and accept the ways of their culture as natural.
Ethnocentrism-a viewpoint that uses one culture, usually the home culture, as the standard for judging
the worth of foreign ways.
Reverse ethnocentrism – where the home culture is viewed as inferior to foreign culture.
Culture shock is the strain that people from one culture experience when they must reorient themselves
to the ways of a new culture. When encountering foreign cultures, one can experience mental and
physical strain.
Re-entry shock-culture shock in reverse; it is experienced upon returning home after living in another
culture.
Cultural relativism is the perspective that a foreign culture should not be judged by the standards of a
home culture and that a behavior or way of thinking must be examined in its cultural context.
Cultural lag- a situation in which adaptive culture fails to adjust in necessary ways to a material
invention and its disruptive consequences.
Horace Miner – “Body Ritual Among the Nacirema”
Miner use the satirical tribe “Nacirema” (which is American spelled backward) to illustrate how social
norms and cultural characteristics that we see as “normal” might be viewed very differently by
individuals from another society. Our rituals of brushing our teeth, going to the hospital, etc. seem very
primitive when described as if they are part of a remote culture. However these are the mundane
experiences of most Americans. Miner’s article helps us look differently at our own culture as well as
those of other societies.
Subcultures-groups that share in some parts of the dominant culture but have their own distinctive
values, norms, language, and/or material culture that set them apart in some way.
Countercultures – are subcultures that challenge, contradict, or outright reject aspects of the
mainstream culture (e.g., Hippies, Black Panthers, IRA, polygamists).
WEEK 4 – SOCIALIZATION – (Ferrante Ch. 2)
Socialization -The process by which people develop a sense of self and learn the ways of the society in
which they live. Socialization is a lifelong process that begins immediately after birth and continues until
death.
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Through the socialization process, humans:
(1) acquire a sense of self or social identity,
(2) learn about the social groups to which they belong and do not belong,
(3) develop their human capacities, and
(4) learn to negotiate the social and physical environment they have inherited.
The process of socialization involves both nature and nurture:
-Nature is the human genetic makeup or biological inheritance. Charles Darwin’s study
of evolution led to the “nature” argument. Traits that enhance survival emerge as a species
“nature.”
-Nurture is the environment or the interaction experiences that make up every individual’s life.
Behavior is not instinctive, but learned. Social scientists are cautious about describing behavior
as instinctive.
Agents of Socialization:
The family has the greatest impact on socialization.
Schooling enlarges children’s social world’s to include people with different backgrounds.
Peer groups – social groups whose members have interests, social positions, and ages in
common.
Mass media – impersonal communications aimed at a vast audience.
Mead’s “The Self”: The self and mind are social products. Children learn about their position in society
through role taking (the process of stepping outside the self and imagining how others view its
appearance and behavior imaginatively from an outsider’s perspective).
Mead’s Stages of Play: Preparatory (imitation), play, game stages
Each of these stages involves a progressively more sophisticated level of role taking.
Self-Development-The emergence of a sense of self depends on our physiological capacity for reflexive
thinking.
Reflexive thinking- the process of stepping outside the self and observing and evaluating it from
another’s viewpoint.
Cooley: The Looking-Glass Self:
-The looking-glass self is a process in which a sense of self develops such that people see
themselves reflected in others’ imagined reactions to their appearance and behaviors.
-We imagine how we appear to others
-We interpret others’ reactions
– We develop a self-concept
Groups-Share a distinct identity. Feel a sense of belonging. Interact directly or indirectly with one
another.
Cohort – is a category of people with a common characteristic, usually their age.
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Primary group is a social group characterized by face-to-face contact and strong emotional ties among
its members. Families or high school sports teams are examples.
Collective memory is the experiences shared and recalled by significant numbers of people.
Internalization-The process in which people take as their own and accept as binding the norms, values,
beliefs, and language needed to participate in the larger community.
Levels of Sociological Analysis:
Macro-sociology- Large-scale features of social life
-Often the focus of functionalist and conflict theories
Micro-sociology-Focus on individual level social interactions
-Often the focus of symbolic interactionist theory
Ingroup- group with which people identify and to which they feel closely attached, particularly when
that attachment is founded on hatred from or opposition toward an outgroup.
Outgroup-a group toward which members of an ingroup feel a sense of separateness, opposition, or
even hatred.
Are We Prisoners of Socialization?
-Sociologists do not think so
-Socialization is powerful, but the self is dynamic
-Individuals are actively involved in the construction of the self
Significant symbol-a word, gesture, or other learned sign used to convey a meaning from one person to
another. Significant symbols and gestures are the mechanisms that allow an individual to interact with
others and, in the process, to learn about the self.
Resocialization-The process of discarding values and behaviors unsuited to new circumstances and
replacing them with new, more appropriate values and norms.
Total Institutions- Institutions in which people surrender control of their lives, voluntarily or
involuntarily, to an administrative staff and carry out daily activities with others required to do the same
thing.
WEEK 5 – SOCIAL STRUCTURES and SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION- (Ferrante Ch. 2)
Social structure – Invisible systems that coordinate human behavior in relatively predictable ways and
can shape: relationships; identities; barriers preventing access to resources, and the ease by which those
barriers can be broken.
Institutions – Relatively stable and predictable social arrangements created and sustained with the
purpose of coordinating human activity to meet a need (food, shelter, clothing, etc.). Institutions have a
history, continuously change, allocate scarce/valued resources in unequal ways, allocate privileged and
disadvantaged status, promote ideologies that legitimate their existence. They play an important part in
defining both statuses and roles.
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Status – a social position that an individual occupies.
Status set – all of the statuses a person holds at a given time.
Ascribed status –a social position a person receives at birth or assumes involuntarily.
Achieved status –a social position a person assumes voluntarily that reflects personal ability.
Role- the behavior expected of a status in relationship to another status. People occupy statuses but
they enact roles.
Role set -an array of roles.
Rights -the behaviors that a person assuming a role can demand or expect from others.
Obligations -the relationship and behavior that the person enacting a role must assume toward others
in a particular status.
Social Networks – webs of social relationships linking people with one another
-closely knit or loosely knit
-strong ties (people we most interact with) or weak ties (acquaintances)
Division of labor – work that is broken down into specialized tasks, each performed by a set of workers
trained to do that task. Complex division of labor results in strong social ties since people are reliant on
one another to survive.
Solidarity – the ties that bind people to one another in a society. (Solidarity often emerges from the
division of labor)
Social capital – features of social organization such as networks, norms, and social trust that facilitate
coordination and cooperation for mutual benefit. Social capital is a resource just like other forms of
capital (human, financial, etc.)
Role strain -a predicament in which contradictory or conflicting expectations are associated with a single
role that a person is enacting.
Role conflict -a predicament in which the expectations associated with two or more roles in a role set
contradict one another.
Dramaturgical sociology – emphasizes the ways in which individuals within social interactions work to
create, maintain, dismantle, and present a shared understanding of reality. Everyday life includes a
front stage (visible to the audience where people present themselves in expected ways) and a back
stage (the area out of the audience’s sight, where individuals let their guard down and do things that
would be inappropriate in a front stage setting.
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Erving Goffman – “The Presentation of Self” –The Dramaturgical Model:
-A model in which social interaction is viewed as though it were theater, people as though they
were actors, and roles as though they were performances presented before an audience in a
particular setting.
-Staging Behavior-The division between front stage and back stage is found in nearly every
social setting.
-Front Stage-The region where people take care to create and maintain the images and behavior
an audience has come to expect.
-Back Stage-The region out of an audience’s sight where individuals can do things that would be
inappropriate or unexpected on the front stage.
-Impression Management-The process by which people in social situations manage the setting
and their dress, words, and gestures to correspond to the impressions they are trying to make
or the image they are trying to project.
Attribution Theory- relies on the assumption that people attribute a cause to a behavior in an effort to
make sense of it.
WEEK 7 – DEVIANCE – (Ferrante Ch. 3)
Deviance-any behavior or physical appearance that is socially challenged and/or condemned because it
departs from the norms and expectations of a group.
*Sociological contribution to deviance: emphasis is placed on the context in which deviant behavior
occurs.
*Something considered deviant at one time and place may not be considered deviant at another time
and place.
Conformity-Behavior and appearances that follow and maintain the standards of a group. Also, the
acceptance of the cultural goals and the pursuit of these goals through legitimate means.
*Under the right circumstances, almost any behavior can qualify as deviant.
Social Control-Methods used to teach, persuade, or force a group’s members, and even non-members,
to comply with and not deviate from its norms and expectations.
Socialization & Social Control:
-Socialization brings about conformity and conformity is voluntary.
-When conformity cannot be achieved voluntarily, other mechanisms of social control may be
used to enforce norms and expectations.
-Sanctions are one method of social control. They are reactions of approval and disapproval to
others’ behaviors and appearances.
-A positive sanction is an expression of approval and a reward for compliance.
-A negative sanction is an expression of disapproval for noncompliance.
-Informal sanctions are spontaneous, unofficial expressions of approval or disapproval
that are not backed by the force of law.
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-Formal sanctions are laws, rules, regulations, and policies that specify the conditions
under which people should be rewarded or punished and that define the procedures for
allocating rewards and imposing punishments.
Crime-Deviance that breaks the laws of society and is punished by formal sanctions. People in every
society have different views of what constitutes crime, what causes people to commit crimes, and how
to handle offenders.
Differential Association Theory-Explains delinquent behavior as learned from exposure to other
criminals, and isolation from those who conform to laws.
Structural Strain Theory: Any situation in which:
1. The valued goals have unclear limits.
2. People are unsure whether the legitimate means that society provides will allow them to
achieve the valued goals.
3. Legitimate opportunities for meeting the goals remain closed to a significant portion
of the population.
Responses to Structural Strain:
-Conformity is behavior and appearances that follow the standards of a group. The acceptance
and pursuit of cultural goals through legitimate means.
-Innovation is the acceptance of the cultural goals but the rejection of legitimate means to
obtain them.
-Ritualism is the rejection of cultural goals but a rigid adherence to the legitimate means of
attaining those goals.
-Retreatism is the rejection of both cultural goals and the means of achieving those goals.
-Rebellion is the full or partial rejection of both the cultural goals and the means of attaining
those goals and the introduction of a new set of goals and means.
Deviant Subcultures-Groups that are part of the larger society but whose members adhere to norms
and values that favor violation of the larger society’s laws.
White-collar and Corporate Crimes:
-White-collar crimes are those committed by persons of respectability and high social status in
the course of their occupations.
-Corporate crimes are those committed by a corporation as it competes with other companies
for market share and profits.
Emile Durkheim – “The Normality of Crime” – Durkheim stated there is nothing abnormal about
deviance or crime.
-Deviance affirms cultural values and norms.
-Responding to deviance clarifies moral boundaries and promotes unity.
-Deviance encourages social change.
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WEEK 9 – SOCIAL STRATIFICATION – (Ferrante Ch. 4)
Social stratification – The systematic process by which individuals, groups, and places are categorized
and ranked on a scale of social worth. Stratification is a trait of all societies; it persists over generations;
it is universal, but variable; it involves not just inequality, but beliefs.
*The country in which someone is born has an important effect on his or her life chances.
Ascribed characteristics are attributes that people possess at birth, develop over time, or possess
through no effort or fault of their own.
Achieved characteristics are attributes a person acquires through some combination of personal choice,
effort, and ability.
Class – A category that designates a person’s overall status in society.
Class system – People are ranked on the basis of achieved characteristics on merit, talent, ability, or past
performance.
Caste system – People are ranked on the basis of ascribed characteristics over which they have no
control.
*Distinguishing caste and class systems:
1. The rigidity of the system (how difficult it is for people to change their category).
2. The importance of ascribed and achieved characteristics in determining life chances.
3. The extent to which restrictions are placed on social interaction between people indifferent
categories.
*The distribution of wealth and the probability of being poor are largely a function of social policy.
Social mobility is movement from one class to another.
Vertical mobility is movement that occurs when a change in class status corresponds to a gain or loss in
rank.
Downward mobility is a form of vertical mobility in which a person moves down in status.
Upward mobility is a form of vertical mobility in which a person moves up in status.
Intra-generational mobility is a form of vertical mobility in which a person moves upward or downward
in status during his or her lifetime.
Inter-generational mobility is a form of vertical mobility in which people within a family move upward
or downward in status over two or more generations.
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Modernization Theory – Poor countries fail to modernize because they reject free market principles and
lack the cultural values that drive entrepreneurship.
Modernization is a process of economic, social and cultural transformation in which a country ‘evolves’
from an underdeveloped to a modern society.
Dependency Theory – suggests that there is a new form of colonialism where more powerful foreign
governments and foreign-owned businesses continue to exploit the resources and labor of postcolonial
peoples. Less developed countries “depend” on exporting primary products (agricultural commodities,
minerals, etc.) to wealthy countries like U.S. or Europe. Examples of this would be Colombia exporting
coffee, Chile exporting copper, Vietnam exporting rubber.
Intersectionality – The interconnections among race, class, gender, sexual orientation, religion, ethnicity,
age, nationality, and disability status. These are interlocking categories of analysis that “cultivate
profound differences in our personal biography” (Collins 2000).
Jonathan Kozol – “Savage Inequalities”- Kozol, having visited inner-city schools in East St. Louis, finds
African American schoolchildren to be isolated and shortchanged educationally. Only by closing the gap
between rich and poor school districts, Kozol contends, can we give poor minority children an equal
chance. Kozol provides a bleak picture of severe overcrowding; dilapidated school buildings; a shortage
of supplies and aids to learning; and teacher salaries too low to let a school either attract good teachers.
He contrasts inner-city austerity with the bounty of suburban schools. He uses a well-off school in Rye,
NY to illustrate the severe inequalities in educational opportunities in different social contexts in the
United States.
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