Sociology 101 Notes Post Midterm

Sociology Notes
October 17, 2011
Chapter 9
Race

The Myth of Race * Race can be defined as a group of people who share a set of characteristics – usually physical ones – that share a common bloodline * Race is a sociological category based off of supposed biological differences * Racism is a belief that members of separate races possess different and unequal human traits. * Race is a social construct that changes over time and across different contexts * Humans regardless of their race are 99% genetically identical, however race is still used to classify people and sometimes race is a basis for treatment of individuals.
Racism Today * People argue is it no longer a problem today – it changed but it is not eliminated * No longer okay to display racist attitudes
The Concept of Race (early) * People use DNA to determine racial make up, but nothing is there * Many historical efforts to explain race were bias due to ethnocentrism (judgment based on own values) * A number of scientists and thinkers researched and attempted to explain racial differences * Backers of Eugenics (science of genetic lines and the inheritable traits they pass on from generation to generation) claimed that traits could be traced through blood lines and bred into populations (for positive traits) or taken out of blood lines (for negative traits)
The Concept of Race (today) * The one-drop rule, which evolved from US laws forbidding miscegenation (interracial marriage) was the belief that one-drop of black blood makes a person black. Application of this rule kept the white population “pure” and lumped anyone with black blood in one category. * Rule was critical in the supreme court case Plessy v. Ferguson, which upheld the Jim crow laws * Miscegenation is the technical term for a multicultural marriage * Illegal throughout some states in the US until 1967, in Loving v. Virginia
Radical Realities * Racialization – formation of a new racial identity in which new ideological boundaries of differences are drawn around a formally unnoticed group of people. * Recent racialization = muslins after 9/11 * Not all Muslims are terrorists even though we had that opinion after the terrorist attack
Race vs. Ethnicity

* Race – externally imposed, involuntary, physical difference, hierarchal, exclusive, unequal * Ethnicity (nationality) – voluntary, self defined, non hierarchal, fluid and multiple, cultural, identify with a past nationality * Symbolic ethnicity – Irish, don’t visit or anything but they celebrate St. Patrick’s day * A nationality not the sense of carrying out the rights and duties of citizenship but identify with a past or future nationality.

October 19, 2011
Chapter 9
Race

Pluralism * Pluralism in context of race and ethnicity, refers to the presence and engaged coexistence of numerous distinct groups in one society, with no one group being the majority * Pluralism not only permits racial and ethnic variation within one society it actually encourages people to embrace diversity “salad bowl”
Studying Race and Whiteness Today * Peggy Melntosn regards it as a “invisible knapsack or privileges” * Ex: TV commercials, not needing to be aware of systematic racism, not having to prove that your smart * Whiteness is not a feeling of representing an entire population with ones successes and failures. It’s about not having to think about Race as much at all.
Social Consequences of Race * Segregation is the legal or social practice of separating people on the basis of their race or ethnicity * Segregation was official policy in the US until the 1960’s * Despite being illegal for over forty years, there is still ample evidence of segregation in American Society today, particularly in schools, housing and prisons
Group Responses to Domination * Four ways that groups respond to racial oppression are withdrawal, passing, acceptance and resistance 1. Withdrawal – leaving the area of oppression 2. Passing – blending in with the dominate group – changing hair/name 3. Acceptance – complies and hides true feelings of resentment 4. Resistance – movement or revolution
Prejudice, Discrimination and the New Racism * Prejudice – Negative thoughts and feelings about an ethnic or racial group * Discrimination – harmful or negative acts of their racial category * Prejudice is an internal evaluation and discrimination is an action * While overt racism is for the most part, considered unacceptable in America today, there is a new kind of racism on the rise in America * Winat calls it “race neutral” rhetoric – blaming non whites for their problems and stereotyping
How Race Matters: the case of wealth * A wealth gap exists between whites and minority groups in America that has historical roots and that can’t be overcome simply through income equality. Public Policies formulated to address white/nonwhite disparities have not paid enough attention to this particular legacy of racism
The Future of Race * The 2000 census created separate categories for race and ethnicity and for the first time allowed people to check off more than one box for racial identity. These changes have given us a better idea of the diversity of the American population.

October 26, 2011
Chapter 12
Family

Family Forms and Changes * A “nuclear” family or traditional family is a family consisting of a heterosexual family with biological kids * Extended family refers to familiar networks that extend beyond the nuclear family and may extend beyond the home * There is no “real/Typical” family in western society today * Multiple generations can live together * Family can consist of step siblings or half siblings/ many single parent families * Individuals and couples can choose not to get married or not to have children
Diversity in Families * Loving v. Virginia is the 1967 supreme court case that ended anti-miscegenation laws * Monogamy – practice of marrying one person at a time * Polygamy is a system of marriage that allows people to have more than one spouse at a time
Families Throughout History * Early and modern families depend on kinship networks, which are systems of relationships between people related by blood and marriage. These networks weakened as families became more mobile * The traditional nuclear family is not a timeless and universal concept. It developed in response to conditions in a specific time and place: the economic boom and recession in the United States
New Trends in Families * About eight percent of all households are occupied by couples that are living together as romantically involved/unmarried couples. * Increase in families with two mothers or two fathers
Family and Work: A not-so-subtle Revolution * Several factors have brought about significant changes in the organization of work and family life since the 1970’s * Increasing divorce rates * Decreasing marriage and fertility rate * Increasing participation of women in workforce
A Feminist “Rethinking” of the Family * Feminist theorists suggest gender roles are learned in the family. The family can be a battle ground for power over decisions about chores, children raising, housing, moving and so on * Ex. Chores, family violence

The Chore Wars * Women today have two jobs: paid labor outside the home and unpaid labor inside the home – cult of domesticity (belief that a true women needs to be at home) * Second shift – refers to the unpaid labor inside the home (cleaning, cooking, etc.)

October 31, 2011
Chapter 12
Family

Swimming and Sinking: Inequality in American Families * 1960’s African American women as a negative arguing that this strong role for women undercut the role of the father in black families lead to social problems * Dubios – high rate of female headed families in the African American community was a result of racial oppression and poverty, not a cause of it * African American communists tend to have expanded notions of kinship, including even non-blood relatives * Latinos come from many different countries but some characteristics can be identified as common to Latino families including: * Strong family and community ties * Adherence to traditional gender roles * Devout Catholicism * High marriage rates * Low divorce rates * In 2003, Latinos passed African Americans as the largest minority group in the United States * Single, non-working mothers face many challenges, among them are the attitude of critics of welfare, who think that they prefer being on welfare to working * Most women would prefer not to be on welfare, but the system is such that often they end up with less income and fewer benefits when they moved from welfare to work
The Pecking Order: Inequality Starts at Home * The size of a family and its resources can affect how parents relate to each of their children and can create inequalities among siblings * Birth order and natural abilities also play a role, but the bottom line is that in the home, a status hierarchy often fosters inequalities
The Future of Families * Divorce is a constant in our society and debates will continue about its effect on children. The only certainty may ne that high levels of parental conflicts weather between married or divorced parents are not good for children * Mothers still disproportionally receive custody * Families today come in many forms – blended, families headed by same sex partners, families of interracial couples, intergenerational families –so perhaps the optimal description of the ideal family is that it best serves the needs of all its members

November 1, 2011
Chapter 15
Authority
Types of Legitimate Authority * Authority is the justifiable right to exercise power. In other words authority is the power that is rested or backed by a society * Having authority in a society helps to enforce the norms of that society * People earn authority in different ways * Charismatic authority – based on personal appeal of the individual ex. Jesus/ Hitler * Traditional authority – based on past ex. Parents/ king * Legal-rational authority- based on legal/ impersonal rules
Obedience to Authority * Milgram Experiment * Tested people to see how far they would go in obeying authority * Showed that obedience to authority is a very powerful form of social control that can make “ordinary” people do unspeakable things because an authority figure told them too
Authority, Legitimacy and State * Max Weber stated that: * Power – is the ability to carry out ones will despite resistance * Domination – is the probability that a command with be obeyed by a group of people * Coercion is the use of force to get other to do what you want, not authority. Once a person uses physical coercion it loses all its legitimate authority.
Radical Power and Persuasion * Hard Power – is the use of military or economic force to influence behavior * Soft Power – is the use of cultural or ideological means to influence behavior
Democracy and Dictatorship * Democracy is a system of government where the power lies with the people, who can vote and participate in the political system * Dictatorship is a system of government where participation in politics is limited to a select few (or maybe even one person)
Who Rules in the United States * In the US, power is shared between three branches of government as well as the Federal government and many other important actors in our political parties and interest groups. * A political party is an organization that wants to gain power in a government, typically by backing up a candidate who shares the same beliefs * An interest group is an organization that seeks to gain power in the government and influence policy without its representative seeking election * Political participation is activity that has the intent or actual effect of influencing government action * The poor don’t vote as often as the wealthy because they aren’t seen as people who candidates should talk to

November 7, 2011
Chapter 13
Education

What is Education? * Process through which academic, social and cultural ideas and tools are developed * Unfortunately, not all students emerge successfully from this system * Some problems include * Functional illiteracy – the inability to read or write well enough to function in society * Innumeracy- having insufficient math skills to function in society
Learning to Lean/Learning to Labor? Functions of Schooling * The two main functions of school are to educate students and to socialize them * Schools teach general skills, suck as reading, writing and arithmetic as well as specific skills needed for the work place * Human capital refers to the knowledge and skills that make someone more productive and bankable * Schools transmit values, beliefs and attitudes that are important to society * This hidden curriculum serves to form a more cohesive society but has also been used to impose the values of a dominant culture on outsiders or minorities * Schools have been described as sorting machines that place students into programs and groups according to their skills, interests and talents * Critics argue that this sorting process is not based solely on merit and that ultimately it seems to reproduce social inequalities
Do Schools Matter? * Private school students preform better academically than their peers at public schools in part due to academic and behavioral differences
What is Going on Inside Schools? * Tracking is dividing students into different classes according to ability or future plans * In practice, tracking has a number of negative effects and may be more beneficial for those who are already privilege
Higher Education * 1910 – three percent of men and women over the age of twenty-five had a college degree * 2004 – twenty eight percent of men and women over age of twenty five had a college degree
Inequalities in Schooling * Sociologists are still interested in understanding the achievement gap between white and minority students. This has often been attributed to class. * The achievement gap between girls and boys have been closing in many academic measures, but women are still earning less money than men, leading sociologists are investigating * Studies show family size spacing between siblings, gender and birth order can all affect educational outcomes * Socioeconomic class, race and ethnicity are often intertwined and clearly affect educational outcome

November 14, 2011
Chapter 16
Religion

What is Religion? * Religion * A system of beliefs and practices around sacred things, a set of shared “stories” that guide belief and action * Religious beliefs help shape social behavior by setting expectations and difference between right and wrong * Creation myths, explanation for where people go after death, rewards, huge impact on identity * Sacred describes holy things * Profane describes ordinary, mundane things in everyday life, it is anything not sacred * There are many religions throughout the world, all of which fall into three categories * Theism – worship of a god, or gods * Ethicalism – adherence to certain principles to lead a moral life * Animism – belief that spirits roam the natural world * Secularism – a general movement away from religiosity and spiritual belief and towards a rational, scientific orientation * Separation of church and state is a secular idea, which suggests that the government and religion should not be mixed
Theory
* Karl Marx – argued religion was used to keep workers from questioning their oppressed position in everyday life, by promising them riches in the after life * Emile Durkhiem – argued that religions promote solitary and bringing people together, felt that sacred symbols become powerful because people collectively invest them with power * Max Weber – stated that * Protestant work ethic * Protestantism was necessary for capitalism because it states that a person fulfilled the duty to god through hard work * Making money was not frowned upon although spending that money on pleasure and enjoyment was
Secularization or Speculation? * Pluralism is the presence of numerous distinct religious groups in one society * Possible negative effect: having too many choices weakens the credibility of anyone church * Possible positive effects: diverse religions can engage with one another to build a common sense of community

November 16, 2011
Chapter 17
Science, the Environment and Society

Science and Society * Sociologists of science look at the interactions between science and society * Many people make the argument that without science, technology or invention, there would be no social change. Sociologists are interested in seeing how those kinds of changes impact people and social interactions * Normative Science – is the idea that science follows objective rules of evidence and is unaffected by the personal beliefs or values of the scientists * In practice, however social factors like finding, government policies, interest groups and international pressure or competition can affect choices about what scientific research is pursued * Sociologists of science look at the interactions between science and society * The term paradigm – refers to the way that people see things; it is a pattern of thought or perspective on a topic which is shared by a group of people when people change their way of thinking this is a paradigm shift * Thomas Kuhn – theorized that scientific revolutions also called paradigm shifts, occur during the practice of normal science to challenge the existing paradigm * When the unexpected outcome can be replicated, it makes scientists question weather it was really a fluke or if they learned something new * Anthropologists Bruno Lator and Steve Woolger claim that scientific facts don’t just reveal themselves through experiments and research but are socially constructed * In other words, the findings are influenced by the people who found them. Science is interpreted b scientists and scientists are people who are influenced by the aspects of society and social life that we mentioned before * The Matthew Effect – a term coined by Robert Merton, refers to the notion that certain scientific results get more notice and have more influence based on the existing prestige of the researchers involved * So if Einstein was alive today and he claimed that he found something really impotent the finding would be believed better than if we found it
Agriculture and Environment * The majority of scientists argue that the roots of global warming can be linked to human activity such as deforestation and the burning of fossil fuels, coal, gas, and oil * Global warming is predicted to have a strong impact on human society, primarily through devastating natural disasters such as prolonged heat waves, hurricanes and droughts

November 28, 2011
Chapter 17
Science, the Environment and Society

Sociology of Science * Sociologists of science look at the interactions between science, agriculture, technology and society
Agriculture and the Environment * The term organic is often used as a catchall for foods that are seemingly healthy, natural or produced on a small scale * Historically most human farming has been considered organic, but in the 20th century we started using more sophisticated mechanisms and new compounds lik fertilizers and pesticides to increase population, now many want to return to a kind of farming less devastating to the environment * The organic food market creates stratification in two ways 1. Organic farming is expensive: many smaller farmers cannot afford to farm this way so mega farms dominate the market 2. Organic products are expensive so high income individuals are much more likely to purchase them and reap the benefits than lower income people * Genetically modified foods, also referred to as genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are products whose genetic structures have been altered, usually to make them produce higher amounts * Ex. Chickens * Glofish are the first genetically modified organisms to be sold as pets * Proponents argue that GMO’s help brig down food prices, reduces dependence of pesticides and herbicides, and reduces waste * Critics of GMO’s argue that they create risks to the environment and human health that ave not been adequetly evaluated. GMOs are not natural and could lead to problems with the food chain * Green Revolution refers to two agricultural trends of the 20th century 1. Introduction of high yield crops in developing countries 2. Scientific improvemnts in agricultural technologies such as irrigation systems, fertilizers and pesticides * The green revolution is widely credited with increase agricultural productivity throughout the world thus * Increasing income * Making farming a more collective community endeavor * Critics of the green revolution argue that it makes farmers more dependent on a smaller number of higher yield crops this can * Increase risks if crops fail * Reduce variety in diet
Biology Science, Not Sociology * May sound outside the realm of sociology but more biology science * With new innovations in agricultural production or genetics, each new piece of science information raises important sociological questions
Biotechnology and Human Genome * Goal of human genome project was to identify and map all of the genes in human DNA * Researchers involved in the project recognized that it raised many social, ethical, and legal issues like privacy, stratification and stigmatization * DNA testing is now marketed for a variety of purposed one of which is to determine a persons racial origins * Still questions about accuracy and how used * Not simply a straight forward scientific process but closely intertwined with other factors * Reproductive cloning involves making a genetic copy of an existing person or organism * Research cloning involves making a genetic copy of cells that can be used for research purposes. Human cloning does have potential benefits but it is fought with legal, ethical and moral questions

November 30, 2011
Chapter 18
Collective Action, Social Movements and Social Change

Collective Action * Collective action is a collaborative effort that takes place in groups and diverges from the social norms of the situation. It is different than the actual social movement
Collective Action: What is it Good For? * Crowd collective action takes place when members of a group are face to face * Mass collective action is collective action in which close physical proximity is not necessary such as letter writing campaign
Theories of Collective Action * According to convergence theory, collective action happens when people with similar ideas and tendencies gather in the same place * According to contagion theory collective action arises because of peoples tending to conform to the behavior of others * Emergent norm theory emphasizes the influence of leaders in promoting particular norms that members of a group follow
Identity
* In order to explain who we are as individuals we tend to talk about different groups we are in what makes us unique is the combination of groups we identify with
Types of Identity * A static identity is a aspect of your identity (such as race) that doesn’t change and that determines at least one group to which you belong * A dynamic identity is an aspect of your identity that is more fluid (such as working as a lie guard for one summer) and that is determined by a group to which you belong
Social Movements * A social movement is collective behavior that is purposeful, organized and institutionalized but not ritualized * Alterative social movements seek limited social change and tend to be focused on a narrow group of people * Redemptive social movements are also focused on a narrow group of people but radiate for radical change * Reformative social movements advocate fro limited social change but seek effect that change across an entire society * Revolutionary social movements seek to make radical change across and entire society
A Social Movement – How does it Happen? * The classical model of social movements purposes that social movements came about as a collective response to structural weaknesses in society that have a psychological effect of individuals * The political process model of social movements proposes that a social movements chances of development are heavily influenced by 2 sets of conditions 1. Expanding political opportunities 2. Indigenous organizational strength
Stages of Social Movements * Social movements generally evolve through three stages 1. Emergence – social problem being addressed is first identified 2. Coalescence – resources are mobilized and concrete action is taken to address the problem 3. Ratification – formal structure develops to promote the cause

December 5, 2011
Chapter 18
Collective Action, Social Movements and Social Change

Social Movement Organizations * A social movement organization (SMO) is a group developed to recruit new members and coordinate participation in a particular social movement * A professional movement organization is a type of SMO that has full time leadership plus a large membership base that lays only a minor role in the organization * A participatory movement organization is a type of SMO that directly involves its rank-and-fill members in decisions and activities to support the organizations cause * There are two types of participatory movement organizations 1. Mass protest organizations advocate for social change through protest and demonstrations 2. Grassroots organizations tend to work through existing political structures to promote social change * Americans have traditionally had higher participation levels in volunteer activities * It seems that volunteerism has declined somewhat in the United States and one possible explanation is the influence of the internet * Americans want to get involved with causes they support
Social Movements and Social Change * Not all social change is produced by social movements: economic and political factors have a great deal to do with evolution of society * Social changes are not valued in the same way by all people what is of major importance to one group may barely register for another group and they do not affect all people in the same way
Causes of Social Change * Social change can be caused by factors other than social movements, such as technological innovation, new information and ideas, and conflict between social actors * Ironically, perhaps the greatest sins that a social movement has been successful is when there is no longer a need for it because the goal is achieved * The internet has opened new opportunities for people to create social change * Provides a way for participants in social movements to connect, exchange information and generally make their voices heard * Has become a forum for radical social protest activities, such as virtual sit-ins to jam servers * Primary achievement of such protests is to draw media attention to a particular issue or cause