Sociology for Everyone Course Notes
How Society Works – Lecture Notes
Sep, 11, 2012
Introduction to Classical Social theory * “Theories in sociology are abstract, general ideas that help organize and make sense of the social world” (attempt to link idea’s with actual events) * Classical social theory (1840s – 1920s) – The enlightenment, political revolution (American revolution, French revolution), the industrial revolution * American and French revolution inspired more widespread adoption of democratic principle and rights of citizens * Industrial revolution caused dramatic, rapid urbanization, changes in family relations, gender relations, increased secularization * Classical social theorist and macro and micro theorists – macro are interested are in social theory that can explain huge social phenomenon’s (past and future), micro are interested in smaller scale phenomenon’s * Emile Durkheim was a positivist, saw society as analogous to a body, concerned with social solidarity, and developed the idea of the ‘social fact’ * Social Solidarity: division of labour Organic: present in modern societies, high dynamic density, high degree of labour specialization (works like a human body, everything works together with high specialization) Mechanical: present in traditional societies, low dynamic density , low degree of labour specialization (works like gears, works together to complete society) * Similarities of Social Solidarity: Conscience collective similar ideas of morality, similar ideas about space time and reality (collective ideas of morality, what you can and cannot do with the influence on laws, teachings, parents etc.) * In modern society are functional, high amount of labour (all works together, functionalism) * Crime is a functional part of society (punishment s are set, so others don’t commit crime) * A social fact is way of acting. Fixed, or not capable of exercising on individual an external constrain, or way of acting which is general throughout society, while at same time existing. (Social fact: external to the self, beyond the biography of self, affects individual, actions, thoughts, religion, fashion, education etc.) * Durkheim: Studying multiple variables will allow you to determine relationship of various social facts * Durkheim: Suicide is social (men more suicidal than women) * Karl Marx: Idea of historical materialism, Labour theory of value, Understanding of ideology * Historical Materialism: “the history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles”, human history result of human action, human action determined by material realities (economic realities: due to economy) * History is not made with time but propelled over access to power and materials (dialects of history: primitive communism, feudalism, capitalism (current system), communism) * Capitalism (a system of exploitation, the current system) * Labour Theory of Value: use value (what it does for you), exchange value (cost), surplus value (excess of value produced by labour in relation to wages) , commodity (something bought or sold with value), commodity fetishism * Surplus value: what you invest into a water bottle for ex., how much you pay your workers, and how much you sell the bottle for is the surplus value to accumulate maximum surplus value by paying workers very little * Alienation: From one’s own labour force, from the products of one’s labour, form other people, from one’s self (labour is something you can sell now, workers are alienated, they cannot afford to buy what they make most of the time) * Workers in China had suicide working in Apple factory due to too much demand and pressure of making Iphone3’s * Ideology: That which is taken as naturally, but serves the interest of the powerful ** * Ideology is like a camera of obscure (image of reality is not what it seems: distorted) * Mark: Religion is like a drug, makes you blind from reality and exploitation of living on earth, school is also an ideology * Max weber: founder of interpretive sociology, developed schema for studying and analyzing micro interactions at a macro-sale * Verstehen (understanding): understanding and interpretation 1) Direct observation understanding 2) Explanatory Understanding (historically, mass social phenomenon, based on understanding of ‘ideal types’) * Ideal Types: Analytical tools designed to id in the analysis of complicated social life, they are abstractions, not intended to corresponded to lived experiences, allows ‘verstehen’ to be understood as scientific (ex. Birth age, high school groups, types of musicians, sports players etc.) September, 18th, 2012 Methods, Ethics & Socialization * Research design: A broad topic being narrowed into a specific topic, ex. Pets to dogs to bulldogs to a research question (quantitative study) * Qualitative question: relationship b/w aggression and hockey * Quantitative & Qualitative are data methods (for collecting and analyzing data) * Collect data: participant observation, surveys, interviews * Analyze data: content analysis, statistical analysis (surveys etc., narrative analysis (interviews etc.) * There is a mixed method which uses a combined of both methods * ** Neither one of these methods are valid (both are flawed), they are just used to answer different types of questions * Quantitative: begins with hypothesis and why questions (relationships b/w variables), purpose to explain phenomena and test hypothesis (deductive reasoning) * Qualitative: begins with what and how questions, purpose to explore phenomena (inductive reasoning) * ** quantitative methods reduced to numbers that can be analyzed and qualitative is reduced to a narrative (text) * Quantitative: for larger samples, (surveys, stats analysis, content analysis) ( more of a Durkheim traditions) * Qualitative: smaller sample size, (contents, in depth interview, participant observation, ethnographic method) * Hypothesis: a testable theory, a statement about a particular relationship that can be tested empirically * Variables: independent variable - can be manipulated, dependent variable – is the reaction (or lack of thereof) of the manipulation (ex. Gender (independent) & beverage (dependent) * Operational definition: describes how a variable is measured * Types of data: demographic (census), social environment (certain areas/neighbourhoods), activities (media exposure, commute time etc.), opinions & attitudes * Survey designs: cross-sectional (ex. Canadians), longitudinal (ex. survey same people every 3 years), trend (ex. Crush) , cohort (ex. particular demographic) * People get most of their data from census and Statistics Canada * * Quantitative Research: Michael Haan (2007) – location and immigrant economic well-being in Canada” hypothesis: there is a relationship b/w city of immigrant settlement and economic well-being * * Independent variable: gateway cities – Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver, non-gateway cities * * Dependent variable: economic well-being – employment status, income, employment mismatch * * His research showed that economic well-being slightly better in non-gateway cities * Qualitative Research methods: Ethnography (writing about culture - participant observation, interviewing, archival research), Content analysis * Harriet Martineau: the first famous female sociologist (wrote ethnography “society in America” – 1837, “how to observe morals and manners” – 1838) – do not rush to conclusions when doing ethnographic research, do not generalize from limited * observations, recognize that observations are cognations to the truth (understand that you are going to see one side of the culture, limited access to information, not laugh or judge other cultures (ethnocentric), can include: interviews, stats, and * Erving Goffman: he was an excellent ethnographer, wrote “Asylums” – 1961 * Content Analysis: “any systematic procedure which is devised to examine the content recorded information” (Walizer & Wiener – 1978: 343) * Media analyzed: newspapers & books, pamphlets, graffiti, film, TV, ads, letters, etc. * Socialization: how society has produced us to act – “the lifelong process by which we learn our culture, develop our personalities, and become functioning members of society” (Ravelli, Webber, Patterson p.98) * Primary Socialization (birth to adolescents), Secondary socialization (goes both ways, ex. Prof teaches you, you teach prof), Anticipatory socialization (process of socialization of new role ex. Widow, prof, student etc.), Re-socialization (practices of helping people re-enter society, ex. People in jail, people traumatized etc.) * We are always being taught, what is being expected of us, then we perform our roles * Process Childhood, adolescence, young adulthood, middle adult hood, late adult hood * Symbolic interaction & George Herbert Mead (1863-1931) The social self: I = spontaneous, creative, impulsive, and unpredictable part of the social self, Me = socialized element of the self, part of consciousness that thinks about how you are being perceived (object and subject) * Children & the social self: limitation, role playing, game playing, the generalized other (learn what is right, wrong, feelings, how you affect other factors etc.) * Agents of Socialization: Family – parenting styles (Diana Baumrind), permissive (too much freedom), authoritative (offer freedom, but set clear rules and expectations), authoritarian (parent have too many rules, and don’t explain rules, no level of mutual respect, rebel etc.) * Peers: have influence on you, maybe even more than your parents at times (peers may be more important than parents) * Education: key place for primary and secondary socialization, place for intentional (gain knowledge for future) and unintentional socialization, hidden curriculum are ideas about social values, genders, race, and class that are produced in the education system (ex. Who we value, males in sports, girl cheerleaders etc.) * Media: Intentional and Unintentional socialization, gender ideas, media violence and activities etc., produces CSI effect: really strong expectations of what evidence is going to look in jury system, court etc. (due to too much TV, movies, shows etc.) * Conclusion: Socialization through the life course, symbolic interactionist perspective on socialization, agents of socialization: family, media, peers Sep, 25, 2012 * Different ideas about gender are produced through toys, ads, etc. * There are dominant ideas of masculinity (richest, more power etc.) * “Sex refers to the biological apparatus, the male and female; gender is masculinity and femininity-what it means to be a man or a woman” (Kimmel) * Sex: rooted in biology, our physical selves, bodies are male or female or inter sexed * Gender: the socially constructed characteristics associated with the sexes, bodies are socially produced to be masculine or feminine * Predominant gender story: dominant ideologies about gender; bodies are born in 2 types (male & female), bodies are gendered masculine and feminine, bodies are attracted to opposite-type bodies, reproduction of bodies and gender * Challenge: 1) there are intersex people, 2) transgendered people, 3) queer community, 4) people choose not to have children for various reasons * Found: toys, movies, ads etc. * Is produced/reproduced through borderwork (celebrating what is expected in society and punishing those that don’t follow what is “expected” through gay bashing, hate crimes etc. * Dichotomous thinking: based on binaries - black/white, male/female, hetero/homo * Binaries are not equal * Binaries are not stable, they require borderwork (social sanctions that ensure that these gender ideas seem natural, universal and timeless) * EXs: men – are rational, strong, gain wisdom with age, are independent women – are emotional, physically weak, loose sex appeal with age, are dependent (rely on men) * Hegemonic Masculinity: It is the ideal type of masculinity, this type of masculinity guards the most social approval most interesting man in the world: he’s white, old, Charming, educated, rich, strong etc. * Masculinity studies: “qualitatively different types of masculinity are produced within the same social setting”, types of masculinity form a Hierarchy, differences not a matter of free choice, differences created by race, ethnicity, class, age, sexual orientation etc. * Emphasized Femininity: she’s dependent, cooks, nurtures, cheer leader, sexual attractiveness (for men’s desires), does not have power (supports the man, cannot be successful and be the ideal woman at the same time in society, * Infantilizing Women: embodying the ideal type of women in society (child, vulnerable) * Women in reality TV: catty & manipulative, stupid, incompetent, gold diggers * The Patriarchal Dividend: “the advantages of men as a group from maintaining an unequal gender order”, when you take all characteristics to be an ideal men or women, the men always come out on top (ex. The ideal man can be a CEO, and a women can be ideal but not a CEO) * When boys try to participate in female “activities”, society denies them, but when girls try to participate in male “activities”, society highly encourages it * Hetero sex: Phallocentrism – Virginity, metaphors for genitalia, The female orgasm – Freud (mini male orgasms - copy), Kinsey (multiple), feminism (seen as a challenge) * ** Our understanding of heterosexuality is phallocentric (sex based on male penis and pleasure) – men name penis, created “bases”, “did you score” etc. * Men exaggerates how much sex they have, and women downplay how much sex they have * The sexual double standard: “those who have many sexual relations experience gendered consequences; men are heralded as “studs”, while women are marked as “sluts” * Discourses of female sexuality: Virgin – are idealized, women have less sexual desires, are morally required to control insatiable desires for men, celebrated in the figure of the bride, women are withholding (have/hold discourse), women privilege love & romance over sex * Whore – are objectified, are available to fulfill the sexual desires and fantasies of men, are objects to be leered at fondled, harassed, are subject to male violence, celebrated in pornography * Discourse of male sexuality: Marlboro man (aggressive, insensitive, selfish) The sensitive guy (negotiate sexual behaviour, doesn’t get you very far) * Heteronormativity : “Heteronormativity structures social life so that heterosexuality is always assumed, expected, ordinary and privileged”, present is language, media, built environment, etc. (like SNAF), produces non-hetero sexualities and non-normative heterosexuality as deviant * Heterosexism: “The belief in the inherent superiority of one pattern and thereby its right to dominance” * Heteronormativity & Heterosexism - 1) Presents heterosexual desire & romance as necessary and magical, ultimately produced through the kiss, 2) presents women’s bodies as objects of heterosexual desire, men’s bodies as sites for action or humour * Presented as “magical” in Disney movies (ex. A kiss can break a spell, grow legs), there are also some homophobia in these movies * Queer Subjectivities: Subjectivity –“ how you come to know yourself and are known by others as a coherent individual”, according to Foucault (1978) – Queer subjectivities emerged in the 19th century with the emergence of psychiatry, jurisprudence, and medical knowledge about sexual practices * Homosexuality was decriminalized in Canada in 1969, take off as a disorder in 1973 * Homophobia: “pervasive cultural fear of same-sex erotic or sexual contact”, shift in cultural concern from “what causes homosexuality?” to “what causes hatred of homosexuality?” * Conclusion: sex/gender distinction, predominant gender story, dichotomous thinking, hegemonic masculinity, emphasized femininity, patriarchal dividend, dominant understanding of heterosexual are phallocentric and gendered, our social world is organized by structures of heteronormativity, homosexuality is discursively produced, there have been many moments of resistance to homophobia Race & Racialization Oct, 2, 2012
* Minority: “any definable category of people who are socially disadvantaged” * Ethnicity: “a multi-dimensional concept that includes one’s minority or majority status, ancestry, language and often religious affiliation” * Race: A group of people who were physically and genetically distinguished from other groups * Racialization: “The process of attributing complex characteristics (e.g. athletic abilities, intelligence) to racial categories” * Prejudice: “A negative assessment about what a person or group is like before you actually meet them” * Racism: “An ideology that maintains that one race is inherently superior to another” * Discrimination: “when a person or group either denies or grants advantages to members of a particular group” * Oppression: It is consistent, produces groups of people, the accumulated effect of discrimination, not accidental, leads to double-bind situations, both hyper-visible & invisible (if you are white you are invisible, you are hyper-visible if you are racialized) * Privilege: Peggy Macintosh - (white people) is like an invisible knapsack, Racialized people have a visible backpack filled with bricks that disable them, it is important for white people to understand this concept, so they can act against this reality (no matter what white people do, it is considered a norm (even if it is good or bad), racialized people are going to be understood as deviant against the norm
The Colour of Beauty:
1. 1) How do dominant ideas about race intersect with dominant ideas about gender, age, and, class? 2. 2) What were the demographics of New York’s 2008 fashion week models? 3. 3) How does white privilege operate in the fashion industry A1: Certain groups of people are always less or more privileged than other groups of people, they are seen as more superior/ capable than the other groups in the same category (ex. Black, white, men, women etc.) and this concept is linked to gender, race, ages, and class A2: 87% are white A3: Ethnic women have to have white girl features to be model, white girls are seen as the ideal over any other races (racialized women) White beauty are the norms, they don’t have to be flawless, but ethnic women do * “Post –colonial theory examines the ways in which the colonial past has shaped the social, political, and economic ** * Imperialism: “The practices and attitudes of colonizers * Colonialism: “The concrete and ideological effects of imperialism within colonized territories (what happens away from home”)”… examples of former colonies include India, most countries in Africa, the Caribbean. (missing from this definition is…North America) * Colonialism in a white settler society: “A while settler society is one established by Europeans on non-European soil. Its origins lie in the dispossession and near extermination of indigenous populations by the conquering Europeans” 3 phases in producing Canada as “white settler society” * First Phase: Canada as Terra Nullius – white people came and made it “theirs” (ignoring the aboriginals), pretended it was an empty land * Second Phase: ‘White’ settlement/development - Chinese, aboriginals, and women are ignored * Third Phase: Protecting the borders – (European) white men need to make sure the majority stays white, need to contain white supremacy (by keeping out refugees, immigrants, etc.) * Colonialism & Aboriginality: * Aboriginal women b/w 25-44 are 5 times more likely to die of violence than non-aboriginal women in white society (1) violence: racist & sexist stereotypes, deny aboriginal women dignity and worth which produces the idea that men can take advantage, 2) Decades of government policy have broken apart aboriginal communities making aboriginal women more vulnerable to violence, 3) When violence against aboriginal women happens, many officers don’t have training and understanding of colonialism of the Aboriginal society * Conclusion: define key concepts: oppression, privilege and How is Canada constantly reproduces as a white-settler society * Mid Term: 90 minutes, based on lecture + text book material (The big ideas and main concepts, no statistics/dates or numbers) – 20 MC & 10 Short answer questions (60 Marks) – Content & analytical questions Oct, 2, 2012 Social Class & Inequality * Definitions: * Theorizing social class & Inequality: – 1) Functionalism: Capitalism is a meritocracy, the Davis-Moore thesis argues that poverty has two functions, It: “Motivates people to fulfill certain social needs… motivates people to fulfill their duties and responsibilities” (Ravelli, Webber & Patterson p.201) (owners) and the proletariats (workers) – industrialization leads to an intensification of the two-class system, Bourgeoisie * Weber - Class, Status, Party: 3) Class = access to material resources, Status = a style of life associated with a distinct social circle, Party = a group of people who collectively seek power in the face of opposition * White Collar workers – does not own where their working, are very mobile, and ex. Retail, factories, beer server etc. * Vavour – while social status class refers to , soial status refers to prestige * A party can be based on social class, based on life style, religion etc. * Symbolic Interaction & Thorstein Veblen: conspicuous consumption (people do things of higher class to make themselves look like they are at the higher class even if they’re not, ex. People buying things to show off that don’t help you’re needs) , conspicuous leisure (taking extravagant trips, so you can post photos, ex. Facebook, Twitter etc.), conspicuous waste (Giving huge tips, upgrading everything you have, ex. Computers, phones, music players etc.)
* Gender & Work: Sex segregation – starts in childhood with chores, across cultures and historically, jobs associated with women are less compensated ex. Density in Europe, Veterinary medicine in the 1960s. Wages - 2008 statistic from Stats Can as of May 2009. Men on average, full-time made $23.61, women, $20.14, and women make 85% men do, men make 117% of what women make… “I’ve seen the glass ceiling, it’s made out of golf balls” * Glass Ceiling: “Those artificial barriers, based on attitudinal or organizational bias, that prevent qualified individuals from advancing upward within their organization into management level positions” (Lynn Martin) * Sticky Floor: “Keeps women trapped in low wage positions, with little opportunity for upward mobility” (Kimmel) * Glass Cellar: Refers to the reality that men occupy the most dangerous professions * Glass Escalator: Refers to the quick promotion of men in traditionally female professions (ex. Men as head of nurse, men as head of day care system etc.) * Poverty: Defining poverty – absolute poverty (do you have the basic essentials for life, access to daily needs), relative poverty (do you have the things you need to live in modern society, ex. relative to your neighbour, ex. Internet, healthcare, education etc. Measuring poverty – Low income cut-off (LICO) (includes both absolute and relative poverty, poverty line shifts depending on where you live, ex. Living in Toronto vs. Manitoba, big city vs. small town, etc.). Sarlo Line (Most absolute measures comparison). Low Income Measure (LIM) (Takes the average income for the city and divides it by two and that is the low income line) *** research It * Taxation: Income tax: Progressive taxation, 2005, before transfers, highest quintile had 51% of income, after taxes 46.7%, lowest went from 2.1% to 4.1%, this redistributes wealth (free education, free health care helps reduce poverty). Consumer tax: Regressive taxations, GST and PST on consumer goods like cars, furniture, clothing costs low-income earning higher % of their income than high-income earners. (relative form of taxation * Globalization & Global Poverty: Early International Trade & Colonization (1400s to 1950s) – Exploiting human resources in Africa * The new global order post WW2: Breton woods, 19444 0 International Monetary Fund (MMF), World Bank, General Agreement on tariffs and Trade (GATT) – later to become World Trade Organization (WTO) (all these things are for the global north, favour GN) * Oil Crisis (1973): 1973 – Yom Kippur War b/w Egypt & Israel, The US supported Israel, Arab – oil-producing countries created an oil-embargo leading to super high oil prices in the west, Oil embargo led to increased inflation and high interest rates, governments globally accrued high national debts, international financial crisis ensured * Neoliberalism: (Mark fetcher, Ronald reggae, big impact) – As a response to the international financial crisis of the 1970s… Key tenets: Privatisation of public goods (transportation, media, infrastructure etc.), Austerity measure (cutting on social spending), Liberalizing markets (increase of free trade) * Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPS): Program of the IMF and World Bank, Loans will be given to countries in the Global South with strict conditions impose. (Austerity measures – ex. Limited govt. spending on social services. Free markets, allowing TNC’s to dominate local economies and cultures) * TNCs affect: Global health, The global and urban environment, Child labour * Dependency Theory: The industrialization of the Global North was dependent on the unfair exploitation of natural and human resources of the Global South through centuries of colonization and the trans-Atlantic slave trade (Companies exploit all the resources of these poor countries and leave them with environmental devastation). Economies in the Global South and disables form development – used instead as single resource export economies that serve the Global North. * Globalization and work with the Global North: 1) Decline in union participation – What do unions do? – collective bargaining, negotiate for: wages, working conditions, grievance policies, benefits (In Canada, union advantage is about $6.80, 20% more likely to have a drug or dental plan and pension plan, prevents poverty) * Unions and Neoliberalism: 1) Threats of capital flight stifles unions abilities to organize 2) Austerity measure of the govt. 3) In Canada and global north generally, union density has fallen = in 1983, 43% workers where unionized, in 2003 31% of workers were unionized 4) Union density affected by: increase in service sector * Wal-Town: Some things to think about – 1) How does this film demonstrate the effects of globalization on labour conditions in global north 2) What are the activist main criticism of Wal-Mart * A: 1) Wal-Mart exploits lower income families, pay employees very little (minimum wage) and they are not unionized, people in global south are not benefiting from Wal-Mart (just being exploited with cheapest possible labour and resources), they employ the most needy and vulnerable type of people (single mothers etc.), the job of the GM is to prevent a unionization. * A: 2) Wal-Mart makes all other business shut down due to really cheap prices (exploited resources turned into products with cheap labour), what is good for Wal-Mart is not good for everybody else, they have a huge impact of consumer choice and consumption, * Conclusions: What is social class? How do functionalists, Marxists, Weber, and symbolic interactionists explain social inequality? How is the work world gendered? * Tutorial: What is the union advantage? - $6.80, 20% more likely to have drug plan & and pension, prevents poverty. What are structural adjustment programs? – condition like scarity measure, state spend less, ex. Allow trans corporations to go into country for resources. What is conspicuous consumption? Buying things for the little brand. It is a symbolic interactionism. What is the documentary’s critique of the Cosby show? Portraying families as living the American dream, it is possible and anybody can achieve this. According to Weber, how are class and status different? – Class is measured with access to money and income etc. Status is the social honor and prestige.
Sociology of the Family Oct, 30, 2012
* Census Family: A couple with or without children (Stats Can.) * Economic Family: Two or more people in a family in dwelling (includes foster children, blood related etc.) (Stats Can.) * Different types of families influence taxation, benefits etc. * Ravelli & Webber: Nuclear family (blood), Extended family ( diff. generations in the fam.), Family of orientation, Family of procreation * Other family forms: Standard families, Lone-parent families, Urban families * Definition of Family (Margaret Eichler): A family includes a combo of the following: Socialization, Emotional relationship, Residence, Economics, Sexuality & Reproduction * The Standard North American Family (SNAF): An Ideology (Dorothy Smith): Dictates that a nuclear family based on hetero sexual procreation is taken for granted Normal & Ideal * SNAF’s live in suburbs (dwelling nuclear families) * TV, Politics, Pro-natelist state policies & Laws, Toys, Holidays, The built environment, A&W are huge types of ideological persuasion * Marriage: Assumptions: Based on love, Are monogamous, --- finish on ppt **** * Arranged Marriages: Occur in Japan, parts of Africa, and middle East, as well in some North American communities, A way to maintain family material resources, ensure family continuity, there are also semi-arranged marriages * Are Monogamous: Polygamy: More than one spouse or partner, Polygyny: Husband with multiple wives, Polyandry: Wife with multiple husbands * Polygamy increases violence according to research, criminalizing polygamy boasts white supremacy * Are Heterosexual: Canada’s Bill C-38 (Civil marriage Act), 2005, Re-defines marriage as: “the lawful union of two persons to the exclusion of all others”, Main arguments against Bill: Concerns about religious freedom, there should be a national referendum on the topic, why can’t gay unions just be ‘civil unions’? (Paul Martin) * Naturally Produce Children: Adoption, Medically assisted procreation (health problems, costs of procedure and raising children, Success rate fairly low 32% etc.) - goes against the idea of the biological family is the dominant ideology in society * Marriage Lasts A Lifetime: 50% of all marriages have been divorced, we are living in the time of divorce ‘porn’, very dominant in TV (not seen as a failure) * Causes for Divorce: Micro level: Irreconcilable differences, Attitude, Individual behaviours, Macro-level: Change in divorce laws, Change in cultural attitudes, Women’s participation in paid workforce (Divorce laws implemented in 1968, In 1986 there was no fault divorce, * Meso-level Divorce Factors: Lower age marriage means higher chance of divorce, if couples stayed together before it increases the chance of divorce (adverse selectivity), If you divorced a couple of times before you are more likely to divorce, If you’re parents are divorced you are more likely to get divorced, If you have more children you are less likely to get divorced, City people are more likely to divorce, If you are religious you are less likely to get divorced, If you have a lower economic standard of living you are more likely to get divorced. * Parenting: Motherhood: According to Judith Warner, what is motherhood anxiety? What are the solutions? What is absent in her analysis? Fatherhood: Ideas of fatherhood being tested in current moment, during industrialization and before 2nd world war father seen as distant but effective, they got things done, in post war period, father seen as productive but involved in more leisure, in more modern time, father still as seen productive but more nurturing and more stay home fathers, they also have different methods of nurturing * According to functionalism, men and women served different roles in the family, men plays the instrumental role (make money), women plays the expressive role(nurturing labour), men is the public figure seen with more value, women is the private figure seen with less economic value and less valued in society – Carson * Women work more a day on domestic labour and get paid less than men * Conclusion: read on ppt --- ***
The Mass Media Nov, 13, 2012
* Mass media: “Defining include any medium designed to communicate messages to a mass audience” * Types of media: books, newsmedia, advertising, fashion, architecture, monuments, musuems, * Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer – What is the relationship b/w the economy and culture, the culture industry (or mass/ popular culture) has one function: to reproduce incessantly the values of capitalist culture, Interested in the relationships b/w culture and fascism, offered a more in-depth critique of media as a ‘superstructure’ * Standardization – Culture packaged in small number of predictable forms and genres, produced by small number of large corporations, there is simultaneously nothing new and always something new, movies use the same story and change it up a bit * Pseudo-Individualization - The audience response is “built-into” the cultural product, our culture is “pre-digested for us”, audiences are passive, choice is an illusion (starbucks, apple ‘think differently’ etc.) * Maintenance of Status Quo – Media lulls the public into passivity, distracts from big social issues (eg. American Idol), Maintains social ideas – re: race, gender, class (eg. The film “class dismissed”, Disney) * Absorption of dissent – Fight club (the movie brought huge box office profits), Graffiti Removal Hotline (capitalist system, the idea of selling out) , Turns things into main stream * Critiques of culture industry thesis: It’s elitist, historically specific, disregards alternative uses/readings of culture, totalizing – i.e. “resistance is futile” (we can consume things passively, passionately, ironically etc.) * Introducing Marshall McLuhan – Born in Edmonton, raised in Winnipeg, lived most of his life in Toronto, Pop sensation in the 1960’s, “the medium is the message”, We live in a “global village” * Understanding Media - Oral cultures (format of writing says something, disregarding what is said, communicate with our whole body, ears, body language, hands, feet etc., You learn through conservations, storytelling, intellective dialogue, fits into the printing press which is written culture), Writing cultures (eyes to communicate, based on and reinforces ideas of linearity and logic, they are very straight forward and require focus of one sense, we see the birth of the individual, written culture detribalize), Electric culture (Mode of communication that happened in oral culture, telegraph, TV, Internet, visual and communicating with our whole bodies, you can talk back and engage in electric culture, retribelism you can communicate to many people, use all our senses ) * Hot Media: Written Culture – High definition, one sense at a time, are largely passive media, sequently space that are linear and logical, radio, movie, “exudes”, industrialized countries, the city slicker, the waltz (ex. Lectures) * Cool Media: Oral Culture & Electric culture – Low definition, multiple sense, demand more audience participation, talking on the phone, a seminar class, TV, “includes”, The rustic, The Twist (ex. Living Library) * Does the Internet (including Facebook, Twitter) democratize media? Yes, because now anybody can mass communicate information to many people whether it be true or false. * Are these social networking sites a form of pseudo communication? * Who owns & controls the news media – Public ownership: Canada Broadcasting Corporation, the Nation Film Board, TV Ontario, Private Ownership: Independent ownership, Horizontal integration, Vertical integration, Cross-ownership, Conglomerate ownership, (public ownership offers a voice for Canadian stories and news ex. Being Erica) * Race & Film – Blaxploitation (1970s Spike Lee), Assimilationist (1980s shows like the Cosby Shows, “Black and White friendship films”, American Dream/ White Saviour films), Social Realism Do the Right Thing, Boyz N the Hood * White savior films suggest that crime and poverty can be overcome with the help of a white person, ironically white people used black people as slaves back in the day * He Social realism situate the lives of black people in politics (structural inequality, corrupt newspaper system) * Gender in Film and Television – “the male gaze”, Male characters: looked at through a gaze of narcissism. Men see other men like a mirror, and male characters are produced as subjects to be identified with… Female characters viewed through the lens of scopophilia “arises from pleasure in using another person as an object of sexual stimulation though sight” (From a men’s perspective, women are sexual figures and the man in the movie is how they should be like) * Ig, Ego (what you want, and what society wants you to have or not), Super Ego (conscience, relationsip b/w you and society) * The relationship b/w society and one’s ego would be what society expects of us which influences our opinions and choices
Deviance and Crime Nov, 20, 2012
* Deviance: Attitude, Behaviour, Condition (Violates social norms in the society in which it occurs), this goes against the accepted social expectation in that particular society * Integrated Typology of Deviance: Negative deviance, Rate Busting, Deviance Administration, Positive Deviance * If nobody has a reaction towards an action, is it considered deviant? * Negative deviance is the deviance that don’t meet the expectations of society and people react negatively towards it (Ex. Paul Bernard) * Positive Deviance is the deviance when people go above and beyond and people act positive towards it (Ex. Mother Teresa) * Deviance administration is when someone underachieves but very proud of it, and people really admire that character or person (Ex. Bart Simpson) * Rate busting is when people over perform and are not well regarded for it * It is about existing outside of the social norm and these change over time * Definition of deviance change over time and social space, the definition must consider norm violations and reaction by others (What is considered appropriate in one place might be inappropriate in another social place) * The power to define deviance – Moral entrepreneurship and moral crusades (gain public support by showing something as deviant), ex. “Squeegee Kids” (homeless youth) in Toronto, constructing the “problem”, remove focus from youth homelessness, and create it as a threat to urban habitability * Squeegee kids were framed and constructed as violent and aggressive by the media, this resulted in legislation (new laws), part about why their homeless were left out of the problem * They can turn anything into deviant as long as it support their cause * Deviance and Social Solidarity – “Imagine a society of saints, a perfect cloister of exemplary individuals. Crimes properly so called, will there be unknown; but faults which appear venial to the layman will create there the same scandal that the ordinary offence does in ordinary consciousness.” * If everyone was perfect, the simplest infraction would cause a negative uproar * 1) Affirms cultural values and norms (Confirms what is considered right and wrong in society) * 2) Clarifies boundaries (You learn the extent to what is considered right and wrong in society) * 3) Promotes social unity (Brings you together) * 4) Encourage social change (Without acting outside of boundaries, things would not change) * Deviance does not equal crime: Crimes are behaviours that violate criminal law and are punished, not all deviant behaviours are criminal (cheating ); not all things criminal are deviant (drinking alcohol and smoking marijuana), behaviours defined as criminal vary over time and space (drinking ages change and are different over time and places)
Common myths about crime and criminal behaviour: * 1) Most crime is violent (most crimes are property crime and theft) * 2) Crime is random (Different groups of people can be more vulnerable to certain types of crime that other) * 3) Criminals perpetrate crimes against people they don’t know (People you know are most likely to commit a crime against you) * 4) Crimes are committed by “social outcasts” (A person can be a victim and offender) * 5) Most crime is reported to police (Not all crime is comes out to light or reported) * The Crime Funnel: All crimes committed (The “dark” figure of crime) Crimes are reported to police Charges Laid Convictions * We cannot say that the ones that are convicted, is the population of people who committed a crime * Thinking sociologically about crime – Individual Motivation: “Evil”, spiritual, “out of control”, psychological, “Sick”, Biological Sociological: Learned behaviour (social interaction, ex. How you learn criminal behaviour), Lack of resources (social structure, ex. Why most crimes are committed in low income neighbourhoods), Labeled “Criminal” (Social Power, ex. Politicians getting away with crime though power of money) * Sociological Explanation of Crime (Differential Association Theory): Deviant behaviour is learned in interaction with others (techniques of committing the crime), Association vary in terms of: 1) Frequency 2) Duration 3) Priority 4) Intensity * What is you’re rational for committing the crime and how does it benefit you? * Sociological Explanation of Crime (Masculinity of Crime): Crime as a resource for “performing” masculinity, Masculinity and violence, Masculinity and the label of “victim” (Stereotype that usually men commit the crime and they are feminized if they are not violent) * Preventing Crime: Social Control - It prevent people from acting out of social norms, If social order exists, so must social control! Social control is basically systematic practices developed by social groups to encourage conformity and to discourage deviance Formal social control (laws, police etc.) and Informal social control (peers, people of higher authority etc.) * Hunter Typology of Informal Social Control: Private level of social control (family, close friends etc.) , Parochial level of social control (community, media, religious organization etc.), Public level of social control (you bringing in formal agents of social control, you could report someone or vice versa when you see any forms of ‘crime’) * Responding to Crime Punishment: Proportionality – Determining a punishment that “fits” the crime, Functions of punishment: Social protection/Incapacitation (about ‘protecting the public’), Retribution/Penalty (punishments for doing certain crimes), Deterrence (specific , general prevents you from doing the crime again or because the penalty exists), Rehabilitation (idea that through supervision, you can teach someone to be a law abiding member), (in)effectiveness of prison (will serving a sentence in prison prevent the person from repeating or committing more crime increasing prison term do not reduce crime rates and it is very expensive)
Queen Bees and Wannabes Nov, 20, 2012
* How are the problems of cliques understood as gendered? Is this fair? * Who/what is being blamed? Is this fair? * Do the cliques discussed align with the definition in the textbook? * Are cliques an example of social dysfunction? Or a functional element of society? * Is cool ideological? * Is there a relationship between cliques and alienation * Media are being blamed for representation of aggressive girls and families * Girl preteen meanness are blown out of proportion because it is not seen as ideal in society, while guys getting into fights seen as manly and seen as ideal (reinforces gender ideals)
* Cliques: “A small exclusive set”, “A group of tightly interconnected people”, What they do: Satisfy human needs for interaction and support, they produce new roles, rules and cultural values (e.g. Bohemians, new clubs), Have unstated mission to raise status of *** * Crowds: They are large and unanimous (unorganized type of people, to support a common mood), Casual crowd: No direct leadership, ex. Mall crowd, Conventional crowd: Getting together and supporting something, ex. Hockey game, Expressive crowds: Shows support like a gay pride crowd, mobs, etc., Protest crowd: comes together to support of social movements, ex. G20 protesters * Sociology of Social Movements: What is a social movement? “People from a social movement when they voluntarily work together to influence the distribution of social goods (ex. Water, food, peace, equality etc.)”, “Social movements are conscious, concerted, and sustained efforts by ordinary people to change some aspect of their society by changing extra-intuitional means (people working outside of power distribution)” * Types of Social Movements: Level of change (small or big change?), Direction of change (working for something new, return something to how they were before etc.), Speed of change (how fast or slow will the change be), Target of change (individuals, politicians, impact individual behaviours ex. Mothers against drunk driving etc.) * Tactics: 1) Civil disobedience: “Narrowly understood, the refusal by all or part of a community to pay taxes or obey the laws and regulations of the state, as an attempt at changing government policy by non-violent means” (Not obeying the rules, because you disagree with the rules) 2) Direct Action: Includes nonviolent and violent activities, target individuals, groups, property, ex. Strikes, workplace occupations, sit-ins, sabotage, property *** (ex. Guerilla Gardening, Bike ride)
Critical Mass: Advocate more things like better public transit, more bike lanes using bike marathons etc. 3) Cultural Jamming: Turning something against itself 4) Cause Marketing: Refers to idea that corporations adopt political movements (Ex. Green washing, Pink washing, tactics that the corporation is doing something good like saving rainforests, support breast cancer research etc.) * Sociology of the Environment: Environmental Racism (Refers to the unequal distribution of race regarding the environment, land etc.), Sociology of Food (), Sociology of Water () * The Politics of Food: The Local Food Movement – Locavores, Slow food movement, Food miles (Distance from farm to plate, b/w 1500-2000 miles within North America for produce, free trade agreements and cheap labour influenced this) * Urban Food Deserts: Downtown urban neighbourhoods lacking supermarkets, An effect of suburbanization and the growth of chain mega-super-markets (responding to the needs of a middle income market), Health and ecological consequences (supports idea of driving everywhere to eat healthier) * How are issues of water and/or bottled water about: Globalization? Public good vs. private profit? Environmental racism, classism, and sexism? * Transnational corporations are scaring us, seducing us, and misleading us is how they sell bottled water to society, is clean water a public good? Clean water should be available to all and not something you should pay for. * Conclusion: Define: Cliques, Crowds, and Social Movements, What are some tactics of social movements? What is environmental racism? What are: food miles? Urban food deserts? Describe some of the complicated politics of bottled water
Sep, 11, 2012
Introduction to Classical Social theory * “Theories in sociology are abstract, general ideas that help organize and make sense of the social world” (attempt to link idea’s with actual events) * Classical social theory (1840s – 1920s) – The enlightenment, political revolution (American revolution, French revolution), the industrial revolution * American and French revolution inspired more widespread adoption of democratic principle and rights of citizens * Industrial revolution caused dramatic, rapid urbanization, changes in family relations, gender relations, increased secularization * Classical social theorist and macro and micro theorists – macro are interested are in social theory that can explain huge social phenomenon’s (past and future), micro are interested in smaller scale phenomenon’s * Emile Durkheim was a positivist, saw society as analogous to a body, concerned with social solidarity, and developed the idea of the ‘social fact’ * Social Solidarity: division of labour Organic: present in modern societies, high dynamic density, high degree of labour specialization (works like a human body, everything works together with high specialization) Mechanical: present in traditional societies, low dynamic density , low degree of labour specialization (works like gears, works together to complete society) * Similarities of Social Solidarity: Conscience collective similar ideas of morality, similar ideas about space time and reality (collective ideas of morality, what you can and cannot do with the influence on laws, teachings, parents etc.) * In modern society are functional, high amount of labour (all works together, functionalism) * Crime is a functional part of society (punishment s are set, so others don’t commit crime) * A social fact is way of acting. Fixed, or not capable of exercising on individual an external constrain, or way of acting which is general throughout society, while at same time existing. (Social fact: external to the self, beyond the biography of self, affects individual, actions, thoughts, religion, fashion, education etc.) * Durkheim: Studying multiple variables will allow you to determine relationship of various social facts * Durkheim: Suicide is social (men more suicidal than women) * Karl Marx: Idea of historical materialism, Labour theory of value, Understanding of ideology * Historical Materialism: “the history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles”, human history result of human action, human action determined by material realities (economic realities: due to economy) * History is not made with time but propelled over access to power and materials (dialects of history: primitive communism, feudalism, capitalism (current system), communism) * Capitalism (a system of exploitation, the current system) * Labour Theory of Value: use value (what it does for you), exchange value (cost), surplus value (excess of value produced by labour in relation to wages) , commodity (something bought or sold with value), commodity fetishism * Surplus value: what you invest into a water bottle for ex., how much you pay your workers, and how much you sell the bottle for is the surplus value to accumulate maximum surplus value by paying workers very little * Alienation: From one’s own labour force, from the products of one’s labour, form other people, from one’s self (labour is something you can sell now, workers are alienated, they cannot afford to buy what they make most of the time) * Workers in China had suicide working in Apple factory due to too much demand and pressure of making Iphone3’s * Ideology: That which is taken as naturally, but serves the interest of the powerful ** * Ideology is like a camera of obscure (image of reality is not what it seems: distorted) * Mark: Religion is like a drug, makes you blind from reality and exploitation of living on earth, school is also an ideology * Max weber: founder of interpretive sociology, developed schema for studying and analyzing micro interactions at a macro-sale * Verstehen (understanding): understanding and interpretation 1) Direct observation understanding 2) Explanatory Understanding (historically, mass social phenomenon, based on understanding of ‘ideal types’) * Ideal Types: Analytical tools designed to id in the analysis of complicated social life, they are abstractions, not intended to corresponded to lived experiences, allows ‘verstehen’ to be understood as scientific (ex. Birth age, high school groups, types of musicians, sports players etc.) September, 18th, 2012 Methods, Ethics & Socialization * Research design: A broad topic being narrowed into a specific topic, ex. Pets to dogs to bulldogs to a research question (quantitative study) * Qualitative question: relationship b/w aggression and hockey * Quantitative & Qualitative are data methods (for collecting and analyzing data) * Collect data: participant observation, surveys, interviews * Analyze data: content analysis, statistical analysis (surveys etc., narrative analysis (interviews etc.) * There is a mixed method which uses a combined of both methods * ** Neither one of these methods are valid (both are flawed), they are just used to answer different types of questions * Quantitative: begins with hypothesis and why questions (relationships b/w variables), purpose to explain phenomena and test hypothesis (deductive reasoning) * Qualitative: begins with what and how questions, purpose to explore phenomena (inductive reasoning) * ** quantitative methods reduced to numbers that can be analyzed and qualitative is reduced to a narrative (text) * Quantitative: for larger samples, (surveys, stats analysis, content analysis) ( more of a Durkheim traditions) * Qualitative: smaller sample size, (contents, in depth interview, participant observation, ethnographic method) * Hypothesis: a testable theory, a statement about a particular relationship that can be tested empirically * Variables: independent variable - can be manipulated, dependent variable – is the reaction (or lack of thereof) of the manipulation (ex. Gender (independent) & beverage (dependent) * Operational definition: describes how a variable is measured * Types of data: demographic (census), social environment (certain areas/neighbourhoods), activities (media exposure, commute time etc.), opinions & attitudes * Survey designs: cross-sectional (ex. Canadians), longitudinal (ex. survey same people every 3 years), trend (ex. Crush) , cohort (ex. particular demographic) * People get most of their data from census and Statistics Canada * * Quantitative Research: Michael Haan (2007) – location and immigrant economic well-being in Canada” hypothesis: there is a relationship b/w city of immigrant settlement and economic well-being * * Independent variable: gateway cities – Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver, non-gateway cities * * Dependent variable: economic well-being – employment status, income, employment mismatch * * His research showed that economic well-being slightly better in non-gateway cities * Qualitative Research methods: Ethnography (writing about culture - participant observation, interviewing, archival research), Content analysis * Harriet Martineau: the first famous female sociologist (wrote ethnography “society in America” – 1837, “how to observe morals and manners” – 1838) – do not rush to conclusions when doing ethnographic research, do not generalize from limited * observations, recognize that observations are cognations to the truth (understand that you are going to see one side of the culture, limited access to information, not laugh or judge other cultures (ethnocentric), can include: interviews, stats, and * Erving Goffman: he was an excellent ethnographer, wrote “Asylums” – 1961 * Content Analysis: “any systematic procedure which is devised to examine the content recorded information” (Walizer & Wiener – 1978: 343) * Media analyzed: newspapers & books, pamphlets, graffiti, film, TV, ads, letters, etc. * Socialization: how society has produced us to act – “the lifelong process by which we learn our culture, develop our personalities, and become functioning members of society” (Ravelli, Webber, Patterson p.98) * Primary Socialization (birth to adolescents), Secondary socialization (goes both ways, ex. Prof teaches you, you teach prof), Anticipatory socialization (process of socialization of new role ex. Widow, prof, student etc.), Re-socialization (practices of helping people re-enter society, ex. People in jail, people traumatized etc.) * We are always being taught, what is being expected of us, then we perform our roles * Process Childhood, adolescence, young adulthood, middle adult hood, late adult hood * Symbolic interaction & George Herbert Mead (1863-1931) The social self: I = spontaneous, creative, impulsive, and unpredictable part of the social self, Me = socialized element of the self, part of consciousness that thinks about how you are being perceived (object and subject) * Children & the social self: limitation, role playing, game playing, the generalized other (learn what is right, wrong, feelings, how you affect other factors etc.) * Agents of Socialization: Family – parenting styles (Diana Baumrind), permissive (too much freedom), authoritative (offer freedom, but set clear rules and expectations), authoritarian (parent have too many rules, and don’t explain rules, no level of mutual respect, rebel etc.) * Peers: have influence on you, maybe even more than your parents at times (peers may be more important than parents) * Education: key place for primary and secondary socialization, place for intentional (gain knowledge for future) and unintentional socialization, hidden curriculum are ideas about social values, genders, race, and class that are produced in the education system (ex. Who we value, males in sports, girl cheerleaders etc.) * Media: Intentional and Unintentional socialization, gender ideas, media violence and activities etc., produces CSI effect: really strong expectations of what evidence is going to look in jury system, court etc. (due to too much TV, movies, shows etc.) * Conclusion: Socialization through the life course, symbolic interactionist perspective on socialization, agents of socialization: family, media, peers Sep, 25, 2012 * Different ideas about gender are produced through toys, ads, etc. * There are dominant ideas of masculinity (richest, more power etc.) * “Sex refers to the biological apparatus, the male and female; gender is masculinity and femininity-what it means to be a man or a woman” (Kimmel) * Sex: rooted in biology, our physical selves, bodies are male or female or inter sexed * Gender: the socially constructed characteristics associated with the sexes, bodies are socially produced to be masculine or feminine * Predominant gender story: dominant ideologies about gender; bodies are born in 2 types (male & female), bodies are gendered masculine and feminine, bodies are attracted to opposite-type bodies, reproduction of bodies and gender * Challenge: 1) there are intersex people, 2) transgendered people, 3) queer community, 4) people choose not to have children for various reasons * Found: toys, movies, ads etc. * Is produced/reproduced through borderwork (celebrating what is expected in society and punishing those that don’t follow what is “expected” through gay bashing, hate crimes etc. * Dichotomous thinking: based on binaries - black/white, male/female, hetero/homo * Binaries are not equal * Binaries are not stable, they require borderwork (social sanctions that ensure that these gender ideas seem natural, universal and timeless) * EXs: men – are rational, strong, gain wisdom with age, are independent women – are emotional, physically weak, loose sex appeal with age, are dependent (rely on men) * Hegemonic Masculinity: It is the ideal type of masculinity, this type of masculinity guards the most social approval most interesting man in the world: he’s white, old, Charming, educated, rich, strong etc. * Masculinity studies: “qualitatively different types of masculinity are produced within the same social setting”, types of masculinity form a Hierarchy, differences not a matter of free choice, differences created by race, ethnicity, class, age, sexual orientation etc. * Emphasized Femininity: she’s dependent, cooks, nurtures, cheer leader, sexual attractiveness (for men’s desires), does not have power (supports the man, cannot be successful and be the ideal woman at the same time in society, * Infantilizing Women: embodying the ideal type of women in society (child, vulnerable) * Women in reality TV: catty & manipulative, stupid, incompetent, gold diggers * The Patriarchal Dividend: “the advantages of men as a group from maintaining an unequal gender order”, when you take all characteristics to be an ideal men or women, the men always come out on top (ex. The ideal man can be a CEO, and a women can be ideal but not a CEO) * When boys try to participate in female “activities”, society denies them, but when girls try to participate in male “activities”, society highly encourages it * Hetero sex: Phallocentrism – Virginity, metaphors for genitalia, The female orgasm – Freud (mini male orgasms - copy), Kinsey (multiple), feminism (seen as a challenge) * ** Our understanding of heterosexuality is phallocentric (sex based on male penis and pleasure) – men name penis, created “bases”, “did you score” etc. * Men exaggerates how much sex they have, and women downplay how much sex they have * The sexual double standard: “those who have many sexual relations experience gendered consequences; men are heralded as “studs”, while women are marked as “sluts” * Discourses of female sexuality: Virgin – are idealized, women have less sexual desires, are morally required to control insatiable desires for men, celebrated in the figure of the bride, women are withholding (have/hold discourse), women privilege love & romance over sex * Whore – are objectified, are available to fulfill the sexual desires and fantasies of men, are objects to be leered at fondled, harassed, are subject to male violence, celebrated in pornography * Discourse of male sexuality: Marlboro man (aggressive, insensitive, selfish) The sensitive guy (negotiate sexual behaviour, doesn’t get you very far) * Heteronormativity : “Heteronormativity structures social life so that heterosexuality is always assumed, expected, ordinary and privileged”, present is language, media, built environment, etc. (like SNAF), produces non-hetero sexualities and non-normative heterosexuality as deviant * Heterosexism: “The belief in the inherent superiority of one pattern and thereby its right to dominance” * Heteronormativity & Heterosexism - 1) Presents heterosexual desire & romance as necessary and magical, ultimately produced through the kiss, 2) presents women’s bodies as objects of heterosexual desire, men’s bodies as sites for action or humour * Presented as “magical” in Disney movies (ex. A kiss can break a spell, grow legs), there are also some homophobia in these movies * Queer Subjectivities: Subjectivity –“ how you come to know yourself and are known by others as a coherent individual”, according to Foucault (1978) – Queer subjectivities emerged in the 19th century with the emergence of psychiatry, jurisprudence, and medical knowledge about sexual practices * Homosexuality was decriminalized in Canada in 1969, take off as a disorder in 1973 * Homophobia: “pervasive cultural fear of same-sex erotic or sexual contact”, shift in cultural concern from “what causes homosexuality?” to “what causes hatred of homosexuality?” * Conclusion: sex/gender distinction, predominant gender story, dichotomous thinking, hegemonic masculinity, emphasized femininity, patriarchal dividend, dominant understanding of heterosexual are phallocentric and gendered, our social world is organized by structures of heteronormativity, homosexuality is discursively produced, there have been many moments of resistance to homophobia Race & Racialization Oct, 2, 2012
* Minority: “any definable category of people who are socially disadvantaged” * Ethnicity: “a multi-dimensional concept that includes one’s minority or majority status, ancestry, language and often religious affiliation” * Race: A group of people who were physically and genetically distinguished from other groups * Racialization: “The process of attributing complex characteristics (e.g. athletic abilities, intelligence) to racial categories” * Prejudice: “A negative assessment about what a person or group is like before you actually meet them” * Racism: “An ideology that maintains that one race is inherently superior to another” * Discrimination: “when a person or group either denies or grants advantages to members of a particular group” * Oppression: It is consistent, produces groups of people, the accumulated effect of discrimination, not accidental, leads to double-bind situations, both hyper-visible & invisible (if you are white you are invisible, you are hyper-visible if you are racialized) * Privilege: Peggy Macintosh - (white people) is like an invisible knapsack, Racialized people have a visible backpack filled with bricks that disable them, it is important for white people to understand this concept, so they can act against this reality (no matter what white people do, it is considered a norm (even if it is good or bad), racialized people are going to be understood as deviant against the norm
The Colour of Beauty:
1. 1) How do dominant ideas about race intersect with dominant ideas about gender, age, and, class? 2. 2) What were the demographics of New York’s 2008 fashion week models? 3. 3) How does white privilege operate in the fashion industry A1: Certain groups of people are always less or more privileged than other groups of people, they are seen as more superior/ capable than the other groups in the same category (ex. Black, white, men, women etc.) and this concept is linked to gender, race, ages, and class A2: 87% are white A3: Ethnic women have to have white girl features to be model, white girls are seen as the ideal over any other races (racialized women) White beauty are the norms, they don’t have to be flawless, but ethnic women do * “Post –colonial theory examines the ways in which the colonial past has shaped the social, political, and economic ** * Imperialism: “The practices and attitudes of colonizers * Colonialism: “The concrete and ideological effects of imperialism within colonized territories (what happens away from home”)”… examples of former colonies include India, most countries in Africa, the Caribbean. (missing from this definition is…North America) * Colonialism in a white settler society: “A while settler society is one established by Europeans on non-European soil. Its origins lie in the dispossession and near extermination of indigenous populations by the conquering Europeans” 3 phases in producing Canada as “white settler society” * First Phase: Canada as Terra Nullius – white people came and made it “theirs” (ignoring the aboriginals), pretended it was an empty land * Second Phase: ‘White’ settlement/development - Chinese, aboriginals, and women are ignored * Third Phase: Protecting the borders – (European) white men need to make sure the majority stays white, need to contain white supremacy (by keeping out refugees, immigrants, etc.) * Colonialism & Aboriginality: * Aboriginal women b/w 25-44 are 5 times more likely to die of violence than non-aboriginal women in white society (1) violence: racist & sexist stereotypes, deny aboriginal women dignity and worth which produces the idea that men can take advantage, 2) Decades of government policy have broken apart aboriginal communities making aboriginal women more vulnerable to violence, 3) When violence against aboriginal women happens, many officers don’t have training and understanding of colonialism of the Aboriginal society * Conclusion: define key concepts: oppression, privilege and How is Canada constantly reproduces as a white-settler society * Mid Term: 90 minutes, based on lecture + text book material (The big ideas and main concepts, no statistics/dates or numbers) – 20 MC & 10 Short answer questions (60 Marks) – Content & analytical questions Oct, 2, 2012 Social Class & Inequality * Definitions: * Theorizing social class & Inequality: – 1) Functionalism: Capitalism is a meritocracy, the Davis-Moore thesis argues that poverty has two functions, It: “Motivates people to fulfill certain social needs… motivates people to fulfill their duties and responsibilities” (Ravelli, Webber & Patterson p.201) (owners) and the proletariats (workers) – industrialization leads to an intensification of the two-class system, Bourgeoisie * Weber - Class, Status, Party: 3) Class = access to material resources, Status = a style of life associated with a distinct social circle, Party = a group of people who collectively seek power in the face of opposition * White Collar workers – does not own where their working, are very mobile, and ex. Retail, factories, beer server etc. * Vavour – while social status class refers to , soial status refers to prestige * A party can be based on social class, based on life style, religion etc. * Symbolic Interaction & Thorstein Veblen: conspicuous consumption (people do things of higher class to make themselves look like they are at the higher class even if they’re not, ex. People buying things to show off that don’t help you’re needs) , conspicuous leisure (taking extravagant trips, so you can post photos, ex. Facebook, Twitter etc.), conspicuous waste (Giving huge tips, upgrading everything you have, ex. Computers, phones, music players etc.)
* Gender & Work: Sex segregation – starts in childhood with chores, across cultures and historically, jobs associated with women are less compensated ex. Density in Europe, Veterinary medicine in the 1960s. Wages - 2008 statistic from Stats Can as of May 2009. Men on average, full-time made $23.61, women, $20.14, and women make 85% men do, men make 117% of what women make… “I’ve seen the glass ceiling, it’s made out of golf balls” * Glass Ceiling: “Those artificial barriers, based on attitudinal or organizational bias, that prevent qualified individuals from advancing upward within their organization into management level positions” (Lynn Martin) * Sticky Floor: “Keeps women trapped in low wage positions, with little opportunity for upward mobility” (Kimmel) * Glass Cellar: Refers to the reality that men occupy the most dangerous professions * Glass Escalator: Refers to the quick promotion of men in traditionally female professions (ex. Men as head of nurse, men as head of day care system etc.) * Poverty: Defining poverty – absolute poverty (do you have the basic essentials for life, access to daily needs), relative poverty (do you have the things you need to live in modern society, ex. relative to your neighbour, ex. Internet, healthcare, education etc. Measuring poverty – Low income cut-off (LICO) (includes both absolute and relative poverty, poverty line shifts depending on where you live, ex. Living in Toronto vs. Manitoba, big city vs. small town, etc.). Sarlo Line (Most absolute measures comparison). Low Income Measure (LIM) (Takes the average income for the city and divides it by two and that is the low income line) *** research It * Taxation: Income tax: Progressive taxation, 2005, before transfers, highest quintile had 51% of income, after taxes 46.7%, lowest went from 2.1% to 4.1%, this redistributes wealth (free education, free health care helps reduce poverty). Consumer tax: Regressive taxations, GST and PST on consumer goods like cars, furniture, clothing costs low-income earning higher % of their income than high-income earners. (relative form of taxation * Globalization & Global Poverty: Early International Trade & Colonization (1400s to 1950s) – Exploiting human resources in Africa * The new global order post WW2: Breton woods, 19444 0 International Monetary Fund (MMF), World Bank, General Agreement on tariffs and Trade (GATT) – later to become World Trade Organization (WTO) (all these things are for the global north, favour GN) * Oil Crisis (1973): 1973 – Yom Kippur War b/w Egypt & Israel, The US supported Israel, Arab – oil-producing countries created an oil-embargo leading to super high oil prices in the west, Oil embargo led to increased inflation and high interest rates, governments globally accrued high national debts, international financial crisis ensured * Neoliberalism: (Mark fetcher, Ronald reggae, big impact) – As a response to the international financial crisis of the 1970s… Key tenets: Privatisation of public goods (transportation, media, infrastructure etc.), Austerity measure (cutting on social spending), Liberalizing markets (increase of free trade) * Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPS): Program of the IMF and World Bank, Loans will be given to countries in the Global South with strict conditions impose. (Austerity measures – ex. Limited govt. spending on social services. Free markets, allowing TNC’s to dominate local economies and cultures) * TNCs affect: Global health, The global and urban environment, Child labour * Dependency Theory: The industrialization of the Global North was dependent on the unfair exploitation of natural and human resources of the Global South through centuries of colonization and the trans-Atlantic slave trade (Companies exploit all the resources of these poor countries and leave them with environmental devastation). Economies in the Global South and disables form development – used instead as single resource export economies that serve the Global North. * Globalization and work with the Global North: 1) Decline in union participation – What do unions do? – collective bargaining, negotiate for: wages, working conditions, grievance policies, benefits (In Canada, union advantage is about $6.80, 20% more likely to have a drug or dental plan and pension plan, prevents poverty) * Unions and Neoliberalism: 1) Threats of capital flight stifles unions abilities to organize 2) Austerity measure of the govt. 3) In Canada and global north generally, union density has fallen = in 1983, 43% workers where unionized, in 2003 31% of workers were unionized 4) Union density affected by: increase in service sector * Wal-Town: Some things to think about – 1) How does this film demonstrate the effects of globalization on labour conditions in global north 2) What are the activist main criticism of Wal-Mart * A: 1) Wal-Mart exploits lower income families, pay employees very little (minimum wage) and they are not unionized, people in global south are not benefiting from Wal-Mart (just being exploited with cheapest possible labour and resources), they employ the most needy and vulnerable type of people (single mothers etc.), the job of the GM is to prevent a unionization. * A: 2) Wal-Mart makes all other business shut down due to really cheap prices (exploited resources turned into products with cheap labour), what is good for Wal-Mart is not good for everybody else, they have a huge impact of consumer choice and consumption, * Conclusions: What is social class? How do functionalists, Marxists, Weber, and symbolic interactionists explain social inequality? How is the work world gendered? * Tutorial: What is the union advantage? - $6.80, 20% more likely to have drug plan & and pension, prevents poverty. What are structural adjustment programs? – condition like scarity measure, state spend less, ex. Allow trans corporations to go into country for resources. What is conspicuous consumption? Buying things for the little brand. It is a symbolic interactionism. What is the documentary’s critique of the Cosby show? Portraying families as living the American dream, it is possible and anybody can achieve this. According to Weber, how are class and status different? – Class is measured with access to money and income etc. Status is the social honor and prestige.
Sociology of the Family Oct, 30, 2012
* Census Family: A couple with or without children (Stats Can.) * Economic Family: Two or more people in a family in dwelling (includes foster children, blood related etc.) (Stats Can.) * Different types of families influence taxation, benefits etc. * Ravelli & Webber: Nuclear family (blood), Extended family ( diff. generations in the fam.), Family of orientation, Family of procreation * Other family forms: Standard families, Lone-parent families, Urban families * Definition of Family (Margaret Eichler): A family includes a combo of the following: Socialization, Emotional relationship, Residence, Economics, Sexuality & Reproduction * The Standard North American Family (SNAF): An Ideology (Dorothy Smith): Dictates that a nuclear family based on hetero sexual procreation is taken for granted Normal & Ideal * SNAF’s live in suburbs (dwelling nuclear families) * TV, Politics, Pro-natelist state policies & Laws, Toys, Holidays, The built environment, A&W are huge types of ideological persuasion * Marriage: Assumptions: Based on love, Are monogamous, --- finish on ppt **** * Arranged Marriages: Occur in Japan, parts of Africa, and middle East, as well in some North American communities, A way to maintain family material resources, ensure family continuity, there are also semi-arranged marriages * Are Monogamous: Polygamy: More than one spouse or partner, Polygyny: Husband with multiple wives, Polyandry: Wife with multiple husbands * Polygamy increases violence according to research, criminalizing polygamy boasts white supremacy * Are Heterosexual: Canada’s Bill C-38 (Civil marriage Act), 2005, Re-defines marriage as: “the lawful union of two persons to the exclusion of all others”, Main arguments against Bill: Concerns about religious freedom, there should be a national referendum on the topic, why can’t gay unions just be ‘civil unions’? (Paul Martin) * Naturally Produce Children: Adoption, Medically assisted procreation (health problems, costs of procedure and raising children, Success rate fairly low 32% etc.) - goes against the idea of the biological family is the dominant ideology in society * Marriage Lasts A Lifetime: 50% of all marriages have been divorced, we are living in the time of divorce ‘porn’, very dominant in TV (not seen as a failure) * Causes for Divorce: Micro level: Irreconcilable differences, Attitude, Individual behaviours, Macro-level: Change in divorce laws, Change in cultural attitudes, Women’s participation in paid workforce (Divorce laws implemented in 1968, In 1986 there was no fault divorce, * Meso-level Divorce Factors: Lower age marriage means higher chance of divorce, if couples stayed together before it increases the chance of divorce (adverse selectivity), If you divorced a couple of times before you are more likely to divorce, If you’re parents are divorced you are more likely to get divorced, If you have more children you are less likely to get divorced, City people are more likely to divorce, If you are religious you are less likely to get divorced, If you have a lower economic standard of living you are more likely to get divorced. * Parenting: Motherhood: According to Judith Warner, what is motherhood anxiety? What are the solutions? What is absent in her analysis? Fatherhood: Ideas of fatherhood being tested in current moment, during industrialization and before 2nd world war father seen as distant but effective, they got things done, in post war period, father seen as productive but involved in more leisure, in more modern time, father still as seen productive but more nurturing and more stay home fathers, they also have different methods of nurturing * According to functionalism, men and women served different roles in the family, men plays the instrumental role (make money), women plays the expressive role(nurturing labour), men is the public figure seen with more value, women is the private figure seen with less economic value and less valued in society – Carson * Women work more a day on domestic labour and get paid less than men * Conclusion: read on ppt --- ***
The Mass Media Nov, 13, 2012
* Mass media: “Defining include any medium designed to communicate messages to a mass audience” * Types of media: books, newsmedia, advertising, fashion, architecture, monuments, musuems, * Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer – What is the relationship b/w the economy and culture, the culture industry (or mass/ popular culture) has one function: to reproduce incessantly the values of capitalist culture, Interested in the relationships b/w culture and fascism, offered a more in-depth critique of media as a ‘superstructure’ * Standardization – Culture packaged in small number of predictable forms and genres, produced by small number of large corporations, there is simultaneously nothing new and always something new, movies use the same story and change it up a bit * Pseudo-Individualization - The audience response is “built-into” the cultural product, our culture is “pre-digested for us”, audiences are passive, choice is an illusion (starbucks, apple ‘think differently’ etc.) * Maintenance of Status Quo – Media lulls the public into passivity, distracts from big social issues (eg. American Idol), Maintains social ideas – re: race, gender, class (eg. The film “class dismissed”, Disney) * Absorption of dissent – Fight club (the movie brought huge box office profits), Graffiti Removal Hotline (capitalist system, the idea of selling out) , Turns things into main stream * Critiques of culture industry thesis: It’s elitist, historically specific, disregards alternative uses/readings of culture, totalizing – i.e. “resistance is futile” (we can consume things passively, passionately, ironically etc.) * Introducing Marshall McLuhan – Born in Edmonton, raised in Winnipeg, lived most of his life in Toronto, Pop sensation in the 1960’s, “the medium is the message”, We live in a “global village” * Understanding Media - Oral cultures (format of writing says something, disregarding what is said, communicate with our whole body, ears, body language, hands, feet etc., You learn through conservations, storytelling, intellective dialogue, fits into the printing press which is written culture), Writing cultures (eyes to communicate, based on and reinforces ideas of linearity and logic, they are very straight forward and require focus of one sense, we see the birth of the individual, written culture detribalize), Electric culture (Mode of communication that happened in oral culture, telegraph, TV, Internet, visual and communicating with our whole bodies, you can talk back and engage in electric culture, retribelism you can communicate to many people, use all our senses ) * Hot Media: Written Culture – High definition, one sense at a time, are largely passive media, sequently space that are linear and logical, radio, movie, “exudes”, industrialized countries, the city slicker, the waltz (ex. Lectures) * Cool Media: Oral Culture & Electric culture – Low definition, multiple sense, demand more audience participation, talking on the phone, a seminar class, TV, “includes”, The rustic, The Twist (ex. Living Library) * Does the Internet (including Facebook, Twitter) democratize media? Yes, because now anybody can mass communicate information to many people whether it be true or false. * Are these social networking sites a form of pseudo communication? * Who owns & controls the news media – Public ownership: Canada Broadcasting Corporation, the Nation Film Board, TV Ontario, Private Ownership: Independent ownership, Horizontal integration, Vertical integration, Cross-ownership, Conglomerate ownership, (public ownership offers a voice for Canadian stories and news ex. Being Erica) * Race & Film – Blaxploitation (1970s Spike Lee), Assimilationist (1980s shows like the Cosby Shows, “Black and White friendship films”, American Dream/ White Saviour films), Social Realism Do the Right Thing, Boyz N the Hood * White savior films suggest that crime and poverty can be overcome with the help of a white person, ironically white people used black people as slaves back in the day * He Social realism situate the lives of black people in politics (structural inequality, corrupt newspaper system) * Gender in Film and Television – “the male gaze”, Male characters: looked at through a gaze of narcissism. Men see other men like a mirror, and male characters are produced as subjects to be identified with… Female characters viewed through the lens of scopophilia “arises from pleasure in using another person as an object of sexual stimulation though sight” (From a men’s perspective, women are sexual figures and the man in the movie is how they should be like) * Ig, Ego (what you want, and what society wants you to have or not), Super Ego (conscience, relationsip b/w you and society) * The relationship b/w society and one’s ego would be what society expects of us which influences our opinions and choices
Deviance and Crime Nov, 20, 2012
* Deviance: Attitude, Behaviour, Condition (Violates social norms in the society in which it occurs), this goes against the accepted social expectation in that particular society * Integrated Typology of Deviance: Negative deviance, Rate Busting, Deviance Administration, Positive Deviance * If nobody has a reaction towards an action, is it considered deviant? * Negative deviance is the deviance that don’t meet the expectations of society and people react negatively towards it (Ex. Paul Bernard) * Positive Deviance is the deviance when people go above and beyond and people act positive towards it (Ex. Mother Teresa) * Deviance administration is when someone underachieves but very proud of it, and people really admire that character or person (Ex. Bart Simpson) * Rate busting is when people over perform and are not well regarded for it * It is about existing outside of the social norm and these change over time * Definition of deviance change over time and social space, the definition must consider norm violations and reaction by others (What is considered appropriate in one place might be inappropriate in another social place) * The power to define deviance – Moral entrepreneurship and moral crusades (gain public support by showing something as deviant), ex. “Squeegee Kids” (homeless youth) in Toronto, constructing the “problem”, remove focus from youth homelessness, and create it as a threat to urban habitability * Squeegee kids were framed and constructed as violent and aggressive by the media, this resulted in legislation (new laws), part about why their homeless were left out of the problem * They can turn anything into deviant as long as it support their cause * Deviance and Social Solidarity – “Imagine a society of saints, a perfect cloister of exemplary individuals. Crimes properly so called, will there be unknown; but faults which appear venial to the layman will create there the same scandal that the ordinary offence does in ordinary consciousness.” * If everyone was perfect, the simplest infraction would cause a negative uproar * 1) Affirms cultural values and norms (Confirms what is considered right and wrong in society) * 2) Clarifies boundaries (You learn the extent to what is considered right and wrong in society) * 3) Promotes social unity (Brings you together) * 4) Encourage social change (Without acting outside of boundaries, things would not change) * Deviance does not equal crime: Crimes are behaviours that violate criminal law and are punished, not all deviant behaviours are criminal (cheating ); not all things criminal are deviant (drinking alcohol and smoking marijuana), behaviours defined as criminal vary over time and space (drinking ages change and are different over time and places)
Common myths about crime and criminal behaviour: * 1) Most crime is violent (most crimes are property crime and theft) * 2) Crime is random (Different groups of people can be more vulnerable to certain types of crime that other) * 3) Criminals perpetrate crimes against people they don’t know (People you know are most likely to commit a crime against you) * 4) Crimes are committed by “social outcasts” (A person can be a victim and offender) * 5) Most crime is reported to police (Not all crime is comes out to light or reported) * The Crime Funnel: All crimes committed (The “dark” figure of crime) Crimes are reported to police Charges Laid Convictions * We cannot say that the ones that are convicted, is the population of people who committed a crime * Thinking sociologically about crime – Individual Motivation: “Evil”, spiritual, “out of control”, psychological, “Sick”, Biological Sociological: Learned behaviour (social interaction, ex. How you learn criminal behaviour), Lack of resources (social structure, ex. Why most crimes are committed in low income neighbourhoods), Labeled “Criminal” (Social Power, ex. Politicians getting away with crime though power of money) * Sociological Explanation of Crime (Differential Association Theory): Deviant behaviour is learned in interaction with others (techniques of committing the crime), Association vary in terms of: 1) Frequency 2) Duration 3) Priority 4) Intensity * What is you’re rational for committing the crime and how does it benefit you? * Sociological Explanation of Crime (Masculinity of Crime): Crime as a resource for “performing” masculinity, Masculinity and violence, Masculinity and the label of “victim” (Stereotype that usually men commit the crime and they are feminized if they are not violent) * Preventing Crime: Social Control - It prevent people from acting out of social norms, If social order exists, so must social control! Social control is basically systematic practices developed by social groups to encourage conformity and to discourage deviance Formal social control (laws, police etc.) and Informal social control (peers, people of higher authority etc.) * Hunter Typology of Informal Social Control: Private level of social control (family, close friends etc.) , Parochial level of social control (community, media, religious organization etc.), Public level of social control (you bringing in formal agents of social control, you could report someone or vice versa when you see any forms of ‘crime’) * Responding to Crime Punishment: Proportionality – Determining a punishment that “fits” the crime, Functions of punishment: Social protection/Incapacitation (about ‘protecting the public’), Retribution/Penalty (punishments for doing certain crimes), Deterrence (specific , general prevents you from doing the crime again or because the penalty exists), Rehabilitation (idea that through supervision, you can teach someone to be a law abiding member), (in)effectiveness of prison (will serving a sentence in prison prevent the person from repeating or committing more crime increasing prison term do not reduce crime rates and it is very expensive)
Queen Bees and Wannabes Nov, 20, 2012
* How are the problems of cliques understood as gendered? Is this fair? * Who/what is being blamed? Is this fair? * Do the cliques discussed align with the definition in the textbook? * Are cliques an example of social dysfunction? Or a functional element of society? * Is cool ideological? * Is there a relationship between cliques and alienation * Media are being blamed for representation of aggressive girls and families * Girl preteen meanness are blown out of proportion because it is not seen as ideal in society, while guys getting into fights seen as manly and seen as ideal (reinforces gender ideals)
* Cliques: “A small exclusive set”, “A group of tightly interconnected people”, What they do: Satisfy human needs for interaction and support, they produce new roles, rules and cultural values (e.g. Bohemians, new clubs), Have unstated mission to raise status of *** * Crowds: They are large and unanimous (unorganized type of people, to support a common mood), Casual crowd: No direct leadership, ex. Mall crowd, Conventional crowd: Getting together and supporting something, ex. Hockey game, Expressive crowds: Shows support like a gay pride crowd, mobs, etc., Protest crowd: comes together to support of social movements, ex. G20 protesters * Sociology of Social Movements: What is a social movement? “People from a social movement when they voluntarily work together to influence the distribution of social goods (ex. Water, food, peace, equality etc.)”, “Social movements are conscious, concerted, and sustained efforts by ordinary people to change some aspect of their society by changing extra-intuitional means (people working outside of power distribution)” * Types of Social Movements: Level of change (small or big change?), Direction of change (working for something new, return something to how they were before etc.), Speed of change (how fast or slow will the change be), Target of change (individuals, politicians, impact individual behaviours ex. Mothers against drunk driving etc.) * Tactics: 1) Civil disobedience: “Narrowly understood, the refusal by all or part of a community to pay taxes or obey the laws and regulations of the state, as an attempt at changing government policy by non-violent means” (Not obeying the rules, because you disagree with the rules) 2) Direct Action: Includes nonviolent and violent activities, target individuals, groups, property, ex. Strikes, workplace occupations, sit-ins, sabotage, property *** (ex. Guerilla Gardening, Bike ride)
Critical Mass: Advocate more things like better public transit, more bike lanes using bike marathons etc. 3) Cultural Jamming: Turning something against itself 4) Cause Marketing: Refers to idea that corporations adopt political movements (Ex. Green washing, Pink washing, tactics that the corporation is doing something good like saving rainforests, support breast cancer research etc.) * Sociology of the Environment: Environmental Racism (Refers to the unequal distribution of race regarding the environment, land etc.), Sociology of Food (), Sociology of Water () * The Politics of Food: The Local Food Movement – Locavores, Slow food movement, Food miles (Distance from farm to plate, b/w 1500-2000 miles within North America for produce, free trade agreements and cheap labour influenced this) * Urban Food Deserts: Downtown urban neighbourhoods lacking supermarkets, An effect of suburbanization and the growth of chain mega-super-markets (responding to the needs of a middle income market), Health and ecological consequences (supports idea of driving everywhere to eat healthier) * How are issues of water and/or bottled water about: Globalization? Public good vs. private profit? Environmental racism, classism, and sexism? * Transnational corporations are scaring us, seducing us, and misleading us is how they sell bottled water to society, is clean water a public good? Clean water should be available to all and not something you should pay for. * Conclusion: Define: Cliques, Crowds, and Social Movements, What are some tactics of social movements? What is environmental racism? What are: food miles? Urban food deserts? Describe some of the complicated politics of bottled water
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Durkheim was interested in investigating into the social order, and thus engaged in the study of society. He proposed the use of scientific method in understanding society, which is a pioneer in this field. In the past, people concern the idea of perfect society. For example, Durkheim wrote, “Plato was, aimed at discovering, not the laws of social existence, but the best form of society. He does not establish this principle as a law which societies actually follow” (Giddens, 1972 :58) Durkheim believed that there are certain mechanisms behind the society. At the same times, (19th century), as natural science yielded a great success, positivism engendered great influence in the academic world.…
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Mechanic solidarity refers to a stage in society when all the individuals have similar or the same responsibilities, jobs and value towards society. It can be said that if one individual was to leave then there would be hardly or no significant change in within the society. This type…
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