Sociology 102
Terms
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- What is a social problem?
- a condition that undermines the well-being of some or all members of a society and is usually a matter of public controversy.
- Social Structures
- the way that people view things
- Infrastructure
- the physical aspects of society (buildings, roads and stuff)
- Economic Structure
- a way to distribute resources in society
- Power
- the ability to do something
- Economic Power
- The wealthy do better than the poor
- Political Power
- the government sets out laws that forbid people from doing certain things.
- Capitalism
- Idea developed by Adam Smith. Means of production are owned by the citizens and the individual. It is private ownership of property.
- Socialism
- the government owns the means of production (the infrastructure). The rewards of that system are then given back to the people. Ex: (School)
- Political Structure
- The way the government is set up
- Democracy
- derived from latin words 'demos' meaning citizens (people) and 'crecey' meaning the rule. Therefore democracy is the rule of the people.
- Authoritarianism
- When a government forces people to do things. It is the legitimate use of power. The citizens understand that certain people have power.
- Monarchy
- Rule by king or queen. The only way to get into power is through bloodline, like prince william and harry.
- Plutocracy
- only the most highly educated can rule (similar to us... only highly educated become president)
- totalitarianism aka. dictatorship
- Is a militaristic government. The leader is in control of the armed forces. Pretty much do what i say or ill kill you.
- How has property ownership shaped political structures?
- Those with more property get to make the decisions. By having property, and thus money people have the power to make important decisions.
- The Sociological imagination
- the ability to distinguish between personal troubles and social issues (in the words of C. Mills)
- Personal Troubles
- a problem that affects an individual as oppose to a group.
- Social/Public Issues
- A problem that affects society as a whole.
- Unemployment example of Sociological Imagination
- If 1 out of 100 is laid off it is a personal problem. If 10 out of 100 are laid of it is a social/public issue.
- Divorce example of sociological immagination.
- half of all marriages end in divorce. social problem.
- Structural Functionalism
- how societies are held together
- Social institutions
- polity, economics, family, religion, education
- Social Solidarity
- refers to the integration, and degree and type of integration, shown by a society or group.
- Mechanical Solidarity
- Society holds together because all members of society are alike. Agrarian societies. No broad division of labor. Everyone does roughly the same thing.
- Organic Solidarity
- – the society coheres together based on the interdependence of each group of society. Broad division of labor.
- Social Pathology
- social problems that are shared by different nations or groups
- social dysfunction
- it tells us that if a problem exists in society it is because of disease that exists in some social institution.
- Manifest Functions
- the basic function of something. Washington states manifest function is education.
- Latent Functions
- the secondary functions, Washington States Latent functions would be providing a dating pool, job opportunities.
- How does structural functionalism perceive social problems?
- – social problems are the result of rapid social change. EX: Hurricane Katrina closed oil refineries which then raised gas prices, creating a social problem.
- Bourgeoisie - Capitalists
- it is in their interest to get workers to do as much as possible for as little as possible.
- Proletariat - workers
- It is in their interest to do as little as possible for as much as possible
- Lumpin Proletariat
- The poorest of the poor who will work for less, putting middle class out of business.
- Labor Theory of Value
- The cost of Labor is what determines the value of the product.
- Symbolic Interactionism
- Society only exists through our sharing of a set of symbols, and our understanding of these symbols
- Learning Theories/symbols
- you learn and develop ideas based on your surroundings and way of life. Ex: Being born in a poor neighborhood. Or being born in the USA, you probably learned english.
- Labeling Theories/symbols
- We have the ability to label other institutions and people in society. Once we apply a label to something, that determines the way we will react too it. Teacher applies label to us as “students†and shapes how he reacts to us.
- The social construction of social problems
- the way society perceives things creates social problems
- Survey Data
- The use of a census. Unfortunately this skips over homeless and illegal immigrants
- Experimental research
- Research in a lab. Bring in test subjects and see how they react.
- Secondary Analysis
- The follow up to the original tests. The objective is to uncover new data.
- Observational Techniques
- ethnographic studies.