Sociological Theories and Social Institutions

Sociological Theories and Social Institutions 4.1 Sociology: Theoretical Approaches     There are four major sociological theories that explain society: functionalism, conflict theory, symbolic interactionism, and social constructionism. Macro level theories, such as functionalism and conflict theory, focus on the effects of largescale social structures. Questions: Why societies form? Why societies change? Why their social structures function the way that they do? Symbolic interactionism analyzes society on a micro-level. Micro-level theorists’ study one-onone interactions and small group interactions. Social Constructionism can be either macro or micro, depending on the context. Functionalism (aka Structural Functionalism)             Oldest of the three major theories Conceptualizes society as a living organism with different interrelated parts that each have a specific purpose. Social structures like schools, churches, and hospitals work together to sustain society. Keeping society ordered, balanced and stable. Emile Durkheim was a pioneer in modern social research and a major proponent of functionalism. Durkheim believed that a society’s capacity to maintain social order and stability is critical to its functional success. When a healthy society faces a crisis or an imbalance, the major structures will work together to return to a state of dynamic equilibrium. Durkheim believed that society should be viewed holistically. Durkheim proposed an existence of a “collective conscience”, how people of a shared culture come to think in the same manner due to their shared beliefs, ideas, and moral attitudes. Manifest functions are the intended consequences of a structure. Latent functions are consequences of a structure that are not officially sought or sanctioned. Latent functions can be beneficial, neutral, or harmful. A social disfunction is a process that has undesirable consequences and may reduce the stability of society. Functionalism was the prevailing theory in the 1950s, but many sociologists began to believe that it could not accurately account for the rapid sociological advance that took place in the 1960s and 1970s. Conflict Theory   Also, a macro theory that focuses on large scale social structures and their effects on individuals. Conflict theory views society as a never-ending competition for limited resources and in some respects is in direct opposition of the functionalist perspective.           Those with the most resources, power, and influence will use their relative advantages to get more resources, power, and influence by suppressing the advancement of others. Karl Marx, who is closely identified with conflict theory, looked at the economic conflict between different social classes. Two main social classes exist: the bourgeois (ruling class) and the proletariat (working class). This unequal social order is maintained through hegemony- a coerced acceptance of the values, expectations, and conditions as determined by the capitalist class. Societal consensus is imposed by the “superstructure” of society, composed of social institutions, political structures, and culture. Marx felt revolution was inevitable in any capitalist society. He believed that capitalist conditions would create a class consciousness. He felt that capitalism would be overthrown and replaced by an extreme form of socialism (communism in which all means of production are owned by all workers equally). Max Weber, most known for critiquing and refining many of Marx’s tenets, agreed that inequalities in a capitalist society would lead to conflict but not collapse. Weber believed that the Protestant work ethic would be a critical factor in the success of capitalism. Rationalization of Society defined by Weber is our increasing concern with efficiency (achieving a maximum result with minimal effort). Durkheim, Marx and Weber are generally considered to be the three founders of sociology. The major criticism of conflict theory is that it focuses too much on competition and does not recognize the role of stability in society. Symbolic Interactionism            Starts at the micro level (bottom up and zoomed in). Views society as built up from typical everyday interactions. Was presaged by Weber’s belief that individuals act according to the interpretation of the meaning of their world. Works of George Herbert Mead are considered most important in the initial development of this theory. Symbolic interactionism examines the relationships between individuals and society by focusing on the exchange of information through language and symbols in one-on-one and small group communication. Individuals can make sense of the world around them by ascribing meaning to the symbols and language of their shared culture, these meanings depend on both individual interpretations and social context. Addresses the subjective meanings people impose upon objects, events and behaviors. People behave based on what they believe to be true. For interactionists, the self is developed through three important activities: language, games, and play. Social play is characterized by spontaneity and freedom, with minimal social rules and limited stakes. Example: two children playing in a sandbox or two adults meeting for coffee. Social games, however, have a much stricter set of rules and offer greater stakes. Examples: classic board games like Monopoly, the MCAT. Mead proposed the difference between the “I” and the “me”.      The “I” represented the individualistic self; it has its own autonomy and will. “Me” is used to represent the social self. This is when others are acting and interpreting our behavior and we are the object of their actions and interpretations. The Thomas Theorem is the theory that interpretation of a situation affects the response to that situation. The dramaturgical approach is an interactionist philosophy developed by Erving Goffman, a prominent proponent of symbolic interactionism. This idea views people as theatrical performers and everyday life as a stage. People choose what kind of image they want to convey to those that they interact with. Critics of symbolic interactionism contend that the theory neglects the macro level of social interpretation and may miss the larger issues of society by focusing too closely on individual interactions. Social Constructionism     Argues that people actively shape their reality through social interactions: reality being socially constructed rather than inherent. Both symbolic interactionism and social constructionism challenge the scientific viewpoint that there is one objective reality shared by all humans. Social constructionism claims that social attributes such as race, gender, sexuality, and class are constructs of society, and that the same is true of our concepts of occupational status, power, and mental health/illness. Even concepts we typically think of as completely measurable physical characteristics, such as money, wealth, age and even time are only social constructs. Social constructionists focus on both macro and micro sociological perspectives. Feminist Theory   Concerned with the social experiences of both men and women and the difference between these experiences Intersectionality posits that various human aspects subject to societal oppression (class, gender, race, and sexual orientation) do not exist isolated and separated from each other, but instead have complex, influential, and interwoven relationships. Rational Choice and Social Exchange Theories    An economic approach to the analysis of why, when, and how people interact. All rational choice paradigms share the fundamental premise that human behaviors are utilitarian. Rational choice theory is widely criticized for assuming that the inherent rationality of human actions and minimizing the role of culture and subjective meaning in individual and group behavior 4.2 Social Institutions   Social institutions are complexes of roles, norms, and values organized into a relatively stable form that contribute to social order by governing the behavior of people. Examples: educational systems, family, religions, government, and health care systems. Family    Serves these five functions: 1) Reproduction /monitoring of sexual behavior 2) Protection 3) Socialization 4) Affection &Companionship 5) Social Status. Endogamy refers to the practice of marrying within a particular group. Exogamy refers to a requirement to marry outside a particular group, with it being the norm in almost all cultures to prohibit sexual relationships between certain relatives. Education      Education has both manifest and latent functions Manifest functions are to systematically pass down knowledge and to give status to those that have been educated. Latent functions include socialization, serving as agents of change, and maintaining social control. The education system has been criticized as serving to maintain or widen SES and privilege gaps. Accomplished by the processes of educational segregation and stratification. Educational segregation is the widening disparity between children from high-income neighborhoods and those from low-income neighborhoods. Educational stratification is when educational systems perpetuate social inequalities. Religion     Social institution involving beliefs and practices. Secularization is the process through which religion loses its social significance in modern societies. Religiosity refers to the extent of influence of religion in a person’s life. The five major religions are: Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Judaism. Government and Economy  The US government is based on rational-legal authority, legal rules and regulations are set forth in a document like the Constitution.  Aristarchic governments are controlled by a small group of people (the public is not involved in most political decisions). Aristocracies are ruled by a group of elite citizens. Meritocracies are ruled by those with meaningful contributions to society.  Autocratic governments are ruled by a single person with absolute decision-making power. Autocracies include dictatorships (ruled by one person) and fascists governments ruled by a small group of leaders)  Monarchic governments are ruled by a single person or a selective small group, who inherited their leadership role, like kings or queens.  Authoritarian governments consist of unelected leaders, the public may have some individual freedoms but no control over representation. Totalitarianism is an example.  Democratic governments consist of elected leaders and the public has some degree of political decision-making power through either direct decisions or representation  Anarchy is a political concept which refers to societies without a public government “lawlessness”.  Four types of economic structures: command, market, mixed and traditional.  Command economies are where economic decisions are based on a plan of production and the means of production are often public. These include socialism and communism.       Market economies (supply and demand) are where decisions are based on the market and the means of production are often private. These include laissez-faire and free market economies. Mixed economies blend elements of command and market economies with both public and private ownership. United States. Traditional economies consider social customs in economic decisions. This practice is most common in rural areas and often involves bartering and trading. Capitalism is an economic system in which resources and production are mainly privately owned, and goods and services are produced for a profit. Although the US is not completely a capitalist economy, it is greatly influenced by capitalist ideas. Socialism is an economic system where resources and production are collectively owned. Welfare capitalism is a system in which most of the economy is private except for extensive social welfare programs to serve certain needs within society. Health and Medicine        The medical model of disease emphasizes physical or medical factors as being the cause of all illness. The process by which a condition becomes recognized as a disease with a medical diagnosis and a medical treatment is known as medicalization. This has happened for certain diseases that were once thought of as behavior issues like ADHD, depression, alcoholism. The social model of disease emphasizes the effect one’s social class, employment status, neighborhood, exposure to environmental toxins, diet, and many other factors can have on a person’s health. A person looking from the perspective the medical model may try to find the ultimate cause of a person’s illness, while someone looking from the perspective of the social model might try to find the proximate cause-something about the person’s life circumstances that put them at greater risk. The field that studies how social organization contributes to the prevalence, incidence, and distribution of disease across and within populations is known as social epidemiology. Not having enough income can predispose people to conditions caused by unhealthy eating, lack of exercise and long-term stressors. Very low-income neighborhoods are often food deserts. A food desert is an area where healthy, fresh fruit is difficult to find because there are no proper grocery stores, causing people to be more likely to eat high calorie processed foods. The concept of the sick role describes society’s response to illness. The sick role was developed by American sociologist Talcott Parsons. It states that when a member of society is ill, they can not be a contributing member of society. From Parsons POV being ill is a sort of deviance. The person’s illness must be considered legitimate in order for others to take up the “slack” that exempting the ill person from work causes. They also must not blame the person for his or her illness. In return, the person must fulfill the obligations of an ill person: seek medical care and make an attempt to get well. Some limitations to the sick role include chronic illness, stigmatized diseases and “lifestyle” diseases. Additional Notes     Absolute poverty is the inability to meet a bare minimum of basic necessities like clean drinking water and safe housing. Relative poverty is the inability to meet the average standard of living within a society. Internal validity refers to how well done a study is, in the sense of allowing researchers to draw conclusions if an effect were found. Demand characteristics describe when participants guess a hypothesis and subconsciously act in ways that are consistent with researchers’ expectations. Culture, Demographics, and Social Inequality   Social structure, culture. And demographic factors play an important role in an individual’s health. Social stratification and inequality affect all societies and afford power and privilege to some while denying it to others. 5.1 Culture and Demographics         Culture is simply a shared way of life. Symbolic culture consists of symbols that are recognized by people of a shared culture. While symbolic elements of culture involve values and norms, material culture involves physical objects and artifacts like clothing, hairstyles, and the design of homes. For example, the American dream often includes a car, a symbol of mobility and independence. In contrast, non-material culture is specific to social thoughts and ideas, such as values. Popular culture is a phrase used to describe features of culture that appeal to the masses, often those communicated through mass media such as radio and television. This is distinguished from high culture, which describes those features often limited to the consumption of the elite, like the ballet or the opera. Cultural universals tend to pertain to basic human survival needs such as securing food and shelter. Two of the most crucial elements of culture are its values and beliefs. People within a given culture tend to share common values and beliefs. Values can be defined as a culture’s standard for evaluating what is good or bad, while beliefs are the convictions or principles people hold.  Norms are the visible and invisible rules of social conduct within a society. Culture and Social Groups  Sociobiology is a study of how biology and evolution have affected human social behavior. This suggests that there is a biological basis for many behaviors. Cultural Construction and Transformation      Cultural diffusion is the transfer of elements of culture from one social group to another. This is important for cultural competence which leads to effective communication. This is an important element in medicine in reducing disparities in health and health care. Cultural transmission is the process through which this information is spread across generations, Transformative social changes, such as technological innovations, often challenge our understanding of the world because there is no social consensus about the new innovation; the creation of new social rules “lags” behind. This is described as cultural lag. The foundational work on cultural lag showed that material cultural changed at a much faster rate than non-material cultural, which often resists change. Culture shock is much more than homesickness and often challenges an individual’s assumptions about their social surroundings. Reverse culture shock involves the same experiences but is felt upon an individual’s return home. Sociocultural evolution is a set of theories describing the processes through which societies and cultures have progressed over time. Sociocultural evolution is less concerned with human bodies, but instead how human minds have evolved for us to succeed as beings with natural social tendencies. Population Studies       Population studies are interested in demographic shifts. Population growth and decline are measured using the population growth rate: the rate of population change in a specified time period, reported as a percent of the initial population. The total possible population that can be supported with relevant resources and without significant negative effects in a given area is referred to as the carrying capacity. Populations tend to increase and decrease until population equilibrium is met at this maximum load. Population projections are estimates of future populations made from mathematical extrapolations of previous data. Population distributions are sometimes represented through graphical illustrations called population pyramids. An expansive population pyramid is wide at the base, representing a high birth rate and a high death rate. Population pyramids can be helpful in predicting population trends and determining social needs for dependents, such as children and people of retirement age. Fertility and Mortality  The crude birth rate (CBR) is the annual number of births per 1,000 people in a population. Experts consider crude birth rates of 10-20 to be low and those of 40-50 to be high.       The crude death rate (CDR) is the annual number of deaths per 1,000 persons in a population. Crude death rates below 10 are considered to be low and those above 20 are considered to be high. The rate of population change is the difference between the crude birth rate and crude death rate. There are also age-specific birth rates and age-specific death rates, which are the annual number of births or deaths per 1,000 persons in age group. The general fertility rate is the annual number of births per 1,000 women in a population. Total fertility rate predicts the total number births per single woman in a population with the assumption that the woman experiences the current recorded age specific fertility rates and reaches the end of her reproductive life. Mortality refers to the death rate in a population. Morbidity refers to the nature and extent of disease in a population. The prevalence rate measures the number of individuals experiencing a disease and the incidence rate measures the number of new cases of a disease. Migration     External migration involves migration to another nation. Causes of external migration are often economic or political in nature. Internal migration involves migration to another region of the same nation. Motivations for internal migration are often more economic in nature as individuals pursue better opportunities, such as education. Colonization involves migration to settled areas in which dominance is exerted over the foreign state. The interaction between push and pull factors contributes to the rates of migration. Urban Growth, Decline and Renewal    Urbanization refers to the growth of urban areas as the result of global change. Urbanization is tied to industrialization. Suburbanization refers to growth on the fringes of urban areas. White flight is a historical example of suburbanization that involved a migration of whites from cities to more racially homogenous suburbs. Migration to these metropolitan areas is an example of urban sprawl. The negative effects of urban sprawl include urban blight, which occurs when less functioning areas of large cities degrade as a result of urban decline. Gentrification refers to the renovation of urban areas in a process of urban renewal. It is a process of urban renewal or the redevelopment of urban areas. This causes much social change with both positive and negative effects; for example, it can increase the tax base, but it can also lead to the displacement of the original local people. Urban renewal can be a mechanism for reform or a mechanism for control (for example eminent domain). Theories of Population Change   There are three multiple theories of population change Demographic transition is the transition from over-all higher to overall lower birth and death rates as a result of a country’s development from a pre-industrial to industrial framework due to     both social and economic changes; thus, both fertility and mortality rates decrease as in the transition from an agricultural to manufacturing society. Thomas Robert Malthus argued that population is the result of available resources, such as productive farmland. Malthusianism states that the possible rate of population increase exceeds the possible rate of resource increase. Malthus described two checks on population growth: positive checks that raise the death rate, like disease, disasters, hunger, and wars. Preventative checks are those that lower the birth rate like abstinence, birth control, late marriage, and same sex relationships. A Malthusian Catastrophe occurs when the means of sustenance are not enough to support the population, resulting in a population reduction through actual or predicted famine. Neo Malthusianism is a movement based on these principles that advocates for population control to reduce the negative effects of population strain. Population Growth in U.S. Society     In regard to /*-population studies there has been a rapid decline in the global fertility rate; this a particular concern in the US where the average woman has less than two children, which is below the population replacement level. The current life expectancy at birth is 78 years on average (75 years for males and 78 years for females). The current external migration rates have increased the population despite low birth rates and death rates, though population growth remains historically low. There are also examples of internal migration. There have been historic migrations from eastern states to western states called expansion. There has also been migration from the rural south to the urban north by African Americans after slavery was abolished, this was called the Great Migration. The New Great Migration happened as when blacks migrated back to the south after conditions improved. Minorities are groups that receive differential treatment through processes of discrimination and prejudice due to their shared characteristics. These groups are minorities despite their distribution in the population. The dominant groups are those with the power to assign these labels. Age  Population Aging occurs when there is a disproportionate amount of older people in a population. Gender  Gender roles describe the social and behavioral expectations for men and women. Gender expression is manifestation of these roles. Gender schema theory is the study of how gender beliefs become socialized in society. Race and Ethnicity    Race is a description of a distinct social group based on certain shared characteristics. Ethnicity is cultural rather than biological Prejudices and actions that discriminate based on race, or hold that one race is inferior to another, are called racism.   Racial formation perspective was created with purpose of deconstructing race in its modern form. It presents race as an exclusive social construct and argues that without those processes, the differences in biological features are meaningless. Racialization is the social process to which the dominant group ascribes racial or ethnic identities to groups that do not otherwise relate to the labels. These processes are used as forms of social control, often as a part of imperialism or nationalism. Demographic Shifts and Social Change Globalization   Modern advancements in telecommunications and transportation have contributed to rates of globalization, the interdependence of societies and connections between people across the world. Economic interdependence can be thought of as the division of labor on a global scale; countries might have the demand for products without the internal means of production. For example, the United States is dependent on other countries for natural resources like oil. 5.2 Stratification, Health, and Health Care Disparities             Social stratification refers to the way that people are categorized in society; people can be categorized by race, education wealth and income. People with the most resources comprise the top tiers of the stratification and those with the least resources comprise the bottom tier. The caste system describes a closed stratification where people can do nothing to change the category that they are born into. The class system considers both social variables and individual initiative; the class groups together people of similar wealth, income, education, etc. but the classes are open, meaning that people can strive to reach a higher class (or fall to a lower one). A meritocracy is another stratification system that uses merit to establish social standing. This is an idealized system because no society solely stratifies based on effort. Socioeconomic status can be defined in terms of power, property, and prestige, because these three concepts tend to be related in U.S. society. Social mobility refers to the ability to move up or down within the social stratification system. Social reproduction refers to the structures and activities in place in a society that serve to transmit and reinforce social inequality from one generation to the next. There are two mechanisms by which social reproduction occurs: social and cultural capital. Cultural capital refers to the non-financial social assets that promote social mobility. Education is an example. Social capital refers to the potential for social networks to allow for upward social mobility. Social capital is a powerful way to tap into vast networks of resources but can also serve as a way to reinforce inequalities already present in society. Power and prestige are two related components of SES in U.S. society. Both power and prestige rely on privilege, a least often discussed aspect of social life. Privilege is a set of advantages available exclusively to a person or group. Global stratification compares the wealth, economic stability, and power of various countries. A comparison across the globe highlights the worldwide patterns of global inequality. For  example, the poorest people in the wealthiest countries (such as the U.S.) are far better off than the poorest people in the poorest countries. Marginal poverty is due to lack of stable employment, whereas structural poverty is due to underlying and pervasive effects of the society’s institution. Health and Health Care Disparities  Health care disparities include the population specific differences in the presence of disease, health outcomes, and quality of health care across different social groups. Gender  Historically, medical research, treatment, and pharmacological studies have been conducted on men. Race and Social Class   Being a minority and having low SES seem to go hand in hand in the U.S. and affects the quality of health care received. Lower income areas have less health care facilities, and a lack of health care insurance often prevents people of lower income from going to regular doctor visits. By the time someone that is uninsured makes it to the health care system, a potentially treatable disease has developed into a much larger problem, thus perpetuating the cycle of avoiding the doctor until it is or is almost too late. Notes on Chapter 5   Replacement level fertility is 2:1. Multiculturalism is the concept of different cultures living in the same society cohesively. Social Psychology 6.1 Self-Concept and Identity Formation    Self-concept or self-identity is broadly defined as the sum of an individual’s knowledge and understanding of his- or herself. This differs from self-consciousness, which is awareness of one’s self. For example, if you asked yourself “Who am I?” your responses would form the basis of your self-concept. Self-schemas beliefs that a person has about themselves. Different Types of Identities     Personal identity consists of one’s own sense of personal attributes. Social identity consists of social definitions of who you are; these can include race, religion, gender, and occupation. People are very sensitive to others’ perception of their self-identity The theory of self-verification states that individuals want to be understood in terms of their deeply held core beliefs.      The tendency to better remember information relevant to ourselves is known as the selfreference effect. It is often easier to externalize information that opposes a self-concept by attributing it to an outside factor than it is to internalize the information and adjust one’s self-concept. According to Carl Rogers, founder of humanistic psychology, personality is composed of the ideal self and the real self. The ideal self is constructed out of your life experiences, societal expectations, and the things that you admire about role models. The ideal self is the person that you ought to be and the real self is the person who you actually are. Rogers suggests that the ideal self is usually an impossible standard to meet, and that when the real self falls short of the ideal self, the result is incongruity. The Role of Self-Esteem, Self-Efficacy, and Locus of Control in SelfConcept and Self-Identity        Self-efficacy is a belief in one’s own competency and effectiveness. Studies have shown that simply believing in our own abilities actually improves performance. This varies from task to task Locus of control can be internal or external. Those with an internal locus of control believe that they are able to influence outcomes through their own efforts and actions. Those with an external locus of control perceive outcomes as controlled by outside forces. In an extreme situation, in which people are exposed to situations in which they have no control, they may learn not to act because they believe it will not affect the outcome anyway. This called learned helplessness. Self-esteem is one’s overall self-evaluation of one’s self-worth. Stages of Identity Development    Identity formation or individuation is the development of a distinct individual personality. Gender, moral, psychosexual, and social development are all important elements of identity development. Interaction with individuals, as well as socialization into broader cultural groups also affects the development of identity. Influence of Social Factors on Identity Formation Influence of Individuals    Charles Cooley proposed the idea of the looking glass self. The looking-glass self is the idea that a person’s sense of self develops from interpersonal interactions with others in society and the perceptions of others. This idea basically says that people shape their self-concepts based on their understanding of how others perceive them. The looking glass self begins at an early age and continues throughout life we never stop modifying it unless all social interactions cease. George Herbert Mead developed the idea of social behaviorism. This is the idea that the mind and self emerge through the process of communicating with others. During development, the child develops an understanding of the generalized other which is the common behavioral expectations of general society.  Mead characterized the “me” as how the individual believes the generalized other perceives it. The “I” is the response of the individual to the attitudes of others. Influence of Culture and Socialization on Identity Formation   Socialization is the process where people learn how to be functioning members of society. It is socialization that allows a culture to pass on its values from one generation to the next. Norms        Every society has spoken and unspoken rules for the behavior of its members called norms. Normative behavior is reinforced by sanctions which are rewards and punishments for behaviors that are in accord with or against norms. Formal norms are written down. Laws are an example of formal norms. Informal norms are generally understood but are less precise and often carry no specific punishments. Mores are norms that are highly important for the benefit of society and so are often strictly enforced. Folkways are norms that are less important but shape everyday behavior. Those behaviors that customs forbid are described as taboo. The idea of taboo changes in response to changes in social structure and there is no universal taboo. Anomie      The normative effects of social values contribute to social cohesion and social norms are involved in maintaining order. Anomie describes the social condition in which individuals are not provided with firm guidelines in relation to norms and values and there is minimal moral guidance or social ethic. In the nineteenth century, while researching patterns of suicide, Emile Durkheim used the term anomie as an explanation for the differences in suicide rates between Catholics and Protestants. His research suggested that suicide rates were lower in cultures that valued communal ties, as this provided a form of support during times of emotional distress. Anomie suggests the disintegration of social bonds between individuals and their communities, which causes the fragmentation of social identities in exchange for an emphasis on personal success. Deviance     In contrast to normative behavior, non-normative behavior is viewed as incorrect because it challenges shared values and institutions, thus threatening social structure and cohesion. Actions that violate the dominant social norms, whether formal or informal, are described as forms of deviance. Differential association: This perspective argues that deviance is a learned behavior resulting from interactions between individuals and their communities. Sutherland posits that individuals become deviant when their contacts with favorable attitudes toward deviance outweigh their contacts with unfavorable attitudes. A criticism of differential association is the idea that individuals are reduced to their environment instead of considering people independently Howard Becker’s labeling theory: This prospective suggests that deviance is the result of society’s response to a person rather than something inherent in the person’s actions; behaviors become deviant through social processes. This approach is one of the most important theories in  understanding deviance from a social perspective. Because this perspective views deviance as a social construct, it is often used in interactionist arguments. A criticism of labeling theory is the idea that deviance is assumed to be an automatic process: individuals are seen to be influenced through the use of labels, which ignores their abilities to resist social expectations. Robert Merton’s structural strain theory: states that deviance is the result of experienced strain, either individual or structural. Merton specified that anomie is the state in which there is mismatch between the common social goals and the structural or institutionalized means of obtaining these goals. There is pressure to use deviant methods to prevent failure because existing social structures are inadequate. When the social goals and means are balanced, deviance is not expected. This perspective is more applicable to material, rather than social goals. Collective Behavior            This concept describes the actions of people operating as a collective group; however, this is not the same as group behavior. Examples do not reflect the existing social structure but are instead spontaneous situations in which individuals engage in actions that are otherwise unacceptable and violate social norms. An understanding of collective behavior could help establish effective and safe crowd control. Herbert Blumer is a sociologist whose ideas were foundational in the understanding of collective behavior, identified four main forms of collective behavior. 1)Crowds: defined as a group that shares a purpose. Crowds are thought o be emotional and there is a non-permanent loss of rational thought. The crowd influences individual behavior sometimes referred to as herd behavior. Panic is a situation in which fear escalates to the point that it dominates thinking and thus affects entire groups. A mob is a specific type of crowd in which emotions are heightened and behavior is directed toward a specific and violent cause. 2) Public: A public is defined as a group of individuals discussing a single issue, which conflicts with the common usage of the term. People in publics share ideas. 3) Masses: A mass is defined as a group whose formation is prompted through the efforts of mass media; masses consists of a relatively large number of people who may not be in close proximity but nevertheless share common interests. 4) Social movements: A social movement is defined as collective behavior with the intention of promoting change. There are two types: active and expressive. Active movements attempt to foster social change (revolutions). Expressive movements foster individual change, for example support groups. In contrast to other forms of collective behavior, social movements can become established and permanent social institutions. A fad is an example of collective behavior. Fads are separate from trends which are longer-lived and often lead to permanent social changes; for example, the hippie movement created visible trends, such as peace signs, but it also prompted widespread social change. Mass hysteria is a diagnostic label that refers to the collective delusion of some threat that spreads through emotions and escalates until it spirals out of control. The Salem Witch Trials is an example, which caused a moral panic-a specific type of panic as a result of a perceived threat to social order. Riots are another example of collective behavior. Riots are a form of crow behavior with no specific end. Agents of Socialization       Family: teach culture through instruction and modeling. They also influence the situations to which children are exposed, especially in the early years of life. School: teach children the norms and values of their cultures. Schools also affect children’s selfidentity. They can also reinforce divisive aspects of society. Peer groups: as children grow older, parents become less important in social development and peer groups become more significant. Workplace: the workplace influences behavior through written codes and rules as well as through informal norms. No pressure to fit in. Occupation often can be a large part of one’s identity. Religion/government: both influence the course of cultural change by “rites of passage”. Mass media/Technology: influence almost everyone through television, the Internet, cell phones, and other communications. The Internet can help shrink the world and increase social influences through tools such as online social networking and blogs. Cultural Assimilation   Assimilation is the process in which an individual forsakes aspects of his or her own cultural tradition to adopt those of a different culture. Amalgamation occurs when majority and minority groups combine to form a new group. Multiculturalism      A perspective that endorses equal standing for all cultural traditions. Cultures coming together in a true melting pot rather than a hierarchy. Supporters say it increases diversity and helps empower minority groups. Opponents say that it encourages segregation over unity by maintaining physical and social isolation and hinders cohesiveness of a society. Examples can be found in cities such as New York: Little Italy, Chinatown, Koreatown. Subcultures   Bike enthusiasts, bartenders, and medical personnel are examples of subcultures. A subculture is a segment of society that shares a distinct pattern of traditions and values that differs from that of larger society. Moral Development     Kohlberg’s stages of moral development include six identifiable developmental stages of moral reasoning, which form the basis of ethical behavior. According to Kohlberg, stages cannot be skipped. Stages are grouped into three levels: Pre-conventional, Conventional, and Post-conventional. Most adults attain, but do not surpass the fourth stage. 6.2 Positive and Negative Elements of Social Interaction Attribution   Attribution theory is rooted in social psychology and attempts to explain how individuals view behavior, both our own behavior and the behavior of others. Dispositional attribution is when individuals attribute behavior to internal causes.    Situational attribution is when individuals attribute behavior to external causes. People tend to assign dispositional attributions to others and situational attributions to themselves. For example, if a driver cuts you off you tend to think “what a jerk” (dispositional) instead of thinking “they may have an emergency” (situational). But if you cut someone off rarely, do you that you are a jerk. Three factors influence the decision on whether to attribute behavior to either internal or external causes: Consistency, Distinctiveness, and Consensus. / Attributional Biases         Fundamental attribution error is when we tend to underestimate the impact of the situation and overestimate the impact of a person’s character or personality. We assume people are how they act. The tendency to blame our actions on the situation and blame the actions of others on their personalities is also called the actor-observer bias. The self-serving bias is the tendency to attribute successes to ourselves and our failures to others or the external environment. The optimism bias is the belief that bad things happen to other people, but not to us. The just world phenomenon is a tendency to believe that the world is fair, and people get what they deserve. Hindsight bias is the tendency to believe that an event was predictable after it has already occurred. The halo effect is the tendency to believe that people have inherently good or bad natures, rather than looking at individual characteristics. The physical attractiveness stereotype is a specific type of halo effect, people tend to rate attractive individuals more favorably for personality traits and characteristics than they those who are less attractive. Culture Affects Attributions  Western cultures tend to endorse an individualistic attitude. “You can do anything that you out your mind to”. Self-Perceptions Shape our Perceptions of Others    Social perception is the process responsible for our judgements and impressions about other people, and allows us to recognize how others impact us, and predict how they might behave in given situations. A false consensus occurs when we assume that everyone else agrees with what we do. A projection bias happens when we assume others have the same beliefs we do. Stereotypes, Prejudice, and Discrimination     Prejudice refers to the thoughts, attitudes, and feelings someone holds about a group that are not based on actual experience. Stereotypes are oversimplified ideas about groups of people based on characteristics. Discrimination involves acting a certain way toward a group. Institutional discrimination refers to unjust and discriminatory practices employed by large organizations that have been codified into operating procedures, processes, or institutional objectives. Emotion and Cognition in Prejudice   Scapegoats are the unfortunate people at whom displaced aggression is directed. There is an illusory correlation, created between a group of people and a characteristic based on unique cases. For example, people thinking that all black people are good athletes because of Michael Jordan. Self-Fulfilling Prophesy and Stereotype Threat   Stereotypes can lead to behaviors that affirm the original stereotypes in what is known as selffulfilling prophesy. Stereotype threat refers to a self-fulfilling fear that one will be evaluated based on a negative stereotype. Ethnocentrism Versus Cultural Relativism   When different cultures interact, there is often a tendency to judge people from another culture by the standards of one’s own culture, a phenomenon known as ethnocentrism. An alternative to ethnocentrism is cultural relativism: judging another culture based on its own standards. This can be difficult to do, especially when the values of another culture clashes with one’s own. Groups           A group is a collection of people who regularly interact and identify with each other, sharing similar norms, values, and expectations. Primary groups play a more important role in an individual’s life and is usually smaller. They include those with whom the individual engages with in person, in long-term, emotional ways. A secondary group is larger and more impersonal and may interact for specific reasons for shorter periods of time. A group that an individual belongs to and believes to be an integral part of who she is, is an in group. A group that an individual does not belong to is her out group. A reference group is a standard that people compare themselves to. People who exist in the same space but do not interact or share a common sense of identity make up an aggregate. For example, people who meet regularly to study for the MCAT at a coffee shop constitute a group, but the people around them in the coffee shop constitute an aggregate. Bureaucracy is a term used to describe an administrative body and the processes by which this body accomplishes work tasks. One paradoxical feature of organizations is that, although they may be founded to tackle new challenges in revolutionary ways, as their organizational structure becomes more complex, it also becomes more conservative and less able to adapt. Thus, revolutionary organizations become less revolutionary as their organizational structures develop and become more entrenched. This pattern is called the Iron Law of Oligarchy. Oligarchy is rule by an elite few, and it comes about through the very organization of the bureaucracy itself. Social Facilitation   People tend to perform simple well learned tasks better when other people are present. For example, people can do simple math problems more quickly and run slightly faster when in the presence of others. This finding has been called the social facilitation effect. This only holds true for simple tasks. The presence of others can impair performance when completing complex tasks. Deindividuation    Deindividuation is when people lose their sense of restraint and their individual identity in exchange for identifying with a group or mob mentality. Its effects can be seen in examples ranging from atrocious acts during wartime to mosh pits at concerts. Deindividuation is a lack of self-awareness and is a result of a disconnection of behavior from attitudes. Bystander Effect    The Kitty Genovese case involved the stabbing of a woman in New York City late at night. She cried out for help, but no one helped her. After the murder, detectives interviewed the neighbors and found that many of them had heard her cries for help, but no one called the police. The reason was that everyone assumed that someone else had already called the police. This became known as the bystander effect: the finding that a person is less likely to provide help when there are other bystanders. This happens because the presence of other bystanders creates a diffusion of responsibility, Social Loafing   Social loafing is the tendency for people to exert less effort if they are being evaluated as a group than if they are individually accountable. When being part of a group increases concerns over evaluation, social facilitation occurs. When being part of a group decreases concerns over evaluation, social loafing occurs. Group Polarization    It turns out that groups tend to intensify the preexisting views of their members-that is, the average view of a member of a group is accentuated. This is called group polarization. It does not indicate that the group becomes more divided on an issue, but rather, suggests that the entire group tends towards more extreme versions of the average views they initially shared before discussion. Two reasons group polarization occurs: informational influence; the most common ideas that emerge are the ones that favor the dominant viewpoint. The second reason is normative influence, which is based on social desirability or wanting to be accepted or admired by others. Groupthink    Pressure not to “rock the boat” in a group by providing a dissenting opinion can lead to what is known as groupthink. Although groupthink is a state of harmony within a group, it can lead to some pretty terrible decisions. Groups that are at risk tend to be overly friendly and cohesive.  Some members of the group prevent dissenting opinions from permeating the group by filtering out information and facts that go against the beliefs of the group, a process called mindguarding. Stigma and Deviance   Deviance can be defined as a violation of society’s standards of conduct or expectations. Society often devalues deviant members by assigning demeaning labels, called stigma. Conformity and Obedience        Solomon Asch wanted to test the effects of peer pressure on individual’s behavior. He designed a series of experiments where subjects would be asked to participate in a study on visual perception subjects were asked to determine which of three lines was most similar to a comparison line. When subjects completed this task alone, they answered mostly correctly. When placed in a room with several others that they thought were participating, who were confederates, the results were different. At first all the confederates answered correctly, but then started answering over half incorrect. What is interesting is that this made the actual participants start answering incorrectly rather than trusting their own judgement. The phenomenon of adjusting behavior or thinking based on the behavior or thinking of others is called conformity. Another commonly referenced experiment is Stanley Milgram’s study of obedience involving fake shocks. The experiment speaks to the power of authority and the discomfort that being disobedient invokes. Three ways that behavior may be motivated by social influences: o Compliance-compliant behavior is motivated by the desire to seek reward or to avoid punishment. Compliance is easily extinguished if rewards or punishments are removed. o Identification-identification behavior is motivated by the desire to be like another person or group. Identification endures as long as there is still a good relationship with the person or group being identified with and there are not convincing alternative viewpoints presented. o Internalization- internalized behavior is motivated by values and beliefs that have been integrated into one’s own value system. Someone who has internalized a value not to harm others may have objected to the shocks administered in Milgram’s study. The most enduring motivation of the three. Normative social influence is when the motivation for compliance is desire for the approval of others and to avoid rejection. Informational social influence is the process of complying because we want to do the right thing and we feel like others “know something I don’t know”. This is more likely to apply to new or ambiguous situations or when an obvious authority figure is present. 6.3 Social Interaction and Behavior  Social interactions include expressing emotion, managing others’ impressions of you, communicating, and other social behaviors. Social Structures     Status is a broad term in sociology that refers to all the socially defined positions within a society. Master status is the one that dominates the others and determines that individual’s general position in society. Sometimes the master status is not one that the individual prefers; someone with a disability may be strongly identified by others as holding that status, with less attention paid to her other statuses, which she may find more important and fulfilling. Ascribed statuses are those that are assigned to a person by society regardless of the person’s own efforts. For example, gender and race are ascribed statuses. Achieved statuses are considered to be due largely to the individual’s efforts. These can include statuses such as “doctor”, “parent” and “Democrat”. Roles      Social roles are expectations for people of a given social status. Like people expect that doctors are intelligent. Role expectations can come with ascribed statuses too. Some may expect females to be a babysitter instead of a male. Roles help contribute to the stability of a society by making things more predictable. Roles can also be sources of tension. Role conflict happens when there is a conflict in society’s expectations for multiple statuses held by the same person (for example, a male nurse or gay priest). Role strain is when a single status results in conflicting expectations. For example, a homosexual man may feel pressure to avoid being “too gay” and also “not gay enough”. Role exit is the process of disengaging from a role that has become closely tied to one’s selfidentity to take on another. Some examples include the transition from high school student to college student; or from working to retirement. These transitions are difficult because they involve the process of detaching from something significant, as well as embarking on something new and unknown. Networks and Organizations     A social network is a web of social relationships. Utilitarian organizations are those in which members get paid for their efforts such as businesses. Normative organizations motivate membership based on morally relevant goals. Coercive organizations are those for which members do not have a choice in joining (for example prison). Social Interactions Expressing and Detecting Emotion    Emotions arise based on our appraisal of situations. We detect emotion in others by using clues: their body language, tone and pitch in their voices, and expression in their faces, which can display an incredibly impressive array of emotion that humans are precisely wired to detect. Some people are more sensitive to emotional cues than others. Introverts are better at reading others’ emotions, while extroverts are generally easier to read. Gender Shapes Expression      Some studies suggest that women are better than men at reading emotional cues. Women also demonstrate greater emotional responsiveness in positive and negative situations, with the one exception being anger. Anger is the one emotion that seems to be considered by most as masculine. Empathy, the ability to identify with others’ emotions, is relatively equal between the sexes. However, in studies women tend to experience emotional events more deeply, with greater brain activation in the areas that process emotion and are better able to remember emotional events later. Culture Shapes Expression   Gestures vary widely between cultures. The thumbs up symbol in America means things are okay but is used as an insult in other cultures. Cultures that promote individuality (such as Western cultures) also encourage emotional expressiveness. Impression Management   In sociology and psychology, impression management or self-presentation is the conscious or unconscious process whereby people attempt to manage their own images by influencing the perceptions of others. Defensive strategies for impression management include avoidance or self-handicapping. Selfhandicapping is a strategy in which people create obstacles and excuses to avoid self-blame when they do poorly. A classic example is the student that announces loudly before an exam that she didn’t study. This is done so that if she receives a poor grade, it can be blamed on an external factor (not studying) rather than her intelligence (an internal factor that is likely an important element of her self-esteem). Front Stage Versus Back Stage Self    The dramaturgical perspective in sociology stems from symbolic interactionism and posits that we imagine ourselves as playing certain roles when interacting with others. This theory suggests that our identities are not necessarily stable, but dependent on our interactions with others; in this way, we constantly remake who we are, depending on the situations we are in. Social interactions can be broken into two types: front stage and backstage... In the front stage, we play a role and use impression management to craft the way we come across to other people. In the backstage, we can “let down our guard” and be ourselves. v