Test 1 Notes Sociology is the study of human groups 5 rules of social networks o we shape our network o our network shapes us o our friends affect us o our friends friends friends affect us o the network has a life of its own dyad a social connection between two people hyperdyadic spread the tendency of effects to spread from person to person to person beyond an individual s direct social ties contagion what and how things spread across our network smoking obesity suicide 3 degrees of influence rule everything we do or say tends to ripple through our network having an impact on our friends 1 deg our friends friends 2 deg and our friends friends friends 3 deg No longer influences after 3 degrees because of o evolution sociologists don t like this explanation because its biological and not social o network instability people and connections change all the time o intrinsic decay info changes and becomes unreliable after a certain number of people 6 degrees of separation rule we can connect to anyone in the world by six degrees transitivity how interconnected friends are or relationship when all involved form a triangle o high transitivity deep within a single group o low transitivity bridge between different groups connect by people who do not know each other social capital quality of one s social network 15 more happy at 1 degree 10 more happy at 2 degrees 6 more happy at 3 degrees and an unhappy friend reduces happiness by 7 Groups become social structures by pecking orders and transitivity Structure outside forces that enable or constrain individuals to act economy law government Agency condition of being in action operation or the means or mode of acting instrumentality Capacity to act or free will Agent one that acts or has the authority to act Relationship of structure agency one structures the other Agency exists because of structure Dialectic the Hegelian process of change in which a concept or its realization passes over into and is preserved and fulfilled by its opposite We shape our network o We determine how many people we are connected to o We influence the density of interconnections between friends and family o We control how central we are within the network life of the party or a wallflower in connected a social network is different from a group of people because it requires a specific set of connections among people in the group in connected social and emotional connections led to the conclusion that unhappy people tend to be at the edge of a social network in connected MPI has been recorded in a number of societies symptoms spread through highly connected communities and the physical cause of symptoms are rarely found ways our network affects us o emotional contagion how emotion spreads through network happiness loneliness and love Culture shared meaning embodied in form or practice o Culture can be source of social consensus or social conflict o Culture seems personal and individualistic but sociologists show how culture connects to social groups and the divisions among them tastes correlate with membership in social groups o Culture creates and reflects social solidarity o Culture creates and reflects social conflict and social boundaries o Elements of culture producers consumers historical and social context and the cultural object o disliked music by culture snobs country rap gospel and heavy metal Emile Durkheim 1858 1917 1 founding father of sociology o Social solidarity what holds groups together o Collective conscience widespread moral feeling or moral values of the public o Anomie being separate outside not integrated by social norms o Mechanical solidarity comes from peers or people in a group Different practices and experiences needed to maintain a group o Organic solidarity depending on others for their roles in life o Functionalism everything that happens in society has a place or a function Karl Marx 1818 1883 Other Founding Father of Sociology o Social conflict Economy drives EVERYTHING based off of ethnicity class region gender and religion o Class hierarchy top owners bourgeoisie middle small business owners petite bourgeoisie bottom workers proletariat o Theory of History primitive accumulation master slave feudalism lords serfs capitalism bourgeouisie proletariat socialism inevitable and predictable however people aren t trying to change structure and capitalism seems to be sticking around o Theory of Capital Labor Theory of Value when you work you should be paid for value of product in capitalism you don t make the amount of money worth the product made It isn t today how Marx viewed it should be o Theory of Culture Base mode of production feudalism capitalism socialism superstructure art media government ideology o Exploitation alienation o Stratification o Social classes are achieved to some extent rather than ascribed at birth o Classes are fluid Anotonio Gramsce 1891 1937 o Hegemony dominant ideology that is normal ruling class decides what is normal o Gramsce described the concept of class struggle by trench warfare Theodor Adorno o The Frankfort School o postmodern historical epoch style or aesthetic expression type of theory or philosophy o believed that relationship between economy and society more complex than marx believed o believed that mass culture crushes our capacity for human agency Pierre Bourdieu 1930 2002 o Economic capital o Social capital o Cultural capital distinctions are arbitrary and change over time o Economic and cultural capital go hand in hand o Habitus natural process by which distinctions are made or developing one s own personal taste formed from capital configuration o Symbolic power power to designate things and practices high or low cultural capital power derived from one s capital configuration o Capital Conversion converting one type of capital to another type of capital Durkheim s card game Gin Rummy or Go Fish because everyone can participate and feel like they re part of a group We all play by the same rules Marx s card game Blackjack or any other casino game because the house capitalists always win despite players occasional big victory Eventually players proletariat will be too poor to play Bourdieu s card game Bridge Hearts or Spades because players create a contract of tricks and they play their cards they re evaluated in the end by how well they met their contract If they don t have aces or kings economic capital maybe they have a long run of a suit social capital Public character in Sidewalk