DSOC 1101 1st Edition Exam 1 Lectures 1 8 Lecture 1 1 21 What is sociology Social science involving the study of social lives of people groups and societies The scope of sociology is wide Lecture 2 1 26 Sociological Imagination awareness of relationship between individual and wider society Individual troubles vs social issues coined by C Wright Mills Society a group of people who live in a particular territory are subject to a common system of political authority and are aware of having a distinct identity from other groups cannot necessarily be defined by a nation state Lecture 3 1 28 Three High Level Sociological Theories Functionalism macro perspective society is a system of highly interrelated parts Marxism Conflict Theory macro perspective social behavior best understood in terms of conflict or tension between competing groups Interactionism micro perspective generalizes about everyday forms of social interaction to explain society as a whole nonverbal communication and symbols Early Thinkers Auguste Comte coined term sociology Karl Marx conflict theory based on inequality between classes Emile Durkheim Father of Functionalism famous for suicide study George Herbert Mead symbolic interactionist Max Weber sought to show how social values and ideas shape society Lecture 4 2 2 Material vs Nonmaterial Culture Material Culture physical objects that people have borrowed discovered or invented and to which they have attached meaning Nonmaterial Culture intangible human creations that we cannot identify directly through the senses How do we learn culture Through our parents friends media Norms socially defined rules of behavior Types of Norms Folkways Customs routine conventions of everyday life Violation will not result in punishment or evil Mores Norms that are central to functioning of society Violation produces shock and horror Laws norms that are formalized and backed by legal laws Sanctions penalties or rewards for conduct concerning social norms Positive Sanctions e g promotion award Negative Sanctions e g fine imprisonment Lecture 5 2 4 Values collective conceptions of what is good desirable and proper or undesirable and improper Cultural Relativism the belief that the behaviors and customs of any culture must be viewed and analyzed by the culture s own standards Ethnocentrism practice of judging all other cultures by one s own culture based on assumption that one s own culture is superior to all others Education Formal Curriculum explicitly stated goals and objectives of education Hidden Curriculum unintended outcomes subtle influences e g rules of conduct Null Curriculum curriculum that does not exist excluded from curriculum Lecture 6 2 9 Socialization process by which the social world is internalized by an individual begins as a child lifelong experience What does socialization teach us Language culture understanding of ourselves and others Primary Socialization socialization from infancy to early childhood Secondary Socialization socialization from early childhood to adulthood Agent of Socialization group or social context in which socialization takes place e g family school peer groups media Gender Socialization the learning of gender roles through social factors Girls and boys are socialized differently Lecture 7 2 11 Types of Social Groups Primary Group small group with intimate face to face association and cooperation Secondary Group impersonal groups with little social intimacy or mutual understanding Social Groups are different from Social aggregates people who happen to be in close physical proximity but share little else Social Categories people who share one or more characteristics in common but do not interact Social Roles set of expectations for people who occupy a given social position or status Identity relates to understanding people have of who they are and what is meaningful to them Lecture 8 2 18 Social Interaction social action of two or more people taking each other into account in their action includes numerous forms of nonverbal communication such as body language Our response to someone s behavior is based on the meaning we attach to his her actions Status socially defined positions within a large group or society can hold one or more statuses at the same time Ascribed Status assigned to a person by society without regard for person s unique talents or characteristics takes place at birth e g age gender race Achieved Status comes largely through efforts e g lawyer friend Master Status dominates other statuses and thereby determines a person s general position in society Role Conflict vs Role Strain Role Conflict occurs when incompatible expectations arise from two or more social roles held by the same person Role Strain describes the difficulty that arises when the same social position imposes conflicting demands and expectations In Groups Vs Out Groups In group any group to which people feel they belong Out Group any group to which people feel they do not belong Reference Group any group that individuals use as a standard for evaluating their own behavior Non verbal Communication exchange of info and meaning via facial expressions gestures and movement of the body Expressed and perceived differently by men and women Impression Management Process of portraying yourself to others in a manner that creates a desired impression Principle Motive is to explain or define the situation self and the task