SOCY 105 Final Exam Review Hansen Laura L and Siamak Movahedi 2010 Wall Street Scandals The Myth of Individual Greed Sociological Forum 25 2 367 374 1 What is the difference between C W Mills personal troubles and public issues also called structural problems or issues A personal trouble is a problem that affects one person For example if a man divorces his wife A public issue is a problem that affects a group of significant people or a significant group of people For example divorce rates are at an all time high in America 2 What is the structural problem that Hansen and Movahedi are drawing attention to in the article Here one may argue that greed if not kept in check which seems to afflict almost everyone and transcend social class and status boundaries may be a public issue a structural problem rather than a problem within the character of the individual 369 3 What pressures lead to white collar crime The competitive environment of the market economy in addition to organizational group dynamics such as groupthink conformity obedience and submission operate to elicit certain response patterns that may lead to financial crimes 371 4 Explain the importance of the concept of embeddedness in legitimate and illegitimate networks based on Hansen s 2004 study of Wall Street opportunity gives way to embeddedness in both legitimate and illegitimate networks with different manifestations in each one Legitimate network actors unexpectedly become more embedded with the formation of cliques dependent broker ties and reduction of structural holes Illegitimate networks on the other hand become more centralized and stringy and reduce competition for the precious source of information by operating more efficiently than legitimate networks The illegal network represents informal structure sprouting from formalized professional ties informal illegal networks emerge from formal legitimate professional networks 372 Embeddedness then serves as a means of creating and incubating a criminogenic subculture where members of that subculture are more likely to escape the supervision and surveillance of others Jackson Robert M 2007 inequalities Contexts 6 1 59 61 1 Define inequality Systematic distinctions that we can rank more or less higher or lower and which concern valued qualities such as wealth prestige education and security 2 When did the idea of social equality emerge The modern concept of social equality emerged only in the 17th and 18th centuries Thinkers such as Thomas Hobbes John Locke and Jean Jacques Rousseau produced ideas of a natural order based on equality By using their Enlightenment ideas people could blame inequality on specific social institutions and groups rather than accepting it as God s will or a tragic fact of life such as with disease 3 Describe how people of similar economic status form classes What is this called People of similar economic status are in constant contact with each other and thus develop a group identity This is called social stratification 4 Define positional inequality Positional inequality refers to the different levels in organizational hierarchy and the advantages and disadvantages that come with the different levels in organizational hierarchy Mechanisms that sustain systems of positional inequality largely arise from the demands and possibilities of prevailing economic and political structures Inheritance obstacles to social mobility and the economy together sustain wealth inequalities With positional inequality there is unequal control over resources 5 Define status inequality Status inequality refers to social advantages and disadvantages of a group of people disregarding their position in an institution race Those individuals considered in high status groups end up with better job opportunities 6 How are positional inequality and status inequality distinguished In positional inequality a person s status is influenced by race gender status of the parents occupation wealth education and other characteristics Positional inequalities involve unequal control over resources Status inequalities involve differential access to desirable and undesirable locations in the systems of positional inequality 7 Jackson claims that even if forms of gender and racial discrimination were eliminated those groups would still face barriers to economic mobility Why Because economic inequalities are transmitted from one generation to the next via families and because women are equally distributed in families up and down the economic hierarchy an end to gender discrimination would mean that women could in theory get equal access to the privileges of class in just one generation But if racial barriers were similarly removed a group concentrated toward the bottom of the hierarchy like African Americans in the United States would still have formidable economic obstacles to overcome They would be burdened by the weight of class inequality 8 What impact does the status of parents have on their children s status as adults If a child s parent is in a privileged position that offers the child financial support cultural and interpersonal skills personal connections high aspirations and some insurance against inevitable missteps Privileged children are likely to overcome negative outcomes and those without are likely to accumulate them 9 What transforms isolated individual actions of resistance into organized struggle For this to occur the disadvantaged must have sufficient resources and freedom to organize themselves they must embrace an ideology that declares inequality unnecessary and unjust and suggests that overcoming it is a practicable strategy they must accept a common identity and they must believe that collective struggle is a more promising or more noble strategy than personal advancement The willful efforts of dominant groups to avoid or suppress rebellion make these conditions rare The history of revolutions rebellions labor organizations and social movements that have sought rights for disadvantaged groups shows that the preservation of inequality always requires effort Jackson 2007 10 Robert Max Jackson argues that Davis and Moore were incorrect when attempting to explain how inequality was functional According to Jackson what did Davis and Moore get wrong The weaknesses of the Davis Moore argument lie in what it overlooks the theory neglects the influence of power on rewards does not explain how jobs become functionally important ignores organizations need to