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Sociology 100
Sociology 100 Jeff State
| Term/Concept | Definition/Explanation |
|---|---|
| Sociology | Study of human behavior in society or science that attempts to understand "social forces" |
| Social Forces | Things outside of us that shape life, interests, personality |
| Social Imagination | ability to both participate in social life and step back and analyze the broader meaning of what is going on, insight into the lives of people and society |
| Social Conditions | Realities of the life we create together as social beings |
| Environment | all the expectations and incentives established by other people in a person's social world |
| Social Conditions are dependent upon ______________ | environment |
| Individual Choice is never entirely free. Why? | Individual choice is always shaped to some extent by environment. |
| Sociological Perspective | Using social context to evaluate and intepret individual actions, or the ability to see social patterns that influence individual and group life |
| C. Wright Mills | One of 1st to write about sociological perspective. Belived social and historical context were necessary to understand the experience of a people. |
| Social Structure | Organized patterns of social relationships and social institutions that constitute society |
| Social Relationships | Repeated patterns of behavior that influence social life (such as student, teacher, administrator interactions) |
| Social Institutions | Established, organized systems of social behavior with a particular recognized purpose. |
| Examples of Social Institutions | Marriage, Government, Religion |
| Social Change | Alternation of society over time. Society is not static, constantly changing. |
| Social Interactions | Behavior between 2 or more people that is given meaning. |
| Society results from _________________. | social interactions |
| Troubles | Privately felt problems springing from events or feelings in one individuals life. |
| Issues | Affect larges numbers of people and have origins in the institutional arrangements of history and society |
| Empirical Discipline | A discipline that requires that conclusions be based on careful and systematic observations. Sociology is one of these disciplines. |
| Sociological Perspectives | Sets of ideas and theories that sociologists use in attempting to understand the problems of human society. |
| Functionalism | Interprets segments of society in terms of how they contribute to the whole. Focus on large scale structures and seeking equilibrium. A macro theory. |
| Weaknesses of Functionalism | Not good at explaning social change - society is seldom at equilibrium |
| Key Theorists of Functionlism | Emile Durkheim, Talcott Parsons, Robert Merton |
| Primary Socialization | Occurs in the family and other primary intimate groups in a child's life |
| Socialization | The way people learn to conform to their society's norms, values, and roles. |
| Seconday Socialization | Occurs in later childhood and adolescense |
| Adult Socialization | learning new roles and statuses in the adult world |
| ID | The raw human urges of unsocialized individuals. Totally self-centered. |
| SUPEREGO | the conscience - internalization of parents values and morals, awareness of others. |
| EGO | Perception of ourselves in relation to others. |
| Behavorists see humans as Tabula Rasa, meaning: | Blank slate - Behavior can be conditioned. |
| Agents of Socialization | Family (primary), School, Media |
| Social Construction of the Self | Self is outcome of socialization. Capacity to represent to oneself what one wishes to communicate to others. |
| Two elements of social construction of the self | Interactions with others and language (communication) |
| Charles H. Cooley | Idea of the "looking glass self." People understand themselves by the way others act towards them. |
| Self Fulfilling Prophecy | When one reacts to the feedback by becoming what the other person has reflected back to them |
| George H. Mead | Belived that infants were socialized and develople selves and personalities by observing others - taking the role of the other |
| Self/Personality | Is a social construction or creation |
| Stage Theory Stages | Gaining confidence (birth - 2), play and role-taking (4-7), game stage (8 +) |
| Generalized other | Constraints of society learned in the game stage |
| Three Features of Culture | Acquired both consciously and unconsciously, transmitted by symbols, constantly changing |
| Three levels of cultural acquisition | Far below the conscious, just below conscious, fully conscious |
| Three Dimensions of Culture | Ideas/Values, Norms, and Materials |
| Two Aspects of Culture | Ideologies, and Technologies |
| Ideologies | A combination of values and norms that all members of society are expected to believe in and act upon without question - religion, economics, government |
| Technologies | The things, or material culture, and the norms for using them in a particular culture |
| Social Control | Set of rules and understandings that control the behavior of individuals and groups in a culture |
| Normative Order | How things are done - norms that allow society to achieve relatively peaceful social control |
| Sanctions | Punishments or rewards for breaking or keeping the norms |
| Mores | Norms considered to be vital to the survival of society - most strongly sanctioned |
| Folkways | More informal norms, less strongly sanctioned |
| Laws | Formalized, written down, norms of a society |
| Group | 2 or more individuals who interact, share goals and norms, and have a subjective awareness as "we" OR who share a common identity and belonging and interact on a regular basis |
| Social Category | Example: Teenagers, Truck Drivers. Not considered a group by sociological standards. |
| Dyad | Group consisting of exactly two people. |
| Triad | Group consisting of three people. |
| Isolate | Person not apart of the interaction in a Triad. |
| Tridiac segregation | The tendency of a triad to segregate into a pair (dyad) and an isolate. |
| Georg Simmel | German sociologist who studied small groups such as dyads and triads. |
| group size effects | The effects of group number on behavior |
| Charles Horton Cooley | Introduced concept of the PRIMARY GROUP - in his view this was early, intimate groups like family and peer groups of the young child |
| Primary Group | a group consisting of intimate, face to face interaction and cooperation, relatively long lasting relationships. Have expressive (emotional) bonds. Provide intimacy, companionship and emotional support. Have great impact on social life and social control |
| Expressive bonds | based on attraction to particular others. Usually these are the people in our primary groups, based on proximity, small number of peeps, and intense frequent interactions |
| Secondary groups | Larger in membership, less intimate and less long lasting. Can occasionally act like primary groups, especially in times of crisis. |
| Expressive needs | Also called socioemotional needs. People tend to have these needs met in Primary groups. |
| Instrumental needs | attachments to others based on our need to achieve certain goals. Task oriented needs. |
| Reference groups | groups to which one may not necessarily belong, but that are used as standards for evaluating values, attitudes, and behavior. A reference point. Identification with these groups can strongly influence self evaluation and self esteem. |
| Characteristics of Social Groups | Members recruited according to criteria, members aware of belonging to group, have social structure arising from interaction, develop attachment, develop group norms and goals, have potential for conflict |
| In Groups vs. Out Groups | Concept by W I Thomas. If we have a sense of "us" (the in group) we will also have a sense of "them" (the out group) |
| Attribution Theory | Principal that we make inferences about the personalities and capabilities of others, usually based on whether they are an "in" or "out" group member. Usually distorted perceptions. Studied by Pettigrew. |
| Attribution Error | Erros made in attributing causes for people's behavior to their membership in a particular group. We tend to positively perceive people in our in group and negatively perceive those in out groups regardless of the actual characteristic |
| Social Networks | A set of links between individuals or between other social units, such as bureaucratic orgs or even entire nations |
| Not Me Syndrome | We all think other people yield to pressure to conform - but not us. |
| Groupthink | tendency for group members to reach a concensus opinion, even if the decision is bad/stupid. |
| Patterns of Groupthink | Illusion of invulnerability, false impression of antagonists, dissention is discouraged and equated with disloyalty, illusion of unanimity. |
| Risky Shift or Polarization Shift | Tendency for groups to weigh risks differently than individuals do. Can shift to either higher risk or lower risk taking. |
| Deindividuation | sense that one's self has merged with the group - blame and responsiblity are "shared" |
| Formal Organization | large secondary group, highly organized to accomplish complex tasks and goals |
| Normative Organizations | People join these organizations to pursue goals they consider worthwhile - often called voluntary organizations. Class, race, ethnicity, and gender play a role in what organzation one joins. |
| Coercive organizations | Characterized by membership that is largely involuntary. Prisons and mental hospitals are examples. |
| Total Institution | An organization cut off from the rest of society in which resident individuals are subject to strict social control - as in hospitals or prisons |
| Utilitarian organization | Large organizations that individuals join for specific purposes, such as monitary reward. |
| Bureaucracy | formal organization characterized by an authority hierarchy, clear division of labor, explicit rules and impersonality |
| Ethnocentrism | belief that OUR group is the best, or maybe the only right one, and that all others are inferior |
| What are the effects of group size increasing | formality increases, personal satisfaction decreases, intimacy decreases, more difficult to reach concensus, cliques form, individuals address group (impersonality) |
| reciprocal relationships | those where you return what you receive, and both parties of the relationship contribute |
| Principals of Group Interaction | Pleasure, rationality, reciprocity, and fairness |
| Ritualism | Rigid adherence to rules and practices which can produce a slavinsh following of them |
| Alienation | Stresses on rules and proceedures resulting in a decrease in organizational cohesion, resulting in the individual becoming psychologically separated from the organization and its goals. |
| Dimesions of McDonaldization | efficiency, calculability, predictability, control |
| Ideal Bureaucracy | high degree of division of labor or specilization, hierarchy of authority, rules and regulations, impersonal relationships |
| Bureaucracy's other face | the informal culture evolved within a bureaucracy in reaction to its formality and impersonality, can be attempts to humanize impersonal organizations |
| Deviance | Behavior that is recognized as violating expected rules and norms. Deviance defined in social context, not individual acts. What is deviant to some is not deviant to others. Deviance is socially defined - not simply an act. |
| Formal deviance | behavior that breaks laws or official rules |
| Informal deviance | behavior that violated customary norms |
| Who creates deviance? | Social groups create deviance by their reactions. Deviance also defined by place, time and who witnesses the behavior. |
| Functionalistic view of deviance | societies need deviance to know what normal behavior is defined to be - Deviance produces social solidarity (cohesion), occurs more often when attachment to social bonds is dimished, stems from structural strains in society |
| Medicalization of Deviance | Defining deviance as an individual sickness or pathology - this ignores the social factors that contribute to deviance |
| Symbolic Interaction Theory and Deviance | Deviance is learned and reinforced in group membership, results from process of social labeling, deviance is produced by those with the power to label deviance |
| Conflict Theory of Deviance | Dominant class controls definition of deviance. Deviance results from inequality. Elite deviance goes largely unrecognized and unpunished. |
| Anomie | a normless state of society, when social regulations break down and controlling influences of society are no longer affective |
| Anomic suicide | Occurs when disintegrating forces in society make individuals feel lost or alone - ex: those who have been sexually abused or have alcoholc parents are more likely to commit suicide |
| Altruistic suicide | Occurs when people are excessively dominated by the expectations of their social group |
| Egoistic suicide | Occurs when individual feels totally detatched from society. ex: suicide by the elderly when their social ties and bonds break down |
| Durkheim's view of suicide | Suicide is a sociological phenomenon, not just individual phenomenon |
| Robert Merton | Structural Strain theory. |
| Structural Strain Theory | deviance explained by the gap between cultural goals and the means social structure provides to achieve those goals |
| Deviant quality of an act | Depends upon circumstances under which it was performed and the audience |
| Forms of deviance | Innovative deviance, ritualistic deviance, retreatism deviance, or rebellion |
| Innovative deviance | When a cultural goal is accepted, but nontraditional means are available and used to achieve the goal. An example is when a woman accepts the cultural goal of attaining wealth, but resorts to using prostitution in order to attain it. |
| Retreatism deviance | When neither the goals or the means to achieve them are available to a person. Example is a severe alcoholic. |
| Ritualistic deviance | When the goal is perceived an unattainable, but the means to achieve it are plentiful. Example: bulemia - they never feel thin enough, it seems unattainable, but there are plenty of means to be thin and in shape |
| Rebellion | When new goals are substituted for more traditional ones and new, untraditional means are taken to replace older ones |
| Travis Hirschi | Developed Social Control Theory |
| Social Control Theory | states that deviance occurs when a person's or group's attatchment to social bonds is weakened - people internalize social norms because of their attachment to others |
| Weakness of Functionlist perspective on Deviance | Does not explain how norms of deviance are first established, does little to explain why some behaviors are labeled normative and others not. Tendency to assume that systems of behavior work for the good of the whole and ignores inequality. |
| Conflict Theories of Deviance | states that the economic organization of capitalist societies produce deviance and crime. See crimes in terms of power relationships and economic inequality. |
| Macrostructural theories on Deviance | Conflict Theory and Functionalist theory |
| Social control | process by which groups and individuals within those groups are brought into conformity with dominant social expectations |
| Social control agents | those who regulate and administer the response to deviance - such as police or mental health workers |
| Elite deviance | wrong doing of the wealthy and/or powerful individuals and organizations. Example: white collar crime |
| Conflict Theory's weaknesses in explaining deviance | Laws and social structure can work for the protection and benefit of others, not just the elite. Good analysis of crime, but not good analysis of other forms of deviance - economic interests alone cannot explain all of the deviance in society |
| Microsociological deviance theory | Symbolic interaction theories of deviance |
| Symbolic interaction theories and deviance | Based in the belief that people behave as they do because of the meanings they attribute to situations - these theories emphasize meanings surrounding deviance and how people respond to those meanings |
| W.I. Thomas explanation of deviance | a normal response to social conditions in which people find themselves - deviance can be a problem of social conditions, not individual character |
| situational analysis | people's actions and the subjective meanings attributed to these actions must be understood in social, not individualized, frameworks |
| Differential association theory | Deviance is behavior one learns through interactions with others - people become criminals when they are more socialized to break the law than to keep it by their primary groups |
| Labeling theory | says the responses of others are the most significant factor in understanding how deviant behavior is created and sustained, the power of labels, such as "deviant," cause reactions - even if no deviant act has been committed. |
| label | assignment of a deviant identity to a person by others, including agents of social control and social institutions - those who have the power to label and enforce sanctions define who and what is deviant |
| Deviant identity | definition a person has of himself or herself as a deviant |
| Primary deviance | actual violation of a norm or law |
| Secondary deviance | behavior which results from being labeled deviant, regardless of whether the person has engaged in deviance |
| deviant career | sequence of movements people mke through a particular subculture of deviance |
| deviant communities | groups organized around particular forms of social deviance |
| master status | characteristic that overrides all other aspects of a person's identity |
| stigma | attribute that is socially devalued |
| personal crimes | violent or nonviolent crimes directed against people, like rape, assault or robbery |
| hate crimes | malicious acts motivagted by various forms of social bias |
| property crimes | theft of property without threat of bodily harm |
| victimless crimes | violates laws , but are not listed in FBIs serious crime list - like gambling, drug use and prostitution in which there is no complainant |
| Organized crime | crime comitted by structured groups |
| Social differentiation | processs by which different statuses develop in any group, organization, or society |
| Social stratification | system of structured social inequality |
| estate system of stratification | ownership of property and exercise of power is monopolized by an elite who have total control over societal resources, typically found in agricultural societies. Majorly based on land ownership. |
| Three types of stratification | estate, class, and caste |
| caste system of stratification | one's place is an ascribed status (given at birth), hierarchy of different casts is rigid and usually preserved through law and cultural practice |
| class system of stratification | stratification exists, but placement in the system can change according to personal achievements, meaning there is some degree of achieved status |
| social class (or class) | the social structural position groups hold relative to economic, social, political and cultural resources. It determines the access different people have to these resources, creating advantage or disadvantage |
| life chances | Term by Weber meaning the opportunities people have in common by virtue of belonging to a particular class |
| How is social class measured? | Class is a structural phenomenon, it cannot be directly observed. Because it cannot be isolated to be measured, indicators like income, education, occupation, and residence are used to measure class. |
| Ideology | Belief system that support the status quo |
| According to Marx, who promotes the dominant ideas of a capitalist society? | The ruling class - the capitalists. Through their control of institutions and communications they are able to promote and support their values. |
| What is class conflict according to Marx? | Class conflict is the inescapeable struggle between workers and capitalists, as workers become disatisfied with power and means being concentrated in the hands of an elite few. Marx believed workers would eventually overthrow the capitalists. |
| What is the middle class according to Marx? | Classof managers and small business owers which identifies with capitalist interests, even though they do not own the means of production and are exploited by the owners of it. Dependent upon the capitalist system, even though they are exploited by it. |
| Weber's three dimensions of stratification | Class (economic dimension - access to material goods), status (prestige - the social and cultural judgement or recognition one is given), party (power, the political dimesion, the capacity one has to influence groups and individuals even when opposed) |
| Functionalist perspective of Inequality | Societal inequity serves a purpose - it motivates people to fill positions in society that are needed for survival of the whole. Inequality based on reward system that motivated people to succeed, also necessary for cohesion of society. |
| Conflict perspective of Inequality | Inequality based on friction between competing interest groups. Does NOT view inequality as a necessary and positive force which helps society. |
| status attainment | the process by which people end up in a given position in the stratification system |
| Socioeconomic status | defined by one's income, occupational prestige, and education |
| income | amount of money a person receives in a given period |
| wealth | total value of what one owns, minus one's debts |
| median income | midpoint of all household incomes |
| prestige | the value others assign to people and groups |
| occupational prestige | subjective evaluation people give to jobs |
| myth of the model minority | idea that a minority must adopt the alleged dominant group values in order to succeed |
| urban underclass | those left behind by contemporary economic development, likely to be permanently unemployable and either dependent on gov't programs or crime to survive |
| class consciousness | perception that a class structure exists and the feeling of shared identification with others in one's class, others with whom one perceives have common life chances |
| false consciousness | class consciousness of subordinate classes who internalize the view of the dominant class. If people accept the dominant ideas which justify inequality they need not be coerced into accepting roles assigned by the ruling class. |
| social mobility | a person's movement over time from one class to another, can go up or down, can be intergenerational or intragenerational |
| How much social mobility is in the US? | Social mobility is less than people commonly believe. It is to the advantage of the elites to make subordinates believe there is more mobility to keep them content with inequality. |
| What affects social mobility? | Social mobility is much more likely to be affected by factors that affect the whole society rather than individual characteristics. Thus, mobility is often attributed to changes in occupational systems, economic cycles and demographics. |
| feminization of the poor | refers to the increasing proportion of the poor who are women and children |
| culture of poverty | an argument that attributes the major causes of poverty to the absence of work values and irresponsibility of the poor. |
| Sociological view of the causes of poverty | Not attributable to one cause, but to many such as: restructuring of the economy, status of women in the family and labor market, and diminished social support like job training and housing. |
| ethnic group | a social category of people who share a common culture - such as common language, norms, religion. Have consciouness of their common bonds. Socially constructed. |
| ethnic identity | the definition the group has of itself as sharing a common cultural bond |
| Are ethnic groups created only by common nationality or cultural origin? | No. Ethnic groups develop because of unique historical and social experiences. |
| Race | a group treated as distinct in society based on characteristics which are assigned social importance. May or may not be biological characteristics. A social construct. |
| How are racial groups defined? | Not defined by biological characteristics, but how groups have been treated historically and socially. Groups not on science, fact or logic but by opinion or social experience. |
| Is the family a social institution? Why? | Family is a social institutions because it is organized in socially pattered ways. It would be hard to imagine "family" outside of the institutional pattern you recognize - which is socially defined. |
| What is the sociological definition of family? | Broad reference to primary groups of people, usually related, who form a cooperative economic unit to care for children, and who are comitted to maintaining the group over time. |
| kinship system | pattern of relationships that define people's family relationships to one another |
| Features of a kinship system | Defines how many marriage partners permitted at one time, who can marry whom, how desent is determined, residence, how property is passed, power distribution |
| Polygamy | practice of men or women having multiple marriage partners |
| Polygyny | one many having more than one wife |
| Polyandry | one woman having more than one husband |
| monogamy | practice of sexcuall exclusive marriage with one spouse at a time |
| serial monogamy | over a lifetime one may have more than one marriage, but only one spouse at a time |
| Exogamy | practice of seeking mates from outside one's group |
| Endogamy | practice of seeking mates from within one's group |
| Antimiscegenation laws | laws against marriage between particular groups - such as between Whites and Blacks |
| Patrilineal kinship | tracing decent through the father |
| Matrilineal kinship | decent traced through the mother |
| bilaterial kinship | descent traced through both father and mother |
| extended families | the whole network of parents, children and other relatives who form a family unit, may not always live together and may be considered family even if not legally related |
| othermother | African American women who share mothering responsibilities with the biological mothers of children |
| compadrazgo | Chicano practice of including godparents |
| fictive kin | those not related by birth but considered part of the family |
| nuclear family | a married couple residing together with their children |
| Functionalist interpretation of the family | Family fills particular societal needs - procreation, socialization of youth, physical care for families, regulating sexual activity, psych support, etc. Also serves to ensure a consensus of values in society |
| Functionalist theory of family "breakdown" | Disruption and change can weaken social instituions, which weaken social cohesion. Disorganizing forces from rapid social change are affecting the family. The role of other institutions taking on what used to be family functions produces disorganization |
| Conflict theory of family | Family is a system of power relations that reinforces and reflects the inequalities in society. Families are essential in maintaining inequality in society as they are the vehicle through which property and status are passed down. |
| Symbolic Interaction Theory of family | Family emerges as people interact to meet basic needs and develop meaningful relationships. They are where social identies are learned through interaction with others and roles are negotiated |
| Feminist Theory of family | Says gender division of labor is not necessarily functional and family norms often based on gender stereotypes. Family does not serve the needs of all members equally. Family as system of power relations, social conflict. |
| transnational family | where one or both parents works in one country while their children remain in their country of origin |
| Religion | institutionalized system of symbols, beliefs, values and practices by which a group of people interpretes and responds to what they feel is sacred and answers questions of ultimate meaning |
| Religion as institution | pattern of social action organized around beliefs, practices, and symbols that people develop to answer questions about the meaning of existence |
| Religion as feature of groups | Religion is built around community of people with similar beliefs. Cohesive force that gives identity and sense of belonging |
| The sacred | that which is set apart from ordinary activity, seen as holy, and protecte by special rites and rituals |
| The profane | of the everyday world and not specifically religious |
| totem | an object or living things that a religious group regards with special reverence |
| proscription | a constraint imposed by external forces |
| elements of religion | Institutionalized, group feature, based on the sacred, establishes values and moral proscriptions, establishes norms for behavior, answers question of ultimate meaning |
| secular beliefs | ordinary beliefs of daily life |
| religiosity | intensity and consistency of practice of a person or groups faith |
| patriarchal religions | beliefs and practices of the religion are based on male power and authority |
| matriarchal religions | based on the centrality of female goddesses, who may be seen as a source of food, nurturance, love, or who may serve as emblems of the power of women |
| Functionlist interpretation of religion | religion is functional for society because it reaffirms social bonds, creating social cohesion and integration |
| religious rituals | symbolic activities that express spiritual convictions |
| functionalist interpretation of religious ritual | rituals are the vehicles for the creation, expression and reinforcement of social cohesion |
| collective consciousness | the body of beliefs common to a community or society that give people a sense of belonging |
| protestant work ethic | self denial and hard work |
| Conflict theory of religion | opiate of the people, tool for class oppression, false consciousness, encourages passivity and acceptance even of things not good for us |
| symbolic interaction theory of religion | emphasizes process by which people become religious |
| religious extremism | acions and beliefs that are driven by high levels of religious intolerance |
| churches | formal organizations that tend to see themselves and are seen by society as the primary and legitimate religious institutions |
| sects | groups that have broken off from an established church |
| cults | religious groups devoted to a specific cause or charasmatic leader, usually exist outside of mainstream society |
| charisma | quality attributed to individuals believed by their followers to have special powers |
| social change | alteration of social interactions, institutions, stratification systems and elements of culture over time |
| microchanges | subtle alterations in day to day interactions between people - like fads |
| macrochanges | gradual transformations that occur on a broad scale and affect many aspects of society |
| modernization | societies absorb the changes that come with new times and shed old ways |
| Characteristics of social change | Social chanage is uneven, onset and consequences often unforseen, often creates conflict, is not random |
| culture lag | Term by Ogburn which refers to the delay between changes in social conditions and the cultural adjustments to those conditions |
| function | a consequence of a social element that contributes to the continuance of the society |
| mechanical solidarity | cohesiveness based on the similarity of it smembers |
| organic solidarity | cohesiveness based on difference - a divison of labor exists that binds the members together |
| Durkheim's view of social change through history | Societies move from mechnical solidarity to organic solidarity |
| Spencer's view of how societies change through history | societies move from "homogeneity to heterogeneity" |
| Functionalist view of need for increased differentiation in complex societies | Differentiation, division of labor, etc. function to give complex societies a higher degree of stability and cohesiveness through mutual dependence |
| evolutionary theories of social change | Brances of functionalist theory - unidimensional evolutionary theory and multidimensional evolutionary theory |
| unidimensional evolutionary theory | says societies follow a single evolutionary path from simple, undifferentiated societies to more comples and highly differentiated societies |
| multidimensional evolutionary theory (neoevolutionary theory) | says the structural, institutional, and cultural development of a society can simultaneously follow many evolutionary paths, with different paths all emerging from the circumstances of origin |
| Lenski | views technology as central to the evolutionary paths of a society |
| Conflict theory and social change | economics is central, believed society could move from a class structure to having no class structure and that class conflict was inevitable along the way - most important vehicle for social change is the conflict between social groups |
| cyclical theories of social change | speaks of patterns of social structure and culture that are believed to recur at regular intervals - built on the idea the societies have either a life cycle or a life span |
| Arnold Toynbee | cyclical theorist that argued that societies are born, mature, decay, and sometimes die |
| Oswald Spengler | author of The Decline of the West - believes that decrepit societies are replaced by more youthful ones |
| Pitrim Sorokin | Cyclical theorist that says societies have 3 phases - idealist culture, ideational culture, sensate culture - these repeat in a cycle |
| idealistic culture | first phase where society wrestles with tension between the ideal and the practical |
| ideational culture | second phase, emphasizes faith and new forms of spirituality |
| sensate culture | third phase, stresses practical approaches to reality and involves the hedonistic and sensual |
| revolution | overthrow of a state or total transformation of central state institutions. Results in far reaching social change. |
| cultural diffusion | the transmission of cultural elements from one society or cultural group to another by migration, trade, mass communication or social interaction |
| Ralph Linton | spoke on cultural diffusion |
| modernization | process of social and cultural change initiated by industrialization and followed by increased social differentiation and division of labor |
| Characeristics of modernization | decline of small, traditional communities; more bureaucracy; decline of importance of religious institutions |
| Tonnies | formulated theory of modernization which viewed the process as a progressive loss of gemeinschaft and shift to geshellschaft |
| mass society | where industrialization and bureaucracy reach exceedingly high levels |
| Dahrendorf and Berger | formulated idea of "mass society" |
| Jurgen Habermas | inequality is the result of social conflict - conflict theorist |
| David Riesman | Three main oreintations of personality that can be traced to social structure: other directedness, inner directedness, tradition directedness |
| Other directedness | behavior is guided by observed behavior of others resulting in conformity and attempts to "keep up with joneses" |
| Inner directedness | guided by inner principals and morals. Relatively impervious to superficialities of other people |
| Tradition directedness | strong conformity to longstanding norms, practices and styles of life |
| Herbert Marcuse | modernized society fails to meet the basic needs of people, amog them the need for a fulfilling identity |
| modernization theory | global development is a worldwide process including nearly all societies affected by technological change |
| world systems theory | argues that all nations are members of a worldwide system of unequal political and economic relationships that benefit the developed and tech advanced countries at the expense of less advanced and developed ones |
| dependency theory | highly industrialized nations tend to imprison developing nations in dependent relationships rather than spurring upward mobility |
| collective behavior | occurs when usual conventions to guide behavior or suspended and people establish new norms in response to an emerging situation |
| social movements | led by groups that act with continuity and organization to promote change or resistance in society, tend to persist over time |
| Characteristics of collective behavior | represents actions of GROUPS, involves new relationships which are unusual or unexpected, captures the novel/changing, may mark beginning of organized behavior and preceeds establishment of a social movement, patterned, communication through rumors |
| personal transformation movements | aim to change the individual, participants aim to adopt a new identity |
| social/political change movements | aim to change some aspect of society |
| reform movements | seek change through legal or other mainstream political means, typically working within existing institutions |
| radical movements | broader based fundamental change in the basic institutions, tend to work outside of institutions |
| reactionary movements | organized to resist change or reinstate an earlier social order that are perceived to be better |
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