Sociology Semester Test Notes – Flashcards

Division of society into categories, ranks, or classes

The inequal sharing of scarce resources and social rewards.

Open: Movement between status Closed: movement within a status Caste: scarce resources and social rewards are distributed on the basis of ascribed statuses Endogamy: marriage within ones own social category Exogamy: Marriage outside ones social category Class: distribution of scarce resources and rewards is determined on the basis of achieve status

Wealth-made up of the value of everything a person owns and money earned though salaries, investment returns, or other capitol gains Power- ability to control the behaviour of others with or without their consent Prestige-the respect, honor, recognition, or courtesy an individual receives from other members of society Socioeconomic Status (SES)- rating that combines social factors such as educational level, occupational prestige, and place of residence with the economic factor of income

Functionalist Perspective-explanation assumes that certain roles in society must be performed if the system is to be maintained viewed a necessary feature of social structure Conflict Perspective- Theorists see competition over scarce resources as the cause of social inequality Marxist view of conflict theory says that stratification comes from class exploitation American view of conflict theory says various groups within society compete with one another for scarce resources

Reputational Method: individuals in the community are asked to rank other community members based on what they know of their characters and lifestyles Subjective Method: individuals are asked to determine their own social rank Objective Method: sociologist define social class by income, occupation, and education.

Upper: 1% of the population controls a sizable proportion of the countrys wealth can be divide into 2 groups Old Money- refers to the fact that families have been rich for generations New Money- generally acquired wealth through their own efforts than of inheritance Upper middle: primarily high-income business people and professionals Lower Middle: most members hold a white collar job- work that doesnt involve manual labour Working: These members hold jobs that require manual labour- blue collar jobs Working Poor: Members of the working poor work at the lowest paying jobs-often temporary or seasonal Underclass: Families that have experienced unemployment and poverty over several generations

The movement between/within social classes important feature to the Open Class System Horizontal- movement within a social class move from one job to another of the same social ranking Vertical- movement between social classes depends on if you move to a higher or lower position in the stratification system Intergenerational- differences between generations in the same family the son of an automobile mechanic becomes a doctor

seen as a standard of living that is below the minimum level considered adequate by society

Age: children have the largest percentage of poverty Sex: about 50% of the poor are women Race and ethnicity: Poverty varies by race and cultural back ground

Life Chances: the likelihood that individuals have of sharing in the opportunities and benefits of society. Life Expectancy: refers to the average number of years a person born in a particular year can expect to live

may vary depending of social class divorce rates are higher with lower income families Poor Americans are more likely to be arrested, commit crimes and, become criminals

Functionalist Perspective: broadly based on the ideas of Comte, Spencer and Durkheim View society as a set of interrelated parts that work together to produce a stable social system most people agree on whats best for the society and work together to ensure that the social system runs smoothly -dysfunctional: the negative consequence an element has for the stability of the social system -Manifest Function: the intended and recognized consequence of some element of society -Latent Function: unintended or unrecognized consequence of an element of society Conflict Perspective: focuses on the forces in society that promote competition and change Interactionist Perspective- focuses on how individuals interact with one another in society -Symbol: anything that represents something else --society must agree on the meaning attached to it -Symbolic Interaction: how people use symbols when interacting

~ Feral Children:wild or untamed children Anna: Annas mother was unmarried and her dad did like that so he wouldn't let anna in the house. Annas mother tried to get her into a childrens home but it was too expensive and was moved to a series of foster homes. Eventually came back to her original home at age 6 and got minimum care. She was found at age 6 and died at 10 Isabelle: About the same story as Anna but had her mothers company. She was found about the same time as Anna: found at 6 was able to eventually learn to speak. Genie: She was discovered when she was about 13 years old. Her grandfather hated children so he locked her in a room since the age of 20 months tied to a potty chair. Genie was beaten when she was too loud. She couldn't stand straight and had the mind of a 1 year old. She couldnt progress training after third grade level. Unable to truly function in society she was put in a facility for people with developmental disabilities ~Institutionalization in children ~~children who lack a caring environment in general develop their mental, physical, and emotional skills much slower

Primary: is a small group of people who interact over a relatively long period of time on a direct and personal basis relationship is intimate and one-to-one Secondary: is a group in which interaction is impersonal and temporary in nature relationships tend to be casual and limited in personal involvement In: The group that a person belongs to and identifies with Can be classified as both primary and secondary groups Out: any group that the person doesn't belong to or identify with can also be classified as primary and secondary groups