Sociology Chapter 12, 13, 14

One kind of social structure made up of a number of relationships (that is stable patterns of meaningful orientations to one another) people use institutions to achieve their intended goals, as students use schools or as patients use hospitals (Ravelli)

Any enduring predictable pattern of social relations among people in society. The subject matter of sociology. All social structures control us, so that we act in a certain way in a given situation, despite personal differences. They change us, so that we behave differently in different situations, despite our more or less fixed personalities. And although they resist the efforts of individuals to bring about social change, they also produce social change.

• Procreation • Socialization • Sexual regulation • Social placement • Material/emotional support

• Social control • Social cohesion • Providing meaning and purpose

• Socialization • Cultural innovation • Social integration • Social placement • Latent functions

• Production of goods and services • Distribution of goods and services • Consumption of goods and services • Balance sectors - primary, secondary, tertiary

• Distribution of power • Sets society's goals • Makes decisions

state of complex physical, mental and social well being - affected by society as • Cultural patterns define health • Cultural patterns of health changes over time • Society's technology affect people's health • Social inequality affects people's health

• Universal • Not for profit • Portable • Equal care • Administrative

• Divorce • Family violence • Alternative family forms • New reproductive technologies

• Fundamentalism • secularization • Inequality

• Discipline and violence • Student passivity • Bureaucracy • Dropping out

• Unemployment and underemployment • New information technology and work • Corporations and global economy

• Voter apathy • Party identification • Rise of welfare state

who is healthy? • Age, Gender, Class, Race • Health and body - eating disorders • STI's -(public health issue) • Ethical issues - euthanasia • Health care costs

the family performs many vital tasks. Sometimes called the \"backbone of society.\" Glosses over how government institutions could meet some needs. • Socialization • Regulation of sexual activity • Social placement • Material and emotional security

considers the family central to our way of life. Instead of focusing on ways that kinship benefits society, this approach points out how family perpetuates social inequality. • Property and inheritance • Patriarchy • Race and ethnicity - people marry others like themselves

Micro-level analysis explores how individuals shape and experience family life. Ideally, family living offers an opportunity for intimacy. As family members share many activities and establish trust, they build emotional bonds. Kinship ties with parents open up when young people approach adulthood. Explains that the reality of family life is constructed by members in their interaction.

an analysis of politics that sees power as spread among many competing interest groups

an analysis of politics that sees power as concentrated among the rich

an analysis that explains politics in terms of the operation of a society's economic system

• Social Cohesion - unites people • Social control - uses religious ideas to promote conformity • Providing meaning and purpose

Religion is socially constructed. Through various rituals, from daily prayer to annual events, people sharpen the distinction between the sacred and the profane. Placing our small, brief lives within some \"cosmic frame of reference\" gives us the appearance of \"ultimate security and permanence.\"

Highlights religion's support of social inequality. Serves elites by legitimizing the status quo and diverting people's attention from social inequalities. Ex. Today the British Monarch is the formal head of the Church of England - religious and political ties. And working for political change may mean opposing the church. Church's are patriarchal. (religion also promotes change towards equality)

Views medicine as society's strategy to keep it's members healthy. Illness is dysfunctional because it reduces people's abilities to perform their roles. The sick role: patterns of behaviour defined as appropriate for people who are ill. The physician's role: evaluate claims of sickness and help restore to normal routines, used specialized knowledge and expect patients to follow \"doctors orders.\"

Society is less a grand system than a complex and changing reality. Social construction of illness: if so, people in a poor society may view malnutrition as normal, or for us, a rich diet normal. Our response to illness is based on social definitions that may or may not be square with medical fact. AIDS prejudice. Psychosomatic disorders. Social construction of treatment: to ensure the situation is defined as impersonal and professional, medical personnel wear uniforms and the examination room is furnished with nothing but medical equipment.

Health is linked to social inequality, with rich people having more access to care than poor people. Capitalist medical care places the drive for profits over the needs of people, treating symptoms rather than addressing poverty and sexism as causes of illness.

Micro-level approach, describes courtship and marriage as forms of negotiation. Courtship typically brings together people who offer the same level of advantages. Dating allows each person to assess the advantages and disadvantages of a potential spouse. People \"shop around\" to make the best \"deal\" they can.