Sociology Chapters 3-6 Flashcards Flashcards

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Culture

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A shared system of knowledge, beliefs, values, norms, and symbols that guide behavior within a society. Culture is learned, emergent, and channels human behavior across groups and generations. It also maintains boundaries between groups and helps shape social identity.

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Ethnocentrism

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The belief that one’s own culture or cultural practices are superior to those of others. Ethnocentrism can create division and conflict both within and between societies. It often leads to misunderstanding and prejudice.

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Symbols

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Objects, gestures, sounds, or images that carry particular meanings shared by members of a culture. Language is a primary symbolic system that enables communication by evoking similar meanings among people. Shared symbols are essential for coordinated social interaction.

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Technology

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The information, techniques, and tools people use to satisfy needs and desires, including material and social technologies. Material technology refers to physical tools and how to use them, while social technology involves organizing social processes and institutions. Both shape how societies function and change.

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Norms

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Societal prescriptions for how people should act in specific situations, varying in importance across contexts. Folkways are informal, mildly enforced norms, whereas mores are deeply held norms with strong sanctions for violation. Norm violations typically result in social sanctions.

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Socialization

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A lifelong process through which individuals learn cultural values, norms, and societal expectations. Socialization requires social contact and language, and it shapes personality, identity, and behavior within a culture. It prepares people to participate in social life.

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Nature versus Nurture

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The debate over the relative contributions of genetic inheritance (nature) and social experience (nurture) to human development. Contemporary perspectives emphasize that both biology and social interaction shape personality and behavior. Social contact and language are crucial for developing a sense of self.

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Looking-Glass Self

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Charles H. Cooley’s concept that people form their self-concepts by imagining how others perceive them. Through interaction, individuals interpret others’ reactions and internalize those perceptions as part of their identity. This process shapes self-esteem and social behavior.

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Role Taking

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George Herbert Mead’s idea that individuals develop self-awareness by internalizing the perspectives of others. Stages include imitation, play, and the game stage, which lead to understanding significant others and the generalized other. Role taking enables empathy and coordinated social action.

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Hidden Curriculum

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The informal and implicit lessons taught in schools about norms, values, character traits, and expectations. Unlike the formal curriculum of academics, the hidden curriculum socializes students into cultural norms and acceptable behaviors. It contributes to social reproduction and cultural continuity.

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Ideological Control

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Mechanisms that shape beliefs and manipulate consciousness so people accept the dominant ideology and reject competing ideas. Agents include family, education, religion, sport, media, and government, all of which socialize individuals into preferred worldviews. Ideological control operates largely through persuasion and cultural transmission.

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Direct Social Control

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Explicit measures and institutions that constrain or punish behavior, such as laws, surveillance, and state enforcement. Direct control includes government policing, incarceration, and corporate surveillance, plus medical or scientific techniques used to manage nonconformity. It relies on coercion, sanctions, and formal authority.

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Surveillance

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The monitoring of individuals by governments, employers, or corporations to enforce rules and gather information. Surveillance can be used for crime control, workplace management, or social regulation and raises issues of privacy and civil liberties. Technological advances have expanded surveillance capabilities and reach.

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Social Welfare Control

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The idea that public assistance programs can function to diffuse unrest and maintain social order during crises. Piven and Cloward argue that welfare may serve as a form of direct social control by pacifying disadvantaged groups. Such programs have complex roles in both support and regulation.

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Deviance

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Behavior that violates social norms and elicits negative reactions or stigma from others. Deviance is socially constructed, relative rather than absolute, and defined by the majority within a society. It plays an integral role in social order and boundaries.

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Labeling Theory

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A perspective that emphasizes society’s role in defining and stigmatizing certain acts and people as deviant. Labels can lead to secondary deviance when individuals internalize stigmatizing identities and continue deviant behavior. The theory highlights the power of social reaction over intrinsic criminality.

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Primary Deviance

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Initial rule-breaking behavior that may go unnoticed or unlabelled by society. It precedes any official labeling and does not necessarily affect an individual’s self-identity permanently. Primary deviance contrasts with later behaviors shaped by societal reactions.

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Secondary Deviance

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Deviant behavior that results from being publicly labeled as deviant and internalizing that identity. Once labeled, individuals may face limited opportunities and social rejection, increasing the likelihood of continued deviance. Secondary deviance reflects the social consequences of stigmatization.

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Conflict Theory (Deviance)

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A perspective that argues definitions of deviance and punishment reflect power relations and serve dominant interests. Conflict theorists emphasize corporate and political crimes and contend that laws often protect the advantaged while criminalizing the disadvantaged. The approach links deviance to social inequality and politics.