INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY 3E
Chapter 4 SOCIETY AND SOCIAL INTERACTION
PowerPoint Image Slideshow
Some aspects of teenage life cross societal boundaries, while others are distinct. (Credit: USAID/flickr)
Q: WHAT DID YOU THINK OF INAYAH’S STORY?
A. I think her life seems restrictive.
B. I think her life seems unstructured.
C. I think her life seems relatively typical.
HOW DOES TECHNOLOGY CHANGE A SOCIETY?
Chemical engineer Nithin Abraham specializes in developing protective coatings for spacecraft. Her work is being applied to other industries, such as art and artifact preservation.
The amount of spending for NASA and related initiatives is often debated and criticized.
If NASA spending can impact other areas of our society, is it more valuable?
PREINDUSTRIAL SOCIETIES
Hunter-gatherer are societies that depend on hunting wild animals and gathering uncultivated plants the survival
Pastoral societies are societies based around the domestication of animals
Horticultural societies are societies based around the cultivation of plants
Agricultural societies are societies that rely on farming as a way of life
Feudal societies are societies that operate on a strict hierarchical system of power based around land ownership and protection
INDUSTRIAL SOCIETIES
Marked by rapid invention and methods.
Emerged during and after Industrial Revolution in the 1700s and 1800s.
Included major changes in areas such as:
POSTINDUSTRIAL SOCIETIES
Information Societies, postindustrial or digital societies are based on the production of information and services
Industrial societies are rooted in the production of material goods
FIGURE 4.3
Otherwise skeptic or hesitant villagers are more easily convinced of the value of the solar project when they realize that the “solar engineers” are their local grandmothers. (Photo courtesy of Abri le Roux/flickr)
EMILE DURKHEIM AND FUNCTIONALISM
Collective Conscience are the common beliefs, morals, and attitudes of a society
Social Integration is the strength of ties that people have to their social groups
Mechanical Solidarity is a type of social order maintained by the collective consciousness of a culture
Organic Solidarity is a type of social order based around an acceptance of economic and social differences
Anomie is a situation in which society no longer has the support of a firm collective consciousness
KARL MARX AND CONFLICT THEORY
Bourgeoisie the owners of the means of production in society
Proletariat are the laborers in a society
Capitalism a way of organizing an economy so that the things that are used to make and transport products are owned by individual people and companies
Alienation refers to the condition in which the individual is isolated and divorced from their society, work and the sense of self
False consciousness is a condition in which the beliefs, ideals, or ideology of a person are not in the person’s own best interest.
Class consciousness is the awareness of one’s rank in society
FIGURE 4.6
Karl Marx asserted that all elements of a society’s structure depend on its economic structure.
MARX AND ENGELS
Karl Marx (left) and Friedrich Engels (right) analyzed differences in social power between “have” and “have-not” groups. (Photo (a) courtesy of Wikimedia Commons; Photo (b) courtesy of George Lester/Wikimedia Commons)
FIGURE 4.8
An assembly line worker installs car parts with the aid of complex machinery. Has technology made this type of labor more or less alienating? (Photo courtesy of Carol Highsmith/Wikimedia Commons)
MAX WEBER AND SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONISM
Rationalization is the belief that modern society should be built around logic and efficiency rather than morality or tradition
Iron cage is a situation in which an individual is trapped by social institutions
FIGURE 4.9
Cubicles are used to maximize individual workspace in an office. Such structures may be rational, but they are also isolating. (Photo courtesy of Tim Patterson/flickr)
FIGURE 4.10
Who are we? What role do we play in society? According to sociologists, we construct reality through our interactions with others. In a way, our day-to-day interactions are like those of actors on a stage. (Photo courtesy of Jan Lewandowski/flickr)
SOCIAL CONSTRUCTIONS OF REALITY
Habitualization is the idea that society is constructed by us and those before us, and it is followed like a habit
Institutionalization is the act of implanting a convention or norm into society
Thomas theorem is how a subjective reality can drive events to develop in accordance with that reality, despite being originally unsupported by objective reality
Self-fulfilling prophecy is an idea that becomes true when acted upon
ROLES AND STATUS
Roles are patterns of behavior that we recognize in each other that are representative of a person’s social status
Status describes the responsibilities and benefits that a person experiences according to their rank and role in society
Ascribed status is the status outside of an individual’s control, such as sex or race
Achieved status is the status a person chooses, such as a level of education or income
Role-set is an array of roles attached to a particular status
Role strain is stress that occurs when too much is required of a single role
Role Conflict is a situation when one or more of an individual’s roles clash
FIGURE 4.11
The story line of a self-fulfilling prophecy appears in many literary works, perhaps most famously in the story of Oedipus. Oedipus is told by an oracle that he will murder his father and marry his mother. In going out of his way to avoid his fate, Oedipus inadvertently fulfills it. Oedipus’s story illustrates one way in which members of society contribute to the social construction of reality. (Photo courtesy of Jean-Antoine-Theodore Giroust/Wikimedia Commons)
ROLE STRAIN
Parents often experience role strain or role conflict as they try to balance different and often urgent competing responsibilities. (Credit: Ran Zwigenberg/flickr)�
PRESENTATION OF SELF
Role Performance is how a person expresses their role.
Looking-glass self: According to Cooley, we base our image on what we think other people see (Cooley 1902). We imagine how we must appear to others, then react to this speculation.
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