Introduction to Sociology Lecture Notes

Robert Keel, Instructor

(Please see the disclaimer below)

Part 1: Imagining Society

The Sociological Perspective (chapter 1)

Sociological Research Methods (chapter 2)

Part 2: The Basics

Culture (chapter 3)
Socialization (chapter 4)
Social Structure (chapter 5)
Groups and Organizations (chapter 6)
Deviance (chapter 8)

Part 3: Socially Structured Inequality

Economic Stratification (chapters 9 and 10)

Racial and Ethnic Inequality (chapter 11)
Gender Inequality (chapter 12)
Age Stratification (chapter 13)

Part 4: Continuity and Change

The Family (chapter 14)

Education (Chapter 16)
Religion (chapter 15)
Political Economy (chapters 17 and 18)
Health and Health Care (chapter 19)
Community (chapter 20)
Social Change (chapters 22 and 23)

The information contained in these lecture notes derives from a wide variety of sources, yet the
assigned text: Schaefer, "Sociology," 8th edition, 2003, is the primary source. For further
documentation and/or sources on specific information contained in these notes, please contact Mr.
Keel. Back to the top

Back to Soc. 010's HomePage

Back to Mr. Keel's HomePage

Back to the Sociology department HomePage

Back to UM-St. Louis's HomePage

URL: http://www.umsl.edu/~rkeel/010/010lec.html
Owner: Robert O. Keel: rok@umsl.edu
Last Updated: Sunday, August 18, 2002 12:32 PM
Unless otherwise noted, all pages within the web site http://www.umsl.edu/~rkeel/ 2002 by Robert O. Keel.

Click here to Report Copyright Problems

The Sociological Perspective

Chapter 1: Sociology, Schaefer, 2003

Sociology is the systematic study of social behavior and

human groups.
Humans:

Self aware
Social
Behavior shaped by groups

C. Wright Mills: "The Sociological Imagination"

Link individual to broader social system

See general in the particular
View own society as an outsider
(Examples: Gender and phone, Night as Frontier, Soc. Of Christmas Cards)
Peter Berger's: "Sociology as a Form of Consciousness"

Personal Decisions

Sociology vs. Common Sense

Origins of Sociology

Enlightenment: Individualism and Rationality

Rise of Science: Empiricism, Prediction- Power and Control
Industrial Revolution
Political and Religious Change (see also)
Urbanization/?of Community/Social Problems
Evolutionary theories and the idea of Progress

Early Sociologists

Auguste Comte 1798-1857 (On the Positivistic Approach to Society)

Harriet Martineau 1802-1876 (see also)
Herbert Spencer 1820-1903 (The Nature of Society) (The Scope of Sociology) (Survival
of the Fittest)

The Sociological Tradition: Sociological Theory

Functionalism:

Macro
Equilibrium
Stability
Order

Emile Durkheim (1858-1917):

Part/Whole
"Social Facts"

Integration
Solidarity
Theory of Suicide
Anomie.

Robert Park and Ernst Burgess:

Social Disorganization

Talcot Parsons 1902-1979: The Social System

Robert Merton 1910--:

Micro/Macro
Theory/Methods
Manifest and Latent Functions
Dysfunctions.

Reform tradition:

Lester Ward 1841-1913

Jane Addams 1860-1935

Conflict Theory:

Macro
Change
Inequality and exploitation
Power

Karl Marx 1818-1883:

Marx's Grave
Marx Archives
Dialectics
Materialism
Social Class
Alienation.

W.E.B. DuBois 1868-1963 (online version of: The Souls of

Black Folks, 1903)
C. Wright Mills 1916-1962
Feminism
Interactionism:

Micro
Process
Communication
Interpretation
Definition of the Situation
Non-verbal communication
Symbols

Max Weber 1864-1920:

Life and Works

Vs. Marx
Ideal type analysis
Science (Natural and Social) and Value Freedom
Verstehen
The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (some notes) (study questions) (more)
Authority
Rationalization
Bureaucracy (Characteristics)(Rationalization--McDonaldization)

G. H. Mead 1863-1931:

The Development of Self

C.H. Cooley 1864-1929:

Primary groups, "Looking-Glass Self"

Howard Becker:

"Becoming a Marijuana Smoker"

Erving Goffman:

Dramaturgy
The Arts of Impression Management:
http://wizard.ucr.edu/~bkaplan/soc/lib/goffimpr.html
Review of The Presentation of Self in EDL:
http://www.cfmc.com/adamb/writings/goffman.htm
"The Presentation of Self in Electronic Life: Goffman on the Internet," Hugh Miller,
Department of Social Sciences, The Nottingham Trent University Paper presented at
Embodied Knowledge and Virtual Space Conference Goldsmiths' College, University of
London, June 1995 http://ess.ntu.ac.uk/miller/cyberpsych/goffman.htm
About Goffman: http://people.brandeis.edu/~teuber/goffmanbio.html

Harold Garfinkel:

Ethnomethodology

Basic/Pure, Applied and Clinical Sociology

Research Methodology

URL: http://www.umsl.edu/~rkeel/010/theory.html
Owner: Robert O. Keel rok@umsl.edu
References and Credits for this Page of Notes
Last Updated: Friday, October 10, 2003 11:38 AM

Methods of Sociological Research

Chapter 2: Sociology, Schaefer. 2003

In 1971 Frances Heussenstamm was interested in discovering whether or not bias

and prejudice impacted the way in which the police viewed and responded to
everyday life events. Heussenstamm conducted a field experiment. After selecting
15 students with exemplary driving records, H. placed a Black Panther bumper
sticker on each car. The students followed their normal driving patterns. After 17
days the 15 drivers had amassed 33 traffic citations.

In order to interpret and discuss social reality we must first

have a picture, some sort of pattern, or an image of the
interrelationships amongst the many variables that
circumscribe human interaction. The SCIENTIFIC METHOD or
METHODOLOGY provides a systematic, organized series of
steps that insures maximum objectivity and consistency in
researching a problem. It provides a shared basis for
discussion and analysis, and helps to promote reliability and
validity (consistency and accuracy). The information provided
through this method, the patterns and interrelationships are
then explained through Theoretical analysis. Theory directs
research and research informs theory (Reflexivity).
Robert Merton: Research and Sociological Theory
Science:

Empirical, based on observation

Focus: Causality (all events have causes, same cause...same event);
relationships between Variables, what causes (is associated with) what?
Independent and Dependent Variables.
Causality vs Correlation: Hume 18th century Scot.: temporal ordering (crime
and drug use), probability, logic
Positive and negative correlation
Intervening variables--Spurious Correlations
Controls-holding one variable constant in order to observe its impact on
another.
1. Crime: Age vs. Social Class vs. Single Parent households
2. Educational Success: Social class vs. Intelligence

Qualitative vs Quantitative Methods

Statisical measures

Weight and direction of relationships (correlation coefficient)

Probability vs specific case
Measures of central tendency: Typical household, proportion of one group
compared to another (median; income-$35,939-White vs African American;
mode; mean-problem of skewing)
Rates: Frequency with specific populations (Unemployment: African
Americans 3x higher than Whites)
Sampling: Population and Generalizability

1. Representative
2. Random: 1936 presidential race-Literary digest vs Gallop, Landon vs
Roosevelt

Problems in Doing Social Research:

o
o
o

Hawthorne Effect
People and Social Behavior--Complex; Question of Ultimate Causes?
Objectivity--Researcher part of the phenomenon

3.

ETHICS
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

-Harm: Zeller and autocide, criminal activity.

-Privacy: Garbology
-Informed consent: Reiss and police brutality
-Deception: Humphreys; Tearoom Trade (see also: 1)
-Application of Research: Project Camelot

ASA Code of Ethics (1971, 1989)

Maintain objectivity and neutrality in research.
7. Respect the subject's right to privacy and dignity.
8. Protect subjects from personal harm.
9. Acknowledge collaboration and assistance.
10.
Disclose all sources of financial support.
6.

The Research Model

(Sharon Collin's Study of corporate hiring practices and Black executive. Issue: Black
Demands (control: Time-1965; pre--gov or private, post--70% private), BUT:
"Adminstratively marginal" and "economically vunerable"--racially linked jobs:
Affirmative action, urban affairs, reduced likelihood of advancement and subject to
'downsizing'; yet highly visible.)

Define the Problem: what you hope to investigate. Operationalize concepts

(intelligence, love, etc.)
Formulate the Hypothesis: tentative statement of relationship between
independent and dependent variables.
Review the literature: what has already been done? Replication studies, build
on existing knowledge.
Choose Research Design (cost, time, access), Collect and Analyze
Conclusions and Reporting .

Observational/P.O.:
o
o

Reveals intimate details, uncovers new information. Descriptive;

problems: Generalizability.
Examples:
1. Foote-Whyte: Street Corner Society-differential organization

2. Sudnow and Emergency Rooms-Double standard (group process)

3. Goffman's work-Behavior in Public, Asylums
4. Liebow: Talley's Corner

Surveys: Interviews and Questionnaires

o
o
o
o

Type and structure of questions

Scales and indices
Problems: Sampling? Depth?
Examples:
1. Polls: General Social Survey, Monitoring the Future (drug use)

2. Blumstein & Schwartz--American Couples (1975). Operationalize:

Live together and sexual relationship. Snowballing. Q and I.
Findings: Income and control, Infidelity: longer relationship, more
infidelity, hetero married highest fidelity, lesbians high fidelity
3. Kristen Luker: Pro-Anti Abortion. Findings: Birth Control and
Social Costs.

Experiment:
o
o
o
o

Control, experimental and control groups.

Examples:
Real life??
Examples:
1. Zimbardo-Stanford County Prison
2. Milgram-Hurting Others
3. Sherman and Beck-Domestic Violence.

Use of Existing Sources: Secondary analysis, Content

analysis.
o
o
o

Non-obtrusive
Question source
Examples:
1. Content analysis: Ads and women's status
2. Official Statistics: Durkheim and Suicide, Census Data.

3. Historical Documents: Zaneicke-Polish Peasant in America.

ISSUES: Value Neutrality (Weber vs Gouldner) and

Government Funding.
Culture

URL: http://www.umsl.edu/~rkeel/010/method.html
Owner: Robert O. Keel rok@umsl.edu
References and Credits for this Page of Notes
Last Updated: Wednesday, February 12, 2003 3:03 PM

Culture
Chapter 3: Sociology, Schaefer, 2003

Napoleon Chagnon traveled 3 days up the Orinoco River in Venezuela. The Yanomamo
live on the border with Brazil. He arrives at 2 p.m. Hot, humid, face and hands swollen
from insect bites. His heart pounds, he exits the boat, pushes his way through underbrush
and:
"I looked up and gasped when I saw a dozen burly, naked, sweaty, hideous men staring at
us down the shafts of their drawn arrows! Immense wads of green tobacco were stuck
between their lower teeth and lips making them look even more hideous, and strands of
dark green slime dripped or hung from their nostrils--strands so long that they clung to
their (chests) or drizzled down their chins."

"My next discovery was that there were a dozen or so vicious, underfed dogs snapping at
my legs, circling me as if I were their next meal. I just stood there holding my notebook,
helpless and pathetic. Then the stench of the decaying vegetation and filth hit me and I
almost got sick. I was horrified. What kind of welcome was this for the person who had
come to live with you and learn your way of life, to be friends with you?" (Chagnon:
Yamamamo, 3ed., 1983:10)

We know the world through a shared understanding of what is real and "natural," this
socially constructed reality is a taken-for-granted reality. When we are confronted with a
radically different reality, it can be a shocking experience. Sociologists use the term:
to refer to the way socially constructed reality can impact
our mental and physical states.

Related concepts:

Ethnocentrism
Xenocentrism
Cultural Relativism.

CULTURE:

The totality of learned, socially transmitted behavior. All the "products" of a SOCIETY: A
large number of people who live in the same territory, subject to a common political
structure and participate in a common culture. Society/SOCIAL STRUCTURE is the
interaction; Culture is the product of the interaction, both material and non-material
(meanings, beliefs, values, ideas, norms, etc).

TIME as an culture product:

What is time?

Duration and individual experience.

Society and collective work require shared understanding.
How we measure and the meaning of time.
Pre/post industrial society. Cyclical vs. lineal.
Pope Gregory XIII and the calendar (1582)--Problems in acceptance.
The clock ~ 500 yrs. Clock time (1656) common by 1780--short, regular
intervals; needs, of the industrial structures.
Time zones: 1881--transcontinental railroad: organize diverse and confusing
meaning of local time: meeting trains and problem of collision.
Federal government accepts 1918, International: accepted by all industrial
societies 1940.
TIME NOW!!! WEBER and Rationalization.

CULTURE is:

SHARED
LEARNED
INTERGENERATIONAL
A Human Construction--thousands of years in the making: Biology (brains,
hands, vocal), and Universal: practices at general level--language, food,
housing, sport, families, etc. VS. variation at the specific level. Insults in
various cultures.

Culture as a stable system:

It is our world, taken as natural (house smells)

Resists change
Cultural lag: material vs non-material culture

Cultural change:
Innovation:

Discovery

Invention

Diffusion:

material vs. non-material

Baseball in Japan

ELEMENTS OF CULTURE

LANGUAGE

-Basis of Culture
-Learning
-Symbolic/abstract
-Expandable
-Force of CHANGE and STABILITY: Conflict, Functionalism, and
Interactionism.
-Sapir-Whorf and the Linquistic Relativity Hypothesis:

1. Language precedes thought

2. Language influences behavior and interpretation of social reality.
VOCABULARY

-Colors: English vs. Dugum Dani (New Guinea) white and black;
Russians: lt. vs drk. blue; Hungarians: two reds; Jali: warm and cold, Toda (India) only
three.
--All see same, divide up differently.
-Precipitation: Aztecs: one word for snow, frost, ice, and cold; We--one word for snow
vs. the Eskimo--no general word, but over 20 specific words--snow on the ground, snow
falling, snow drifting.
--Language predisposes them to see the distinction, us to ignore.
-Koya of South India: no distinction between snow, fog and dew; but SEVEN types of
bamboo.
Ouch around the world; Dialects

GRAMMAR

Navajo-no active verbs; do not act on the world, but passively participate in actions
taking place.
Hopi--no recognition of time and space categories, i.e. past present and future tenses:
Manifest--everything that is or has been accessible to the physical senses, and
Manifesting--everything that is not physically accessible to the senses. They blend time
and space.
Language predisposes us to make certain interpretations of reality. We learn the world,
as pre-given, natural, as we acquire language. Language gives us the categories and
concepts through which we derive significance.

Language and LEARNING: The words we learn to characterize different groups

shape our understanding of the various individuals who make up the group.

Ceratain words tend to produce "homogenized" images that deny the individual
reality of group members. Words orient us to certain characteristics and images,
and inhibit us from "seeing" others.

"nigger" vs Negro vs Black vs African American.

"cracker" vs "honkie" vs Yankee vs Caucasian vs White vs Euro-American.
Dictionary: Black vs White--blacklist, white lie. (search the Cambridge Dictionary for
meanings)
Affordable, previously-owned vs cheap and used.

Theories and Language:

Functionalism-unifies
Conflict-divides, controls, change
Interactionism- shared meanings; subcultural reality: ASL

ISSUE: Bilingualism; Gender.

NORMS

Established standards of behavior. Shared.

Formal-Informal. Special case: Law--Written down, specified penalties for
violation.
Folkways-Mores.
Variation and Relativity: Between and within cultures.
Acceptance: Known but not followed, Peer groups and Sub-culture,
Normative conflict: succeed vs help others, text: mind own business vs assist
victim.
Exceptions.
Taboos: little need for verbalization-widely accepted--cannibalism- Leningrad:
WWII-do not show enjoyment; Plane crashes; Placentaphagia

SANCTIONS

Maintain order.
Detection.
Improper application.

VALUES

Collective conceptions of what is considered good, desirable, proper--or bad,

undesirable, improper.
General and Abstract.
Norms derive from values. Voting in New Hampshire
Stable.

Robin Williams: List, but broad and subject to interpretation.

VALUE CONFLICT (Between and Within Cultures):

Equal opportunity
Help in time of need
First year college: Money vs Meaningful life (1967 vs 1993)
First year college: Money vs Social Awareness (1980s vs 1994)
Compartmentalization--apply one set of values in one situation, use another in different
situation.
Between Cultures: Continental Divide, by Semour Martin Lipset (1990)

1. U.S. vs Canada: Us--more religious, moralistic re: sex etc., homosexuality, Vietnam war,
individuality and liberty.
2. Canadians--orderly society, strong government, gays-"who cares"

CULTURAL VARIATION

Between cultures: "Queer Customs"

Within a culture: The Amish
Body Ritual Among the Nacirema
Institute for Nacirema Studies
Back to Cultural Universals

Subcultures:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Participate in dominant, yet distinctively different at the same time.

ARGOT: boundary, defines in and out, maintains distinctive identity.
Conflict: inequality.
Functionalism: Complexity and Variety
Interactionism: Shared meaning systems

Types and Examples

Regionalism, age, beliefs, interests, oppression.

The Right Stuff, Tom Wolfe: Test Pilots. (text)
Professional Football Players.
Various holidays: Christmas, Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, Winter solstice.
Drug Users.

Countercultures:

Rejects societal norms and values

Seek alternative lifestyles
Typically oriented towards changing dominant culture, but may be
isolationist.

Types and Examples

Revolutionary Groups
Hippies, Yippies

White supremacist groups--Posse Commitus

CULTURAL INTEGRATION

Elements dependent on and supportive of each other.

NECESSARYat a basic level.
Basic Functionalist perspective.
Example: Computers and process of adaptation.

DOMINANT IDEOLOGY

Consensus vs control and domination.

Status Quo: common culture serves to maintain differences and
subordination.
Lukacs: Dominant Ideology
Gramsci: Hegemony
Marx and Engels: The ideas of the ruling class are in every age the ruling
ideas.
Control over material forces equates with control over intellectual forces:
Law, religion, Education, advertising.

ISSUE: Multiculturalism vs Traditional canon of western culture.

Socialization

URL: http://www.umsl.edu/~rkeel/010/culture.html
Owner: Robert O. Keel rok@umsl.edu
References and Credits for this Page of Notes
Last Updated: Monday, September 23, 2002 9:01 AM

Socialization
Chapter 4: Sociology, Schaefer, 2001, 2003
(see also: Sociology, Robertson, 3rd ed. , chapter 5, 1987)

A PROCESS:

Learn attitudes, values and behaviors appropriate within cultural context.

Develop distinctive personality (attitudes, temperament, needs, etc.)
Interactive--reciprocity
Micro: behavioral expectations and interpretations internalized
Macro: transmission of culture, stability and/or status quo (maintains dominant
ideology).

Nature vs. Nurture

Raising a chimp as a child

Interactive: genes and the environment, biological predispositions, environmental
modifications. Downs Syndrome: life expectancy (12 vs ?), IQ, Self-reliance.
Genes act in context of the environment. They don't "produce" behavior: Stereotypes
(necessity of and problems)-behavioral expectations-differential treatment-limits range
of choices and opportunities-self-fulfilling prophecy.
Isolation studies:
1. Isabelle-6 yrs. w/o, no speech; success.
2. Genie-13 yrs. old, isolated at 20 months, never fully develops.

Monkeys and artificial moms: desire warmth over food.

Heredity:
1. Twins and IQ
2. Manic depression, ETOH addiction, POVERTY?

Sociobiology: Edward O. Wilson.

1. Sexual behavior and species survival--reproductive strategies, fidelity.

Gender: Biological or Social?

o What is it: (see Jody O'Brien, Social Prisms, Pine Forge Press,1999)
Secondary Sex Characteristics (genitalia)
Reproductive Organs
Hormonal Levels
estrogen, progesterone, testosterone
correlated well with occupation and social environment
Chromosomal Structure
XY equals boy
XX equals girl
But, 5 types rather than two: XXY, XYY, XXYY
Eli H. Newberger, M.D.: "The Men They Will Become" (explores the roots of male
character)
o
o
o

A baby boy, according to the author, has traits but no character. At each stage of development, he argues, particular characteristics
(attachment, honesty, self-control, sportsmanship, generosity, courage) are either nurtured or thwarted. Along the way, intrinsic biological
drives combine with parenting and gender-polarizing influences to create either the qualities that we admire or those we deplore and fear.
Dr. Newberger teaches Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School and Maternal and Child Health at Harvard School of Public Health.
Resource: Newberger's web site: http://www.elinewberger.com/.

THE SELF

What is it?

1. Separate or individual
2. Reflexive: Self as object
3. Continually changing, yet perceived to be stabile

Consciousness: Awareness of one's self in a particular

context.

C. H. Cooley: LOOKING-GLASS SELF

3 stage process: Imagine and prepare, Present and imagine response, Modify based on
interpretation.
Imagination and Interpretation.
Need "they" to be "I"

G.H. Mead:
learning roles, specific to general, LANGUAGE-Symbolic interaction, MIND as a SOCIAL
PRODUCT. LEARN to respond to what others have in mind vs what they do (dog).
1. Preparatory/imitation: learn symbols, acquire behavior repertoire, awareness of others.
Yet no firm linkages, self centered view. Basic communication skills.
2. Play: Identify with specific others, ROLE TAKING, start to realize the perspective of
others, conforming, gender roles. SIGNIFICANT OTHERS.
3. Game: Multiple roles and tasks, simultaneously, expectations and roles of others,
RULES and organization of activity.
GENERALIZED OTHER: society/moral codes, people as multi-faceted: many roles/statuses,
one of many who occupy particular places in the social web.
I vs ME: spontaneity and control

Erving Goffman

Situational self
Trust and acceptance
Impression Management
o Gyn Exam: Stages, Teamwork, Props: Depersonalizes and desexualizes.
o Looking busy at work, -paying attention in class
Face work
o Picking up a date
o Ace-Bomber
Behavior in Public Place: Self/Body as vehicle.
Impression "Given" vs "Given off": The "Con"

The Arts of Impression Management:

http://wizard.ucr.edu/~bkaplan/soc/lib/goffimpr.html
Review of The Presentation of Self in EDL:
http://www.cfmc.com/adamb/writings/goffman.htm
"The Presentation of Self in Electronic Life: Goffman on the Internet," Hugh Miller,
Department of Social Sciences, The Nottingham Trent University Paper presented at
Embodied Knowledge and Virtual Space Conference Goldsmiths' College, University of
London, June 1995 http://ess.ntu.ac.uk/miller/cyberpsych/goffman.htm
About Goffman: http://people.brandeis.edu/~teuber/goffmanbio.html

Psychological studies
Freud:

Id-Ego-Superego
Oral (trust), Anal (order and disorder), Phallic (sex-roles and possible anti-social),
latency (suppress sexual), genital (independence and social relationships).
FIXATION. Defense mechanisms: projection, rationalization, repression, denial.

Erikson:
8 stages, identity formation during adolescence

Piaget: Cognitive development

Sensorimotor: 0-2, sensory and physical contact, no language-no thinking, little

differentiation-self/world, discover feet, no sense of results of their acts, object
permanence. End-see world as stable
Preoperational: 2-7, lack ability to do simple mental operations, no understanding of
abstract concepts-speed, weight, value. Bigger is heavier, nickel more than dime, water
and container volume, trees waving make the wind, Today is my birthday vs
Wednesday. LIKE Mead: Egocentric: can't take perspective of others--How many
brothers do you have--1, how many does your brother have--0. Back to Mead.
Concrete operational: 7-12, reason about concrete situations, but not abstract or
hypothetical. Basic adult functioning: calculate, causality, quantity BUT NOT death,
justice etc. in abstract--only tied to specific experience. Develops sense of others
perspective. Back to Mead.
Formal operational: adolescence, abstract thought, theories, hypothesis, morality,
goals, alternative social relations, philosophic reasoning and questioning: If God-why
evil, If parents know best-why do they make mistakes. Back to Mead.

Process seems universal, content and how far: Cultural (language and Multiculturalism
again). Social structural limitations.

Learning to Feel:

Specific reflexive reactions: pleasure, surprise, disgust, curiosity; then joy, anger,
sadness, fear.
By 2--concern for others: tenderness and affection (but no sense of separate other).
5-6--sense of others, Looking-glass self: confidence, insecurity, pride, jealousy, envy.
Finally, with sense of others--sympathy and empathy with specific others, then as
teenager, coupled with abstract thought: whole categories-the "Oppressed", deepening
awareness of self and others--romantic passion.

Social influence speed up or slow down (if abused, show fear early), social conditions
influence how we interpret emotions, and whether and in what form we express them.

Moral development:
Lawrence Kohlberg--Distinguishing Right and Wrong. Conflict solving problems: Stealing to
help others. Cultural and Social factors influence progress and critical stages.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Obedience and punishment.

Good deal.
Conform to others-do to please.
Follow laws unquestioningly.
Recognize law as social construction--consensus.
Universality of moral principles.

LIFE CYCLE and The Life Course:

Socialization as life long and Socially Structured

Rites of passage: problem in modern society?

Age appropriate behavior (related to above).
Mid-life crisis (Dan Levinson--men and different gender roles, Gail Sheeny--women too,
earlier~35, youthful illusions vs day to day).
Pre-industrial.
o Born
o Infant
o Extended Childhood
o Adult
o Death
Industrial/Post-Industrial
o Born
o Infant
o Toddler
o Child
o Adolescent
o Young Adult

o
o
o
o

Adult
Mature Adult
Elderly
Really Old
ANTICIPATORY and RESOCIALIZATION: Occur at many points.

Anticipatory:

Rehearsing: occupational, marriage.

Status: Adult,Old Age.
Becker and Geer: "The Fate of Idealism in Medical School"

Resocialization:

Conversion Experience
TOTAL INSTITUTION
o Intentional effort.
o Goffman--Characteristics:
1. Limited, controlled space
2. Single authority
3. Little privacy
4. Little self determination
5. Always with others in same position (new recruits)
6. Rules and activities out of individual control
o Life serves the institutional purposes
o Loss of individuality
o Degradation Ceremony: Symbolic and physical stripping away of old self
followed by a process of rebuilding in the interests of the institution
o ZIMBARDO: Stanford County Prison
Social Structure and Identity

AGENTS OF SOCIALIZATION
These Social Groups and Organizations Profoundly Shape our Sense of Self: We emerge as
individuals within their midst. As Social Being we are always a part of the social context in
which we "find our selves."
FAMILY:

Primary, informal introduction into formal society, unconscious training, habit training:
impose schedules.
REVERSE SOCIALIZATION (top)
GENDER ROLES--"Toys for Boys".

SCHOOL:

Functional--Formal, awareness of others, VALUES.

Conflict: Hidden Curriculum, Objective Record, Class and Success.
Interactionist: informal structures/peers, subcultural formation.
GENDER ROLES AGAIN

PEER GROUPS:

Significant in industrial society

Life course
Emerging significant others
Age/status segregation, emphasize and help achieve independence, lifestyle, and
conformity: norms of the group--chosen vs born into.
FUNCTIONALISM: critical macro transition.

MASS MEDIA:

Homogenization
Consumerism
Values: Youth, Beauty, Violence.
Average=3hrs/day, 6-18=16,000hrs /school=13,000
Imitation and role playing, yet lacks intimacy and involvement. Frequency of violence
and amount/18,000 murders.
Gender Roles and display of others: typically distorted and under represented.
POSITIVE: Hispanics, children's programming, cultural diversity.

PUBLIC OPINION:

Reference group
Conformity

WORKPLACE:

Full-time and Adulthood

Introduction to Adult REALITY
Goals
Occupational: Career choice, Anticipatory Socialization (inherit or choose)
1. Conditioning (accepting unpleasant)
2. Commitment (pleasurable)
3. Continuous Commitment-integration into identity.

Post-Industrial Society: Technological change and Economic restructuring==>

Resocialization.
Becker and Geer: "The Fate of Idealism in Medical School"

The STATE:

Impact in industrial society

Decline of the family as sole socializing agent
PARENS PATRIAE: Care giving, regulations and laws.
RIGHTS OF PASSAGE.

ISSUE: CHILD CARE

By 2000 70% moms work. Day Care=functional equivalent of family, Expands experience, yet
formal. Concerns:

CONFLICT: Middle-class orientation and values, lack of support for those most
needy--"family problem", individual solution, ghetto jobs--high turnover, Who
regulates?
FUNCTIONALISM (necessity for economic expansion, dysfunction: Impact on Family)
INTERACTIONISM (impact on self development-positive and negative).

Social Interaction and Social Structure

URL: http://www.umsl.edu/~rkeel/010/socializ.html
Owner: Robert O. Keel rok@umsl.edu
References and Credits for this Page of Notes
Last Updated:

Social Interaction and Social Structure

Chapter 5: Sociology, Schaefer and Lamm, 1998, 2001, 2003

Neal Shover and Burglars: Division of labor, status and roles, group structure,
connections through fence to police etc., the GOOD BURGLAR.

Social Structure:
The way in which society is organized into predictable relationships, patterns of
social interaction (the way in which people respond to each other). These patterns
etc, are to some extent independent of the particular individual, they exert a force
which shapes behavior and identity.

Social interaction and the Social Construction

of Reality:
"The most general answer to this question is that social order is a human product. Or,
more precisely, an ongoing human production. It is produced by man in the course of his

ongoing externalization. Social order is not biologically given or derived from any
biological data in its empirical manifestations. Social order, needless to add, is also not
given in man's natural environment, though particular features of this may be factors in
determining certain features of a social order (for example, its economic or technological
arrangements). Social order is not part of the "nature of things," and it cannot be derived
from the "laws of nature." Social order exists only as a product of human activity. No other
ontological status may be ascribed to it without hopelessly obfuscating its empirical
manifestations. Both in its genesis (social order is the result of past human activity) and its
existence in any instant of time (social order exists only and insofar as human activity
continues to produce it) it is a human product." (Peter L. Berger and Thomas Luckmann.
The Social Construction of Reality: A Treatise its the Sociology of Knowledge (Garden
City, New York: Anchor Books, 1966), p. 51)

Blumer--People respond to meaning: Symbolic

Interaction. "Symbolic Interactionism rests on three primary premises. First,
that human beings act towards things on the basis of the meanings those things
have for them, second that such meanings arise out of the interaction of the
individual with others, and third, that an interpretive process is used by the person in
each instance in which he must deal with things in his environment." The Society
for More Creative Speech, 1996, http://www.cdharris.net/text/blumer.html
REALITY is shaped by perceptions, evaluations, interpretations and
definitions.
THE THOMAS THEOREM: "If people define a situation as real, then it is real in
its consequences for them."

Zimbardo's, "Stanford County Prison."

"Reading" the evidence at the O.J. trial.
Seeing monsters versus "catching" a virus?
"Homeless" or Con-artist.
Malcom X: redefining his and the African-American's place.
Language: People of Color versus Colored People.
Broad social patterns, and social definitions shape the nature of the situations
and lend themselves to particular images and feeling for the participants. We
act upon these images, meanings, feelings, and definitions.
Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
More on the Social Construction of Reality

Social Structure as a Negotiated Order.

Structure arises out of the face-to-face interactions of people who are

operating from both a shared sense of reality (culture and socialization) as
well as a individual and group oriented biography which produces particular
definitions and interpretations.
We attempt to make sense out of situations for "all practical purposes."
We bargain, compromise, redefine and produce an emerging sense of order
as a stable reality.
Some situations allow for little negotiation, others more.
Formal vs informal rules: Tax Laws, Guilty pleas, Role Making.

Culture forms the foundation of Social Structure:

Some sort of shared reality: Language, Norms and Values.

Out of this basis we attribute meaning and significance to others in terms of
where they are placed in relation to ourselves and others.

STATUS:

One's position in the structure of a society.

Multiple
Typifications and relating to others
Status Set
Status Symbols
Ascribed (meaning varies across societies: i.e. the elderly, source of control
and conflict)
Achieved (modern society)
Master Status (as seen by others, AIDS)
Status inconsistency
Social Class (as special focus)

Roles:

Behavioral expectations, obligations that accompany a particular status.

Expectations vs performance
Role Set
Status/Role as relational to other status/role: defined through and in
interaction.
As status changes roles and interaction changes: Girlfriend-Wife
Functionalist: basis of social order, yet can also be dysfunctional-limit our
perceptions of others.
Interactionist: creativity, role making
Role Conflict: Problem in expectations across roles attached to different
statuses (creativity in managing, impression management-female athletes as
women, compartmentalization)

Role Strain: Problems in expectations attached to single status.

Role Distancing
Role Exit: unconscious cueing
Role Ambiguity: Unclear expectations (for different people, and even for same
person across different relationships)

GROUPS

A number of people interacting together on the basis of shared expectations

about one another behavior
Varieties of groups
Basis of society
Impact on our behavior
SOCIAL NETWORKS: Oliver's 1988 research, Milgram's "Target Person."
o It's a Small World (Small World Research Project)
o Spring 2003 report on online project in Science magazine

INSTITUTIONS

Organized patterns of beliefs and behaviors centered on basic social needs,

adapting to specific segment of society in question--rural doctor vs urban
specialist.
Functionalism:
Interrelated and interdependent, resist change, integrated, promote stability.
Focus: How they fulfill essential system requirements, Self-correcting

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Replacing personnel
Teaching new recruits
Producing and distributing goods and services
Preserving Order
Providing and maintaining a sense of purpose

Conflict:
The outcome and functioning of institutional structures is not necessarily
efficient nor desirable. Order is negotiated, but not all groups have equal
footing. Organization of major institutions is built upon the interests and
control of dominant groups. Preserve status quo, inhibit change by
maintaining relationships of inequality. Schools, Politics, Economics. Source
of Social Problems.

Interactionism:
o Bureaucracy's Other Face (Informal structures): "Banana Time," (Roy's
article in Primis: Workers engage in informal interactions to structure
their work environment).

Communication: formal vs informal-Kanter: aside by corporate

executive becomes viewed as an order, nurses making decisions for
doctors.
Real and varied negotiations: Running the ADAPCP

The Changing Structure of Society

Lenski's Technological Determinism.
Hunting and Gathering Societies (1:3)
-----------------------------------------The Hoe
Horticultural Societies (1:15)
Social Surplus
Pastoral Societies
-----------------------------------------The Plow
Agricultural Societies (1:50) Power==> Land
-----------------------------------------The Machine/Factory
Industrial Societies (1:5000) Power==> Money
-----------------------------------------The Computer
Post-Industrial/Post-Modern Societies (?) Power==> Information

Durkheim's Mechanical/Organic Solidarity:

Division of Labor.
Come to identify people by what they do versus who they are, i.e. their social
position vs. distinctive human qualities.
Social Bond

Toennies:
Gemeinschaft

Gesellschaft

Rural

Urban

Community

Differentness

Interaction intimate

Formal, task
specific

Cooperation

Self-interest

Openness

Privacy

Informal control

Formal control

Less tolerance of
deviance

Tolerance of
deviance

Ascribed Status

Achieved

Little change

Rapid Change

Community

Today's Society: The Debate

Daniel Bell: Post-Industrial Society (Functionalism)

Conflict: Harrington-The Other America.
Post-modernism: (Emergence of the post modern world==> the death of
modernist architecture at 3:32 p.m. July 15, 1972 <Lemmert 1990>)

Themes of Postmodernist Thought

Modernity (see also: A MODERN SOCIETY?) has failed to provide the solution
to the problems of life.
"Progress" is not an onward and upward march
Science (positivism) does not have all the answers
Philosophically integrative, yet focus is upon control mechanisms
Cultural debates are intensifying. The promise of the modernist "Individual"
and tolerance needs critical reflection
Social Institutions are changing at a rapid rate: Family, Religion, Education,
etc.
Post-Modernism Defined

Everyday life expressions of these themes:

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Hi-Tech lifestyles
Preoccupied with consumer goods and media images
The Mass
International, "demise of the nation-state"
Irrationality of Rationality
The impact of continual change.

7. McDonaldization (Organizational change)

ISSUE: AIDS and its impact on central elements of the social structure:
institutional change, image and status of Homosexuals, interaction within the
Gay subculture.

Groups and Formal Organizations

URL: http://www.umsl.edu/~rkeel/010/structur.html
Owner: Robert O. Keel rok@umsl.edu
References and Credits for this Page of Notes
Last Updated: Monday, August 25, 2003 3:50 PM

Groups and Formal Organizations

Chapter 6: Sociology, Schaefer, 2001

Consumption and Group Behavior

Direct Selling Organizations:

Nicole Woolsey Biggart (1989):Charismatic, Missionary zeal, Female, often

homemakers.
Dimaggio (1990): income, marital power and sense of community, but "prefeminist."
Amway, Mary Kay, Avon

Buying Clubs: Sam's Club

Home Shopping Network: First Auction(Internet Shopping Network)

People as Joiners

Humans as Social Animals

Groups and their impact on social interaction.

GROUP:

A collection of people interacting together in an orderly way on the basis of

shared norms, values and expectations about one another's behavior.
vs. aggregate, vs. category.
Groups develop their own internal structure: norms, value, statuses, roles.
They can be rigid and formal or loose and flexible.
There is a sense of belonging, individuals identify with the group. Outsiders
are distinguished from members and treated differently.
Groups are formed for a PURPOSE--specific or diffuse.
People in a group tend to be similar, and the more they participate, the more
similar they become.

TYPES OF GROUPS:
Primary

Secondary

Small

Usually larger

Long period

Temporary

Intimate, Face-to-Face

Formal

Emotional depth

Superficial relationships

Multiple statuses

Particular status

Cooperative

Impersonal

In and Out Groups

Ethnocentrism, often fostered by the group

We versus They
Feeling of distinctiveness and superiority
"In group virtues/Out group vices"

Reference Groups

Any group we use to evaluate ourselves, don't necessarily belong.

Normative function: set and enforce standards of conduct and belief.
Comparison function: a standard by which people can measure themselves or
others.

Anticipatory socialization.
Pain and Religion: Jews and Protestants, Jews display 20% greater tolerance.
Marketing: Target Groups- "Harley" Cigarettes

SMALL GROUP DYNAMICS

May be primary or secondary.

Interaction is simultaneous
Patterns and predictability: Ceclia Ridgeway: non-verbal behavior and
dominance--eye contact, posture
Size: Most important determinate of the type of interaction. As size increases,
structure changes.
Simmel: Small group as distinctive, not needing formal structures found in
larger.
Dyad: unstable and intense, members must take each other into account.
Triad: stability, 3rd as unifier, mediator, coalitions (deals, negotiations), divide
and rule.
Range in size from 2-20: Up to 7 or 8, all can take part in interaction.
Qualities of activity varies as the relative number increases: dominance, nonparticipation, etc: The smallest groups are more constraining, but offer more
intimacy and individuality; As size increase, freedom increases, but intimacy
declines and the emerging group structure tends to limit individuality.
6 vs. 12 person juries: No difference on not guilty, but juries with 12 members
are more hesitant to produce a guilty verdict.
As more people are added to the group, complexity increases, subdivisions
appear.
At 10-12 formal leaders become distinguished.
Gradual change is accommodated, sudden change disrupts interaction and
there is often resistance.

Leaders:

Always present, product of group needs and situation.

Instrumental
Expressive
Tend to fall from popularity, especially instrumental.
Style:

1. Authoritarian
2. Democratic
3. Laissez-faire
Group Decision Making

Diversity and creativity

1. Minorities often less active and less committed.

2. Basic inequalities reproduced in group context.

Determinate vs. indeterminate tasks.

Risky and Tame Shift: responsibility is diffused.
Conformity and Groupthink.
Consensus. After decision is agreed upon, effort is made to reunite members.

Physical Environment

Room Size
Windows
Chair Placement and Comfort
Table Shape

FORMAL ORGANIZATIONS

Large secondary groups that are deliberately and rationally designed to

achieve specific objectives.
Carefully designed structure.
Status clearly separated from the individual.
Designed for efficiency: BUREAUCRATIC
Vary in size.
Fulfill a variety of personal and social needs.
Impact all our lives.
So dominant that we create formal organizations to supervise and coordinate
other organizations.

Development:

Link to emergence of centralized governments: Incas, Egypt, China

Coordination of agricultural development: irrigation networks.

Growth and Dominance

Crafts and Guilds

Industrialization: Regulate work force, Large scale coordination.
Mass production, maximize profit. As technology improved, sophisticated
management emerged to maximize production in order to serve new markets
brought about by improved transportation and consumer demand.
McDonaldization: Increasing controls and standardization, Irrationality,
Technological dominance

Types:

Utilitarian
Coercive
Voluntary

Voluntary Associations--around 22,000, 30% up since1980.

AAA=29 million members
School Bus Manufacturers=5
Functional in shift from community based to formal base: Mutual Aid
Societies.
Wide variety of reasons and types: Self-help; AA new image of self and
biography.
Not random: Membership takes $, SES higher, female and 1/5 male
exclusively.
Functional:

1.
2.
3.
4.

Mediate government/individual: political force

Training in organization skills.
Minority representation: NAACP, AARP
Social control and regulation: impose norms, assist in government activities:
resettle refugees, Drug awareness and prevention, neighborhood watch.

Conflict:

1. Little credit for skills developed through volunteer work

2. Often viewed as "female" work, filling the days of the wives of the Captains of
Industry

Interactionism

1. Self expression
2. Reference groups

BUREAUCRACY

Commonsense impressions
Language--Doublespeak
The structure of the Formal Organization (the "government")

WEBER: IDEAL TYPE

Characteristic

Unintended Consequence

Division of Labor

Trained Incapacity, Title vs. Power

Hierarchy of Authority

Authoritarianism, Communication Disruption, OLIGARCHY

Written Rules and

Regulations

Inefficient in Unusual Cases, Goal Displacement,

Subversion: "Work to the Rule" "Red Tape"

Administrative Staff

"Too many Chefs," Goal Displacement

Impersonality

Bureaucratic Personality, Alienation of Clientele

Technical Competence

Peter Principle

Bureaucratization as a Process
The Evolution of Bureacracatization: McDonaldization
Bureaucracy as a negotiated Order:

Bureaucracy's Other Face:

Classical theory/scientific management VS Human Relations Approach

1. Classical: $, performance standards, hard supervision, worker as another

machine.
2. Human: informal groups, human needs, Hawthorne Plant
3. Piece-rate vs. informal rules; chiseler; ratebuster.

Blau-FBI; rather than look stupid and ask supervisor, develop strategies,
"interesting case," in order to solicit advice from peers.
"Banana Time" (Roy, 1959): How workers informally structure the work
environment to make it more meaningful. How productivity and satisfaction
relate more to the quality of informal social interaction than to the official
rules and rewards of the organization.

Organizational Change:

Resistance
Bureaucratic enlargement
Goal succession (some avoid: Rooney and Skid row missions-succeed
through failure; also DEA) and goal multiplication (YMCA)

Back to Groups
Back to small group dynamics

Deviance and Conformity

URL: http://www.umsl.edu/~rkeel/010/groups.html
Owner: Robert O. Keel rok@umsl.edu

References and Credits for this Page of Notes

Last Updated: Friday, October 10, 2003 10:10 AM

Gender Inequality
Chapter 12: Sociology, Schaefer, 2003, see also: Michael Kearl
Stratification By Gender

Universal Feature of Human Societies

Door Ceremony and Social Meanings
Biological versus Sociological Reality

(picture thanks to Michael Kearl)

Gender Identity:

Self-Concept=> male/female
Gender Roles: proper behavior, attitudes and activities of males and females.
Especially: Occupational.
Distinctiveness:

1. Identity=one's sense of self

2. Role=socialization, norms of masculinity and femininity.

Gender in USA
Shirley Weitz:

Differential Treatment
Differential Identification

1. Socialization
2. Role Models
3. Mass Media
Male Roles:

Measuring Up
"New Man"

Cross Cultural:

Mead--Arapesh, Tchambuli and Mundugumor:

1. Arapesh: both feminine

2. Mundugumor: both masculine
3. Tchambuli: reversed

Explaining Gender Stratification

Functionalism:
Parsons and Bales-

Instrumentality
Expressivity
Smooth and Efficient
Fairness? Problems for those who do not fit, masking of power relations.
Change==> Potential for DISORDER

Conflict:

Anthropological data and early male dominance.

Current Ideology--"Boys are Better."
Control of resources: value of work performed
Friedel and economic roles: Social status and control of vital resources
Economic, yet also social subjugation:

1. Rape
2. Domestic violence
3. Sexual harassment

Change: drastic revision in social structure- Values, Norms, Statuses, Roles

and Institutions
Conflict assumption=> desirability and efficiency of existing system?

Abortion in the USA

Interactionism:

Conflict at the individual level--Male Female conversational analysis.

Interactional styles reflect and maintain broader patterns of inequality
When respondents are informed of behavior, patterns of dominance and
submission become more acute.

Theories of Age Stratification

Back to Patterns of Intergroup Interaction

Numerically Superior Minority

Political representation: Less than 10% of congress, 2 of 50 governors, 2 of

nine Justices.
Physical and Cultural Stigma.
Unequal treatment: Pay-median=2/3's of males
Ascribed status
Collective Consciousness.
? Endogamy

Women and African-Americans

Ascribed status
Denied suffrage
Property
Civil rights struggle
Stereotyped
Menial work
Ignored in history

Sexism and Institutional Discrimination

Major Institutions controlled by Males

Roles traditionally limited: Military, Business, Education, Medicine, Religion
Criminal Justice: Defining Rape

Global Reality:

Inequality even in egalitarian western societies

PLUS; exploitation of developing nations=exploited labor of women

Also: Even more devalued--Female children in India, China.

Women, Work and the USA

Steady increase this century

o 1992--58% work outside the home (43% 1970).
o Most dramatic rise for married women--1992: 59% (5% 1890).
Restrictions: Sex-typing, Glass Ceilings, Pink-collar Ghetto, Mommy Tracking.
o 1995: 48% of labor force, BUT: 9% Engineers, 20% doctors, 21% lawyers
Vs >90% secretaries and nurses.
o 90-95% top positions in business, Media=Males
o "Double Jeopardy"
Advancement is taking place, yet often status and pay still low: Women
Doctors- dominate in lower paid and lower prestige specialties

Social Consequences

Child Care
Fast Food
Self-Esteem
Marital Power
Role Sharing (Dads and child care: longest time father devoted to infant=10.5
minutes, average verbal interaction per day=38 seconds.
HouseworK: 2:1, "Second Shift," Male's perceptions-women's work=leisure
activity for men.

Women's Movement

First Wave: 1848-- Suffrage 19th Amendment (1920)

Second Wave: 1960's--Now: education, self-help, women's networks, legal
changes.

Abortion, Choice, and Motherhood: Kristen Luker.

Characteristics of Women in Pro versus Anti Abortion Organizations

Social Change and the status of women
Privacy and Individualism
Social Roles and Motherhood

Age Stratification

URL: http://www.umsl.edu/~rkeel/010/gender.html
Owner: Robert O. Keel rok@umsl.edu
References and Credits for this Page of Notes
Last Updated: Tuesday, July 15, 2003 13:14