Socl 3601 â Exam 1
Socl 3601 – Exam 1 Three Major Theoretical Perspectives in Sociology: 1) Structural-Functionalism = look at how different parts of society function together to maintain the whole (macro-level approach to the study of society, they study the institutions of society, the classes of people) 2) Conflict Theory = About conflict and competition in society a. Over power, control of resources b. Domination of less powerful groups by those in power, c. Social change comes about when the less powerful overpower the more powerful (replace with a new system of oppression) d. (Macro-level…) 3) Symbolic Interaction = (George H. Mead) Humans have the ability to use significant symbols (symbols with shared meanings for everyone in society) a. We use these symbols to form societies through interaction b. (Take a micro-level approach, nothing gets done in society unless it gets done by people, focus on people in small groups) -
-
Psyc developed as a discipline in the early 1800’s But we soon figured out that you need to know more than what is going on in peoples head in order to understand behavior (so lets develop another field) Behaviorism = stimuli and response o When we behave in approved behavior, we get rewarded o When we behave in unapproved behavior, we get punished o Over the course of time, acceptable social habits become part of “human nature” o Popular pool of thought around the turn of the century, it faded and then revised in the start of the 20th century o B.F. Skinner – great reformer in this field (trained pigeons to show that behavior can be curved) o Weakness = there are a few weaknesses to behaviorism Alternatives (choices) Cognitive abilities (the ability to think things out – advanced) • We use our cognitive abilities through social interactions There is no room for it all in behaviorism alone o For sociologists, this falls way short of an adequate explanation of what people do and why they do it Rational Choice Theory and Exchange Theory = o W can weigh the expected benefits of any particular behavior and we can way that against the costs and the risks of engaging in the behavior If the benefits outweigh the costs, we will engage in the behavior (more than likely)
-
-
-
-
Some rewards are more important than others (we all have different dislikes and preferences) in certain circumstances
Social Learning Theory = Talks about three different ways in which we learn o We learn through experiences o Internalizing what we are explicitly taught by other people o Vicarious Learning = we can watch other people and see what they do and learn from it What works for someone else may or may not work for us Kids learn this as they grow, adults continue throughout life Dramaturgy – (Ervin Goffman) o When we are in the presence of other people, we present a character to other people (just like an actor on stage presents a character to an audience) o We need our audience to buy into the character that we present; we need them to believe that we are who we say we are. If they do, things are good If they don’t, interaction will change (most likely in ways that we don’t like) Postmodernism – “Modern” = “the present era”, “post” = “after” o They must be talking about the future, but this isn’t how they use the word. o They probably mean to be saying post-industrial o Use post-industrial, not postmodern Ethics o Must submit studies to Internal Review Board (IRB) o Things they look for: Do not harm your subjects • Physical, psychological, etc. Confidentiality / Anonymity Informed Consent • Gary Fine – Studied Little League Players o Studied how they developed their own sense of masculinity (how do men act?) o Wrote With The Boys o Observed them on the ball field and at practice
Human Behavior: - Humans are social animals and live their lives in the context of many people - What is more important: Nature or Nurture? - Sociobiology (Edward O. Wilson) o All human behavior is based on our organisms need to reproduce o For sociobiology, genes reproduce o They also enhance the environment in order to enhance their ability to reproduce (change the environment to help us reproduce) Ex: The Alpha Male and his dominance gets to reproduce Men try to reproduce their genes as many times as possible, produce the most copies and have the best chance of species survival Women need to get the best set of genes from males to ensure best chance of offspring survival This is why we see men trying to have sex as much as possible, and women looking for a good monogamous relationship with the most viable male of the species. o We develop certain cultural ideals More sex for men is good, for women it is bad When a women gets pregnant, she knows her genes are being reproduced, the male doesn’t (he can just assume and hope) o Sociobiology doesn’t account for the reasons humans try to stop reproduction and the passing on of genes o Biological differences between us and other animals: Cognitive ability • We organize our life, plan for the future, abstract thinking Communication ability Our social network ability Our instinct is pretty week we have to be taught how to survive Opposable Thumbs (how would your dog take notes in this class) • We can grasp objects in ways that other animals cannot We look after our children longer • It takes a long time to develop (physically and mentally) We can hunt much larger and much faster game because we have long distance endurance We can use all different things for food (vast variety) • We can control fire and cook food o World Openness and Plasticity = the human openness to the world We can field ways to survive in almost and environment possible Find most food sources and means of survival (we are not specialized) There is a variation of human existence around the world • People live different lives depending on where they live)
Feral Children: -
-
-
Feral” = general wild animals, specifically wild dogs Children who have been deprived of normal human contact during the first years of life “Gene” – Her mother had her when she lived with her father o Hid her in the attic out of fear o The only contact she had with her mother was when she fed her o She never developed normally (even after the best care) Physically or Mentally Her IQ is that of a 6 year old and her language ability is that of a 3 year old, she died in her early teens If intervention is made before the age of two, the child will likely develop normally o 2-6, average chance o Above 6, no chance Romanian orphans – at least the had contact with each other
Learning to Survive in our Social Environment: -
-
Social facts are just as important as physical facts o Ex: Falling off cliff and teaching wrong religion = dead Every society has Common Stock of Knowledge o Knowledge society has developed over time o Technical knowledge o Ideas about what is and what ought to be o Norms and values, right and wrong, the way to do things and why We learn this in order to become competent members of that society Certain social skills are a necessity in our everyday life
Three Step process for information exchange: (Peter Berger) 1) Externalization = Person A tells Person B 2) Objectification = Person B receives the information and understand it a. There is now a shared meaning, A Social Object, between two people b. Two people are understanding he same definition 3) Internalization = Person be accepts this information as their own and internalizes it as their own knowledge -
A societies common stock of knowledge are these accepted definitions W. I. Thomas said, “If men define situations as real, then they are real in their consequences.” We act according to the definitions we have, no matter how correct they are In order for the three step process to work we must have: communication skills and social experience
Language and Culture: - Language is more than just a system of communication - Language is a tool that allows us to express ideas between members of our society - It has developed over many centuries as a tool for communicating these ideas - Language is the way we think - Language influences and shapes the way that we think - The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis: o Sapir and Whorf studied both ancient and modern ancient American languages o For most of their careers they worked independently of each other in the study of different societies languages, past and present o The said – the language of any society is structured around the worldview of that society o What is the structure of language and how do we fit into that structure? o Every society has a view of what the universe is about, and how they fit into that view. o We develop cultural ideas and rules based on this view, language is the tool for developing and solidifying these rules o Certain ideas express things that we will never understand because our language doesn’t permit us to understand o When we reach this barrier, we can: Twist it around to the way our society thinks Discard it as nonsense o Native American Religion is hard for Judeo-Christians to understand Their gods had a life force Sioux = Wakan Iroquois = Orenda Algonquin = Manitou o Europeans translated this into the idea of a “Great Spirit” In doing so they took the origional idea and warped it into something that was completely different, so that they can understand it
Symbolic Interaction (George H. Mead) - How are societies interactive? o Our ability to make and use symbols (primarily language) - What makes us human? o It is our ability to have a “self” o Where we are, where we have been, who is around us, where we are going o Two Parts of the Self: The “I” – the active part of the self The “Me” – the self as an object • It requires both cognitive ability and allows social instances - In the development of the self, we go through many stages o Takes many years over the span of life to develop, especially the second stage - Three Stages of Development: o The Imitation Stage – the ability of someone to perceive the world around them and where they fit in We imitate what we see others doing without much understanding of what is going on We develop abilities to use language and repeat what we hear o The Play Stage – we play out the roles that we see around us We are beginning to understand roles We play school, house, cowboys and Indians Though we play these roles, we still don’t understand them We also don’t understand that people can have dual roles o The Game Stage – (age 10 or 11) We can now understand complex relationships between roles We can understand the different positions in society, but that these positions in society are related to each other in specific ways The game of baseball as an illustration: • You have different positions out there on the field • It doesn’t matter who is playing what position, they are expected to do certain things in relation to the other players and in relation to the development of the game We begin to see the world differently There are several things we can do in the game stage that we couldn’t do before: • Take the role of the other • Take the role of the generalized other o We start to think, “What will people think of me” • Think Introspectively (we can look inside ourselves) o “What am I? What kind of person am I? Who are my friends and why?” o We tell others, “You don’t understand me.”
-
The Reflexive Nature of Interaction: o The ability to carry on an internal dialogue o The back and forth nature of interaction between people What I do depends on what you do and what you do depends on what I do What are you saying to me, what message are you trying to get across? What is the appropriate response to what others are doing? o We have to have a sense of who we are in order to effectively interact with other people
Charles Horton Cooley: “The Looking-Glass Self” - We come to know who we are through our interpretation of the actions of others towards us - Reflected Appraisals = a psychological term for, “we see ourselves reflected in the actions of others towards us” o We appraise ourselves on a daily basis o David Kenny, Ph. D Psyc, has studied this concept on several experimental settings He found “only moderate support” for the concept of reflected appraisal He concluded that this idea can only be considered a developmental theory • Only important for children growing up, but doesn’t have much effect on adults
Oppositional Codes: - Ways in which members of certain groups within a society distinguish themselves from other groups in society - Wearing on colors, insignias, clothing styles - One of the most important ways that we do this is through speech o Men speak differently then women o Teens and some groups use slang o Some societies have different ways of speaking in social classes “Primer” = a little booklet or pamphlet that gives someone preliminary information about something • It is pronounced differently depending on social class o What we consume: what kind of car you drive, do for entertainment, decorate your home Conspicuous Consumption = what we consumes displays our status in society o Speech: differences in society, cultures, social class, men v. women, racially (black/white speech) Why do blacks and whites speak differently? • Physiological Differences (popular 50 years ago) o Different structures in the mouth o Two problems: Need to be specific to what those differences are (and they cant do that) If it is a biological difference, then the differences should be universal (they aren’t) • African Origins (most widely accepted) o The differences that we hear, can be traced back to Africa and their tribal dialects o It is grammatically correct, should not be seen as an improper use of the English language, but should be seen as a separate dialect Ebonics = Ebony + Phonics o Dr. Walter Wolfram (North Caroline State) Okracoke Island – no tourist influence Looked at speech patters for how it has changed over time Can dialects of black speech be traced back to Africa? This would be more prominent in older generations After school groups were mixed, differences came about This produced Oppositional Codes
•
•
The Linguistic Poverty Hypothesis = lower class people cuss more because they lack the vocabulary to express themselves in more acceptable ways o Many people accept it as being true without really investigating it o It is shown that swearing is a favorite past time of both the upper class and lower class, the backlash against swearing comes from the middle class o England and Scotland (1600s or so) – “Flyting” Ritual insult, either face-to-face or in writing o In America, swearing has steadily increased from WW1 and especially since WW2 Over the last 35 years we see a big increase in public swearing by women o If swearing is based on poor education, shouldn’t it be going down as we become more educated? It hasn’t done so, so what now?
Oppositional Codes o As long as groups were kept apart by law, then there was no need to find ways to distinguish themselves from each other o Once segregation laws were set down, we see differences in speech o These groups were developing ways to distinguish themselves o Dr. William Labov (founder of social linguistics) Do We Speak American? Looks at the boarders in some speech areas and changes over time He noticed that the geographical differences in speech (accents) is getting stronger, not weaker Black and white speech is more prominent in urban areas • People are closer together and need to separate themselves • These black white differences are becoming much more pronounced o Dramatic Enhancement of Role: Goffman says, “When someone is occupying a certain role, their right to occupy that role may be questioned by others. So they may exaggerate the features that show they can occupy that role.” o Dramatic Enhancement of Narrative: Most of what people talk about is what has happened to them I their life We have to embellish our stories so others will listen to them Swearing is a technique used to get others to pay attention
•
Who would be the people who would need to do this the most? Those on lowest economic status, and women
Types of Societies -most “primitive”: Hunting and Gathering societies -stone axes, bows, arrows, etc -everyone knows everybody else personally; no strangers in daily life -everyone is involved in food production -“What is good for us?” collective way of thinking -Horticultural societies -have taken some control over their food supply -domestic animals make them not so dependent on nature -planting crops to feed more people & no longer have to go looking for food -settlements w/ many people (tens of thousands max) -better food supply= can create a surplus= can support those not directly involved in food production -start to see differentiation is society (religious, political, merchants, etc); don’t know everyone on 1st name basis -start to see social stratification (rich & poor groups) -what is good for us? Is problematic b/c the answer isn’t the same for everyone -low division of labor, stratification is low -affective (emotional) bonds -“What is good for us?” -Agrarian societies -practice agriculture on a large scale -public works projects (irrigation) organized by the political elite -can create huge surpluses & support much larger societies (whole cities -all the great civilizations in the past (Greece, Rome, Persia) -75-80% of the population still involved if food production, usually as either serfs or slaves -huge inequality where a handful of people become very wealthy -Modern Industrial Societies -most advanced -use of machines, electricity, nuclear power -we can do in a week what it would’ve taken simpler societies centuries to do -can grow huge surpluses of food; < 3% of population is involved in food production -no more shared stock of knowledge/ interests -“What is good for us?” is meaningless because there are too many different kinds of “us” -“What is good for me?” is the way it works now -high division of labor, everyone specializes, we all do different things for a living -high stratification -instrumental bonds
-
-
This transfer in society, between the low level and high level society, is what is talked about in the 28pg article by TURNER o We started out as a farming society, right before WW1 we began a rapid shift towards an industrialized society o When life was simpler we used to produce more institutionals People who look for life fulfillment in institutional goals What kind of person should I be? How successful am I? Do I meet society’s expectations for the person I should be? o With the shift in society, we produce more impulsers We no longer have shared norms and values People who find self fulfillment by breaking through institutional restraints, breaking out of the box We now have far more occupational opportunities, we also have more ways to find ourselves and try out new things, find out who we really are rather than just who other people think we should become o Turner says that this shift in society is a good thing John Hewitt (1988, Dilemmas of the American Self) o Americans tend to look at everything in terms of dichotomies (good v. bad, black v. white, liberal v. conservative) This is one way to make our lives easier because it reduces our alternatives Rural and Small-town America = conformity and oppression • Everyone wants everyone else to be just like them • For those who stand out, there is a lot of oppression and these people are ostracized • No place to hide because everyone knows everyone else Modern Urban America = Freedom • We have many more opportunities to be different kinds of self o It is our job to escape small town America and live our lives on a bigger stage and be who we really want to be
David Reisman & Nathan Glazer 1950 The Lonely Crowd -book by Reisman used primarily as a textbook for one of his class, but a few years later it was published as a popular best seller -Turner cites book often -as we become more industrialized, we are surrounded by more people, but more of them are strangers to us -also idea of different societies producing different types of people; 3 types: 1) Tradition Directed -people who look to the traditions of society to guide their lives -shame is the most important means of social control; these ppl don’t want to do anything that could bring shame to themselves, their family or community -these ppl have dominated around the world throughout history, but many main eras did not come about by these people! 2)Inner-Directed -certain drive to go beyond what anyone else has done before -guilt is the most important means of social control; they feel guilty if they settle for just being ordinary, don’t achieve their goals, etc. 3)Other Directed -we look to other ppl around us to measure our success; “what do others think of us?” -try to show our success through crass consumerism (goes along w/ conspicuous consumption of buying items just for status) -anxiety is most important means of social control (worrying about what others think) Christopher Lasch 1978 The Culture of Narcissism - if society no longer has shared norms & values, what does that mean for our behavior and for what is looked towards for self fulfillment? -Lasch said it’s looking for the pleasure of the moment or whatever makes us feel good at the time -fall in love, get married, get divorced- no sense of commitment; only doing what feels best -self help groups, etc. -alcohol & drugs Louis Zurcher 1977 The Mutable Self -Zurcher takes a different view -what does it mean for the self if we are always looking to others for approval?? -Zurcher says we don’t really have a self, we are like chameleons changing w/ the moment to be what others want
-both authors talk a/b ppl being a product of their times, but authors are also a product of their time Erving Goffman 1959 The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life -detailed his ideas of dramaturgy (character presented to other people) -people either love of hate Goffman -Goffman was trying to develop a theory of social interaction, not of the self -What is necessary for social interaction to take place and what are the rules? What happens when the rules are broken? -Goffman quotes Thomas (see prev notes) “If men define situations as real…” -for Goffman, the question isn’t “Who am I?” but “Who are you?” that has to be answered -working consensus must be come to by all participants in a social interaction (do we accept claims of who people say they are, etc.) Look @ page of quotes e-mailed to us Impression Management -ways we try to control the information we give off to other people -this leads to the second major criticism of Goffman’s work -critics say that Goffman states we’re always trying to be deceitful -but not all deceit is necessarily a bad thing- we don’t really want to know what everyone thinks about us at all times; tact is involved as well (there’s some things you just don’t want to know/don’t talk about) - Idealization = we want tp present an ideal like version of ourselves, attempt to incorporate the values of society into our act (shows we are acceptable social creatures and we want to put our best foot forward) - Fronting: 1) Personal Front = how we appear and present our bodies 2) Setting = the stage props that we arrange around us - Regions: (places) 1) Front Stage – places we want people to see us at 2) Back Stage – those we don’t want people to see (bedrooms, certain bars) - “Dirty Work” – we are much more restrictive about who we allow into our bedrooms and bathrooms v. the kitchen and living room - International Citizenship = who has the right to go into certain places - Backchannel Communication = other forms of communication (eye contact, body languages, “yeah”, “uh huh”) - Show we are engaged in this interaction and give it permission to continue - Conclusive Communication = we want certain people to see, but not everyone - Eye wink, roll of eyes, exclusive sign language
Attribution Theory - What we think we know about someone - We put things together about people, like a puzzle - We tend to take short cuts in making assumptions about people - Implicit Personality o We assume that members of a certain category have the same attributes This saves us a lot of work involved in finding the truth - Causal Attributions o We make attributions about peoples actions and why things happened to them o Internal Causation = we contribute the persons actions and the causes of their actions to the personal characteristics of that person o External Causation = we attribute a persons actions to forces outside of the person - The Fundamental Attribution Error o Describes how we judge ourselves as individuals differently than how we judge others We attribute our success to internal causes and our failures to external causes We attribute others success to external causes and their failures to internal causes - The Ultimate Attribution Error o When we extend this same line of reasoning to groups o In-Groups = groups that we belong to o Out-Groups = groups that we do not belong to (we are opposed to these groups) - Labeling Theory o Once we put a label on someone, this changes the way we interact with them (depending on if this label is positive or negative) o Charles Osgoode: looked at this process Words in the English language has two meaning: • Denotative Meaning = what it literally stands for • Connotative Meaning = our affective response o Semantic Differentials = differences in connotative meaning that words have Evaluation = good/bad Potency = strong, powerful/weak, powerless Activity = active/passive
-
Affective Control Theory (David Heise and Neil MacKinnon) o People give numerical rating to words of the English language o Range -4 to +4 o Fundamental Sentiments = the common opinion about different words o ABO Behaviors = appropriate behaviors for these words ActorBehaviorObject o Transient Sentiments = things that just come and go o Deflections = the differences between fundamental and transient If this difference is small, no problem, our world makes sense We try to get rid of large deflections • Change our behavior • Re-label the actor, or redefine the behavior
-
Psyc developed as a discipline in the early 1800’s But we soon figured out that you need to know more than what is going on in peoples head in order to understand behavior (so lets develop another field) Behaviorism = stimuli and response o When we behave in approved behavior, we get rewarded o When we behave in unapproved behavior, we get punished o Over the course of time, acceptable social habits become part of “human nature” o Popular pool of thought around the turn of the century, it faded and then revised in the start of the 20th century o B.F. Skinner – great reformer in this field (trained pigeons to show that behavior can be curved) o Weakness = there are a few weaknesses to behaviorism Alternatives (choices) Cognitive abilities (the ability to think things out – advanced) • We use our cognitive abilities through social interactions There is no room for it all in behaviorism alone o For sociologists, this falls way short of an adequate explanation of what people do and why they do it Rational Choice Theory and Exchange Theory = o W can weigh the expected benefits of any particular behavior and we can way that against the costs and the risks of engaging in the behavior If the benefits outweigh the costs, we will engage in the behavior (more than likely)
-
-
-
-
Some rewards are more important than others (we all have different dislikes and preferences) in certain circumstances
Social Learning Theory = Talks about three different ways in which we learn o We learn through experiences o Internalizing what we are explicitly taught by other people o Vicarious Learning = we can watch other people and see what they do and learn from it What works for someone else may or may not work for us Kids learn this as they grow, adults continue throughout life Dramaturgy – (Ervin Goffman) o When we are in the presence of other people, we present a character to other people (just like an actor on stage presents a character to an audience) o We need our audience to buy into the character that we present; we need them to believe that we are who we say we are. If they do, things are good If they don’t, interaction will change (most likely in ways that we don’t like) Postmodernism – “Modern” = “the present era”, “post” = “after” o They must be talking about the future, but this isn’t how they use the word. o They probably mean to be saying post-industrial o Use post-industrial, not postmodern Ethics o Must submit studies to Internal Review Board (IRB) o Things they look for: Do not harm your subjects • Physical, psychological, etc. Confidentiality / Anonymity Informed Consent • Gary Fine – Studied Little League Players o Studied how they developed their own sense of masculinity (how do men act?) o Wrote With The Boys o Observed them on the ball field and at practice
Human Behavior: - Humans are social animals and live their lives in the context of many people - What is more important: Nature or Nurture? - Sociobiology (Edward O. Wilson) o All human behavior is based on our organisms need to reproduce o For sociobiology, genes reproduce o They also enhance the environment in order to enhance their ability to reproduce (change the environment to help us reproduce) Ex: The Alpha Male and his dominance gets to reproduce Men try to reproduce their genes as many times as possible, produce the most copies and have the best chance of species survival Women need to get the best set of genes from males to ensure best chance of offspring survival This is why we see men trying to have sex as much as possible, and women looking for a good monogamous relationship with the most viable male of the species. o We develop certain cultural ideals More sex for men is good, for women it is bad When a women gets pregnant, she knows her genes are being reproduced, the male doesn’t (he can just assume and hope) o Sociobiology doesn’t account for the reasons humans try to stop reproduction and the passing on of genes o Biological differences between us and other animals: Cognitive ability • We organize our life, plan for the future, abstract thinking Communication ability Our social network ability Our instinct is pretty week we have to be taught how to survive Opposable Thumbs (how would your dog take notes in this class) • We can grasp objects in ways that other animals cannot We look after our children longer • It takes a long time to develop (physically and mentally) We can hunt much larger and much faster game because we have long distance endurance We can use all different things for food (vast variety) • We can control fire and cook food o World Openness and Plasticity = the human openness to the world We can field ways to survive in almost and environment possible Find most food sources and means of survival (we are not specialized) There is a variation of human existence around the world • People live different lives depending on where they live)
Feral Children: -
-
-
Feral” = general wild animals, specifically wild dogs Children who have been deprived of normal human contact during the first years of life “Gene” – Her mother had her when she lived with her father o Hid her in the attic out of fear o The only contact she had with her mother was when she fed her o She never developed normally (even after the best care) Physically or Mentally Her IQ is that of a 6 year old and her language ability is that of a 3 year old, she died in her early teens If intervention is made before the age of two, the child will likely develop normally o 2-6, average chance o Above 6, no chance Romanian orphans – at least the had contact with each other
Learning to Survive in our Social Environment: -
-
Social facts are just as important as physical facts o Ex: Falling off cliff and teaching wrong religion = dead Every society has Common Stock of Knowledge o Knowledge society has developed over time o Technical knowledge o Ideas about what is and what ought to be o Norms and values, right and wrong, the way to do things and why We learn this in order to become competent members of that society Certain social skills are a necessity in our everyday life
Three Step process for information exchange: (Peter Berger) 1) Externalization = Person A tells Person B 2) Objectification = Person B receives the information and understand it a. There is now a shared meaning, A Social Object, between two people b. Two people are understanding he same definition 3) Internalization = Person be accepts this information as their own and internalizes it as their own knowledge -
A societies common stock of knowledge are these accepted definitions W. I. Thomas said, “If men define situations as real, then they are real in their consequences.” We act according to the definitions we have, no matter how correct they are In order for the three step process to work we must have: communication skills and social experience
Language and Culture: - Language is more than just a system of communication - Language is a tool that allows us to express ideas between members of our society - It has developed over many centuries as a tool for communicating these ideas - Language is the way we think - Language influences and shapes the way that we think - The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis: o Sapir and Whorf studied both ancient and modern ancient American languages o For most of their careers they worked independently of each other in the study of different societies languages, past and present o The said – the language of any society is structured around the worldview of that society o What is the structure of language and how do we fit into that structure? o Every society has a view of what the universe is about, and how they fit into that view. o We develop cultural ideas and rules based on this view, language is the tool for developing and solidifying these rules o Certain ideas express things that we will never understand because our language doesn’t permit us to understand o When we reach this barrier, we can: Twist it around to the way our society thinks Discard it as nonsense o Native American Religion is hard for Judeo-Christians to understand Their gods had a life force Sioux = Wakan Iroquois = Orenda Algonquin = Manitou o Europeans translated this into the idea of a “Great Spirit” In doing so they took the origional idea and warped it into something that was completely different, so that they can understand it
Symbolic Interaction (George H. Mead) - How are societies interactive? o Our ability to make and use symbols (primarily language) - What makes us human? o It is our ability to have a “self” o Where we are, where we have been, who is around us, where we are going o Two Parts of the Self: The “I” – the active part of the self The “Me” – the self as an object • It requires both cognitive ability and allows social instances - In the development of the self, we go through many stages o Takes many years over the span of life to develop, especially the second stage - Three Stages of Development: o The Imitation Stage – the ability of someone to perceive the world around them and where they fit in We imitate what we see others doing without much understanding of what is going on We develop abilities to use language and repeat what we hear o The Play Stage – we play out the roles that we see around us We are beginning to understand roles We play school, house, cowboys and Indians Though we play these roles, we still don’t understand them We also don’t understand that people can have dual roles o The Game Stage – (age 10 or 11) We can now understand complex relationships between roles We can understand the different positions in society, but that these positions in society are related to each other in specific ways The game of baseball as an illustration: • You have different positions out there on the field • It doesn’t matter who is playing what position, they are expected to do certain things in relation to the other players and in relation to the development of the game We begin to see the world differently There are several things we can do in the game stage that we couldn’t do before: • Take the role of the other • Take the role of the generalized other o We start to think, “What will people think of me” • Think Introspectively (we can look inside ourselves) o “What am I? What kind of person am I? Who are my friends and why?” o We tell others, “You don’t understand me.”
-
The Reflexive Nature of Interaction: o The ability to carry on an internal dialogue o The back and forth nature of interaction between people What I do depends on what you do and what you do depends on what I do What are you saying to me, what message are you trying to get across? What is the appropriate response to what others are doing? o We have to have a sense of who we are in order to effectively interact with other people
Charles Horton Cooley: “The Looking-Glass Self” - We come to know who we are through our interpretation of the actions of others towards us - Reflected Appraisals = a psychological term for, “we see ourselves reflected in the actions of others towards us” o We appraise ourselves on a daily basis o David Kenny, Ph. D Psyc, has studied this concept on several experimental settings He found “only moderate support” for the concept of reflected appraisal He concluded that this idea can only be considered a developmental theory • Only important for children growing up, but doesn’t have much effect on adults
Oppositional Codes: - Ways in which members of certain groups within a society distinguish themselves from other groups in society - Wearing on colors, insignias, clothing styles - One of the most important ways that we do this is through speech o Men speak differently then women o Teens and some groups use slang o Some societies have different ways of speaking in social classes “Primer” = a little booklet or pamphlet that gives someone preliminary information about something • It is pronounced differently depending on social class o What we consume: what kind of car you drive, do for entertainment, decorate your home Conspicuous Consumption = what we consumes displays our status in society o Speech: differences in society, cultures, social class, men v. women, racially (black/white speech) Why do blacks and whites speak differently? • Physiological Differences (popular 50 years ago) o Different structures in the mouth o Two problems: Need to be specific to what those differences are (and they cant do that) If it is a biological difference, then the differences should be universal (they aren’t) • African Origins (most widely accepted) o The differences that we hear, can be traced back to Africa and their tribal dialects o It is grammatically correct, should not be seen as an improper use of the English language, but should be seen as a separate dialect Ebonics = Ebony + Phonics o Dr. Walter Wolfram (North Caroline State) Okracoke Island – no tourist influence Looked at speech patters for how it has changed over time Can dialects of black speech be traced back to Africa? This would be more prominent in older generations After school groups were mixed, differences came about This produced Oppositional Codes
•
•
The Linguistic Poverty Hypothesis = lower class people cuss more because they lack the vocabulary to express themselves in more acceptable ways o Many people accept it as being true without really investigating it o It is shown that swearing is a favorite past time of both the upper class and lower class, the backlash against swearing comes from the middle class o England and Scotland (1600s or so) – “Flyting” Ritual insult, either face-to-face or in writing o In America, swearing has steadily increased from WW1 and especially since WW2 Over the last 35 years we see a big increase in public swearing by women o If swearing is based on poor education, shouldn’t it be going down as we become more educated? It hasn’t done so, so what now?
Oppositional Codes o As long as groups were kept apart by law, then there was no need to find ways to distinguish themselves from each other o Once segregation laws were set down, we see differences in speech o These groups were developing ways to distinguish themselves o Dr. William Labov (founder of social linguistics) Do We Speak American? Looks at the boarders in some speech areas and changes over time He noticed that the geographical differences in speech (accents) is getting stronger, not weaker Black and white speech is more prominent in urban areas • People are closer together and need to separate themselves • These black white differences are becoming much more pronounced o Dramatic Enhancement of Role: Goffman says, “When someone is occupying a certain role, their right to occupy that role may be questioned by others. So they may exaggerate the features that show they can occupy that role.” o Dramatic Enhancement of Narrative: Most of what people talk about is what has happened to them I their life We have to embellish our stories so others will listen to them Swearing is a technique used to get others to pay attention
•
Who would be the people who would need to do this the most? Those on lowest economic status, and women
Types of Societies -most “primitive”: Hunting and Gathering societies -stone axes, bows, arrows, etc -everyone knows everybody else personally; no strangers in daily life -everyone is involved in food production -“What is good for us?” collective way of thinking -Horticultural societies -have taken some control over their food supply -domestic animals make them not so dependent on nature -planting crops to feed more people & no longer have to go looking for food -settlements w/ many people (tens of thousands max) -better food supply= can create a surplus= can support those not directly involved in food production -start to see differentiation is society (religious, political, merchants, etc); don’t know everyone on 1st name basis -start to see social stratification (rich & poor groups) -what is good for us? Is problematic b/c the answer isn’t the same for everyone -low division of labor, stratification is low -affective (emotional) bonds -“What is good for us?” -Agrarian societies -practice agriculture on a large scale -public works projects (irrigation) organized by the political elite -can create huge surpluses & support much larger societies (whole cities -all the great civilizations in the past (Greece, Rome, Persia) -75-80% of the population still involved if food production, usually as either serfs or slaves -huge inequality where a handful of people become very wealthy -Modern Industrial Societies -most advanced -use of machines, electricity, nuclear power -we can do in a week what it would’ve taken simpler societies centuries to do -can grow huge surpluses of food; < 3% of population is involved in food production -no more shared stock of knowledge/ interests -“What is good for us?” is meaningless because there are too many different kinds of “us” -“What is good for me?” is the way it works now -high division of labor, everyone specializes, we all do different things for a living -high stratification -instrumental bonds
-
-
This transfer in society, between the low level and high level society, is what is talked about in the 28pg article by TURNER o We started out as a farming society, right before WW1 we began a rapid shift towards an industrialized society o When life was simpler we used to produce more institutionals People who look for life fulfillment in institutional goals What kind of person should I be? How successful am I? Do I meet society’s expectations for the person I should be? o With the shift in society, we produce more impulsers We no longer have shared norms and values People who find self fulfillment by breaking through institutional restraints, breaking out of the box We now have far more occupational opportunities, we also have more ways to find ourselves and try out new things, find out who we really are rather than just who other people think we should become o Turner says that this shift in society is a good thing John Hewitt (1988, Dilemmas of the American Self) o Americans tend to look at everything in terms of dichotomies (good v. bad, black v. white, liberal v. conservative) This is one way to make our lives easier because it reduces our alternatives Rural and Small-town America = conformity and oppression • Everyone wants everyone else to be just like them • For those who stand out, there is a lot of oppression and these people are ostracized • No place to hide because everyone knows everyone else Modern Urban America = Freedom • We have many more opportunities to be different kinds of self o It is our job to escape small town America and live our lives on a bigger stage and be who we really want to be
David Reisman & Nathan Glazer 1950 The Lonely Crowd -book by Reisman used primarily as a textbook for one of his class, but a few years later it was published as a popular best seller -Turner cites book often -as we become more industrialized, we are surrounded by more people, but more of them are strangers to us -also idea of different societies producing different types of people; 3 types: 1) Tradition Directed -people who look to the traditions of society to guide their lives -shame is the most important means of social control; these ppl don’t want to do anything that could bring shame to themselves, their family or community -these ppl have dominated around the world throughout history, but many main eras did not come about by these people! 2)Inner-Directed -certain drive to go beyond what anyone else has done before -guilt is the most important means of social control; they feel guilty if they settle for just being ordinary, don’t achieve their goals, etc. 3)Other Directed -we look to other ppl around us to measure our success; “what do others think of us?” -try to show our success through crass consumerism (goes along w/ conspicuous consumption of buying items just for status) -anxiety is most important means of social control (worrying about what others think) Christopher Lasch 1978 The Culture of Narcissism - if society no longer has shared norms & values, what does that mean for our behavior and for what is looked towards for self fulfillment? -Lasch said it’s looking for the pleasure of the moment or whatever makes us feel good at the time -fall in love, get married, get divorced- no sense of commitment; only doing what feels best -self help groups, etc. -alcohol & drugs Louis Zurcher 1977 The Mutable Self -Zurcher takes a different view -what does it mean for the self if we are always looking to others for approval?? -Zurcher says we don’t really have a self, we are like chameleons changing w/ the moment to be what others want
-both authors talk a/b ppl being a product of their times, but authors are also a product of their time Erving Goffman 1959 The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life -detailed his ideas of dramaturgy (character presented to other people) -people either love of hate Goffman -Goffman was trying to develop a theory of social interaction, not of the self -What is necessary for social interaction to take place and what are the rules? What happens when the rules are broken? -Goffman quotes Thomas (see prev notes) “If men define situations as real…” -for Goffman, the question isn’t “Who am I?” but “Who are you?” that has to be answered -working consensus must be come to by all participants in a social interaction (do we accept claims of who people say they are, etc.) Look @ page of quotes e-mailed to us Impression Management -ways we try to control the information we give off to other people -this leads to the second major criticism of Goffman’s work -critics say that Goffman states we’re always trying to be deceitful -but not all deceit is necessarily a bad thing- we don’t really want to know what everyone thinks about us at all times; tact is involved as well (there’s some things you just don’t want to know/don’t talk about) - Idealization = we want tp present an ideal like version of ourselves, attempt to incorporate the values of society into our act (shows we are acceptable social creatures and we want to put our best foot forward) - Fronting: 1) Personal Front = how we appear and present our bodies 2) Setting = the stage props that we arrange around us - Regions: (places) 1) Front Stage – places we want people to see us at 2) Back Stage – those we don’t want people to see (bedrooms, certain bars) - “Dirty Work” – we are much more restrictive about who we allow into our bedrooms and bathrooms v. the kitchen and living room - International Citizenship = who has the right to go into certain places - Backchannel Communication = other forms of communication (eye contact, body languages, “yeah”, “uh huh”) - Show we are engaged in this interaction and give it permission to continue - Conclusive Communication = we want certain people to see, but not everyone - Eye wink, roll of eyes, exclusive sign language
Attribution Theory - What we think we know about someone - We put things together about people, like a puzzle - We tend to take short cuts in making assumptions about people - Implicit Personality o We assume that members of a certain category have the same attributes This saves us a lot of work involved in finding the truth - Causal Attributions o We make attributions about peoples actions and why things happened to them o Internal Causation = we contribute the persons actions and the causes of their actions to the personal characteristics of that person o External Causation = we attribute a persons actions to forces outside of the person - The Fundamental Attribution Error o Describes how we judge ourselves as individuals differently than how we judge others We attribute our success to internal causes and our failures to external causes We attribute others success to external causes and their failures to internal causes - The Ultimate Attribution Error o When we extend this same line of reasoning to groups o In-Groups = groups that we belong to o Out-Groups = groups that we do not belong to (we are opposed to these groups) - Labeling Theory o Once we put a label on someone, this changes the way we interact with them (depending on if this label is positive or negative) o Charles Osgoode: looked at this process Words in the English language has two meaning: • Denotative Meaning = what it literally stands for • Connotative Meaning = our affective response o Semantic Differentials = differences in connotative meaning that words have Evaluation = good/bad Potency = strong, powerful/weak, powerless Activity = active/passive
-
Affective Control Theory (David Heise and Neil MacKinnon) o People give numerical rating to words of the English language o Range -4 to +4 o Fundamental Sentiments = the common opinion about different words o ABO Behaviors = appropriate behaviors for these words ActorBehaviorObject o Transient Sentiments = things that just come and go o Deflections = the differences between fundamental and transient If this difference is small, no problem, our world makes sense We try to get rid of large deflections • Change our behavior • Re-label the actor, or redefine the behavior
