Popular Culture

Popular culture are products created and sold for profit in the entertainment industry.

Taste is a person's preference in things like music, fashion, art, etc.

Emotional energy is the feelings a person gets (happy, excited, etc.) from being at a large social gathering.

Life at Home

A nuclear family is family of with a male father and female mother and two or more children.

Endogamy is a relationship with two people of the same race and ethnicity.

Exogamy is a relationship consisting of two people of a different race or ethnicity.

Polygyny is a marriage with one man who has multiple wives. 

Polyandry is a marriage with one wife who has multiple husbands. 

Gender and Sexuality

Gender is what is socially acceptable behavior and appearance for a particular sex. For examples, males are expected to play sports and be "manly". A male wearing a dress is not socially acceptable.

Sexual orientation is the attraction to the opposite sex (heterosexual), the same sex (homosexual), or both sexes (bisexual).

Gender role socialization is the process that starts from childhood where a male is taught to be masculine and a female to be feminine through family, school, peers, and media.

The media is a huge influence on sexuality. The media is full of sex and glamorizes certain ideas of sex and portrays it to society.

Race and Ethnicity

These are my friends. They are of different races. Race is a reification based on biological differences in people from different countries. My diverse friends in the above picture are all socially considered "asian", "mexican" or "white".

Racism is the belief that one race or ethnicity is superior the other. This belief often leads to crime and violence. It is historically used to justify inequality and place blame on certain races or ethnicities for social or economical problems. This is a picture of Jacob, who is white, killing Scott because Scott is Mexican.

In some historical instances, racism has lead to genocide. Genocide is the systematic elimination of an entire race, ethnicity, culture, etc.

Segregation takes racism to the next level. It is formally denying a race, ethnicity, or cultural group of certain rights.

Prejudice is an idea or belief that is applied to all members of a race or ethnicity. Some examples of this are: all women are bad drivers, all Asians are smart, all Jewish people are greedy, etc.

Social Class

The upper class is made up of the wealthiest people in society. It is about 1% of the US population.

The upper-middle class is made up of professionals and managers. It is about 14% of the US population. Dave is a professional jeweler and falls under this category.

The middle class makes up about 30% of the US population. They are the white collar workers and have a large range of income. Most people consider themselves middle class, but many are not.

About 20% of the US population is considered lower class. These people are usually less educated and make very little money.

Slavery is based on the ownership of people. It is the lowest a person can be in society and the most extreme form of social stratification.

Deviance and Conformity

These are my deviant friends. Deviant behavior violates norms and causes negative reactions. This picture would cause a negative reaction from most parents, policemen, and all members of MADD. Deviance is a relative term, for what is seen as deviant in one culture may be seen as normal in another. Deviance also depends on the reaction of the witness. Any cop who witnessed this would see it as deviant behavior and have a field day writing tickets and making arrests. However, I see it as normal and do not have any type of negative reaction.

Erving Goffman connected deviance to stigmas, any physical or social attribute that devalues a person's identity and how society sees them. Natalie is an example of a physical stigma. Regarless of the fact that she is a sweetheart, people in society judge her and look down on her for having purple hair and tattoos.

Our initial plan for this picture was group, but the reactions of these people when we asked if we could take their picture for a school project put them in the category of deviance avowal. They were sitting on the curb smoking weed when we asked them for permission. Then they asked us "what are we? criminals?". We did not identify them as criminals. They, however, label themselves as criminals and behave deviantly in order to solidify the self-given identity.

If were to go to work and steal all the gold and diamonds in there, I would be an example of white-collar crime. The above picture shows me, a high status white-collar worker, breaking into the safe full of jewels at my work during work.

Since Natalie is a deviant criminal, society is forced to incapacitate her to protect the rest of society.

Life in Groups

This is my group of friends. Sociology considers us a group because we interact with eachother all the time and have the same interests. We all like kittens and music. We share those attributes, as well as many others. We're friends because we all know what it's like to have people be jealous of us (-Cher Horowitz, Clueless).

The girls and I were stuck at this traffic light for what felt like hours. Us and the people in the cars around us make up an aggregate. We are all stopped at the light, sharing a physical location, but nothing person. Once the light turned green, we left that spot and and all the people in the other cars behind.

This is a picture of a crowd. My friends and I were at this location with all of these people for the same reason: Coachella. We talked so some of them. However, after Coachella ended, we never even thought of them. They were just in the same place.

When I was in high school, this was my secondary group. We all knew each other and saw each other on a daily basis, but for the sole purpose of education. Secondary groups are groups that individuals are in that are less intimate and are centered around the accomplishment of a task.

Breejette, David, and I make up a triad. A triad is a group with three members. Usually, the members of a triad are close. A triad is more stable than a dyad because the third member plays mediator if the other two members quarrel. Also, if one member leaves, the group still exists.

Self and Social Interaction

Renowned sociologist Charles Cooley came up with the theory of the looking-glass self. He believed that our personalities develop from others appraising our behavior. If I like a certain type of music and my friends approve, I will continue to listen to that music and dress and act like the type of person who listens to that music because it is socially acceptable to do so. We salivate for the approval of others so we can approve of ourselves.

Many sociologists theorized the development of the self. George Herbert Mead believed that the self begins in childhood and developed through time and social interaction. He came up with three stages to this process: play, game, and the generalized other. The play stage, as shown in the picture above, includes the child and one significant other. This stage teaches the child basics of society. For example, a female child plays house with her sister. For one game, the child plays the role of the mother and the sister the role of the father. Eventually, they switch. This allows the child to learn the idea of roles and personalities in society, furthermore learning to develop her self in society.

The next stage, the game stage, includes the child and several significant others. In a game of soccer, there are many positions to play. The child must learn the different positions and how to play each one separately. In order to know his or her own position, he or she must know the position of all others playing the game so the child can be sure to make the right move. This is the stage where the child starts to develop a personality.

The third stage, the generalized other, refers to an entire community of attitudes. This refers to the child's understanding of the situation as well as his role in the situation from the perspective of the others involved in the situation. By understanding roles in a situation, the child can then understand not only what is socially acceptable is, but is expected in different settings.

From Sociological Research Methods

Existing sources, like the one shown above, are convienant for sociologists because they are easy to access and make it simple to research any time or place. An existing source is data that has already been collected and analyzed and is available for others to learn about and analyze as well.

Culture

The picture above is an expample of symbolic culture. There are many symbols that have taken on a common meaning in society. The photo above shows religious candles with Jesus on them. When a person sees Jesus, he or she automatically associates him with religion. It is the same idea with a cross. People make automatic connections in their mind to beliefs, values, interactions, ect. from the symbols they see most often. Symbolic culture allows us to communicate without using words.

 When a person sees a skyscraper, they think New York. They think city life. This is an example of material culture. In addition to buildings, things like food, art, and clothes are also examples of material culture. When a person sees a taco, they think Mexican food. If the same person looks at a picture of the Sistine Chapel, they think of Rome or Michelangelo. Any material object that is associated with a certain culture is an example of material culture.

The middle finger brings some people tears. It causes arguments, fist fights. The gesture of the middle finger has taken on such a strong meaning in society. We are able make signs with our bodies that say more than words are able to. We can speak an entire languages by just moving our hands. The gestures we make are symbols for other things and make a large impact on the rest of society.

Society is filled with signs. Somehow, the picture of two Cs intertwined has taken on the meaning of Chanel. Products and brands use signs and symbolic culture to reach out to society.

When a stranger holds the door open for you, you say thank you and think nothing more about it. But what if the stranger just let the door shut in your face? That kind of behavior is just not tolerated. Sociologists have looked further into this and defined these kinds of actions as folkways. While it is not a law to hold the door for someone, it is a norm that allows members of society to live peacefully among one another.

Theories and Theorists

One of the most memorable sociologists, Herbert Spencer, coined the phrase survival of the fittest. He used this phrase to describe social Darwinism. The belief of social Darwinism connects societies to eco-systems and says that people in societies are forced to adapt to changes in their enviornment just like the organisms in eco-systems. In both society and enviornment, the strong excel and the weak fall behind and eventually succumb to extinction. The above picture shows me, the fittest, beating my friend Jacob in the harsh battle of social Darwinism.

This picture of a modern city represents Emile Durkheim's idea of organic solidarity. People in cities help each other like organs in a body. I work at the local jewelers in Moorpark. I work for my teachers, my waiters at restaurants, my dry cleaners, and my cashiers, just as they work for me. People in this type of society help make things easier for the entire town by doing things for one another.

Those who live in less modern societies (such the amish) help one another in a more mechanical way. They are bonded together by the beliefs they share and can live peacefully. They feel like one society and can therefore can act as one.

 

Today's world is filled with rationalization. Though this beaurocracy take-over seems to make life easier, it causes individuals to have to wear an iron cloak of rationality. In some situations, rationality has become necessary. When a man goes to buy a car, he is wearing his cloak. He goes there with a no-nonsense attitude to get the purchase done and overwith as quickly as possible. After driving his brand new car home and parking it in his driveway, he removes his cloak in order to act like a real human being with his family.

From Research Methods

A survey is a type of quantitative research method that gathers information by distributing a list of questions to a random group of people (who usually fit into the same category). Each person anwers the same questions, usually with very vague answers such as marking yes, no, or sometimes or rating on a scale of one to five. Sociologists take the information they get from the surveys and convert it into statistics to explain large-scale social issues.

What is Sociology?

The first power-point I was shown in Introduction to Sociology this semester taught me the basics. After spending the past few days violating social norms and taking pictures of/with strangers at schools and parks, I am able to illustrate and explain this lesson.

From Sociological Research Methods

There are multiple ways to analyze the social world. One of those ways is through participant observation. This picture demonstrates Sally doing just that: participating in a study group in order to analyze how students of different majors prefer to study, documenting the habits, routines, and attitudes of each person. Sally uses the data she collects to come to conclusions about patterns and personalities and how each student makes sense of the material.

There are two different approaches one can take to studying sociology: the macro and the micro. In the picture above, Sally and I are demonstrating microsociology. Microsociology studies the face-to-face interaction in small groups. Microsociologists then examine their data and come to conclusions about small groups and the affects they have on entire societies.

There is ability that every sociologist must possess, and that is the ability to use sociological perspective. The sociological perspective is the mind set that allows a person to look at situations and distinguish them as either personal or social. One situation a person can look at using sociological perspective is unemployment (the picture above of my friend Jon lounging on a chair is meant to illustrate unemployment by showing a man doing nothing). If 2% of the nation is unemployed, it is considered the personal problem of each unemployed person. But when that number skyrockets to the 8.8% it was at this past January, it becomes a social problem. When the number is that high, it cannot only be blamed on the misfortune of that 2%, it is a problem with society.

Bernard McGrane suggested the way for people to best use their sociological perspective; by throwing out all expectations and seeing the world through a beginner's mind. The beginner's mind is natural to babies. Their brains are blank slates. They approach social situations with no biases.

Sociology can be seen from the eyes or two different kinds of people: the everyday actor and the social analyst. The social analyst approaches situations with a scientific perspective and looks for patterns with a clear and consistent mindset.