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.