Social Interaction and Rules

Learning Objective 1: Social Interaction and Social Rules

• Social interaction is guided by unwritten social rules.
• Social interaction is any kind of communication between two or more people.
• Social rules guide social interaction
• Social rules consist of norms, mores, folkways, taboos, laws, and policies
• Norms are basic rules of society
• Mores are moral norms
• Folkways are casual norms
• Taboos are the strongest norms while laws are norms that are codified
• Policies are rules that are set by organizations, like schools and workplaces
• Breaching is intentionally breaking a social rule to reveal the underlying rules.
• Breaching experiments show how order is maintained through shared, often unspoken, understandings.
• Breaking a norm is unintentional and does not reveal any underlying rules, however, breaching is intentional and reveals the implicit rules.

Learning Objective 2: Symbolic Interaction & Dramaturgy

• George Herbert Mead developed symbolic interactionism.
• Symbolic interactionism consists of three key assertions:
  • Meaning is constructed through interaction.
  • Meaning changes through interaction.
  • Individuals interpret and modify meaning in their interaction.
• Social interactions are fragile because they rely on shared meanings and unspoken agreements.
• Dramaturgy, developed by Erving Goffman, views social life as a performance.
• In dramaturgy individuals engage in performances to create specific impressions.
• Front stage is the public performance space.
• Back stage is where individuals prepare and relax from their performances.
• Impression management is the effort to control how others perceive us.

Learning Objective 3: Social Identities and Social Interactions

• Marked statuses are those that are specifically identified (e.g., "female doctor").
• Unmarked statuses are those that are taken for granted (e.g., "doctor").
• Settings can influence how identities are perceived to "belong" or "stand out."
• Identities are associated with roles, leading to expectations about behavior.
• Role identity match and mismatch impacts peoples experiences in life.
• Identity-based discrimination is expressed through interpersonal discrimination (e.g., in hiring processes).
• Cultural expectations of identities can lead to extra work for those with marked statuses to manage impressions.

Learning Objective 4: Ethnomethodology

• Ethnomethodology refers to the study of the methods people use for understanding and producing social order.
• Ethnomethods are the background assumptions and knowledge we use to navigate social life.
• Ethnomethods are often invisible because they are taken for granted.
• Breaching experiments can make ethnomethods visible by disrupting normal social order and revealing the taken-for-granted assumptions.

Learning Objective 1: Defining Deviance

• Deviance is any behavior that violates social norms.
• Behaviors are defined as deviant through social interaction and social processes.
• Deviance is a violation of norms, which can vary across cultures and time periods.
• Deviance is socially constructed.

Learning Objective 2: Sociological Theories of Deviance

• Strain theory argues that deviance occurs when individuals lack legitimate means to achieve socially approved goals which leads to:
  • Conformity: Accepting both cultural goals and means
  • Innovation: Accepting goals, rejecting means (achieving goals through deviance)
  • Ritualism: Rejecting goals, accepting means (going through the motions)
  • Retreatism: Rejecting both goals and means (withdrawing from society)
  • Rebellion: Creating new goals and means.
• Differential association theory argues that deviance is learned through interaction with peers.
• Social disorganization theory says deviance is more likely in communities with weak social ties and a lack of social control.
• Neutralization theory explains how individuals justify deviant behavior through techniques such as:
  • Denial of responsibility
  • Denial of injury
  • Denial of the victim
  • Condemnation of the condemners
  • Appeal to higher loyalties
• Labeling theory states that being labeled as deviant can lead to secondary deviance, where individuals internalize the label and engage in more deviant behavior.
• Sociologists use surveys and historical sociology to study social phenomena and deviance.

Learning Objective 3: Functionalism and Deviance

• Functionalists argue that deviance has functions in society:
  • Reinforces norms
  • Promotes social solidarity
  • Facilitates social change
• Emile Durkheim argued that deviance is necessary to promote a collective conscience and social order.
• Anomie is a state of normlessness that can lead to deviance.
• Critiques of functionalism highlight its neglect of power and inequality

Learning Objective 4: Conflict Theory and Deviance

• Conflict theory views society as characterized by inequality and power struggles.
• Conflict theory is concerned with how dominant groups maintain their power and control through deviance.
• Conflict theorists argue that deviance is defined by those in power to maintain social order.
• The medicalization of civil rights protestors in the 1960s exemplifies the conflict perspective, where defiance of the status quo was defined as deviant to delegitimize their cause.
• Conflict theory says those in power define defiance as deviant to maintain control while labeling theory says that deviance resides in the application of labels to people/acts.

Learning Objective 1: Premodern, Modern, and Postmodern Thought

• Pre-modern thought is characterized by tradition, religion, and local knowledge.
• Thought changed from pre-modern to modern due to the Enlightenment, scientific revolution, and rise of capitalism.
• Comparative sociology examines similarities and differences across different societies or time periods.
• Examples:
  • Premodern: Believing illness is caused by evil spirits.
  • Modern: Believing in science to cure illnesses.
  • Postmodern: Acknowledging multiple perspectives on health and well-being.

Learning Objective 2: Social Organizations and Bureaucracies

• Bureaucracy is a type of social organization characterized by:
  • Hierarchy of authority
  • Specialization of tasks
  • Formal rules and procedures
  • Impersonality
  • Technical competence
• Authority in a bureaucracy is rational-legal, based on rules and procedures rather than tradition or charisma.
• McDonaldization is the process by which the principles of fast-food restaurants are coming to dominate more and more sectors of American society as well as of the rest of the world. Its main concepts are:
  • Efficiency
  • Calculability
  • Predictability
  • Control through automation
• Modern thought emphasizes rationality, science, and progress, while postmodern thought emphasizes diversity, skepticism, and deconstruction of grand narratives. Postmodern thinking is more common in today's world.

Learning Objective 3: Social Institutions and Ideologies

• Social institutions are established patterns of behavior and organization in society (e.g., family, education, government).
• Institutionalization is the process by which behaviors and ideas become embedded in social institutions.
• Social structure constrains and enables individuals through its established patterns and expectations.
• Ideology is a system of ideas and beliefs that justify and legitimize social arrangements.
• Social institutions socialize individuals into ideologies by transmitting values, norms, and beliefs through various mechanisms.

Learning Objective 4: Social Structure and Social Stratification

• Social structure refers to the organized patterns of social relationships and institutions that make up society.
• Social structure influences individual structural position, which refers to one's location within the social structure based on factors such as class, race, and gender.
• Structural position is important because it shapes access to resources, opportunities, and life chances.
• Structural position is linked to Durkheim's forms of suicide, as individuals in marginalized positions may experience higher rates of suicide due to social isolation and lack of integration.
• Institutional discrimination is discrimination that is embedded in the policies and practices of social institutions, contributing to social stratification.
• Biased institutions lead to discriminatory outcomes due to systemic inequalities and unequal access to resources.

Learning Objective 1: Distribution of Income and Wealth

• Income is money received, while wealth is assets owned minus debts.
• Income and wealth are unequally distributed in the United States, with a large concentration at the top.
• Prior to modern capitalism, classes were arranged in feudal or caste systems, with limited social mobility.
• Industrialization transformed the class system, creating new opportunities and inequalities.

Learning Objective 2: Karl Marx’s Critique of Capitalism

• Capitalism is an economic system characterized by private ownership of the means of production and the pursuit of profit.
• The two main classes in Marx's assessment of capitalism are:
  • Bourgeoisie (owners)
  • Proletariat (workers)
• Alienation is the separation of workers from their labor, products, and each other under capitalism.
• The "crisis of capitalism" refers to Marx's prediction that capitalism is inherently unstable and prone to crises due to its internal contradictions.
• Marx believed capitalism would be replaced by communism, a classless society with collective ownership of the means of production.
• The Gilded Age aligned with Marx's predictions in terms of wealth concentration and exploitation of workers with some alignment, but did not lead to the predicted revolution.
• Welfare capitalism is a system in which the state provides social welfare programs to protect workers and reduce inequality.
• The New Gilded Age is characterized by rising inequality and wealth concentration, similar to the original Gilded Age.

Learning Objective 3: Fairness of the U.S. Economy

• The fastest-growing jobs in the United States are often in the service sector, suggesting future conditions of low wages and precarious employment for workers.
• Economic inequality is unfair when it results from discrimination, exploitation, or lack of opportunity.
• The extent of poverty in the United States remains significant, with millions living below the poverty line.
• Americans' faith in hard work can lead to blaming the poor for their circumstances, overlooking structural barriers to mobility.
• Social mobility between economic classes in the United States is limited, with many individuals remaining in the same class as their parents.
• Wealth and wage gaps exist along racial and gender lines, indicating persistent inequality in the labor market.
• Capitalism and socialism are not necessarily incompatible, as many countries adopt mixed economies with elements of both.

Learning Objective 1: Residential Segregation

• Restrictive covenants, White flight, and racial steering contributed to residential segregation which were all formally outlawed.
• Informal practices like redlining and discriminatory lending have maintained segregation.
• "White flight" today includes movement to suburban areas and exclusive communities
• Residential segregation restricts access to resources like good schools, jobs, and healthcare.
• Residential segregation operates as a form of institutional racism by perpetuating unequal access to opportunities and resources based on race.

Learning Objective 2: Education System and Inequality

• Public schools are funded primarily through local property taxes, leading to disparities between wealthy and poor districts.
• "Within school" institutionalized racism includes:
  • Tracking (separating students into different academic paths)
  • Unequal access to resources
  • Biased disciplinary practices
• Policing in schools can disproportionately impact students of color, contributing to the school-to-prison pipeline.
• Adultification of children of color is the tendency to view them as more mature than their White peers, leading to harsher treatment and discipline.
• Achievement gaps in educational attainment persist between racial and ethnic groups, reflecting systemic inequalities.

Learning Objective 3: Mass Incarceration and Mass Deportation

• Marijuana's legal status has changed over time, with the name "marijuana" being used to associate it with Mexican immigrants and justify discriminatory policies.
• U.S. incarceration rates are the highest in the world.
• "Tough on crime" policies, such as mandatory minimum sentences and increased policing, have contributed to mass incarceration.
• Mass deportation refers to the increased deportation of immigrants in recent decades.
• Policing practices like stop-and-frisk disproportionately impact Black and brown neighborhoods, leading to higher rates of arrests and incarceration.

Learning Objective 4: Additive Nature of Advantage and Disadvantage

• Advantage and disadvantage are distributed in three ways that embed discrimination in our social structure:
  • Cross-institutional advantage/disadvantage which is the interaction or institutions to create advantages or disadvantages
  • Cumulative advantage/disadvantage (where initial advantages/disadvantages accumulate over time)
  • Intergenerational advantage/disadvantage (where advantages/disadvantages are passed down across generations)