Sociological Theories

• Sociological imagination was coined by C. Wright Mills.
• Social problems stem from institutions not adapting to social and economic changes, as viewed by functionalists.
• Culture is shaped by dominance and subordination relationships between social classes, according to Marx.
• Culture arises from face-to-face interactions and communication; a symbolic interactionist perspective.
• Cultural change and uncertainty can lead to social disorganization, strain, deviance, and crime.
• Secondary socialization involves gaining knowledge and skills to participate beyond the family.
• Patriarchy is a social system where men dominate in political leadership, moral authority, social privilege, and property control.
• Conflict theorists believe social inequality maintains the status quo, benefiting the dominant group.
• Colonialism involves higher-income countries establishing political control over lower-income areas, exploiting local resources and people.

Sociological Imagination

• The sociological imagination allows one to perceive societal causes of individual experiences.
• It involves thinking beyond accepted norms and routines.
• It means applying imaginative thought to sociological questions, recognizing that individual actions have social consequences.
• Practicing it involves looking beyond personal explanations to see how social forces shape personal experiences.
• The sociological imagination can be applied to mental health by viewing issues not just as personal, but as sociological phenomena
• Social factors and expectations can influence mental health issues like anxiety.

First Term: Inspiring Sociological Imagination

• Society is a unified group in a territory sharing common assumptions.
• The sociological imagination connects personal troubles to broader social issues.
• It allows perceiving the societal causes of individual experiences.
• Social institutions are governed by established patterns, such as family, education, religion, and economic structures.
• Status is an individual's rank in a social hierarchy with rights, duties, and lifestyle based on honor and prestige.
• Quantitative research discovers facts through statistical analysis.
• Qualitative research understands human behavior from the respondent's perspective, using observation or interviews.
• Population is the complete group of units to generalize results.
• Sample is a subset of the population, making the study manageable.

Making Infants into Social Beings through Socialization

• Socialization is lifelong learning to become a society member, through interaction and internalization of norms.
• Primary socialization occurs when children learn behaviors and attitudes for individuals.
• Secondary socialization involves acquiring skills to participate in a smaller group, reinforced by socialization agents.
• Impression management shapes how others perceive you.
• Socialization agents are individuals, groups, or institutions shaping socialization like family, school, workplace, peers, and media.

Familias, Age Groups & Social Patterns

• Family is any social unit or set of relations perceived as a family.

Social Stratification & Economic Inequality

• Class divides people into social groups based on the distribution of material resources and power.
• Class consciousness is a sense of shared identity from similar economic positions.
• Classes can be upper, middle, and lower.
• LICO measures low income in Canada, identifying income thresholds where families spend more on necessities.
• The Gini coefficient measures income inequality among households compared to a theoretical country with perfect equality.
• Poverty line is an agreed-upon income for an acceptable standard of living.
• The World Systems Theory, developed by Immanuel Wallerstein, divides countries into core, semi-periphery, and periphery based on the transnational division of labour.
• Core states are industrial and wealthy, controlling semi-peripheral and peripheral states.
• Peripheral states are low-income and subject to control by core states.

Gender Inequality

• Gender is the social construction of what men and women should be, including appearance, behaviors, and expectations.
• Sex refers to biological markers of males and females.
• Gender inequality includes differences in income, education, and opportunities based on gender or sexual orientation.
• Masculinity is a social construct that includes stereotypical male behaviors.
• Femininity is a social construct including stereotypical behaviors and attitudes.
• Transgender describes a distinction between the gender someone identifies with and their biological sex at birth.

Racialization and Social Marginality

• Prejudice is an attitude that judges a person based on real or imagined group characteristics.
• Discrimination is unfair treatment based on group membership.
• Race is a social construct to distinguish people using physical markers, affecting their lives and leading to inequality.
• An ethnic group comprises people with perceived cultural markers deemed socially significant.
• The vertical mosaic describes Canada as racially and ethnically stratified, a concept introduced by John Porter.
• Those of British origin have more power and privilege compared to later immigrants.
• Racism is the belief that visible characteristics indicate group inferiority, justifying discrimination.

Deviance and Crime

• Deviance occurs when someone breaks a norm leading to negative reactions.
• Crime is deviance that breaks the law.
• Formal punishment is when the judicial system penalizes lawbreakers.
• Informal punishment is a mild sanction imposed during face-to-face interaction.
• Norms codify crimes, making deviance from norms unusual and criminal.
• Self-report surveys ask respondents about their involvement in criminal activities.
• Victimization surveys asks people if they have been victims of crime.
• Moral panic results from social concern over an issue, provoking intense feelings of fear

Deviance Typology & Social Order

• Merton's deviance typology states deviant behavior results from tension between cultural goals and the means of achieving them.
• Labeling theory suggests deviance comes from others' responses, labeling the rule breaker as deviant.
• White-collar crime includes illegal acts by middle and upper-class members of the business world.
• Street crime is associated with public offenders such as shoplifting, vandalism, or homicide.
• Routine activity theory says victimization happens when motivated individuals find a vulnerable person in a dangerous place without a guardian.
• Restorative justice aims to ensure criminals take responsibility for their actions and restores the victim, criminal, and community.

Mass and Social Media

• Mass media includes media organizations mass-communicating information through technology.
• New media is characterized by decentralized content creation.
• Social media involves sharing user-generated content through online interaction.
• Dominant ideology relates to mass media and denotes the beliefs of the dominant class.
• The CRTC is an independent Canadian government body fulfilling media needs and representing Canadian citizens.
• Cultural imperialism is how media spreads ideologies and imports cultural values and beliefs to new parts of the world.

Education

• Functionalism in education emphasizes manifest functions.
• Education provides children with basic literacy and numeracy skills.
• Education prepares informed citizens and critical thinkers.
• Conflict theory emphasizes latent functions in education.
• A "hidden curriculum" teaches students their place in society by gender and class.
• School trains people to endure boredom and subordination.

Education and Work

• Human capital theory states wage differences reflect worker value in terms of skill, education, and experience.
• Latent functions are unintended functions such as creating youth culture and marriage markets.
• Manifest functions are intended functions that lead to convergence among societies.
• Meritocracy is the myth that upward mobility is based on merit, justifying the ruling class and social inequality.
• Credentialism is the belief in academic qualifications as the best measure of intelligence for a job.
• Economy is the institution organizing the production, distribution, and exchange of goods and services.
• The economy consists of primary (agriculture), secondary (manufacturing), and tertiary (service) sectors.
• Division of Labour: Refers to the specialization of work tasks; The more specialized work tasks in a society, the greater the division of behavior.
• Primary labour market consists of highly skilled, well-educated individuals employed in large corporations.
• Secondary labour market: Contains a disproportionately large number of women and members of ethnic minorities, particularly recent immigrants.
• Employees in the secondary labour market lack skills and are often underpaid
• Unions are workers' organizations defending their interests and improving working conditions.
• Capitalism is the dominant economic system based on private property and competition for profit.
• Communism describes a classless society with public ownership and government planning.
• Democratic socialism includes government ownership of basic industries and market intervention.

Religion

• Religion includes any system of beliefs about the supernatural and the social groups that from around these beliefs.
• Spirituality is an openness to or search for 'sacred' aspects of life, where the sacred is worthy of veneration.
• Religiosity is the sum of all aspects of religious activity and belief.
• Secularization is the dwindling influence of formal religion in public life.
• Religion is a positive function that separates the sacred from the profane, uniting supporters.
• Marx's view of religion: Religions support societies dominant ideologies, Values from religion benefit only the ruling class and their interests, to the detriment of everyone else, Is a coping mechanism
• Totemism was found in the most primitive societies and involves the use of natural objects and animals as spirituality symbols.
• Social differentiation is the process by which a society becomes complex and diverse.
• Societalization connects people to an abstract society rather than known communities.
• Rationalization explains the world through empirical evidence.
• Civil religion includes the state's implicit religious values like public rituals and symbols.

Populations & Environment

• Demography is the social study of populations with a focus on human populations.
• Malthusian theory proposed population increases exponentially while food increases additively, leading to crisis.
• The natural environment includes all living and nonliving things on Earth, excluding humans.
• Sustainability allows for the long-term use and regeneration of resources.
• The cornucopia view sees nature as a storehouse of resources for human use.

Health

• The infant mortality rate is the number of deaths before age one per 1,000 live births.
• The morbidity rate is the number of people suffering from illnesses per 100,000 members of a population.
• Life expectancy is the average age at death calculated from mortality statistics.
• A biomedical health model considers psychological and genetic factors.
• A behavioral health model considers lifestyle choices.
• Social Determinants of Health affect well being and health.
• Being sick is not just a biological condition but a social role with functions.
• Conflict theory suggests that capitalism and the pursuit of profit leads to the commodification of health
• Social capital is a determinant of health that is associated with networks and relationships.
• Theory of fundamental causes: Outlines the relation between socioeconomic status and health disparities over time
• Social movements are planned gatherings around particular causes.
• Conflict arises from class conflict.
• Functionalism emerges when society is unbalanced.
• Feminism emphasizes social movements for women's rights and fights patriarchy.
• Social movements are shaped by meanings, symbols, and interactions.