Sociology Chapter 9 Quiz

Education and Its Functions

• Education is a formal process involving teaching and learning within society.
• Manifest functions are open, such as knowledge transmission and status bestowal.
• Latent functions include cultural transmission, social integration, maintaining control, and catalyzing change.
• Hidden curriculum teaches socially accepted behaviors subtly within educational settings.

Theoretical Perspectives on Education

• Functionalist Theory views education as essential for social stability, addressing both manifest and latent functions.
• Conflict Theory highlights that education can perpetuate inequality, restricting access to opportunities for disadvantaged children.

Significant Education Cases

• Brown v. Board of Education was a landmark case that desegregated schools, increasing the attendance of Black students in predominantly white institutions.

Educational Practices and Effects

• Credentialism refers to increasing educational requirements for entering various fields.
• Tracking involves placing students in specific educational paths based on performance indicators like test scores.
• Teacher-expectancy effect suggests that a teacher’s expectations can influence a student’s academic performance.

Max Weber's Bureaucracy in Education

• Division of labor is evident in specialized roles, such as educators for students with disabilities.
• Hierarchy of authority in schools means that every employee has supervisors, like teachers reporting to principals.
• Bureaucratic regulations can detract from teaching effectiveness when time is spent on administrative tasks.
• Impersonality in larger classes limits personalized teacher-student interaction.
• Employment in education is based on technical qualifications and competence through formal hiring processes.

Political Concepts

• Politics centers on authority and power struggles within society.
• Force refers to coercive measures employed to impose will, while influence relies on persuasion.
• Authority is the recognized power institutionalized within a society.

Theories of Power Structure

• C. Wright Mills identified a 'Power Elite' comprising corporate leaders, government executives, and military heads.
• Pluralist Elite Model posits that power is more broadly shared than elite models suggest.

Economic Systems

• Capitalism is characterized by private ownership of production means, driven by profit.
• Laissez-faire denotes minimal government intervention in business.
• Socialism implies collective ownership of production, prioritizing public needs over profit.
• Communism involves communal property ownership, abolishing social distinctions based on production capability.

William Domhoff's Power Analysis

• Domhoff's model outlines a power elite extended to the white, upper-class demographic, encompassing social upper class, corporate networks, and policy organizations.

Economic Changes

• Downsizing refers to workforce reductions during deindustrialization.
• Deindustrialization indicates withdrawal of investments in production infrastructures.
• Postindustrialization describes a shift to service-oriented economies reliant on information.

Karl Marx's Class Structure

• Power Elite at the top includes corporate, governmental, and military leaders.
• Local opinion leaders play a pivotal role in shaping decisions under elite influences.
• At the bottom, unorganized exploited masses represent the broader working class.

Authority Types According to Weber

• Traditional authority stems from customs and accepted practices.
• Rational-Legal authority is rooted in laws and formal regulations.
• Charismatic authority arises from a leader's exceptional personal appeal to followers.

Microfinancing Concepts

• Microfinancing provides small loans to impoverished individuals, enabling them to escape poverty and access resources typically unavailable through traditional banking.