Introduction to Sociology HSP3U/C0 Fall 2022 PDF

INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY HSP3U/C0 | Fall 2022| PCSS But first, a story… There is an ancient Hindu tale about three blind men who encounter an elephant. Each touches a different part of the elephant, but each is stubborn and claims that he alone has grasped the true nature of the beast. One grabs the elephant by the leg and describes it as firm, strong, and upright, like a pillar. To this, the blind man who touched the ear of the elephant objects. From his perspective, the animal is broad and rough, like a rug. The third man has become familiar with the trunk. He is astounded at the gross inaccuracy of the others. Clearly, the elephant is long and narrow, he declares, like a hollow pipe. Each of this trio came to know the elephant from a different perspective. Each was bound by his own point of view. Each was blind to the beliefs of his fellows and to the real nature of the beast—not just because of physical limitations, but also because his initial encounter led him to think of the elephant in only a certain way. TOPICS IN THIS LECTURE 1. What is Sociology? 2. The Roots of Sociology 3. What do Sociologists Do? 4. What do Sociologists Study? 5. The Branches of Sociology 6. Structural Functionalism 7. Conﬂict Theory 8. Feminist Sociology 9. Symbolic Interactionism 10. The Scientiﬁc Method and Research Methods WHAT IS SOCIOLOGY? Sociology: The study of social behaviour and human groups, including societies Sociologists attempt to answer questions about why certain social behaviours exist and how different societies function. They investigate how groups and societies shape who you are; the relationships that exist between people, and the social structures they develop. Sociologists also compare and contrast human interactions and behaviours between different societies. Society: A large group of people who live in the same area and who share a distinctive culture and institutions. THE ROOTS OF SOCIOLOGY Ibn Khaldun (1332 - 1406) - Considered the forefather of Sociology - Recorded information about the political events and social problems of the Muslim world in the 1300s; his methods and observations - E.G. The cyclical theory states “Blindly following ancient that sovereign powers are like customs and traditions does living organisms that exist in a not mean that the dead are alive, but that they living are cycle; they are born, rise, and fall. dead” THE ROOTS OF SOCIOLOGY Auguste Comte (1798 - 1857) - First to use the term Sociology - Believed that society was constantly changing and that people/groups struggled to adapt to the changes (which were ultimately positive) - Societies tend towards equilibrium; when one institution declines, another ﬁlls the void - Inﬂuenced theorists such as: Marx - Positivism: Strict application of “Positivism is a theory of scientiﬁc method to obtain concrete, knowledge according to which the only sound knowledge available to measurable and testable data to human kind is that of science understand society grounded in observation” WHAT DO SOCIOLOGISTS DO? - Observe and conduct research into social issues and behaviours to explain how and why a society functions as it does - Compare and contrast societies to explain trends and behaviours - Examines Cultural Expressions, which are shared symbols and learned behaviours (values, norms, roles) - Often involves other disciplines, including: History, Political Science, Economics, etc. - Importance of objectivity and universality WHAT IS STUDIED? Medicine - Gerontology Organizations – Religion, politics Globalization - Economy Social Stratiﬁcation – Social classes, gender roles Social Identities – Ethnicity, sexuality Social Institutions – Total Institutions Social Movements & Behaviour – Criminal Behaviour Family Structure BRANCHES OF SOCIOLOGY In Sociology, different schools of thought provide different ways of observing, studying, and understanding society. These schools of thought are the foundation of Sociology and have helped sociologists understand society and further develop the discipline. STRUCTURAL FUNCTIONALISM A school of thought that states that society is stable (equilibrium) when connected and interdependent social institutions work together to meet the needs of its citizens. The different parts of each society serve a purpose for society as a whole (sort of like the human body!) When all parts work efﬁciently, each individual member is protected! Examples of Social Structures: - Family, religion, politics, schools, healthcare systems, the media, sports and recreation, the law/justice system, etc. - Manifest Functions and Latent Functions ÉMILE DURKHEIM (1853-1917) Considered by many to be the ﬁrst Sociologist Foundation of the Structural Functionalism School of Thought Social Facts: Cultural norms, values, or expectations that exist beyond each individual and inﬂuence their thoughts and behaviours Humans as Social Creatures Functional Differentiation: The idea that society is always changing and the divisions are created to deal with growing diversity allow groups to work together productively and peacefully. These divisions operate independently but are connected to each other DURKHEIM on DEVIANCE Deviance: any behavior that violates social norms, and is usually of sufficient severity to warrant disapproval from the majority of society For Durkheim, deviance is an important social structure - it has a FUNCTION just like the other structures Deviance: Affirms society’s norms by reminding us of our values Teaches right from wrong and establishes moral boundaries Unites people in a shared response to deviant behaviour Encourages social change Always exists in a functional society DURKHEIM - ANOMIE Norms: Informal rules that govern behaviour in groups and societies Anomie occurs when the common norms and values of a society change, disappear, and disintegrate (normlessness) Anomie causes people to feel like they don’t belong and they can feel alienated from society Durkheim’s Two Major Causes of Anomie: Industrialization in the 18th and 19th centuries Rapid Social Change SUICIDE BY DURKHEIM - Famous book by Durkheim that attempted to address the question: Why do people take their own lives? - Systematic and scientiﬁc study that compared social facts about suicide between different groups - Concluded that the causes of suicide are often societally rooted (E.G. Industrial Revolution) - Pioneered the method of statistical analysis - Showed that sociology can be used to study and explain devastating or controversial social issues CRITICISMS OF DURKHEIM - Emphasis on the institution rather than the individual, who is acknowledged but nothing they do seems to affect the society - Lack of attention to social change and conﬂict due to emphasis on the idea of equilibrium “Man is moral only because he lives in society. Let all social life disappear and morality will disappear with it.” TALCOTT PARSONS (1902-1979) American Structural Functionalist Examined social behaviour as a single or mass entity Social phenomena and relationships explained through their social functions; all individuals and groups could be defined by their purpose Recognized self-interest but believed people acted according to their values and had a strong desire to cooperate based on shared values, which creates stability Believed in Social Evolution and Social Darwinism; highly controversial since suggestion is that negative aspects of society, including discrimination, share a purpose CONFLICT THEORY - Studies the constant struggle and competition between those who have economic and political power and those who don’t - Institutions serve select subsections of the society while oppressing others - Generally focused on economic conﬂicts between the rich and poor but can also be applied to gender and race - THESIS + ANTITHESIS = SYNTHESIS KARL MARX (1818 - 1883) - German philosopher and author of the Communist Manifesto - Focus on the role of the economy and class conﬂict in social evolution and understanding social issues; Disruption and revolution is how societies evolve from one system to the next - Capitalist societies based on a system of property ownership and labour exploitation that create competition for power/wealth - Wealthy made it impossible for poor to achieve economic equality and the only Not Santa recourse for the poor was revolt M. N. SRINIVAS (1916-1999) Indian Sociologist and Social Anthropologist Famous for his work studying the Indian caste system, Westernization of Southern India, and Sanskritisation Challenged Western biases by looking at social change as a result of conﬂict in India Sanskritization: People of low caste groups try to acquire values, ideologies, and rituals of higher (dominant) caste groups Westernization: Culture of the West borrowed by Indians to increase social status Secularization: All religions in India treated as neutral and equal Looked at interplay of these processes Emphasis on ﬁeldwork (participant observation) at a time when historical methodology (book work) was prominent FEMINIST SOCIOLOGY Examines symbols, values, and norms to determine how our society and culture are built upon gender inequality & how men control women’s lives Economically Access to jobs Paying men > women Control of Household Finances Bodies Reproductive Choices Conclusions Patriarchal Society based on male authority and constructed to favour men For men, class determined economically; for women, class determined through sexual connection to men (Lerner) DOROTHY SMITH (1926 - 2022) Canadian Sociologist Argues that women have always been marginalized in society Culture is socially constructed and has been built to favour men. Thus, it does not operate in women’s interests The Everyday World as Problematic: A Feminist Sociology (1987) Women are “alienated from their experience” Deprived of an authority to speak because of the ideas imposed on women in a society constructed on concepts that favour men Worked towards constructing a Sociology that reflected the realities and experiences of all people, regardless of demographic factors IMPORTANCE OF INTERSECTIONALITY Feminist Sociology began by studying issues relevant to upper-class white women Chandra Talpade Mohanty (1955 - ) “Under Western Eyes: Feminist Scholarship and Colonial Discourses” (1986) Feminism Without Borders: Decolonizing Theory, Practicing Solidarity (2003) Ethnocentric Western Feminism portrays women from different cultures and different countries as having one identity, implying that they suffer from oppression in the same way Negates the way other demographic factors complicate the oppression of women (geography, history, culture) SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONISM A school of thought that emphasizes the individual as being at the centre of understanding society since social values and roles are formed by individual interpretation Contrasts to Structural Functionalism and Conﬂict Theory - Focuses on the individual, not the social systems - Looks at how an individual’s interpretations of social situations and behavioural negotiations with others give meaning to social interactions Importance of Symbols - All that is humanly consequential (self, mind, society, culture) comes from and is dependent on symbolic interactions for existence - Symbols are culturally derived social objects that have meanings created and maintained by social interaction (language and communication) COMPONENTS OF INTERACTION Human interaction is mediated by the use of symbols, and our relationships are developed by attempting to interpret these symbols. Meaning: People place their interpretation of symbols based on the meaning they have for the person with whom they are interacting Language: Gives people a medium to negotiate meaning through symbols Thought: People internally modify meaning (a mental interpretation of language) THREE ASSUMPTIONS 1. Communication occurs through the creation of signiﬁcant symbols. 2. The self is constructed through communication 3. Social activity becomes possible through role-taking MAX WEBER (1864 - 1920) - German Sociologist - Rationalization: Social actions are motivated by efﬁciency and beneﬁt, not morality, custom, or emotion - Society should be built around logic and efﬁciency rather than morality/tradition - People could be liberated from Capitalism through bureaucracy, not revolution - Bureaucracy: A large administration that pursues a wide variety of goals - Social Inequality meant unequal access to society’s resources; thus, government bureaucracies could lessen societal tensions or eliminate inequality by managing these resources fairly (social services, education). RESEARCH METHODS Experiments: Controlled scientiﬁc procedures designed to test a hypothesis by isolating and measuring the effect of one or more independent variables on a dependent variable. Laboratory Experiment The infamous Milgram Experiment Field Experiment studied the effects of authority on obedience Independent and Dependent Variables Independent Variable (IV) - Variable that is varied or manipulated by the researcher Dependent Variable (DV) - The response that is measured Thus, an independent variable is the presumed cause, whereas the dependent variable is the presumed effect. The IV is the antecedent, whereas the DV is the consequent. DVs & IVs IN EXPERIMENTS… The IV is controlled and manipulated by the experimenter The DV is not manipulated; it is observed or measured for variation as a presumed result of the variation in the IV IDENTIFY THE IV AND THE DV The following is a hypothesis for a study. "There will be a statistically signiﬁcant difference in graduation rates of at-risk high-school seniors who participate in an intensive study program as opposed to at-risk high-school seniors who do not participate in the intensive study program." (LaFountain & Bartos, 2002, p. 57) What is the Independent Variable? What is the Dependent Variable? IDENTIFY THE IV AND THE DV Try another example… A director of school is concerned about the large numbers of teachers who are quitting. Many have left after working for 1 year. The director wants to identify the factors that predict who will stay and who will quit (deﬁned as continuing in the position a minimum of 2 years). The director decides to assess knowledge of the subject, attitude toward school policies, and ability to handle conﬂicts with others as predictors for commitment to the position." *(LaFountain & Bartos, 2002, p. 8) What is the Independent Variable? What is the Dependent Variable? THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD AND SOCIOLOGY RESEARCH METHODS Case Studies: - Individual cases are studied and recorded to be used for comparison when similar cases/situations are found. - They are favoured when researching deviant behaviour. QUESTIONNAIRES Can be self-administered or administered by researchers No guarantee that you may ﬁnd willing subjects, or that honest answers will be given Limit the subject pool to those who can read and write to ensure understanding of the questions. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS Gathered numerical data for the purpose of analyzing what is happening in society on a particular issue. SOCIALIZATION HSP3U/C0 | Fall 2022 What is Socialization? i Socialization is the process of learning how to behave in a society. This involves learning which morals, values, and beliefs to adopt or which skills are necessary for our survival. For example: - Basic skills (hygiene, cooking, cleaning) - Socially acceptable goals (employment, travel, marriage/family) - Social roles, norms, and behaviours (how to act in different places) Socialization is necessary for the continuation of society. It ensures smooth consistency as we progress through time. Functions of Socialization i The Manifest Function This is the most apparent and intended function of institutions in society. For example, the manifest function of schools is teaching academic skills needed to be successful in society. Functions of Socialization i The Latent Function These are the less apparent, unintended, and often unrecognized functions in social institutions and processes. For example, schools also teach students how to cooperate with strangers, even if you don’t like them! Schools also teach… Four Main Categories of Socialization i Primary Socialization - Basic skills needed to survive (hygiene, eating, language, dress) Secondary Socialization - How to act appropriately in different group contexts (school, party, funeral) Anticipatory Socialization - How to plan ahead for new social situations Resocialization - How to transform old, sometimes negative behaviour into new, socially acceptable behaviour Agents of Socialization i Family - Language Acquisition - Relationships - Rules School - Initial Social - Grammar Interactions - Morals Peers - Rules - Role Models - Activities - Behaviour - Social Setting - Trends - Values Social Religion Groups AGENTS OF - Values - Social - Love for Others Interaction SOCIALIZATION - Meaning of Life - Rules governing - Guidelines on activities how to Live Ethnic Government Work Media - Laws Background - Employment - Sense of - Stereotypes - Beliefs - Money Security - Trends - Values - Rules - Sanctions for - Behaviour - Customs - Roles Punishment Primary Socialization i The basic skills that you need to be able to survive in society. Example: - Language and Communication - Techniques for looking after ourselves (Cooking, hygiene, cleaning) - Prosocial Interpersonal Skills - Gender Roles Family are usually the primary agent of socialization since they’re the first group of people you spend time with. They establish your “norms” -- ideas of what is normal behaviour These understandings may change as one grows up Secondary Socialization i The process of learning how to behave in (different) group situations. Example: - Language and Communication - Prosocial Interpersonal Skills - Gender Roles Secondary agents of socialization usually begin to have an influence once a child enters school and the influence of school life and peers becomes increasingly more important as the child grows up, as does an increased exposure to media. Secondary Socialization Agents i Peer Groups - A social group whose members are all of similar age - Peer groups become more influential agents of socialization as we get older - Exposure to people from different social and ethnic backgrounds - Beliefs and values of peer groups often influenced by the media - If we do not conform to the norms of our peer group, we are punished by being excluded Peer Groups teach us: communication skills, collaboration, and compromise; gender roles and sexual relationships Secondary Socialization Agents i The Media - We are exposed to & influenced by media early in life - It impacts our expectations from life, our values, how we see ourselves, etc. - Warped or unrealistic beliefs/expectations - May contrast with beliefs and values taught by our families - Time spent engaging with the media is time not spent in direct contact with others, which can have negative effects What is being taught by these two examples of Media? Secondary Socialization Agents i Religion - Communicates beliefs about morals, hierarchies, gender roles, and appropriate sexual conduct, responsibility to the less fortunate etc. - Affects society’s laws (capital punishment; abortion) - Often reinforces family’s primary socialization - E.G. What responsibilities do I have? What should my life goals be? Secondary Socialization Agents i Workplace - As adults, the workplace replaces school as an agent of socialization, often reinforcing the same beliefs/norms - Specialized Language (E.G. Jargon) - Emphasizes procedures, rules, and codes of conduct - Learning to deal with colleagues, customers, stress, and competition Anticipatory Socialization i Anticipatory Socialization involves adjusting one’s attitudes, behaviour, and values, etc., when one expects to join a new group, enter a new stage of life, or enter a new situation. It involves seeing ahead and preparing for those events. E.G. Wearing a suit, instead of board shorts, to a new job. Resocialization i Replacing previously learned behaviours, attitudes, beliefs, etc., with new ones! This is necessary in some circumstances after being in a total institution, such as: - Prison - Army - Cult What are Total Institutions? i Total Institutions attempt to wipe prior socialization and replace them with a new set of rules, beliefs, norms, etc. E.G. Cults, the military, prisons Boot Camps for Young Offenders - Identical Clothing and Haircuts - Daily Activities Monitored - Choice and Free Will limited (Food, sleeping arrangements, daily activities) - Formal rules about all aspects of daily routine Children who are not Socialized Language Deﬁcits Attachment Issues Social Deﬁcits - Children do not develop Children who are not Sociologists have language unless they are socialized are often concluded that children socialized unable to form need to learn social skills - They might develop the meaningful relationships at a young age and ability to use single words with others unsocialized children but will lack grammar and often do not display sentence structure prosocial behaviour Feral Children & Social Isolates i Human child who has lived away from human contact from a very young age Little or no experience of human care, loving or social behaviour or human language Often confined by humans (usually parents), brought up by animals, or live in the wild in isolation Feral Child - Raised by animals. Often fearful of humans and adopt behaviours of animals that raised them (E.G. John Ssebunya (1985 - ) Feral Children & Social Isolates i Socially isolated children are victims of neglect, abuse, and are raised with minimal human contact E.G. Genie Wiley (1957 - ) - Raised in a locked room, strapped to a potty chair or bound in a sleeping bag and left in a crib - Hit with a stick if she ever spoke - Genie developed a limited vocabulary; her father barked and growled to keep her quiet and forbade his other children and wife from speaking - Treatment showed some improvement (ASL, drawing) before she sustained more abuse and regressed Focus Questions i 1. Having viewed the PowerPoint, what have you learned about the importance of socialization at an early age? 2. How does socialization at school prepare you for life post-secondary? 3. How do total institutions work as agents of socialization? Why is re-socialization sometimes necessary after an experience in a total institution? 4. What happened when people tried to re-socialize the feral children and social isolates back into society? THE POWER & INFLUENCE OF GROUPS HSP3U/C0 | Winter 2024| PCSS GROUPS All groups have unique expectations for behaviour that inﬂuence their members through roles, norms, and sanctions. These can be formal or informal. A sanction is a formal or informal penalty or reward that tries to ensure conformity. Most groups develop roles, norms, and sanctions that reﬂect those of society and although norms vary across groups, they all attempt to keep order. COLLECTIVE BEHAVIOUR Behaviour by a large group that does not reﬂect existing rules, institutions, norms, and structures of society. The group engages in this behaviour to accomplish a speciﬁc goal or outcome. It is usually spontaneous (response to crisis or disaster) and occurs in situations where established norms are unclear (E.G. Panic) Different sociologists have different theories to explain collective behaviour SUBJECTIVE VALIDITY People believe their attitudes are right and proper. Therefore, people seek out others who share their attitudes / views and this, in turn, reinforces our subjective validity. If we did not have subjective validity many people would live very uncertain lives. WHAT IS CONFORMITY? Conformity is a change in an individual’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviour as a result of real or imagined group or authority pressure. People conform because… Most people feel a desire to ‘ﬁt in’ or be liked. Groups put pressure on individuals to ﬁt in with the group. Group pressure may take the form of the following: bullying, persuasion, teasing, criticism, etc. Can you think of a time when you felt pressure to conform? Is conformity a negative or a positive thing? ROOTS OF CONFORMITY Informational inﬂuence – is the human desire to accept information that another admired person tells us is valid Normative inﬂuence – is the pressure to conform to the to the positive expectations of others (when we conform to avoid being rejected and to make other people like us) TWO TYPES OF CONFORMITY Acceptance: Acting and believing according to social pressure to avoid being left out. Compliance: Publicly acting in accord with social pressure while privately disagreeing HOW DO YOU GET PEOPLE TO COMPLY? 1. Foot-in-the-door: getting a person to agree to a large request by ﬁrst setting them up by having that person agree to a smaller request 2. Door-in-the-face: making an extremely large request that the person will obviously turn down so that they are more likely to agree to a second more reasonable request. 3. Ingratiation: An attempt to get someone else to like you in order to get them to agree to a request. What is the difference between compliance and conformity? What about obedience? Can you be compliant without conforming? Do societies require compliance? Conformity? Obedience? BREACHING EXPERIMENTS The Elevator Experiment, from “Candid Camera” (1962) - H. Garﬁnkel studied the consequences of not conforming with the Breaching Experiments - Social norms were intentionally violated and the reactions of onlookers were observed, recorded, and studied - Walking backward up an escalator - Standing and eating in a public restaurant - Society resists breaches in social order through sanctions, including: confusion, anxiety, anger, or laughter What are some norms on the subway? SUBWAY EXPERIMENTS - Stanley Milgram studied the power of social norms on the subway in New York City in the 1970s - Researchers boarded the subway in pairs - One able-bodied man asked passengers to give up their seats while the other observed - “Excuse me, may I have your seat?” → 68% of subway riders gave up their seat - “Excuse me, may I have your seat? I can’t read my book standing up” → 38% - Researcher, himself, felt intense shame taking the seats of the passengers because of the power of social norms! CONFORMITY EXPERIMENTS - The Asch Conformity Experiment (1951) OBEDIENCE - Obedience is the act or habit of doing what one is told or submitting to authority - Different than compliance and conformity since obedience is about power rather than peer inﬂuence HOFLING & OBEDIENCE (1966) - Charles Hoﬂing studied obedience in Medicine and looked at whether nurses would follow the orders of doctors they had never met - 22 night nurses on duty - “Dr. Smith” phoned them and asked them to administer 20mg of a fake drug called Astroten to a fake patient called Mr. Jones (even though maximum recommended dosage was 10mg!) - If and when the nurses reported the error to Dr. Smith, he acted as if he was in a hurry, assured them it would be ﬁne and to ignore the label, and told them he would sign the authorization form Guess how many of the 22 nurses broke the rules? HOFLING & OBEDIENCE (1966) A whooping 21 out of 22 nurses administered the drug! Conclusion: People question authority ﬁgures reluctantly, and would rather be wrong than disobey orders Reﬂection and Discussion Questions How and why is this dangerous in the medical profession? Can you think of any ethical concerns with this experiment? ANOTHER MILGRAM EXPERIMENT - Obedience experiment conducted by Yale psychologist Stanley Milgram in 1963 Design of the Study: - Experimenter (Actor) → Supervising the experiment, giving orders to the teacher. - Teacher (Subject) → Asks the learner questions and administers a shock which increases in intensity if the learner is wrong. - Learner (Actor) → In a separate room, hooked up to a device that can shock them ANOTHER MILGRAM EXPERIMENT Results: - At some point, every participant questioned the experiment. - Most continued after being assured that they would not be held responsible - 65 percent (26 of 40) of experiment participants administered 450-volt shock Implications: - Willingness of adults to go to almost any lengths on the command of an authority “Ordinary people, simply doing their jobs, and without any particular hostility on their part, can become agents in a terrible destructive process. Moreover, even when the destructive effects of their work become patently clear, and they are asked to carry out actions incompatible with fundamental standards of morality, relatively few people have the resources needed to resist authority.” WHAT CAUSES PEOPLE TO OBEY AUTHORITY? 1. THE EMOTIONAL DISTANCE OF THE VICTIM o This means that the farther apart a person is from their victims, the less empathy they will have for them. o If two groups exist separately in a society, it is harder for the dominant group to understand the suffering of the less dominant group. o The dominant people are more likely to obey the authority that orders them to harm the less dominant group if they don’t regularly interact with them. o Think about the Holocaust, the residential school system in Canada, or apartheid in South Africa Click the picture to the left to learn about residential schools in Canada 2. THE CLOSENESS AND LEGITIMACY OF THE AUTHORITY If an authority ﬁgure is physically close to the person who they are controlling AND the person feel that the authority ﬁgure has real power over them, then the person is more likely to conform to what the authority ﬁgure tells them to do. 3. INSTITUTIONAL AUTHORITY If an authority ﬁgure is supported by an institution, such as the government or a religious institution, then people are more likely to obey that authority ﬁgure. 4. GROUP SIZE AND UNANIMITY The more people in a group agree with each other, the more pressure there is for individuals to conform. Cohesion is also important - we are more susceptible to a minority opinion that comes from within our own group than an outside group DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 1. What is conformity? Use your own words and also give an example of conformity. 2. Why do people conform (use your own words)? 3. Why did some people give the wrong answer in the Ash experiment? 4. What did the brown-eyed, blue- eyed experiment reveal about conformity and prejudice and discrimination? PREJUDICE, DISCRIMINATION, AND PRIVILEGE WHAT IS “PREJUDICE”? ▪“Prejudice is an attitude, almost always negative, about a whole group of people.” ▪Prejudice is exactly that – a pre-judgment based on stereotypes that we create with incomplete or inaccurate facts. WHAT IS “DISCRIMINATION”? ▪Discrimination is what people do because of stereotypes and prejudices. ▪It is the action taken against others and it humiliates, belittles, or disadvantages victims. WHAT ARE “STEREOTYPES”? ▪“Stereotypes are generalizations used to deﬁne a group of people based only on the words or deeds of one member of the group.” Society grants privileges to some people because of certain aspects of their identity which give them advantages over others. PRIVILEGE Aspects of a person’s identity can include race, social class, wealth, gender, sexual orientation, language, ability, and religion, etc. IN CANADA, THIS MIGHT INCLUDE: ▪ English as a First Language ▪ White privilege ▪ Male/Gender privilege ▪ Socio-economic privilege ▪ Christian privilege ▪ Heterosexual privilege ▪ CIS gender privilege (not identifying as transgender or non-binary) ▪ Able-bodied ▪ Neurotypical Social Privilege is like an “invisible knapsack” of resources that allow members of an identity group access to certain spaces, opportunities and rights. For example, Jewish people were not allowed to own cottages in the resort town of Grand Bend, Ontario, during the 1950s. This resulted in the Christian citizens being able to enjoy the space and build equity. PRIVILEGE IS THE OTHER SIDE OF THE COIN FROM DISCRIMINATION When someone experiences But if the privileged person some form of social doesn’t experience or witness disadvantage, another person the other person’s then receives a corresponding disadvantage, then they privilege, even if they don’t might not be aware of their know that they have this own privilege. They might privilege. (See the Grand deny the very existence of Bend example on previous their privilege. slide) INTERSECTIONALITY -This is where privileges or disadvantages overlap or intersect. E.g. A white male has two privileged identities compared to someone who is indigenous and female. She experiences a double disadvantage. -Intersections can change based on education, income, and location, etc. For example, an indigenous woman who is wealthy may have a privileged position over a poor white woman. In other words, there are social factors that can intersect and change the power/privilege dynamics TED TALK ON PRIVILEGE Key Ideas: Privilege, identity bias, unconscious bias, intersectionality, levelling the playing ﬁeld, real diversity leads to business proﬁtability QUESTIONS 1. What is the difference between prejudice and discrimination? 2. Why is privilege the “ﬂip side” of discrimination? 3. Why do some people deny their privilege? 4. What kinds of disadvantages AND privileges does the TED speaker experience in her life? How can she be both privileged and disadvantaged at the same time? 5. Why do some people see efforts to help disadvantaged people as “unfair”? Sociology of Racism in Canada HSP3U/C0 | Winter 2024| PCSS The best general term for anyone who is not “white” is to say “racialized” person. This term acknowledges that Language people have been ASSIGNED racial identities that didn’t exist Matters prior to the age of European imperialism. Terms such as “visible minority” - are quickly becoming out of date. The “minority” is becoming the “majority” in the GTA ‘Race’ is a term used to describe a group with a common descent as seen in speciﬁc superﬁcial physical qualities. There is no “gene” for race. Generally, it is widely accepted that race is a social construct; Anthropologists and other What is academics refer to “ethnicity” Race? While race is not “real,” racism certainly is! This is because people act as if race were a biological fact rather than a socio-cultural power dynamic. What is “Racism”? According to the Oxford Dictionary: “Racism is the belief that all members of each race have characteristics or abilities to that race, especially to distinguish it as inferior or superior to another race or races” Racism = prejudice + power “Reverse Racism?” Nope. Racism = prejudice + power All discrimination is terrible, but racism and sexism, etc. are by deﬁnition about social power. People who experience individual discrimination from dominant groups never face the same economic, social, and political barriers as those from these other social groups. This is why reverse-racism is a false concept. 1. INSTITUTIONAL 2. INDIVIDUAL (SYSTEMIC) RACISM RACISM Racism can be divided into two main categories: Institutional (Systemic) Racism This is the process by which oppression is imposed on less powerful racial groups by more powerful racial groups through laws or policies. E.g. Education, housing, banking, the legal system, and health care, etc. How would a structural functionalist, conﬂict theorist and symbolic interactionist view this graph? Institutions are where patterns of racial discrimination are established and perpetuated. Institutional racism is based on a “racial hierarchy” of power. Institutional/Systemic Racism Example Inequitable Hiring Practices E.g. Denying a customer service job to a person with an accent based on the assumption customers will not want to interact with them. This refers to a person’s racist assumptions, beliefs or behaviours. These can stem from both conscious and unconscious prejudices. Individual Racism These attitudes are learned – from family, friends, the media, school, etc. Ignoring, silencing, or insulting racialized individuals Offensive jokes, grafﬁti, emails, Examples texts and posters that target racialized people of Avoiding contact with members Individual of a racialized group Racism: Insults, name-calling, verbal abuse and threats Microaggressions White Privilege A set of advantages and/or immunities that white people beneﬁt from in North America that racialized people do not generally have. White Privilege can exist without white people's conscious knowledge of its presence and this lack of awareness helps to maintain the racial hierarchy. White “I think [white people] are carefully taught not to privilege recognize white privilege, as males are taught not to recognize male privilege... White privilege is like an invisible weightless knapsack of special provisions, maps, passports, codebooks, visas, clothes, tools and blank checks.” White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack By Peggy McIntosh Exploring white privilege and “white talk” Race And Privilege: A Social Experiment Have you ever heard someone say… “I’m colour blind--I don’t see ‘race’!” What is your reaction to this statement? Racism affects how racialized people are treated by others… The Clark Doll And it can also affect Experiment how racialized people view themselves… Shadeism or colorism is a type of discrimination What is against an individual based on their darker skin tone. Shadeism? This can happen within cultures, communities and families. 1. What evidence is there that shadeism is the norm in many racialized communities? 2. What kinds of privileges do lighter skinned people enjoy Questions in certain racialized communities? 3. What is the connection between shadeism and internalized racism? 4. How aware of shadeism were you before you watched the documentary? Explain. The Little Mermaid - On September 9th, 2022, Disney announced the May release of the live action version of their 1980s animated classic The Little Mermaid - Disney cast Halle Bailey, a 22 year old Black American actress, in the role of Ariel, the ﬁlm’s protagonist - This immediately triggered racist reactions from all over the internet - It also resulted in an eruption of joy from the Black community How and why is representation in the important for racialized communities? Gender: A Social Construction HSP3U/C0 | PCSS| Spring 2023 The first step towards ending discrimination is to abandon our binary view of sex and gender. What is the difference between sex and gender? Sex vs. Gender - Sex: Is BORN. The different biological and physiological characteristics of males and females, such as reproductive organs, chromosomes, hormones, etc. (WHO, 2021) - Gender: IS ASSIGNED. The socially constructed characteristics of women and men – such as norms, roles and relationships of and between groups of women and men. It varies from society to society and can be changed (WHO, 2021) Sex vs. Gender - Humans have been categorized as either male or female - 1/1500 babies are born with external genitalia that cannot easily be classified as solely male or female. The term for this is intersex. So there has never been just 2 biological sexes! Gender as a Social Construct - Like race, gender is a social construct and a reflection of cultural beliefs - They vary and change over time and from place to place - Gender socialization is the process by which gender roles are learned. - Begins with family and continues with other agents of socialization (school, media) - It influences and limits both genders Test your knowledge! Just like when talking about race, using the correct terminology when discussing sexual orientation and gender identity is important. Gender and Sexual Diversity Terminology Heterosexual Privilege Intersex Gender Binary Asexual Queer Heterosexism Gender Fluid Gender Identity Two-Spirited LGBTIQA Gay Sexual Minority Sexual Orientation Transgender Heterosexuality Gender Gender Role Cis Gender Check your Answers! How did you do? 1. Asexual 10. Intersex 2. Gay 11. LGBTIQA 3. Gender 12. Queer 4. Gender Binary 13. Sexual Minority 5. Gender Identity 14. Sexual Orientation 6. Gender Role 15. Transgender 7. Heterosexuality 16. Cis Gender 8. Heterosexism 17. Two-Spirited 9. Heterosexual Privilege 18. Gender Fluid Here’s a breakdown. Sex: The Reproductive Aspect of our Anatomy Traditionally humans have been categorized as either male or female. E.g. When you were born, the doctor looked at you and decided if you were male or female But it has been estimated the 1/1500 babies are born with external genitalia that cannot easily be classified as solely male or female. The term for this is intersex. So there has never been just 2 biological sexes Cultural Assumptions The Biological about Sex Reality of Sex What are some of the Causes of Being Born Intersex? Incomplete or unusual Inconsistency between the Abnormalities of the sex development of the internal external genitals and the chromosomes (E.g. XXY, XYY, X) reproductive organs internal reproductive organs Inability of the body to respond normally to sex Abnormal development of Over- or underproduction of related hormones (E.g. A baby the testes or ovaries sex-related hormones born XY who is resistant to testosterone, so does not develop male characteristics) Gender Roles Many people feel these categories are too narrow and challenge Gender roles are assigned to people society’s traditionally restrictive based on their sex at birth - ideas about gender roles. E.g. a girl man/woman, masculine/feminine who likes traditionally masculine activities such as hockey, but still feels like she is a girl. Gender and Social Learning Theory - Children’s gender-specific behaviour is learned by their observation and then imitation of behaviours modelled by others around them and the feedback they receive from agents of socialization (family, school, peers) Think back to being a kid! Can you think of a time that your gender-specific behaviour was positively or negatively reinforced by a primary or secondary agent of socialization? Gender Schemas - The idea that children view themselves through a gender lens based on their cultural learning of what it means to be male or female - They develop schemas surrounding how each gender should act and think through language, dress, toys, and social learning and then compare themselves to these schemas and modify their behaviour as necessary Gender Identity The scientific evidence indicates that Some feel as though they do not one’s sense of one’s own gender identify with the sex/gender that originates in certain brain structures. they were assigned at birth. This is This is why young children can known as being transgender. identify as transgender – these brain structures develop long before birth. Being transgender is just another This is also why external forces do human variation, like being intersex, not effect one’s gender identity – it having a certain eye colour, or being is innate. left-handed. Identifying as Cis Gender is an example of privilege. LGBTQ2S+ - Brain Structure Differences “Our findings suggest that the neuroanatomical signature of transgenderism is related to brain areas processing the perception of self and body ownership” https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-17352-8 Indigenous North American Culture Before Christianization altered their culture, over 100 American indigenous groups accepted “two spirited” people who were identified as belonging to a gender that is separate from male and female. Therefore, it was European colonization which led many cultures to reject their traditional beliefs and become intolerant of difference in their own communities. In many indigenous cultures, people who identified as transgender were viewed as: gifted visionaries healers medicine people the nannies of orphans care givers respected and fundamental components their societies sources of strength What is “patriarchy”? How are gender roles connected to the patriarchy? What is “male privilege”? Violence against Women - 1 in 16 women report their first sexual encounter to be a rape (National Public Radio, 2019) - Approximately every six days, a woman in Canada is killed by her intimate partner (Amelia Armstrong and Brianna Jaffray, Statistics Canada, 2021) - The proportion of women killed by a spouse or intimate partner is over eight times greater than the proportion of men (Statistics Canada, 2020). - Women are 5x more likely than men to experience sexual assault (Adam Cotter, Statistics Canada, 2021). - Women constitute 79% of those intimate partner violence reports to police Violence against Women Continued - 67% of people who experience family violence are women and girls. (Shana Conroy, Canadian Centre for Justice and Community Safety Statistics, 2021). - Approximately 4.7 million women, 30% of all women 15 years of age and older, report that they have experienced sexual assault at least once since the age of 15. This is compared to 8% men (Statistics Canada, 2019). - Indigenous women are killed at nearly 7x the rate of non-Indigenous women (Statistics Canada, 2018). - When racialized women report violence, their experiences are taken less seriously…and their perpetrators…receive less harsh punishments (Rakhi Ruparelia, in Elizabeth Sheehy, ed.,Sexual Assault in Canada: Law, Legal Practice and Women’s Activism, 2014). What about false accusations of rape against men? Source: BBC News, 18 September 2018 -“Over the past 20 years, only 2-10% of rape accusations” have been “proven to be fake, according to a 2010 US study -That figure does not include any unsubstantiated accusations where an investigation was unable to prove a sexual assault occurred, so an accurate figure for the total remains unknown. -Other studies have figures in the same range. The FBI has put the number of "unfounded" rapes - those determined to be false after investigation – at 8%.” This means that at least 90% of rape accusations are real Women in the Workplace - The pay gap exists in every province and in every major occupational group - The gap in annual earnings between men and women has barely budged over the past two decades, even as education levels among women have surpassed those of men. - In 2018, female employees aged 25 to 54 earned $4.13 (or 13.3%) less per hour, on average, than men ($0.87 for every dollar earned by men) (Statistics Canada, 2019) - Annually, women working full time in Canada earn 74.2 cents for every dollar that full-time men do - In 2015, 12% of board seats of TSX-listed companies were held by women and 29% of the companies had one female director, while ½ had no women on their boards at all. Of the 710 companies, only five reported having a board comprised of 50% (or more) women. - The bulk of child-care still falls to women — in 2010, women spent an average of 50.1 hours per week on child care versus 24.4 hours spent by men - Indigenous, other racialized women, and women with disabilities earn 67% of what men do Health and Gender - Women’s reproductive freedoms are often subject to legal scrutiny - Many sexual health procedures, such as IUDs or tubal ligation, are not covered by OHIP (while equivalent procedures for men, are) - 75% of medical research is performed on men, which leads to bad outcomes for women whose bodies sometimes react differently to medication! - 20% of women who arrive at the emergency room having a heart attack are likely to be misdiagnosed because their symptoms are different from men’s - When women report pain, their complaints are more likely to be dismissed as “exaggerated” What about men? How does the Patriarchy harm men? Men - Traditional stereotypes are difficult for many men to live up to. They feel pressure to be a ‘real man’, to be physically and emotionally strong, and be the main income earner. - Many workplaces don’t offer men extended parental leave or flexible hours. - Men are more likely to drink too much, take unhealthy risks and engage in violence. - They are less likely to seek professional help or talk about their problems with friends or family. - Men are more likely to commit suicide. - Men are often taught to sacrifice their own happiness or even their health or their bodies to protect others Men Men today actually have much less freedom than women to express their gender identity. Men are made fun of for being feminine more than women are made fun of for being masculine because of the lower status that women have been assigned in our culture. Activity Examples of Discrimination in the news today include… - R. v. Wade Overturned in the Supreme Court - “Don’t Say Gay” bill in Florida - Discrimination against Women and Gender Diverse in Ontario Housing - 14 young women murdered and 13 others injured at the École Polytechnique de Montréal on December 6th, 1989 But is discrimination always so overt…? With a partner, try to think of the sneaky forms of discrimination that exist in Canadian society today! I’ll go first with a 2021 study from the National Health Library of Medicine on the topic of razors! Homophobia and Transphobia - Even after controlling for other factors such as age, marital status, past history of homelessness, and childhood abuse, the odds of being a victim of violent victimization were two times higher among lesbian, gay or bisexual Canadians than among their heterosexual counterparts. - Compared with heterosexual Canadians, bisexual individuals were almost nine times more likely to be sexually assaulted (151E versus 17 incidents per 1,000 population) in the previous 12 months. - Police‑reported hate crimes targeting sexual orientation in 2017 rose 25% from the previous year, accounting for 13% of all hate crimes (Gaudet 2018). Most (82%) of the victims were male and almost half (43%) of all victims were under the age of 25. - 59% LGB+ people in Canada had been physically or sexually assaulted at least once since age 15, vs. 37% of heterosexual people (excluding intimate partner violence) - Transgender and non-binary people report more unwanted sexual behaviours than cisgender people. In public: 58% vs. 23%, at work 69% vs. 23%, and online harassment 42% vs. 16% - More likely to report having been diagnosed with a mood or anxiety disorder (61% vs. 17%) or to have seriously contemplated suicide in their lifetimes (45% vs. 16%) - More likely to report having used drugs or alcohol to cope with the violence that they experienced in their lifetimes (36% vs. 11%) Homophobia and Transphobia Sexual Orientation Sexual orientation describes who a person finds sexually attractive. There are many different sexual orientations, including, but not limited to: “other” (hetero) same (homo) both (bi) asexual (not experiencing sexual attraction) pansexual (attracted to all sexes and genders) Sexual Orientation Most lesbian, gay and bisexual people identify with their assigned sex at birth; they don't regard themselves as members of another sex. They simply are sexually and/or romantically attracted to people of the same sex. Some people are sexually attracted to one sex, but romantically attracted to another. Therefore, sexual orientation and gender identity are independent of each other. What Determines a Person’s Sexual Orientation? Study 1 -A Published Study in the Journal, Nature in 2017 determined that, “homosexuality seems to be associated with less cerebral sexual differentiation.” -Males and females have some brain structures that are different. The above study concluded that people who identify as homosexual, have brain structures that are IN SOME WAYS less binary (less typically male or female). What Determines a Person’s Sexual Orientation? Study 2 A 2017 Brock University study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences confirmed that sexual orientation is biological. The study looked at “Male Homosexuality and Maternal Immune Responsivity to the Y-Linked Protein NLGN4Y”. The study linked male homosexuality to changes in male fetuses caused by their mother’s immune system while she was pregnant. This confirmed previous studies which looked at how some women develop stronger and stronger immune reactions to male fetuses over multiple pregnancies. This increased the odds of each male of having a homosexual orientation if he had older brothers. This was only the case if their mother had this particular immune reaction. Not all women have this response to male babies. We also need to acknowledge that many pregnancies end in miscarriage, so a women may have carried multiple male babies before a successful full-term pregnancy. *What about lesbians? Still waiting for that science… What About Genetics? While there have been some indications that sexual orientation is genetic, no single gene has been found. It could mean that many genes are at play, or it might be that some women inherit genes that create a stronger immune response to male fetuses (as mentioned in the previous slide) and this immune response changes the brain structures of their sons in utero. What percentage of the Population Identiﬁes as LGBTQ2S+? Since human biology hasn’t significantly changed over the past 75 years, these statistics reveal cultural changes. As society has become more tolerant and educated, people have been able to understand and express themselves better. Young people are freer than previous generations to express the biological traits they were born with. Focus Questions 1. What is the difference between sex and gender? 2. Why aren’t sex and gender binary concepts? 3. How can traditional gender roles be restrictive? 4. What determines a person’s gender identity and sexual orientation according to recent research? Handsome and Majestic A Canadian Documentary Approx. 12 minutes 1. When did Milan first realize that he was a boy? How did he din an explanation for how he felt? 2. How did his mother and sister react? How did his father first react? 3. What issues did he have with classmates at school? 4. How was Milan let down by the school system? 5. How has family and community support enabled Milan to overcome the stigma of being a transgender boy? The video is very powerful. I’m not crying, you’re crying! EXTREME CONFORMITY: CULTS HSP3U/C0 | WINTER 2024 | PCSS What is a Cult? - A type of counterculture characterized by extreme social and moral (religious) views that are rigid, and whose rituals and observances inﬂuence the thoughts and behaviours of its followers - Typically guided by a charismatic leader - Beliefs usually differ from dominant culture’s beliefs - Alienated, urban, male, white, middle-class youth are typically the most drawn to cults What is a Cult Continued - Followers are resocialized through rituals and practices and develop a distorted and exaggerated version of previous personality - Different than a subculture because cults are highly destructive and may turn to violence to exert power and control over members But there are some indications of whether or not a group is a cult… You may be in a cult if: the group controls your major life decisions and daily life activities you believe that the group’s leader has some special powers, talents, or knowledge the group encourages you to limit your contact with non-group members (Singer & Lalich, 1995) Characteristics of a Cult ❏ Group focused on a living leader to whose members seem to display zealous, unquestioning loyalty ❏ Preoccupation with bringing in new members ❏ Preoccupation with bringing in money ❏ Questioning, doubting and dissent are discouraged or even punished ❏ Denunciation sessions are used to suppress doubts about the group or its leadership ❏ Elitist, claiming a special, exalted status ❏ God communicated directly to group’s leader who is considered a Messiah Characteristics of a Cult Continued ❏ ”Us versus them” mentality. Outsiders are evil and must be shut down ❏ Group leader not accountable to authorities ❏ Group leader teaches that ends justify the means (moral relativism) ❏ Subservience to the group causes members to cut ties with family, friends and give up personal goals ❏ Social encapsulation: members encouraged to live with or socialize exclusively within the group What are some cults you’ve heard of? R.J. Lifton - 8 Marks of Thought Reform 1. Milieu Control: Control of the members’ environment, communication, access to information 2. Mystical Manipulation: Leader reinterprets events & history as s/he sees ﬁt 3. Demand for Purity: Society corrupts! Thus, members must be puriﬁed. The desire to become mentally and physically pure makes members susceptible to guilt, fear and moral appeals by the leader 4. Cult of Confession: Control of shame and guilt; members must confess any wrongdoing to the leader, including mental infractions R.J. Lifton - 8 Marks of Thought Reform 5. Sacred Science: reliance on dogmatic principles; the leader has all the answers. Only the leader is privileged to know the absolute truth 6. Doctrine Over Person: the cause’s doctrine takes precedence over the individual. Members character and identity have to be reshaped 7. Dispensing of Existence: outsiders are unworthy unless they join the group. Members fear being expelled. 8. Loading the Language: jargon, words are given new meaning, repetition of words, language that encourages non-thought How do Cults Convert? ❏ Target the vulnerable ❏ Use compliments and ﬂattery ❏ Invite to a meeting or retreat ❏ Isolate from family and friends ❏ Control your environment ❏ Physically and socially difﬁcult to leave ❏ Use deception about identity and purpose How do Cults What makes Convert? a person vulnerable to cult recruitment? Cults take advantage of people who may: Be going through a divorce Have just lost a loved one Have a serious illness Be away from home for work or school Be lonely or who need a place to belong Or people who are looking for: answers to their problems NXIVM is a cult that has been in the news a lot in recent years self-improvement ﬁnancial gain What percentage of cult victims do you think demonstrate mental health issues or mental illness prior to joining a cult? Only 5-6% of cult members demonstrate major psychological problems prior to joining a cult (Singer, 1995) BUT… There are lots of people who are recruited into cults that are not vulnerable. EVERYONE is vulnerable to cult recruitment. Cults recruit smart people too. People who are intelligent are less likely to believe out-group members who say that they are in a cult. Cult recruiter are very talented at ﬁguring out a person’s weaknesses and use that in the recruitment process. Psychopaths also have this ability (more on that later on in the course) The vast majority of cult recruits are “normal”, productive people; everyone is vulnerable. In 1978, people in the American, “Peoples Temple”, cult which set up a settlement in Guyana known as “Jonestown”, died in a mass suicide. (Right) The recruitment process: People in cults do not believe that they are cults. No one will ever say to you, “Come join my cult.” Instead, they might ask you to attend a “business seminar” or a self-improvement lecture. Cult members may truly believe that their group will beneﬁt the person they are recruiting. Cult recruitment usually follows several stages. All of the stages are designed to make a person conform to the in-group (the cult) and isolate the person from out-group (those not in the cult) inﬂuences. The cult re-socializes the person and creates a new identity and reality for the member. Stages of Cult Recruitment 1. Befriending The Target (Making friends with the person you are targeting E.g. compliments, flattery, especially for things the person is insecure about 2. Invitation To Attend A Meeting Or Retreat E.g. “Would you like to come to an interesting conference?” 3. Isolation From Friends and Family (friends and families might have different values than the cult and may be seen as a threat) E.g. “Your family has been corrupted by society, so you should not text with or talk to them anymore.” 4. Deception: Not telling the truth about the true Identify/purpose of the group E.g. The recruiter might say, “This is an investment opportunity”, but really it’s a cult. How Does a Typical Cult Market Itself? Many groups recruit people by claiming that they have something new or interesting to offer, but really, their beliefs and practices are neither new, nor particularly insightful. Not all cults are religious, or spiritual in nature. Modern cults can include some self-help groups, fake psychotherapy groups, and business, political, and "New Age" groups. Many are pyramid schemes (illegal ”get rich quick” schemes that make money by taking money from investors, who then only can make money by taking money from other investors and so on). Techniques of Persuasion Pressure to conform Sleep deprivation Verbal abuse Fasting Confession Loss of privacy Fear, guilt appeals Control of time Sacriﬁce - personal, ﬁnancial Loyalty tests Constant praying Demonization (doubts are the Devil at Repetitive motion (chanting, dancing) work) Extreme dress codes Hallucinations Body manipulation Myths about Cults Myth: 1. Smart, capable people are immune to a cult’s inﬂuence 2. Only people with low self esteem join cults 3. “I am too smart to be duped by a cult” 4. If I get into a cult, I’ll just leave Fact: ❖ Only 5-6 % of cult members demonstrate major psychological problems before joining a cult (Singer, 1995) ❖ Cults exert strong psychological control over people ❖ People are embarrassed to admit to friends and family that they were in a cult and need help ❖ Many people have nowhere to go after they leave a cult because the cult has taken their money. How Cults Rewire the Brain Discussion Questions: 1. Why are university/college students amongst the most vulnerable to cults? 2. What other places/groups of people do you think are targets? 3. How can a person best protect themselves from being recruited into a cult? Aggression & Deviance HSP3U/C0 PCSS | Spring 2023 What makes you MAD? Sociologists who Study Crime and Deviance are interested in… Characterization Causes of Crime Social Norms of Crime - Demographic factors - Questioning what is - How and why the media - Including Socialization considered normal portrays white collar - The unwritten rules of crime vs. lower class behaviour that are crime considered acceptable in a group or society Question What is Aggression? Answer Aggression is any action that is intended to injure, harm, or inﬂict pain on another living being or group of beings, human or animal Frustration - A precursor to aggression - Requires self-awareness and self-regulation to control (which can take time to develop!) - Aggression is the result of inadequate self-regulation of one’s frustration Dehumanization Dehumanize: To deprive people of their human qualities and degrade them; to deny the humanity of another person Dehumanization makes aggression and violence easier to commit since it creates distance between the aggressor and their victim (who is viewed as inhuman) Dehumanization can occur at the individual level and on a larger scale - Holocaust - Transatlantic Slave Trade Types of Aggression Hostile Instrumental Aggression Aggression - Aggressive act that results - Aggressive act used as a means to from anger and is intended an end, other than pain or injury to inﬂict pain or injury as a - Aggressor may have no personal feelings of anger or animosity result of that anger towards subject - Unplanned; reactionary - E.G. POWs tortured for - E.G. Bar Fights, brawls intelligence Types of Aggression Verbal Virtual Aggression Aggression - The use of technology to harass and - Aggressive act that intimidate victims involves harmful, - Cyberbullying: Repeated threatening, or abusive behaviour that involves a power language imbalance and is intended to cause harm to the victim Bullying “…ongoing and deliberate…[and] repeated verbal, physical and/or social behaviour that intends to cause physical, social and/or psychological harm. It can involve an individual or a group misusing their power, or perceived power, over one or more persons who feel unable to stop it from happening”(NCAB, 2022) - Bullying includes: verbal bullying, physical bullying, social bullying (exclusion, rumours), theft, cyberbullying - Bullying impacts children and schools but can also have long-term effects on society - People who are bullies as children are more likely to engage in antisocial behaviour in adulthood, including: sexual harassment, spousal abuse, gang-related behaviours, etc. Virtual Aggression & Cyberbullying - A form of virtual aggression where the bully targets the victim using technology - There are many forms of cyberbullying, including: A compromising photo of the victim circulated among his or her peers, threatening or insulting posts on social media platforms that target the victim In cyberbullying, since the bully is often able to remain anonymous, the victim may feel helpless, unable to escape the harassment, and unable to retaliate Amanda Todd - British Columbia teen (15) who took her own life in the Fall of 2012 after being cyberbullied by a man in the Netherlands who she ﬂashed over the internet - In April 2014, he was arrested and charge with: indecent assault, child pornography, internet luring, and criminal harassment - She tried for a long time to ﬁght back against cyberbullying, including a video; unfortunately, it was not enough - In Canada, Cyberbullying can result in serious consequences Gossipping; spreading rumours; criticizing people behind their backs Excluding people or turning people against them Are these Dismissing someone’s opinion Acts Deliberately “stealing” or ﬂirting with Aggressive? someone’s signiﬁcant other Threatening to break up with a partner if they do not comply Flirting with someone else to make your partner jealous Yes! These are Aggressive Acts! The list (adapted from Archer & Coyne, 2005) gives examples of the types of nonphysical aggression that have been observed in children and adults. People may use non-physical because it is more subtle and easier to get away with Craig (1998) found that children who were victims of nonphysical bullying showed more depression, loneliness, peer rejection, and anxiety in comparison to other children. Girls who are victims of nonphysical aggression have been found to be more likely to engage in harmful behaviors such as smoking or considering suicide (Olafsen & Viemero, 2000). Paquette and Underwood (1999) found that both boys and girls rated social aggression as making them feel more “sad” and “bad” than did physical aggression. Question What is Deviance? Answer Deviance refers to a violation of society’s norms and accepted standards Activity Who has ever been deviant? Give me examples of acts or attributes that you consider to be deviant. I’ll keep track of your answer on the white board. 1 Not Deviant At All 2 Not So Deviant Rank the items on 3 Neutral our list from least 4 Somewhat deviant deviant to the most deviant. 5 Very Deviant Ignore this. I couldn’t 6 delete it 1. What criteria did you use to create your ranking? 2. How do we know when an act is deviant? What is the difference between crime and deviance? A crime occurs when a formal law has been broken. Deviance occurs when an INFORMAL social norm is broken. Differential Individuals learn the values, attitudes, techniques, and motivates for criminal behaviour through associating with others, Association who act as teachers - If someone associates with those who normalize criminal behaviour, over time, he or she will do the same - Crimes become more intricate and reﬁned over time - Most effective if the teacher is close to the learner and the learner receives positive reinforcement Edwin Sutherland Durkheim, Anomie, & Deviance - Anomie, a state of individual breakdown in the face of societal normlessness or a lack of order and structure - Anomie is the basis for deviance - Deviance can be an attractive alternative to the restrictive rules of society - Effects of Deviance: 1. Challenge dominant perspective and lead to social change by revealing ﬂaws 2. Support existing social norms and beliefs by evoking the population to discipline the actors 3. Reactions to deviant activity could increase camaraderie and social support among the population affected by the activity Do you think that deviance is necessary? Deviance is created by the very system that means to control it. Affirming Norms Clariﬁcation of and Values Right and Wrong Seeing punishment Responses to deviant for deviance enforces behaviour clarify conformity. ethical norms Four Functions Uniﬁcation of of Deviance Promoting Social Others Change Responses to deviance Deviance can result in can unify people positive change (Civil reacting against it Rights, etc.) Theories of Deviance Rational Choice Theory The Rational Choice Theory states that people decide whether to commit deviant acts or crimes by individually weighing the risks and rewards. If the potential rewards outweigh the risks, then they may decide to commit the deviant act or crime. Social Disorganization Theory People commit crimes because of their physical and social environments. Crime is linked to certain communities or neighbourhoods that experience unemployment, poor housing, dysfunctional families, and few recreational opportunities. Robert Merton & Strain Theory - Deviance is a product of the social structure because… 1. Each Society Sets Goals 2. Each society provides means to achieve these goals…but not equally! 3. When individuals are unable to achieve these goals in a socially acceptable way, they resort to deviance Strain Theory: People are more likely to pursue illegitimate actions in order to achieve society’s most cherished goals when they are blocked from accessing the institutionalized means of achieving these goals Merton and the American Dream - Merton developed his work by examining the Myth of the American Dream - Hard work + Qualiﬁcations = Material Success - When society puts too much pressure on us to achieve certain goals, the pressure to conform can cause individuals without the traditional means to achieve those goals to pursue them in a deviant way When a society does not provide the means to achieve cultural goals, individuals must choose between ﬁve modes of adaptation… Merton’s Deviance Typology Social Learning Theory People learn criminal behaviours from others in their social groups and they participate in criminal behaviour to ﬁt in with their peers This would be an example of a kind of deviant subculture conformity! Social Control Theory Everyone would commit crimes if society did not stop them! It is only social control that prevents us all from acting on these instincts and if it weren’t for strict rules and laws, crime would be very common Strong Social Bonds b/w Individual and Society = Low Rates of Deviance and vice versa Labelling Theory Rules and laws are created by those in power who decide what is legal and illegal (right or wrong) Those that don’t follow the laws are labelled criminals After being labelled criminals, they don’t get the same opportunities as the rest of society, which may lead to more crimes Biology, Genetics & Evolution Crime can be explained by biological factors, such as brain structure, brain chemistry, mental illness, mental health issues, or genetics. At times, natural selection may select for those who are more aggressive Can you apply the correct theory to the following situations? 01 Trevor Noah’s Mother Which theories BEST apply to this situation? Why? 02 Tax Evasion Which theories BEST apply to this situation? Why? 03 Suits Which theories BEST apply to this situation? Why? 04 Shoplifting Which theories BEST apply to this situation? Why? 05 Toronto Neighbourhood Which theories BEST apply to this situation? Why? 06 MAOA-L Which theories BEST apply to this situation? Why?

Introduction to Sociology HSP3U/C0 Fall 2022 PDF

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