Sociology Exam PDF

SOCIO EXAM INTRODUCTION What is the dramaturgical model? Human communication explained with theatrical terms, the individuals are actors performing in a stage, the front stage is the part of the performance visible to others while the backstage is the preparation, invisible, where individuals can ac...

SOCIO EXAM INTRODUCTION What is the dramaturgical model? Human communication explained with theatrical terms, the individuals are actors performing in a stage, the front stage is the part of the performance visible to others while the backstage is the preparation, invisible, where individuals can act in ways that would undermine front stage performance. Everyone is embedded in social networks based on cultural and socioeconomic values with scripts attached to them. This allows to predict how to act. Scripts (frames) are guidelines for interaction based on cultural conventions, reducing the uncertainty about how to act. The impression management is a process in which someone’s non-verbal, dress, words are managed to create a particular image. Which ideological context? Sociology emerged to understand modernity, the modern world emerged out of economic and political revolutions, cultural changes. The ideological context is a mix of three ideologies: liberalism, radicalism (faith in reason) and conservatism. What are the foundational figures? Marx, weber and Durkheim. What are the three theoretical traditions? The three theoretical traditions are functionalism (Durkheim), theory of conflict (Marx) and Interactionism (Weber). The first says society is a complex system whose parts work together, a living organism. The second says the conflict is inherent to society, every group purusue his own interest so potential conflict is always here. The last says institutions come from the interactions, actions of individuals, the important is the meaning people give to a behavior. NETWORKS AND MARKETS Explain socialization? Socialization is a process through which an individual is introduced into the complex world of a society. The primary socialization happens during childhood, it is what brings someone into first becoming member of a society. The secondary socialization is a lifelong process, someone already member of a society is connecting to new people, new values etc, is inducted into new sector of his society. The difference between a group and a social network is that a group has an attribute in common and a social network includes a specific set of connections between people in the group. The Dunbar number measures the number of people you can have a true connection with in a cognitive term. In broad terms, the socialization is a process during which an individual is connecting with people, learning new values, influencing and being influenced, enters and change a society. The socialization is a comprehensive and consistent introduction of an dividual into a society, the experiences that give us identity, beliefs, values, etc. Social networks influence individual behavior by providing resource and support (capital), other’s action influence your own. The weak ties also matter because they lead to new information since they connect you to more different people. Explain markets? Markets have social origins, they determine social structure and are embedded in society, they are influence by social and political institutions. Their evolution was influenced by the evolution of society and political forces. First, the external markets, primitive, where trade was only with people outside the community. They evolved into internal markets, where trade was with people inside the community and items came from immediate surroundings, needing political regulation, with use of money. Merchant markets were fairs taking place in feudal estates with safety guaranteed by lords, the same as external but without the social implication, the expansion of trade made permanent market necessary. The national markets overcomed the market fragmentation, political forces to break with medieval interests so role of revolution. The modern mass markets emerged with the industrial revolution, markets spread out geographically, stability and order in society were a prerequisite, new products, new system of distribution, new institutions. The international markets have their own social structure which is the result of political design. They are characterized by interconnectedness, trans-border, currencies and transnational cooperation. ECONOMIC SOCIOLOGY What is the economy? The economy is embedded in society. Analyzed in terms of societal conditions, it makes the economic processes unified and produces structure. The process, analyzed in terms of motion, changes in location or in ownerships, or both. Economy is dependent of economic and noneconomic institutions. According to Polanyi, the study of how empirical economies are instituted should start from the interdependence of their parts, achieved through forms of integration. Which are the forms of integration? The forms of integration include reciprocity, redistribution, exchange and householding. Reciprocity is based on the expectation that for any service or good given, others will be received, this belief motivates behavior. Reditribution is when all the goods collected are concentrated in hands of one individual or group in virtue of law, ad hoc agreement etc, and this person is in charge of the redistribution. Exchange Rests on system of price-making markets, integrative only if linked up in systems spreading effects of prices to markets others than those directly affected. Householding is self-subsistance. What is the commodification (marchandisation) of labor? Labor is a fictious commodity, it cannot be fully linked to market or destruction of society. Commodification of lands, labor, etc causes hardship to large groups of the population, extreme degrees of deregulation and privatization will threaten society and cause protests. According to Polanyi, a first movement towards marketisation is countered by a movement of statebased social protection against the negative consequences of marketization. To stop deregulation, society fight back. What are the global inequalities? Inequalities are the byproduct of capitalism, not an accident. The global inequality is the inequality within a country and between countries, between countries weighted by population size, and between all individuals in the globe. Inequalities move in cycle, they are fueled by war, disasters, education, technological disruption, redistribution. Recently, increased inequalities in the West due to technology revolution. Even if they decline within nations, they increase among them. A global middle class consisting mostly of Asian middle classes, where income is stagnating in middle class of rich countries. THE STATE AND THE ECONOMY What characterizes states emergence? According to Tilly, wars are related to the expansion of state power, the international system compel states to react. The formation is not a conscious process, they form into three types depending on the geography, economy and classes of a given territory and the outcomes of war. The determinants of war are the character of the rival, the interests on dominant classes and the protection of domestic interests. The three types are coercive-intensive, capitalist-intensive, capitalist-coercive mode. The first is when rulers conquer a territory, take means of war from it and impose extractive structure, rely on local powerholders without changing the bases of power. The second is when involving capitalists to rent/purchase military forces, no permanent structures (urban federation, city-states). The last is nation-states, incorporating capitalists and sources of capital in the state structure, nation state is governing multiple regions by means of centralized, differentiated, autonomous structures, direct rule. What is a state? Three element approach to define a state: state apparatus controlling territory and population. The state apparatus is basically defined by the monopoly of binding ruling, law, violence, money, and knowledge. The territory is the division of earth into areas governed by state apparatus, and the population is the target of specific interventions, subject to state apparatus. Which relation between state and economy? Market failure view (correct the inefficiencies of market) or institutional view (creating efficient markets). The state and the economy are embedded in society with its specific institutions structured, that could shape this embeddedness when changing. Ties between economy, state, and bureaucracy. Who rules the state? According to Marx class view, the economic elites influence decisions and the policies benefit businessmen/capitalists and their interests. According to Mills, elitist power is tied to government making decision based on political favors, coalition of corporations, military and government officials. According to Weber’s bureaucratic vision, the government power in hands of small group of buraucrats translating law into policy enforce them according to own guidelines and hired for expertise. According to the pluralist vision, no single elite dominate politics, resources are too widely spread and institutions too many, many groups compete for policy control which is outcome of compromise. GLOBALIZATION AND CRITICS How new is global economy? The difference between internationalization and globalization is that the first is the geographic spread of economic activities across national boundaries while the second is the functioning integration of internationally dispersed activities. The globalization induce that the division of labor gained geographical dimensions, with different areas specializing in different types of activity. The classic international division says that industrialized countries produce manufactured goods and non-industrialized supply in raw materials and become markets, but it is no longer true due to the increased complexity. What are the foundations of the contemporary order? Everything started with the Bretton Woods conference, which created a system of embedded liberalism, fostering free trade and state action for full employment, but this system collapsed in 1970. After this, the IMF started intervening in national economic when balance of payment crises, the world bank promoted market and the GATT been replaced by WTO. The contemporary order is characterized by two elements, liberalism of postwar regime deepened and deepening of economic integration. The neoliberalism, new ideology that shifted in rich countries, which sees government failure instead of market failure, sees policy space as bad. The rise of multinational corporations as central actor of global economic and global politics. What is the current international order? The current order is characterized by multilateralism, coalitions, policy coordination, shift from G7 to G20, changing the rule power. The global governance is built for stability, the slowmoving structures are not a bug because of formal mandates, but brings the need of organizations reforms since their structure and votes in institutions are designed for a world that doesn’t exist anymore. The new south-south cooperation is horizontal but without complete equality, respect, etc. How to compare politics and hyper globalization? The hyper globalization is the deep integration of market and capital but not labor. The tension resides in the need of policy and technocrats, but tendency to overestimate the desirability of hyper globalization and deeper integration. There are tensions between democracy, nation state and hyper globalization, can’t have it all at once, this is called the political trilemma, which illustrates that the globalization contains domestic economic policy-making and domestic policy space. Golden straightjacking is the solution to restrict democracy to minimize international transaction costs. What is the political trilemma and the solutions? The political trilemma is the fact that we cannot participate in hyper globalization, have a sovereign nation-state, and maintain democracy at the same time. Only two of them are compatible at once, so states must accept to reduce one of these aspects to maintain the others. For example, if they chose hyperglobalization and democracy, they will not be able to always decide by themselves and will have to share decisions with other countries, everyone has something to say and this is a reduced sovereignty. Countries can opt for the “golden straightjacket”, a concept introduced by Freidman, according to which a state will chose to reduce sovereignty and democracy to maintain globalization and economic stability. It is a set of economic and financial policies aimed at attracting foreign investments and participate in global economy. What are the critics of the international order? The internationally and state-led system would be violated by a decline of sovereignty and the state, an economically liberal would be by an increase in protectionism and a rules based multilateralism by unilateralism and bilateralism and destruction of institutions without replacement. GLOBALIZATION AND GLOBAL VALUE CHAINS How international trade and production network emerged? The emergence of international trade and production networks has technological roots with the improvements of technology of communication and transportation, political roots with the removal of protectionist barriers, and ideological roots with the ideology of free market. The modern trade and the global production networks are altering governance structure and redistribution of gains in global economy. The producers are now able to cut value chains by breaking production process in geographically separated steps. The international division of labor is allowing producers in different countries with different ownership structures to form cross border production networks. The competition advantages are composed by the low cost and the differentiation advantages, first low cost to carry activities in value chain, second unique performance compared to others. Slicing the value chain means cutting certain steps to go straight forward from the producer to the consumer, and that allows them to know where to concentrate resources in. What is the governance of global value chains? The market linkage, linking the producer to consumers through someone, a company, a shop, doesn’t have to be completely transitory but can persist over time, and costs of switching partner are low. The relational value chain is a complex interaction between buyer and seller, create mutual dependance high asset specificity, special proximity, trust, reputation, etc, which can also exist in dispersed activities. The captive value chain is when small producers are dependent on larger buyers, face switching costs and are controlled by those larger buyers. The modular value chain means using standardized and interchangeable components (modules) to produce goods, giving more flexibility, more specialized production, more or less detailed and efficient production. What is industrial upgrading? Process where economic actors move from low value activities to high value in the global production network. Different mixes of policies, institutions, corporate strategies are associated with this. This designate the process through which enterprises or industries in a country improve their position in the global value chain by producing higher value goods and services, including technological improvements, goods innovation, better gestion, etc. STRATIFICATION AND MOBILITY What is social stratification? The social stratification is a process of allocating people/groups according to social criteria such as power, prestige etc. The components of stratification are social position and processes. Positions are often classes, coming with different rewards of different values but more or less stable. Social processes by which people are allocated a position, according to characteristics like age, sex, etc, or luck, interests, motivation, efforts. The addition of these components makes inequalities. How to measure it? Inequalities can be measured by income, with the gini index being the most common measurement in social sciences, by occupational prestige, by classes, with the big class and the micro class distinctions, and elites, which are not representative of the society but engines of inequalities, having a disproportional control over resources. What is social mobility? The broad term is well defined in the question to what extent will my childhood social condition influence my adulthood one? The absolute mobility is you better off than your parents, the relative is relative to peers relative to their parents. The individual factors influencing social mobility are the Origins-Education-Destination model, in which the education often fully explain the relationship of this model, with no effects of origins on destination for people holding a university degree. But education cannot explain fully when it comes to income, other factors like networks, discrimination, cognitive skills, inheritance, etc, are important. The contextual factors are the neighborhood, which influences the social network, the labor market, the likelihood of incarceration, etc. The childhood exposure effect says that every year spent in a better district improves the long-term outcomes. The school status, the time and place. POVERTY What is it? The broad definition is the storage of resource relative to the needs. The relative definition is that the meaning of poverty varies across place and time, it depends of standards of living. We apply other’s impressions to make a self-assessment of our social conditions. The absolute definition the specific amount of resource necessary to have a minimally decent life, poverty threshold should remain constant from years. How to theorize it? There are three broad set of determinants: the behavior, the structural, the political/institutional. The behavioral says that people are poor because their behavior is counter-productive, dominant vision in the US. But this is too individualistic and doesn’t consider the origins of the disadvantages. The structural says the economic changes are the determinants of poverty (industrialization, technological improvements, inflation, deflation, etc). The economic changes influence behaviour and poverty. But lacks of consideration of policies that could reduce the impact of economic changes. The political/institutional moderates the role of behavior in determining the poverty, but concentrates on policy choices. WELFARE STATE How is it born? The welfare state emerged as a functional solution to urban, industrial and market society problems and new risks and insecurities caused by the market capitalism. The new welfare state is different in ways reflecting each nation’s history of social provisions, religious traditions, political coalitions shaping each nation’s welfare state. The emergence of an organized labor class and the democratization led to more social rights, with new demands for social security and better conditions. The strength of a nation’s welfare state is related to the power of its labor movement. The failure of social provisions is what prompted welfare state emergence, the fundamental problem was poor laws and charity designed for rural society to receive old people. When liberalism was the dominant form, poor were poor because of their fault and the solution was savings. By 1890, clear that the poor were because of casual employment and bread aligned wages, old forms of charity were past. The new liberalism insisted on not leaving people to their own devices and secure for them security, education, and welfare necessary to exercise autonomy. The welfare state is an apparatus of social administration in which the state assumes some control over economic and social processes. The middle class was also concerned by the welfare state after 1930 because the total war and the economic collapses affected people’s risk perception. There were major changes in the character of policies (social and economic) aiming now at managing the market rather than set free. What is the relationship between capitalism and welfare state? Welfare state is not against capitalism, it is not a mean for destroying it but for a more efficient management. Businessmen did not resist the movement because they saw assets for their companies in the needs for social insurance, health etc. The welfare state met the non-market needs of market capitalism: supplying social arrangement and human capacities from which economic activities depend. SOCIAL SAFETY NET Which relation between the welfare state and social safety net? The cash transfers are from the government to households in forms of allowances, unemployment benefits, pension, etc. There is a difference between contributory benefits, which are financed out of workers and employees’ contributions and awarded on the basis of no means test, contributory record, specific contingency, earnings. And the non-contributory financed out of general taxation, which can be targeted (means test, inversely related to income) or universal (categorical, no contributory record, flat rate, no means test). What are the characteristics of guaranteed minimum income? The guaranteed minimum income raises the income of poor people to the level guaranteed by the government. It is not contributory and financed out of general taxation, aiming at exterminating extreme poverty. It is targeted but non-categorical, everyone who passes means test and residence test can have it. The means test is assessing income and assets, disqualifying income-poor but assets rich. If well targeted, can reduce poverty gap. How do we measure the incentives to work? How GMI affects work decision depends on social contribution, interactions with taxes and other social benefits. The disincentives to work can be measured by participation tax rates and marginal effective tax rates. Participation tax rates measure the amount of money that the state tax you once you started working and the amount you lose because you don’t have access to certain aid anymore, while METR measures the amount of money taxed when you receive more (due to more work hours or promotion). PTR is relevant when facing the decision to take a job or not, and METR to work more for a higher wage for people already employed. Universal basic income? HOUSING AND WELFARE STATE What is the housing policy? The housing policy aims at several objectives. First, equity, for access to adequate and affordable housing, meeting the minimum standards. Mobility, with housing markets that must be sufficiently flexible to prevent excess demand and geographical imbalance in other markets, that would otherwise prevent someone who lives in area A to take a job in area B. Efficiency, the size and the quality of the housing stock must be efficient. Tenure neutrality, existing when housing markets leave individuals financially indifferent between buying and renting, on average and in the long run, with no distortions in their relative costs. This has both efficiency and equity implications. Which public policy for efficiency and equity? There is indeed a market failure, but it is not catastrophic, because of the perfect information (regulation of house insurance and surveying), perfect competition (monopoly power of landlords over tenants, capital markets) and externalities (gentrification, slum clearance). Efficiency is likely to be enhanced by regulation and public provision. Policies to ensure access to adequate and affordable housing can be rent control, social housing, and assistance with housing costs. What is rent control and its characteristics? Rent control is a policy aiming at regulating the amount that landlords can demand for a renting a house. Second-generation rent controls permit automatic percentage rent increases related to the inflation rate, but also contain cost pass-through provisions (rent increase permitted if justified by cost increase), hardship provisions (to avoid cash-flow problems) and rate-of-return provisions (ensure fair and reasonable rate of return). What economists think? Economists have been unanimously opposing rent control, because a ceiling of rents reduces the quantity and quality of housing available. What is social housing? According to the OECD, social housing is defined as residential rental accommodation provided at sub-market prices and allocated according to specific rules, though definition varies across countries. It is an important dimension of social welfare policy and affordable housing provision. The social sector does not necessarily imply public ownership, in many countries independent social landlords play key role in social provisions, nor does it imply below-market rents. Which assistance with housing costs? Housing policy instruments fall in four categories: home-ownership subsidies, housing allowances, social rental housing and rent support and regulation. The basic principles of housing allowances are social welfare (help low-income families meet their housing costs, etc), means-tested (targeted to people below a certain level of income, taking assets into account), designed to support tenants. The most common home ownership subsidy is the mortgage interest tax relief, aimed to help non-poor families becoming owners, can take the form of tax allowance or tax credit. MIGRATION AND WELFARE STATE IA, TECHNOLOGY CASE STUDY