CH-4-6 Socialization – SOC Sociology 2020 : Chapter Notes

This Document Contains Chapters 4 to 6 Chapter 4 Socialization LEARNING OBJECTIVES 1. Define socialization. 2. Discuss the role of socialization. 3. Define Charles Horton Cooley’s looking-glass self. 4. Describe George Herbert Mead’s stages of the self. 5. Discuss Erving Goffman’s dramaturgical approach and impression management. 6. Describe the psychological approaches to the self. 7. Discuss the various agents of socialization. 8. Describe the types of socialization. 9. Discuss the perspectives on the aging process. 10. Define ageism and discuss the effects of age discrimination. 11. Discuss the taboos about death and how they are changing. CHAPTER SUMMARY Sociologists argue that the rules we follow, the language we speak, and the values we believe in have less to do with our DNA (nature) than with the cultural context into which we emerge (nurture). Socialization is the lifelong process through which people learn the attitudes, values, and behaviors appropriate for members of a particular culture. Cases of extreme childhood isolation, such as those of Genie and Danielle, demonstrate the importance of early socialization in childhood development, as do primate studies. Results from twin studies suggest that heredity does play a role in some surprising characteristics, however, so the nature–nurture debate is likely to continue. The self is a distinct identity that sets us apart from others. It continues to develop and change throughout our lives. Sociologists Charles Horton Cooley, George Herbert Mead, and Erving Goffman have all furthered our understanding about development of the self. Cooley’s looking-glass self theory is that we become who we are based on how we think others see us. Mead argued that there are two core components of the self: the I (our acting self) and the Me (our socialized self). Instrumental to Mead’s view are significant others (the individuals most important in the development of the self). He described a three-stage process of self-development: (1) the preparatory stage, an important concept of which is symbols (a gesture, object, or word that forms the basis of human communication), (2) the play stage, an important concept of which is role taking (the process of mentally assuming the perspective of another and responding from that imagined viewpoint), and the (3) game stage. Mead used the term generalized other to refer to attitudes, viewpoints, and expectations of society as a whole that a child takes into account in his or her behavior. Goffman offered the dramaturgical approach, which studies interaction as if we were all actors on a stage. He suggested that many of our daily activities involve impression management—altering the presentation of the self in order to create distinctive appearances and satisfy particular audiences—and face-work—the efforts people make to maintain a proper image and avoid public embarrassment. Psychologists, such as Sigmund Freud, stressed the role of inborn drives in channeling human behavior. Freud suggested that the self has components that work in opposition to each other. Child psychologist Jean Piaget identified four stages in the development of children’s thought processes in his cognitive theory of development: (1) sensorimotor, (2) preoperational, (3) concrete operational, and (4) formal operational. Piaget viewed social interaction as key to development. Lifelong socialization involves many different social forces and agents of socialization. The family is the most important socialization agent. Social development includes exposure to cultural assumptions regarding a person’s gender role (the expectations regarding the proper behavior, attitudes, and activities of males and females) and race. Schools are another agent of socialization concerned with teaching students the values and customs of the larger society. Peer groups become increasingly important as children grow older. Media innovations have become important agents of socialization in the past 80 years or so. Workplaces can serve as socialization agents by teaching appropriate behavior within an occupational environment. Additionally, social scientists are increasingly recognizing the continued importance of religion and the growing importance of the state as agents of socialization. Rites of passage are rituals that mark the symbolic transition from one social position to another, dramatizing and validating changes in a person’s status. Such transitions mark stages of development in the life course. Sociologists who take a life course approach look closely at the social factors, including gender and income, that influence people throughout their lives, from birth to death. As we journey through our lives, we undergo anticipatory socialization, the process of rehearsing for future roles, and resocialization, discarding former behavior patterns and accepting new ones. Resocialization is particularly effective when it occurs within a total institution, an institution that regulates all aspects of a person’s life under a single authority, such as a prison or the military. Goffman identified four common traits of total institutions. People often lose their individuality within total institutions, sometimes by undergoing degradation ceremonies that subject them to humiliating rituals. As we age, we move into the midlife transition, which typically begins at about age 40. Men and women often experience a stressful period of self-evaluation, commonly known as the midlife crisis. During the late 1990s, social scientists began focusing on the sandwich generation, those adults who simultaneously try to meet the competing needs of their parents and their children. Retirement is a series of adjustments that varies from one person to another, depending on such factors as financial and health status. The experience of retirement varies according to gender, race, and ethnicity. Age stratification varies from culture to culture. Gerontology is the study of the sociological and psychological aspects of aging and the problems of the aged. Disengagement theory suggests that society and the aging individual mutually sever many of their relationships. It emphasizes that passing social roles on from one generation to another ensures social stability. Activity theory suggests that those elderly people who remain active and socially involved will have a higher quality of life. Often seen as opposing disengagement theory, activity theory views older people’s withdrawal from society as harmful to society and contends that aging citizens will feel satisfied only when they can be useful and productive in society’s terms, including working for wages. Ageism refers to prejudice and discrimination based on a person’s age. It is important to consider the impact of social structure on patterns of aging. The privileged upper class generally enjoys better health and vigor and has less likelihood of dependency in old age. Death has been a taboo topic in the United States, but that has changed somewhat in recent years. Hospice care is designed to allow for death with dignity and comfort. Bereavement practices are becoming increasingly varied and therapeutic. RESOURCE INTEGRATOR Focus Questions Resources 1. In what ways is socialization important? IN THE TEXT Key Terms: socialization 2. How have sociologists conceptualized the self? IN THE TEXT Key Terms: self, looking-glass self, I, Me, significant other, symbol, role taking, generalized other, dramaturgical approach, impression management, face-work 3. How have psychologists conceptualized the self? IN THE TEXT Key Terms: cognitive theory of development 4. What are the major agents of socialization? IN THE TEXT Key Terms: gender role 5. How does socialization occur across the life course? IN THE TEXT Key Terms: rite of passage, life course approach, anticipatory socialization, resocialization, total institution, degradation ceremony, midlife crisis, sandwich generation 6. How do sociologists view the aging process? IN THE TEXT Key Terms: gerontology, disengagement theory, activity theory, ageism, hospice care LECTURE OUTLINE I. The Role of Socialization • While most social scientists acknowledge the significance of the interaction between heredity (nature) and environment (nurture), most sociologists come down more strongly on the side of nurture. • They argue that the rules we follow, the language we speak, and the values we believe in have less to do with our DNA than with the cultural context into which we emerge. • We internalize the culture that has been constructed by others who came before us through socialization—the lifelong process through which people learn the attitudes, values, and behaviors appropriate for members of a particular culture. A. Social Environment: The Impact of Isolation • We can better appreciate how heredity and environment interact and influence the socialization process by examining situations in which one factor operates almost entirely without the other. We want and need early intimacy and interaction with others. 1. Extreme Childhood Isolation • The stories of Genie and Danielle demonstrate that children who have been isolated or severely neglected have a difficult time recovering from the loss of early childhood socialization. 2. Primate Studies • Harry Harlow tested rhesus monkeys for the effects of isolation and concluded that early isolation had long-term damaging effects on the monkeys. B. The Influence of Heredity • Twins studies reveal that both genetic factors and socialization experiences are influential in human development. Example: Oskar Stohr and Jack Yufe. • Results from twin studies suggest that the nature–nurture debate is likely to continue. II. The Self and Socialization • As individuals, we choose what to think and how to act within the confines of the cultural resources to which we have access. A. Sociological Approaches to the Self • The self is a distinct identity that sets us apart from others, shaped by the unique combination of our social interactions. It is not a static phenomenon but continues to develop and change throughout our lives. 1. Cooley: The Looking-Glass Self • Looking-glass self theory: we become who we are based on how we think others see us. • Developing a self-identity has three phases: (1) we imagine how others see us; (2) we imagine how others evaluate what we think they see; and (3) we define our self as a result of these impressions. Example: Self-judgment after a date or job interview. • We can develop self-identities based on incorrect perceptions of how others see us. 2. Mead: Stages of the Self • Mead argued that there are two core components of the self: the I (our acting self that performs any action), and the Me (our socialized self that plans actions and judges performances based on the standards we have learned from others). • Instrumental to Mead’s view are significant others (the individuals most important in the development of the self). • He described a three-stage process of self-development. a. The Preparatory Stage • Infants and toddlers imitate the people around them. • They begin to understand the use of symbols—the gestures, objects, and words that form the basis of human communication. b. The Play Stage • Children aged three to five years begin to pretend to be other people, like an actor “becoming” a character. • Role taking is the process of mentally assuming the perspective of another and responding from that imagined viewpoint. c. The Game Stage • Older children begin to consider several tasks and relationships simultaneously. • They grasp their own social positions as well as those of others around them. • The term generalized other refers to the attitudes, viewpoints, and expectations of society as a whole that a child takes into account in his or her behavior. Example: Children learning manners. 3. Goffman: Presentation of the Self • Offered the dramaturgical approach, a view of social interaction in which people are seen as actors on a stage attempting to put on a successful performance. • Impression management involves altering the presentation of the self in order to create distinctive appearances and satisfy particular audiences. • Face-work involves the efforts people make to maintain a proper image and avoid public embarrassment. Example: Unemployed Japanese men feigning employment to avoid embarrassment. B. Psychological Approaches to the Self • Sigmund Freud stressed the role of inborn drives. Unlike Cooley and Mead, he suggested that the self has components that work in opposition to each other. Our natural instinct seeks limitless pleasure, which is at odds with our societal needs for order and constraint. • Jean Piaget underscored the importance of social interactions in developing a sense of self. In his cognitive theory of development, Piaget identified four stages in the development of children’s thought processes: (1) sensorimotor (children use their senses to make discoveries), (2) preoperational (children begin to use words and symbols), (3) concrete operational (children engage in more logical thinking), and (4) formal operational (adolescents become capable of sophisticated abstract thought and can deal with ideas and values in a logical manner.). • According to Piaget, social interaction is the key to development. III. Agents of Socialization A. Family • The most important agent of socialization. Parents minister to the baby’s needs by feeding, cleansing, carrying, and comforting. 1. Cross Cultural Variation • Family structures reproduce themselves through socialization. Children learn expectations regarding marriage and parenthood in the context of families. • By observing their parents, children undergo an informal process of anticipatory socialization. 2. The Influence of Race and Gender • In the U.S., social development includes exposure to cultural assumptions regarding gender and race. • Gender roles are expectations regarding the proper behavior, attitudes, and activities of males and females. • Families, the mass media, and religious and educational institutions impact a child’s socialization into masculine and feminine norms. B. School • Schools teach basic skills but also shared cultural knowledge. Have the explicit mandate to socialize children to the norms and values of U.S. culture. • Provide both social order and individual opportunity, but can also reinforce existing inequality. C. Peer Groups • As a child grows older, the family becomes somewhat less important in social development, while peer groups increasingly assume the role of Mead’s significant others. • Sociologists have found that popularity reinforces gender stereotypes. D. Mass Media and Technology • Television can introduce young people to unfamiliar lifestyles and cultures. • New technologies (Internet, cell phones) are changing how we interact with family, friends, and strangers. • Access to media can increase social cohesion. E. The Workplace • Learning to behave appropriately within an occupation is a fundamental aspect of human socialization. • Adolescents generally seek jobs to earn spending money. • Workplace socialization changes when a person shifts to full-time employment. F. Religion and the State • The state is an increasingly important socialization agent. • Religion continues to be an important socialization agent. • Government and organized religion have assumed more of the caregiving role previously performed by families. • Government and organized religion provide markers representing significant life course transitions. IV. Socialization Throughout the Life Course • Rites of passage are rituals that mark the symbolic transition from one social position to another, dramatizing and validating changes in a person’s status. A. The Life Course • Socialization continues through the life cycle. Sociologists who take a life course approach look closely at the social factors, including gender and income, that influence people throughout their lives, from birth to death. They recognize that biological changes help mold but do not dictate human behavior. B. Anticipatory Socialization and Resocialization • Anticipatory socialization refers to processes of socialization in which a person “rehearses” for future positions, occupations, and social relationships. Example: High school students preparing for college by looking at college websites. • Resocialization refers to the process of discarding old behavior patterns and accepting new ones as part of a life transition. Examples: Prisons, indoctrination camps, religious conversions. • More stressful than socialization or anticipatory socialization. • Resocialization is particularly effective when it occurs within a total institution (prisons, mental hospitals, and military organizations). • Goffman identified four common traits of total institutions. • Individuality is often lost in total institutions, sometimes through the humiliations of degradation ceremonies. C. Role Transitions During the Life Course • As we age, we move into the midlife transition, which typically begins at about age 40. • Men and women often experience a midlife crisis, a stressful period of self-evaluation in which they realize that they have not achieved basic goals and ambitions and may feel they have little time left to do so. • The sandwich generation refers to adults who simultaneously try to meet the competing needs of their parents and their children. • Caring for aging parents falls disproportionately on women. Overall, women provide 60 percent of the care their parents receive. Increasingly, middle-aged women find themselves on the “daughter track.” V. Aging and Society • People are living longer on average than ever before, both in the United States and around the world. • How societies deal with their elderly population varies considerably across cultures. • Age stratification varies from culture to culture. A. Adjusting to Retirement • Retirement is a rite of passage that typically marks a transition out of active participation in the full- time labor market. • Gerontologist Robert Atchley identified seven phases of the retirement experiences: (1) preretirement, (2) the near phase, (3) the honeymoon phase, (4) the disenchantment phase, (5) the reorientation phase, (6) the stability phase, and (7) the termination phase. • Retirement is a series of adjustments that varies from one person to another. • Experience of retirement varies according to gender, race, and ethnicity. VI. Perspectives on Aging • Gerontology is the study of the sociological and psychological aspects of aging and the problems of the aged. • In addition to sociological principles, gerontologists draw on psychology, anthropology, physical education, counseling, and medicine. A. Disengagement Theory • Suggests that society and the aging individual mutually sever many of their relationships. • Highlights the significance of social order in society, and emphasizes that passing social roles on from one generation to another ensures social stability. • The aging person withdraws into a state of increasing inactivity while preparing for death. Simultaneously, society segregates aging people residentially, educationally, and recreationally. • Critics charge disengagement forces the elderly into involuntary and painful withdrawal from paid labor and meaningful social relationships. • Disengagement theory ignores the fact that postretirement employment has been increasing in recent decades. B. Activity Theory • Suggests that those elderly people who remain active and socially involved will have an improved quality of life. • Contends that old people have essentially the same need for social interaction as any other group. • Improved health has strengthened the position of activity theorists. • Activity theorists focus on potential contributions of elderly people. They view withdrawal as harmful to both the elderly and society. C. Ageism and Discrimination • Robert Butler coined the term ageism to refer to prejudice and discrimination based on a person’s age. • Critics argue that neither disengagement nor activity theory answers the question of why social interaction must change or decrease in old age. • While it is illegal in the United States to fire someone because they are old, critics contend that companies lay off older, well-paid workers in times of financial distress then later replace them with younger, less-well-paid workers. • In the United States the elderly now enjoy a higher standard of living than ever before. • Class differences tend to be narrower among the elderly, thanks in no small part to government benefits. • Those who faced a greater likelihood of income inequality earlier in their lives, such as women and minorities, continue to do so in old age. D. Death and Dying • Death was long a taboo topic in the United States, but that has changed somewhat in recent years. • Elisabeth Kübler-Ross identified five stages of dying: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and finally acceptance. • Richard Kalish identified issues that people must face to prepare for a "good death." • The practice of hospice care, introduced in England in the 1960s, is devoted to easing this final transition. Hospice workers seek to improve the quality of a dying person’s last days by offering comfort and by helping the person to remain at home, or in a homelike setting at a hospital or other special facility, with the goal of helping them die comfortably, without pain. • Recent studies in the United States suggest additional ways in which people have broken through the historical taboos about death. Example: Increasing use of living wills. KEY TERMS Activity theory A theory of aging that suggests that those elderly people who remain active and socially involved will be best adjusted. Ageism Prejudice and discrimination based on a person’s age. Anticipatory socialization Processes of socialization in which a person “rehearses” for future positions, occupations, and social relationships. Cognitive theory of development The theory that children’s thought progresses through four stages of development. Degradation ceremony An aspect of the socialization process within some total institutions, in which people are subjected to humiliating rituals. Disengagement theory A theory of aging that suggests that society and the aging individual mutually sever many of their relationships. Dramaturgical approach A view of social interaction in which people are seen as actors on a stage attempting to put on a successful performance. Face-work The efforts people make to maintain a proper image and avoid public embarrassment. Gender role Expectations regarding the proper behavior, attitudes, and activities of males and females. Generalized other The attitudes, viewpoints, and expectations of society as a whole that a child takes into account in his or her behavior. Gerontology The study of the sociological and psychological aspects of aging and the problems of the aged. Hospice care Treatment of the terminally ill in their own homes, or in special hospital units or other facilities, with the goal of helping them to die comfortably, without pain. I The acting self that exists in relation to the Me. Impression management The altering of the presentation of the self in order to create distinctive appearances and satisfy particular audiences. Life course approach A research orientation in which sociologists and other social scientists look closely at the social factors that influence people throughout their lives, from birth to death. Looking-glass self A theory that we become who we are based on how we think others see us. Me The socialized self that plans actions and judges performances based on the standards we have learned from others. Midlife crisis A stressful period of self-evaluation that begins at about age 40. Resocialization The process of discarding former behavior patterns and accepting new ones as part of a transition in one’s life. Rite of passage A ritual marking the symbolic transition from one social position to another. Role taking The process of mentally assuming the perspective of another and responding from that imagined viewpoint. Sandwich generation The generation of adults who simultaneously try to meet the competing needs of their parents and their children. Self Our sense of who we are, distinct from others, and shaped by the unique combination of our social interactions. Significant other An individual who is most important in the development of the self, such as a parent, friend, or teacher. Socialization The lifelong process through which people learn the attitudes, values, and behaviors appropriate for members of a particular culture. Symbol A gesture, object, or word that forms the basis of human communication. Total institution An institution that regulates all aspects of a person’s life under a single authority, such as a prison, the military, a mental hospital, or a convent. ADDITIONAL LECTURE IDEAS 4-1: Early Socialization in Orphanages Recent, well-publicized accounts of Americans who have adopted internationally, show the importance of early-childhood socialization. In many of the resource-poor orphanages from which these children were adopted, chronic malnutrition, fetal alcohol syndrome, birth defects, and other medical problems create difficulties for the children who start their lives there. In addition, it is believed that the lack of close and consistent care from adults often results in serious cognitive and emotional problems. Most of the media attention on early-childhood socialization among internationally adopted children has focused on children adopted from Eastern European orphanages. Americans have adopted more than 25,000 children from Eastern European orphanages since 1990, when they were opened up to foreign adoption (Judge 1999). Many of these children have been in institutional care for years before being adopted ; two to four years is not at all uncommon. And, unfortunately, Eastern European orphanages tend to have a very high child-to-caregiver ratio—about 10:1 for infants and 20:1 for children over the age of three (King and Hamilton 1997). For this reason, no one caregiver is able to spend much time with a particular child. In general, children receive far less adult attention than would be typical in a family. In fact, observers of Eastern European orphanages note that the children are often left to themselves most of the time (Talbott 1998). The fact that children in orphanages spend so little time with adult caregivers is thought to lead, in many cases, to two distinct sets of problems. First, a number of developmental problems may result. Children reared in orphanages are often behind for their age in terms of speech development, cognition, and motor skills. In addition, institutionalized children often lack sensory stimulation like touch, sight, smell, or sound, since they are deprived of the stimulation that would come from an infant’s parent. As a result, American parents often find that their adopted children are either over- or under-sensitive to sensory stimuli like noise and pain (Judge 1999). Many adopted children from Eastern Europe are also known for having developed attachment disorders. It is believed that when a child lacks the opportunity to form close relationships with adults very early in life, he or she may have difficulty forming them later in life. Many adopters of Eastern European children have told of making great efforts to develop a loving and trusting relationship with their child, only to find that the child is completely unresponsive. At the same time, the child may be inappropriately friendly with complete strangers. Attachment disorder can also be associated with disruptive behavior, such as frequent tantrums, and, some parents report, violent behavior (Judge 1999, King and Hamilton 1997, Talbott 1998). Fortunately, some adopted children with developmental or emotional problems “grow out” of them over time, once placed in a family that is willing to give the child special care. Recovery is especially prevalent among children who spend the least amount of time under institutionalized care. However, some children, it appears, will be developmentally and emotionally impacted by their lack of early-life socialization for the rest of their lives (Judge 1999). Sources used for this essay include: Victor Groza, Daniela Ileana, and Ivor Irwin. A Peacock or a Crow? Stories, Interviews, and Commentaries on Romanian Adoptions. Euclid, OH: Williams Custom Publishing, 1999; Sharon Lesar Judge. “Eastern European Adoptions: Current Status and Implications for Intervention,” Topics in Early Childhood Special Education 19 (Winter 1999): 244–253; Patricia King and Kendall Hamilton, “Bringing Kids All the Way Home,” Newsweek (June 16, 1997); Margaret Talbott, “The Disconnected: Attachment Theory, the Ultimate Experience,” New York Times (May 24, 1998). 4-2: Nature versus Nurture The interplay between hereditary and environmental factors is evident in a fascinating study involving a young chimpanzee named Gua. (See Winthrop Kellogg and Luella Kellogg. The Ape and the Child. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1933. See also Cathy Hayes. The Ape in Our House. New York: Harper, 1951.) In 1931, Winthrop and Luella Kellogg took Gua, then 7 1/2 months old, into their home with the intention of rearing the animal in the same way as they were rearing their 9-month-old son, Donald. The two babies lived together as companions and playmates for 9 months of the experiment. Kellogg and Kellogg attempted, as far as possible, to treat, feed, and clothe their two “children” similarly. The Kelloggs tried to teach skills to both Donald and Gua and did not “train” Gua as one usually trains a household pet. What were the results of this experiment, other than the many strange looks the Kelloggs got from their neighbors as they went walking with Donald and Gua? For one thing, they noticed interesting differences in rates of development. Gua actually learned more quickly than Donald did in areas requiring strength, agility, and muscular coordination. For example, the chimpanzee climbed into a high chair at 7 1/2 months, whereas Donald could not fully accomplish this until 18 1/2 months. However, Gua did not surpass Donald in all areas. Donald demonstrated a much better grasp of language and use of symbols. Initially, Gua seemed to understand comments such as “Open the door” better than Donald did. The Kelloggs attributed this to Gua’s greater ability to move around. In terms of speech, they foresaw that Gua would not advance beyond a few rudimentary sounds. Even at this young age, the most significant aspect distinguishing the behavior of ape from that of child involved language skills. The Kelloggs’ experiment reveals an intriguing interplay of hereditary and environmental factors. Biology seemed to limit Donald’s adaptation to walking and Gua’s potential for verbal and symbolic communication. On the other hand, socialization may well have stretched the chimpanzee’s language skills. Certainly, this unusual research attests to the importance of nature in development. Also see Lionel Tiger, “The Return of Human Nature,” The Wilson Quarterly XX (Winter 1996): 13–32. 4-3: Rethinking the Life Course As we live longer and frequently healthier lives, various researchers have rethought the standard life course. The classic description of the life course that is presented in many sociology and psychology texts was developed by Erik Erikson. He divides the life course into eight stages that have served as a model for several generations. A classroom presentation or discussion could certainly focus on the applicability of Erikson’s model to our society 100 or 200 years ago, when the life expectancy was much shorter than it was when he was writing. One could also examine his stages with respect to gender, race, and social class issues, and ask whether his stages are appropriate for each of these groups. However, another way to examine the life course would be to examine some of the popular views of how the life course has changed in recent years that reflect our longer life expectancy. One author who has written commercially and critically successful books about these types of alterations in the life cycle is former New York Magazine writer Gail Sheehy. Her initial foray into this area of investigation was in the now classic book, Passages. However, she has followed up on that initial examination with several other stimulating reassessments. In particular, New Passages suggests thought- and discussion-provoking modifications in the life course model. (Note: Older students who read this book in its entirety consider it to be a provocative, eye-opening assignment. Younger students do not relate to the book as well; they believe that it explains their parents’ lives and not their own.) Sheehy’s model of adult socialization, which she developed in New Passages: Mapping Your Life Across Time, divides adult socialization into three stages, each with one or more substages. Stage I is “Provisional Adulthood” (18–30) that includes the “Tryout Twenties,” and in which an individual moves through “Catch 30: Passage to First Adulthood” to reach Stage II. Stage II is the “First Adulthood” (30–45), which includes the “Turbulent Thirties” and the “Flourishing Forties,” and which concludes with the “Passage to the Age of Mastery.” Stage III is the “Second Adulthood,” (45–85+), which includes the “Flaming Fifties,” the “Serene Sixties,” the “Sage Seventies,” the “Uninhibited Eighties,” the “Nobility of the Nineties,” and the “Celebratory Centenarians.” For details and alternative models, see Erik H. Erikson. Childhood and Society. New York: W. W. Norton, 1950. See also Erik H. Erikson. Identity and the Life Cycle. New York: W. W. Norton, 1980; Gail Sheehy. Passages: Predictable Crises of Adult Life. New York: Bantam Doubleday Dell, 1977; Gail Sheehy. New Passages: Mapping Your Life Across Time. New York: Random House, 1996; Gail Sheehy. The Silent Passage: Menopause. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1998; Gail Sheehy. Understanding Men’s Passages: Discovering the New Map of Men’s Lives. New York: Ballantine, 1999; Daniel Levinson. The Seasons of a Man’s Life. New York: Random House, 1979; and Daniel Levinson and Judy D. Levinson. The Seasons of a Woman’s Life. New York: Random House, 1997. 4-4: Reverse Socialization and Gender Roles Conventionally, social scientists examine how parents create gender roles for children from birth through adolescence. Lawrence Ganong and Marilyn Coleman have found that children can also affect their parents’ gender roles. They administered the Bem Sex Role Inventory to 306 parents (153 couples) who had daughters only (N = 41), sons only (N = 41), or an equal number of sons and daughters (N = 71). Fathers with sons had lower “femininity” scores than fathers with daughters only. Mothers with sons were significantly more “feminine” than those who only had daughters . These results do not support the “common sense” expectation that socializing daughters would have a feminizing effect on parents and that socializing sons would have a masculinizing effect. Ganong and Coleman contend that parents become more sex-typed (that is, fathers become more masculine than feminine and mothers more feminine than masculine). Parents seem to respond to sons by becoming clearer role models of masculinity and femininity. Daughters, on the other hand, have no such effect because there is relatively less concern for teaching them a rigid gender role. The study supports yet another interactionist dimension to gender roles, that the child-parent relationship is mutually influential. See Lawrence Ganong and Marilyn Coleman, “Effects of Children on Parental Sex-Role Orientation,” Journal of Family Issues 8 (September 1987): 278–290. 4-5: Hutterites Coming of Age Child rearing practices differ among peoples of the world. The practices of one group in North America, the Hutterites, are at variance with those typically found in Canada and the United States. Although the Hutterites number about 30,000, few Americans know much about them. Today’s Hutterites are descended from Russian immigrants who came to North America in 1874. They live together in some 250 communal villages, called Bruderhofs, in western Canada, the Dakotas, Montana, Washington, and Texas. Their religious faith is Anabaptism, they practice adult baptism, and they are firmly pacifistic. Both economically and theoretically, the Hutterites practice communalism. They live and work together for the good of the community. When Hutterites use the pronoun we, they refer not to their own family but to the Bruderhof. They do not knock before entering each other’s residences; they drop in unannounced at all hours. As they see it, seclusion by individual families is unnecessary and lessens group loyalty. Accordingly, the goal of child rearing among the Hutterites is young adults’ voluntary decision to submit themselves to the community. The sense of community will is transmitted very early in life. Only for the first 13 weeks of an infant’s life is the mother relieved of her responsibilities to the Bruderhof; after that, the mother returns to her previous responsibilities, such as helping in the community kitchen. The community essentially dictates a schedule for babies, specifying times for feeding, playing, and sleeping. A child’s hands are held together in the position of prayer before each feeding. Children pray voluntarily before each meal by the time they are one year old, a procedure they will follow for the rest of their lives. Children are believed to be completely innocent until they are observed to strike someone or try to comb their own hair. Either activity is believed to indicate a level of comprehension sufficiently high to understand discipline. Young children learn that they can avoid adult displeasure if, after hitting someone, they immediately hug and kiss. Infants and young children are watched over by all members of the Bruderhof. At age three they enter kindergarten, where as one Hutterite minister put it, “they learn to obey, sing, sleep, memorize, and pray together.” Punishment tends to emphasize that exclusion from the group is most unpleasant. The most important birthday for a Hutterite is the 15th, since on that day the schoolchild becomes an adult. Almost as a rite of passage, the child is moved from the children’s dining room to the adults’ dining room and from the playgroup into the adult workforce. Since these changes involve a single individual, and whereas the Hutterites emphasize the colony as a whole, the movement into adulthood goes uncelebrated. Gradually, the Bruderhof awards the new adults various gifts that reflect their altered situation. Both boys and girls are given a wooden chest with a lock, in which to keep their personal belongings. Boys are given tools; girls receive a scrubbing pail, a broom, and knitting needles. The first years of adulthood are occupied in apprenticeships to older people, but soon each young person enters a job considered suitable for his or her gender. Despite being surrounded by the culture of Canada and the United States, Hutterite youngsters grow up to accept the Hutterites’ philosophy of life, economic communalism, and religious beliefs. See Gertrude Huntington, “Children of the Hutterites,” Natural History 90 (February 1981): 34–47. See also William Kephart and William Zellner. Extraordinary Groups, 7th ed. New York: St. Martin’s, 2001. 4-6: Who Will Bury Me? In many societies, the elderly look to their adult children for care during old age. This is especially true in developing societies that lack a network of social service agencies to provide basic assistance. But what happens to childless older persons in a preindustrial society? To study this question, anthropologist Laura Zimmer conducted fieldwork for one year among the Gende, cultivators living in the mountainous interior of Papua, New Guinea. Zimmer found that 18 percent of the Gende 45 years or older were childless. A commonly expressed concern among older persons is that when they die there will be no one to mourn their deaths or to see that they receive a proper funeral (known as kwiagi). Generally, childless elderly attach themselves to the families of their brothers, who serve as reluctant caretakers. While no formal adoption ceremony exists among the Gende, some childless persons adopt children of deceased relatives or of couples who have difficulty caring for their many children. Since the Gende were first contacted by Europeans in 1932, there has been a steady increase in migration away from their area, leaving more and more elderly Gende without children nearby. This has forced some older persons to migrate to cities and seek whatever work is available. Whether they migrate or not, many older Gende resent their children’s migration and accuse them of not caring about their parents. Clearly, as Zimmer has shown, modernization has contributed to the difficulties faced by childless elderly among the Gende. See Laura Zimmer, “Who Will Bury Me? The Plight of Childless Elderly among the Gende,” Journal of Cross-Cultural Gerontology 2 (January 1987): 61–77. 4-7: The Elderly in !Kung Society A case study of aging in a nonindustrial community is provided by Harriet G. Rosenberg (“Complaint Discourse, Aging, and Care-Giving among the !Kung San of Botswana,” in Jay Sokolovsky, ed. The Cultural Context of Aging: Worldwide Perspectives. New York: Bergin and Garvey, 1980, pp. 19–41). It is not always easy to accurately interpret the treatment of the elderly in another culture. For example, long-term observation research has focused on the !Kung, a nomadic hunting-and-gathering tribe in southern Africa. In the culture of the !Kung, sharp and constant complaints by the elderly are commonplace. In fact, by North American standards, the treatment of older people in !Kung society is rather favorable. The tribe’s elders are involved in their community’s social, economic, political, and spiritual life. Most of the respected healers, the crucial health care providers for the !Kung, are elders. In general, older people in this culture enjoy personal autonomy, respect, and a significant degree of control over their day-to-day lives. Caregiving is an integral part of the culture of the !Kung. Incapacitated elders are scrupulously cared for by relatives and the larger community. Only 10 percent of !Kung report that they have ever heard of an older person’s being abandoned. Moreover, the elderly are not made to feel that they are a burden on younger generations. They do not need to negotiate care as if it were a favor; instead, it is perceived as a right. If older people can no longer produce enough to feed themselves, they will be given the basics of life in this nomadic culture: firewood, water, and food. Why, then, are complaints by the elderly so common among the !Kung? The community appears to set such a high standard of caregiving, with each person ideally obligated to meet the needs of everyone else at all times, that no one can possibly meet this standard. Moreover, the !Kung, described by one researcher as “cranky, funny, and loud,” love a captivating story—even if it is a passionate, elaborate complaint that is not fully justified. Thus, when one elder, Kasupe, denounced his uncaring children, another tribal member observed that it was a “big story” (in other words, totally untrue). Rather than reacting angrily to this charge, Kasupe laughed, for he knew he had spun an enchanting tale that had captured the attention of listeners. 4-8: Typology of the Elderly George P. Moschis, professor of marketing at Georgia State University, has examined the consumer behavior of older people (defined here as 55 years or older) in the United States and has concluded that this behavior has more to do with their outlook on life than with their age. The physical, social, and psychological changes people experience in later life shape their needs and wants. He has found that these circumstances give rise to four distinct consumer segments with different ways of responding to marketing efforts: 1. Health indulgers (18 percent of the population) have experienced the fewest life events—such as retirement, widowhood, and chronic conditions—that contribute to people’s psychological and social aging. As a result, they are often indistinguishable from younger consumers, according to Moschis. 2. Healthy hermits (36 percent) are likely to have experienced life events, such as the death of a spouse, that have affected their self-concept and self-worth. They tend to be withdrawn. (This notion of “healthy hermits” corresponds to the approach taken by disengagement theory.) 3. Ailing outgoers (29 percent) maintain positive self-esteem and self-concept, despite life events such as health problems. Unlike the “healthy hermits,” the “ailing outgoers” accept their old-age status but are still interested in getting the most out of their life. 4. Frail recluses (17 percent) have come to feel their physical decline and have adjusted their lifestyles accordingly. Moschis acknowledges that people move from one group to another. This typology helps remind us of the diversity within the senior citizen community, which is too often portrayed as homogeneous. See George P. Moschis, “Life Stage of the Mature Market,” American Demographics 18 (September 1996): 44–50. 4-9: Worried Well Myth It is commonly believed that older adults with no apparent evidence of ailments or pathology still worry about their health. Furthermore, these people are viewed as making inappropriate demands for health services. The potential policy implication is that these “worried well” have adverse effects on the fiscally out-of-control health care delivery system. Using data on 4,578 respondents in the four-wave Longitudinal Study on Aging, a team of sociologists has attempted to identify the “worried well.” The worried well are defined as (1) worried about their health, but without known medical conditions; (2) worried about their health, but without functional limitations; and (3) worried about their health, but without either known medical conditions or any functional limitations. The researchers operationalize this definition using 11 indexes of health services utilization, measured over time, for treatment of conditions such as heart disease, hip problems, and Alzheimer’s disease. Overall, about 9.5 percent of the respondents were classified as “worried well” by definition 1, 6.6 percent by definition 2, and only 2.8 percent by definition 3. The research question was whether any of these groups contacted physicians or hospitals or sought placement in a nursing home. The researchers found no consistent evidence to support the contention that these older adults who worry about their health but have no apparent problems make inappropriate demands for health services. The researchers note that the “worried well” myth may be perpetuated by the tendency to blame the victim. We assume the complainers are making demands on the health care delivery system and are therefore indirectly hurting us. Rather than focusing on the alleged demands of the “worried well,” our attention should be focused on seeing that the “worried well” are better diagnosed. See Frederic D. Wolinsky, Christopher M. Callahan, John F. Fitzgerald, and Robert J. Johnson, “The ‘Worried Well’ Myth: Older Adults and the Use of Health Services,” in Gary L. Albrecht (ed.). Advances in Medical Sociology. Greenwich, CT: JAI Press, 1994, pp. 163–184. 4-10: Exchange Theory Unlike disengagement and activity theorists, conflict theorists focus on the disadvantaged position of older Americans. Using an approach that has certain similarities to conflict theory, James Dowd attempts to answer the question, often overlooked by other theorists, of why the aged engage in fewer social interactions. The traditional explanations are that the elderly have poorer health and lower incomes than younger Americans do, but these are not the only factors at work. To examine this question more fully, Dowd drew upon exchange theory, a general sociological theory first developed by George Homans and Peter Blau. Exchange theory contends that interactions among people are most likely to occur if all participants feel they are profiting from the relationship. Individuals and groups can benefit not only through financial rewards but also through receipt of love, approval, esteem, and other nonmaterial rewards. An implication of exchange theory is that those who cannot reciprocate fully within a relationship place themselves in a subservient position, both economically and socially. Thus, an employer and an employee exchange wages for labor; yet, in this type of exchange, employers are generally able to reinforce their superior position. The employer has the power to set limits for work performed and pay received. The employee can respond by withholding his or her labor but obviously pays the price in terms of lost income. In the case of the elderly, Dowd suggests that they function in an exchange relationship with younger people. However, the relatively low ascribed status of the aged limits their bargaining power. The elderly retire from the labor force and vacate their homes; in return, they receive the “rewards” of pensions, Social Security, and Medicare benefits. Dowd does not argue that such withdrawal from social roles is satisfying to the elderly, as disengagement theorists might. Rather, he views withdrawal as the eventual result of a series of exchange relationships in which the relative power of senior citizens gradually declines. The crucial element in this analysis is the assumption that the older persons are at a disadvantage within an exchange relationship. They are not necessarily poor, but their ability to accumulate additional financial resources is more limited than that of persons a decade or two younger. Furthermore, retirement rules, prejudice, discrimination, and declining health all limit the ability of the elderly to compete with younger adults. In this respect, exchange theory is in accord with functionalist and conflict theories; two approaches often at odds with each other. Functionalists view the withdrawal of older Americans as supportive of the needs of the young and middle-aged by allowing such groups to move into newly vacated positions of authority. Conflict theorists note that this withdrawal is far from voluntary. Rather, in their opinion, it is but one more example of the dominance of those with greatest political and economic power (young and middle-aged adults) over those with less power (the elderly). See Peter Blau. Exchange and Power in Social Life. New York: Wiley, 1964; James J. Dowd. Stratification among the Aged. Monterey, CA: Brooks/Cole, 1980; George Homans. Social Behavior: Its Elementary Forms. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1961. TOPICS FOR STUDENT RESEARCH AND CLASSROOM DISCUSSION 1. Ask students to identify particular phrases or symbolic gestures they may use today that they learned from their parents, and discuss the impact of socialization on development of one’s personality. 2. Ask students to identify (anonymously) behaviors they have performed that would shock their friends and family, and discuss Goffman’s dramaturgical approach to the self. 3. Ask students to identify various rationalizations they may use to explain why they received low grades on exams, and discuss face-saving based on impression management interactions. 4. Ask students to identify any family rituals they may use to celebrate rites of passage. 5. Ask students to identify which socializing agents beyond their family that they consider influential in their life, and discuss how socializing agents can be both positive and negative in development of the self. 6. Ask students to search for evidence of ageism in recent reality TV shows, and discuss the various sociological views regarding age norms. 7. Ask students to search for evidence of ageism in recent news stories (e.g., stories about divorces, lawsuits, or criminal cases), and discuss institutional discrimination directed toward the elderly. 8. Ask students to discuss their views about aging rock musicians (e.g., the Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney, or the Who) going out on concert tours, and discuss disengagement and activity theories on aging. 9. Ask students to interview elderly persons about their experiences as adolescents and compare those experiences with their own, and discuss how age norms are often based on stereotypes. REEL TALK Up (Walt Disney/Pixar, 2009, 96m). Faced with the imminent demolition of his home to make way for a new development and still dealing with the aftermath of losing his wife, 78-year-old Carl ties thousands of balloons to his home, setting out to fulfill his lifelong dream to go on a grand adventure and see South America. A young scout named Russell accidentally becomes a stowaway, and the two become reluctant allies and friends. Director: Pete Docter. Carl: Edward Asner (voice). Russell: Jordan Nagai (voice). Topic: Perspectives on aging. Chapter 5 Social Structure and Interaction LEARNING OBJECTIVES 1. Define social interaction and social reality. 2. Identify and discuss the various elements of social structure. 3. Discuss the differences between ascribed and achieved statuses. 4. Identify and describe the various types of social role situations. 5. Discuss the contribution of groups to the function of social structure. 6. Describe the various types of groups. 7. Discuss the impact of social networks and technology on social relationships. 8. Analyze the importance of social institutions. 9. Discuss the importance of social structure from a global perspective. 10. Describe the various characteristics of a bureaucracy. 11. Define McDonaldization and discuss the worldwide bureaucratization of society. 12. Discuss the various global perspectives on social structure. CHAPTER SUMMARY Social interaction refers to the shared experiences through which people relate to one another. How we interact with people is shaped by our perception of their position relative to our own. Our response to someone’s behavior is based on the meaning we attach to his or her actions. Reality is shaped by our perceptions, evaluations, and definitions. The ability to define social reality reflects a group’s power within a society. In working out the relationship between our self and society, we are engaged in the “social construction of reality.” Sociologists Peter Berger and Thomas Luckmann use this phrase to describe the interdependent relationship in which we as individuals create society through our actions and, at the same time, become products of the society we construct. They present this argument in a three-part model of world construction that includes the concepts of constructing culture, constructing the self, and constructing society. All social interaction takes place within a social structure—a series of predictable relationships composed of various positions that people occupy and the relationships between them. Occupying those positions shapes how someone thinks and acts and what resources he or she has access to. For our purposes, any social structure can be broken down into six elements: (1) statuses, (2) social roles, (3) groups, (4) social networks, (5) online social networks, and (6) social institutions. Sociologists use the term status to refer to the social positions we occupy relative to others. A person can hold a number of statuses at the same time. An ascribed status is assigned to a person by society without regard for the person’s unique talents or characteristics, generally at birth. An achieved status is a social position that is within our power to change. A master status dominates other statuses and thereby determines a person’s general position within society. A social role is a set of expectations for people who occupy a given social position or status. Role conflict occurs when incompatible expectations arise from two or more social statuses held by the same person. Role strain is a term used to describe the difficulty that arises when the same social status imposes conflicting demands and expectations. The process of disengagement from a role that is central to one’s self-identity in order to establish a new role and identity is referred to as role exit. A group is any number of people with shared norms, values, and goals who regularly interact. Groups play a vital part in a society’s social structure. Much of our social interaction takes place within groups and is influenced by their norms and sanctions. A primary group is a small group characterized by intimate, face-to-face association and cooperation. Primary groups play a pivotal role both in the socialization process and the development of roles and statuses. Secondary groups are formal, impersonal groups in which there is little social intimacy or mutual understanding. In-groups are groups to which people feel they belong, whereas out-groups are groups to which people feel they do not belong. In-group members typically feel distinct and superior to those they view as being in an out-group. Any group that an individual uses as a standard for evaluating themselves and their own behavior is known as a reference group. A coalition is a temporary or permanent alliance geared toward a common goal. Some coalitions are intentionally short-lived. Members of different groups make connections through a series of social relationships known as a social network. With advances in technology, we can now maintain social networks electronically through online social networks, which can be important tools in the emergence of new organizations, businesses, and movements. They provide opportunities for people to establish connections, share information, and mobilize for action. Membership in online social networking sites continues to grow in the United States, especially among teenagers. Social institutions are integrated and persistent social networks dedicated to ensuring that society's core needs are met. Five of the most important and most studied social institutions are family, education, religion, economy, and government. How we organize social interaction within these institutions helps contribute to social order. Sociologists using the conflict paradigm pay particular attention to how our construction of social institutions reinforces inequality, acting to maintain the privileges of the most powerful individuals and groups within a society. Others focus on our everyday interactions within the contexts of these institutions to understand why we think and act the way we do. A bureaucracy is a component of a formal organization that uses rules and hierarchical ranking to achieve efficiency. Max Weber constructed an ideal type (an abstract model of the essential characteristics of a phenomenon) to help him identify a bureaucracy's core components. He proposed that the ideal bureaucracy displays five basic characteristics: (1) division of labor, (2) hierarchy of authority, (3) written rules and regulations, (4) impersonality, and (5) employment based on technical qualifications. The division of labor within a bureaucracy is intended to lead to specialization and efficiency, but it can have negative consequences. One is alienation, the loss of control over our creative human capacity to produce, separation from the products we make, and isolation from our fellow producers. Another is trained incapacity, the tendency of workers in a bureaucracy to become so specialized that they develop blind spots and fail to notice potential problems. Another issue for a bureaucracy is the possibility that following rules and regulations will come to be treated as an end unto itself, overshadowing the organization's larger goals. This sort of overzealous conformity to official regulations is known as goal displacement. Sociologists have used the term bureaucratization to refer to the process by which a group, organization, or social movement increasingly relies on technical-rational decision making in the pursuit of efficiency. Some also use the term McDonaldization to describe the process by which the principles of efficiency, calculability, predictability, and control shape organization and decision making, in the United States and around the world. The iron law of oligarchy describes the principle that all organizations, even democratic ones, tend to develop into a bureaucracy ruled by an elite few (an oligarchy). The classical theory of formal organizations (also known as the scientific management approach) views workers as being motivated almost entirely by economic rewards. In this view they can be treated much like any other resource. By contrast, the human relations approach emphasizes the role of people, communication, and participation in a bureaucracy. Ferdinand Tönnies used the term Gemeinschaft to refer to a small, close-knit community, typical of rural life, where people have similar backgrounds and life experiences. Informal techniques work effectively to exert social control in these settings, limiting social change. Conversely, the Gesellschaft is characteristic of modern urban life. Here, most people are strangers who feel little in common with one another. Formal techniques like laws are necessary to maintain social control in these settings, and social change is a normal part of life. Émile Durkheim developed the concept of mechanical solidarity to describe the social cohesion based on shared experiences and skills that is found in societies with a simple division of labor, in which things function more or less as they always have. Durkheim argued that in a society with a complex division of labor, mechanical solidarity would give way to organic solidarity—social cohesion based on mutual interdependence. In Gerhard Lenski’s view, a society’s level of technology is critical to the way it is organized. The hunting-and-gathering society, the horticultural society, and the agrarian society are three types of preindustrial societies. These societies are dependent on human and animal power, whereas an industrial society depends on mechanization to produce its goods and services. The economic system of a postindustrial society is engaged primarily in the processing and control of information. A postmodern society is a technologically sophisticated, pluralistic, interconnected, globalized society. RESOURCE INTEGRATOR Focus Questions Resources 1. How do people define reality? IN THE TEXT Key Terms: social interaction 2. What are roles and statuses? IN THE TEXT Key Terms: social structure, status, ascribed status, achieved status, master status, social role, role conflict, role strain, role exit 3. How are groups important to social structure? IN THE TEXT Key Terms: group 4. What are the various types of groups? IN THE TEXT Key Terms: primary group, secondary group, in-group, out-group, reference group, coalition 5. What are social networks? IN THE TEXT Key Term: social network 6. What are the various ways of viewing social institutions? IN THE TEXT Key Terms: social institution 7. What are the characteristics of a bureaucracy? IN THE TEXT Key Terms: bureaucracy, ideal type, alienation, trained incapacity, goal displacement, bureaucratization, McDonaldization, iron law of oligarchy, classical theory, scientific management approach, human relations approach 8. How do sociologists view the historical development of societies? IN THE TEXT Key Terms: Gemeinschaft, Gesellschaft, mechanical solidarity, organic solidarity, hunting-and-gathering society, horticultural society, agrarian society, industrial society, postindustrial society, postmodern society LECTURE OUTLINE I. Social Interaction • Social interaction is a reciprocal exchange between two or more people in which they read, react, and respond to each other. A. Self and Society • We come to be who we are through the daily interactions we have with others. • George Herbert Mead said, “Selves can only exist in definite relationships to other selves. No hard-and-fast line can be drawn between our own selves and the selves of others” • Repeated patterns of behavior can solidify into formal and informal norms, or become institutionalized in the form of laws. The resulting predictability allows us to know what to do most of the time. • These repeated patterns also influence people’s roles in greater society. B. Social Construction of Reality • In working out the relationship between our self and society, we are engaged in what Peter Berger and Thomas Luckmann call the “social construction of reality.” • They claim that we as individuals create society through our actions and, at the same time, become products of the society we construct. • Berger and Luckmann present a three-part model of world construction: constructing culture, constructing the self, and constructing society. In summation, the social construction of reality is an ongoing process of constructing the material, cognitive, and normative culture that we come to share collectively. • The more we share culture with others, the more resistant it becomes to change. • When members of subordinate groups challenge traditional social assumptions, they can raise our collective awareness about the consequences of group membership or social position and help us to perceive and experience reality in a new way. Example: Black athlete Cassius Clay rebelling against social norms, changing his name to Muhammad Ali. II. Elements of Social Structure • All social interaction takes place within a social structure—a series of predictable relationships composed of the various positions that people occupy. • Occupying those positions shapes how we think and act and what resources we have access to. • For our purposes, any social structure can be broken down into six elements: (1) statuses, (2) social roles, (3) groups, (4) social networks, (5) online social networks, and (6) social institutions. A. Statuses • Status refers to the social positions we occupy relative to others. A number of statuses can be held at the same time. Examples: U.S. president, father; dental technician, woman, neighbor. 1. Ascribed and Achieved Status • Ascribed status is generally assigned at birth without regard for a person’s unique talents or characteristics. Examples: Race, ethnicity, gender, age. • Achieved status is a social position that is within our power to change. Examples: Lawyer, pianist, convict, social worker. 2. Master Status • Dominates other statuses and thereby determines a person’s general position in society. Example: People with disabilities often find their status as "disabled" receives undue weight, overshadowing their actual abilities. B. Social Roles • A set of expectations for people who occupy a given social position or status. • Actual performance varies from individual to individual. • Roles are a significant component of social structure. 1. Role Conflict • Occurs when incompatible expectations arise from two or more social statuses held by the same person. Example: Newly promoted worker who carries on a relationship with his or her former workgroup. • Frequently occurs among individuals moving into occupations that are not common among people with their ascribed status. Examples: Female police officers and male preschool teachers. 2. Role Strain • Difficulty that arises when the same social status imposes conflicting demands and expectations. Example: Alternative forms of justice among Navajo police officers. 3. Role Exit • The process of disengagement from a role that is central to one’s self-identity in order to establish a new role and identity. • Helen Rose Fuchs Ebaugh’s four-stage model: (1) doubt, (2) search for alternatives, (3) action stage, or departure, and (4) creation of a new identity. Examples: Graduating from high school or college, retirement, divorce. C. Groups • A group consists of any number of people with shared norms, values, and goals who interact with one another on a regular basis. Examples: Sports team, college sorority, hospital business office, symphony orchestra. • Groups play a vital part in a society’s social structure. 1. Primary and Secondary Groups • Charles Horton Cooley coined the term primary group to refer to a small group characterized by intimate, face-to-face association and cooperation. • Primary groups play a pivotal role in both the socialization process and the development of roles and statuses. Examples: Family members, sorority sisters, members of a gang. • A secondary group is a formal, impersonal group in which there is little social intimacy or mutual understanding. • Distinction between primary and secondary groups is not always clear-cut. 2. In-Groups and Out-Groups • The term in-group describes a category of people who share a common identity and sense of belonging. • The term out-group describes a category of people who do not belong or do not fit in. • In-group members typically feel distinct from and superior to the out-group. • Proper behavior for the in-group can be simultaneously viewed as unacceptable behavior for the out-group. This double standard enhances the sense of superiority. Sociologist Robert Merton (1968) described this process as the conversion of “in-group virtues” into “out-group vices.” Example: terrorism. 3. Reference Groups • Any group that individuals use as a standard for evaluating themselves and their own behavior. • Two basic purposes: (1) serve a normative function by setting and enforcing standards of conduct and belief, and (2) perform a comparison function by serving as a standard against which people can measure themselves and others. 4. Coalitions • A temporary or permanent alliance geared toward a common goal. Can be either broad-based or narrow and take on many different objectives. • Coalitions can be short-lived. Examples: Alliances on popular TV shows (Survivor), political groupings for elections or legislative agendas. D. Social Networks • A series of social relationships that links people directly to others and, through them, indirectly to still more people. Can center on virtually any activity. Examples: Networking for employment; exchanging news and gossip. E. Online Social Networks • Today people can maintain their social networks electronically. • Just like the real world, online social networks have become politicized and consumer-oriented. • Sociologists are now working to understand these environments and their social processes. Clay Shirky suggests that group action is easier with the Internet because it supports interactive, large-scale group formation. • Virtual networks can aid social and political movements. Example: People talking back and forth with each other and coordinating action during the “Arab Spring” protests in countries including Egypt, Tunisia, and Libya in 2011. F. Social Institutions • Integrated and persistent social networks dedicated to ensuring that society's core needs are met. • How we organize social interaction within each of these institutions helps contribute to social order. • Sociologists have focused on five major institutions that must perform certain functions (also known as functional prerequisites) for society to survive: (1) families ensure society’s continued existence through biological reproduction, (2) education teaches the more formal and public culture necessary to be members of the larger society, (3) religion provides the glue that holds society together by establishing a clear identity with shared beliefs and practices, (4) government helps maintain internal order, and (5) the economy regulates the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. • Focusing on the functions social institutions fulfill helps to understand social order but risks implying that the status quo is the way things should be. • Studying social institutions through the conflict paradigm can give insight into how our construction of social institutions reinforces inequality, acting to maintain the privileges of the most powerful individuals and groups within a society. Example: Public schools are financed largely by property taxes, so more affluent areas have better-equipped schools and better-paid teachers. • Others focus on our everyday interactions within the contexts of these institutions to understand why we think and act the way we do. III. Bureaucracy • A component of a formal organization that uses rules and hierarchical ranking to achieve efficiency. A. Characteristics of a Bureaucracy • Max Weber recognized the underlying structure of bureaucracy remained the same regardless of location, whether in religion, government, education, or business. • He constructed an ideal type (an abstract model of the essential characteristics of a phenomenon) to help him identify a bureaucracy's core components. He proposed that the ideal bureaucracy displays five basic characteristics. 1. Division of Labor • Specialized experts perform specific tasks. • Has led to significant advances and innovation. • Fragmenting work into smaller tasks isolates workers from one another and weakens connections they might have. Marx and Engels said this produces extreme alienation—loss of control over our creative human capacity to produce, separation from the products we make, and isolation from our fellow producers. • Can also lead to trained incapacity—a situation in which workers become so specialized that they develop blind spots and fail to notice potential problems. Example: U.S. government agencies failing to share information about terrorism with each other. 2. Hierarchy of Authority • Each position is under the supervision of a higher authority. 3. Written Rules and Regulations • Offer employees clear standards for performance and procedure. • Provide a sense of continuity for organizations. • Can become too important, leading to goal displacement, Robert Merton’s term for overzealous conformity to official regulations. 4. Impersonality • Officials perform their duties without giving personal consideration to people as individuals. Example: Weber’s phrase “without hatred or passion.” • Intended to guarantee equal treatment, but it also contributes to the cold, uncaring feeling often associated with modern organizations. 5. Employment Based on Technical Qualifications • As opposed to favoritism; performance is measured against specific standards. • The driving personnel principle is supposed to be that it is “what you know, not who you know” that counts. • People can appeal if they believe particular rules have been violated. • Not every organization fully realizes Weber's characteristics, but in general they are typical of life in modern societies. B. Bureaucratization as a Way of Life • The process by which a group, organization, or social movement increasingly relies on technical-rational decision making in the pursuit of efficiency. 1. The Spread of Bureaucratization • McDonaldization—the process by which the principles of efficiency, calculability, predictability, and control shape organization and decision making in the United States and around the world—is an example of the expansion of bureaucratization. George Ritzer argues these principles have been emulated by many organizations from medical care to wedding planning. • Weber predicted that even the private sphere would become rationalized. He thought the only way to beat bureaucratization was to be more bureaucratic. • When workers’ performance is measured only in numbers, emotional needs and family responsibilities are dismissed as irrelevant. 2. From Bureaucracy to Oligarchy • Robert Michels originated the idea of the iron law of oligarchy, which is the principle that all organizations, even democratic ones, tend to develop into a bureaucracy ruled by an elite few (an oligarchy). Example: Labor union leaders becoming unresponsive to members. • Actions that violate the core principles of bureaucracy can seep in. • Rank and file group members look to leaders for direction, enabling leaders to cement their power. • Concerns about oligarchy often raised when ideologically motivated movements become institutionalized. Example: Tea Party conservatives challenging Republican leaders in Washington to live up to conservative ideals. C. Bureaucracy and Organizational Culture • New management philosophies arose to counter the negative effects of depersonalization. • Classical theory of formal organizations (also known as the scientific management approach) suggests workers are motivated almost entirely by economic rewards. Only physical constraints limit worker productivity; therefore, workers may be treated as a resource, much like the machines that began to replace them in the 20th century. • Management attempts to achieve maximum work efficiency through scientific planning, established performance standards, and careful supervision. • Planning involves efficiency studies, not studies of worker attitudes or satisfaction. • This approach wasn’t revised until workers formed unions and forced management to recognize that they were not objects. • The human relations approach to the study of formal organizations emphasizes the role of people, communication, and participation in a bureaucracy, especially its informal organization. • Planning based on this approach focuses on workers’ feelings, frustrations, and emotional need for job satisfaction. If managers are convinced that helping workers meet their needs increases productivity, care and concern are instituted as a result of rational calculation. IV. Social Structure in Global Perspective • Sociology arose as a discipline in order to better understand and direct the transition from traditional to modern society. A. Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft • Ferdinand Tönnies was appalled by the rise of industrial cities during the late 1800s and coined terms to describe two different types of communities. • A Gemeinschaft is a close-knit community that is typical of rural life. People have similar backgrounds and life experiences. Social interactions are intimate and familiar. Social control is maintained through informal means such as moral persuasion and gossip. Social change is relatively limited. • A Gesellschaft is characteristic of modern urban life. Most people are strangers who feel little in common with one another. Relationships are governed by social roles that grow out of immediate tasks. There is little consensus concerning values or commitment to the group. Social control rests on more formal techniques, such as laws and legally defined sanctions. Social change is a normal part of life. B. Mechanical and Organic Solidarity • Émile Durkheim wanted to use sociology as a science to better understand the transition to modern society. • For Durkheim, the amount of the division of labor that exists in a society shapes the degree to which people feel connected with each other. • Mechanical solidarity exists in societies with a minimal division of labor. A collective consciousness develops that emphasizes group solidarity. Social interaction and negotiation are based on close, intimate, face-to-face social contacts, and there are few social roles. • Durkheim felt that in societies with a complex division of labor this would give way to organic solidarity—social cohesion based on mutual interdependence. In this situation collective consciousness rests on the need a society’s members have for one another. People relate to each other based on their social positions. Role specialization forces individuals to become interdependent. Statuses and social roles are always changing. C. Technology and Society • In Gerhard Lenski’s view, a society’s level of technology is critical to the way it is organized. New social forms arise as technology changes. 1. Preindustrial Societies • Hunting-and-gathering societies rely on available foods; technology is minimal. There is little division of labor. • Horticultural societies plant seeds and grow crops rather than subsist only on available foods. Technology remains limited. • Agrarian societies use technological innovations (e.g., the plow) to increase crop yields. Although most members are still engaged primarily in food production, division of labor and specialization does increase and social institutions become more established. 2. Industrial Societies • Industrial Revolution transformed social life. • An industrial society depends on mechanization to produce its goods and services. • New inventions facilitated agricultural and industrial production and new sources of energy significantly altered the way people lived and worked and undercut taken-for-granted norms and values. • Individuals, villages, and regions became interdependent. • Education emerged as a social institution distinct from the family due to need for specialized knowledge. 3. Postindustrial Societies • Mechanized production continues to play a substantial role in shaping social order, but the economic system of a postindustrial society is primarily engaged in the processing and control of information. • Main output is services rather than manufactured goods. • Differential access to resources has hidden consequences. D. Postmodern Life • A postmodern society is a technologically sophisticated, pluralistic, interconnected, globalized society. • Four elements provide a sense of the key characteristics of such societies: 1. Stories • People hold many different, often competing, sets of norms and values. Fewer people assume that a single, all-inclusive story (a particular religious tradition or an all-encompassing scientific theory) can unite everyone. • Multiplicity of stories undercuts the authority that singular accounts of reality have had in the past. 2. Images • Importance of images is emphasized by the explosion of mass media. • Our knowledge of what is real is always constrained by the images we construct. 3. Choices • We pick and choose our reality from the images and experiences presented to us. Examples: Food, clothes, partners, jobs, identities. • Contrast with a society characterized by mechanical solidarity, where one's life path is all but set at birth. 4. Networks • Increasingly, all corners of the globe are linked into a vast, interrelated social, cultural, political, and economic system. KEY TERMS Achieved status A social position that is within our power to change. Agrarian society The most technologically advanced form of preindustrial society. Members are engaged primarily in the production of food, but they increase their crop yields through technological innovations such as the plow. Alienation Loss of control over our creative human capacity to produce, separation from the products we make, and isolation from our fellow producers. Ascribed status A social position assigned to a person by society without regard for the person’s unique talents or characteristics. Bureaucracy A component of formal organization that uses rules and hierarchical ranking to achieve efficiency. Bureaucratization The process by which a group, organization, or social movement increasingly relies on technical-rational decision making in the pursuit of efficiency. Classical theory An approach to the study of formal organizations that views workers as being motivated almost entirely by economic rewards. Coalition A temporary or permanent alliance geared toward a common goal. Gemeinschaft A close-knit community, often found in rural areas, in which strong personal bonds unite members. Gesellschaft A community, often urban, that is large and impersonal, with little commitment to the group or consensus on values. Goal displacement Overzealous conformity to official regulations of a bureaucracy. Group Any number of people with shared norms, values, and goals who interact with one another on a regular basis. Horticultural society A preindustrial society in which people plant seeds and crops rather than merely subsist on available foods. Human relations approach An approach to the study of formal organizations that emphasizes the role of people, communication, and participation in a bureaucracy and tends to focus on the informal structure of the organization. Hunting-and-gathering society A preindustrial society in which people rely on whatever foods and fibers are readily available in order to survive. Ideal type An abstract model of the essential characteristics of a phenomenon. Industrial society A society that depends on mechanization to produce its goods and services. In-group A category of people who share a common identity and sense of belonging. Iron law of oligarchy The principle that all organizations, even democratic ones, tend to develop into a bureaucracy ruled by an elite few. Master status A status that dominates others and thereby determines a person’s general position in society. McDonaldization The process by which the principles of efficiency, calculability, predictability, and control shape organization and decision making in the United States and around the world. Mechanical solidarity Social cohesion based on shared experiences, knowledge, and skills in which things function more or less the way they always have, with minimal change. Organic solidarity Social cohesion based on mutual interdependence in the context of an extreme division of labor. Out-group A category of people who do not belong or do not fit in. Postindustrial society A society whose economic system is engaged primarily in the processing and control of information. Postmodern society A technologically sophisticated, pluralistic, interconnected, globalized society. Primary group A small group characterized by intimate, face-to-face association and cooperation. Reference group Any group that individuals use as a standard for evaluating themselves and their own behavior. Role conflict The situation that occurs when incompatible expectations arise from two or more social statuses held by the same person. Role exit The process of disengagement from a role that is central to one’s self-identity in order to establish a new role and identity. Role strain The difficulty that arises when the same social status imposes conflicting demands and expectations. Scientific management approach Another name for the classical theory of formal organizations. Secondary group A formal, impersonal group in which there is little social intimacy or mutual understanding. Social institution Integrated and persistent social networks dedicated to ensuring that society's core needs are met. Social interaction A reciprocal exchange in which two or more people read, react, and respond to each other. Social network A series of social relationships that links individuals directly to others, and through them indirectly to still more people. Social role A set of expected behaviors for people who occupy a given social position or status. Social structure The underlying framework of society consisting of the positions people occupy and the relationships between them. Status The social positions we occupy relative to others. Trained incapacity The tendency of workers in a bureaucracy to become so specialized that they develop blind spots and fail to notice potential problems. ADDITIONAL LECTURE IDEAS 5-1: Social Roles amidst Disasters Lewis Killian studied the reaction of four Oklahoma and Texas communities to physical disasters such as explosions and tornadoes. He and his researchers found that individuals experienced unusual role conflicts because of the abnormal and stressful social conditions. In one case, the heroic role of rescue worker conflicted with a person’s occupational duties. As a result, a minister gave up an opportunity to act as a hero. This minister, hearing an explosion on the shipping docks, headed in that direction to join the rescue effort. On his way, he realized that he had to make a choice between serving as a rescue worker and serving as a minister. He chose his counseling role rather than the physical rescue work. In a second situation, Killian found a conflict between the roles of community member and member of a group with ties outside the community, specifically, a labor union. At the time of the disaster studied by Killian, telephone workers were on strike. Because of the emergency, union leaders allowed the strikers to return to their jobs. However, a few days later the union determined that the emergency was over—a judgment that was not shared within the community—and ordered the workers to walk out again. Rather than forsaking their role as community members, the telephone workers resigned from the union. Killian reports, “it was almost a year before union officials were able to reorganize the local in this town, and some workers never rejoined” (Killian 1952: 313). The choices faced by the minister and the union members could not have been anticipated before disaster struck in their communities. Therefore, role conflicts can arise not only out of everyday familial and occupational situations, but also out of extraordinary circumstances such as a natural disaster. See Lewis M. Killian, “The Significance of Multiple-Group Membership in Disaster,” American Journal of Sociology 57 (January 1952): 309–314. 5-2: China and People with Disabilities Having a disability is a master status found throughout the world. Sometimes its power surfaces in unusual ways. In 1994, Fang Zheng was hailed as China’s discus champion among athletes with a disability. In his case, the disability that he had overcome was the loss of both legs. But the Chinese government barred him from international competition when Communist party officials learned that his disability occurred during the Tiananmen Square uprising of June 4, 1989, when students and workers were demonstrating for democratic reforms. A Chinese Army tank ran him down, crushing his legs and dragging him 30 feet as the tank plunged into the crowd to suppress dissenters. His legs were later amputated. Prior to the publicity associated with this event, sociologist C. Edward Vaughan evaluated public policy and the existing laws regarding people with disabilities in the People’s Republic of China. In 1988, China published its first five-year plan for the rehabilitation and education of people with disabilities. The Handicapped People’s Association, an organization sponsored by the Chinese government, participated in the preparatory work and discussions that led to the final document. The plan focuses on improving educational opportunities for people with disabilities and on strengthening special education programs. While the plan encourages all levels of government to enhance the employment, health, education, and general welfare of people with disabilities, these policies are outlined in broad terms and lack specific goals. In 1990, China’s national government issued the “Law of the People’s Republic of China on the Protection of Disabled Persons.” This law was shaped, in part, through the advocacy efforts of the Disabled People’s Association. The law suggests that employers offer work opportunities to people with disabilities who pass entrance examinations. All levels of society are encouraged to offer access to people with disabilities, including access to cultural materials and transportation. To bring greater recognition to the contribution of people with disabilities, the third Sunday of every May was established as National Disabled Persons’ Day. The new legislation prohibits public officials from violating the interests or rights of people with disabilities. It outlaws violent and insulting behavior aimed at the disabled, as well as mistreatment of people with disabilities by family members or caregivers. Unfortunately, as Vaughan observes, it will be difficult for many people with disabilities to obtain justice. Few attorneys are available to represent disabled people in cases arising from the 1990 law. Most people with disabilities have limited economic resources and few connections to powerful public officials. See Patrick E. Tyler, “China Discus Champ: Alone, Disabled, and Barred,” New York Times (September 8, 1994): A3; C. Edwin Vaughan, “The Development of Public Policy and New Laws Concerning the Rights of People with Disabilities in the People’s Republic of China,” Journal of Disability Policy Studies 4 (Summer 1993): 131–140. 5-3: Role Transitions Sociologists and other social scientists have examined the transitions that people make from one social role to another. Usually, researchers look at major turning points in the life course, such as rites of passage when people move between different sets of social networks. Sociologist Ira Silver notes that these studies fail to acknowledge the importance of material objects and the physical space in which role transitions take place. He explores one particular role transition, moving away to college, to illustrate that objects play a central role in how students contract their social identities. The term social identity refers to the meaning individuals perceive that others may attach to their particular social roles. Following the work of Erving Goffman and the dramaturgical approach, Silver pays specific attention to the objects that are used as props, used to manage the impressions that others form about the roles a given individual occupies. Students make what amounts to strategic choices about which objects to leave at home, objects that Silver refers to as anchors, or prior identities, and which ones to bring to school as masters of new identities. The researcher conducted interviews with freshmen and sophomore students at a residential university. Students indicated the strong ties they had to their anchors, those objects that they associated exclusively with prior stages in their lives, such as childhood or early adolescence. Students commented that leaving behind the objects representing the ties they felt to their parents seemed to assume that most of their prized possessions were left behind. The anchors that the students chose to bring with them often reflected a conscious assemblage of their different past activities or accomplishments. By contrast, markers (for example, record and CD collections and mementos from trips to exotic places) are objects symbolic of where the students saw themselves presently and of the type of impression they wanted to generate. For example, one female student made it clear that she never considered bringing her stuffed animals. Another made a similar statement about dolls. While this may seem obvious, such decisions are conscious efforts to move into another social role. Conscious efforts also go into deciding what to display on the walls of one’s room. One male student, for example, purposely put up an unusual Beatles poster to signal to others that he was a real fan and had not just bought one that could be conveniently obtained anywhere. The research confirms the enduring accuracy of the famed interactionist Herbert Blumer’s three fundamental principles: (1) human beings act toward things on the basis of the meaning that the things have for them; (2) the meaning of such things is derived from, or arises out of, the social interaction that one has with one’s peer group; and (3) these meanings are handled in, and modified through, an interpretive process used by people in dealing with the things they encounter (1996: 2). Sources: Herbert Blumer. Symbolic Interactionism: Perspective and Method. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1969; Blumer, “Role Transitions, Objects, and Identity,” Symbolic Interaction 19 (Winter 1996): 1–20. 5-4: Bowling Alone What are our relationships with others? Do we even have relationships with others? These questions have been raised because of a provocative book by Robert D. Putnam, Professor of International Affairs at Harvard University. Putnam states in Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community that civic life in the United States is collapsing; people are not joining, as they once did, the groups and clubs that promote trust and cooperation. This lack of connectedness in turn undermines democracy. Putnam takes his title (and central emblem of decline) from the fact that bowling league membership has dropped 40 percent since 1980; hence, we are “bowling alone.” Putnam’s premise has led to much discussion; even President Clinton made references to it during his first term. Is there empirical support for his thesis? Putnam contends that there is. Drawing on NORC General Social Survey data, he finds a 25 percent drop in all group membership since 1974, once the data are adjusted for rising educational levels. Putnam adjusts for schooling because better-educated people typically have belonged to more organizations. Once we adjust for more people being educated, says Putnam, it turns out we are less a nation of joiners. Looking at the same data, economist Robert J. Samuelson does not feel that there has been such a change. Most of the decline has been in church groups, and if one factors that out, the change has been mixed, but certainly not a trend of major decline. Furthermore, while membership in some traditional groups is declining, many new groups are developing and flourishing. Little League participation is giving way to soccer leagues, YMCA to health clubs, and church organizations to fellowships such as Promise Keepers. Sources: Robert D. Putnam. Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2001. Robert J. Samuelson, “Join the Club,” Washington Post National Weekly Edition 13 (April 18, 1996): 8; Richard Stengel, “Bowling Together,” Time 146 (July 22, 1996): 35–36. 5-5: Social Networks in the United States Sociologist Peter Marsden used the 1985 NORC General Social Survey (GSS) to gain an overview of the features of social networks. Respondents in the national interview survey were asked to name all the people with whom they discussed “important matters” (family, finances, health, politics, recreation, and so forth) within the past six months. Subsequent questions focused on the first five names mentioned, as a concession to time constraints. The respondents were asked to describe the relationship between themselves and each of their confidants as, say, “especially close” or “total strangers.” Items describing the respondent’s relationship with each confidant (in terms of closeness, frequency of contact, duration of acquaintance, and role relations) were included, as were questions asking for the sex, race or ethnicity, education, age, and religious preferences of each confidant. Among the findings was the distribution of network size. Comparatively large percentages of respondents reported that they had recently discussed important matters with no one, or with only one person. Nearly a quarter of the respondents had networks of zero or one, and thus had relatively little counseling support. Few respondents indicated that they had more than six discussion contacts; the mean and mode were three. The networks drew heavily on kinship as a source of relationships. Respondents cited a mean of 1.5 relatives, slightly more than the 1.4 nonrelatives cited. There is substantial variability in the extent to which these interpersonal networks consisted of relatives rather than nonrelatives: 30 percent consisted only of people having some family relation to the respondent, while nearly 20 percent contained no family members. The average network had a proportion of relatives of 0.55. Marsden found this comparable with the level of “kin composition” found in previous surveys of large populations, including network items based on “intense name generators.” The racial and ethnic homogeneity of the networks was pronounced; only 96 respondents (8 percent of those with networks of size 2 or greater) cited “confidants” with any racial or ethnic diversity. By contrast only 22 percent of the respondents had networks with “alters” of only one sex. If anything, these estimates understate the extent of homogeneity in interpersonal environments because of the high “kin composition” of the networks, which had many ties bridging generations and many cross-sex links to spouses, siblings, parents, and children. A higher proportion of kin is associated with greater age, educational, and sexual heterogeneity. If these networks had been composed only of nonrelatives, they would have been substantially less heterogeneous in these respects than the detailed findings indicated. “Kin composition” does, however, tend to decrease racial and ethnic heterogeneity. Overall, these descriptive figures suggest that interpersonal environments in which Americans discuss important matters are “core” networks, as the choice of a relatively intense name generator implies. They are small, centered on relatives, comparatively dense, and homogeneous. See Peter Marsden, “Core Discussion Networks of Americans,” American Sociological Review 52 (February 1987): 122–131; “Social Network Theory,” in Edgar F. Borgatta and Marie L. Borgatta (eds.). Encyclopedia of Sociology, vol. 4. New York: Macmillan, 1992, pp. 1,887–1,994. 5-6: Daily Life in a Hunting-and-Gathering Society Looking at daily life in a hunting-and-gathering society can give some perspective on the range of variation in social structure in human societies. A close examination of life in the most famous of contemporary hunting-and-gathering societies—the Kalahari San—also suggests some interesting comparisons to life in an industrialized society, particularly when it comes to gender inequality. The Kalahari San are clustered in the country of Botswana, but can also be found throughout Southern Africa. Unfortunately, in recent decades they have been forced to give up their nomadic lifestyle, as other African populations began to encroach upon traditional San living areas. But the nomadic San lifestyle prior to the 1970s has been well documented in a number of studies. Prior to becoming stationary, the San typically lived together in bands of 10–85, who traveled seasonally within a specific geographical territory. For much of the year, the band moved camp every few weeks, once the food sources in a given area had been depleted. During the dry season—when it was difficult to extract water from plant sources—the band might camp for several months near a large water resource. Despite the common assumption that these bands were analogous to households, there were actually distinct nuclear families within each band. To some extent, each nuclear family within a band was economically independent from the others. On another level, the sharing of resources across bands was far more common than it is in industrial societies. The social processes through which meat was distributed well illustrates the extent of interdependence across families. Technically, the spoils of a large-animal hunt belonged to just two or three people: the man who shot the animal, if applicable, the man who lent him the arrow, and the man who accompanied him on the hunt. In practice, though, meat was shared much more widely. Once a portion for his nuclear family was secured, the owner of a carcass would often give some of the meat to married children or to in-laws, who would then distribute the meat further. Ultimately, nearly everyone in the band could expect to eat part of the carcass. As in industrial societies, gender was often the basis for assigning work among members of the band. Although both genders engaged in a variety of activities, a primary activity for women was to gather plant foods for their families, and a primary activity for men was to hunt large animals with a bow and arrow. Does this imply that women were considered inferior to men, or that women’s work was considered less important than men’s work? This is definitely not the case. It is clear that plant food gathered by women was far more central to the diet of the San than meat. Depending on the season, band members might go for long periods without meat—as long as two months—and total annual meat consumption was not high. Ethnographic evidence also suggests that San society was fairly gender equitable, in the sense that women had substantial autonomy and political power. They were often influential in the band as a whole, and had a strong voice in important family decisions. Sources used for this essay and additional reading ideas include: Marjorie Shostak. Nisa: The Life and Words of a !Kung Woman. New York: Vintage Books, 1983; George B. Silberbauer. Hunter and Habitat in the Central Kalahari Desert. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1981; Jiro Tanaka. The San Hunter-Gatherers of the Kalahari. Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press, 1980; Elizabeth Marshall Thomas. The Harmless People. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1959. 5-7: Organizational Variables How do sociologists study the wide range of formal organizations found in American society? Sociologist Dean Champion has arranged the variables that have been studied under four headings: 1. Organizational structure a. Size: payroll or clientele b. Complexity: differentiation of duties c. Formalization: written rules or codes 2. Organizational control a. Size of administrative component b. Bureaucratization: degree of specialization and dependence on written rules c. Centralization: power retained by the central organizational hierarchy d. Level of authority: numbers of layers of different positions 3. Organizational behavior a. Climate: feelings of workers toward the organization b. Effectiveness: ability of an organization to achieve its goals c. Goals: intentions and activities 4. Organizational change a. Labor turnover: percentage of people who leave in the course of a year b. Conflict: tension, interference, and disagreements c. Flexibility: degree to which an organization is adaptable to external and internal changes d. Growth: change in number of employees, assets, departments, new product markets, and so forth e. Administrative succession: turnover among administrative heads in an organization f. Technology: mechanisms or processes, including automation This model of variables for study is only one of many ways of examining organizations. Owing to the complexity and importance of this subject, there are many interpretations of organizational structure, control, behavior, and change. See Dean Champion. The Sociology of Organizations. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1975. 5-8: Reforming Socialist Work Organizations Among the reforming socialist economies of Eastern Europe and Asia, China has been a standout success story. Although still ruled by a socialist government, China’s economy has seen sustained economic growth for decades, and its state-owned work organizations are now much more profit oriented than before. How is it that China has experienced such a smooth road to capitalism, when so many other post-socialist economies have faltered? Much of the secret lies in the techniques used to revamp its system of government-owned work organizations. Prior to 1978, provincial and municipal governments, work organizations, and workers, were all linked hierarchically to the national government through a centralized system of resource distribution. State-owned enterprises—for-profit industrial firms incorporated into the national budget—were the centerpiece of this system. They operated under soft budget constraints, receiving funds from the national government for labor costs and production, and benefiting from low, state-set prices on factor resources. In return, they were required to fulfill production plans set by the government, adhere to low, state-set wages for employees, sell goods at state-set prices, and turn over the bulk of their profits to municipal and provincial governments. These governments in turn handed profits over to the state. Such a system minimized opportunities and risks for local governments, state enterprises, and individuals. Urban residents were limited in employment opportunities to public enterprises in which wages were uniformly low and not linked to performance. This was due in part to the fact that local governments and firms lacked the autonomy, responsibility, and profit incentives required to create substantial wage differentials. Municipal and provincial governments had few rights to profit from the state enterprises that dominated industrial output, and could not develop private businesses within their territories. State enterprises were not held responsible for their losses, faced little competition, and had no autonomy to funnel profits into investments or wages. However, in the late 1970s, new laws legalizing private firms and foreign investment, coupled with fiscal reforms granting greater autonomy and responsibility to local governments, gave provincial and municipal governments strong incentives to encourage the emergence of economic growth. Fiscal reforms allowed provincial governments to pay a fixed-sum tax from enterprise profits each year, and retain the rest. Reforms implemented in state-owned enterprises paralleled these fiscal reforms, making state firms more autonomous of the government. Government-owned firms were allowed to retain a far greater share of their profits than before, and to sell commodities on the open market, setting their own prices for them. Firm managers were allowed greater autonomy in controlling the day-to-day operations of their companies. At the same time, firms were now expected to operate under hard budget constraints, risking bankruptcy if they failed to do so. Faced for the first time with profit incentives, harder budget constraints, and new competition from private and collectively owned businesses, state-owned firms have responded by increasingly allocating wages on the basis of worker performance, and bonuses on the basis of firm profitability. In other words, they now operate much more like capitalist firms. Sources used for this essay and additional reading ideas include: Doug Guthrie. Dragon in a Three-Piece Suit. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1999; Gary Jefferson and Inderjit Singh (eds.). Enterprise Reform in China: Ownership, Transition, and Performance. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999; Xiaobo Lu and Elizabeth Perry. Danwei: The Changing Chinese Workplace in Comparative and Historical Perspective. Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe, 1997; Barry Naughton. Growing out of the Plan. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1995; Andrew Walder. Communist Neo-Traditionalism. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1986. 5-9: Profile: Little People of America We have all heard of the legendary 33-inch-tall circus performer, Tom Thumb. Unlike this famous performer, most midgets and dwarfs receive no fanfare; instead, they have significant social problems. As a result, the Little People of America organization (LPA) was established in 1957 to meet the special needs of our nation’s “little people.” Little people include two distinct groups: midgets and dwarfs. Midgets are perfectly proportioned miniatures who generally bear normal-sized children. Dwarfs, by contrast, have short arms and legs, normal-sized trunks, and large heads. They are likely to pass their physical characteristics on to their children. Little people in the United States must make a number of psychological and social adjustments that people of average height never face. They are frequently seen as unemployable outside of the world of entertainment. Dating presents a special problem for little people who are isolated from others of similar stature. Our culture perpetuates many prejudices about people who look different from the norm, and little people can face unjustified fear, ridicule, hostility, and prejudice solely because of their appearance. The LPA has instituted a number of programs to solve these problems. For example, the organization maintains contacts with adoption agencies and alerts members when dwarf children are available for adoption from normal-sized parents. The LPA provides information on how to modify automobiles and homes to make them more comfortable and practical for midgets and dwarfs. In addition, its meetings and annual conventions provide a pleasant way for the organization’s 4,000 members to meet other little people and share experiences. The LPA does not attempt to engulf its members; rather, it encourages people to live meaningful lives within the dominant culture. At the same time, members of the organization know that they have at least one place to turn to for assistance, understanding, and support. At a meeting of Little People of America, a midget or dwarf can expect that his or her size—and problems—will genuinely be seen as “normal.” Weinberg (1968) asked a number of members what they had gained through association with the LPA. One replied, “I have learned not to be afraid of other people because they are bigger than you.” Another answered, “Friends, happiness, and a million dollars worth of living.” See Denise S. Askey, ed. Encyclopedia of Associations. Detroit: Gale Research, 1983, p. 857. See also Judith Fagan Burbank, “Roundup of Current Research: Little People of America,” Transaction 6 (March 1969): 6–7; Ann Japenga, “Suicide Spotlights Problems of Small People,” International Herald Tribune (July 21–22, 1984); Martin S. Weinberg, “The Problem of Midgets and Dwarfs and Organizational Remedies: A Study of Little People of America," Journal of Health and Social Behavior 9 (March 1968): 65–71. TOPICS FOR STUDENT RESEARCH AND CLASSROOM DISCUSSION 1. Ask students to spend a few days testing social reality by facing toward the rear wall in an elevator, or continually talking with others while in the elevator. Have them record the general reaction of their observers. Discuss how social reality is shaped by perceptions, evaluations, and definitions. 2. Ask students to list charities or organizations to which they or their families have donated money. Compare this to the amount of money they have given to homeless people on the street. Discuss the impact of master statuses in producing any differences. 3. Ask students to view the movie Kindergarten Cop, and discuss the implications of role conflict. 4. Ask students to find various evidentiary indicators used by society to encourage older workers to retire, and discuss the four stages of role exit as developed by Helen Rose Fuchs Ebaugh. 5. Ask students to find examples of how written rules and regulations concerning their behavior at college may stifle their initiative or imagination, and discuss the various vices associated with bureaucracies. 6. Ask students to search magazines for examples of American culture influencing foreign nations, and discuss George Ritzer’s concept of McDonaldization. 7. Ask students to research the various advantages and disadvantages of learning college curriculum via the Internet, and discuss the social implications of virtual classrooms. REEL TALK Office Space (Twentieth Century Fox, 1999, 89m). This satire of office life stars Ron Livingston as Peter Gibbons. He hates his job as a software engineer at Initech, he thinks his girlfriend (Alexandra Wentworth) is cheating on him, and he has a crush on a beautiful waitress (Jennifer Aniston). A visit to a hypnotherapist, however, frees him from worry. Just as his company is downsizing, he no longer cares about keeping his job, which—paradoxically—makes him more valuable in the company’s eyes. When two of his friends—Samir (Ajay Naidu) and Michael (David Herman)—are laid off, the three of them scheme to use a computer virus to siphon company money into their own account. Director: Mike Judge. Lawrence: Diedrich Bader. Bill Lumbergh: Gary Cole. Milton: Stephen Root. Topic: Social structure, bureaucracy. Chapter 6 Deviance LEARNING OBJECTIVES 1. Define and discuss the elements of social control. 2. Discuss informal and formal social control. 3. Define deviance and social stigma. 4. Describe the various types of crime. 5. Discuss the nature and extent of crime in the United States. 6. Discuss the various sociological perspectives on deviance and crime. CHAPTER SUMMARY The term social control refers to techniques and strategies for preventing deviant human behavior in any society. Social control occurs on all levels of society—families, peer groups, bureaucratic organizations, and governments. Members of society are expected to act “properly.” Sanctions are penalties or rewards for conduct concerning social norms. Entrenched interests seek to maintain the status quo and use their power over sanctions to do so. Conformity is defined as going along with peers—individuals of our own status who have no special right to direct our behavior. Obedience is defined as compliance with higher authorities in a hierarchical structure. People casually, through such means as smiles, laughter, and ridicule, carry out informal social control. Authorized agents, such as police officers, judges, school administrators, employers, and military officers, carry out formal social control. Law is defined as governmental social control, and reflects continually changing standards of what is right and wrong. Control theory suggests that our connection to other members of society leads us to conform systematically to society’s norms. Sociologists define deviance as behavior that violates the standards of conduct or expectations of a group or society. Deviance can be understood only within its social context. In most instances, those individuals and groups with the greatest status and power define what is acceptable and what is deviant. The term stigma was coined by Erving Goffman to describe the labels society uses to devalue the members of certain social groups. People are often stigmatized for deviant behaviors they may no longer engage in. Crime is a violation of law for which some governmental authority applies formal penalties. The FBI tracks violent crimes and property crimes—known as index crimes—in their annual Uniform Crime Reports (UCR). Crimes rates vary over time, and there has been a substantial decrease in the rate of all eight index crimes in the past decade. The most serious limitation of UCR statistics is that they include only those crimes reported to law enforcement agencies. The National Crime Victimization Survey was initiated in 1972 to question ordinary people to determine whether they have been victims of crime. Its victimization surveys—surveys asking a sample of a population whether they have been victims of a crime—show that many crimes go unreported to the police. Another shortfall of the UCR is that it does not track all types of crime. Illegal acts committed by affluent, "respectable" individuals in the course of business activities are known as white-collar crime. Broadly applied the term includes misdeeds by corporations and businesses as well. Bernie Madoff is a well-known white-collar criminal. As with many such criminals he was successful in part because people in authority gave him the benefit of the doubt because of his seeming respectability. Victimless crime is sometimes used to describe acts that involve the willing exchange among adults of widely desired, but illegal, goods and services, such as drugs and prostitution. Some argue that because the participants are all willing, these should not be considered crimes. Others argue that these activities contribute to an enormous amount of personal and property damage and that society should not give tacit approval to these activities them by decriminalizing them. Organized crime is the work of groups that regulate relations among criminal enterprises involved in illegal activities, including prostitution, gambling, and the smuggling and sale of illegal drugs. In recent years such criminals have increasingly engaged in transnational crime, crime that occurs across multiple international borders. Sociologists have generated numerous theories of deviance and crime. Émile Durkheim argued that there is nothing inherently deviant or criminal in any act; the key is how society responds to the act. He used the term anomie to describe the loss of direction felt in a society when social control of individual behavior has become ineffective. Robert Merton took Durkheim’s theory a step further. His strain theory of deviance views deviance as an adaptation of socially prescribed goals or of the means governing their attainment, or both. Merton posits five basic forms of adaptation to a society's goals and means: (1) conformity, (2) innovation, (3) ritualism, (4) retreatism, and (5) rebellion. Merton's theory, though popular, does not fully account for patterns of deviance and crime. Social interaction and what “deviance” means must also be considered. Edwin Sutherland drew on cultural transmission, which emphasizes that individuals learn criminal behavior by interacting with others. He used the term differential association to describe the process through which exposure to attitudes favorable to criminal acts leads to violation of rules. Social disorganization theory attributes increases in crime and deviance to the absence or breakdown of communal relationships and social institutions. Labeling theory attempts to explain why certain people are viewed as deviants when others engaged in the same behavior are not. It is also referred to as the societal-reaction approach, reminding us that it is the response to an act, not the act itself, that determines deviance. According to Richard Quinney, the criminal justice system serves the interests of the powerful, who define deviance to suit their own needs. The system treats suspects differently based on their race, ethnicity, gender, and social class background, displaying differential justice. RESOURCE INTEGRATOR 1. What are the various means of social control? IN THE TEXT Key Terms: social control, conformity, obedience, informal social control, formal social control, control theory 2. How do sociologists define deviance? IN THE TEXT Key Terms: deviance, stigma 3. What are the major trends in crime statistics? IN THE TEXT Key Terms: crime, index crime, victimization survey 4. What are the different types of crime? IN THE TEXT Key Terms: crime, index crime, white-collar crime, victimless crime, organized crime, transnational crime 5. What are the sociological perspectives on deviance and crime? IN THE TEXT Key Terms: strain theory of deviance, cultural transmission, differential association, social disorganization theory, labeling theory, societal-reaction approach, differential justice LECTURE OUTLINE I. Social Control • Refers to the techniques and strategies for preventing deviant human behavior in any society. • Social control occurs on all levels of society. Family, peers, bureaucratic organizations, and governments socialize individuals to social norms. Example: Dress codes. • Sanctions are penalties and rewards for conduct concerning a social norm. • Society is defined in part by people’s willingness to accept shared beliefs and practices. On the other hand, society can limit individual freedom and advance the interests of some at the expense of others. • Positive social change often comes through resistance to the status quo, which may meet with significant opposition. Examples: Overturning slavery, getting women the right to vote, ending the war in Vietnam. A. Conformity and Obedience • Stanley Milgram defined conformity as going along with peers—individuals of our own status who have no special right to direct our behavior. • He defined obedience as compliance with higher authorities in a hierarchical structure. Example: Military recruit. • Milgram’s electric shock experiment was performed to better understand the involvement of Germans in the Holocaust. He found that “Behavior that is unthinkable in an individual . . . acting on his own may be executed without hesitation when carried out under orders.” Under conducive circumstances, otherwise normal people can and often do treat one another inhumanely. B. Informal and Formal Social Control • Informal social control is carried out casually by ordinary people through such means as laughter, smiles, and ridicule. • Formal social control is carried out by authorized agents, such as police officers, judges, school administrators, and employers. Example: Imprisonment. • The interplay between informal and formal social control can be complicated because we sometimes have to balance one source of control against another. Example: Binge drinking on college campuses. C. Law and Society • Law is defined as governmental social control. • Some laws are directed at all members of society. Example: Laws prohibiting murder. Some laws affect particular categories of people. Example: Hunting and fishing regulations. Others govern social institutions. Example: Corporate laws. • Creation of laws is a social process in response to perceived needs for formal social control. Example: Alcohol prohibition laws. • The establishment of laws inevitably generates conflicts over whose values should prevail. • Travis Hirschi’s control theory suggests that our connection to members of society leads us to systematically conform to society’s norms. II. Deviance • Behavior that violates the standards of conduct or expectations of a group or society. Examples: Criminals, alcoholics, compulsive gamblers, and the mentally ill. • We are all deviant from time to time. A. What Behavior Is Deviant? • Defining an act as deviant depends on the context. Example: Internet file sharing. • Individuals and groups with the greatest status and power define what is acceptable and what is deviant. • Deviance is not always negative. Example: Civil rights movement. B. Deviance and Social Stigma • Erving Goffman used the term stigma to describe the labels society uses to devalue members of certain social groups. Example: Short people. • We face pressure not to deviate too far from expected social norms. Example: The beauty myth. • People may be stigmatized for past behaviors. Examples: Ex-con, recovering alcoholic. • A person need not be guilty of a crime to be stigmatized. Example: A homeless person having trouble getting a job. III. Crime • A violation of law for which some governmental authority applies formal penalties. • Laws divide crimes into various categories. A. Official Crime Reports • Index crimes are the eight types of crime that are tabulated each year by the FBI, and reported in their Uniform Crime Reports. They include murder, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault (violent crimes); and burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft, and arson (property crimes). 1. Trends in Crime • Crime rates vary over time. • Between 2002 and 2012, crime rates have fallen in every major category. • Some reasons for this could include: aging population; changes in the economy including the economic downturn in the early 2000s and again starting in 2008; expansion of community-oriented policing and crime prevention programs; increased incarceration rates removing potential offenders from the streets; and new prison education programs designed to reduce the number of repeat offenders. • Knowledge about crime trends can help in establishing more effective policies designed to further reduce future crime rates. 2. Victimization Surveys • Crime statistics include only crimes actually reported to law enforcement agencies. Racial and ethnic minorities and women often distrust law enforcement, and may not contact the police when they are victimized. • The National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) interviews over 70,000 individuals in 40,000 households to determine if they were victims of specific crimes during the preceding year. Those who administer victimization surveys generally question ordinary people. • Victimization survey results show that many crimes are not reported to the police. • Official statistics exclude many offenses that we would count as criminal. B. White-Collar Crime • Illegal acts committed in the course of business activities, often by affluent, “respectable” people. Examples: Income tax evasion, embezzlement, bribery. • Edwin Sutherland coined the term white-collar crime to refer to acts by individuals, but the term is now used more broadly to include offenses by businesses and corporations. • Corporate crime is any criminal act by a corporation that is punishable by the government. It takes many forms and includes individuals, organizations, and institutions among its victims. Examples: Stock fraud and manipulation, Ponzi schemes, accounting fraud, production of unsafe goods, environmental pollution, anticompetitive behavior, public health violations, and bribery and corruption. • Sociologists suggest that white-collar criminals are often given the benefit of the doubt. C. Victimless Crimes • The willing exchange among adults of widely desired, but illegal, goods and services. Examples: Prostitution, drugs. • Proponents of decriminalization are troubled by attempts to legislate a moral code for adults. They feel that these crimes are impossible to prevent, and an overburdened criminal justice system should concentrate on offenses with real victims. • Critics of decriminalization object to the notion that these crimes are “victimless.” Examples: Excessive drinking, compulsive gambling, and illegal drug use cause personal and property damage; prostitution reinforces idea that women are “toys.” D. Organized Crime • The work of a group that regulates relations among criminal enterprises involved in illegal activities, including prostitution, gambling, and the smuggling and sale of illegal drugs. • Organized crime is a secret activity that evades law enforcement. It takes over legitimate businesses, gains influence over labor unions, corrupts public officials, intimidates witnesses, and “taxes” merchants for “protection.” • International organized crime includes drug and arms smuggling, money laundering, and trafficking in illegal immigrants and stolen goods. Takes advantage of advances in electronic communications. E. International Crime • Rather than concentrating on specific countries, international crime spans the globe. 1. Transnational Crime • Occurs across multiple national borders. Examples: Terrorism, trafficking in human beings (includes sex trade), trafficking in endangered species, drugs, and stolen art/antiquities. • Organized criminal networks are increasingly global. Technology facilitates illegal activities. 2. International Crime Rates • Violent crimes tend to be much more common in the United States than in the nations of Western Europe. • Incidence of certain other types of crime appears to be higher outside of the United States. Example: England, Italy, and Australia all have higher rates of car theft than the U.S. • The United States imprisons many more people than any other country. • Possible reasons for the United States’ high crime rates include a historically high tolerance for crime, sharp economic disparities, significant unemployment, and substantial alcohol and drug abuse among the population combining to create an environment conducive to crime. • Violent crime related to international drug trafficking is a major problem in Mexico. IV. Sociological Perspectives on Deviance and Crime • Sociologists have generated numerous theories of crime and deviance. A. Functions of Deviance • Émile Durkheim’s emphasis on the importance of social order led him to investigate the nature and causes of deviance and crime. 1. Durkheim’s Theory of Deviance • Durkheim argued that there is nothing inherently deviant or criminal in any act; the key is how sociology responds to the act. • Identifying acts as deviant clarifies our shared beliefs and values and thus brings us closer together. • Based on his analysis, we can conclude that societies identify criminals for the sake of social order. • He used the term anomie to describe the loss of direction felt in a society when social control of individual behavior has become ineffective. When social integration is weak, people are freer to pursue their own deviant paths. 2. Merton’s Theory of Deviance • Robert Merton took Durkheim’s theory a step further. He went beyond the general state of society to look more closely at where people fit in relationship to both goals and means. • His strain theory of deviance posits five basic forms of adaptations to cultural expectations: (1) conformity, (2) innovation, (3) ritualism, (4) retreatism, and (5) rebellion. • Merton’s theory, though popular, does not fully account for patterns of deviance and crime. B. Interpersonal Interaction and Defining Deviance • Social interaction and the definition of “deviance” must also be considered. 1. Cultural Transmission • Edwin Sutherland drew on the cultural transmission school, which emphasizes that individuals learn criminal behavior by interacting with others. • He used the term differential association to describe the process through which exposure to attitudes favorable to criminal acts leads to violation of rules. • People are more likely to engage in norm-defying behavior if they are part of a group or subculture that stresses deviant values, such as a street gang. • Critics charge Sutherland’s theory fails to explain first-time, impulsive deviance. 2. Social Disorganization Theory • Attributes increases in crime and deviance to the absence or breakdown of communal relationships and social institutions such as the family, school, church, and local government. 3. Labeling Theory • Tries to explain why some people are labeled as deviants but others engaged in the same behavior are not. Example: Chambliss study of Saints and Roughnecks. • Also referred to as the societal-reaction approach, reminding us that it is the response to an act, not the act itself, that determines deviance. • Focuses on regulators of social control (police, probation officers, psychiatrists, judges, teachers, etc.), who play a significant role in creating the deviant identity by designating certain people as deviant. Example: Racial profiling. C. Conflict, Power, and Criminality • Richard Quinney argues that the criminal justice system serves the interests of the powerful, who define deviance to suit their own needs. 1. Race and Class • The system treats suspects differently based on their race, ethnicity, and social class background. This differential justice—differences in the way social control is exercised over different groups—puts African Americans and Latinos at a disadvantage in the justice system. Example: Death penalty cases. 2. Gender • Feminist criminologists suggest that existing approaches to deviance and crime were developed with only men in mind. Example: Earlier legal views on spousal rape, reflecting overwhelming male composition of state legislatures at the time. • Society tends to treat women in a stereotypical fashion. Cultural views and attitudes toward women influence how they are perceived and labeled. Example: Women with numerous/frequent sexual partners are subjected to greater scorn than promiscuous men. • Deviance, including crime, flows from economic relationships. Traditionally, men have had greater earning power, so wives may be reluctant to report abuse. • As women have taken more active and powerful roles in the household and in business, gender differences in deviance and crime have narrowed. KEY TERMS Conformity The act of going along with peers—individuals of our own status who have no special right to direct our behavior. Control theory A view of conformity and deviance that suggests that our connection to members of society leads us to systematically conform to society’s norms. Crime A violation of criminal law for which some governmental authority applies formal penalties. Cultural transmission A school of criminology that argues that criminal behavior is learned through social interactions. Deviance Behavior that violates the standards of conduct or expectations of a group or society. Differential association A theory of deviance that holds that violation of rules results from exposure to attitudes favorable to criminal acts. Differential justice Differences in the way social control is exercised over different groups. Formal social control Social control that is carried out by authorized agents, such as police officers, judges, school administrators, and employers. Index crimes The eight types of crime reported annually by the FBI in the Uniform Crime Reports: murder, forcible rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft, and arson. Informal social control Social control that is carried out casually by ordinary people through such means as laughter, smiles, and ridicule. Labeling theory An approach to deviance that attempts to explain why certain people are viewed as deviants while others engaged in the same behavior are not. Obedience Compliance with higher authorities in a hierarchical structure. Organized crime The work of a group that regulates relations among criminal enterprises involved in illegal activities, including prostitution, gambling, and the smuggling and sale of illegal drugs. Social control The techniques and strategies for preventing deviant human behavior in any society. Social disorganization theory The theory that attributes increases in crime and deviance to the absence or breakdown of communal relationships and social institutions, such as the family, school, church, and local government. Societal-reaction approach Another name for labeling theory. Stigma A label used to devalue members of certain social groups. Strain theory of deviance Merton’s theory of deviance as an adaptation of socially prescribed goals or of the means governing their attainment, or both. Transnational crime Crime that occurs across multiple national borders. Victimization survey A questionnaire or interview given to a sample of the population to determine whether people have been victims of crime. Victimless crime A term used by sociologists to describe the willing exchange among adults of widely desired, but illegal, goods and services. White-collar crime Illegal acts committed by affluent, “respectable” individuals in the course of business activities. ADDITIONAL LECTURE IDEAS 6-1: Ethical Implications of Milgram’s Research In Chapter 2 of the text we discussed some of the difficult ethical issues that confront social science researchers. While conducting his experiments on obedience to authority, Stanley Milgram was well aware that his study might leave subjects (especially those who had “shocked” others) with disturbing aftereffects. Thus, as part of the normal procedure for the project, each subject was informed that the “victim” had not actually received dangerous shocks, was carefully debriefed, and was given time to discuss the experiment with someone on Milgram’s staff. Obedient subjects were assured that their behavior was normal and had friendly meetings with unharmed “learners.” See Milgram. Obedience to Authority. New York: Harper & Row, 1975, p. 24. All subjects also received a follow-up questionnaire, which again allowed them to communicate their feelings about the experiment. Almost 84 percent stated that they were glad to have been in the study, while roughly 15 percent were neutral, and only 1.3 percent indicated negative feelings. In addition, 74 percent noted that they had learned something of personal importance from the experience. One subject wrote, “The experiment has strengthened my belief that man should avoid harm to his fellow man even at the risk of violating authority.” Another commented, “If this experiment serves to jar people out of complacency, it will have served its end” (195–196). These measures, while impressive, are not conclusive; the experiment still could have been harmful to participants who had to face their willingness to inflict pain on others. Therefore, Milgram had a psychiatrist examine 40 subjects of the experiment. None showed any indications of “traumatic reactions” (197). Yet even this test cannot guarantee that the same was true of the nearly 1,000 remaining participants in the obedience experiments. See Kenneth Ring et al., “Mode of Debriefing,” Representative Research in Social Psychology 1 (1970): 67–88. A troubling question underlies Milgram’s important research, and also applies, to a lesser extent, to the studies conducted by Solomon Asch. What are the long-range consequences of social science research that misleads, deceives, and may actually harm participants? If the public comes to believe that researchers are not sensitive to ethical issues—and will risk hurting subjects in the pursuit of knowledge—it may become increasingly difficult to recruit subjects for worthwhile and ethically scrupulous experiments. See Bem Allen. Social Behavior: Fact and Falsehood. Chicago: Nelson Hall, 1978, pp. 58–63. See also Diane Baumrind, “Some Thoughts on Ethics of Research,” American Sociologist 19 (June 1964): 421–423. 6-2: Primary and Secondary Deviance Edwin Lemert has offered a useful clarification of the labeling approach. He distinguishes between primary and secondary deviance. Primary deviance is the rationalized violation of rules that define acceptable behavior. A person who abuses alcohol temporarily after the death of a loved one or after a business failure is generally not regarded as deviant. Similarly, a college student who uses cocaine once to find out what his or her friends are talking about will probably not be regarded as a “drug abuser.” Excused or undetected deviant acts do not generate the self-image of a “delinquent” or a “criminal” and may involve the use of techniques of neutralization. Lemert argues that if people who are in a position to apply socially respected labels learn of deviant behavior, an act of deviance will take on a much different meaning. Secondary deviance occurs when a person has been labeled as “deviant.” This labeling arises more frequently when a person engages in repeated acts of misconduct. As a result of the labeling process, the person may reorganize his or her life around this new deviant status and thus embark on a life of norm-violating behavior. For example, suppose that an adolescent boy is brought before a court and charged with his first offense, shoplifting. He may regard the experience with fear and awe at the time. But if he is “let off” based on his previous good conduct, the memory of the court appearance will fade. The act thus remains one of primary deviance: the boy is labeled a “good kid” who “made a mistake.” Suppose, however, that he is bitterly condemned by his family and rejected by his friends. If the youth perceives that he is being viewed as a delinquent, he may begin to see himself that way. Once he accepts this self-image, the incident is transformed into one of secondary deviance. Lemert’s work emphasizes the process of developing a deviant identity over time, just as one can gradually accept the identity of “born leader” or “class clown.” See Edwin Lemert. Social Psychology. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1951. See also Lemert. Human Deviance: Social Problems and Social Control. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1967. 6-3: Being a Hit Man Homicide violates a serious norm that is sanctioned with prison sentences and under some circumstances, with the death of the assailant. People who kill in a hot-blooded burst of passion can draw some comfort from the law, which provides lighter punishments for killings performed without premeditation or intent. But what about someone who kills repeatedly and intentionally, aware that these acts of homicide are unlawful? Ken Levi interviewed, over a four-month period, a self-styled “hit man” (referred to as “Pete from Detroit”) who was serving a prison sentence. Being a hit man might seem to be a life without responsibility to society’s norms. But Pete emphasizes that he is strictly governed by a contract, and failure to fulfill it carries severe penalties. Pete and other hit men insist on big money because they know that less “professional” hired killers (such as drug addicts) who offer to work for low fees often receive a bullet for their pains. It is believed that people who would kill for so little would also require little persuasion to make them talk to the police. Therefore, his and other hit men’s reputation for charging high fees is functional; it helps them to carry out their tasks successfully and, not incidentally, to remain alive. An important way for “freelance” hit men to view their work as appropriate is to “reframe” a hit. Erving Goffman describes “frames” (or “breaks”) as portions of a given situation. Often, norm violators will dissociate themselves from a frame. A prostitute, for instance, may remain absolutely detached, her mind miles away, when having sex with a client. Even surgeons partially dissociate themselves from their patients by having the patient completely covered except for the part to be operated on. This helps them to work in a more impersonal way. Pete, the hit man interviewed by Levi, goes through a process of reframing his hits. He reveals that afterward he can rarely recall a victim’s personal features. Also, he refers to his victims as “targets,” not people. Even at the time of contract, he specifically requests not to be told why the contract has been “let” because even though the motive might justify the hit, it would make the “target” more of a person. Homicide is one of society’s mores. Pete knows that, but he accommodates this potentially discrediting feature of his life by emphasizing the new norms he must obey. Therefore he considers himself “law abiding,” even if the laws are not those of the larger society. Similarly, he approaches the hit as “just a job,” and thus goes as far as he can in denying his norm violation. See Erving Goffman. Frame Analysis. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1974. See also Delos H. Kelly (ed.). Deviant Behavior, 2nd ed. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1985, pp. 528–529, 692–703. TOPICS FOR STUDENT RESEARCH AND CLASSROOM DISCUSSION 1. Ask students to research the use of medical treatments to treat criminality, such as shock therapies, chemical castrations, and lobotomies, and discuss the influence of biological and genetic factors in deviance and crime. 2. Ask students to research the frequency of crime committed in certain subcultural groups within the United States, such as the Amish or Quakers, and discuss how socialization processes such as differential association may affect their incidence of deviance and crime. 3. Ask students to compare the number of laws directed toward people with no visible means of support compared to affluent people, and discuss any implications from the conflict perspective. 4. Ask students to research local yearly crime rates for nonviolent and violent crimes, and then compare the results to national averages. Advise students to conduct their research with an eye for contextualizing factors such as socioeconomic, racial, gender, and other demographic information that historically influences crime rates. REEL TALK The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Scott Rudin Productions, 2011, 158m). In modern-day Sweden, a journalist named Mikael Blomkvist is helped by a young, antisocial computer hacker named Lisbeth Salander, in searching for a woman who has been missing for forty years. Director: David Fincher. Lisbeth Salander: Rooney Mara. Mikael Blomkvist: Daniel Craig. Topic: Crime and Deviance Instructor Manual for SOC Sociology 2020 Jon Witt 9781260075311, 9781260726787, 9780077443191