Sociology 2710: Self and Society Final exam Name:_Thao Ho ___(student ID: 311983)___

Total 39 points.

Part A:

Choose five of the following terms and a. define and explain each in your own words in
sentence format. b. Give an example where appropriate. c. What is the significance of this
term in understanding self and society?

3 points each Total 15 points

1. Intersectionality

- Intersectionality is a conceptual framework for thinking about a person, a group of

individuals, or a societal situation in terms of how they are influenced by a variety of
discriminations and disadvantages. An example of intersectionality is a black man
earns $0.74 and a white woman earns $0.78 for every dollar earned by a white man.
Faced with numerous types of injustice, black women earn barely $0.64 per hour.
Understanding intersectionality is critical to combating the many prejudices that
individuals confront on a daily basis.

2. theory

3. paradigm

4. conflict theory 

5. functionalism 

6. symbolic interactionism

7. capital

8. power

9. gender

- Gender refers to the cultural and social qualities given to men and women based on
supposed biological distinctions. For example, riding a motorbike is frequently
regarded as a manly pastime and hence considered to be a component of the male
gender role. Gender is a significant factor in development. It's a way of looking at
 how societal norms and power structures affect the lives and possibilities of men and
women from diverse backgrounds.

10. Race

- Race refers to the physical distinctions that groups and cultures deem socially
relevant. For example, people might identify their race as Aboriginal, African
American or Black, Asian, etc… Understanding race can help us construct a social
equality, resource, and access to rights.

11. sexuality

12. adolescence

13. culture

- Culture is a broad phrase that encompasses a wide range of largely intangible

aspects of social life including values, beliefs, language, communication, and practice
systems that people share in common. For example, Western culture considered eye-
contact as an expression of credibility meanwhile Eastern people see direct eye-
contact as impolite manner. Culture plays a substantial and crucial part in the
formation of social order. The social order is defined as a society's stability based on
a collective agreement to rules and standards that enable people to collaborate,
function as a community, and live together in peace and harmony.

14. class

15. feminism

16. disability/ableness

17. family

- Family refers to a kinship group is a socially acknowledged group of two or more

people who are linked by blood (adoption, blood, fictive kin, or marriage). An
example of a family is a set of parents living with their children. Families have a
critical role in social development as fundamental and vital building blocks of society.
They are primarily responsible for children's education and socialization, as well as
imparting citizenship and belonging ideals in society.

18. aging

19. indigenous
 20. Black experience

21. habitus

Part B:

Choose three of the following questions to answer in sentence/paragraph form. Use any
resources you wish to support your answer, but provide references if you use others’ ideas.
Three paragraph minimum for each answer.

8 points each, total 24 points.

1. Describe Pierre's Bourdieu's theory and how it applies to one's personal capitus, power
and behavior.  Why do you think capital is important/useful? What would be the difference
between someone who has a lot of capital versus someone who does not? Is it true that the
"winners keep winning and the losers keep losing?"?

2. How is one's school experience affected by the culture, identity, language and other social
phenomena at the time? Include the identities, experiences, and practices/behaviors of
student, parents, siblings, peers, teachers, school and society.

4. How do the genetics, development and beliefs and practices of childhood, parenting and
family life affect one's own identity into adulthood? Do you think our personalities are fixed
at birth or are they more determined by the environment around us? How do you think our
personalities are developed? Why are we all so different?

There are many factors that affect on child development including genetic, family,
education and relationship. The combination of genes and the environment shapes who
children are and will become from the earliest moments of life. While a child's parents'
genetic instructions may provide a road map for development, the environment can
influence how these directions are expressed, shaped, or even silenced (Cherry, 2020). Genes
can include contradictory information at times, and in most circumstances, one gene will
battle in the fight for dominance. For example, if a child has one tall parent and one short
parent, the child may end up bridging the gap by being of normal height. The belief of
parents can have an impact on their children's development. Cultural beliefs, for example,
have been proven to impact how parents raise their children, including how they punish and
establish limits (Maryville, n.d). It's natural for parents to raise their children in accordance
with cultural influences since they're training them to acquire the habits required to function
and prosper in that culture.

Personality characteristics are complicated, and research reveals that both genetic
and environmental variables influence our personalities. These two forces work together in a
number of ways to shape our unique identities. For example, a person who is highly
extroverted, may grow more reserved with time. This does not imply that they will become
introverts. It merely signifies that the person's extroversion has been marginally altered as a
result of environmental factor. And while personality traits are usually stable over time, they
can and frequently do gradually change throughout the life span. Furthermore, most of
these changes are for the better. Many studies, including some of my own, suggest that as
people become older, they grow more pleasant, responsible, and emotionally robust (Soto,
2016). When determine a personality trait, Big Five is a standard indicator to predict a wide
range of important life outcomes, including academic and professional performance,
connections with family, friends, and romantic partners, life satisfaction and emotional well-
being, physical health and lifespan, and many others. Of fact, none of these outcomes are
solely dictated by a person's personality; they are all impacted by the circumstances of their
lives (Soto, 2016). Personality transformation insights are critical for developing successful
treatments that enhance personal development. Finding ways to increase self-control,
emotional stability, inventiveness, would undoubtedly benefit both people and society as a
whole, as these characteristics predict a variety of important life outcomes.

Cherry, Kendra (2020). “How genes influence child development”. Retrieved from
https://www.verywellmind.com/genes-and-development-2795114

Maryville, n.d.” Cultural influences on child development”. Retrieved from

https://online.maryville.edu/blog/cultural-influences-on-child-development/

Soto, Christopher (2016). “Personality can change over a lifetime, and usually for the
better”. Retrieved from
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/06/30/484053435/personality-can-change-
over-a-lifetime-and-usually-for-the-better

5. How does racism influence all of us?  Include a description of the three-stage model of
becoming anti-racist: Fear, Learning, and Growth zones. What aspects of society might keep
people in 'fear zones' and what aspects of society might propel a person forward?

Racism is an ideology that assigns racial groupings different positions based on

perceived different traits in terms of skin colour, cultures and other aspects. The concept of
racism is a fundamental core idea in sociology and is essential to understanding divergence
and inequality in society. In fact, racism has an influential impact on every single aspect of
our lives in terms of environment, education and even physical and mental health.
According to Lewsley (2020), racism is associated with increased levels of stress, which
increases the risk of high blood pressure in people of colour. Racism may generate stress,
which can lead to actions that put one's health at danger. Discrimination which is the form
of racism, has been connected to greater rates of smoking, drinking, drug use, and
unhealthful dietary habits (Lewsley, 2020). In terms of education, discrimination can trigger
stress reactions similar to those seen in post-traumatic stress disorder (Brown, 2015). For
example, students who experience racial discrimination are more likely to have negative
attitudes toward school, worse academic motivation and performance, and are more likely
to drop out of high school (Brown, 2015).

To become anti-racist, understanding the model of learning zone is crucially to avoid

perceived bias relating to racial differences. The Becoming Anti-Racist Learning Zone
include educating oneself about race and institutional racism, expressing sensitivity
regarding biases and knowledge gaps, realizing privilege, etc. Fear zone is the stage when
we deny racism is a problem as we feel overburdened by unreasonable expectations and
information that we cannot process. Learning zone is the stage when acknowledge of
surface of issue as we become aware that racism is the current problem in daily. Growth
zone is the stage when our abilities are stretched that we accept to learn and develop
conscious towards racism and we can educate others how racism can harm our profession.

Lewsley, Joanne (2020). “What are the effects of racism on health and mental
health?” Retrieved from https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/effects-of-racism

Brown, Christia Spears (2015). “The educational, psychological, and social impact of
discrimination on the immigrant child”. Retrieved from
https://www.migrationpolicy.org/research/educational-psychological-and-social-impact-
discrimination-immigrant-child

6. How does gender affect one's development into adulthood, as well as one's identity in
social groups?  How has our understanding of gender changed over time? How does the
concept of intersectionality aim to understand the complexity of factors that impact our
experience of gender?

Early childhood is the most crucial stage of a person's development. This is when
cognitive, social, and emotional abilities are developed, which have an impact on scholastic
attainment, health, and well-being throughout one's life. Gender equality is one of the
major contributors to children's poor development in the early years in many communities.
When young girls and boys are denied access to the opportunities, care, and resources they
require to grow and develop to their full potential, it has far-reaching consequences (Plan
International, n.d). Gender also affects physical growth in infancy. For example, throughout
the first year of life, boys have more weight, length, and head circumference than girls. As
the world evolves which lead to the changes in our perception of gender throughout time.
Specifically, the perception of gender roles and stereotypes also show remarkable changes
over time in regard to many factors such as economic development, social prejudices. If
compared to the time of 100 years ago, women had little power and freedom but the
women today have moved into every area of social and business life. All of this supports the
theory that gender relations have evolved, are variable, and are impacted by the
combination of ecological and social settings in ways that the life history mechanism
predicts (Chang, Zhu, 2019).

Intersectionality is a conceptual framework for thinking about a person, a group of

individuals, or a societal situation in terms of how they are influenced by a variety of
discriminations and disadvantages. It considers people's multiple identities and experiences
in order to comprehend the complexities of biases that they confront (YW Boston, 2017).
The concept of intersectionality can aid organizations in better comprehending the
complexities of gender inequity. It enables development professionals to create initiatives
that address gender inequality while respecting cultural norms and strategizing alongside
communities' transformation objectives. Understanding intersectionality is essential for
addressing the numerous gender biases that people face daily.

Plan International. “Gender inequality and early childhood development”. Retrieved

from https://plan-international.org/publication/2017-06-08-gender-inequality-and-early-
childhood-development

Change, Lei & Zhu Nan (2019). “Evolved but not fixed: A life history account of gender roles
and gender inequality.” Retrieved from
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01709/full

YW Boston (2017). “What is intersectionality and what does it have to do with me?”.
Retrieved from https://www.ywboston.org/2017/03/what-is-intersectionality-and-what-
does-it-have-to-do-with-me/

7. Compare the sociological theories developed in the 1800/1900s by foundational thinkers

and discuss whether and/or how these theories apply today.  Do you think theories have
improved in terms of their understanding of society? In what ways?  What would you
suggest needs to improve if not?

8. What are the most important things you have learned about the relationship between self
and society in the last few weeks of this course? How will you use this information going
forward?