SOCIOLOGY MODULE

Prepared by Prof. Prince Aian G. Villanueva

for LEARNFAST TUTORIAL HUB
January 2017
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1. THE SOCIOLOGICAL
PERSPECTIVE

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 A. What is sociology?
• Sociology is the systematic study of human
society.
• The sociological perspective (Berger, 1963)
helps us to see general social patterns in the
behavior of particular individuals (the general
in the particular).
• It also encourages us to realize that society
guides our thoughts and deeds — to see the
strange in the familiar (Berger, 1963).

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 B. The Origins of Sociology
• Three major social changes during the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries are
important to the development of sociology.
– The rise of a factory-based industrial economy.
– The emergence of large, thriving cities in Europe.
– Political changes, including a rising concern with
individual liberty and rights. The French
Revolution symbolized this dramatic break with
political and social tradition.

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• Auguste Comte (1798-1857)
– believed that the major goal of sociology was to
understand society as it actually operates
– He coined the term sociology.

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 C. Sociological Theory
• A theory is a statement of how and why
specific facts are related. The goal of
sociological theory is to explain social
behavior in the real world.
• Theories are based on theoretical approaches,
basic images of society that guide thinking and
research. Sociologists ask two basic questions:
– “What issues should we study?” and
– “How should we connect the facts?”

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 Three major sociological paradigms

1. The structural-functional approach is a

framework for building theory that sees society
as a complex system whose parts work together
to promote solidarity and stability.
• It asserts that our lives are guided by social structures
(relatively stable patterns of social behavior).
• Each social structure has social functions, or
consequences, for the operation of society as a whole.

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 • Robert Merton (1910-2003) introduced three concepts
related to social function:
• manifest functions, the recognized and intended consequences of any
social pattern
• latent functions, largely unrecognized and unintended con-sequences
• social dysfunctions, undesirable consequences of a social pattern for the
operation of society

• Key Figures: Auguste Comte, Emile Durkheim, Herbert Spencer, and

Talcott Parsons.

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2. The social-conflict approach is a framework for
building theory that sees society as an arena of inequality
that generates conflict and change. Most sociologists who
favor the conflict approach attempt not only to understand
society but also to reduce social inequality.
- Class conflict/inequality
- Gender conflict/inequality
- Race as source of conflict

- Key Figures: Karl Marx (1818-1883), Harriet Martineau

(1802-1876), Jane Addams (1860-1935), and W. E. B.
Du Bois (1868-1963)
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3. The symbolic-interaction approach is a framework
for building theory that sees society as the product of
the everyday interactions of individuals.
• The structural-functional and the social-conflict
approaches share a macro-level orientation, meaning
that they focus on broad social structures that shape
society as a whole. In contrast, symbolic-interactionism
has a micro-level orientation; it focuses on patterns of
social interaction in specific settings.

– Key figures: Max Weber (1864-1920), George Herbert

Mead (1863-1931), Erving Goffman (1922-1982), George
Homans (1910-1989), and Peter Blau (1918-2002).

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2.CULTURE

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Culture refers to a way
of life which includes
what people do (such as
forms of dance) and what
people have (such as
clothing).

It also includes what’s in the

inside— our thoughts
and feelings.
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 Culture is a WAY OF LIFE.

• It is shared by members of a society.

• It shapes how we act, think and feel.

Culture is a HUMAN TRAIT.

• Although several species display a

limited capacity for culture, only
human beings rely on culture for
survival. Culture is a PRODUCT OF
EVOLUTION.

• As the human brain evolved. Culture replaced

biological instincts as our species’ primary
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strategy for survival.
Elements of
Culture

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15
This hand symbol could mean
“Okay!” in some cultures, but it
could also mean “You’re worth
zero!” as in France and Latin
America.

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LANGUAGE is the symbolic system by which
people in a culture communicate with one
another.

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VALUES are abstract standards
of what ought to be.

They are culturally defined

standards that people use to
define what is desirable,
good, and beautiful and that
serve as broad guidelines for
social living.
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 BELIEFS are specific statements
that people who share a culture
hold to be true.

Because most US adults share the value of providing equal

opportunities, they believe that a qualified woman could serve
as the president of the United States. 19
NORMS are rules and expectations by which a society guides
the behavior of its members.

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2 Types of Norms

1. Mores (like sexual

taboos), which have
great moral
significance.
2. Folkways (like
greetings or dining
etiquette) which are
matters of everyday
politeness.

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VALUES and NORMS reflect IDEAL CULTURE, which differs
from REAL CULTURE (what actually occurs in everyday life).

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 Culture and Technology

As society progresses, its technology becomes more complex. As such, its

members are more able to shape the world as they wish.

ARTIFACT (physical human creations which reflect a society’s material

culture) reflect underlying cultural values and technology.
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Cultural Diversity
What does it involve?

1. Diversity is due to a
country’s history of
immigration.

2. It reflects regional
differences.

3. It reflects differences in
social class.

• HIGH CULTURE
(elites)
• POPULAR CULTURE
(average people) 24
 A generation ago, most people regarded tatoos as a
mark of low social status. Today, this cultural pattern
is gaining popularity among people at all social class
levels.
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 Cultural Patterns

• A number of values are central to our way of life. But CULTURAL

PATTERNS are not the same throughout our society.

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SUBCULTURE: cultural patterns that set apart some segment of a
society’s population.

People who ride chopper motorcycles, New England

“Yankees”, and Elvis Presley impersonators display
subcultural patterns.
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COUNTERCULTURE: cultural patterns that strongly oppose
those widely accepted within a society.

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MULTICULTURALISM: a perspective recognizing cultural
diversity. 29
 Why is there cultural
change?
1. INVENTION (e.g. telephone and computer)

2. DISCOVERY (e.g. the recognition that women are

capable of political leadership)

3. DIFFUSION (e.g. the growing popularity of various

ethnic foods and musical styles)

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 Theoretical Analysis of Culture
Structural Functional Social-Conflict Approach Sociobiology Approach
Approach

What is the level of Macro-level Macro-level Macro-level

analysis?
What is culture? It’s a system of Culture is a system that Culture is a system of
behavior by which benefits some people and behavior that is partly
members of societies disadvantages others. shaped by human
cooperate to meet biology.
their needs.
What is the core Society’s core values Society’s system of Humanity’s biological
foundation of and beliefs economic production evolution
culture?
What core How does a cultural How does a cultural How does a cultural
questions does the pattern help society pattern benefit some and pattern help a species
approach ask? operate? harm others? adapt to its
environment?
What cultural patterns How does a cultural
are found in all pattern support social
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societies? inequality?
3. Socialization
Why is social experience the key to human
personality?

What familiar social settings have special

importance to human development?

How do people’s experiences change over

the life’s course?

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 Social Experience: The Key to
Our Humanity

• Socialization is a lifelong
process by which we develop
our humanity and our
particular personalities.
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 Nature VS Nurture: On the
Influence of the Natural and
Social Environments
• Human behavior is mostly a result
of nurture rather than nature.
• The importance of social
experience to human development
is seen in the fact that social
isolation can lead to permanent
damage.
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 Understanding Socialization
• Sigmund Freud’s Elements of
Personality
– ID: innate human drives (life and death
instincts)
– SUPEREGO: internalized cultural
values and norms
– EGO: ability to resolve competition
between the demands of the ID and
the restraints of the SUPEREGO.

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Jean Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development
Sensorimotor Stage
• Individuals experience the world only through their senses
• “Knowing to young children amounts to what their senses tell them”

Pre-
operational Stage
• Individuals first use language and other symbols
• 2-6 y/o: Children begin to think about the world mentally and use imagination

Concrete Operational Stage

• Individuals first see causal connections in their surroundings
• 7-11 y/o: children focus on why things happen

Formal Operational Stage

• Individuals think abstractly and operationally
• 12 y/o: Young children begin to reason abstractly rather than thinking only on concrete
situations 36
• Lawrence Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral
Development
– He applied Piaget’s approach to moral
development
• We first judge rightness in preconventional terms
(based on our individual needs). Rightness amounts
to ‘what feels good to me”.
• Conventional moral reasoning takes account of
parental attitudes and cultural norms (rightness in
terms of what pleases parents and conforms to
cultural standards)
• Postconventional reasoning allows us to criticize
society itself (what is legal may not be right)
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• Carol Gilligan’s Theory of
Gender and Moral Development
–Males rely on abstract standards of
rightness and females look at the
effect of decisions on relationships.

–BOYS: justice perspective

–GIRLS: care and responsibility
perspective
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• George Herbert Mead’s Theory of
the Social Self
– Theory of Social behaviorism
• Explains how social experience develops
an individual’s personality.

– The SELF comes from social

experience and is partly self-directed
(the I) and partly guided by society
(the ME).
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 Figure 1. Building on Social Experience

The Self is able to No one One other Many others Many others
simultaneously take the (no ability to take the in one in one in many
role of: role of another) situation situation situations

when: Engaging in Engaging in play Engaging in Recognizing the

imitation games generalized other

George Herbert Mead described the development of

the self as a process of gaining social experience.

That is, the self develops as we expand our capacity

to take the role of the other.
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• Charles Horton Cooley’s Looking
Glass Self
–He contended that we see ourselves
as we imagine others see us.
–If we think others see us as clever, we
will think of ourselves in the same way.
But if we feel they think of us as
clumsy, then that is how we will see
ourselves.
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• Erik H. Erikson’s Eight
Stages of Development
– Identified challenges that
individuals face at each stage
of life from infancy to old age.

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Agents of Socialization

Family Peer
Groups
Schools
Mass Media

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 Socialization and the Life
Course
• Each stage of the life course is socially constructed
in ways that vary from society to society.

• Childhood—Adolescence—Adulthood—Old Age

• Accepting death is part of socialization for the elderly.

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 Resocialization: Total
Institutions

• Total institutions (prisons and

mental hospitals) try to
resocialize inmates, that is, to
radically change their
personalities.
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 4. Social Groups and Control

•Social Structure and Interaction in Everyday Life

•Groups and Organizations
•Deviance
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 The Social Construction of
Reality
• Social life is essentially patterns
of social interaction—behaviors
that are oriented toward other
people.

• There is no objective social

reality, no one “true” way of
interpreting the things that
happen to us.

• We construct social reality

through social interaction.
(Peter Berger and Thomas
Luckmann, 1966)

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What is social interaction?
• Process by which people act
toward or respond to other
people.

• Foundation of
all relationships and
groups in society.

• The framework within which we

interact with others is provided
by a social structure.
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Social Interaction in the
MICRO Level
• Personal Space: the invisible bubble that each of us has
around us that insulates us from others.

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50
 What is social
structure?

• Complex framework of
societal institutions

• Social practices that make

up a society and that
organize and establish
limits on people behavior.

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 Social Structure Framework

SOCIETY

SOCIAL STATUSES AND

INSTITUTIONS ROLES
Traditional Emergent Ascribed Achieved
-Family -Sports -Race/ ethnicity -Occupation
-Religion - Mass media - Age ; - Gender - Education
- Education - Science - Class - Income level

SOCIAL
GROUPS
Primary Secondary
-Family members -Schools
- Close friends -Churches
- Peers -Corporations
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Components of Social Structure
1. Social Status and Roles
2. Social Groups and Organizations
3. Social Institutions

1. Social Status
• The position that a person occupies
within the social structure and is often
closely linked to social class.

• Status is an important social construct

because the positions we occupy lead
to the roles we play.

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On Ascribed, Achieved and Master Statuses

• Ascribed Status
– Social position conferred at birth or
received involuntarily
over which the individual has no
control.

• Achieved Status
– Social position that a person
assumes voluntarily
as a result of personal choice, merit
or direct effort.

• Master Status
– The most important status
that a person occupies.
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Social Roles

• The behavior of a specific status.

• The roles we play come with certain

expectations about how to play
them.

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On Role Expectation, Performance, Conflict and Strain

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 On Stigmas

• A mark of disgrace
associated with a
particular status,
quality, or person.

• “Ex-con”, “Slut”

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Components of Social Structure
1. Social Status and Roles
2. Social Groups and Organizations
3. Social Institutions

2. Groups and
Organizations
• Social groups
– consist of two or more people who interact
frequently and
– share (or believe that they share) a common
identity and a feeling of interdependence.

• Types:
– Primary and Secondary Groups
– In-Groups and Out-Groups
– Reference Groups
– Cliques

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 Primary VS Secondary Group

Primary Group
Small
Less specialized
Face-to-face, emotion-based, extended
interactions

Secondary Group
Larger
More specialized group
Impersonal, goal-oriented
relationship over a limited period of
interaction

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Primary VS Secondary Group

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In-Groups VS Out-Groups
Types of Groups according to membership and affinity
( William Graham Sumner, 1906)

• In Groups • Out-Groups
– A group I feel – One to which I
positively toward don’t belong and
and to which I do not feel very
actually belong. positively toward.

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 Reference Groups
Reference Groups, though, are not
necessarily in-groups because we
don’t have to belong to them. If,
for example, you are studying to
be a neurosurgeon, you might talk
to surgeons at your local hospital
about the duties and challenges of
the career. But simply thinking like
a surgeon doesn’t make you one.
They’re just a reference group to
help you guide who you are and
who you will become.

So who are your reference

groups?
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 Cliques

• One of the best illustrations of groups dynamics is the high school

clique. Cliques are organized around inclusion and exclusion—and
who has power the power to enforce it. In the hit movie Mean Girls
(2004), Lindsay Lohan is reminded that only the most popular girls can
eat their lunch at this table.
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On Group Conformity

• When you’re with

a crowd, do you
find that you
change your
behavior to match
everyone? Or do
you march to your
own drummer?

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 Organizations
• Large secondary groups
designed to accomplish specific
tasks in an efficient manner.

• Types (Amitai Etzioni, 1975)

– Normative
– Coercive
– Utilitarian

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Types of Organizations
• Normative
– Voluntary organizations; members receive no
monetary rewards and often have to pay to join.
– Ex. Political parties, political organizations,
charitable organizations
• Coercive
– Organizations in which membership is not
voluntary.
– Ex. Prisons, reform schools, mental institutions
• Utilitarian
– Those to which we belong for a specific,
instrumental purpose, a tangible material reward.
– Ex. Large business organizations, corporation,
university

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• Total institutions use
regimentation and uniformity to
minimize individuality and
replace it with social,
organizational self.

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Our view of an
organization
depends upon
our involvement
with it.

A prison can be a
utilitarian,
normative and a
coercive
organization then.
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Bureaucracy as an organization

Hierarchy of Authority:
Division of Labor: Decision-making power
Workers are assigned moves from the top
specific, specialized (supervisors) down to
tasks. workers in lower positions.

Rules and Regulations:

Rules and regulations guide Technical Qualifications:
a bureaucracy’s actions to Hiring and promotions
ensure that tasks are are based on a worker’s
performed uniformity. ability to perform a task.

Impersonality:
Workers perform “without
hatred or passion,”
meaning that all clients are
treated equally. 69
Groups, Organizations and Inequality

For many years,

capitalism has been
dominated by
powerful “old-boy”
social networks.
Professional
women have
increasingly created
their own social
networks to
enhance business
opportunities.
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Weber believed that bureaucracy was actually a hierarchy of
knowledge. The leaders trust workers to handle all the
details, while the workers trust the leaders to handle the
general outcome.

Marx on the other hand believed each side deceived the

other, which ultimately benefited the bourgeoisie. 71
Components of Social Structure
1. Social Status and Roles
2. Social Groups and Organizations
3. Social Institutions

3. Social Institutions
• Set of organized beliefs and rules that establishes how a
society will attempt to meet its basic social needs.

• Social institutions provide for patterned relationships.

• Traditional institutions: family, religion, education, the

economy and the government

• Emergent institutions: mass media, sports, science and

medicine, and the military
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There’s a good chance that every person in this
classroom is a law-abiding citizen.

Yet there is an equally good chance that each

person here is a “criminal”– that is, has done
something illegal.

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To the sociologist, you’re BOTH.

The more interesting questions

are WHEN and WHERE you are
one or the other. 74
On Deviance

• Breaking a social order or

refusing to follow one.

• Deviant acts may or may

not be illegal; they can
also violate a moral or a
social rule that may or
may not have legal
consequences.

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How do we look at girls who are good at video
games?

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 Is this a deviant behavior?

Andrew Martinez, “the

Naked Guy”. He resisted
the label “deviant”
because he saw his
nudity as “normal” and
“natural”.

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Is this example of graffiti likely to be the work of an
isolated artist or of a gang member? In what ways do
gangs reinforce such behavior? 78
In 1898,
pedophilia was
much less
taboo than an
extramarital
fling! 79
On Crime

• Violation of laws.

• Violation of norms
that have been
written into law.

80
 Types of Crimes
•Violent Crime (murder, forcible rape, robbery)

•Property Crime (theft, burglary,)

•White-collar crimes (illegal actions of a

corporation)

•Consumer crimes (credit card fraud)

•Occupational crime (income tax evasion, bribery)

•Organizational crime (false advertising, price

fixing)

•Cybercrime (use of internet and worldwide web to

commit crime)

•Hate crime (motivated by bias against race,

ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation or disability
status.

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Why Crime Exists
• Classical School
– People seek pleasure over pain, so
they fear punishment because it is
not pleasurable.
– Pleasure > Pain = Crime

• Positivist School
– People are naturally social;
therefore they do not commit crime
unless some biological,
psychological or social factor is
involved.

82
Social Control, Deviance
and Crime
• Although deviance occurs,
most of the time we
conform.

• Sociologists are interested

in why and when we
conform and why and when
deviance occurs.

• Often the answer lies in the

definition of what is
criminal or deviant, and
who holds the power to
define.

83
5. Social Change
Traditional, Modern and
Postmodern Societies

84
What is social change?

• Transformation of culture and social

institutions over time.

• Every society changes all the time,

sometimes faster, sometimes more slowly.

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So what causes social
change?

1. Culture
2. Social Conflict
3. Ideas
4. Demographic
Factors

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1. Culture

• Invention
• Discovery
• Diffusion

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 2. Social Conflict
• Class conflict between
capitalists and workers pushes
society towards a socialist
system of production (Marx)

• Conflict due to class, race and

gender inequality has resulted
to social change.

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3. Ideas
• Protestant work ethic and rationality
(Weber)

• The strength of the Protestant work

ethic in Western Europe led to its
industrialization and the eventual rise
of capitalism in the region.

• This itself demonstrates the power of

IDEAS to bring change.

89
4. Demographic factors

• Population patterns
• Aging
• Migration

90
How do we look at social change?
• Modernity (social patterns resulting
from industrialization)
PAST PRESENT
(traditional patterns) (modern patterns)

*modernity then refers to the “present” in

relation to the “past”.

91
Traditional VS Modern Societies*
Elements Traditional Societies Modern Societies
Cultural Patterns
- Norms Great moral Variable moral
significance; little significance;
tolerance of diversity High tolerance of
diversity
Social Structure
- Communication Face to face Face-to-face
communication
supplemented by media

Social Institutions
Education Formal schooling Basic schooling
limited to elites becomes universal

Social Change Slow; change evident Rapid; change evident

over many generations within a single
generation
92
Modernity VS Modernization

• Modernization
◦ The process of social change begun by
industrialization.

93
Four Dimensions of Modernization
(Peter Berger, 1977)

1. Decline of small, traditional

communities.
2. Expansion of personal choice
(individualization)
3. Increasing social diversity
4. Orientation towards the future and
a growing awareness of time 94
Views on Modernity and
Modernization
• Ferdinand Tonnies
◦ Transition from Gemeinschaft to
Gesselschaft, a process characterized
by the loss of traditional community and
the rise of individualism.

95
• Emile Durkheim
◦ Modernization involves a society’s
expanding division of labor
◦ Mechanical and organic solidarity

96
• Max Weber
◦ Modernity as the decline of a traditional
worldview and the rise of rationality.

◦ He feared however the dehumanizing

effects of modern rational organization.

97
• Karl Marx
◦ Modernity is the triumph of capitalism
over feudalism.

◦ This capitalism creates social conflict

which would bring about revolutionary
change leading to an egalitarian society.

98
Theoretical Analysis of Modernity
• Structural Functional Theory
(Modernity as Mass Society)
◦ Modernity increases the scale of life,
enlarging the role of government and other
formal organizations

◦ Cultural diversity and rapid social change

make it difficult for people in modern
societies to develop stable identities and
meaning in their lives.

99
• Social Conflict Theory (Modernity as
Class Society)
◦ Modernity involves the rise of capitalism into
a global economic system resulting in
persistent social inequality.

◦ Since wealth is concentrated on the hands

of a few, modern capitalist societies
generate widespread alienation and
powerlessness.

100
Social Change

Traditional Modern

101
 Social Change

Traditional Modern Postmodernity

102
What is postmodernity?

• Social patterns
characteristic of
postindustrial
societies.

103
 Characterizing Postmodern Societies

• No one true objective

explanation of a social
reality.

• Given this, people

experience "postmodern
crisis of meaning"

• People are overwhelmed by

options. But this is also a
characteristic of growing
individualism.

104
• Emphasis on environmental
protection and cultural
identity more than just
economic growth which is
valued in the "modern"
period

• Less acceptance of
hierarchical, centrally
controlled bureaucracies
characteristic of modern
societies

105
6. Stratification and Social Class

•What is social
stratification?
•Theories of Social Class
•Social Mobility
•Global Inequality

106
What is social stratification?

• The system of structured

social inequality and the
structure of mobility.

• It is concerned with the

ranking of people based
on an objective criteria
usually wealth, power
and/or prestige.

107
Systems of Social Stratification

1. Castes
– Traditional agricultural societies
(ex. Caste system of India)
– Person’s status is determined at
birth through parents’ ascribed
characteristics
– India had 4 castes or varnas:
• Brahmin (priests)
• Kshatriyas (warriors and politicians)
• Vaishyas (farmers and merchants) and
Shudras (servants)
• Dalits (untouchables)

108
Systems of Social
Stratification

2. Feudalism
– Medieval Europe and 19th
Century Japan
– The feudal lords housed
and fed serfs, decided on
their religion and education
– Peasants had no right to
seek out other employment
or other masters
109
Systems of Social Stratification

3. Class System
– Modern form of
stratification
– Based on ownership and
control of resources and
on the person’s
occupation
– Class systems are the
most open

110
 Theories of Social
Stratification
• Functionalism:
– Stratification is the result of some kind of
functional balance, is inevitable, and aids in
the smooth functioning of society.
• Conflict theory:
– Social inequality is rooted in a system that
is more likely to reward you based on
where you start than based on your
abilities.
• Symbolic interactionism:
– A person’s particular social class affects
how he or she discusses class in general.

111
Theories of Social Class
• Marx and Class
– Class and stratification are linked to
capitalism.
– Remember the bourgeoisie and the
proletariats?

• Weber and Class

– Stratification is based on
• Wealth
• Prestige
• Power
112
 Division of
Labor Private
Social Property
conflict
Inequality Inequality
of Power of Privilege

Inequality
of Prestige

Efforts of the powerful

Social institutions
Culture
Socialization
Instruments of force
113
Social Mobility

• The movement from

one class to another
• It occurs in 2 forms:
– Intergenerational
• Movement experienced
by family members from
one generation to the
next
– Intragenerational
• Movement (upward or
downward) of individuals
within their own lifetime.

114
Global Inequality
• Systematic differences in
wealth and power among
countries.

• These differences among

countries coexist
alongside differences
within countries.

115
 Classifying Global Economies

• High-income countries
– There are about 40 countries
– US, Switzerland, Japan, Spain
• Middle-income countries
– There are about 90 countries
– Portugal, Brazil, China
• Low-income countries
– There are about 60 countries
– Jamaica,India, Somalia

116
 7. Marriage and Family

What is a family?
Is the family in decline?
What do future families look like? 117
 What is a family?

• Relationships in which people live together with commitment, form an

economic unit and care for any young, and consider their identity to be
significantly attached to the group. 118
Family Structure
1. Family of Orientation
– The family into which a person is
born and in which early
socialization usually takes place

2. Family of Procreation
– The family that a person forms by
having or adopting children
119
 Forms of Family
1. Nuclear Family
– Family consisting of a husband,
wife and children

2. Extended Family
– Family consisting of a nuclear
family plus additional relatives
120
 Alternative/ New Forms of
Family
1. Blended
families
2. Cohabitation
3. Single parent
families
4. Same-sex
marriage
121
What is marriage? In many cultures, the economic
aspects of marriage rather than
“romantic love” are emphasized
in the marriage ritual. In this
photo, taken in Baghdad, Iraq, the
bride’s brother presents the
dowry for the groom’s inspection
and approval.

• A legally recognized and/or

socially approved
arrangement between two or
more individuals that carries
certain rights and obligations
and usually involves sexual
activity.

122
 Forms of Marriage
1. Monogamy
– Marriage between two people
2. Polygamy
– Marriage of one person to two or
more spouses.
• FORMS:
1. Polygyny (1 man + 2 or more women)
2. Polyandry (1 woman + 2 or more men)
123
Patterns of Descent and Inheritance

1. Patrilineal Descent
– Father’s side

2. Matrilineal Descent
– Mother’s side

3. Bilateral Descent
– Both mother’s and father’s side
124
 Power and Authority in Families

1. Patriarchal family
– Authority is held by the eldest male
(usually the father)
2. Matriarchal family
– Authority is held by the eldest female
(usually the mother)
3. Egalitarian family
– Both partners share power and authority
equally

125
 Residential Patterns
1. Patrilocal residence
– Live in the same household or community
as the husband’s family
2. Matrilocal residence
– Wife’s parents
3. Neolocal residence
– Couple living in their own residence apart
from both the husband’s and wife’s parents

126
 Multiple Wives

The family form mentioned in the

Bible is polygyny. Solomon was
reputed to have had 1000 wives,
products of his many political
alliances.

PENALTY FOR BEING SINGLE

In the American colonies, single people were

penalized if they remained single too long.

Maryland imposed a tax on bachelors (Lauer and

Lauer, 2003).
127
 Phases of the Family

1. Courtship and Mate

Selection
Some common cultural
practices
– Homogamy
o Marriage between people
with the same
characteristics (religion,
race, class or age)
– Endogamy
o The practice of marrying
within one’s social group
– Exogamy
o The practice of marrying
someone from a different
social group

128
Stimulus-Value-Role Theory
of Mate Selection

• We select our friends

and close partners
through a three-stage
model. At each stage,
we weed out those
who do not fit.
(Bernard Murstein)

129
 Phases of the Family

2. Issues in the Family

Marital Effects: factors that make

marriage work.

“One of the easiest ways to stay

satisfied is to spend time together
doing activities both of you enjoy.”
130
 Phases of the Family

3. Child rearing
– Taking care of children is
expensive.

– As such, having children is

often seen as a status
symbol and many lower-
class families want
children because they are
a valuable social resource.

131
 Phases of the Family

4. Divorce

Many factors that help make a marriage

work-like compromising and spending
time together-seem simple. Why do
you think so many marriages end in
divorce?

132
Phases of the Family

5. Later Stages
– “empty-nest syndrome”
– “extended childhood”
– Death and widowhood

When children leave home, some

parents feel sad, while others feel
satisfied. How did your parents react
when you left home for the first time?

133
8. Collective Behavior
and Social Movements
134
What is collective behavior?

● An activity involving a large number of people that is unplanned,

often controversial, and sometimes dangerous.

● It takes many forms, from silent vigils to loud political protests,

and sociologists study them all.

● One especially important form is social movements—organized

efforts to bring about and sometimes to prevent social change.

135
How different are these from
social groups?

● People in collectivities have little or no social

interaction.

● Collectivities have no clear social boundaries.

● Collectivities generate weak and unconventional

norms.

136
 Localized Collectivities:
Crowds
● Localized collectivities are collectivities whose
members are in close physical proximity.
● Crowd: temporary gathering of people who share a common focus of
attention and who influence one another.
● Forms:
– Casual (loose collection; little interaction)
– Conventional (planned)
– Expressive (forms around an event with emotional appeal)
– Acting (motivated by intense, single-minded purpose)
– Protest (stage marches, boycotts, sit-ins, and strikes for political purposes)

● Mobs and Riots

● Mob: highly emotional crowd that pursues a violent or destructive goal
● Riots: a highly emotional, violent, and undirected social eruption
137
 What explains crowd
behavior?
● Contagion Theory (Le Bon, 1895)
● Crowds are anonymous, suggestible and swayed by rising emotions
● Crowds have a hypnotic influence on their members

● Convergence Theory
● Crowd behavior reflects the desires people bring to them
● People who wish to act in certain ways come together to form a crowd

● Emergent-norm Theory (Turner and Killian, 1987)

● Crowds begin as collectivities containing people with mixed interests
● Crowds develop their own behavior as events unfold

138
 Dispersed Collectivities:
Mass Behavior
● As opposed to localized collectivities, dispersed
collectivities involve people who are not in each other's
immediate physical presence but react emotionally to a
similar stimulus.
● Mass behavior

● collective behavior among people spread over a wide geographic area

● Types/ Forms
● Rumor and Gossip
● Public Opinion and Propaganda
● Fashion and Fads
● Panic and Mass Hysteria
● Disasters
139
 Social Movements

● What is a social
movement?
● Large numbers of
people who organize
either to promote or
to resist social
change
● How is it different
from collective
behavior?

140
Types of Social Movements

141
How do you determine movement success?
Does this inevitably lead to its disappearance?
142