Week 2: What is Sociology

Sociology: The scientific and systematic study of social relationships, groups, and whole societies.
Group: any collection of at least two people who interact with each other and share some sense of aligned
identity.
The individuals make the society, and the society makes the individual-both. People are dependent on other
people. They always live in cooperation with others. Sociology views human actions as elements of wider
figurations: that is, of a non-random assembly of actors locked together in a web of mutual dependency.

The Effects of Groups: Asch

Researcher wants people to choose the similar lines. Conformity is the extent to which an individual complies
with group norms and expectations. So, people are less likely to say their ideas while in a group.
Power of conformity in a group is strong
Conformity decreases with social support

Example of uni+conformity:
 You have to follow the instruction and there is a classification of students based on academic
potential.
 Education is required to improve one's social standing. So, people with bachelor's degrees have always
had the lowest levels of unemployment.
 How to act in a place

Society: are groups of people living together and they are the product of interactions between individuals who
live in them. People have certain roles to play in societies, and they may be forced to live in a different way by
shaping.
One of the reasons of the group conformity is social norms which are invisible rule for conduct
Norms tell us how to behave according to what society says is right, good, or important. They are not universal
but in a specific place they are the rules. If you don’t act according to the norms, you may have problem.
 Touching people, public transportation, using phones while eating with someone.

For creating a new norm for society

 Not easy, lots of people
 Decide what the norm is
 Explain how it will be enforced
 Tell what the sanctions will be for following or breaking the norm
 Describe how you could effectively socialize people into this norm

Sociology can be described by a way of thinking

A social imagination
Individual lives are patterned and structured by society and history, not part of random events.
 Divorce: A couple can get divorce by having problems but if they divorce during the first 4 years of
marriage there may be structural issued having to do with the institutions of marriage and the family.
 Unemployment: In a nation of 50 million employees, 15 million people are unemployed. There might
be structural issue having to do with the economy.
 War: Structural issued with its causes; with what types of people, it throws up into command; with its
effects upon economic and political, family, and religious institutions, with the unorganized
irresponsibility of a world of nation-states
 Obesity:
 University Performance: The time for graduation. If 36 percent of the students spend 7 years instead
of 4 there may be sociological problems.
But remember,
Societal structures are constantly changing. Power and inequality are distributed differently in the society, so
everyone does not have the same experiences. Societies are not isolated but interacting with other societies
and global forces.

Culture: What is culture

 Shared beliefs and practices
  Way of life
 Meanings that people give to experience
 Blueprint for interpreting life and social relation
 Common sense
 Techniques for adjusting to the environment
 Everyone has culture
 All cultures are equally valuable
Culture includes intangible things like beliefs and thoughts, expectations. Also, tangible things like object,
buildings, infrastructure
 Out of awareness but important. Live them to understand.
Culture can be a system of symbols
 Gestures, signs, objects, or tattoos
 Some of the culture eat horses or cows
 Eating style- India

Culture and Biology

All humans share biological facts and events, but different societies have different cultural interpretations.
o Raising children can change by culture to culture
o Kissing does not need to have a romantic meaning
Culture emerges and evolves in groups through social interactions via arbitrarily created in people's head.
 This is not completely shared; different groups have different cultural knowledge and people disagree
about the culture.

Ethnocentrism and Cultural Relativism

Ethnocentrism is evaluating and judging another culture based on how it compared to one's own cultural
norms.
o Being better at something due to culture
Cultural Relativism: assessing a culture by its own standards rather than viewing it through the lens of one's
own culture.
 Appreciate your culture and others
 It's normal to feel uncomfortable

Questions:
1.Define sociology and explain what a sociological imagination is
Sociology is a science that search social groups of people and all different kinds of societies.
2.Define society
A group of people that live together and get effected by each other. Society shape and direct people on a
certain way and also it can be affected by human activities. So, both society and people affect each other.
3.Define social norms
Social norms are the invisible and unwritten rules that a society has and obey. These rules are not universal so,
they can change and shaped by the religion, language, and culture that the people share, and if someone does
not act according to these rules, he/she can get some negative comments.
4.How a sociologist would think about the question of marriage and divorce, unemployment, war,
obesity, university performance.
If there is a massive amount of people from the same society that have the same problem, it means individual
effect on the problem is smaller than the society’s role and responsibility. There is a problem due to society’s
effect.
5.Define culture
Culture is a mixture of religion, language, and social norms that people who leave together or near share. Also,
culture has tangible and intangible parts, and all cultures are equal valuable.
6.How culture affects what we think of as natural and true
Our culture affects the way that we think because people get affected by the cultural norms that each culture
has according to the location that people live and the religion that they believe in. there are true and false
opinions and activities according to each culture. To illustrate, in Asian countries prefer to eat insects as a snack
and this behavior is totally normal for Asian people. On the other hand, other people from different culture
tend to judge the behavior because they are not familiar with it. Also, we were born in an existing culture so
out family, friends or teachers unconsciously thought us the cultural norms.
7.Define ethnocentrism and cultural relativism
Ethnocentrism is the judgement of cultures that people make according to their culture and these people tend
to judge and make negative comments on other culture’s characteristics based on their culture. Cultural
relativism is the opposite and can be the solution for it. İt is looking at each culture in an objective way and try
to understand the different point of views.
8.What does it mean to say that society and culture are socially constructed?
Both society and culture are dependent and base on people and their connection between them. The
interactions and conversations are the reason why we have culture and society. As humans live together and
have needs to interact and socialize, they make bonds.

Week 3: Research Methods

Tools for asking, answering, and observe the questions systematically about the world.
We do social research to
 Prove and disprove theories
 Understanding
 Help society
 Power

Is social science scientific?

Yes, but there is a limit to scientific research on humans
 Humans are not things plants or animals
 Humans are mysterious
 Human society is very complex
 There are limits to the experimental testing
 People may change their behavior when they are under study
 Researchers may have difficulty being objective

Science is a system of rational inquiry on the empirical testing of facts

Common sense:
The scientific method
1. İdentify the problem
2. Stating the hypothesis
3. Collecting data
4. Testing the hypothesis rejection acceptance or modification

Hypothesis: Tentative statement predicting the relationship between variables

Theory: a set of ideas formulated to explain something

Quantitative: knowledge gained through measurement with mathematical models and statistical analysis
 Quantitative data: numerical data that is easy to tabulate
1.Experiments: A research method in which the researcher controls and manipulates variable to test the effect
of one variable on another (conformity)
Strengths:
 Scientific and generalizable
 Useful for testing if-then statements
Weakness:
 there are limitations
 People can change their behavior while observing
2.Surveys: report the distribution of people's actions or options in tables or statistics/ research method used
for collecting data from a predefined group of respondents to gain information and insights into various topics
of interest. A research method for collecting data from a predefined group to show the datas in a statistical
way.
 Answers are normally very short
 Subjects respond to a series of statements or questions in a questionnaire
Streng:

Weakness:

Qualitative: knowledge gained through detailed rich expeorience and in-depth understanding
Word text based and came from on what is seen in a natural setting.
1. Case studies: A detailed long-term investigation of a single social unit. Case studies are useful when
the single case in unique and can add tremendous knowledge to a certain discipline
2. Ethnography: Focuses on how subjects view their own social standing and how they understand
themselves in relation to a community
 Both are long-term research for in-depth understanding
 Use several qualitative methods, including observation, participant observation, interviews
3. Observation and participant observation: The process of closely monitoring. Discover interactions in
natural setting. The researcher also participates. All kind of things will be done.
Strengths:
 Deep contextual, complex knowledge
 Can gain trust and learn things impossible to learn any other way
 Optimal for observing how people behave and generally focuses on correlation
 fun
 Useful if researcher wants to explore a certain environment from the inside.
Weaknesses:
 Researcher can become being too close and fail to notice accurately
 More difficult to generalize due to small size
 More subjective
 Behavior may change
 Time consuming
 Data is difficult to organize
 Data captures how people behave but not what they think and behave
4. İnterviews:
o Ask open-ended questions
o Good interviewer, friendly patient, respectful,
Strengths of Interviews:
 Qualitative interviews help us to get at things that happened in the past or out of sight.
 More in-depth than surveys
 They are the best sources about people's thoughts and feelings and the motives and emotions that
lead them to act as they do
Weaknesses:
 Unnatural, uncomfortable setting
 The interviewer is matters greatly for affecting answers
 Difference Effect: people don't want to offend you so; they tell what they think you want to know.
 Social Desirability Effect: people tell you what they think will make themselves look good.
5. Focus groups: group of people are recruited to discuss a particular topic
 6-12 participants
 Commonly using in business and marketing
Benefits:
 Enjoyable, empowering, good if people are social

Analyze Focus Group According To:

 Frequency
 Specificity
 Emotion
 Extensiveness
Difficulties of Focus Groups:
 Power dynamics in group affects outcomes.
 Shy people do not participate or sanger of bias and false consensus
 People may become less forthcoming or more emotional in groups
 Artificial environment

Questions
1.What is science
Science is systematically making empirical testing to get information. But there are limitations that a scientist
cannot pass. To illustrate, he/she cannot do experiments which involve cutting killing etc. on humans
Science is systematically gathering knowledge by empirical testing. There are some limitations that a scientist
cannot force.
2.What is the scientific method and how does it apply to research using several steps?
First, we come up with a question that we want to focus on and make a hypothesis about its conclusion, then
conducting data and information from reliable sources and finally, we need to decide whether out hypothesis is
true or false.
The scientific method for researches is; came up with a question and make a hypothesis after that collecting
data and finally, deciding the trueness of the hypothesis
3.How do social scientists utilize surveys?
Surveys are the method for collecting data by asking short answer question to predefined group of people on a
questionnaire. Social scientist can use surveys to make generalization about the community.
Surveys are the open ended and short question that being asked to a predefined group of people. We can make
generalizations with the information that we gain.
4.What are experiments are what is an example of a social science experiment
An experiment is a kind of research method where the researcher controls and manipulates the variables,
participant in order to observe the behavioral changes. Conformity experiment is an example for this case. The
experiment observes the behavioral changes that a participant shows when he/she is against the group. The
conformity augment if there are more than 1 person who is against. The participant changes his/her behavior
in order to be a part of the group and being excluded.
Experiments are the research method for analyzing the difference that participants show under the control and
manipulation of the researcher.
5.What are the main goals of participant observation, ethnography, and case studies?
The research methods are all qualitative and their common aim is to getting information from people by
observing and questioning them.
Participant observation is looking to gathering information form a participant who involve an experiment.
Ethnography try to understand the connection and interaction between individuals and their culture or society.
6.What are the strengths and weaknesses of interviews, participant observation, ethnography, and
case studies, and experiments?
Interviews are useful to gaining information through open-ended questions, they are better than surveys as
there is a communication between people. Also, interviewer needs to be patient, respectful and friendly but
he/she can consciously or unconsciously effect the participant’s answers, the setting is usually unnatural and
uncomfortable. Also, people tend to give ideal answers instead of their opinions to look good and try to give
the answers that the interviewer might need.
Interviews are useful to get in-depth information from people as there is a communication between the
participant and interviewer. Interviewer can learn about people’s feelings, positions, or ideas. However,
sometimes interviewers can affect the objectivity of the answers, participant can answer the question in a
manner that she the interviewer will accept, or society will accept.

7.What makes someone a good observer and interviewer?

Friendly, patient, and respectful, don’t judge people according to their answers.

Week4: Origins of social science

Before the enlightenment people also have some questions but the answers usual come from the religion,
tradition, or science such as natural sciences, philosophy, arts, and humanities
Enlightenment happened dur to French revolution and secular rationalism also, political, and religious wars.
İndustrial revolution: power production reduced production time and volume/ Social scientists want to study
and understand the reasons. With these revolutions people move to cities to get jobs and getting paid.
However, due to increasing population people become poor and crime rates augment. As a result of the
difference in salary social classes emerges.
With Enlightenment people
 The earth is not the center of the universe
 Humans are creatures of nature
 Our reasoning ability is subject to passions and subconscious desires
 Society and culture are products of history
 The question become what can we control and change
Enlightenment is the beginning of social science, and it was based on Europe but didn't really start on Europe
before there is a long history people to ask questions.
3 major theoretical paradigms
Functionalism -Durkheim: society is a complex system whose parts work together like a machine. Ever person
has their role and function. A system that works together. The function of laws and punishments’ goal is to
maintain the society’s moral norm and families are responsible for teaching the moral norm. The state and
religion focus on to create solidarity and stability by reinforcing morals.
 Rain dance or cumhuriyet bayramı
Emile Durkheim 1858-1917 modern life making us unhappy
French, known for being the first sociology prop. Influenced by Comte, Saint-Simon, and Darwin's theory of
biological evolution.
His main question was why society stays together as there is conflicts. What makes us stay together.
Social Facts perform societal functions: they keep individuals together in society. For example, the
function of lows and punishments are to maintain the society's moral norms. Also, the function of families is to
teach morals. He had a positive view of society as it helps to people to stay together.
When the institutions of society function as they should, the society will be cohesive.
Durkheim worried that the division of labor in modern society would lead to feelings of uncertainty for
individuals a moral crisis. We don't feel connected anymore.
Criticisms of Functionalism you can poke some holes this idea
1. Disregards any inequalities or sees them as functional. We need crime to teach people not to do
crime.
2. Disregards individual creativity.
3. Does not account for societal change
4. Does not explain why dysfunctional institutions persist

Social conflict: Society is not perfect

 People more focused on the conflict rather than agree on a certain level.
 People are competing groups or classes are struggling due to class, gender, power, and race
Focus on the ways inequalities and inequalities contribute to social, political, and power differences. For
example, the social conflict theorists ask about female bosses’ middle school teachers or how to make more
fair societies more toys change the game in their advantage.

Karl Marx 1818-1883

He believed societies grew as a result of struggles of different social and political classes. He predicted that
social change came through social conflict, and he believed that to understand society we need to study
material relationships, specifically capitalism. Marx focuses on the real sides of the capitalism by highlighting
the bourgeoisies’ marriage how based on power and wealth instead of love and respect. Also, he mentioned
that upper class members getting richer by exploiting the worker classes work and effort. They even steal from
them by taxes and rent.
Capitalism is an historical economic system founded on a division of classes into the working class and capitalist
class who are in constant conflict.
 In tribal societies: minimal division of labor; not much private property
 In feudalism there is much less alienation of labor
 Late 15th century: wage-labor begins in Europe
 Early 16th century: bourgeoisie develops
Alienation: the worker exchanges his labor and receives as a wage the value of this alienation. Become a
stranger
Political organization depends on class relations
o The state servs the needs of the bourgeoisie
Marx believes that we cannot study political or religious ideology in the absence of material social
relationships.
Criticisms of Marx
He overly focused on the economic point of view and predicts the unification of international workers, but
large middle classes and nationalism have prevented communist revolutions. Where is has been implemented,
communism has not created prosperity.
In general, social conflict theory
 Doesn't explain social stability and only gradual change
 Disregards shared values, mutual help, and support…

Symbolic İnteractionism -midway between the two theories

Society is the product of the everyday interactions of individuals who give meaning to their actions through
language, symbols, and gestures. This theory is more focused on values, meanings, thoughts, and feelings than
actions. Also, individual's perspectives are as important as societal groups.
There are many causes and explanations to societal change not only related to function or conflict.
Symbolic Theory
 what does mean to be a X
 What values do I express when I compliment, invite, wink or wave to you?
 Why people do kiss on the cheek in Turkey

Max Weber 1864-1920 İnfluences: Georg Simmel and Karl max

Political Sociology
State: is a human community that claims the monopoly of the legitimate use of physical force within a given
territory
Weber on religion
There is a correlation between religion and economic systems- between a religious worldview and economic
practice.
 Notice that protestants have a tendency of capitalism due to their religion. For protestants work is a
job doing for God and they don’t like time off. However, in other religions and cultures praying,
celebrating etc. is a part of their religion.
 They accumulate excess wealth through hard work, and this is also the spirit of modern capitalism:
accumulating excess profit!
 Bureaucracy and science have affected disenchantment with the world, the rationalization of modern
life especially through bureaucracy organization 'brings into being the cage within which men are
increasingly confined'
Criticism of symbolic interactionism focuses on what is happening in one particular social situation, may
disregard the effects of larger structures like class, race, or gender.

Durkheim and Marx are better able to articulate that society may be more than the sum of individual parts.
However, Weber is better able to consider that for any given phenomena there may be multiple causes.

 Each of the theoretical paradigms has strengths and weaknesses.

 Each has been developed and modified by social scientists over the course of many years

An example of a famous sociological study: Founder of sociology: Auguste Comte 1798-1857

Advocated the search for scientific knowledge of society through strict scientific methods exploring society’s
law
Positivism: the scientific study of social patterns.
Believed that sociologists could address problems such as education and poverty.
The course in positive
Sociology of suicide
To understand the reasons Durkheim argues that suicide happens when the cohesion of society is weakened
and collected societal facts to explain this individual action and found:
 Suicide rates are higher in men although married women who remained childless for a number of
years ended up with high suicide rate.
 Suicide rates are higher for people without children
 Suicide rates are higher among Protestants than Catholics and Jews
 Suicide rates are higher among soldiers than civilians
 Suicides rates are higher in Scandinavian countries
 The higher the education level, more likely to suicide.
According to Durkheim: we can understand suicide through investigating societal integration and morality.
At each of the axes there are great numbers of suicide.

Altruistic: strong individual integration into society; examples include kamikaze pilots and terrorists; dying for
others
Egoistic: weak individual integration into society; feelings of meaninglessness, apathy, and depression;
Durkheim's example in unmarried men and protestants; dying from the meaninglessness of one's own life
Anomic: weak social regulation and feelings of instability; examples include suicide due to economic crises;
dying from a sense of fear/ instability
Fatalistic: strong social regulation; a society where life is excessively regulated, when futures are choked by
oppressive discipline; an example is a prison; dying from sense of excessive control and regulation

Sociology of suicide: Durkheim's conclusion

 Societal integration and regulation affect the prevalence of suicide.
 Suicide statistics may not be comparable across societies. Genetic psychological places religions
 But the main idea is still valid: individual acts are socially conditioned

Questions
1. What are the main societal causes of suicide?

2. What keeps the rate rather low in Turkey?

Economics and Social Class

Social Stratification is a system of organizing individuals such that they enjoy differential access to rewards
because of their position. The classes are based on income, education, occupation, as well as age, race, gender,
and even physical abilities. Also, it can differ by society, in different societies the same class’s lifestyle or
conditions can be different.
o People are sorted or layered into social categories
o A family in this grass hut in Ethiopia and another family lives in a single-wide trailer in the
trailer park in the US. Both families are considered poor or lower class.

Social Class: is large-scale grouping of people who share common economic resources which strongly influence
the type of lifestyle they are able to lead. (Social class has to do with economics)
 The people who live in similar or near houses most likely share similar levels of income and education.
So, same social standing.

Occupation and Prestige: A doctor can have a more prestige job in different societies and being a doctor can
have different meaning in other places.

Review: 3 major Theoretical Paradigms

1. Fuctionalism
Functionalist: class structure is beneficial because it encourages most qualifies people to do most important
jobs. It's a competitive arena- motivating force: rewards greater educational attainment in social status and
salary. It emphasizes the importance of skills attained from hard work, education. So, if you are not successful
you didn't try enough.
2. Social Conflict
Social conflict: class is not necessary. It is maintained to safeguard the ruling class’s privileges. There isn't real
mobility- institutional inequalities keep people in place. Also, capitalists own the means of productions in a
system that make business owners rich and keep workers poor. Not all jobs with high prestige are
compensated equally or commensurate with their efforts/merit. So, they may say the system has failed you.
3. Symbolic İnteractionalism
Symbolic interactionism is a micro-level theory that focuses on the relationships among individuals within a
society. Communication—the exchange of meaning through language and symbols—is believed to be the way
in which people make sense of their social worlds.

Portraits of Social Classes

Upper Class
Generally, inherits their wealth in the form of property and other assets. They don't have to work, but often
serve out the boards of directors of major corporations.
Upper Middle Class
Successful businesspeople, executives, professionals, and high ranking civil and military officials. Ownership of
business as well as prestigious occupations bring wealth. They have high levels of education and unlike in upper
class, they inherit little of their wealth, rather, wealth comes through investments and savings.
Middle Class or Lower Middle Class
Consists of professionals, semiprofessionals, and small businesspeople. Jobs are generally secure
Working Class:
Consists of skilled and unskilled workers, factory workers, farm hands, sales personnel, and low-level clerical
workers. Their jobs are routine, mechanized and closely supervised but less secure than jobs in middle-class.
They usually don't require college.
Lower Class
The poor people who have high rates of unemployment and dependency on government, employers, and
landlords. Also, they have prejudice in healthcare, law enforcement and education

How social classes affect us Dating, marriage, socialization.

 Children tend to seek out those who act, speak, and have the same values as themselves
 Classes arrange social events such that children meet only those of their class.
Health
 Higher social class is greater the life expectancy
o More infant deaths and disease among poor
 Rates of mental illness also go up as social class goes down
o Higher level of stress one explanation
o Poor less likely to receive treatment
Law Enforcement
 The crimes committed by poor receive more attention
 Poor people who commit crimes are more likely to receive punishment.
Foral Education
 Class determines the quality of teachers and curriculum
 Teachers have middle class backgrounds and therefore, work better with students like themselves but
children of the upper classes are more likely to attend college
Perspective
 The higher one's class, the greater is one's optimism about the economy and political order.
 People who live in poverty, face schools that can't teach them, employers that won't hire them and
stores that won't sell to them

Social Mobility: An individual's ability to change class membership, status, life chances, and lifestyles by moving
up down the stratification system.
1. Upward mobility
o The American Dream or rags to riches
2. Downward mobility
o Unemployment, business setbacks, illness, divorce
Societies differ in their levels of social mobility, but even in the most socially mobile societies, most people
never change their position. Your life chances are made by birth social class, geography, ancestry, race,
ethnicity, age, gander

Income Inequality
Unequal distribution of income across an economy measured by
o Disparity in income
o İncome received by richest 1%
o Ration of income from 90% percentile to 10th percentile
In recent years, there has been a sharp increase in income inequality in US, Britain, India, and China. Turkey has
4th highest income inequality in OECD countries and people have poor physical and mental health for being
poor and income inequality contributes to higher crime rates.
Income inequality example: Luxury vacation resorts can contribute to poorer country's economy.

Psychology and Sociology on IQ Class and Success

How is IQ defined: typical way to do creativity tests on people, and we have to say IQ is defined by society.
He points out that if someone's IQ is between
 100-120=-20 increasing education, money, even health.
 Over 120 no additional success. no benefit
 Success = class not IQ
An experiment on IQ by Lewis Terman. He found 1470 children with IQ over 130 that teachers select and
tested them 3 times. Successful students were from middle and upper class and other students were not
successful
Some were successful, but some were failures

Practical Intelligence- Knowing how to talk to people/ the social class affect your behavior
 Wealthy Families are involved in children's free time and reason with children and teach them to
speak up
 Poor Families do not evet notice when children play and do not involve, but they teach them to obey
authority.

Question
1. Improvement in living standards and causes
When people are born, they automatically be the part of the social class that their parents in it. Through out
their life there is a chance of changing their life standards in a better way by being successful at a job or a
project that can make you gain money. With the money that you made you can get better education; a
qualified health care or laws can be your side. In other words, you will be around people who have higher
standards, and this can affect your aims and interests. Also, people can have a better life by not chancing
economically but morally.
2. What are the components of capitalism?
Capitalism concentrated on the private projects more than governmental because in this way people from
upper and upper-middle class will gain wealth from working class’s effort. Capitalism
3. Capitalism and labor- capitalism and government
Capitalism is a supporter to people from up classes to gain money from the effort and talent that lower class
people have. They give money for workers time and effort to produce and sometimes workers do not even
know what they are producing or developing. The system uses workers as a tool for making money and giving a
small amount of money for their job. So, people believe in working to get money.
4. What are the social classes and how they measured?
Social classes are the way of grouping people according to their wealth, race, ethnicity etc. We measure social
classes for the differences in categories. If we make social classes according to wealth people who have more
money will be at the upper classes from how do not have that much money.
5. What does it mean to be upper, upper-middle, middle, and working class? What are the
consequences for our lives?
Social classes have an affect on people for the health care, law system, life standards, and education level.
People from upper classes have better education back round and health care. On the other hand, people from
lower classes have a prejudgment to health and law system as the system do not want to help of be beneficial
for them.
6. What is social mobility?
Social mobility is a person’s lifestyle change due to moving upper classes. Upward mobility is getting better and
upgrading the life standard but downward mobility is becoming a part of a lower class than before due to
unemployment or illnesses.
7. What is income inequality and how concerned should we be about it?
Not every person that has job make the same money and the differences between people’s income is
considered as an income inequality and in today’s world it’s a massive issue Turkey is the 4 th country in the
world that has this problem and people are suffering from not having money and even cannot afford living.
8. What do we know about the relationship between class, success, and IQ?
Social classes have an affect on people’s education level, it can help people to be in better jobs and have a good
income. However, IQ level is not a criteria for being in upper classes. An experiment done by Lewins Terman
shows us that having more than 120 IQ has no beneficial point than having 100-120 IQ level. Also, students how
are from middle classes that have 100-120 IQ are more successful than the upper classes students.
9. What is practical intelligent?
It is not something that is pure knowledge or information, it is knowing how to act according to the places that
you are in. Upper class parents have more time and opportunity to spend time with their children so, the
children can learn how to be polite, talkative, or respectful to others. In contrast, parents from lowest classes
need to work in order to get money and they cannot spend the necessary time with their children to learn from
them.

Week5: Sociology of Food and Class

Food and Cultural Meanings
There are different styles of selling the chicken in different part of the world. The meaning attached to chickens
send very different but powerful massages about the perception of animals in each society for example in
Vietnam: once living, fresh, local. But in the USA: processed, meat but not an animal, safe to eat, convenient,
clean, sanitary

Edible or Inedible: Cultural Communication

 Inedible foods: Poisonous or considered taboo
 Edible by animals, but not by me: preference, expense, or health reasons: Rodents in USA
 Edible by humans, not by my kind: Dog meat
So, people decide what they eat and do not.
Etiquette and Food
Manners: The customary code of polite behavior in society or among members of a particular profession or
group. It consists of social norms and usually are subconscious
Displaying social status, and a means of demarcating, observing, and maintaining the boundaries of class
 İdeas of pollution, defilement, and disgust are attached to the margins of socially acceptable behavior
Example:
In America, parents force children to clean their plate. In India and Japan, it's polite to finish all of your food to
show you enjoyed it. In China: finishing your plate is considered rude and an indication that you weren't fed
enough

Historical Turkish Food Etiquette in 11th century.

 All that is to be eaten and drunk should complement each other and be abundant. The guest should
never run out of drink, and when one drink is finished should be immediately replenished.
 Begin eating with a besmele and eat with the right hand.
 Do not wipe your hands on the sofa when eating
 Eat with moderation because people should always eat and drink little.

Dining Etiquette and Social Class

Groups at the top of social ladder have always distinguished themselves from those at the bottom through the
food they eat. At the past they could eat more.

Working-class: They eat to survive and prefer substantial and fulfilling meals.
Middle/Upper classes: They prefer to eat prestige foods like caviar or champagne, and healthy and beneficial
foods. They can taste new, alternative, and rare foodstuffs.

Middle class: New foods crucial for mothers to develop their kid's palates-even if the process sometimes led to
food fights and spend significant amount of time reading about best and healthy foods. Mothers feel stressed
for what to cook and
Upper Class Women: Servants who are usually immigrants cook for them
Poverty: As healthy food more expensive and takes more time to prepare they prefer to prepare food in a small
microwave, rinsing their utensils in the bathroom sink.

Economic Capital and Cultural Capital

Economic Capital: material resources
Cultural Capital: collection of symbolic elements such as skills, posture, taste preference that one acquires
through being part of a particular social class.
 The middle classes and above prosses cultural capital because they are advantaged because they
possess knowledge, attitudes, values, language, tastes, and abilities that are socially valued

Social Class in Turkey

 Most prominent occupational shift over 20th century was decline in agricultural occupations
 Increase in white-collar occupations
 Increase in proportion of occupations requiring higher education
 Rise in average income

Working Class Food: They prefer to eat oily, stews and southern Turkish cuisine like döner kebap and grilled
sheep intestines. Also, onion and its smell associated with traditional cooking
Upper/Middle Class Food: They prefer olive oil-based Mediterranean vegetable dishes, foreign cuisines and try
to imitate Western consumption practices. They are open to discover new flavors possessing a developed or
refined palate, being familiar with different ethnic cuisines, being a wine connoisseur, and showing a keen
interest in restaurant trends

Culinary Omnivores of Turkey

Middle classes eat at shabby working-class restaurants. They confidently try, enjoy, and publicly consume food
that originally appeals to lower ranks of the class-cultural stratification. Enjoy the food's authenticity

Food and Social Identities

People who tend to be more adventurous eaters are openness in personality trait Foods can associate with
some part donuts with police

Subcultures
Vegetarian: does not eat any meat, fish, seafood, or any other animal by-products, such as gelatin.
Vegan: does not eat meat, fish, seafood, or other animal by-products such as gelatin; dairy products; eggs or
foods containing eggs such as mycoprotein and honey there is a rapid growing in vegetarian markets, but we
have stereotypes on both sides.

Instagram Food
Social media proves everyone loves to look at food
 Over-the-top, intensely trend-driven, and visually arresting.
Signals Status: You went to the place. You got the thing. You're the kind of person who lives that kind of life.
 The lie of social media
Question
1. What is the relationship between food and social class?
Etiquette, economic and cultural capital, culinary omnivores
The preference of food vary class to class, for example upper classes prefer to eat prestige food like caviar, they
are open to taste different cuisines and their choices are healthier. Usually, the servants cook for the upper
class and upper-middle class try to find the new recipes, healthier recipes for their children while lower class
mothers feed their babies what they cannot afford because healthy and fresh food acquires money. Etiquette
differs according to culture, to illustrate, in Asian culture making sounds is the polite way to eat a dish because
it means that you are enjoying the food. However, in other countries this behavior can considers as rude.
Cultural capital refers symbolic meanings that represent an individual’s social class such as food preferences or
food taste where economic culture refers more material elements. Culinary omnivores are usually people from
middle classes that publicly eat working class’s restaurants and enjoy.
2. How do people express social identities through food?
Personality and occupation, politics, vegetarianism and veganism, food of Instagram
People who are shy and do not like being around people usually prefer food that they already eat and like but,
extrovert people tend to try new foods and different flavors. There are people who refuse to consume animals
and animals-based food. Vegetarian people do not consume animals and animal-based products like gelatin.
Also, vegan people do not consume animal-based products like eggs as well. With the advance of technology
there are many different social media platforms that people produce content and post their lives. On some
account they post and share their food preference as well. With this trend people become more interested the
placement and decoration of the food instead of its taste and there are a massive amount people who see
these posts and try to live a life like the social media.

Race and Ethnicity

Social stratification is a system of organizing individuals such that they enjoy differential-unequal access to
reward because of their position. This classification based on wealth/income, race, ethnicity, gender,
education, and power and differs by society, nation. Also, racism is the system of social stratification.

Race: Most people think that its biological, but sociologists and most social scientists mentioned that there are
no clear-cut biological races. Sociologists claim that race is made by societies, and it refers to the physical
differences that a society considers significant shaped by society and not biological. So, race is socially
constructed.
Biologists believed that race is skin color and blood classification. Sociologists say that category rather than a
biological category
 Arbitrary: skin color is not the only classification that we may do; hair, eye color, and height are not
means of grouping people.

Scientific theory of race historical developments: European countries starting to group people in order to make
slave and workers and names for racial categories change over time and across cultures.
 Races are not biological as blood type and race are not linked.
In others places of world the same people can considered as Asian, black, or other kind of race because people
just look at the person’s physical appearance instead of ethnicity. Each society has its own comment on
labeling people.

Race, Power, and Inequality.

 Race is a real force in society and racial distinctions reproduce patterns of power and inequality. Also,
race was used to justify.
European colonialism/Nazism in Germany/The Ku Klux Klan in America/Slavery and segregation in the
US/Apartheid in South Africa
Racism: a set of attitudes, beliefs, and practices that are used to justify the belief that one racial category is
somehow superior or inferior to others.
Discrimination: refers to actual behavior towards another group or individual that inhibits their opportunities.
Can be based on different classifications.

Historical Development: Stereotypes and prejudice- racist people if a family is racist the chance of the child
being as well is possible.
Scapegoat Theory: The dominant group will displace its unfocused aggression onto a subordinate group
Racial Profiling: In 2020, the stories of Ahmaud Arbery and many more tragically highlighted the police
brutality, police racism, and lack of police accountability widespread across the U.S.
Functionalist Theory of Race: Racial classification is a tool and US government uses to count and manage its
population and the government recognize just five official racial categories
 American Indian/Alaskan Native
 Asian
  Black or African American
 Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander
 White
Answering the race question on surveys, census form and applications can be thought of as a ritual that
reinforces the racial reality the government has constructed.

Social Conflict Theory: Links racism to economic struggles over wealth and power
Slavery represents a conflict theory’s perspective on race relations with the dominant group needing complete
control over the subordinate group in order to maintain power, economics, work. Sedimentation of racial
inequality is the intergenerational impact of racism limiting the abilities of black people to accumulate wealth.

Structural Racism: Polices and institutions in society that work against minority groups.
Most sociologists agree that racism persists in social institutions such as public schools and the criminal justice
system.
Redlining is the practice of routinely refusing mortgages in predominantly minority communities.

Structural racism:
 Criminalizing behavior and enabling police to arrest poor
 Suppression of African Americans by disenfranchisement, lynching and other laws
 War on drugs
 Mass incarceration
Key Points: Race is socially constructed and has consequences in society
 Racism and discrimination are caused by historical prejudices, functionalism, social conflict, structural
racism

Ethnicity
Group membership based in ideas of shared identity. There can be people form the same religion with different
culture or same culture with different religion.
Ethnicity does not equate to national origin
 People from various ethnic groups can make up a nation
 Individual ethnic groups can span multiple nations.
 Adding to the complexity: some people may feel more closely associated to their national origin than
their ethnicity. And others may feel the opposite way.

Ethnicity is always changing as cultures, traditions, and languages change. Develop through relationships with
other groups. Ethnic group can emerge or die out. Also, multiple ethnic identities are possible.

Our identities are formed by dozens of factors, sometimes represented in intersection wheels.
The outer ring contains elements that may change relatively often, while the elements in the inner circle are
often considered more permanent.

Stereotype: generalized belief about members of a group. It is usually exaggerated or oversimplified.

Labeling:
Prejudice: negative opinions or attitudes held by members of one group towards another.
 An emotional commitment to a particular point of view, not swayed by contradictory evidence
 Attributing behavior to membership in a category, rather than individual shortcomings.
People can be prejudice because of
1. A person that we trust tells us inaccurate information
2. We feel threatened.
3. We are separated from the other group and cannot learn about each other.
4. Isolated incidents or one individual’s behavior may be used to stereotype the larger group
5. We teat the group based on our false beliefs about them; they may act based on how they are
treated.

For being less prejudice

 Commit to change
  Monitor hidden attitudes before they are expressed through your actions
 Make a conscious decision to be egalitarian and accepting of diversity.

Key points
Ethnicity is based on changing, socially constructed ideas about group membership
Individual ethnic identity can be very complicated and complex
Ethnicity can affect power and inequality.
For scientists:

Questions
1. What is the difference between race and ethnicity, according to social scientists and society?
Race is usually associated with physical characteristics such as skin color. For sociologists’ race is an outcome of
society and not biological, and can be according to skin color, hair or eye color etc. Ethnicity is shared personal
and cultural identifications. A group of people can have the same ethnicity while having different skin colors.
2. Be able to define race, ethnicity, racism, discrimination, stereotypes, and prejudice
Race is a classification of people according to a characteristic which is usually a physical one such as hair color,
but ethnicity is identity and cultural characteristics that a group of people shared. Racism is the belief that one
race is superior to others due to specific conditions. Discrimination is the behavioral racism that people do.
Stereotypes are the existing and generalized beliefs. Prejudice is a negative prior beliefs and ideas about a
person or a group
3. Why do social scientists think that individual ethnic identity can be very complicated and complex?
There are different types of cultures and identities around the world and people can have complex and mixed
ethnicities. For example, a people can have an Asian mother and an African father, as a result this person can
be considered as both Asian and African.
Midterm:
 Define race explain causes and give example
 Sociological imagination: applying sociology to way of thinking.
 4 steps quantitative and qualitative
 Each of the sypes of research and know the plus and bad.
 Social science table
 Max weber durkheim opinions, reasons to critique them their basic theories, and the critisizms of it
 How do we see social class from food
 Is race biological or social according to sociologists. (socially contracted, arbitrary- it could be
according to other facts but society tells us that its due to skin color.)