Mass Media and Pop Culture

Mass Media and Popular Culture

The mass media have come to play a fundamental role in modern society. The mass media are media of communication – newspapers, magazines, television, radio, cinema, videos, CDs and other forms – which reach mass audiences.

The newspapers were among the most important of early mass media. They continue to be significant, but other, newer media, particularly radio and television, have supplemented them.

The influence of the mass media on our lives is profound. The media not only provide entertainment, but provide and shape much of the information which we utilize in our daily lives.

In spite of many studies of television and violence, it is still not clear how far, and in what ways, the portrayal of violence on TV encourages aggressive behavior in real life. Most of the research has underestimated how far viewers selectively interpret what they see, and the complex ways in which the “fictional” and the “real” interrelate.

A range of different theories of media and popular culture have been developed. Innis and McLuhan argued that media influences society more in terms of how they communicate than what they communicate. In McLuhan´s words, “the medium is the message”: TV, for example, influences people´s behavior and attitudes because it is so different in nature from other media, such as newspapers or books.

Other important theories include Haberman, Baudrillard and Thompson. Habermas points to the role of the media in creating a “public sphere” – a sphere of public opinion and public debate. Baudrillard has been strongly influenced by McLuhan. He believes that new media actually change the “reality” we experience.

The sense today of inhabiting one world is in large part a results of the international scope of media of communication. A world information order – an international system of the production, distribution and consumption of informational goods – has come into being. Given the paramount position of the industrial countries in the world information order, many believe that the Third World countries are subject to a new form of media imperialism.

The media industries worldwide tend to be dominated by a small number of very large companies. Several of these are headed by celebrated media entrepreneurs. Many critics worry about the concentration of media power in the hands of such powerful individuals, who they say are not accountable to democratic procedures.

“Multimedia” refers to the combination on a single medium of what used to be different media needing different technologies, so that a CD-ROM, for example, can carry both visuals and sound and be played on a computer.

Vocabulary

Public Opinion: The views which members of the public hold on issues of the day.

Genre: a concept applied in media studies to refer to a distinct type of media product or cultural item. In the world of television, for example, different genres include soap opera, comedy, news programs, sports and drama.

Global Village: a belief that the world becomes like a small community. For instance, people in many different parts of the world follow the same news events through television programs.

Public Sphere: it refers to an arena of public debate and discussion in modern societies.

Hyperreality: as a result of electronic communication, there is no longer a separate “reality” to which TV programs and other cultural products refer. Instead, what we take to be “reality” is structured by such communication itself. For instance, the items reported on the news are not just about a separate series of events, but actually themselves define and construct what those events are.

Face-to-face Interaction: interaction between individuals who are physically present in the same context with one another.

Symbolic Power: Power exercised by means of symbols rather than by direct control. Those who run the culture industry, for instance, have a great deal of symbolic power over the audiences who watch their TV programs or read their newspapers.

  

Criteria of Pop Culture

1. Originates from the people

2. Moves from subculture to mainstream

3. Mass produced

4. Or created for the "people" (mainstream)

5. Widely favored by many people

6. Associated with commercial products

7. Constantly changing and evolving

Distribution: Delivery of product to distributor and marketing.

Social Identity: Self-concept based on group membership and the emotional attachments associated with the membership. People use pop culture to develop their identity. When an individual identifies him/herself as a group member, his/her beliefs, interests and actions tend to become aligned with those of the group.

Subculture: Small groups inside cultures - we can belong to many. Members share beliefs and common experiences that set them apart from other members of a culture (different parts of your identity come to play in diff subcultures).

Membership Reference Group: Brand Communities (Harley Davidson). Fan Communities/Fandom.

Aspirational Reference Group: Change your behavior to be like those you aspire to be.

Fans and Fandom: Identification with a media product, star or style - fans or follower of media fads or fashions. Varying levels of commitment. Consumer, fan clubs, fanzines, conventions, communities.

Cognitive Branding: Functional Benefits. Focus is on how the brand's performance fulfills your practical needs.

Cultural Branding: Iconic Brands. Symbolism - strategic focus is on what the brand stands for. They succeed b/c they forge a deep connection with the culture and compete for culture share.

Objectification: Any presentation emphasizing sexually suggestive body parts or not including the head (this decreases feelings of guilt and demeans and dehumanizes the model - making it like an object).

Ritualization of Subordination: A classic stereotype of humble submission and respect is that of lowering oneself physically in some form. Defenselessness, submissive, powerless and vulnerable.

For class discussion: http://catalog.flatworldknowledge.com/bookhub/reader/3833?e=lulemedia_1.0-ch01_s06

Social Interaction and Everyday Life

Social Interaction and Everyday Life

               Important Terms

Civil inattention: the process where individuals acknowledge each other's presence.

Social Interaction: the process by which we act and react to those around us.

Ervin Goffman: this person developed the concept of civil inattention and believed that sociologists needed to concern themselves with trivial aspects of behavior.

Charles Darwin: he believed that all emotional expressions are the same for all humans.

Eibl Eibesfeldt: he conducted a study of six children born deaf and blind to see how far their facial expressions were the same as those of sighted and hearing individuals in particular emotional situations (1972).

Harold Garfinkel: he created the field of ethnomethodology. He argued that in order to understand the way people use context to make sense of the worlds, sociologists need to study the background expectations with which we organize regular conversation.

Paul Ekman: developed FACTS (Facial Action Coding System) for describing movements of the facial muscles that give rise to particular expressions.

Microsociology: day to day interactions.

Macrosociology: the study of large-scale groups, organizations or social systems.

Nonverbal communication: the exchange of information and meaning through facial expressions, gestures, and movements of the body.

Body language: an example of nonverbal communication.

Roles: socially defined expectations that a person in a given status follows.

Status: the social honor or prestige that a particular group is accorded by other members of a society.

Social position: the social identity an individual has in a group or society.

Impression management: preparing for the presentation of one's social role.

Unfocused interaction: whenever individuals exhibit awareness of other's presence.

Focused interaction: interaction between individuals engaged in a common activity or in direct conversation with one another.

Audience Segregation: when individuals show a different face to different people.

Back region: when individuals are able to relax and behave informally.

Front region: when the settings of social activity in which people seek to put on a definite performance for others.

Ethnomethodology: the study of the folk, or lay, methods people use to make sense of what others do and particularly of what they say.

Conversation analysis: a methodology that examines all facets of a conversation for meaning from the smallest filler words to the precise timing of interchanges, pauses, interruptions, and overlaps.

Interactional vandalism: where a subordinate person breaks the tacit rules of everyday interaction that are value to the more powerful.

Talk: the carrying on of conversations or verbal exchanges in the course of day-to-day social life.

Conversation: verbal communication between two or more individuals.

Shared understandings: the common assumptions which people hold and which allow them to interact in a systematic way with one another.

Response cries: seemingly involuntary exclamations individuals make when, for example, being taken by surprise, dropping something inadvertently, or expressing pleasure.

Slips of the tongue: the mispronunciation of words, as when someone means to say “six” and instead says “sex.” Freud believed that slips of the tongue conceal hidden anxieties or emotions.

Dramaturgical model: an approach to the study of social interaction based on the use of metaphors (images, symbols) derived from the theatre.

Personal space: the physical space individuals maintain between themselves and others when they know them on a personal basis.

Social distance: the level of spatial separation maintained when individuals interact with others whom they do not know well.

Public distance: the physical space individuals maintain between themselves and others when engaged in a public performance, such as giving a lecture.

Time-space convergence: the process whereby distances become “shortened in time,” as the speed of modes of transportation increases.

Regionalization: the division of social life into different regional settings or zones.

Clock time: time as measured by the clock – that is assessed in terms of hours, minutes or seconds. Before the invention of clocks, time-reckoning was based on events in the natural world, such as the rising and setting of the sun.

               Questions

·        What is the first reason it is important to study daily social interactions?

Our day to day routines give us structure and form to what we do, and we can learn a great deal about ourselves as social beings, and about social life itself.

·        What is the second reason it is important to study daily social interactions?

The study of everyday life reveals to us how humans can act creatively to shape reality.

·        What is the third reason it is important to study daily social interactions?

Studying social interaction in everyday life sheds light on larger social systems and institutions.

·        What does the FACS stand for?

               Facial Action Coding System

               http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-G7IRRydpVA

               http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUXtGQkJcQ0

·        Who came up with the FACS and what is it?

Paul Ekman and the FACS describes the movements of the facial muscles that give rise to particular expressions.

·        How we act depends on what?

The roles we are playing at a particular time.

·        How does Goffman distinguish between the expressions individuals give and those they give off?

Words and facial expressions individuals use to produce certain impressions on others. The clues that others may spot to check their sincerity or truthfulness.

Summary

1.      Social interaction is the process by which we act and react to those around us. Many apparently trivial aspects of our day-to-day behavior turn out on close examination to be both complex and important aspects of social interaction. An example is the gaze – looking at other people. In most interaction, eye contact is fairly fleeting. To stare at another person could be taken as a sign of hostility – or, on some occasions, of love. The study of social interaction is a fundamental area in sociology, illuminating many aspects of social life.

What happens if you stare at your mom, your neighbor, your classmate, a stranger?

Look at, stare, gaze, stare into somebody.

The Study of Everyday Life – why should we concern ourselves with such seemingly trivial aspects of social behavior?

i.                 We can learn a great deal about ourselves as social beings through the structure of our day-to-day routines. Our lives are organized around the repetition of similar patterns of behavior.

ii.                We can learn about others

iii.               Studying social interaction in everyday life sheds light on larger social systems and institutions. All large-scale social systems, depend on the patterns of social interaction we engage in daily.

2.      Various different expressions are conveyed by the human face. It is widely held that basic aspects of the facial expression of emotion are innate. Cross-cultural studies demonstrate quite close similarities between the members of different cultures both in facial expression and the interpretation of emotions registered on the human face. “Face” can also be understood in a broader sense to refer to the esteem in which an individual is held by others. Generally, in our interaction with other people, we are concerned to “save face” – protect our self-esteem.

3.      The study of ordinary talk and conversation has come to be called ethnomethodology, a term first coined by Harold Garfinkel. Ethnomethodology is the analysis of the ways in which we actively – although usually in a taken-for-granted way – make sense of that others mean by what they say and do.

4.      We can learn a great deal about the nature of talk by “response cries” (exclamations) and studying slips of the tongue (what happens when people mispronounce or misapply words and phrases). Slips of the tongue are often humorous, and are in fact closely connected psychologically to wit and joking.

5.      Unfocused interaction is the mutual awareness individuals have of one another in large gatherings, when not directly in conversation with one another. Focused interaction, which can be divided up into distinct encounters – or episodes of interaction – occurs when two or more individuals are directly attending to what the other or others are saying and doing.

6.      Social interaction can often be studied in an illuminating way by applying the dramaturgical model – studying social interaction as if those involved were actors on a stage, having a set and props. As in the theatre, in the various contexts of social life there tend to be clear distinctions between front regions (the stage itself) and back regions, where the actors prepare themselves for the performance and relax afterwards.

7.      Social roles are socially defined expectations of an individual in a given status or social position.

8.      All social interaction is situated in time and space. We can analyze how our daily lives are “zoned” in time and space combined by looking at how activities occur during definite periods and at the same time involve spatial movement.

9.      The study of face-to-face interaction is usually called microsociology – which is contrasted to macrosociology, which studies larger groups, institutions, and social systems. Micro and macro analysis are in fact very closely related, and each complements the other.

The Modern World - Types of Societies

Features of the Traditional State:

Before modern industrialism, this is the only type of society in history wherein a significant proportion of the population was not directly engaged in the production of food.

What does this mean? It means that before the traditional state everybody worked for the production of food. Now in the traditional state the simple division of labor disappears.

What was this simple division of labor? Men hunted, women gathered and attended the children, or that men did the hard physical labor and the women did the household chores. The most important separation of tasks was between men and women, it was a division of labor by sex – the activities of women being mainly confined to the household and the fields.

So what happened to the work men did? In the traditional state a more complicated occupational system existed. Men now had specialized trades such as being a merchant, a noble (aristocrat), government administrator and soldier.

Now because we have extreme variations in power and wealth, social classes were created. The basic division of classes was between aristocratic groups and the remainder of the population. The ruler was at the head of a “ruling class” that maintained the exclusive right to hold the higher social positions. The members of this class usually lived in considerable material comfort or luxury.

Now these states sought the development of professional armies. The Roman army, for example, was a highly disciplined and intensively trained body of men, and was the foundation on which the expansion of the Roman Empire was built. In wars between states casualties were far higher than they had even been before.

The Modern World: Industrial Societies

Traditional states have now disappeared from the face of the earth. Yes still hunting and gathering, pastoral and agrarian societies but only found in isolated territories.

What happened to this society that dominated just 2 centuries ago? Industrialization – machine production through steam or electricity. Now we have Industrial Societies or modern societies.

This happened during Industrial Revolution in 18^th century England and complex technological changes changed the means by which people gained their livelihood. Discoveries and inventions in science improved production methods and also provoked new discoveries. Before this, even the most advanced traditional civilizations were engaged in working on the land. Most of these people still worked on the land. Now industrialized, few people work the land, more work in factories, offices or shops. Now 90% of people live in towns and cities were most jobs are found and job opportunities are created.

Personal life: in the cities social life becomes more impersonal and anonymous than before, and many of our day-to-day encounters are with strangers rather than with individuals known to us. Our personal life is highly influenced by business corporations or government agencies.

Nation States

There is a difference between the terms nation, state, and country, even though the words are often used interchangeably.

Country and State are synonymous terms that both apply to self-governing political entities. A state is a territory defined by political boundaries with its own set of laws. People usually call states countries.

A nation, however, is a group of people who share the same culture but do not have sovereignty. A nation is a group of people who share a characteristic.

So, a nation-state is; a state in which the inhabitants have the same culture or belong to the same nation of people. Japan is the best example. Japan is mostly inhabited by Japanese people who have the same religion, language and other culture defining characteristics. Most other states are multinational states, like the USA. These are states where there is a variety of cultures within one state.

A nation-state is not the same thing as a city-state. The Vatican would be like a city-state or Washington D.C.

A nation-state is a state, or country, that has defined borders and territory. It is additionally a country in which a nation of principally the same type of people exists, organized by either race or cultural background. In the nation-state, generally, everyone would speak the same language, probably practice the same or similar types of religion, and share a set of cultural, “national,” values.

The US is not a nation-state because of its multiple ethnicities, numbers of religions practiced, and different cultural norms. Even though citizens of the US share the same borders and territory, they do not, in the sense of the nation-state, share a common nationality.

Another way in which a nation-state cannot exist is when there is a defined ethnic and cultural group that exists without territorial borders and complete right of ownership to those borders. For example, when immigrants to the US declared the country to be a state, numerous Native American tribes were nations without being states. The borders of the various Native American nations were disregarded by the larger US state, resulting in repeated relocation of these nations to other areas and territories. These territories were only held at the permission of the US. Today, some tribes do have defined borders but they still in some cases may be subject to the laws of the US, making them not fully nation-states.

In fact, most countries do not completely fall within the definition of the nation-state, since most countries have immigrants. Once immigrants come to a country, especially in large numbers, the nation-state can no longer exist. Countries with only a small number of immigrants may still be seen as containing predominantly the same ethnicity and shared culture and may thus be considered as approaching the theoretical nation-state.

Iceland is considered almost an ideal nation-state since immigration to Iceland is quite low. Japan also comes close to being a nation-state because the sense of national identity and shared language is very strong. It is not coincidental that both of these countries are islands and thus less “crossing of the border” can exist.

The desire to establish a nation-state can be one of the most devastating ones and may result in either mass eviction of other nationalities or ethnic cleansing. Hitler attempted to establish Germany as a nation-state by first exiling Jews, and then ultimately, by killing the majority of Jewish residents in Germany, and in other countries he conquered like Poland. Attempting to enforce a nation-state where none truly exists often results in high numbers of deaths for large minority populations and a lack of humanity to the extreme.

First, Second and Third World Societies

Origin – Colonialism was central to shaping the social map of the globe. This development and expansion led to the conquest of many parts of the world, radically changing long-established social systems and cultures. This process was associated with colonialism – the imposition of Western government and Western control.

               First World

The term "First World" refers to so called developed, capitalist, industrial countries, roughly, a bloc of countries aligned with the United States after World War II, with more or less common political and economic interests: North America, Western Europe, Japan and Australia.

               Second World

"Second World" refers to the former communist-socialist, industrial states, (formerly the Eastern bloc, the territory and sphere of influence of the Union of Soviet Socialists Republic) today: Russia, Eastern Europe (e.g., Poland) and some of the Turk States (e.g., Kazakhstan) as well as China.

               Third World

"Third World" are all the other countries, today often used to roughly describe the developing countries of Africa, Asia and Latin America. The term Third World includes as well capitalist (e.g., Venezuela) and communist (e.g., North Korea) countries, as very rich (e.g., Saudi Arabia) and very poor (e.g., Mali) countries.

Third World Countries classified by various indices: their Political Rights and Civil Liberties, the Gross National Income (GNI) and Poverty of countries, the Human Development of countries (HDI), and the Freedom of Information within a country.

               What makes a nation third world?

Despite ever evolving definitions, the concept of the third world serves to identify countries that suffer from high infant mortality, low economic development, high levels of poverty, low utilization of natural resources, and heavy dependence on industrialized nations. These are the developing and technologically less advanced nations of Asia, Africa, Oceania, and Latin America. Third world nations tend to have economies dependent on the developed countries and are generally characterized as poor with unstable governments and having high rates of population growth, illiteracy, and disease. A key factor is the lack of a middle class — with impoverished millions in a vast lower economic class and a very small elite upper class controlling the country's wealth and resources. Most third world nations also have a very large foreign debt.

               Fourth World ??!!

The term "Fourth World" first came into use in 1974 with the publication of Shuswap Chief George Manuel's:  The fourth world: an Indian reality (amazon link to the book), the term refers to nations (cultural entities, ethnic groups) of indigenous peoples living within or across state boundaries (nation states). See Native American Indians

               Today

Today these groupings are obsolete. However, "First World" is still used for developed countries, and "Third World" for those that are underdeveloped. There are no remaining countries that fit the original definition of Second World, since existent communist countries are either severely underdeveloped like Cuba and North Korea, or aren't really following a communist economic model like China.

Types of Society - Part I

Types of Society

Ethnocentrism: understanding the ideas or practices of another culture in terms of those of one´s own culture. Ethnocentric judgments fail to recognize the true qualities of other cultures. An ethnocentric individual is someone who is unable, or unwilling, to look at other cultures in their own terms.

Prejudice: the holding of preconceived ideas about an individual or group, ideas that are resistant to chance even in the face of new information. Prejudice may be either positive or negative. (Chauvinism, bias, discrimination)

The Earliest Societies

Hunters and Gatherers

Hunting and gathering societies: small groups or tribes often numbering no more than thirty or forty people. Hunting, fishing and gathering edible plants growing in the wild. Little inequality is found in most hunting and gathering groups. The material goods they need are limited to weapons for hunting, tools for digging and building, traps and cooking utensils. So there is little difference among members of the society in the number of kinds of material possessions – there are no divisions of rich and poor. Differences of position or rank tend to be limited to age and sex; men are almost always the hunters, while women gather wild crops, cook, and bring up the children. This division of labor between men and women, however, is very important: men tend to dominate public and ceremonial positions.

The “elders” – the oldest and most experienced men in the community – usually have an important say in major decisions affecting the group. Differences are few. This society is usually participatory – all adult male members tend to assemble together when important decisions are taken or crises faced.

They are nomadic, but they don´t move around in a completely erratic way. Most have fixed territories and migrate regularly around them from year to year. Membership is not stable, as members split up and move into other tribes but they tend to stay within the same territory.

Hunters and gatherers were not drawn to war. Their tools were not adequate weapons. Of course clashes did occur between different groups, but these were few. There were no specialist warriors.

Hunting was mostly a cooperative activity. Even those who hunted alone had to share their results.

               Are hunters and gatherers the original affluent societies?

Affluent – rich, wealthy, prosperous, comfortable. Presently the very few hunting and gathering societies live in circumstances where survival is constant struggle. In the past this wasn´t so because tribes would inhabit the most hospitable regions of the world and they did not spend most of the day working, “engaged in production.” In other words, they didn´t spend the same amount of hours a modern factory or office employee did. Also, this type of society did not focus in gathering material wealth beyond their basic wants. Their main preoccupations, besides food, shelter and warmth, were focused on religious values and ceremonial rituals. Their ceremonies were elaborate and they did spend a large amount of time on preparing the dress, masks, paintings, and other sacred objects.

               Summary of Hunters and gatherers

The absence of war, the lack of major inequalities of wealth and power, and the emphasis on cooperation rather than competition are all instructive reminders that the world created by modern industrial civilization is not necessarily to be equated with “progress.”

Pastoral and Agrarian Societies

Eventually hunting and gathering groups turned to the raising of domesticated animals and the cultivation of fixed plots of land as their means of livelihood. Many societies have had mixed pastoral and agrarian economies.

Pastoral societies: are those relying mainly on domesticated livestock.

Agrarian societies:  are those that grow crops (practice agriculture).

Pastoral Societies

Depending on the environment where they live, that´s the type of animal they rear and herd such as cattle, sheep, goats, camels, or horses. Some regions are not amenable to fruitful agriculture so its main support depends on livestock. Pastors do migrate between different areas according to seasonal changes. Because they have animal transport, they move across much larger distances than the hunters and gatherers. Because of this nomadic habit, pastoral societies do not accumulate many material possessions, although their way of life is more complex in material terms than that of hunters and gatherers. Trade

Since the domestication of animals permits a regular supply of food, these societies are larger numbering as much as a ¼ of a million people or more. When they come into contact with others they either trade or have war. Some of them have been known to be peaceful, wishing only to tend to their livestock and engage in community ritual and ceremony. However, others have been highly warlike and see conquest and pillage as normal a livelihood as herding animals. Pastoral societies display greater inequalities of wealth and power than hunters and gatherers. In particular, chiefs, tribal leaders or warlords often wield considerable personal power.

Agrarian Societies

Originated at the same time as pastoral societies. Like pastoral societies agriculture provides for a more assured supply of food than is possible by hunting and gathering, and therefore can support much larger communities. Because they are not on the move agriculture societies can develop larger stocks of material possessions than can either pastoral or hunting and gathering communities. Because societies are settled in particular places, regular trading and political ties can be developed between separate villages.

Warlike behavior is common but the level of violence is not as strong as in pastoral groups. Because they grow crops they don´t practice arts of combat such as the ones nomadic pastoral tribesmen do who on the other hand, can mass together as pillaging/looting armies.

As in pastoral groups, chiefs and tribal leaders in agrarian societies play a prominent role, and there are substantial differences in the material wealth people possess.

Non-Industrial Civilizations (Traditional States)

These societies were based on the development of cities. They showed very pronounced inequalities of wealth and power. Were ruled by kings or emperors and because they developed a more coordinated government than other forms of society, the term traditional state is used to refer to them. Most of these states were also empires; they achieved the size they did through the conquest and incorporation of other peoples. (example, Rome, China, Inca, Aztec, Mayas)

Because they have use of writing, science and art, and because they flourished in them, they are often called civilizations.

No traditional states still exist in the world today.

Features of the Traditional State:

Before modern industrialism, this is the only type of society in history wherein a significant proportion of the population was not directly engaged in the production of food.

What does this mean? It means that before the traditional state everybody worked for the production of food. Now in the traditional state the simple division of labor disappears.

What was this simple division of labor? Men hunted, women gathered and attended the children, or that men did the hard physical labor and the women did the household chores. The most important separation of tasks was between men and women, it was a division of labor by sex – the activities of women being mainly confined to the household and the fields.

So what happened to the work men did? In the traditional state a more complicated occupational system existed. Men now had specialized trades such as being a merchant, a noble (aristocrat), government administrator and soldier.

Now because we have extreme variations in power and wealth, social classes were created. The basic division of classes was between aristocratic groups and the remainder of the population. The ruler was at the head of a “ruling class” that maintained the exclusive right to hold the higher social positions. The members of this class usually lived in considerable material comfort or luxury.

Now these states sought the development of professional armies. The Roman army, for example, was a highly disciplined and intensively trained body of men, and was the foundation on which the expansion of the Roman Empire was built. In wars between states casualties were far higher than they had even been before.

Early Types of Human Society
Type	Period of Existence	Characteristics
Hunting and gathering	50,000 BC to the present (now on the verge of complete disappearance).	Consist of small numbers of people gaining their livelihood from hunting, fishing, and the gathering of edible plants. Few inequalities. Differences of rank limited by age and sex.
Pastoral	12,000 BC to the present. Today mostly part of larger states; their traditional ways of life are being undermined.	Dependent on the tending of domesticated animals for their material subsistence. Size ranges from a few hundred people to many thousands. Marked by distinct inequalities. Ruled by chiefs or warrior kings.
Agrarian	12,000 BC to the present. Most are now part of larger political entities, and are losing their distinct identity.	Based on small rural communities, without towns or cities.

Notes to Study for Partial Test

Remember to use class notes to compare to what´s below:

Sociology First Partial Notes to Study for First Partial Test

The concept of culture is one of the most important notions in sociology. Culture refers to the ways of life of the members of a society, or of groups within a society. It includes art, literature and painting, but also ranges much more widely. Other cultural items, for example, are how people dress, their customs, their patterns of work and religious ceremonies.

Culture is a large part of what makes us human. A theory about us humans is that we evolved and that as a species we emerged as a result of a long process of biological evolution. However, this is still a theory and not a scientific law.

Forms of behavior found in all, or virtually all, cultures are called cultural universals. Language, the prohibition against incest, institutions of marriage, the family, religion and property are the main types of cultural universals – but within these general categories there are many variations in values and modes of behavior between different societies.

We learn the characteristics of our culture through the process of socialization. Socialization is the process whereby, through contact with other human beings, the helpless infant gradually becomes a self-aware, knowledgeable human being, skilled in the ways of the given culture.

The work of Sigmund Freud suggests that the young child learns to become an autonomous being only as she or he learns to balance the demands of the environment with pressing desires coming from the unconscious. Our ability to be self-aware is built, painfully, on the repression of unconscious drives.

Socialization continues throughout the life course. At each distinct phase of life there are transitions to be made or crises to be overcome. This includes facing up to death, as the termination of personal existence.

Course:

Childhood – babies, toddlers, infancy. Before all seemed as just infancy and then little adults who had to do adult things such as work and behave as such. History has shown child labor as young as 7 or 8 in coalmines. Children before had no rights in either labor or treatment. Societies are now more child-centered and now parenting and childhood have become more clearly distinct from other stages. A child-centered society emphasizes children experience love and care from parents or other adults. With this attention given to childhood it has become a commonplace feature of family life in present-day society the existence of physical and sexual abuse in children.

Adolescence – this concept of teenager is relatively recent. The distinctiveness of being a teenager in current times is related both to the general extension of child rights and to the process of formal education.

Young adult

Mature adulthood

Old age

Video link: The gods Must be Crazy II

Be careful with the pop-ups.

http://viooz.co/movies/4736-the-gods-must-be-crazy-ii-1989.html

Vocabulary

Culture: the values, norms and material good characteristic of a given group. Like the concept of society, the notion of culture is very widely used in sociology, as well as the other social sciences (particularly anthropology). Culture is one of the most distinctive properties of human social association.

Society: the concept of society is one of the most important of all sociological notions. A society is a group of people who live in a particular territory, are subject to a common system of political authority, and are aware of having a distinct identity from other groups around them.  Some are big, others small.

Values: Ideas held by human individuals or groups about what is desirable, proper, good or bad. Differing values represent key aspects of variations in human culture. What individuals value is strongly influenced by the specific culture in which they happen to live.

Socialization: The social processes through which children develop an awareness of social norms and values, and achieve a distinct sense of self. Although socialization processes are particularly significant in infancy and childhood, they continue to some degree throughout life. No human individuals are immune from the reactions of others around them, which influence and modify their behavior at all phases of the life cycle.

The unconscious: motives and ideas unavailable to the conscious mind of the individual. A key psychological mechanism involved in the unconscious is repression – parts of the mind are “blocked off” from an individual´s direct awareness. According to Freud´s theory, unconscious wishes and impulses established in childhood continue to play a major part in the life of the adult.

Self-consciousness: awareness of one´s distinct social identity, as a person separate from others. Human beings are not born with self-consciousness, but acquire an awareness of self as a result of early socialization. The learning of language is of vital importance to the processes by which the child learns to become a self-conscious being.

Identify: the distinctive characteristics of a person´s character or the character of a group. Both individual and group identity is largely provided by social markers. Thus one of the most important markers of an individual´s identity is his or her name. The name is an important part of the person´s individuality. Naming is also important for group identity. For instance national identity is governed by whether one is “English,” “French,” “American” and so forth.

What is Sociology?

A systematic study of human societies, giving special emphasis to modern, industrialized systems. Sociology is one of a group of social sciences, which includes also anthropology, economics, political science and human geography. The divisions between the various social sciences are not clear-cut, and all share a certain range of common interests, concepts and methods.

Sociology came into being as an attempt to understand the far-reaching changes that have occurred in human societies over the past two to three centuries. The changes involved are not just large-scale ones. Major shifts have also occurred in the most intimate and personal characteristics of people´s lives. The development of a stress on romantic love as a basis for marriage is an example of this.

The practice of sociology involves the ability to think imaginatively and to detach oneself from preconceived ideas about social life. (A stick with hair = no teeth no sex, no children. Not wearing clothes.) We see as familiar our own, we need to take a broader view of why we are as we are, and why we act as we do. What is natural, inevitable, good or true may not be such, and that the “givens” in our life are strongly influenced by historical and social forces.

Background to the origin	Origin	Now
French Revolution of 1789 Industrial Revolution Gods and spirits caused natural events – i.e., earthquakes.	19th century (1800-1899) What is human nature? Why is society structured like it is? How and why do societies change?	emphasis to modern, industrialized systems

Among the classical founders of sociology, four figures are particularly important: Auguste Comte, Karl Marx, Émile Durkheim and Max Weber. Comte and Marx, working in the mid-nineteenth century, established some of the basic issues of sociology, later elaborated on by Durkheim and Weber. These issues concern the nature of sociology and the impact of the development of modern societies on the social world.

Name	Years	Beliefs / Actions
Auguste Comte	1798-1857 French	Invented word “sociology” This new field could produce scientific evidence to contribute in welfare of humanity using science to understand and therefore predict and control human behavior.
Émile Durkheim	1858-1917 French	Believed Comte was too speculative (approximate) and vague. Wanted sociology to be more scientific. Sociology must study scientific facts, “study social facts as things.” What holds society together is shared values and customs—it is the main source of social change. Anomie – a feeling of aimlessness, or despair provoked by modern social life. Life lacks meaning. Analysis of suicide – seems a personal act, but he showed that social factors exert a fundamental influence on suicidal behavior. Patterns in suicide can be explained sociologically.
Karl Marx	1818-83 German	Politician. Emphasis on social changes during Industrial Revolution. His work was important for the development of sociology. Concentrated on connecting economic problems related to social institutions—this is rich in sociological insights. Founded viewpoint called materialist conception of history. Was against Durkheim´s claim that social change was because of values, rather it is by economic influences: the conflicts between classes—the rich versus the poor. This provides the motivation for historical development. “All human history thus far is the history of class struggles.” Capitalism contrasts radically with previous economic systems in history. Those who own capital are the ruling class: factories, machines and large sums of money. The mass of population make up a class of wage workers, or working class who do not own the means of their livelihood (means of support or subsistence) but must find employment provided by the owners of capital. The future: he believed that eventually society would become classless with communal ownership. (Communism: political ideas associated with Marx, developed particularly by Lenin, and institutionalized in China and, until 1990, in the Soviet Union and eastern Europe. Dictionary definition of communism: a theory of social organization in which goods are held in common according to needs.) At one point more than 1/3 of the world claimed to have a government inspired from Marx´s ideas.
Max Weber	1864-1920 German	He was concerned with development of modern capitalism. Influenced by Marx but critical of Marx´s major views. He rejected the materialist conception of history and saw class conflict as less significant. Yes, economic factors are important, but ideas and values have just as much impact on social change. He compared western civilizations (European) with those of China, India and the Near East. He also studied their religions and compared to Christian beliefs, he came to belief that Christianity strongly influenced the rise of capitalism. In his view, cultural ideas and values help shape society and shape our individual actions. Economics is only one among many influential factors that shape society: Science and bureaucracy are also major factors. Science: shapes modern technology and will continue to do so in any future society. Bureaucracy: government marked by specialization of functions under fixed rules and a hierarchy of authority. Also, an unwieldy (Wield = handle, not easily managed or handle) administrative system burdened with excessive complexity and lack of flexibility. Bureaucracy is the only way of organizing large numbers of people effectively, and therefore inevitably expands with economic and political growth. Weber called the development of science, modern technology and bureaucracy collectively rationalization: the organization of social and economic life according to principles of efficiency and on the basis of technical knowledge.

According to its founders, sociology is a science in the sense that it involves systematic methods of investigation and the evaluation of theories in the light of evidence and logical argument. But it cannot be modeled directly on the natural sciences, because studying human behavior is in fundamental ways different from studying the world of nature.

Science is the use of systematic methods of empirical investigation, the analysis of data, theoretical thinking and the logical assessment of arguments.

Sociology has important practical implications (association, involvement). It can contribute to social criticism and practical social reform in several ways. First, the improved understanding of a given set of social circumstances often gives us all a better chance of controlling them. Second, sociology provides the means of increasing our cultural sensitivities, allowing policies to be based on an awareness of divergent (different) cultural values. Third, we can investigate the consequences (intended and unintended) of the adoption of particular policy programs. Finally, and perhaps most important, sociology provides self-enlightenment, offering groups and individuals an increased opportunity to alter the conditions of their own lives. (Example: teen smoking, pros and cons)

Important Terms

Sociology – The systematic study of human behavior and social life, groups and societies, giving particular emphasis to the analysis of the industrialized world. Sociology is a social science; the subject matter is our own behavior as social beings.

Society – the most important of all sociological notions. A society is a group of people who live in a particular territory, are subject to a common system of political authority, and are aware of having a distinct identity from other groups around them. Some societies can be very small, others at more than a billion.

Sociological imagination – the application of imaginative thought to the asking and answering of sociological questions. The sociological imagination involves one in “thinking oneself away” from the familiar routines of the day-to-day life.

Unintended consequences – consequences which result from behavior initiated for other purposes. Many of the major features of social activity are unintended by those who participate in it.

Social reproduction – the processes which sustain or perpetuate (continue, maintain) characteristics of social structure over periods of time. It refers to how societies “keep going” over time. It occurs because there is continuity in what people do from day to day and year to year and in the social practices they follow.

Social transformation – processes of change in “societies” or social systems. Changes occur partly because people intend them to occur, and partly because of consequences that no one foresees or intends.

Anomie – a concept first brought into wide usage in sociology by Durkheim, referring to a situation in which social norms lose their hold over individual behavior.

Materialist conception of history – The view developed by Marx, according to which “material” or economic factors have a prime role in determining historical change.

Capitalism – a system of economic enterprise based on market exchange. “Capital” refers to wealth or money used to invest in a market with the hope of achieving a profit. Nearly all industrial societies today are capitalist in orientation—their economic systems are based on free enterprise and on economic competition.

Self-enlightenment – The increased understanding of the conditions of their lives which people may achieve through social investigation—possibly allowing them to take action to alter those conditions.