Ôn tập giữa kỳ XÃ HỘI HỌC Mid term review Sociology

Ôn tập giữa kỳ XÃ HỘI HỌC Mid term review Sociology. Ôn tập từ chương 1 đến chương 4 và trả lời một số câu hỏi và lời giải cho các case study. Một môn học trong ngành Quản lý công nghiệp chuyên ngành Quản trị Kinh doanh chương trình quốc tế. CHAP 1What is Sociology? Systematic study of social behavior in human groups. Focus on:•How relationships influence people’s attitudes and behavior•How societies develop and changeSociology is the scientific study of societies and social interactions. The field encompasses analysis of all levels of social life, from microlevel group and individual interactions to macrolevel trends describing entire demographics and societies. The sociological Imagination:•Awareness of relationship between an individual and the wider society •Ability to view our own society as an outsider would, rather than from perspective of our limited experiences and cultural biases.What is Sociological theory?Theory•Set of statements that seeks to explain problems, actions or behavior•Effective theories should explain and predict....

CHAP 1

What is Sociology?

Systematic study of social behavior in human groups Focus on:

• How relationships influence people’s attitudes and behavior

• How societies develop and change

Sociology is the scientific study of societies and social interactions The field

encompasses analysis of all levels of social life, from micro-level group and individual interactions to macro-level trends describing entire demographics and societies

The sociological Imagination:

• Awareness of relationship between an individual and the wider society

• Ability to view our own society as an outsider would, rather than from perspective

of our limited experiences and cultural biases

What is Sociological theory?

Theory

• Set of statements that seeks to explain problems, actions or behavior

• Effective theories should explain and predict

Why study Sociology?

• To develop intensive research, analytic, and problem-solving skills

• To derive scientific insights from social interactions

• To understand our personal situation in society

• To grasp the factors weighing on our own and others’ decisions

• To inform predictions about future trends

• To develop the foundation to evaluate and help shape responsive governmental and organizational policy

4 Major theoretical perspectives

Functionalist Perspective (Macro or mid)

Focus on the way each part of society functions together to contribute to the whole

Manifest functions are the consequences of a social process that are sought or

anticipated

Latent functions are the unsought consequences of a social process

Conflict Perspective (macro)

Conflict theory looks at society as a competition for limited resources.

Feminist Perspective

-Views inequity in gender as central to all behavior and organization

-Sometimes allied with conflict theory, the feminist perspective also focuses on level relationships of everyday life, as interactionists do

micro-Symbolic Interactionist Perspective (Micro)

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

Constructivism is an extension of symbolic interaction theory which proposes that

reality is what humans cognitively construct it to be We develop social constructs based

on interactions with others, and those constructs that last over time are those that have meanings which are widely agreed-upon or generally accepted by most within the

society One situation that illustrates this is what you believe you’re to do if you find a

wallet in the street In the United States, turning the wallet in to local authorities would beconsidered the appropriate action, and to keep the wallet would be seen as deviant In contrast, many Eastern societies would consider it much more appropriate to keep the wallet and search for the owner yourself; turning it over to someone else, even the

authorities, would be considered deviant behavior

1/ What do you think C Wright Mills meant when he said that to be a sociologist, one had to develop a sociological imagination?

C Wright Mills described sociological imagination as an awareness of the relationship between a person's behavior and experience and the wider culture that shaped the person'schoices and perceptions In order to be a sociologist, we must a see our own and other people's behavior in relationship to history and social structure

2/ Describe a situation in which a choice you made was influenced by societal

pressures.

When choosing what I wanted to do after high school, deciding to attend a 4-year

university was mainly because I had grown up with the societal pressure to do so

Everyone from my high school is encouraged to attend college and it is often looked down upon if you do not do so Although I am completely happy with my choice, it was one that was influenced by societal pressures

3/ What do you make of Karl Marx's contributions to sociology? What perceptions

of Marx have you been exposed to in your society, and how do those perceptions influence your views?

Karl Marx's contributions shed light upon the ideas of class struggles and Capitalism/ Communism I think that his Communist ideas are not unrealistic, and in fact might be better than the Capitalist society we live in today However, there is a difference between true Marxist Capitalism and extreme Capitalism views I think my views are influenced

by the fact that Capitalism has so many flaws in today's society, and although I do not think the US would ever switch to Communism, some ideas should be considered such asthe equitable distribution of wealth, especially considering how many people are in poverty compared to the few who hold most of the nation's wealth

4/ Do you tend to place more value on qualitative or quantitative research? Why? Does it matter what topic you are studying?

I tend to place more value on qualitative research because I like to examine the in depth reasonings on why people do things and think certain ways Unless it is a topic that required statistical evidence, qualitative data provides more and deeper information

5 Which theory do you think better explains how societies operate—structural functionalism or conflict theory? Why?

Structural functionalism best explains how society operates because it has all the people

in the society working together to form their society

6 Do you think the way people behave in social interactions is more like the

behavior of animals or more like actors playing a role in a theatrical production? Why?

The way people behave in social interactions is usually a combination of both "animal" behavior (nature) and "actors playing a role in a theatrical production" (nurture)

However, in modern society especially, behavior in social interactions is mostly "like actors playing a role in a theatrical production" In other words, behavior in social

interactions is determined more by social factors rather than biological or "animal"

behavior/urges This is because depending on who we are interacting with, we adopt a different social persona For instance, your behavior and social interactions with your boyfriend or girlfriend will vary greatly compared to your behavior and social

interactions with your teacher, employer or grandparent For different people you interact with, you put on a different social mask or persona like an actor playing a role in theater

7 How do you think taking a sociology course might affect your social interactions?

• It teaches people ways to recognize how they fit into the world and how others perceive them

• It raises awareness of how those classifications—such as economic and status levels, education, ethnicity, or sexual orientation—affect perceptions.

• Sociology teaches people not to accept easy explanations

• It teaches them a way to organize their thinking so that they can ask better

questions and formulate better answers

• It makes people more aware that there are many different kinds of people in the world who do not necessarily think the way they do

• It increases their willingness and ability to try to see the world from other people's perspectives

8 What sort of career are you interested in? How could studying sociology help you

in this career? Studying sociology can provide people with this wide knowledge and

a skill set that can contribute to many workplaces, including

• an understanding of social systems and large bureaucracies;

• the ability to devise and carry out research projects to assess whether a program or policy is working;

• the ability to collect, read, and analyze statistical information from polls or surveys;

• the ability to recognize important differences in people’s social, cultural, and economic backgrounds;

• skills in preparing reports and communicating complex ideas; and

• the capacity for critical thinking about social issues and problems that confront modern society

How Sociological Perspectives: Food Consumption

A structural-functional approach to the topic of food consumption might be interested in the role of the agriculture industry within the nation’s economy and how this has changedfrom the early days of manual-labor farming to modern mechanized production Another examination might study the different functions that occur in food production: from farming and harvesting to flashy packaging and mass consumerism

A conflict theorist might be interested in the power differentials present in the regulation

of food, by exploring where people’s right to information intersects with corporations’ drive for profit and how the government mediates those interests Or a conflict theorist might be interested in the power and powerlessness experienced by local farmers versus large farming conglomerates, such as the documentary Food Inc depicts as resulting from Monsanto’s patenting of seed technology Another topic of study might be how nutrition varies between different social classes

A sociologist viewing food consumption through a symbolic interactionist lens would be more interested in micro-level topics, such as the symbolic use of food in religious rituals(nghi thuc), or the role it plays in the social interaction of a family dinner This

perspective might also study the interactions among group members who identify

themselves based on their sharing a particular diet, such as vegetarians (people who don’teat meat) or locavores (people who strive to eat locally produced food)

Using the 4 contemporary sociological theories, analyze the act of having meal as a social action.

(1) Functionalism

Manifest functions: the purpose of eating with family members is to strengthen the relationship, make the family bond stronger; when having meals with new friends, you are getting know more people, expand the social network; the purpose of business meal is

to show off the status of companies or people, indicate your rank in the company and in the society

Latent functions: to help people memorize and make a landmark of important events in their lifetime; to learn about national cuisine and learn about other cultures

(2) Conflict theory

The rich and poor are different when looking at food While the rich have a lot of money

so they will more likely waste food, the poor they don’t have enough to eat so they have

to scavenge for food even from the trash can

The Hindu Indian people protest against McDonald’s because in their religion, Hinduism see the cow as a God

In some Asian markets, dog meat is sold as poultry meat while in other countries, eating dog meat is horrified and terrible

(3) Symbolic interactionism

At home, with your family members, you don’t care much about your manners, you grab food But when you eat with someone new or someone you want to gain their favor, you will be well-mannered Because of your purposes, you will have different interactions

-Mini exercise: the ways we dress and the ways we use clothes.

 Functionalist perspective:

• Manifest functions of clothes: to cover the body parts that are deemed culturally sensitive and which parts of the body is seen as culturally sensitive, it depends on which country you live in; to show nationality or culture; to show where you comefrom

• Latent functions of clothes: to identify social classes of the wearers For example, when we see a person wearing Louis Vuitton, Chanel, or Gucci clothes, we know that they are the rich

• Dysfunctions of clothes: used as a tool to gain notoriety For example, some models wanted to become famous and gain the attention, so they wore ridiculous and offensive outfits

 Conflict perspective:

• In most Vietnamese high schools, female students are forced to wear Ao Dai as a uniform everyday by school’ administrators Many students claim that Ao Dai is very inconvenient during studying and physical activities at schools

=> The administrators have a big influence on what female students wear at

schools

 Feminist perspective:

• Women are often judged negatively by society when wearing revealing outfits rather than men When they go out with revealing clothes, they are often labeled that their personalities are naughty, licentious or sexually provocative Because most people believe that a woman who is decent has to dress discreetly and

politely Unlike women, if there is a man wearing a pair of shorts without any shirtwalks on the street, people just think it is normal without any bad judgment about him

 That is unfair to women Both men and women should be free to express themselves in their styles of clothes and heighten the contours of their bodies

evaluation

When a woman wears a burkini (she from the Middle East) in France, police will request her to take off her burkini because they say she does not follow the French custom for women is to wear bikini or swim suit => unfair

Australian government bans burqa in government buildings

Chapter 1 Quiz & Writing Exercise

Writing: Give an example in your life where society/social background strongly affects

your own behavior and attitude

Answer: When coming to my friends’ houses, if I am invited to eat with the house

owners, I will eat and drink naturally without refusing Because I was raised in social background where I learned that it is significantly impolite and disrespectful to refuse their invitation or to eat perfunctorily

Family

Functionalism: Families provide for one another’s physical, emotional, and social

well-being Parents care for and socialize children Later in life, adult children often care for elderly parents sexual, reproductive, educational, and economic Parents teach their children manners and civility

Conflict theory: the person with the most access to value resources held the most power

As money is one of the most valuable resources, men who worked in paid labor outside

of the home held more power than women who worked inside the home

 Commercial function: companies that wish to connect with consumers find

television an irresistible platform to promote their goods and services

 Entertainment Function: From online gaming to chatting with friends on

Facebook, technology offers new and more exciting ways for people to entertain themselves

 Inform the public of important news

Conflict theory

Powerful individuals and social institutions have a great deal of influence over which forms of technology are released, when and where they are released, and what kind of media is available for our consumption In other words, the people in charge of the mediadecide what the public is exposed to With hegemonic media, a culturally diverse society can be dominated by one race, gender, or class that manipulates the media to impose its worldview as a societal norm New media weakens the gatekeeper role in information distribution Popular sites such as YouTube and Facebook not only allow more people to freely share information but also engage in a form of self-policing Users are encouraged

to report inappropriate behavior that moderators will then address

Feminist Perspective

Take a look at popular television shows, advertising campaigns, and online game sites Inmost, women are portrayed in a particular set of parameters and tend to have a uniform look that society recognizes as attractive Most are thin, white or light-skinned, beautiful, and young

Health and Medicine

Functionalism: provides health care and related services to the provision of inpatient and

outpatient care, such as diagnostic or therapeutic services, laboratory services, medicinal drugs, and other health services

Conflict theory: When health is a commodity, the poor are more likely to experience

illness caused by poor diet, to live and work in unhealthy environments It is not only the poor who suffer from the conflict between dominant and subordinate groups For many years now, homosexual couples have been denied spousal benefits, either in the form of health insurance or in terms of medical responsibility

Feminist theory: Almost two-thirds of the world’s 862 million illiterate people are

women

Symbolic: low standardized test scores or poor performance in a particular class often

lead to a student who is labeled as a low achiever, certificates or degrees to show that a person has a certain skill, has attained a certain level of education, or has met certain job qualifications

GOVERNMENT

Functionalism

the government has four main purposes: planning and directing society, meeting social needs, maintaining law and order, and managing international relations

Conflict: in Ferguson, Missouri in 2014, where people protested the local government’s

handling of a controversial shooting by the police

Symbolic: Images that represent the power and authority of the United States include the

White House, the eagle, and the American flag

Education

Functionalism: A manifest function of education, for example, includes gaining

knowledge, preparing for a career, and finding a good job that utilizes that education, learning the rules and norms of the society as a whole Latent functions of your college years include meeting new people, participating in extracurricular activities, or even finding a spouse or partner Another latent function of education is creating a hierarchy ofemployment based on the level of education attained Latent functions can be beneficial, neutral, or harmful

Social processes that have undesirable consequences for the operation of society are called dysfunctions In education, examples of dysfunction include getting bad grades, truancy (tron hoc), dropping out, not graduating, and not finding suitable employment Buy fake degree through a diploma mill

Conflict: Students of low socioeconomic status are generally not afforded the same

opportunities as students of higher status, no matter how great their academic ability or desire to learn They also lack a computer and printer at home, which most of his

classmates have, so they have to rely on the public library or school system for access to

technology This is a difficult match with education systems that adhere to a traditional curriculum that is more easily understood and completed by students of higher social classes.

• It is a key concept to the sociological perspective- it influence people’s beliefs and behaviors

• The profound impact of culture becomes most evident when we examine

behaviors that are biological in nature

Material culture refers to the objects or belongings of a group of people.

Nonmaterial culture, in contrast, consists of the ideas, attitudes, and beliefs of a society EX: Clothing, hairstyles, and jewelry are part of material culture, but the appropriateness

of wearing certain clothing for specific events reflects nonmaterial culture A school building belongs to material culture, but the teaching methods and educational standards are part of education’s nonmaterial culture

ii The elements of culture

(1) Language

Written and spoken language, non-verbal communication, symbols

(2) Norms and values

Formal norms- Established standards of behavior Formal norms are considered the most

important in any society EX: Laws, employee manuals, college entrance exam

requirements, and “no running”signs at swimming pools

Ex: if you are a child, you should obey your parents

Informal norms- Standards of behavior that are considered less important but still

influence how we behave

Ex: if you are a boy, you should not grow long hair “Kiss your Aunt Edna” or “Use your napkin” Customers line up to order their food and leave when they are done

Mores (mor-ays) are norms that embody the moral views and principles of a group

Violating them can have serious consequences

EX: The mores of the U.S school system require that a student’s writing be in the

student’s own words or use special forms for crediting other writers Writing another person’s words as if they are one’s own has a name—plagiarism violating this norm => expulsion (truc xuat)

Folkways direct appropriate behavior in the day-to-day practices and expressions of a

culture They indicate whether to shake hands or kiss on the cheek when greeting another person They specify whether to wear a tie and blazer or a T-shirt and sandals to an event

In Canada, women can smile and say hello to men on the street In Egypt, that’s not acceptable