Sociology- Ch. 16, 20, 21

social institution through which a society's children are taught basic academic knowledge, learning skills, and cultural norms. Every nation in the world is equipped with some form of education system, though those systems vary greatly.

When Ahmed is in 5th grade, he does poorly in math and science. His teachers recommend him for lower-level classes throughout middle school in all subjects, and he's not given the chance to excel elsewhere. This process is known as:

crowds who share opportunities to express emotion

The HRC (Human Rights Campaign) is an LGBT rights group that has millions of members across the country and spends millions of dollars on advertising (print, broadcast and social media) in order to spread social awareness about their cause each year. Which theory attempts to explain HRC's success?

what might catch a human ecologist's attention: A. The decision to make sidewalks narrower so that a city road can provide on-street parking. Correct B. The number of nannies that can be found in Central Park on a given day. C. The number of male nannies that take care of children in NYC. d. The number of cats in the French Quarter

Josh sits in his kitchen in the city projects(a low-income minority neighborhood) trying to sip his coffee while inhaling the nauseating fumes wafting from the town dump that was relocated to within a mile of his home. He desperately wishes he could move, but he works two jobs just to make ends meet for his family. What might a sociologist call this phenomenon?

The anti-drug campaign in the 1980's encouraged students to "just say no" to put an end to drug use and drug violence. Which type of framing did this campaign use?

Kara has behavioral problems as a young child. As she goes through school, she is labeled "troubled," and told she will never amount to anything. Kara, though intelligent, decides to "live down" to this expectation. Which sociological perspective would be most interested in studying Kara's experience?

Kevin is in the 10th grade(a sophomore in high school), but his reading skills are only at a 7th grade level. He has been passed through each grade without mastering any of the skills or knowledge that should be acquired in that grade. He is a product of:

Which of the following is not a widely contributing factor in social change? Select one: a. Disease b. Social institutions c. The environment d. Technology

The country of Sweden, where the Birth and death rates are low, people are healthier and live longer, and society enters a phase of population stability would be in what stage of demographic transition theory?

Melissa has been working to develop drought-resistance seeds that require little water to grow and which produce grain. She wants to send these to arid parts of the world, where conventional grain is not easy (or even impossible) to grow to improve nutrition for the people in those countries. In sociological terms, Melissa most likely ascribes to:

describes the learning of academic facts and concepts through a formal curriculum.

describes learning about cultural values, norms, and expected behaviors by participating in a society. Through informal education, we learn how to dress for different occasions, how to perform regular life routines like shopping for and preparing food, and how to keep our bodies clean.

the way people come to learn the values, beliefs, and social norms of their culture..

refers to people's equal ability to participate in an education system. In the United States, one way in which universal education is supported is through federal and state governments covering the cost of free public education

Durkheim characterized schools as "socialization agencies that teach children how to get along with others and prepare them for adult economic roles". also involves learning the rules and norms of the society as a whole. School systems in the United States also transmit the core values of the nation through manifest functions like social control.

preparing students for competition. Ex: teaching patriotism

- classifying students based on academic merit or potential. The most capable students are identified early in schools through testing and classroom achievements.

do not believe that public schools reduce social inequality. Rather, they believe that the educational system reinforces and perpetuates social inequalities that arise from differences in class, gender, race, and ethnicity.

French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu researched how cultural capital, or cultural knowledge that serves (metaphorically) as currency that helps us navigate a culture, alters the experiences and opportunities available to French students from different social classes. Members of the upper and middle classes have more cultural capital than do families of lower-class status

refers to the type of nonacademic knowledge that students learn through informal learning and cultural transmission

- Conflict theorists point to tracking, a formalized sorting system that places students on "tracks" (advanced versus low achievers) that perpetuate inequalities

might say that this labeling has a direct correlation to those who are in power and those who are labeled. For example, low standardized test scores or poor performance in a particular class often lead to a student who is labeled as a low achiever.

concept of passing students to the next grade regardless of their meeting standards for that grade. Critics of this practice argue that students should never move to the next grade if they have not mastered the skills required to "graduate" from the previous grade.

the study of populations. Three of the most important components that affect the issues above are fertility, mortality, and migration.

three factors would control human population that exceeded the earth's carrying capacity, or how many people can live in a given area considering the amount of available resources. Malthus identified these factors as war, famine, and disease (Malthus 1798

which the number of people entering a population through birth or immigration is equal to the number of people leaving it via death or emigration

scoffs at the idea of humans wiping themselves out; it asserts that human ingenuity can resolve any environmental or social issues that develop. As an example, it points to the issue of food supply. If we need more food, the theory contends, agricultural scientists will figure out how to grow it, as they have already been doing for centuries.

suggests that future population growth will develop along a predictable four-stage model

birth, death, and infant mortality rates are all high, while life expectancy is short. An example of this stage is the 1800s in the United States

As countries begin to industrialize, they enter this stage. Birthrates are higher while infant mortality and the death rates drop. Life expectancy also increases. Afghanistan is currently in this stage.

occurs once a society is thoroughly industrialized; birthrates decline, while life expectancy continues to increase. Death rates continue to decrease. Mexico's population is at this stage

postindustrial era of a society. Birth and death rates are low, people are healthier and live longer, and society enters a phase of population stability. Overall population may even decline. For example, Sweden is considered to be in this stage

are the communities surrounding cities, typically close enough for a daily commute in, but far enough away to allow for more space than city living affords

communities that exist outside the ring of suburbs and are typically populated by even wealthier families who want more space and have the resources to lengthen their commute

huge urban corridor encompassing multiple cities and their surrounding suburbs. Ex: NYC first one

occurs when members of the middle and upper classes enter and renovate city areas that have been historically less affluent while the poor urban underclass are forced by resulting price pressures to leave those neighborhoods for increasingly decaying portions of the city.

which focuses on the relationship between people and their built and natural environment.

more likely to emerge in middle and upper-class neighborhoods as engaged citizens protest poor environmental practices they fear will affect them, so these groups have more control over the use of local land.Person who objects to the siting of something perceived as unpleasant or potentially dangerous in their own neighborhood, such as a landfill or hazardous waste facility, especially while raising no such objections to similar developments elsewhere.

the term now used to refer to long-term shifts in temperatures due to human activity and, in particular, the release of greenhouse gases into the environment. Climate change is a deeply controversial subject, despite decades of scientific research and a high degree of scientific consensus that supports its existence.

refers to the way in which minority group neighborhoods (populated primarily by people of color and members of low socioeconomic groups) are burdened with a disproportionate number of hazards, including toxic waste facilities, garbage dumps, and other sources of environmental pollution and foul odors that lower the quality of life. Ex: Native Americans

noninstitutionalized activity in which several or many people voluntarily engage. Other examples are a group of commuters traveling home from work and a population of teens adopting a favorite singer's hairstyle

those who come together for a scheduled event that occurs regularly, like a religious service

consist of people who are in the same place at the same time but who aren't really interacting, such as people standing in line at the post office

people who join together to express emotion, often at funerals, weddings, or the like.

relatively large number of people with a common interest, though they may not be in close proximity (Lofland 1993), such as players of the popular Facebook game Farmville

is an unorganized, relatively diffused group of people who share ideas, such as the Libertarian political party.

Sociologists Ralph Turner and Lewis Killian (1993) built on earlier sociological ideas and developed what is known as emergent norm theory. Emergent norm theory asserts that, in this circumstance, people perceive and respond to the crowd situation with their particular (individual) set of norms, which may change as the crowd experience evolves. This focus on the individual component of interaction reflects a symbolic interactionist perspective.

are focused on self-improvement and limited, specific changes to individual beliefs and behavior. These include trends like transcendental meditation or a macrobiotic diet. Resistance movements seek to prevent or undo change to the social structure. The Ku Klux Klan, the Minutemen, and pro-life movements fall into this category.

are "meaning seeking," and their goal is to provoke inner change or spiritual growth in individuals. Organizations pushing these movements include Heaven's Gate or the Branch Davidians. The latter is still in existence despite government involvement that led to the deaths of numerous Branch Davidian members in 1993

seek to completely change every aspect of society. These include the 1960s counterculture movement, including the revolutionary group The Weather Underground, as well as anarchist collectives. Texas Secede! is a revolutionary movement.

seek to change something specific about the social structure. Examples include antinuclear groups, Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), the Dreamers movement for immigration reform, and the Human Rights Campaign's advocacy for Marriage Equality.

McCarthy and Zald (1977) conceptualize resource mobilization theory as a way to explain movement success in terms of the ability to acquire resources and mobilize individuals. Resources are primarily time and money, and the more of both, the greater the power of organized movements.

explain how individuals identify and understand social events and which norms they should follow in any given situation

states the problem in a clear, easily understood way. When applying diagnostic frames, there are no shades of gray: instead, there is the belief that what "they" do is wrong and this is how "we" will fix it. The anti-gay marriage movement is an example of diagnostic framing with its uncompromising insistence that marriage is only between a man and a woman.

offers a solution and states how it will be implemented. Some examples of this frame, when looking at the issue of marriage equality as framed by the anti-gay marriage movement, include the plan to restrict marriage to "one man/one woman" or to allow only "civil unions" instead of marriages. As you can see, there may be many competing prognostic frames even within social movements adhering to similar diagnostic frames

These frames are action-oriented. In the gay marriage movement, a call to action might encourage you to vote "no" on Proposition 8 in California

technology, social institutions, population, environment

driving force behind globalization, while the other forces of social change (social institutions, population, environment) play comparatively minor roles.

Each change in a single social institution leads to changes in all social institutions. For example, the industrialization of society meant that there was no longer a need for large families to produce enough manual labor to run a farm. Further, new job opportunities were in close proximity to urban centers where living space was at a premium

- In the United States, we are experiencing an increase in our senior population as baby boomers begin to retire, which will in turn change the way many of our social institutions are organized. For example, there is an increased demand for housing in warmer climates, a massive shift in the need for elder care and assisted living facilities, and growing awareness of elder abuse.

Turning to human ecology, we know that individuals and the environment affect each other. As human populations move into more vulnerable areas, we see an increase in the number of people affected by natural disasters, and we see that human interaction with the environment increases the impact of those disasters. Part of this is simply the numbers: the more people there are on the planet, the more likely it is that some will be affected by a natural disaster.

processes that increase the amount of specialization and differentiation of structure in societies resulting in the move from an undeveloped society to developed, technologically driven society (Irwin 1975). By this definition, the level of modernity within a society is judged by the sophistication of its technology, particularly as it relates to infrastructure, industry, and the like