Thinking & Theorizing
This theorem, formulated by William and Dorothy Thomas in 1928, is a theory of sociology proposing that: "If people perceive or define something as being "real," then it's real in its consequences."
(ie - people react in terms of their subjective perception of reality)
What is the Thomas Theorem?
This type of work was studied by Spencer Cahill in his 1999 paper on "Emotional Capital and Professional Socialization: The Case of Mortuary Science Students (and Me)."
What is:
- dirty work?
- stigmatized work?
Both of these are averages, but this one means "middle" while the other offers an "average."
What is the median?
This social scientist believed that, "Taste classifies, and ... classifies the classifier"?
Who is Bourdieu?
When North American students are exposed to McArthur's Universal Corrective Map of the World, they may ask their teacher why the map is "upside down." This is an example of this type of thinking, which centres around their own culture.
What is ethnocentric?
OR
What is ethnocentrism?
In Marxist thinking, the "bourgeoisie" are members of this class, living off the labour of the proletariat.
What is:
- the capitalist class?
- the dominant class?
- the ruling class?
Many of us are raised to believe this capitalist myth that anyone, through hard work, can succeed (rise to the top, become powerful) in society and life.
What is meritocracy?
These parties show us the importance of gender in North American society even before a child is born.
What are gender reveal parties?
In semiotic analysis, we examine symbolic meaning. In the case of Louboutin shoes and Yves Saint-Laurent, a judge was asked to determine if the red sole of the shoes had a "secondary meaning" -- if there was both a signifier and... this.
What is a signified?
This process of socialization occurs in adults who have to learn new roles and unlearn old rules to adapt to a life change.
Paulo Freire believed that this institution could be used to empower workers by increasing their understanding of the power dynamics of the system in which they worked.
What is education?
OR:
What is schooling?
Based on values and beliefs, these are behavioural expectations of ourselves and of others.
What are norms?
Of the three (3) major types of sociological theorists (Functionalists, Conflict Theorists, and Symbolic Structuralists), these theorists don't seem to ask themselves which people don't benefit from the structure of the system.
What/Who are functionalists?
Two (2) of the many elements that were signified by the red soles of the Louboutin shoes.
What are: wealth, modernity, success, elegance, power, "smoking hot woman with access to exclusive things," conformity, celebrity culture...?
This is our concept of self, based on our own interpretations of others' reactions to us.
What is the Looking-Glass Self?
This economic theorist believed that in an industrial capitalist system, workers became more and more alienated from their own work product.
Who is (Karl) Marx?
This type of institution is an isolated and enclosed social system that controls most aspects of members' lives.
What is a total institution?
This cross-national, non-commercial survey that has taken place every 5 years since 1981 can tell us, for example, which countries believe most strongly that values should be taught in school.
What is the World Values Survey?
True or False?
According to Émile Durkheim, the existence of gender-based inequality in most societies would be a "social fact."
What is True?
Marx believed that the proletariat would develop this type of awareness of their class, and that this would lead to the formation of unions and rebellion against the system of ownership.
What is class consciousness?
Merton's Strain Theory suggests that this is the inevitable outcome of a situation where society does not provide individuals access to adequate means for achieving socially valued goals.
What is crime?
These informal norms can lead to awkwardness when they are broken, but will not lead to serious punishments like jail or monetary fines.
What are folkways?
These are the two (2) most common quantitative methods for gathering sociological information.
What are surveys and experiments?
True or False?
August Comte, credited with coining the term "sociology," thought this would be the science that would bring together all other sciences.
What is True?
A person who drops out of school to help support their family following the death of a family wage-earner may experience this type of mobility.
What is downward mobility?