Famous sociologists
This sociologist who wrote The Sociological Imagination
C. Wright Mills
What is demography?
Demography is the study of populations. Demographers study: births, deaths, immigration, and family formation (including reproductive/birth rates as well as family planning).
Define the term: "means of production"
Everything that is necessary to produce the necessities of life (includes land, capital, and labor)
Du Bois wrote: "this sense of always looking at one's self through the eyes of others, measuring one's soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity...two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder." to describe what concept?
Double-consciousness
What is the difference between the mean and the median? And why is the latter preferred when we study income?
Mean = average. Median represent the 50% percentile, meaning half of the population is above and below this point.
Outliers impact the mean more (important for interpreting a highly skewed income distribution).
The key finding from the "Who Benefits the Most from College?" video
Jennie Brand (UCLA) found that a lower propensity to go to college was associated with higher returns to a college degree.
Name at least two different approaches to conceptualizing social capital
- social networks
- civic engagement (Putnam)
- cultural capital / habitus (Bourdieu)
Define liminal legality
It is a grey space in between documented and undocumented. It was termed by sociologist Cecilia Menjívar and it used to describe immigration statuses such as Temporary Protected Status (TPS). Key factor of immigrant integration in today's moment.
Racial scripts
Rhetoric used to justify exclusion of racialized groups; similar racial scripts are used for different groups across time/history.
The metaphor of the script is intentional, as old scripts can be pulled up and applied to new groups to justify their exclusion (e.g., parallels between seeing Mexicans as a similar racial problem as the Black community; parallels in immigrant rhetoric across centuries).
(concept highlighted by historian Natalia Molina)
If I am a demographer trying to estimate the current population in 2024, what is the name of the formula I might use?
The Demographic Balancing Equation
The sociologist who coined the term double consciousness.
W. E. B. Du Bois
Name and describe two theories of immigrant integration/assimilation and their main predictions.
Classical/neo-classical assimilation theory: Immigrant groups will eventually join mainstream society after a couple of generations (blending in; achieving similar social status as host society members).
Segmented assimilation theory: Immigrants will integrate according to the hierarchies of mainstream society. 3 main paths: upward, middle path (mobility but still retain culture), and downward assimilation. Contexts of reception matter for the integration paths immigrants encounter.
What is habitus?
Coined by Pierre Bourdieu, habitus is how cultural and social capital are embodied at the individual level. It is the dispositions people have that influence their behavior and actions.
In the study we read by Desmond, why were Black women's eviction rates disproportionately overrepresented high?
Black men's incarceration and the mark of a criminalized record made is so Black women were often the ones able to successfully sign onto a lease. Women also navigated relations with landlords differently than men.
(Immigration - Emigration) is also known as
Net Migration
The French sociologist who emphasized the role of social and cultural capital
Pierre Bourdieu
What is racial formation and what is racialization?
Racial Formation is a theory describing the historical process through which social categories of race are created, transformed, and destroyed.
Racialization is the process through which a previously unclassified group/thing comes to be understood as having a specific social meaning. (What is an example of a racialized group and why are they or have they been racialized)
Who are the bourgeosie?
Owners of capital and they rule over the working class. They own the means of production.
Define organic solidarity and mechanical solidarity.
Mechanical solidarity reflects a solidarity found in tribal and less industrialized societies. There is a common collective consciousness and less division of labor (less specialized). Penal or repressive law is more common.
Organic solidarity corresponds with the division of labor found in more industrialized societies. There is a high degree of specialization and we rely on one another to do different jobs. There is a lower degree of collective consciousness. Restitutive law becomes common.
When did the category Mexican first appear in the U.S. Census?
1930
The sociologist who provided us a roadmap to Real Utopias
Erik Olin Wright
The Census might change in 2030. What are the main proposed changes?
The census is proposing to combine the race and ethnicity questions (which are currently separate). The Latino/Hispanic question would now be asked in combination with the other categories: White, Asian, Black, American Indian/Alaskan Native, and Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander.
In addition, the census wants to add a Middle Eastern or North African category with the above as well.
Who are the proletariat?
Those who live by the sale of their wage labor
What is the difference between a Utopia and a Real Utopia?
Utopia = alternative to dominant institutions that embody our deepest aspirations for a just and humane world.
Alternatives to capitalism that can be built in the world as it is that also prefigure the world as it could be (e.g., free public libraries).
When did "Latino" or "Hispanic" first appear in the U.S. Census?
1970