SOCIOLOGY 1100 Final exam study guide 2017
Introduction to Sociology: 8
Social Interaction: 7
Culture: 8
Empirical Research: 8
Social Inequality: 8
Race and Ethnicity: 11
Gender and Sexuality: 7
Religion: 12
Social Movements: 7
Deviance and Crime: 12
Sociology of Health: 12
Regarding the lectures, the lecture material up to the first mid-term exam which was on February 14
does not need to be studied. In other words, for questions specifically on lecture material I will only
make questions on lectures from February 16, the end of the term.
Regarding the assigned readings (mostly textbook, but we also had two additional readings), the
following indicates what sections you can essentially exclude from your studying.
Chapter 1 A Sociological Compass
Exclude:
- “Introduction” (exclude up to end of “The Goals of this Chapter:)
-p. 8 – 10 (up to where “The Sociological Imagination” starts)
-p. 23 starting with “Martineau and Addams” to p. 25 where “Fashion Cycles” starts
-pp. 28 (from section called “A Sociological Compass”) to the end of chapter
Chapter 5 Social Interaction
Exclude
-from section “Goffman’s Dramaturgical Analysis” to the end;
-the definitions of role set, status set, role conflict, role strain.
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Chapter 3 Culture
Exclude
-the sub-sections with these titles: “Language and the Sapir-Whorf thesis”; “Aspects of PostModernism”; “Canada: The First Post-Modern Culture?”
Chapter 2 How Sociologists Do Research
Exclude
-material up to p. 46 (so you should study the section “Measuring Variables”)
-pp. 61 to the end of chapter
Chapter 8 Social Stratification
Exclude
-pp. 212 (starting with “Power”, i.e. exclude that section) to the end of chapter
Chapter 16 Religion
-study all
Chapter 10 Race and Ethnicity
Exclude:
-pp. 249 (starting with “Ethnicity, Race, and Social Structure, i.e. exclude that section) to 256 (resume
studying at section “Conflict Theories of Race and Ethnicity”)
Assigned reading from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission
-study all
Chapter 11 Gender and Sexuality
Exclude:
-pp. 274-76
-pp. 281 to 286
-p. 294 to the end of chapter
Chapter 21 Social Movements
-ONLY STUDY: p. 534 to 542
Chapter 7 Deviance and Crime
-study all
Chapter 19 The Sociology of Health
-study all
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Chapter Notes: 19 – The Sociology of Health
Defining and Measuring Health
 Plague example highlights the role of social conditions within an epidemic, not just access to
healthcare (ppl lived close, abhorrent sanitation)
o Jews survived due to religious practices (wash hands before eating, bathe once a week,
bury quick after death)
 Agricultural and transportation innovations in 19th century increased nutritional conditions of
populations, boosting immune system
o Along with improvements in sanitation and hygiene, reduced exposure to germs and
bacteria
 Vaccines in 20th century reduced risk immensely
 Certain people/groups were more susceptible to plague, based on class/religion thus showing the
sociological effect on health
 One of the great shortcomings of modern medicine is on high-tech cures, not preventative
measures
 Statistical agencies, health care records and surveys each focus on different outcomes death,
illness, and subjective well-being
 Infant mortality rate
o The number of deaths of children under the age of one relative to the number of live
births over a 1 year period
 Morbidity Rates
o The number of people who suffer from particular illnesses per 100,000 members of the
population
 Sociologists analyze measures of population health to understand how and why patterns change
over time and place
 Life Expectancy
o The average age at death of the members of a population
 Canada 1831 life expectancy was 40M and 42F, 2013 was 79M and 84F
 Chronic and degenerative conditions are now the leading causes of death, a century ago it was
infectious diseases
 Epidemiological Transition
o The shift from a society characterized by infectious and parasitic disease and low life
expectancy to a society where chronic and degenerative diseases dominate and life
expectancy is high
 On average women live longer than men
The Social Causes of Illness and Death
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Individual-level factors a person’s biological characteristics and health behaviors
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Sociologists also examine social-factors that have profound but often unacknowledged influence
on health
Easy to blame individuals for their health based on individual factors, but social factors affect
choices people make resulting in individual factors
o E.eg ppl smoking is individual but social context shows certain classes/races/cultures
smoke more than others
Canada in a diabetes epidemic, doubled over past decade, promote health eating but not all
people can afford to do so
Food deserts are neighborhoods with limited access to grocery stores and farmers markets
Focusing on individual behaviors prevents seeing how economic circumstances constrain food
choices
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Socioeconomic Inequalities and Health
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Black report in the UK discovered the :
Socioeconomic Gradient in Health
o Refers to the existence of a positive correlation between socio-economic position and
health – every increase in class position was accompanied by an improvement in health
status
Highest risk of death IN Canada is the poorest 1/5 of income – if all equal 40,00 fewer dead each
year
Education provides access to better jobs, more enjoyable. Better job security and more
opportunities to become more informed to stay healthy
Socioeconomic gradient implies that economic deprivation cannot be the sole cause of ill health
Higher in socioeconomic ladder, less stress experienced (high stress causes cardiovascular
disease, cancer etc)
Some scientists propose socioeconomic position is a fundamental cause of disease, a cause of a
cause
Ways in which our societies are organized are a more powerful determinant of health than our
individual choices
Racial Inequalities in Health
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Disadvantaged racial and ethnic groups experience higher risk of disease and death than
advantaged racial and ethnic groups
Aboriginal Canadian life expectancy is 5-12 years less than non-abo Canadians – Diabetes is
more prevalent among too
First nations more likely to live in poverty, 17% Canadian children, 40% native children live in
poverty
Adversities associated with poverty can alter the biology of young children, make them more
vulnerable to disease later in life
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Researchers believe that difference in health variation is not only monetary but the way racially
or ethnically marginalized groups react to cumulative effects of discrimination
Individually discrimination can lead to self-harm, social level it concentrates poverty, disorder
and despair
European settlers displaced natives initially, they lost their traditional hunting methods and
utilized market food and became sedentary, explains prevalence of diabetes
In sum deficits in the health of Canada`s native people must be placed in the historical context of
colonization
Gender Inequalities in Health: A Feminist Approach
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Higher value placed on males before birth due to gender selective abortion (Idian, China)
Much more freedom for male boys, to save the daughter to be pure and thus marriageable
Child marriage is particularly harmful for girls because it occurs before the are physically and
psychologically ready
o Economically dependent on husband
o Limited power to refuse sex or request a condom
o Risk for partner violence, STD and sexual abuse
o Further powerlessness in regions where gender inequality is politically and legally
entrenched
Women’s hormones lower risk of heart disease until menopause
Women develop hear disease on avg 10 years later than men when they have additional health
problems which kills more women
Women`s heart attack symptoms differ than men’s and so tend to be misdiagnosed and thus less
likely to receive appropriate and timely treatment
Widespread assumption that heart disease means women are underrepresented in clinical trials so
men tend to benefit more from treatment than women
Intersectionality Theory
o Holds that the effects of socioeconomic position, race and ethnicity, and gender on heal
are multiplicative not additive. For instance, being more may cause people to experience
X health deficits and being aboriginal may cause people to experience Y health deficits,
but the effect of being poor and aboriginal is XY, not X + Y
Health Care as a Determinant of Health
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National health depends on comprehensive infrastructure providing clean drinking water, basic
sewage and sanitation services, agricultural technologies and efficient transportation systems –
absence = high rate of disease and low life expec..
Congo is rich in resources but super poor infrastructure = lowest life expec..
Health Care System
o Composed of a nation`s clinics, hospitals, and other facilities for treating illness
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o Provides help when people are sick versus preventative measures
High income countries, the number of Drs per capita is unrelated to pop. Health
More Drs in Portugal, Germany than Canada but better life expec.. in Canada
Researchers have found that the amount that high-income countries spend on healthcare has little
effect on pop. Health (US most, Japan least
The Canadian Health Care System: A Conflict Approach
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Sociologist also investigate health care as a socially organized response to the problem of illness
Healthcare was initially disorganized and unregulated, but then Doctors began to appropriate
power through adopting the scientific methods which proved beneficial results
The second sociological reason for the dominance of scientific medicine was that doctors were
able to professionalize
o Gain control and authority of their occupation and their clients
o Restricts entry into profession, specifying what paramedics could do and not do
o Ensured its own status, prestige and high income but also became a monopoly
Medical Drs held power before Canada formed its health care system and so played an important
role in its formation
Going public with the healthcare system was opposed by Drs wanting to ensure their autonomy,
private insurance companies also opposed
Tommy Douglas, Premier of Sakatchewan, Led the CCF now NDP, introduced first universal
medical care.
o Health care in Saskatchewan became a model for the country and formed the 5 principles
of 1984 Canada Health Act
Public Administration: All administration of provincial health insurance must be carried out by
a public authority on a non-profit basis. They also must be accountable to the province or
territory, and their records and accounts are subject to audits.
Comprehensiveness: All necessary health services, including hospitals, physicians and surgical
dentists, must be insured.
Universality: All insured residents are entitled to the same level of health care.
Portability: A resident that moves to a different province or territory is still entitled to coverage
from their home province during a minimum waiting period. This also applies to residents which
leave the country.
Accessibility: All insured persons have reasonable access to health care facilities. In addition, all
physicians, hospitals, etc, must be provided reasonable compensation for the services they
provide.
Canada’s Health Act formed Canada’s system into what can be described as:
Socialized Medicine
o Means the government:
1. Directly controls the financing and organization of health services
2. Directly pays providers
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3. Guarantees equal access to health care
4. Allows some private care for individuals willing to pay for their medical expenses
Canada is not truly socialized medicine due to government not directly employing Canadian
physicians, usually independent practitioners on a fee-for-service basis
Decreasing costs
The Power of Medicine
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Despite not preventing government sponsorship, Canadian Drs wield immense power
Sick Role
o The social mechanism that allows Drs to confer a diagnosis on an individual so that a
person who is sick or injured can legitimately step away from daily responsibilities and
take the requisite time to recover
Drs provide social responsibilities in legitimizing an illness to relinquish responsibility or to
deny fraudulent claims
Medicalization
o The process by which a condition or behavior become defined as a medical problem
requiring a medical solution
Medicalization has turned mundane aspects of life into medical issues
o Aging and wrinkling
o Breast enhancement etc…
Turned childbirth into a full, costly medical procedure, disempowering the mother in the process
Can have advantages, framing obesity as an illness can encourage researchers and governments
to invest more money into learning about it
o Disadvantages
 More difficult to hold obese people personally accountable
 Surgical intervention may become more common
 Focus on fixing people instead of the social conditions leading to the individual
choices
Medical Power and Mental Illness: A Symbolic Interactionist Approach
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In 1974, homosexuality ceased to be defined as a psychiatric disorder.
Increases in what the American Psychological society’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of
Mental disorders (DSM) considers mental disorders increased, leading to increases in mental
health illnesses
o 5% of population in 1980 had criteria of anxiety disorders, 20% today
Widening definitions of mental disorders = increase in use of medications
How we behave toward others is determined by the meaning we give to their actions (SI
approach)
o Should someone be diagnosed schizo they would be treated differently
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The Social Limits of Modern Medicine
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Emergence of superbugs that are resistant to all known antibiotics signals the end of antibiotic
era, setting medical care back a century
o Issues arose due to investment into expensive diagnostic and treatment equipment whilst
neglecting preventative measures
55cents of every dollar we spend on cancer research goes to biology and causes of the disease,
43cents goes to research on detection, diagnosis, prognosis and treatment related efforts. Just 2
cents goes to research prevention
Second main issue was the overuse of antibiotics, encouraging drug resistant mutation
o Cheaper to prescribe antibiotics than hygiene regimens in the 50s
Pharmaceutical companies have little incentive to find cures for short lived infections as there are
bigger profits in treating chronic, lifelong illnesses
Patient Activism
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Mid twentieth century medical science virtually dominated Canada
Commonplace today for patients to research treatments and for Drs to involve patients in
decisions
This change resulted in people acquiring the knowledge, vocabulary, self-confidence and
political organization to challenge medical authority
More education today, and more support groups/organizations means that Drs exert less control
today than in the past
Alternative Therapies
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Growing popularity of treatments outside of mainstream medicine also threaten medical
dominance
Alternative medicine approaches patient care holistically, more of a collaboration with clients
12-17% of Canadians have reported using complementary and alternative medicine
Drs argue that alternative medicine should not be permitted unless proper experimentation can
demonstrate the benefits
General message is that it’s okay to use with proper medicine
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Chapter 7: Deviance and Crime
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--
(PDF PAGE 185)
Deviance
o Occurs when someone departs from a norm and evokes a negative reaction from other
Crime
o Is deviance that breaks a Law: A norm stipulated and enforced by government bodies
Norms and Laws change over time, what is considered a crime at one place and time may e
considered perfectly normal in another time and place
Deviance is punished either formally or informal
Informal Punishment
o Involves a mild sanction that is imposed during face-to-face interaction, not y the judicial
system
o May involve raised eyebrows, gossip, ostracism etc.
People who are Stigmatized are negatively evaluated because of a marker that distinguishes
them from others and that is labelled as socially unacceptable
Formal Punishment
o Takes place when the judicial system penalizes someone for breaking a law
 Prison or community service
Types of deviance and crime vary in terms of the severity of the social response, varying from
mild disapproval to formal punishment
Types of deviance and crime also vary in terms of perceived harmfulness (Not just actual)
o E.g. Cocaine in coca cola
Types of deviance and crime vary in terms of the degree of public agreement about whether an
act should be considered deviant or criminal
Social Diversions
o Minor acts of deviance that are generally perceived as relatively harmless. They evoke, at
most, a mild societal reaction, such as amusement or disdain
 E.g. fads, dying hair purple
Social Deviations
o Non-criminal departures from norms that are nonetheless subject to some official control.
Some members of the public regard them as being in some ways harmful, while other
members of the same public do not
 Long hair on boys,
Conflict Crimes
o Illegal acts that many people consider harmful to society. However, other people believe
the acts to be not so harmful. People who commit conflict crimes are punishable by the
state.
 Russian long beard tax
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Consensus Crimes
o Illegal acts that nearly all people agree are bad in themselves and harm society greatly.
The state inflicts severe punishment for consensus crimes
People`s conceptions of deviance and crime vary substantially over time and between societies
Measuring Crime
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Canada`s main source of crime stats is the uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Survey, 1200 police
detachments on 91 detailed categories of crime
Two shortcomings of using police data
o Much crime is not reported, leading to victimless crime, which involves violations of the
law in which no victim steps forward and is identified
 E.g. Communicating for the purposes of prostitution, illegal gambling, drugs
o Authorities and the wider public decide which criminal acts to report and which to ignore
 E.g. Police cracking down on drugs, more drug crimes will be reported not
because more crime is happening but because police are arresting more ppl
involved
Self-Report Surveys
o Respondents are asked to report their involvement in criminal activities, either as
perpetrators or victims.
 Finds same amount of serious crime but 2-3x more than the rate of lesser crime
o Other indirect methods include monitoring sales of syringes for IV drugs etc..
o ¼ of Canadians in self report surveys say they have been the victim of crime in any given
year
To be identified as a criminal:
o Law-violatin behavior must be observed and deemed to justify action
o Behaviour then is reported to the police who must ddecide whether it warrants further
investigation, file a report, and make an arrest
o The accused must then appear at a preliminary hearing, an arraignment, and a trial
Victimization Surveys
o Surveys in which people are asked whther they have been victims of crime
o First cnadian survey in 1988
Most reliable victimization data comes in Canada comes from the General Social Survey (GSS)
on Victimization
o Asked on 8 types of crime: sexual assault, robbery, phyical assault, brek and enter, motor
vehicle/parts theft, theft of household propery, vandalism, theft of personal property.
o Data shows that personal property theft is the most common.
o Victimization rate is higher in the western provinces, amoing single people than married,
higher among younger than older
UCR data is used to generate two estimates of crime in canada, police-reported crime rate and
the crime severity index
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o Traditional police crime rate can be skewed by a sharp decline in less serious crimes even
if serious crimes are increasing
o Crime Severity index accounts of crime severity and the weighting is counted
Steady decline of Canadian crime rate since 1962
Explanations for Declining Crime Rates
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Four explanations exist for the decline in Canadian Crime rates
1. The war against crime
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Increasingly being fought by enlraged corps of better equipped law enforcement
and corretional officers
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Intro to new community policing initiatives
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Enforcement of specific types of Crime
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Refinement of case-management methods
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Improvements in the field of forensics
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Efforts directed towards crime prevention
2. Aging population means less young men who are prone to crime.
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15-24 y/o cohort decreased by 6% between 1980 and 2010
3.Improvements in economic conditions
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Poverty strongly correlated to crime
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Less unemployment = less poverty= less crime
4. Legalization of abortion
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Crime rate declined 2 weeks after baortion was legalised in Canada and U.S
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Fewer unwanted children born, unwanted children are argued to be more prone to
crime because of less parental supervision and guidance
Criminal Profiles
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Sever social statuses are correlated with criminal behaviour
o Sex: 81% Male 19% Female (Youth 77%M 23%F)
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People who have not rached middle age commit most crime
o 15-24 y/o most pron to crim behaviour but only 12% of 2012 Canadian population
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Accounted for 76% of cases in youth court and 30% of cases in adult court
Race and Incarceration
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Race is a factor of crime
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NAtive people compsoed 4% of pop. But accounted for 27% of ppl in custody of
procincial/territorial and 24% in federal
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Overrepresentation of native people in Canada's prisons, 4 explanations
1. Disproportionately large number of native people live in poverty
2. Native people tend to commite so-called Street Crimes
 (Include Arson, break and enter, assault, and other illegal acts disproportionately
commited by people from lower classes)
 More detectable than white collar crimes
 Embesslement fraud, copyright infringement, false advertising etc..
3. Police, courts and other intstutions may dsicriminate, more likely to be appprehended,
prosecuted and convicted
4. Western cultures has disrupted native social life, weakening social control of community
members
 People consider certain races inherently more law abiding than others, an opinion generated by
ignoring power social forces that cause native people to be encarcerated
 Most factors above account for black canadian's encarceration rates too
o More likely than whites to occupy lower class
o More likely to engage in street crime than white-collar crime
o More likely than white people to be motivated to commit criminal acts, be detected,
apprehended engaging in criminal acts and be prosecuted, convicted and jailed
 Research shows discrimination exists in criminal justice system
o Older and better educated whites and Asians with no record are significanlt less likely to
be stopped than younger less educated same race
o Better educated annd well to do blacks are more likely to be stopped and searched than
lesser
Symbolic Interactionst Approaches to Deviance and Crime
 Identifying the social circumstances that promote the learning of deviant and criminal roles is the
traditional focus of SI
Learning Deviance
 The Howard S Becker established that becoming a deviant or criminal is a learning
process in a social context
 Examined musicians, and noted a three-stage process to becoming regular
marijuana users. Failure to pass stage meant not becoming a regular user
 Three Stages:
 Learning to smoke the drug in a way that produces real real effects
 First time users don’t usually get high, must learn how to get te
intoxicating effects
 Persistance leads to stage 2, failure "Doesn’t' work for me" means
stopping
 Learning to recognixe the effects and connect them with drug use
 Identifying the effects of smoking the drug
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 Learning to enjoy the perceived sensations
 Experience and persistence of negative experiencs usage will cease
 If they define the effects as pleasureable they become habitual smokers
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Learning any deviant or criminal role requires a social context for experienced deviants
to teach novie the tricks of the trade
Types of deviant behaviour in ones social context determines the type of behaviour that
will be adopted
In some areas delinquent youths are recruited by organized crime
Labelling
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Labelling Theory
o Holds that any deviance results not from so much from the actions of the deviant
as from the response of others, who label the rule breaker a deviant
o Two men who killed prostitute got manslaughter instead of murder because they
were drinking
o Victims of such crimes can also be considered deviant (prostitute)
Labelling is important
o Poliec and Judges were shown to discriminate more against juveniles from
divorces households
Functionalist Explanations
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Functionalists direct their attention to the social dysfunctions that lead to deviant and
criminal behaviour
Durkheim originated functionalist thinking on deviance and crime, claiming that
deviance and crime are beneficial for society
o Reasoning: Provides others with the ability to condemn and punish the
transgression, reminding them of their common values, moral values thus
reinforcing social solidarity
o Deviance and crime can help societies adapt to social change
 Arresting of Marting Luther Kind for taking part a demo supporting black
rights to vote – crime brought awareness causing change
Robert Merton further developed Durkheims theory by enphasizxing the dysfunctions of
deviance and crime
Strain Theory
o Holds that people may turn to deviance when they experience strain. Strain results
when a culture teraches people the value of material successes and society fails to
provide enough legitimate opportunities for everyone to succeed
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Merton says that people who experience strain force themselves to adhere to social norms
– the option of conformity
Those who do not conform, result in 4 reactions
o Retreatism - Reject society's goals and its insitutionalized means of
accompluishing, thus dropping out of siciety
o Ritualism - Rejecting the goals of conventional society but continuing to follow
them
o Innovation – Accepting cultural goals and creating novel means of achieving
them
o Rebellion – Rejecting cultural goals and finding new means achieving new goals
 (60's hippies)
Criminal Subcultures
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Social groups also adapt to straim caused by social dysfunction, forming criminal gangs.
With distinct norms and values. Rejected by society and also rejecting IT
Subculture
o A set of distinctive values, norms, and practices within a larger culture
Justification is an important part of gang subculture, making illegal activities seem
morally acceptable and normal to members
Deviants in a subculture are stric conformists to their own norms, same beliefs,
manenrisms, speech patters etc..
Strongly discourage deviance within the subculture
Functionalism and the Relationship Between Crime and Class
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Problem with functionalist accounts is that they exaggerate the connection between crime
and class
o Self-report surveys show little evidence to support this claim, some shown no
support
Stronger correlation exists between serious street crimes and class
o (armed robbery, assault)
Stronger correlation between white-collar crime and class
o Mid-upper class more likely to commit fraud and embezzelment
Generalizations about the relationship between class and crime must be qualified by
taking into account severity and type of crime
Official stats exaggerate class differences
o More police surveillance occurs in low class neighborhoods than corporation
board rooms
o Some white-collar crimes are handled by separate agencies so they are not
reported by police stats
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Conflict theory helps to overcome functionalisms poor explanation between crime and
class
Conflict Theories
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Conflic ttheorists maintain that rich and powerful members of society impose deviant and
criminal labels on others especially those who challenged the existing social order
o Meanwhile the rich can use money and influence to escape punishment for their
own misdeeds
Deviance defined by the threat to the social order
o Thieves steal private property thus challenging private property, a crime
o Drug addicts drop out of conventional society, they are deviants because they
don’t contribute to society
Rich and powerful also engage in deviance, less likely to be reported because white collar
crime takes place in private
o Conviction and prosecution are less frequent because expensive legal experts can
eb afforded
o Fraud vs thievery – fraud costs society more but thievery had double the time
Conflict theory emphasizes the relationship between power and crime
Street crime and suite(white collar) crime’s difference is relevant, street crime = force
and violence, suite crime is deceit, viloation of trust etc, economic need vs greed
Social Control
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Conflict theorists arugue that the powerful excersise disproportionate control over justice
system, and thus engage in deviance and crime with relative impunity
Control Theory
o Holds that the rewards of deviance and crime are ample. Therefore, nearly
everyone would engage in deviance and crime if they could get away with it. The
degree to which people are prevented from violating norms and laws account for
variations in the level of deviance and crime
Deviants and criminals act as such because the sociol controls imposed are too weak to
ensure conformity
Travis Hirschi argued that adolescents are more prone to crime and deviance becaused
they are incompletely socialized and lack self control
Adolsecents who are most prone to deliquincy likely lack 4 types of social control
 Few social attachments to parents, teachers, and other respectable role
models
 Few legitimate opportunities for education and a good job
 Few involvements in conventional institutions
 Weak beliefs in traditional values and morals
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Tighter social control by authorities in all spheres of life decreases frequency of deviant
and criminal acts
Feminish Contributions
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On Avg, women are less powerful than men in all institutions
Feminist sociologists holds that gender-based power differences influence the framing of
laws and thus the definition, detection and prosecution of crime
Feminist note that many types of crime against women were largely ignore in most parts
of the world incl Canada
o Date rape not being punished less severely than regular rape
o Spousal rape becoming a thing
 1970 shift in power of gender, reforming of Canadian sexual assault law
o Rape is more often prosecuted now
 Women’s position has shifted since the reforms, more power in society
 Deminists reasoned that control over women would weaken thus allowing women to
behave more like men (1997 – 2011, women to men conviction increased by 14.3%
Social Control and Regulation
Internal and External Social Control
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Social Control
o Refers to the ways in which a social system attempts to regulate people’s
thoughts, feelings, appearance, and behaviour
 Sociol control is the response to deviance, comes in two main types:
o Internal social control
 Regulates people through socialization and shapes people’s minds so
they come to regard deviant actions as undesirable
 Socialization process generates internal social control by internalizing
norms
o External Social Control
 Regulates people by imposing punishments and offering rewards
 Enacted by authority figures
Trends in Social Control
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The degree of social control varies over time and from one society to the next
Forms of punishment also vary
PRedindustrial societies: strict social and control and low conformity, industrial
societies: less tringent social control and low conformity
17
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The more complex a society the less likely many norms will be shared wideley,
easier to belong to a group or subculture
Some argue that social control has intensified, recognizing individuality abnd
deviance have increased but only within strct limits
o i.e crucial aspects of life have become regimented
Regimentation of modern life is mostly tied to growth of capitalism and the state
o Factories require strict labour regimes
Rise of institutions linked to growth of modern state – armies, police forces, schools,
healthcare, other bureaucracies
o Little agency preindustrial, now run our lives perpetrating strong norms of
belief and conduct
Growth of modern surevillance, social control is metaphiorically framed by Jeremy
Bentham as a Panopticon
o A prison design that allows inmates to be constantly observed without their
knowledge. This term derives from the world panoptic, meaning “all seeing”\
o Design to induce the inmate a state of conscious and permanent visibility
We currently live in a surveillance society
o Surveilance society uses all-encompassing sirvveillance technology to
optimize social control
Gives rise to social forces aimed at maintaining autonomy, but is getting more
difficult with the internet
The Prison
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Prisons are agents of socialization, new inmates often become serious offenders as they
adapt to the culture of the most hardened, long term prisoners
Worht pondering because it turns criminals into worse criminals
Industrialization brought about new forms of punishment, more civilized
o (jail vs public humiliation)
Rationales for Incarceration
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Some people see the benign view of prisons, to rehabilitate
Rehabilitative idea predominated between 50’s and 70’s
Some people see prison as a deterrence, less inclined to commit crime due to potential
for punishment
Others think of prisons as institutions of revenge, deprivation of freedom as retribution
to legal acts
Others see prison as institutions of incapacitation, to keep prisoners out of siciety as
long as possible to commit no more harm
Since the 60’s Canadian public demanded more criminals be arrested and imprisoned
18
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U.S has worlds largest incarceration rate
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Reasons for increased enthusiasm for get tough policies
o Mass media reporting in a frightening manner
 Mass media distorts crime reports
 Level of coverage exaggerates the amount of criminal acticvity
 Half of crime stories reported are violent offences, which are 7x
the actual occurrence
 Media distorts the nature of coverage, highlighting extreme
cases
o (murder actually rare, but reported majorly)
May make people think that to win the war on crime, we need more punitive measures
Moral Panic
o An extreme over-response that occurs when many people ferverently believe
that some form of deviance or crime poses a profound threat to society’s wellbeing
 Attention being paid to the most extreme and atypical crimes and
criminals
Mass media benefits from moral panic in an economic sense, draws big audiences =
more revenue from ads
Criminal justice system is a huge bureaucracy, benefit from moral panis due to
increased spending on crime prevention, control and punishment – expanding their jobs
and turf
Political use of moral panic to win elections
Moral Panic
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Alternative Forms of Punishment
Capital Punishment
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Execution has long history and is still widely used today
Not been used in canada since 1962, abolished in 1976
63% of Canadians favour the return, 30% oppose and 7% don’t know
Ranks high as a form of revenge but questionable as a deterrent
o Murder is often committed in rage with a lack of rational thinking
o U.S has a higher murder rate than nations that do not utilise capital punishment
 In U.S states without death penalty have lower murder rates
Evidence shows it’s not blind justice
o Murderers who kill white victims are typically executed
o Murderes who kill people of colour rarely receive death penalty
19
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Nearly 40% of death sentences are overturned, mistakes are made
Alternative Strategies
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Recently analysts have suggested 2 reforms for prison regimes
o Advocates of rehab suggest that Recidivism Rate – rate at which convicted
offenders reoffend – can be reduced through education, jobt raining,
counselling etc..
o Secondly, we should attempt to reduce rather than increase incarcerated
offenders
 Pursue a policy on radical non-intervention, diverting offenders from
formal processing in the criminal justice systems
 With broadening definitions of crimes, charging and imprisoning is
unlikely to help individuals develop prosocial behaviour
Alternative procedures vary across provinces but usually occur after a judge deems an
offender suitable for diversion
o Official apology, compensation etc..
o Usually occurs in cases of theft under $5000
o Must be considered guilty
Proponents of Decarceration recommend fines( most common punitive act), probation
and community service be more widely used
o Objections state that it doesn’t reduce the individual subjection to formal social
control, might cause more intense and intrusive “diversion” methods
o Can also be called transcarceration
Decriminalization of certain categories is another strategy i.e decriminalizing
marijuana
Recent changes to criminal code to address overrepresentation of native people
o Supreme court urged judges to consider the broad systemic and background
factors affecting native people
o Court recognizes sociological factors contribute to a 10X hgih incarceration of
natives than Canadians
o Factors include:
 History of colonialism, displacement and residential schools which
translates to lower income, lower educational attainment
20
21
Chapter 21: Social Movements (534-543)
Solidarity Theory: A Conflict Approach
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According to breakdown theory, epople ebngage in non-routine collective actions soon
after social breakdown occurs
o Rapid urbanization, indistrialization, mass migration lead to buildup of
deprivations
Tilly defines acts of collective violence as events in which groups of people seized or
damaged other people or property
o Found that social breakdown did not rise and fall with rates of collective action
thus unsupporting breakdown thoeyr
Solidarity Theory
o Suggests that social movements are social organizations that emerge when
potential members can mobilize resources, take advantage of new political
opportunities and avoid high levels of social control by authorities
Resource Mobilization
o Refers to the process by which social movements crystallize because of the
increasing organizations material and other resources of movement members
 Union strike in france – union got more organized, grew in number etc..
Political Opportunities
o For collective action and social movement growth occur most frequently during
election campaigns, when influential allies offer insugents support, when ruling
political alignments become unstable, when elite groups bcome divided and
conflict with one another.
Social Control
o Refers to methods of ensuring conformity, for example the means by which
authoritites seek to contain collective action through co-optation, concessions
and coercion
Strikes and the Union Movement in Canada
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Blue and white collar workers withhold labour to extract concessions from authority,
e.g. higher wages, benefits
Resource Mobilization
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Strike activity high in Canada between mid 1940- 1970
o Unemployment was low
o Union memevership was high
o Governments were generaous in the provision of social welfare benefits
22
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Low employment = strong economy, strikes more inclined when business activity is
high because authority can afford it
High level of unionization is aonducive to more strike activity
o Unions provide leadership, strike funds and coordination
o Strong social ties among workers (unionization) access to jos and money
(booming economy) increases challenged to authority
1970’s Canada most strike-prone country in the world
1973 economic crisis due to war in middles east, rising oil prices, inflation and
unemployment increased
o Gov introduced laws and regulations limiting wage gains that could be
demanded
Unionization peaked in 1978, stabilized then declined.
o Dropped post 1978, currently 1 in 6 workers are unionizaed
Canadian free trade deal w/ U.s and Mexico in 1994
o Threatened with strike action, employers could threaten to relocated
o 1974 16 strike for 100,000, in 2011 0.66
Political Opportunities
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U.S   Canada contrast highlights effect of political opportunities on union
movements
Opportunities for union growth are greater when priveleged groups and insitutions they
control are divided and become weaker
Union Density
o Number of union memvbers in a given location as a percentage of nonagricultural workers. Measures organizational power of Unions
Both subject to similar economic forces due to FTA
o BUT in 1960’s union trends began to diversify
o 2013, 11% of non-agro employeed in US were unionized, 30% in Canada
Why Divergence? During the 60’s
o JFK permitted Unionization of Go’vt employess but were sharply restricted, no
striking over wages benefits etc, not popular means for furthering interests
o Canada – NDP established in ’61. With supprot of union movement. NDP
gained such support it used political influence to convince gov to extend full
union rights to public-sector workers incl striking, bargain collectively
 Canadian Gov. employeed joine dunions in droves, moreso than US
 NDP influence reduced restrictions on private sector unionization
In U.S a unified political rule was able to prevent union movement from gaining rights
making it attractive to workers
Canada had a more divided political establishment that could not prevent the cration of
a union growth favoured legal environment
23
Social Control
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Winnipeg general strike on 1919 highlights three features of social control on social
movements
o If authorities show indecision or weakness, movement partisans often become
bolder
 Unions were about to make a deal but council added clause to never
strike again
 All city employees walked out, council broke down and gave them all
they wanted
o Violence, especially the most extreme forms of violence, is most often initiated
by authorities, not movement partisans
 City was paralyzed, due to demands from building and metal trade
workers
 Formed strike strike force of union opposed officers even after prostrike officers volunteered to maintain peace (Got fired)
o Violent repression can still discontent, at least for a time
 After bloody altercation, strike committee called off the walkout having
failed
Framing Discontent: A Symbolic Interactionist Approach
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Something lies between the capacity of disadvantaged people fo mobilize resources
and the recruitment of a substantial number of people – Frame Alignment
Frame Alignment
o The process in which individual interests, beliefs, and values become congruent
and complementary with the activities, goals, and ideology of a social
movement
Examples of Frame Alignment
o Social movements leaders can reach out to other organizations that they believe
will be sympathetic to their cause
o Movement activitsts can stress popular values that have not featured yet into
the thinking of potential recruits, elevate importance of positive beliefs for
movement
o Social movements can streth their objectives to win recruits who were not
initially sympathetic to the movements original aims
Basically to frame their ideas to become more appealing, to align their goals, ideas and
activities in the way potential recruitys align their
Adversaries seek to disalign the way issues are framed to potential recruitys
24
Chapter 16: Religion
Theorteical Approaches to the Sociology of Religion
Durkheims Functionalist Approach
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Collective effervesence is a thing that excites the collective and make individuals feel
part of something larger
o E.g. Stanley Cup in Cnada, “The Great One”
Collective Conscience
o Comprises the common sentiments and values that people share as a result of
living together
Experiencing collective conscience directly causes us to distinguish the every day
world of the Profane from the transcendent world of the sacred
Profane
o The secular everyday world
Sacred
o Religious transcendent world
Objects that symbolize the sacred are called Totems
Durkheim ‘s idea is that the effect of rituals and religion is to reinforce social solidarity
o (Suicide rate is lowest on superbowl Sunday)
Consistence with durkheims theory of suicide being lower when social solidarity
increases
Conflict and feminist approaches state two problems with above, over emphasis of
religion in maintaining social cohesion (often incites conflict). Also ignores that fact
when religion does increase social cohesions, it reinforces social inequality
Religion and Social Inequality
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Impulse to find a better world is encouraged by adversity in this one
All religious figure heads promoted equality and freedom
The charismatic leadership of world religions became “routinized”
Routinization of Charmisma
o Weber’s term for the transformation of divine enlightenment into a permanent
feature of everyday life
o Turns religious inspiration into a stable social instidution withd efined roles
o Makes religion less responsive of orginary people
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25
Religion and The Subordination of Women
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Marx first stressed how religion tranquuilizes the udner[riveleged into accepting their
lot in life, “The opium of people”
Major world religions have often placed women in subordinate positions
Religion and Class Inequality
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In becoming routinized, religion has often support gender inequality and class
inequality
Almighty ordains class inequality, primising rewards in the afterlife
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Religion and Social Conflict
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Church
o Bureaucratic religious organization that has accomodated itself to mainstream
society
Religiously inspired protest against inequality often erupts from below
Role of Black churches in spearheading American civil rights
o Ministers formed the movements, leadership
o Congregations marched
o Christian doctrine inspired protesters, blacks like the jews in egypt, were slaves
who would be freed
o Religion had helped promote the conflict needed to make the South more
egalitarian and racially integrated place
Tommy Douglas, minister, M.A in Soc, inspired Social Gospel Movement
Religion can maintain social order but doing so often reinforces social inequality but it
can udner other circumstances promote social conflict and change
Weber and the Problem of Social Change: A symbolic Interactionist Interpretation
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Max weber stressed the way religion can contribute to social change
“If history is like a train propelled by economic and political interest, religion is the
raliroad switched determining the tracks to follow”
Weber focused on the worldy significance of the meanings people attach to religious
ideas
Weber determined the protestant ethic, engage in intense world activity, display
industry, punctuality and frugality.
John Wesley, Ben Franklin states ppl could reduce religious doubts by working
dilligently and living simply
Where the protestant ethic took hold, favourable economic conditions sprouted
26
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Further research showed less of a correlation but Weber’s consideration of religion
together with social change had a huge influence of religion on society
The Rise, Decline, and partial Revival of Religion
Rise of Religion
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1651, Thomas Hobbes described lief as poor nasty brutish and short
Forces of nature and human affairs were unpredicatble and so magic became popular
in explaining
Superstitional belief lost ground as material conditions improved and christianity
replaced these beliefs
Church campaigned to stamp out other beliefs
o Witch hunts
In medeival and early Eurpoe, christianity became a powerful presence in religious
affairs, music, art, architecture, literature etc…
Church authority was supreme in marriage, education, mortality, economic affair,
politics
By the turn of the 20th century, scientific and other forms of rationalisms were replacing
religious authority
Secularization Thesis
o Religious institutions, actions and consciousness are on the decline worldwide
and will one day disappear altogether
The End of Religion?
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Secularization hypothesis was becoming out of touch with currentl world events
More seen as a tendency today than an iron rule
Revised Secularization Thesis
o Holds that an overall trend toward the diminishin importance of religion is
unfolding in different ways throughout the world
Traditional Secularization fell short because:
o Diffrentiation
 Worldly institutions break off from the institution of religion
o Education today in Canada is almost excvlusively run by non-religious
authoritites, concerned with world affairs not spirituality
o Not the case globally, German students go to state-run schools designated as
catholic, or protestant and receive mandatory religious education
o U.S no religious education in schools and religious schools are not state run
27
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o These examples show that religion has yet to completely sever ties to
institutitons
There is no obvious movement towards greater separation of church and state
o Moderns states are compelled to balance three constitutional rights, relgious
freedom, equality and freedom of speech
o They all conflict (same-sex marriage, polygamy as a religious freedom,
threatening to burn a Qu’ran hate speech or freedom of speech?)
Evidence shows religious groups and the state incur on each other’s terrioty when it
suits interests
o Christian groups contribute to political candidates when they share views
In other areas, religious rule has been imposed
o Islamic religious law Shari’a law
Traditional secularization holds that religion will appeal less for individuals, science
provides better explanations
Religiosity
o How important religion is to people
Worldwide decline in people who don’t associate with religion
o If it were a religion it would be the 3rd largest
o 20% of canadians have no view
Variations in worldwide attendance to religious service make it hard to determine an
overall account
Secularization theory works best in describing the broader decline of religion
o Religion no longer excersises the dame authority on institutions
o Religion has less to do with family issues, education, politics, and economic
affairs
Loses force in predicting it will follow a continued downward trajectory OR that all
countries are chaning the same way
Market Theory
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View religion as a market to determine why seualrization has not take its predicted
course
Religious organizations are suppliers of services such as counselling, pastoral care,
youth activites, men/womens social groups, performance groups, lectures and
discussions
Demand by people who desire religious activities, to meet demand religious
organizations compete, each offering their own brand of religious experience
Attracting adherents depends on organizational structure and quality of sale
representatives, its products, and marketing techniques
Not all societites permite competition, where monopolies form, market theory predicts
growing secularization
28
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Religious monopoly exists when one religious body has acquired special priveleges
from state, preventing other religions from selling their brand
o With one brand, satisfaction is limited to those whose needs meet what is
offered
o Everyone else resort to underground movements, or become indifferent to
religion
o Apathy among clergy grows, paid by the state, enjoy secure income regardless
of attracting new memvers
Sweden is one example of a religious monopoly that exhibits ghih lvls of secularization
Canada and U.S permit competition, rewarding religious bodies who meet needs of
consumers and punishes those who do not attract interest
Religiosity flourishes due to new products generated to conqure segments of the market
Religious Pluralism
o The diverse array of religions and religious beliefs in a given area
To sustain, religious orgs must adapt to changing needs of consumers otherwise they
may stagnate, and other groups may fill the gap
All new religious groups experience routinization, risk losing their competitive edge
Religious Organization
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Depending how routinized a religious org. is, it occupies a different place in the churchsect typology
Churches may last for hundreds/thousand of years, bureacratically entrenched and
strong intergration into mainstream society
On the other hand are Sects
Sects
o Form by breaking away from churches because of disagreement about church
doctrine. Sects are less integrated into society and less bureacratized than
churches are.
Sects are against the over integration of churches, launching movements to return to
founding principles, as a result, sects are less integrated and less bureaucratized
Cults, or new religious movements (NRMs)
o Groups headed by charismatic leaders with a unique religious vision that rejects
mainstream culture and society
o Cult seems derogatory so use NRM
Sects and NRMs experience 1 of 3 outcomes
o May disappear havign failed to generate enough interest
o Group persists but becomes more church-like, if market is unregulated, it may
evolve into a Denomination
29
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Denomination
o Midway between church and sect, usually not in tension with the world,
bureaucratically organized, and generally maintains a tolerant relationship with
other denominations
o E.g. lutherans, baptist etc..
Third outcome, is for the sect or NRM to become institutionalized
o Does so by resisting assimilation into society
o May separate themselves, like in colonies
o Can also be separated by rules re: dress, diet, prayer, intimate contact
Market theory is not always consistent, monopoly type setting in muslim countries but
religious observance is widespread
Poverty rates may increase religion’s prevalence, the poort needing the tangible and
comfort of religious orgs.
The Future of Religion
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Secularization is likely to continue but there will be an expansion of religious flavours
fostering more religious pluralism
Heading toward religious polarization? (people are either religious or not)
Religious Tolerance
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Religious affiliation tends to correspond to the dominant religion within a country
Religious minorities may be at risk of persecution from the dominant religions
Social hostilities seem to be on the rise among religious groups esp. in Middle East and
North Africa
o Globalization considered a reason: facilitated movement of people and cultures
to other countries
Religious Affiliation in Canada
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First settlers in Canada mostly christian, friction between protestants(Britain) and
catholics (france)
o Embedded in the larger struggle for dominance between france and england
Jews arrived in Canada in the early 18th century, initially afforded few rights (State
restricted registration of births, deaths and marriages to Anglican and R.C Churchers(
o Took until 1831 for jews to be addoreded rights
Other religions (Muslim, Sikh, Buddist, Hindu etc.) did not arrive in quantity until late
20th century due to racist ideologies prohibiting ethnic and racial minorities from
immigrating
o Prior to 1970’s immigrants came mostly from european countries
30
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Immigration now is diversifying the affiliation in Canada

Sociologists operationalize religiosity with the three B’s (Belonging, beliefs,
behaviour)
o Belonging determined by religious affiliation
o Belief can be assessed by asking if they believe in God or how familiar they are
with tenets of their religion
o Behaviour reflects how often a person engages in religious activities
 1in 4 canadians regularly attends services
Religious behaviours do not match patters od belonging and beliefe
o Most canadians believe in God, 75% identify with a specific religion but most
do not attend on a regular basis
Behaviours may exist without belief or belonging, 1 in 5 U.S non believers attend a
church service once a year
Religious behaviour depends on social factors
o Elderly people have more time and need of religion (Not in school, employed)
more time and they are closer to death illness they require solace
Different age groups live through different times
o Today’s elderly lived through times where religion was more authoritative
People whose parents attend religious services are more likely to do so themselves
o Religiosity is partially a learned behaviour
Religiosity
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31
32
Gender and Sexuality: Chapter 11
Exclude:
-pp. 274-76
-pp. 281 to 286
-p. 294 to the end of chapter
Modern Essentialism: Sociobiology and Evolutionary Psychology
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All humans instinctively try to ensure that their genes are passed onto future
generations
Women have a bigger investment into this, smaller # of eggs, can give birth to 20 tops.
Best interest to maintain primary responsibility for genertic children and find the best
mate to best support
Men can produce lots of sperm and it can be repeated, increasing the chance his and
only his genes will be passed on when he is promiscuous but jealously posessive of
partners
Men compete over sexual access to women, aggressive behaviour
“Women are greedy for money and men want casual sex, treat women’s bodies as
property and react violently to women who incite sexual jealousy
Functionalism and Essentialism
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Fucntionalist reinforce essentialist viewpoint: traditional gender roles help to integrate
society
Women specialize in raising children and managing household, men traditionally work
in paid labour force
Each generation learns to perform these roles through gender role socialization
For boys, essence of masculinity is a series of “instrumental” traits: rationality, selfassuredness competitiveness
For girls essence of femininity is a series of “expressive” traits, nurturance and
sentitivity to others
First learnt in the household, then society reinforces the roles
Men fear they wont be attractive if they’re too ferminine,women vice-versa
Functionalist view: learning the essential features of femininitty and masculinity
integrates society and allows proper functioning
Critique of Essentialism from the Conflict and Feminist Perspectives
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Four main Criticisms
Essentialists ignore the historical and cultural variability of sexuality and gender
33
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o Wide variations constitution of masculinity and femininity, levels of gender
inequality, rate of male to women violence, criteria for mate selection
 All are universal to essentialist thinking
 Variations deflate idea that genders are separated by essential and
universal behavioural differences
 Since 1960’s, rapid rise of women into paid labour force, a shift
occuring in mate selection qualities
 Women today are less motivated to seek men who will be good
providers, but who look good
 Men increasingly prefer women with good financial prospects,
less swayed by women’s domestic skills
o Researchers reject the idea that males are naturally superior to females in math
and science
 Evidence shows that Males only tend to perform better in these subjects
in countries where gender inequality is high
o Assumption that all men want to have sex with a s many women as possible
 True of some men, but the “Casanova Complex” is an exception
 “hooking up” is practiced to the same extent between male and female
collefe and university students
Tends to generalize from the average, ignoring variations within gender groups
o On avg men and women do differ in some respects
 Men are on avg more verbally and physically aggressive than women
o Essentialists make it seem that it is true for ALL men and women that men are
more aggressive
 Not always the case
Little or no evidence directly supports the essentialists major claims
o No identification of the geneses that cause male jealousy, female nurturance,
unequal division of labour between men and women etc..
Essentialists explanations for gender differences ignore the role of power
o Essentialists assume that existing behaviour patterns help to ensure survival of
species and promotes social function
o However, men are more likely to be in positions of power and authority
o Root of male domination in class equality dates back to when preliterate
soecieties produced excess needed for subsistence
 Men gained control over economic surplus and to ensure their own
offspring would inherity they:
 Imposed rules that only men could own proerty AND
 Through socialization and force, ensured women remained
sexually faithful to their husbands
o Industrial capitalism made men wealthier and more powerful, relegating
women to subordinate domestic roles
34
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Feminist theorists conclude that male domination is rooted less in industrial capitalism
than in the patriarchal authority relations, family structures and patterns of socialization
and culture due to:
o Gender inequality is greater in pre-capitalist, agrarian societies than in
industrial ones
o Male domination is evident in societies that call themselves socialist or
communist
Conflcit and feminist theorists concur that behavioural differences in gender is less the
result of essential differences than from men being in positions to enact their interests
on women
Social Constructionism and Sumbolic Interactionism
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Social constructionism is the view that apparently natural or innate features of life such
as gender are sustained by social processes
SI deals with that it means to be a man or a woman
Gender Socialization
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Barbies stimulates the dream of body image among many girls, probability of this shape
is less than 1in 100,000
Barbie has served as an identifiable stereotypical symbol of female beauty
Socializes girls into wanting to be slim, blonde, shapely, and implicitly appeasing to
men
Parental guidance tends to socialize gender too, boys in sports, girls in pottery classes,
boisterous play among fathers and sons etc…
Seems natural that boys toys stress agression, competition, outdoor activities, spatial
manipulation and girls’ toys stress nurturance, physical attractiveness and indoor
activities
Presented with a doll and a toolbox, young boys are just as likely to pick either, what
depends is how they are framed (for boy, or girls)
Authority figures (parents, teachers etc) impose their ideas of appropriate gender
behaviour on children
Childrenc reatively interpret, negotiate, resist and self-impose these ideas all the time
Gender is something that is done, not given – more than a charachteristic of the
individual but produced through social processes
Gender Segregation and Interaction

Barrie Thorne observed in a gr4-5 classroom that children always segregated
themselves by gender
35
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o Pitted genders against one another and there was cross-gender antagonism and
within-gender solidarity
o Noted schoolyard games tended to spontaneously cystallize gender lines
Observed many cases of boys and girls playing together, also boundary crossing
involving boys playing stereotypical girl games
Most common form of gender boudnary crossing was in sports, girls playing sport
central to boys. Became accepted when they exhibited skill
Activities requiring competition lessened attention to gender
Mixed-gender interaction was more common in less public less crowded areas
Thorne’s research made two important distinctions
o Children are actively engaged in the process of constructing gender roles
o Boundaries between boys and girls are sometimes fluid and sometimes rigid,
depending on social circumstances
Gender Ideology
o Set of interrelated ideas about what constitutes appropriate masucline and
feminine roles and behaviours
Gender ideology informs course selection choices in high school, boys are more likely
to consdier a career whereas girls are more likely to consider the home aswell
Male-Female Interaction
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Gender roles children learn forms the basis for their social interaction as adults
o Boys- team sports, learn that social interaction is about competition, conflict,
self sufficiency and hierarchy
o Girls- dolls and baking sets, learn social interaction I sabout maintaining cordial
relationships, avoiding conflict, giving advice and not promoting self as bossy
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Early socialization misunderstandings between men and women are common
o Men asking for directions is seen as an admission of inadequacy and therefore
a loss of status
o Women asking seems natural, to share info
o Conflict arises when a woman wants a man to ask for directions
Gender-specific interaction also has serious implications for who is heard and gets
credit at work
o Female disposition towards sharing info and negotiating often is misunderstood
as indecisive and incompetent
o Male self-centered dispotisition incorporates “I” more often, drawing attention
to personal achievement
Glass Ceiling
o Social barrier that makes it difficult for women to rise to the top level of
management
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Sexuality and Resistance
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Some people reject gender roles, stating there’s degrees of male/female-NESS
Some people reject the idea that men should be attracted to women and vice versa
Queer theorists challenged the idea that sxuality is essential and unchangins aspect of
sexual identity
Queer theory states that one’s capacity for erotic expression may extend beyong one’s
sexual category
o “Sexuality is something that one does not what one is”
Labels force people into categories they may not identify with
Sexuality viewed as a performance rather than a charachteristic, possible to see
sexuality is a social construct
o Both heterosexuality and homosexuality are culturally and historically
determined phenomen whose meanings change over time and in different
contexts
o Can’t then be said that, Heterosexuality is normal and homosexuality is not
Foucault argued that sexuality is a recent invention, medical practicioners framed
homosexuality and not as a charachteristic of an individual rather than a temptation
anyone might enact
Foucault also claimed that only when homosexuality emerged as a social category that
a culture and identity began to form
Feminists view gender at the fundamental category that organizes social relations
o The basic conflict in society is between men and women
Queer theory states that sexuality is the fundamental category that organizes social
relations
o The basic conflict is between those who see sexualty as fixed and those who
don’t
Transgendered
o People break society’s norms by defying the rigid distinction between male and
female
 Cross dressers
Transsexuals
o Believe they were born with the “wrong” body. Identify with and want to live
fully as members of the opposite sex
Homosexuals
o People who prefer sexual partners of the same sex. People usually call
homosexual men gay and women lesbians
Bisexuals
o People who enjoy sexual partners of both sexes
Asexuals
o People who lack interest in sexual activity of any kind
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Enforcing Heternormativity
 Sexual preferences other than hetero have lived in every society, homosexuality was
encouraged in Ancient Greexe
 More frequently societies have forbidded non-heteronormative behaviour
o Saudi Arabie, Yemen, Mauritia
 Gains have been made in legalizing same-sex marrage
 Some scientists think that homosexuality is genertic, other hormonal
 Scientific consensus: Homosexuality emerges for most people in adolesence without
any prior sexual experience – it is not changeable”
 Two factors chiefly responsible for greater acceptance of homosexuality
o Sexologists first recognized and stressed the wide diversity of existing sexual
practices
 1940’s concluded that homosexxual prefernces were so widespread it
cannot be considered an illness affect a minority
o Sexual minorities provided themselves the social and political energy needed
to legitimize sexual diversity
 Demonstrations, parades etc..
 In 1975 63% of Canadians considered homosexuality wrong, today 80% think society
should accept it
 Many adults and children believe hetersexuality is superior to homosexuality
 Homosexuals fear the antipathy and hostility of others,
o Findings in San Fran. 1 in 10 admitted having physically attacked or threatened
people they believed were homosexuals
 Research suggests that some ant-gay crimes stem from repressed homosexual urges on
the part of the agressor
o Fully half of young male adults in San Fran. Admitted to anti-gay agression
 Homophobic
o People are afraid of homosexuals
 Anti- gay violence is not just abnormal psych but a broad cultural problem
Gender Inequality
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Global gender gap index takes into account the inequality between men and women
based on healthy, participation in paid labour, educational attainment and political
influence
Generally gender inequality is less pronounced in richer countries
Anomlies exists in trends among countries re. gender inqueality
o Community countries make gender equality a matter of public policy – lower
than expected despite lower development. Muslim countries did the opposite
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Origins of Gender Inequality
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Men have not always enjoyed more power and authority than women have
Three major socio-hisotrical factors for the growth of gender inequality, long distance warfare,
plow agriculture and separation of public and private spheres
Long-Distance Warfare and Conquest
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Men and women were equal in nomadic, foraging societies, dominant form of soceity for 90% of
human history
o Nased on women producing a substantial amount of the band’s food, up to 80%
o Old Europe region
 Men and women enjoyed approx. equal status
 Region’s religions gave primacy to fertility and creator goddesses
 Kinship traced through mother’s line
Began to change when Old Europe was invaded by successive waves of Asiatic and European
northeast (The Kurgans and Semites) whose societies were based steeply on hierarchy and the
dominance of men
o Religions gave primacy to male warrior gods
They acquired property and slaves by consquering others and imposed their religions on the
vanquished
Elminated goddesses as divine powers
Laws reinforced women’s sexual, economic and political subjugation of women
Trad. Judaism, christiantity and islam all embody ideas of male dominance and all derive from
tribes that conquered Old Europe in the 5th milleniun
Plow Agriculture
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Originated in the Middle east 5000 years ago
Required strong adults to remain in fields all day for much for the year
Also reinforced principle of private land owndership
Men on avg were stronger than women and women were restricted in their activities by pregnancy,
childbirth and nursing, plow ag. Made men more socially powerful
Men owned land and ownership was passed to the eldest son
Separation of Public and Private Spheres
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In Agricultural era, economic production was organized around the household
During industrialization, men’s work moved out of the household and into the factory and office,
mostly becoming wage or salary workers
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While men who went public, women who could afford it remained in the domestic or private
sphere
Ide developoed that this situation represented a natural division in labour
According to social constructionists, gender inequalities derive from three main soci-historical
curcymstances and not from inherent biological features
Chapter 10: Race and Ethnicity
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Samuel George Morton, collected and measured skulls, blieved bigger your brain the
smaerter you were
o Packed BB shot into skulls to measure
o Found races with lowest social ranking had lowest brain size
o Whites of Europe  Asians  BNative North Americans Blacks (high to
small)
Research used to justify colonization and slavery
Three main issues
o Identiying race of Skull is impossible
o Morton had a small sample size, 72 skulls
o Incomparable with respect to gender, 71% baclks were women, 48% white.
Female bodies are smaller
Race, Biology, and Society
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Biological basis about racial differences has grown more sophisticated over time
Medeival europe upperclass, pale could see veins called “blue bloods” compared to
the peasantry
Canadian Prof. Peter Sandiford, imposed selective immigration based on racial bias
o Wanted British German and Danish
o Discouraged Poles, Italians Greeks
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