BY CRISTY OAKES
FOR DR. HELMS
INDEPENDENT STUDY
MAY 8, 2000

Sociology is a hybrid term
• Socios - Joint, allied or associated
• Locus - Study of

Sociology is the study of human
associations
PARTNER SELECTION PRACTICES
 Marriage by capture
 Marriage by purchase
$ May involve a “bride price” or “dowry”
 Marriage by arrangement
 Marriage by consent of the principals
of conjugal courtship
http://www.stolaf.edu/people/leming/soc260fam/questions/inde...
Marriage - A socially
approved arrangement
in which a family is
created
1) Monogamy - Marriage
to 1 person at a time
(cereal monogamy is
several marriages at

a time)
POLYGAMY polygandry & polygyny
 Group 2 or more men collectively
to 2 or more woman
(Hawaii and Polynesia)

Monogamy is the most
“practiced” type in the world.
Polygyny is the most preferred

Unilateral- Patrilateral traced through the father
- Matrilineal traced through the mother
- In both cases ignore descent of other parent
 Nonunilateral/Bilateral - lineage is traced through the men (but
not the women) on father’s side or the
women (but not the men) on the mother’s

side


Biological - Couple can choose
where to live
Neolocal - Couple establishes
their own home regardless of
location of nuclear family


Patriarchial - Family authority is
is vested in the man
- Most common type
in the world
Egalitarian - Moral and Legal
authority is vested in both the man
and the woman
- Also referred to as a democratic
family


Reasons for Poverty
Today women are in the work force
Family needs more income
Economic Changes Making it likely
Family changes require more
child care
• Single parent family
• Women have freedom from income
• They can get out of a bad marriage
Males have trouble supporting
family so they take off, or never
marry the mother of children b/c
he knows he will not be able to
afford it
 People can’t afford daycare;
children may get abused, neglected
 Kids end up in gangs, giving us
crime, or end up costing us
millions to incarcerate them


William J. Wilson, author of The Truly
Disadvantaged, says:
- Gangs are formed out of people
in main stream society
- Gang members have lack of training
and skills
- Engaged in deviant street activity
- Long spells of unemployment
Welfare dependent
 Small fraction of lower class - helps
us understand why gangs of today are
different than gangs from before
 Gang members from underclass are
usually less mature

web-dubious.fas.harvard.edu/DuBois/
AfroAm/wilson.html
Lack of opportunity
 People not given
• Culture of poverty
•Poverty is due to particular traits opportunity to get
jobs even if qualified
and attributes of individuals
 DISCRIMINATION
•Attributes are part of the
culture of communities
eliminate discrimination
•Values and norms passed from 1elimate poverty
generation to next
 Laws passed for =
•Poor bring it on themselves

OPPORTUNITY, BUT STILL
POVERTY




Middle class jobs being eliminated
Low wage jobs growing
Decline in industrial base jobs
Rise of service jobs (Why flip
burgers when you can make more
$ selling drugs and its easier?)



Facing downward social
mobility
Because of changes in economy
these gang members are worse
off than their parents
Explains why gangs of today are
different and people don’t
mature out of gangs as they did
in the past
1) Use of illegal drug, use of crime
- logical, more drug use, more crime
2) Cost of drugs coupled with addiction
- crime way to obtain $ for drugs
3) Less feelings of guilt changes in
psychological state
4) Spur of moment
- No rational thinking, under influence

Complexity of organization Division of labor; not just 1
person doing deviance - could
be a # of people; most have
specific knowledge of
organization, not very many
have whole knowledge- better
communication “accidents”
against consumers,
environement might have
happened

Indirect link of organization elites
- ie. Ford Pinto case Iococca
didn’t tell them to build an
unsafe car
(- We’re talking about white
collar crime by big companies
that they are ignorant of, or not
really to blame for)



Direct Involvement - which
means organizational elite knew
and started the crime anyway
Organized Crime vs. Street
Crime - more people are hurt at
the same time in corporate
crime
More serious than street crime