Review

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Review 12/10
The course themes
chapters 11-14, 16,17
Feagin, Pettigrew, Einstein
Review questions.
Materials to review
The exam is Dec. 16 at 8:00.
The form of the exam will be the same as the midterm.
1000-13 -14 in B 2001; 1000-16 in B 2010
The final exam review questions have been
updated; email any requests to me for clarification
before Dec 12.
You may use prepared notes for the essays, which
must be handed in with the essays.
The links on the list of lectures have been updated.
E.g. the course THEMES.
Review of the first half
Although the exam will not be
cumulative, there are a number of
materials from the first half that have
reappeared:
1. Functional v. conflict theory
2. Macro v. micro theory
• They have been developed in terms of
the course THEMES
Functional v. conflict
theory
The comparison of functional
and conflict theory has
appeared in each chapter we
have read since the mid term.
Each attempts to describe e
society as a system.
Each gives an account of
social dynamics.
Society as a
system
Pettigrew defines a system as an
arrangement of interdependent parts.
Each institution fits into the other
institutions.
Each institution is composed of many
organizations; each of which contains
many groups and other structures.
Sociology analyzes these structures.
Functional and Conflict
theory
1.
2.
3.
4.
Functional
Negative
feedbacks
Control systems
Norms
functions
1.
2.
3.
4.
Conflict
Positive feedbacks
Matthew Principle
Inequality
monopoly
Society as a functional
system
Durkheim pioneered the analysis of social
structure as structurally differentiated to carry
out the tasks that need to be done,
and as integrated by a common normative
system.



E.g. the functional model of inequality
Functional accounts of meritocracy
And analysis of function of the family and
education
e.g. the
family
The interconnection of the family with other
social institutions such as the economy is
evident in that:




There has been massive change in the dominant
family form in the last generation.
With important consequences for gender roles, etc.
The homemaker-breadwinner family went from the
dominant to a marginal form.
It is not that individuals just decided to change their
family structure.
Dynamics of
family change
In the same way that the entrance of men
into the paid lab or force in the 19th c. was
driven by the disappearance of the family
farm and mom-and pop store,
Generating the Homemaker-breadwinner
family,
The entrance of women into the paid
labor force in the 20th century
Generated the dual earner family,
analyzed by Hochschild.
Dynamics of positive
feedback
Positive feedback occurs when some
characteristic is self-reinforcing.
For example, Myrdal argued that there
is a vicious cycle of disadvantage.
Disadvantage #1
Disadvantage #2
e.g. low income
e.g. poor education
or health
Dynamics of positive
feedback cont.
And Myrdal further argued that racism
(prejudice, segregation, inequality,
stereotyping, white supremacist groups)
both reinforces and is reinforced by
group disadvantage.
Disadvantage
racism
e.g. low income
e.g. stereotyping
Escalation of group
conflict as a kind of
positive feedback.
We have argued that the escalation of
group conflict also follows a dynamic of
positive feedback.
Retaliation for past injuries, creates
further retaliation, in a vicious cycle.
As well as consolidating segregation,
“hard line” leaderships, and self-fulfilling
prophecies.
Self-fulfilling
Prophecies
Many positive feedbacks result from selffulfilling prophecies.
The belief that something is (or will be true)
may make it more likely.
In the first half, we saw that the labeling theory
of deviance and the views of the roughnecks
produced school failure and police records.
Similarly, profiling or race and gender
stereotypes can generate a non-level playing
field.
Race and gender
stereotypes
Irresponsible,
seductress
Often, the opportunity to prove oneself requires
that a gatekeeper believe that one has the ability.
Prejudiced beliefs of teachers, scientists,
employers, or judges can affect life chances.
The statistical odds associated with being a
member of a group can do so also,
as in profiling.
Robert Rosenthal demonstrated the effects of
teacher expectations on student performances.
Dynamics of negative
feedback
Durkheim pioneered the view of the
normative system as a control system.
Deviance generates negative sanctions
which reduce deviance.
During the second half of the 20th c. this
became the center of functionalist
models of society.
Organic solidarity
1.
2.
3.
4.
Durkheim’s analysis suggested that a
complex, heterogeneous, modern society
can only be held together on the basis of
norms such as equality before the law and
equal opportunity.
Related to:
American Creed
American Dream
A sustainable society (Feagin)
Einstein’s defense of socialism.
Forced division of labor
and inherited position
For Durkheim, and the functionalist,
meritocratic conception of inequalities, social
position should be based on ability,
performance and motivation.
Durkheim believed that inherited property
leads to inherited privilege,
Which generates a forced division of labor
rather than organic solidarity.
Policies assuring equal chances for poor
children and poor groups are contested.
Macro- and micro-theory
There are complex relations
between individual action and
social structures.
The analysis of tipping points,
of social dilemmas, and of
institutional racism and sexism
has stressed the complex
relations between individual
action and social outcomes.
Levels of social
structure
Durkheim argued that “social facts” must be
explained by other social facts.
E.g. levels of suicide, homicide, divorce,
illegitimacy, crime, racism, racial inequality,
sexism, etc. have social causes.
Similarly the Chicago school argued that the
social structure of a neighborhood reproduces
itself and governs behavior in the
neighborhood.
Examples
of levels:
Tipping
points
Limited
differences
Society is not just a set of individuals.
The level of segregation in neighborhoods is not
just a function of individual prejudice
as shown by tipping points in residential
segregation.
The exclusion of women from the top levels of
science is not a function of individual prejudice
as shown by Cole’s model of limited differences.
Unintended
Consequences
oops
The analysis of unintended consequences is an example
of the need to analyze different levels of structure.
It is one of the main reasons for sociology.
Sociology investigates the consequences of individual
and collective action.
If those consequences were always or usually what
people intended, one would not need to investigate
them.
But actions often have consequences very different from
those that were intended.
Pettigrew
Pettigrew’s analysis of (open) systems
consolidates many of the issues of policy and
of individual/ social effects.
Unregulated markets are most appropriate
when there are unintended positive effects
(“invisible hands”)
Social dilemmas produce “invisible fists.”
Social policies may have unintended positive
effects (“silver linings”) or unintended
negative (“dark clouds”) effects.
Pettigrew’s concepts.
Unintended outcomes of
individual choices
public policy
Positive
Invisible Hand
Silver Lining
Negative
Invisible Fist
Dark Cloud
The main policy questions of the 21st century concern
the balance of public and private with regard to health,
education, and other social choices.
Ch. 11: Social
stratification
1. Feagin’s analysis of spaceship earth
2. Myrdal’s analysis: when does the
inequality generated by the Matthew
principle lead to inherited privilege?
3. Poverty line and policy effects on it.
4. Paradoxes of equality of opportunity.
Ch. 12 Racism
1.
2.
3.
4.
Feagin’s concepts of systemic racism and
institutional discrimination.
Difference between individual racism,
institutional racism and cultural racism.
Difference between individual prejudice and
discrimination (Merton; LaPierre)
Unstable dynamics of racism and racial
inequality.
Ch. 13 Gender
1. Kanter’s analysis of tokenism
2. Reskin’s Realities of Affirmative Action
in Employment
3. Cole’s Theory of Limited Differences
4. Hochschild The Second Shift
Ch. 14 Family
While divorce rates are an indicator of stress on
the family, it is difficult to get an adequate
explanation for changes in divorce rates from
things like changes in divorce laws or “affective
individualism.”
Many of the changes in the family, such as
decline in the homemaker–breadwinner family
seem to be the result of fairly inexorable forces
such as structural differentiation and the decline
of self-employment.
Very different kinds of policy are defended as
being “pro-family.”
Ch. 16 Political
economy
There are complex relations between the
form of the economy (public/private) and the
government (democratic/authoritarian).
All advanced industrial societies are mixed.
There are powerful processes of escalation of
conflict (symmetrical schizmogenesis).
However, sometimes walking away from
conflict does not reduce it (complementary
schizmogenesis)
The Arab-Israeli conflict
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Illustrates many of the themes that have
been central to us throughout.
Ingroup-outgroup formation.
Reference groups.
Stereotypes, racism and self-fulfilling
prophecies.
Chomski
Dynamics of conflict.
Dynamics of inequality and marginalization.
Ch. 17 Education
“Meritocratic” educational procedures and access
often leads to the Matthew Principle,
in which existing inequality is magnified by the
operation of effects of money, neighborhoods and
other biases.
Rosenthal shows that there are expectancy effects
Stevenson & Stigler show that Asian systems
increase the performance of every student by
raising the floor.
Einstein
There is a socially maintained balance
between humans as solitary beings
(egotistical) and as social beings (altruistic).
He argues that unregulated capitalism upsets
the balance of egotistical and social drives by
promoting acquisitive individualism,
leading to increased inequality and group
conflict.
Einstein v. Murray
It is possible to use Pettigrew to
conceptualize the disagreement between
theories such as Einstein and Murray
For Murray, individual initiative is a huge
silver lining associated with private market
choices. Dependence on government is the
huge dark cloud associated with public
provision.
For Einstein, personal egotism is a huge dark
cloud associated with private market choices.
Social altruism is the huge silver lining
associated with public provision.
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