Various Perspectives
• Interactionist perspective
–
–
Various Perspectives
• Interactionist perspective
–
–
 Beliefs,
defined
 Three kinds of beliefs
 Attitude, defined
◦
 The
link between beliefs,
attitudes, and value
 Three
definitions
◦ Sociological


◦ Synonymous with “attitude”
◦ Similar to an attitude, but more basic

 Values
serving individual interests
vs. values serving collective
interests
◦
 Terminal
vs. Instrumental Values
 Openness
to change vs.
conservation
 Value
◦
 Overt,
hierarchy
or hidden
 Value congruence and conflict
 What values are not!
◦
◦
 Physical
 Ameliorative
 Moral
 These
are not mutually
exclusive!
problems as value conflict
 Another view of social problems as
a process:
 Social
◦
◦
◦
 Social
problems emerge from a mix
of objective conditions and
subjective definitions
 “personal”
problems vs. “social
problems”
 The Sociological Imagination
 Biological and Psychological
influences
 “Objective reality”
 “Subjective reality”
◦ The Social Construction of Society
 The
role of “meaning”
 The role of “language”
 The role of “social learning”
 How
social “things” are socially
constructed
◦ gender, race, status, money, college
degree
◦
◦
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qgWH89qWks
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ir1UABBe1v4
 “…all
human knowledge is
socially constructed through
our language, which means
that all social problems are
socially constructed.” (Best 2008:16)
Hey, these
people I live
with feed me,
love me,
provide me
with a nice
warm, dry
house, pet me,
and take good
care of me...
They must be
Gods!
Hey, these
people I live
with feed me,
love me,
provide me with
a nice warm,
dry house, pet
me, and take
good care of
me...
I must be God!
 Who
defines something as a
social problem?
◦
◦
 What
do they (try to) do about it?
 How does it “spread?”
 How does it impact those
affected?
Transformation process

◦
Legitimization process

◦
Conflict stage

◦
Outside the system, or change
the system?

◦
 Making
arguments
 Issues and Conclusions
 Reasons and Evidence
 Stated and Unstated Assumptions
 Fallacies of logic
 Karl
Marx’s view:
◦
 Max
◦
 Our
Weber’s view:
working definition:
◦ “At its most basic, class is one way
societies sort themselves out” (pg. 8)
 The
four most commonly used
criteria to measure class:
◦
◦
◦
◦
 Other
ways we measure class?

Social Mobility
◦
◦
◦
◦
Quote, page 14
 Causes of the drop in mobility

◦
◦
 Rising
inequality and class
differences has led to negative
changes in:
◦
◦
◦
◦
 As
a way to talk about social
class
 As
a way to talk about the
economic distribution in America
 As a way to discriminate
Ask
the
GINI !