Social Categories (Part 2 Ch 6) COPY

Question 1

Gender

Answer 1

Sociologists distinguish between sex and gender.

Sex refers to the physical and biological differences between men and women.

Sex is considered to be an intrinsic status; individuals are born with a particular biology, typically either male or female, although some individuals are born intersex.

Gender refers to the cultural, social, and psychological attributes of masculinity and femininity that are assigned to men and women.

Gender is considered to be an acquired status (see Chapter 7: Class and the Stratification of Society; “acquired status”) because knowledge about the nature of masculinity and femininity is acquired over time as individuals are socialized into a particular culture.

Question 2

Gender segregation

Answer 2

Gender segregation =refers to the physical, legal, religious, or political separation of people based upon the culturally held notions of what it means to be male or female or to hold a non-binary gender designation.

Gender segregation is distinct from sex segregation, which would separate individuals based upon their physiological differences.

Gender segregation can be manifested in many different contexts, whether it be separate public restrooms for men and women, or separate prayer areas for men and women (as in Orthodox Judaism, for example).

How gender segregation is enacted in a particular society will be reflective of the power dynamics between men and women and, typically, of how men use social structures to maintain a dominant position in society.

Question 3

Social construction of gender

Answer 3

Social construction: gender is constructed on top of biological differences and, therefore, a culture’s gender norms may encapsulate both empirical and socially constructed elements.

Because the social and cultural aspects of gender are built on top of the biological distinction between the sexes, it is a common misconception that all or most aspects of gender are reflective of underlying biological differences.

Our perception of gender is culturally bound. Therefore, it is complex task to assess which gender differences are the result of socialization and which ones are the result of underlying biology.

Question 4

life course

Answer 4

Life course refers to the predictable pattern of events and development that occur over the entire trajectory of an individual’s life from birth to death.

The concept of “life course” refers both to physical changes such as childhood growth, adolescent maturation, and aging, but also to the social expectations and roles that are associated with each period in an individual’s life.

A generalized listing of the U.S. expectations for life course is: infancy, toddlerhood, childhood, adolescence, young adulthood, adulthood, and elderhood.

Each of these stages has its own cultural associations and responsibilities, so an individual’s role in society will evolve as they pass through these different stages.

part of age category

Question 5

There are three major functionalist perspectives on aging and social networks among aging adults:

Answer 5

Disengagement theory

Activity theory

Continuity theory

Question 6

Disengagement theory

Answer 6

There are three major functionalist perspectives on aging and social networks among aging adults:

Disengagement theory: a process whereby people may disengage from social life and their roles as they become older, as a “symbolic” preparation for death.

Disengagement may differ for men (with a more “instrumental” societal role) and for women (with a more “socio-emotional” societal role).

As a functionalist theory, disengagement theory holds this process to be beneficial, as it allows social systems to remain stable and ordered.

Disengagement theory is controversial and has limited support.

Question 7

Activity theory

Answer 7

posits that challenges of personal health and emotional well-being (e.g., from the death of friends and family), which result in less social activity, erect a barrier to social contact.

Question 8

Continuity theory

Answer 8

similar to activity theory, except that, in continuity theory, aging people make choices to preserve consistent external structures (e.g., interpersonal relationships) and internal structures (e.g., beliefs, personality, etc.).

Question 9

A cohort

Answer 9

A cohort refers to a subpopulation that shares some kind of statistical or demographic trait.

Question 10

Age cohort

Answer 10

=refers specifically to individuals who were born around the same time.

ex. Baby Boomers (individuals born in the period after the end of World War II: 1946–1964) are a commonly referenced age cohort.

Comparing the structure and size of the various age cohorts in a society can give valuable information about how that society functions.

Sociologists are also often interested in differences between the same age cohort in various populations or subpopulations; such differences can reveal important aspects of the kinds of social processes and structures that are present in these populations.

• Example: is there a difference in entrepreneurship between black and white members of Generation X?

Question 11

Social dimension of aging:

Answer 11

-while physiological aging is clearly a biological process, most aspects of the biological process are socially influenced and constructed.

Individuals of particular ages are given roles in society based upon the prevailing cultural attitudes about them and the social structures in which they participate.

As individuals progress through the culturally prescribed life course, their expectations (and the expectations of others) about their proper role in society changes.

Question 12

Race and Ethnicity 1

Answer 12

• Although many people in this country would say that they have an intuitive understanding of race and racial categories, race remains an extremely problematic concept to define.
• Historically, many definitions of race have contained some kind of biological or genetic underpinning, but today it is widely regarded that historical racial categories do not reflect true, distinct human groups.
• The similarities in the genetic, cognitive, and physical capacities of different races far outweigh the differences.
• The vast majority of human genetic material is shared by all races.
• Superficial differences such as hair color and skin color account for only a tiny proportion of the genetic variability of humans, and are not consistent or distinctive enough between groups to constitute significant biological distinction.

Question 13

Race and Ethnicity 2

Answer 13

• Other definitions of race have focused on the social component of racial categories; these definitions essentially say that an individual is a member of a particular race because they identify that way.
• This type of definition for race acknowledges that racial categories play a role in the organization of society and social interactions but ignores the potential biological implications that racial categories may possess.
• The best we can do for a definition of race is to say that it refers to a group of people who are said to be similar because of purported congruences in their physical appearance: skin color, eye color, hair color and texture, etc.
• Rejection of the notion of a biological underpinning of race does not mean that differences between racial groups do not exist.

Question 14

Race and Ethnicity 3

Answer 14

However, instead of attributing differences between races to biological factors, we consider those differences to result mostly (if not entirely) from the social and cultural differences that may exist between those who identify—or are identified—as members of different races.

• For example, variations in the incidence of most diseases would be attributable to differences in social and cultural factors between racial groups.
• Additionally, access to health care and proper nutrition can vary across racial lines and have a large impact on health outcomes.

Question 15

ethnic group

Answer 15

• The term ethnic group refers to a collection of individuals who identify with a particular set of cultural traditions, largely including language and religion and also often including common ancestry and/or shared tribal background(s).
• The cultural traditions that define an ethnic group may or may not be recognized or shared by others.

Question 16

Proliferation of racial categories in the U.S.:

Answer 16

There were only three racial categories in the 1860 census; in 2000, there were over 20 categories.

This increase in racial distinction reflects a blending of racial categories with categories based upon national or sociocultural identities.

Racial categories and ethnic categories have different socio-historical legacies, but as the perceived biological component of racial categories has diminished, there has been an increasing overlap between the two.

Question 17

Racialization

Answer 17

Racialization refers specifically to the process by which certain social groups lacking a specific or internally agreed upon (by those social groups) racial or ethnic identity can be ascribed such an identity over time.

• Example: Some 19th- and 20th-century French artwork would depict North Africans who are identified as “white” on many modern racial/ethnic questionnaires (e.g., Moroccans, Tunisians, Libyans, Algerians, etc.) in “exotic” clothing, which led to a concept of these North Africans as a different “race” from Europeans.

Question 18

Racial formation theory

Answer 18

Racial formation theory seeks to undermine biological or genetic conceptions of race and instead replace them with a perspective which views race as a fluid and evolving social construct.

• It argues that the content and meaning of racial categories is determined by social, political, and economic factors rather than being the product of inborn or natural processes.

Question 19

immigration 1

Answer 19

Immigration refers to the movement of people into a country or region from which they did not originate for purposes of permanent settlement.

Immigration status connotes the means by which an immigrant has moved to a particular country.

In particular, the U.S. is concerned with the status of legal and illegal (or undocumented) immigrants, and therefore immigration status has become an important social category.

Family reunification accounts for nearly two-thirds of all legal immigration to the U.S.

Illegal immigration to the U.S. is extremely arduous, dangerous, and expensive.

Most illegal immigrants to the U.S. come from poorer, developing nations to seek economic opportunity.

Question 20

immigration 2

Answer 20

Because immigrants come to the U.S. from other countries, they will typically be ascribed racial and ethnic attributes by the dominant culture.

This assignment of racial and ethnic identities to immigrants results in the complex social and cultural dynamics around the incorporation of immigrants into the broader society.

Immigrant communities belonging to the same race or ethnicity as groups of native-born U.S. citizens often experience better health outcomes than their native-born counterparts.

• This phenomenon may be related to residential segregation, bias, and discrimination within the medical field toward members of native-born minority ethnic and racial groups, and/or greater social support among members of immigrant communities.
• Example: A national 2012 study found that Caribbean-born Blacks experienced better health outcomes than U.S.-born Caribbean-descent Blacks and African-Americans.

Question 21

sexual orientation

Answer 21

Sexual orientation can be defined as some long-lasting quality or attribute of an individual which causes that individual to be sexually or romantically attracted to one or more genders.

Similar to race, many individuals consider sexual orientation to be a manifestation of some fundamental biological or innate attribute.

However, categories of sexual orientation, like race and gender, are socially constructed and therefore are constantly evolving categories that reflect social, political, and economic forces in society.

Although there is undoubtedly some biological component to sexual orientation, it is extremely difficult to separate the biological, social, cultural, and psychological influences that interact in the formation of an individual’s sexual identity.

Question 22

stereotype

Answer 22

A stereotype is a form of schematic “knowledge” comprising generalizations about groups or categories of people.

Stereotypes are closely related to prejudices.

• Stereotypes are considered to be generalized because of the assumption that a given stereotype holds true for each member of the associated group.
• Over-reliance on stereotypes can lead us to draw incorrect conclusions about a particular person based on preconceptions about the group to which they belong.

Question 23

prejudice 1

Answer 23

Stereotypes are closely related to prejudices.*

Prejudices are preconceived notions (cognitive “pre-judgements”) not rooted in evidence, reason, or actual experience.

Prejudices can be distinguished from discrimination; the former is a cognitive bias, while the latter is behavioral (i.e., acting on a prejudice).

In psychology and sociology, prejudices are affects or attitudes (typically negative) toward persons or groups based on group membership (e.g., sexism or racism).

prejudice=ATTIUDES****

discrimination= behavior

Question 24

Self-fulfilling prophecy

Answer 24

A self-fulfilling prophecy—defined by Robert Merton—occurs when we hold a belief about future behaviors that may shape this behavior and make it more likely to conform to our belief.

This term applies equally to beliefs and outcomes for others, as well as for ourselves.

“Self-fulfilling prophecy” builds on the Thomas Theorem (William Thomas and Dorothy Thomas), which states that when people “define situations as real, they are real in their consequences.”

–>For example, in one well-known experiment, teachers were told that some of their students were “late bloomers” and that their academic performance would improve over the course of the school year.

Even though the experimenters chose the students at random, those students did go on to improve more than others. Teachers’ beliefs about their students’ abilities shaped their test performance. (See Chapter 8: Social Institutions: “teacher expectancy.”)

Question 25

“Self-fulfilling prophecy” builds on….

Answer 25

“Self-fulfilling prophecy” builds on the Thomas Theorem (William Thomas and Dorothy Thomas), which states that when people “define situations as real, they are real in their consequences.”

Question 26

Stereotype threat

Answer 26

Stereotype threat: the idea, put forth by Claude Steele, that people’s performance can be influenced by cues that remind them of stereotypes regarding group differences.

• For example, when students were instructed to identify their ethnic background on a questionnaire prior to taking a test, their subsequent test performance tended to confirm racial stereotypes about group differences in academic aptitude.