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SOC 202 > Midterm > Flashcards

Midterm Flashcards

1
Q

Define culture

A

system of shared beliefs, values, customs, behaviours, and artefacts that members of a society use to cope with their world and with one another

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2
Q

How is culture spread?

A

transmitted from generation to generation through learning

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3
Q

Define society

A

large group of people (e.g. Canadian society) who interact with one another in accordance with the values, beliefs, customs, behaviours, and artefacts of a common culture

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4
Q

Define social animal

A

survival depends upon the social relationships we form with each other.

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5
Q

Give an example of a social animal

A

Castaway

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6
Q

Define cultural animals

A

in order to survive together we develop technologies, different social institutions , ways of communicating, rules governing our behaviour, values and a belief system.

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7
Q

What kind of animals are humans?

A

Social and Cultural

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8
Q

What term is a way of making sense of the world?

A

culture

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9
Q

Give an example of a cultural institution

A

schools

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10
Q

Define socialization

A

process whereby we learn our society’s culture

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11
Q

What are the 4 primary characteristics of culture?

A
  1. Culture is learned
  2. Culture is rooted in symbols
  3. Culture is a system shared by all members
  4. The elements of culture are generally integrated
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12
Q

Explain how culture is rooted in symbols

A

physical, vocal, or gestural signs that have arbitrary, socially learned meanings to them

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13
Q

Explain how culture is a shared system

A

embodies the collective rather than just the behaviour of one of its members

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14
Q

Explain how the elements of culture are generally integrated

A

The aforementioned components fit together to make a whole

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15
Q

Who is pop culture produced and created by?

A

a select few – the ones who hold power in our society

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16
Q

Who is pop culture a tool for? How do they use it?

A

Popular culture, therefore, has become an important tool for our society’s ruling elite to maintain their position of power over the rest of us

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17
Q

What are the 5 examples of culture types

A
  1. Folk culture
  2. High culture
  3. Mass culture
  4. Popular culture
  5. Counter/sub culture
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18
Q

Define high culture

A

allegedly “superior” customs and values

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19
Q

What era does high culture emerge from

A

Enlightenment era of Western Philosophy

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20
Q

What is the theory behind high culture

A

It specifies that “culture” goes hand-in-hand with civilization, enlightenment and education of humankind- anything less (eg. Tv shows, hollywood are bad- classical is good)

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21
Q

Define mass culture

A

refers to what one believes is our society’s crudest elements

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22
Q

How does culture encompass the masses

A

provides instant gratification through low-quality entertainment via technology and social media

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23
Q

What do critics say of mass culture

A

the quality of culture diminishes (i.e. offers the lowest-common denominator) in an attempt to appeal to a larger quantity (a larger number of people)

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24
Q

What is the difference between mass and pop culture

A

Pop culture has a positive connotation

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25
Q

What classes is pop culture associated with

A

Lower & working class

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26
Q

What does pop culture consist of

A

popular” entertainments and activities: e.g. watching movies and television shows, playing video games, listening to music, going on Facebook and Twitter, etc.

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27
Q

What are mass culture and pop culture terms for

A

to describe sets of ideas, attitudes, beliefs and ways of life

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28
Q

How do sociologists refer to mass culture

A

ideas, attitudes, etc. mediated by mass communication technologies such as movies and television

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29
Q

Who are the “masses”

A

the people who receive these ideas via mass communication devices, and their culture is called mass culture

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30
Q

What are the additional ideas generated from pop culture

A

the ideas generated by people through face-to-face communication

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31
Q

How does mass culture depict the working class

A

negatively as a class of people who follow mass media mindlessly (as if they have been brainwashed)

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32
Q

How does pop culture depict the working class

A

positive connotation, depicting the working classes as people who not only consume mass media products but also appropriate them in a personally meaningful way

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33
Q

Define counter/sub cultures

A

groups of people who share a set of cultural beliefs, behaviours, and practices, which differs significantly from the culture of the larger society

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34
Q

How do counter cultures differ from sub cultures?

A

Counter cultures are more political

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35
Q

What does the economic arrangement represent

A

The way people get their basic necessities: food, clothing, shelter, etc

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36
Q

What type of system is our society organized around

A

Capitalist Economic System

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37
Q

Define capitalist economic system

A

a system of wage-labour and commodity production for sale, exchange, and profit, rather than for the immediate need of the producers

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38
Q

What is the key to the capitalist system

A

commodity

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39
Q

Define commodity

A

an object that is produced for exchange in the market

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40
Q

What does the market refer to (in addition to physical space)

A

a set of social relationships that are organized around the buying and selling of objects

41
Q

What are the two perspectives in sociology

A
  1. functionalist 2. conflict
42
Q

Who was a key theorist of the functionalist perspective

A

Emille Durkheim

43
Q

What is the functionalist theory based on

A

the belief that society is a stable, orderly system which functions by societal consensus

44
Q

How does the consenus work in a funtionalist theory

A

the majority of its members share a common set of values, beliefs, and behaviours

45
Q

What do functionalists argue

A

society is made up of interrelated parts, each serving a function which (under ideal circumstances) contributes to the overall stability of the society

46
Q

What are examples of social institutions in society

A

the family, education, government, religion, and the economy

47
Q

What happens if one of the social institutions are impacted

A

all other parts are affected and the system no longer functions properly

48
Q

Societies with common culture are more likely to have what?

A

Consensus & Harmony

49
Q

What happens when too many subcultures in a society

A

Dynsfunction & lack of consensus

50
Q

Who are the key theorists of conflict perspective?

A

Karl Marx & Max Weber

51
Q

What do conflict theorists argue?

A

groups in society are engaged in a continuous power struggle for control of scarce resources.

52
Q

What did marx argue?

A

Owners (capitlists) exploit the workers, which leads to their alienaton

53
Q

What did Weber add to the argument?

A

Not just your class that matters. Your status and party affiliation matter too

54
Q

What are the 3 dimensons of social inequality

A
  1. Class 2. Status 3. Power
55
Q

Define class:

A

refers to one’s socio-economic status or individual life-chances

56
Q

Define status:

A

refers to one’s level of social prestige (one may have a low income but still have a relatively high status)

57
Q

Define power:

A

the degree of political influence (one may have a low income and a low social status but may also have political power through membership in a political party)

58
Q

How do the ruling class maintain their power?

A

manipulation through aligning their interests as “universal” aka. Ideology

59
Q

How is idealogy maintained?

A

Cultural hegemony

60
Q

Define ideology

A

false knowledge created by the ruling class for their own benefit

61
Q

Define cultural hegemony

A

the process through which the ruling class maintain their powers and privileges

62
Q

What are the 3 aspects of hegemony

A
  1. coercion (police & law)
  2. consent (accepted as legitimate and is not questioned by masses)
  3. compromise between lower and upper class (upper make concessions to the lower)
63
Q

How is hegemony controlled in the media

A

Through the representations of class, gender, race, sexuality, disability etc. in popular culture

64
Q

What “establishes our place in the surrounding world” according to John Berger

A

Seeing

65
Q

What is the act of looking

A

A choice

66
Q

What are explored through sight

A

The relation between things are self

67
Q

How are images man made?

A

They chose what is or is not seen for the viewer

68
Q

How are images detached from reality

A

due to preservation and mobility

69
Q

How does Berger describe images as a formula

A

How X saw Y, then how A, B, C… sees X’s Y

70
Q

How does the upper class mystify the masses?

A

They try to prevent viewing of historical art to control narritives of history

71
Q

How do cameras/ videos contrast to drawings/ paintings?

A

Drawings & paintings put viewer as centre; camera/ video show there is no centre

72
Q

How do cameras destroy paintings?

A
  1. No longer unique

2. No longer in only one place, diversifies (picture changes meaning through the broken telephone of replications)

73
Q

How does replication harm art?

A

Uniqueness shifts from the piece to that it is the original of the reproduction

74
Q

How is historical art used in society

A

Meanings are mystified to show that nothing has changed and that their authority has validation. It glorifies the social system.

75
Q

How is historical art political?

A

The mystifications of the art’s true meanings cut classes off from own past to manipulate

76
Q

What is ideology branded as

A

The status quo

77
Q

What do television commercials encourage?

A

audiences to think of themselves markets rather than public, and a consumers rather than citizens

78
Q

What does hegemony require?

A

That ideological assertions become self evident cultural assumptions

79
Q

What does hegemony imply?

A

A wiling agreement by people to be goverend by principles, rules and laws they belive operation in their best interests, even though in actual practice they may not

80
Q

What is often more powerful for control than coercion or force?

A

Social consent

81
Q

How do caplitalist economic forces assert their power in the everyday?

A

Advertising to the masses

82
Q

According to the Hegemony article- who are two other leading critical theorists?

A

Raymond Williams & Stuart Hall

83
Q

What do Williams & Hall remind us?

A

Hegemony in any political context is fragile and requires renewal and modification through the assertion and reassertion of power

84
Q

How are counter-hegemonic tendencies displayed

A

In interpretations, social circulation and uses of media content

85
Q

Give examples of counter-hegemonic tendencies

A

marijuana gas masks, homeless turning shopping carts into cars, remixs of upper class content

86
Q

How does hegemony fail

A

When dominant ideology is weaker than social resistance

87
Q

What are neoliberal principles associated with?

A 
global free trade and the
deregulation of industry, the weakening
of union labor, a decline in welfare assistance
and social service provision, and
the privatization of publicly-owned
resources.
88
Q

Why did networks create reality TV

A

Don’t have to pay professional actors and in return union fees. Reality stars work for free – same with less writers needed

89
Q

What does reality TV mirror?

A

Sweatshop labour conditions (also able to bypass child labour laws)

90
Q

How does reality TV promote radical right-wing views?

A

A society of contestents forced to fiercly compete and only one winner can have it all – promotes classes and extreme levels of social inequality

91
Q

How does reality TV promote conflict perspectives?

A

Audiences expect layoffs, place desire to win above friendship/loyalties, are to be devoted the boss (who does not reciprocate), sketchy or manipulative moves are never questioned – constantly are judged

92
Q

How do TV shows represent the working class

A

That they haven’t made it to success due to their own inacurracies and limitations – due to the american dream saying you can have everything

93
Q

What are the 5 reasons why working class don’t succed?

A
  1. Bad Taste (lifestyle & liesure activities)
  2. Lack of intellegence (working class buffoon- incapable of taking lead of the household)
  3. Reactionary Politics
  4. Poor Work Ethics
  5. Dysfunctional Family Values
94
Q

What do makeover shows represent

A

only when the elite help the lower class to improve they can

95
Q

Why are anti-education working class mainly depicted?

A

They distract from structual realities, and make it seem like the lower class don’t care about education and there for those that have it are elite

96
Q

What are the main political affliations in TV

A

Conservative - anti- hippie, anti-intellectual, anti- student

97
Q

How does “poor work ethics” as a working class stereotype relate to conflict theory?

A

Profits for companies skyrocketed, but wages stayed the same. So in turn, productivity is flat and companies try to say it is due to the work ethic rather than the underpay

98
Q

How do companies avert media attention and fault to the dysfunctional family values

A

Because you don’t follow society norms 100% you do not have the chance for the american dream and are self destructives

SOC 202 (2 decks)

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