Sociology study guide Essay

Submitted By Jwein430
Words: 840
Pages: 4

Chapter 4 review Sociology Test

Social reproduction is the process of perpetuating values, norms, and social practices through socialization, which leads to structural continuity over time.

Four main agents of socialization: Family, Schools, peer relationships, mass media

In a family, children will grow up based on the actions of their parents and that will have an impact on how they are behaved. In schools, kids are taught to raise their hand and not speak when the teacher is talking. Peer group consists of individuals of a similar age which is a norm in society that you should hang out with people relative to your age. Mass media such as television can affect people because violence on TV might make people think its okay.

Social roles are socially defined expectations of an individual in a given status or social position. Social identities are the characteristics that are attributed to an individual by others.

5 stages of life course: Childhood, Teenager, young adulthood, mature adulthood, old age

Childhood: distinct stage of life between infancy/teen years
Teenager: Biological changes involved in puberty
Young Adulthood: personal/sexual development
Mature adulthood: Mid-life crisis
Old Age: elders usually have final say in matters of importance within community

Childhood has changed since medieval time in that back then children were put to work immediately and were looked at as “little adults.” Now, some say children grow up to fast and are becoming familiar early on with the adult world than did preceding generations.

According to Carr, The “new midlife” for many women was a time for new beginnings. Women are learning to exit stale marriages, start their own business, and even learn from their daughters.

Belsky’s research tells us that day-care isn’t the cause of behavioral issues. Children who were in high quality day care experienced higher vocab scores. Quality of parenting mattered much more than where a child was cared for.

Parents will reinforce gender roles by treating children the way “society” believes they should be treated. In an experiment mothers were noted giving dolls to a 6 month old named beth but when they swapped beth for a male, mothers started giving him toys like a train or trucks which are both considered “male toys.”

Chapter 3

The main elements of culture are the values the members of a group holds, the norms they follow, the material goods they create, and the languages/symbols they use to construct their understanding of the world, including both speech and writing.

Values: Ideas held by individuals or groups about what is desirable, proper, good, and bad. What individual’s value is strongly influenced by the culture in which they happen to live.
Norms: Rules/conduct that specify appropriate behavior in a given range of social institutions.
Material culture: Physical objects that a society creates that influence the ways in which people live.
Language: Primary vehicle of meaning and communication in a society.
Symbols: Items used to stand for or represent another

Language is common to all human cultures worldwide making it a cultural universal.

Linguistic relativity hypothesis argues that language influences our perception of the world. That is because we are most likely to be aware of things if we have words for them.

3 main types of pre modern societies: Hunter/Gatherers, Pastoral/Agrarian, Industrial