PSYC 1010 Study Guide - Midterm Guide: The Sociological Imagination, Western Dress Codes, Courtly Love

• School: York University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 1010
• Professor: Gerry Goldberg

Document Summary

A concept created by berger and luckmann (1966), who argued that human experience (the way we understand reality) is shaped by the society in which we live, therefore our own experience of reality can be changed. Human beings cannot exist for long in isolation, in a world that is self-reflexive only. We are all born into a society that is itself a product of human activity. Humans form social groups, and these groups learn to do certain actions in specific ways. Once human activity is repeated many times it becomes a habit. When this happens patterns of behavior become a norm and become institutionalized. Social institutions (ie; school) control our behavior through a variety of social control mechanisms. There are social control mechanisms in place to make sure that students conform to standards of behavior expected in specific social institutions.