SOC 224 Study Guide - Winter 2018, Comprehensive Midterm Notes - Mental Disorder, Rape, Anxiety
12 Oct 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
SOC 224
MIDTERM EXAM
STUDY GUIDE
Fall 2018
LECTURE 1 - 01/10
The Big Questions
1. what is the social imagination, and why is it worth acquiring?
the overriding world view of sociology as a discipline, allows us to ask hard questions about
human social life
provides an avenue for asking the correct questions to get the correct answers
2. what are social contexts, and why do they matter?
because sociology fundamentally concerned how we are influenced by society, it includes all the
social groups. these are all different contexts and we act differently in different contexts
concerned with the how the contexts affect us as individuals and what the consequences are of
these different contexts are for societies
effects how we situate our towns, cities, etc
3. where did sociology come from, and how is it different from other social sciences?
need to also consider, what is wrong with sociology? need to know the weaknesses and how
they effect the discipline
Sociological Imagination
C. Wright Mills
American sociologists born in 1916 in Weico, Texas - prof at Columbia uni.
•was a dick, family moved a lot so never made any solid friendships, was often isolated, self
taught mechanic, blue collar kind of guy, wondered why he was so different from everybody
else working in academia, and then started to think of the little control he had over his own life
because of the environments he grew up in
•research based around his blue collar kind of life, thought sociology should be more like
journalism, should be interacting with individuals of all walks of life, and then reporting back on
what they found.
•thought that people worked with his hands were more creative, more honest than academia -
bureaucracy became the main theme of his work. wrote a book called White Collar, looks at
the lives of middle class people in corporate America. looked at the corruption that existed in
the workplaces, gives insight into what is later known as White collar fraud. most important
contribution was that he thought offices as workplaces were soul destroying. why have we
accepted this as the norm? led to other questions about the norm accepted lifestyle? (i.e. high
school - uni - marriage - babies, etc).
•probably wouldn’t have got to these questions if he hadn't had the blue collar life before
entering academia, probably wouldn’t have questions the corporate world.
capacity to think systematically about how many things we experience as personal problems are
actually social issues
help us to ask hard questions and seek answers about the social worlds we inhabit
other people may share our problems, and sometimes these problems have causes that have
little to do with us as individuals
we take credit for our successes, but then we also blame our selves for failures - yet sociology
does not ignore personal responsibility. but sometimes we experience things we have no control
over very personally
e.g. if your parents never read to you as a child, there are outcomes in your life (literacy,
reasoning ability, personal relationships, education) that you had no control over
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
rationalization - how daily life is organized to accommodate large numbers of people, and not
necessarily to accommodate the way that individuals actually think. he criticizes rationalization.
organized in efficiency and replicability
like how a factory functions - lots of controls, rules, regulations, very systematic
rationalization is the enemy of creativity, of human spirit
provides opportunities for thinking critically about our own lives, the people we grew up with, the
country we identify with. allows us to ask “why are these things the way they are?” and if they
are bad, counterproductive, harmful, then maybe we can rectify some of the problems.
this worldview is not unique to sociology - but what sociologists specialize in is this particular
world view. polisci, econ, all use world views as well.
Case Study: Obesity
negative attitudes toward obese persons are pervasive in North American society
we believe that obese is a personal problem - their fault
common stereotypes - lazy, lack self discipline, little will power, ugly
stigma refers to the loss of status that arises from being in possessions of an attribute, for
example a health condition, that has been culturally defines as undesirably different (deviant)
weight stigma has been suggested by some as a method for obesity control
obesity rates are rising - particularly around children and in western industrialized countries. so
then ask, is this really an individual problem or are their social influences and causes
obesity is rarely written about in sociology - which is surprising. weight stigma is also rarely
mentioned.
what are the social factors affecting obesity?
economic class - ability to buy healthy foods
time constraints - no time to prepare healthy meals
marketing in grocery stores - e.g. kids cereals with lots of sugar
exploitation of people by marketing - don’t care about wellbeing of consumers
different body image ideals - what represents a healthy body (larger in some societies)
more media devices to distract from healthy lifestyles - netflix, video games
location you live in - “fruit deserts” don’t have access to fresh fruits, vegetables
convenience - what is around you?
more sedentary lifestyles - more driving, less walking
what the research says:
humans have evolved to have high levels of energy expenditure - we spend most of our time
using energy to find and prepare food, now we have shifted to another position where we don’t
have to spend so much energy to find and prepare food, but yet our bodies still need to move
and use the energy
humans evolved to crave sugar, store it, and then use it - lived in environments of scarcity, when
come across sugary foods so over consume to store. today, it is easy to find yet we still crave it
eating out - we don’t prepare food as much, access to more cheap, easy food
larger portion sizes - portion sizes have significantly increased, as something to do with culture.
portion sizes are way larger in the US than in France. generally speaking we eat more - mouth
pleasure, we have a negative feeling about waste.
lack of sleep - correlated with obesity and diabetes, metabolic effects of sleep may make you
gain weight
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
