Transcript Powerpoint slides wk3

Extra credit: Friends with Benefits

Put your write-up on the piano and initial
your name on the class list that’s on the
clipboard.
Sociology 1201
Sociology 1201: Week
Three
1.
2.
3.
4.
Symbolic Interactionism
Because I am a (Fe)male
Conflict Theory
Sociology of sexuality
Sociology 1201
Symbolic Interactionism as a
sociological perspective
Our world is a social construction, built
through the web of social relationships
and meanings.
 We react to the meaning of social things
and not to the things themselves.
 Our self (selves?) in important part a
social construction
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Sociology 1201
Charles Horton Cooley: Looking
glass self
“Society is an interweaving and interworking
of mental selves. I imagine your mind and
especially what your mind thinks about my
mind. I dress my mind before you and
expect that you will dress yours before
mine. Whoever cannot or will not do this
is not properly in the game.”
Sociology 1201
Primary Groups
Lewis Coser: “Sensitivity to the thought of
others, responsiveness to their attitudes,
values and judgments--that is the mark of
the mature man (or woman) according to
Cooley. This can be cultivated and
fostered only in the close and intimate
associations of the primary group.”
Sociology 1201
George Herbert Mead: the “me”
and the “I”
Mind, self and society
 Mind = my communication with myself
 Two parts to the self
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– the “me”—very similar to Cooley’s looking
glass self
– The “I”—individual and unique part of me,
probably in part biological
Sociology 1201
Herbert Blumer’s synthesis
“Humans act toward a thing on the basis
of the meaning they assign to the thing.”
 “Meaning are socially derived, which is to
say that meaning is not inherent in a state
of nature…. Meaning is negotiated
through interaction with others.”
 “The perception and interpretation of
social symbols are modified by the
individual’s own thought process.”
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Sociology 1201
Key concepts in the construction of
self and society
Culture: a design for living passed from
one generation to the next
 Norms: rules defining expected situations
and appropriate behaviors
 Socialization:
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– 1. the process of learning the norms of your
culture
– 2. the process of learning who you are
Families particularly central to this process.
Sociology 1201
Sex and gender
Sex the biological distinction between
male and female
 Gender the culturally elaborated
distinction between masculine and
feminine… differs across culture and
across history
 Groups: “Because I am a Fe(male)
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Sociology 1201
Conflict theory as a sociological
perspective
Competition between groups over material
goods, opportunities, values, and meaning the
normal condition of society
 Sociology the study of the ways in which
inequalities generate group conflict and are
resolved
 Inequalities of age, gender, and sexuality
particularly central to families
 Families are also the typical units of race and
class conflicts.
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Sociology 1201
Why did families change so rapidly
in the late 20th century?
Functionalism: Rapid changes in other
related institutions, including economy
and religion
 Conflict theory: Role of social movements,
including especially feminism and to a
lesser extent the gay and lesbian
movement
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Sociology 1201
Discussion groups: Promises I Can
Keep
Chapter 3: How Does the Dream Die?
 Chapter 4: What Marriage Means
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Sociology 1201
Sociology of sex
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How do we learn about sex in the United States?
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Families: reality or an idealized version
Schools: the facts but often not the meanings
Church
Mass Media: commercialization of sex
Peers and lovers
Sex and the double standard
 The sexual revolution: when, why, where, what?
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Sociology 1201
How do sociologists study sex?
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Survey Research
– 1st efforts: the Kinsey Reports
– Lauman et. al: The Social Organization of
Sexuality 1992 N=3,432 Adults
– National Survey of Family Growth: Sexual
Behavior and Selected Health Measures 1995
N=12,571 Ages 15-44
Sociology 1201
Lauman et al: The Social
Organization of Sexuality
Sociology 1201
Rubin, Erotic Wars: 1991
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a. In-depth interviews with 75 teens and 300 adults, age 18-48, plus a 13page questionnaire completed by 600+ college students
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b. Background to her study
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1). Double standard of her own growing up years: "For generations, the
words 'everything but' have told the story of teenage sexuality." girls as
emotional and relationship experts, boys as far more sexual and demanding
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2). Sexual revolution of the 1960s and 1970s. Her daughter's experience,
vs. her own.
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3). AIDs and STD epidemic of the 1980s and since: "We see women and
men, young and old, speak their fears about AIDs but act as if they had
nothing to fear."
Sociology 1201
Teen sex in Rubin’s study
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1) Biggest change over time: teens facing issue of
intercourse at least five years earlier
2) Who waits?
3) Double standard still?
– girls still more likely to "give in" to protect a relationship
– Still sluts and studs
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4) Most striking norms of teen sex
– a) Sense of entitlement to make their own choices
my class at Mesabi Community College--"of course you lie to
your parents; that's what they want"
– b) Sex within a relationship is a good thing
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5) Sex often tied up with getting drunk or high
Sociology 1201
Friends with Benefits
Selections from your reaction papers
 Schwartz and Ritter: The Gender of
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Sexuality
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Pepper Schwartz and the sociology of sex
Sociology 1201